rot-l Interview with John Krizanc - author of Tamara Play

[David Boje]

Dear Friends ROT and TAMARA Board,

ROT is Radical Org Theory (a sleeping cell of academics of the ROT-L Journal).

For TAMARA-ites, can now get to Tamara Journal with our new domain 
TamaraJournal.com or www.TamaraJournal.com

This is an update on my interview, this week, with John Krizanc.  I was 
able to tape for 1.5 hours and I am getting that transcribed. Some of the 
TAMARA board provided questions. I am also dialoguing with John K by email. 
there was also a recent interview Douglas Kellner and I did with Michael 
Hardt, who co-authored the book, Empire. This email is about the Krizanc 
interview.

  I am letting you know, because TAMARA Journal will be looking for 
commentators, one I get the transcript done.  This will give you an intro 
to the project, which I intend to be the basis of a Tamara Special issue.

My questions in the interview, suggested to John that I was hoping the 
artist would politically awaken the public. That we would ignite something 
like the Situationist Internationale in France after 1968.  Can La Derive 
and acts of juxtaposition deconstruct  spectacle of Empire, and find spaces 
for more festive aesthetic? I also am exploring Bakhtin's carnivalesque. At 
the weekly  Peace Vigil, in Las Cruces NM, we act out a peaceful sort of 
carnival; we parody and satirize the spectacle of Empire with puppets of 
Bush and signs and voices speaking out against the War Machine.   My 
cynical side knows that the state allows us to carnival, as a way to blow 
off steam, and that we return to the Velvet Prison (Haraszti, 1987)

We are talking about the State and Empire's unfolding narrative. Those with 
the sword write the narrative of history; there are local narratives which 
are marginalized ones; there are many grand narratives (more than one).

I think we do succumb to the fascist nature of narrative -- to me this is 
what America is experiencing now -- a fascism. Bush's stories tie things up 
neatly into the War on Terror, where good can triumph and the American 
fundamentalists find moral satisfaction.

It is childplay to deconstruct the Bush narrative, the alternative media 
channels on the Internet provide ample opportunity.

For example, Free Speech TV - http://www.freespeech.org/ - good list of on 
line video -- their server is down today - try tomorrow.
·       ·       Bush Theology of War
·       ·       Blueprint for Empire
·       ·       America's Drive for Global Empire
·       ·       Not in Our Name
·       ·       Oct 26 Event in DC

I seek to oppose the Bush/Cheney Empire with some kind of resistance 
narrative, what I see as carnivalesque. I also want to step outside the 
fascist narrative and see if I can escape my social programming.  Beyond 
the spectacle, the world is not fresh and clean like some TV show. I see 
America as inside a fog. Yet, outside the tidy world of spectacle there is 
a more complex one, whose rules are largely unknown, with disconnected 
textures.

  Krizanc says "Once you start questioning narrative, you can no longer 
work for the Empire."   I definitely question narrative. I try to no longer 
work for Empire, but feel entirely complicit as consumer, and producer of 
knowledge within an E-university.  There seem to be few choices outside the 
spectacle; every move is appropriated --- turned into its service.

I think in teaching, it is it's also mostly about sedating students. I try 
to awaken and provoke my students, but I find they are mostly sleepwalking 
and get cranky when you disturb their dream state. They prefer the Velvet 
Prison -- the book Velvet Prison, examines the aesthetics of censorship and 
how writers are cooperating. It is out of print at Amazon, not in my 
library, I have ordered it on Interlibrary loan.

It is good to talk to you all about these things.  Perhaps something 
creative and exciting will emerge form the interviews and dialog with  Krizanc.

All the best,


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