on reading about resistance in sg

after reading 'mediating the liberalisation of singapore theatre; towards a bourdieusian analysis', i am blown away just because i have never read a piece about resistance in sg described in such a powerful academic way. framed with bourdieu's concepts some more and have examples! ok. good for me because easy for me to understand. 3 theorists i wanna read about after this: bourdieu, brecht and gramci. (i'm sure i've read them all before but i can't remember what brecht is about accept for him being connected to the 6 penny opera or something) t chong rocks!! definitely rocked my world today.

perhaps its because i never expected to read something like that. some articles i've read so far (which isn't many actually) seem too impersonal, maybe not a very good word, distant, apathic? there may be some criticism of the state but on the whole they are about the movements of the bigger things by the power that be, so much so that i feel that they lack a discussion of the micro levels- ie the communities and the people. globalization yes, u can talk about how the whole world moves, but we shouldn't forget about the individuals, the communities that live within it and the effects and the efforts that they've put in it. understandably its probably not feasible to write about the micro and the macro all in one paper. but why issit that almost every article i pick up on sg globalization and art (in fact i can't find many art articles if they are not bound to globalization - prob york don't have many journals on critical asian art and culture) sounded like we are just small little unnoticeable flies that will have no effect what so ever on the bigger politics of the world? that the world is moved by all the big names, the government, the state, the big corporations, the big guys with the money, that u the reader, the small fly have nothing in your power to change a thing in it and can only see the story unfold before your eyes with your hands tied, no more like you have no hands or deformed ones that can't do anything.

maybe there's something between the lines that i couldn't catch. in any case, i wished there were more case studies and examples on what the little people did in the age of globalization.

but anyway the thought of active practice of (non-confrontational) resistance by your middle class citizens existing in sg is an exciting and strangely comforting thought to me. because i've always wondered how and why there are no news or knowledge of such things happening. accept for mr brown n his supporters on the internet, how come no one else talked about other communities of resistance?

so what i'm thinking about right now..
all this about resisting the state and liberalising our voices and all that.. first of all i've to be careful not to create a dichotomy between state and civil society. because that can easily lead me to disillusionize the state as the one and only people's 'enemy' frame of mind. that doesn't make a lot of sense seeing that the state is also keeping the society together. plus there are multiple communities in the society we all have to live with, not only the state. we aren't homogeneous. the public will also have clashes in views. like religious views. thus the idea of liberalization as something only the state can give the people is somewhat inaccurate. cause we are also bound by our religion, gender... principles, frame of mind? ..

second point. and i can't help questioning this: is liberalization (and human rights) all there is to it??
this one i don't know how to answer. but i have a feeling it isn't. it is important yes, but...
perhaps what i am thinking of is that, if the people resist and disent against the state, what grounds would that be on, towards what kinda goals? if its just for the sake of being liberalised- of gaining freedom, that still leaves alot of problems unsolved. but if to be liberalised gives the people a chance to express and speak about other concerns, of working towards something beyond freedom of the individual.. of something else.. i dun even know what. i have this idea of a common good and it sounds socialist but then more of like- is it possible that everyone can work to be equals with no leaders? sounds easy to say but almost impossible to realise. and anyway, how do u make everyone understand things on the same page?

thus i've been thinking about this resistance thing. base on what reasons should we resist on? education? awareness? common good? (but then what is the common good?) i'm tempted to put in sprituality but i don't know how to connect that. inner peace? how do u resist for inner peace?

ok. that's probably going to be my project.

some thoughts about my POS

yesterday's meeting with the pop ed class people was really refreshing. talked about alot of stuff and i've ideas swimming round my head now.

some conversations i had with denise brought me back to thinking about my interests in love and compassion and what to make of life.

niko and i had a common interest in interactive work with the public. his ideas came from the diggers - giving things out for free and instigate some kinda revolution. my ideas came from art practices i remembered reading and wanting to do them in my 3rd yr undergrad. n we talk about the possibility of working on our final projects together on something like this.

so now comes the question: what am i going to do for my final project. and how am i going to change my POS? (deadline next tuesday. am going to meet honor to talk about it.)

some of my thoughts:
- trying to change my POS to something more meleable. maybe my final project will not be about singapore. but a reflection? a reflection plus a project work.
- the idea of spirituality? can i put spirituality into art, into thinking about politics, into education, into changing the society?
- i think maybe i can leave my POS the way it is. the final project will just be a different thing. a reflection.

i think sometimes this studying of singapore is a little bit forced on myself. because i've found that it is really restrictive and it kinda stopped me from being creative. perhaps i need to add in some art or practical component. perhaps i should just follow what i really want to study. - love and compassion in spirituality and art - interactive, conceptual art. art that can be also not art. depending on how u see it. but which is interactive and hopefully beneficial to the people who come across it. possibly like what the diggers would do..

in terms of singapore, how would that connect?
what i've learned about singapore.
- globalization in sg.
- activism.. somewhat.
- art and theatre. and the dessent coming from these practitioners.
- civil society
- how community-based art is used n worked in sg (just a little0

how can this be connected to spirituality and art?
art and doing things.. hmmm..
thinking of it. alot of artists are activists.. kind of.

i dunno man. gotta let it sink abit.