SICK AS A TACTIC

We've hardly ever been friends, body and me. To me, body always seemed
to be pretty conservative, if not reactionary - too often complaining,
standing in the way of my projects, sabotaging my efforts towards being
that freaky me. As a result, I spent a lot of energy ignoring it, not to
say fighting against it. I developped a fetish for coffee, made sleep
refusal a top political priority, ignored alerts from my ears, and kept
smoking when my throat was obviously sick choking.

But let's consider things differently, and try for a second to embrace
the perspective of the body. What if all those colds, diseases, fatigue
crisis and various physical states were nothing but diverse tactics for
an everlasting protest? What if, against obliteration, body was claiming
visibility? What if, against bad treatments, it was demonstrating
loudly? What if, suffering exhaustion, body was rioting to break my
tyranny? I have to admit I never was too liberal, when it came to
dealing with body - hm, more of a fascist, even. Damn me.

This time, it seems like body went on strike together with the CNT. No
negociations, but direct action. Just like a boss who's locked up in his
office while angry workers occupy the factory, I stay up there in the
head, helpless from the tower top, while I feel the uprising going,
ransacking my throat machinery, burning flames through my nose, and
making my body all shaky. I guess it's time to face the facts: there's
no point in fighting for direct democracy, self-management and anarchy
in the outside world, if I'm behaving like an authoritarian bastard
towards body. Plus, body's actually no separate entity, but happens to
be part of me. Now, that's an amazing discovery.

What if sleeping regular hours was in itself revolutionnary? Now how
about feeling healthy - wouldn't that be pretty subversive, to break
away from an average low power reality? It even seems like that slogan -
"reclaim your body " - could somehow apply to me, in addition to the
feminist meaning it carries primarily, when it comes to dropping the
constant pressure that is applied against body, for it to work, to obey,
to follow head constantly. Well, I guess head has to give away a bit of
its authority, and work towards consensus together with body. My own
world would probably be a better space to be, and it sounds like a
rationnal place to start, if I & others are to overthrow society
- aren't we? 

					December 005, darkveggy.