A:Gender Tour Dates & Film Festivals
Basic Technical Specifications
‘Be warned Ladies and Gentlemen’
A:Gender delves deep into one of the last remaining taboos in our society. Boys can be girls. Girls can be boys. Men can be women. Women can be men. Or can they?
Conceived by Artistic Director Joey Hateley, A:Gender is an innovative touring performance piece from TransAction Theatre Company, which takes a long, hard and sometimes uncomfortable look at our notions of gender. This multi-art form experimental theatre piece about female masculinity, links trans and alternative gender identities to the bigger picture to create a bold, searing and heart felt piece of contemporary performance.
‘A stirring piece of theatre that throws some serious light on a current taboo.’ Jonathan Gibbs Time Out London at Oval House Fringe
“Image subversion at its most political and sexy!” Chloe Poems
Asking us to question the status quo, angrily confronting us with real life instances of the ‘gender gap’, Joey pulls apart our ideas of what makes boy/girl, man/woman, butch/femme, s/he. A: Gender plays with all the tricks of identity – questioning the norm and tenderly explaining the different… daringly mixing up drag/queer photography, videography, performance poetry, academia and science to rip up our notions of gender and start again.
‘A blend of movement, mime, projection, voice-overs and colossal costume changes. Joey is confidant, incisive and witty … a must see!’ Gingerbeer Theatre Review by Roz Rural
“A brave and powerful piece that blurs the lines between experimental theatre and performance art”. Garfield Allen, Artistic Director, green room.
A:Gender reports from the frontline of the multi-billion dollar sex-change industry. Whether an appointment at a doctors’ surgery or a visit to a public toilet, diverse moments in time connect the audience immediately to different realities of identity. The ideas behind the piece and the execution of A:Gender make for a striking and unconventional piece of experimental performance.
‘…funny and irreverent look at our notions of gender’ Rainbow Network.com
“An incisive and insightful show… A:Gender rips up our notions of gender and asks us to start again” DIVA May 2003.
9-11/11/06 The Drill Hall, London.
21-30/9/06 GLBT International Theatre Festival, Montreal, Canada
21/08/06 The Malmo Arts Festival, Sweden.
22/11/04 Komedia, Brighton.
10/11/04 CCA Glasgay! Glasgow.
9/10/04 Lawrence Bately Theatre, Hudderfield.
16/10/04 The Rose Ormskirk.
27/8/04 The Green Room, Manchester.
21/9/04 Unity Theatre, Liverpool.
20/09/04 The Arena, Wolverhampton.
8/9/04 Chester Gateway, Chester.
27-29/07/04 Stockholm PRIDE, Sweden.
22- 24/04/06 Contact Theatre Manchester.
17/03-3/04/04 Oval House Theatre, London.
Film Festivals
28-29/04/08 New Dance Alliance, Performance Mix at Joyce SoHo, Manhattan, New York
9-11 Nov 07 “PRYZMAT” Warsaw LGBT Film Festival, Poland
06 FEAST & Cultures of the Body, University South Australia, Adelaide
06 NewFest 2006: The 18th New York LGBT Film Festival
06 The Girls on Film, Manchester
06 Sparkle International Transgendered Festival, Manchester
06 Reeling: The 25th Chicago LGBT International Film Festival
06 psi12, Performing rights library, London.
06 Club Wotever Film Festival, Stockholm
06 Gender Dept Curriculum, Sodertorn University, Stockholm.
05 Ladyfest Film Festival, Brighton
05 Ladyfest Film Festival, Birmingham
05 Netherlands Transgendered Film Fest
05 Paris LGBT Film Festival
05 London LGBT Film Festival
05 National Queer Arts Festival, Queer Cultural Center, San Fran
05 Leeds Queer Film Festival
Identityscapes CologneOFF VideoChannel http://videochannel.newmediafest.org
Tour dates are supported by a marketing CD that includes a brochure copy, sample of direct mail letter, press release, reviews, interviews, posters, flyers and a variety of high quality images. The show is available with integrated British Sign Language at extra cost to the venue.
Suitable for studio theatres, in conjunction with academic courses, conferences, festivals and LGBTQ events. 70 mins long. CD Player, Good PA, 2 Vocal Microphones (1 SR, 1 preferably a hand held radio mic or if not with long cable SL), Video projector with remote, DVD player, large high quality projection screen and lighting system. Must be able to tap dance on suitable stage surface and hear taps. Mirror ball and rotator if possible.
Ginger Beer Theatre Review
The Oval House Theatre, London (17 March – 3rd April 04)
A:Gender by Joey Hateley
A blend of contemporary dance, mime, projection, voice overs and colossal costume changes. Joey works alone to embody various roles in this experimental play about female masculinity, gender tolerance, and cross dressing the status quo.
The script is well written and accessible and has the power to appeal to a diverse audience. It works on a grassroots level to lure in newcomers to gender issues but contains enough theory to tickle the attention of the hardened gender menace, without it feeling spoon-fed.
Joey doesn’t put herself across as a dyke, butch or an FtM. She lingers in a weightless space and calls upon the audience to think back to occasions when they too may have found themselves in that space.
Joey is confidant, incisive and witty. She boldly challenges assumptions made within exclusive gender binaries and creates an alternative arena: A beautiful, tender and peaceful place.
A must see!
Written by Mark Emery ~ gender anarchist
Alias Marcosia Jules Merrymake
The full impact of A: Gender, devised, created and performed by Joey Hateley hits you when you leave the theatre. Joey uses her body to challenge conventional notions of what it is to be male or female, a man or a woman. With a minimal use of costume changes she showed how clothing and appearance is used to denote gender and sexual identity and how by playing around with stereotypes it is easy to subvert and confuse peoples expectations. Judith Butler in her book Gender Trouble states how the predominant heterosexual matrix punishes anyone who deviates from this norm. Frequently the presentation highlighted how people are thrown by manifestations of gender identity that do not conform to the dominant heterosexual matrix. The point was repeatedly made that gender identity is an agreed social contract and for the moment the heterosexual matrix largely defines the arena of gender and sexuality.
A:Gender showed how easy it is to migrate from one gender to another or to combine subtle variations and mixtures in what is really a cauldron of possible transformations, an exciting melting pot of possibilities. As well as Joey being on stage she also utilised recorded voices from both actors, and from real people just being themselves, to give varying perspectives, as well as some excellent video presentations. There was a direct challenge to the sometimes competitive nature of alternative gender identity definitions. Highlighting how there is often unnecessary competition and bitching between those who identify with a specific group such as butch dyke, femme lesbian, pre and post-op transsexuals, transgender identified, drag queens and drag kings, androgens, intersex and a longer range of chosen definitions, which my memory fails to recall. The plea being for a better acceptance and recognition of the definitions people choose and certainly more tolerance amongst these groups towards each other. Another interesting area of Queer Theory which was touched on is the need to define homosexuality or lesbianism, as well as all the other variations and options, in terms of heterosexuality. Queer Theory takes us forward and creates new constellations of validity and equally questions the false assumption that the binary oppositions of male and female are sacred truths not to be challenged in anyway. For the Queer Theorist this is a heresy anyway. What truth there is, if there is any, is in the notion that gender identity and sexual definitions are agreed societal constructs.
The production pleaded for the abolition of the lowest common denominator, the easy arrangement of male and female, man and woman as binary opposites and showed that each and every one of us are actually much more complex and should really be free to adopt the gender we feel most comfortable in. This was a truly liberating evening of theatre. I found it uncomfortable at times when it showed me quite bluntly and often very beautifully that so many of my own thoughts and feelings around my own fluidity of gender identity are much closer to the wondrous complexity we actually are.
This was the last show in the current tour, though Joey said she would probably take it on the road again. I feel this production would be an excellent piece to film. There are many people who would closely identify with its issues. A recording of it on DVD would also have great potential use as an educational tool, possibly in schools and colleges and would be of great interest to students and proponents of gender studies, lesbian and gay studies and Queer Theorists. Anyone with an open mind has much to gain from A:Gender and those of a not so open mind will be suitably challenged by seeing it.
The most beautiful thing was when the little girl was playing with an action man in the park, it was clever. The little girl was cute and the mirror part made me smile. I was confused by some of the jokes. I felt sad when Joey was being bullied. As a tomboy, I thought a lot was true and does happen, I can relate to a lot in it. I smiled when I saw the way Joey coped with being teased or told she was in the wrong. I felt happy, angry, upset and confused when I was watching A:Gender. I thought it was horrid when she was being bullied for who she was. I liked it because it can teach you things that people have to cope with, by entertaining you as well. It showed that in society there are stereotypes. If I wanted to be a boy then I shouldn’t be ashamed. I personally can relate to some things shown, like being thrown out of toilets and all the questions you get. It gave me loads to think about. It is a great show, entertaining, funny and true. The main message I got from A:Gender was whatever you are, you should be happy. Overall I’d say I loved it. What I’ll remember most is how to feel proud about myself.
Click here to see Beth’s Tribute Photo
By Andrew Ridal
Midlands 'ZONE' Magazine
1) Not having seen the show, but having read all the blurb and previous interviews, just how close does the audience get to the ‘real’ Joey? And where did the inspiration and the drive come from to conceive the show?
‘Real’ ity is at stake – who’s version? Certainly not just mine. A:Gender speaks on multiple levels, from a multitude of perspectives to all kinds of different people. TransAction Theatre Company has worked with over 50 different people to bring multiple voices into the piece. The show is also based on my years of studying gender – in the classroom, on the streets and in the sheets! Hard job I know but someone’s gotta do it!
The show speaks of a ‘3D rainbow spiders web oscillating above the globe as a metaphor to change our ‘mainframe’/symbolic system or the ways in which we perceive ‘reality’, normality and truth.
As for the ‘real’ Joey, my gender and identity has changed so much over the years I don’t have the authority to say! I do... expose myself in the show! But what’s real and whats not is up for grabs. I don’t spoon feed my audiences; you’ll have to decide for yourself!
2) The performance appears to be very technical using a variety of media, how does this fit in with, and aid the creative process?
There are many video and audio tracks which complement, fragment and contextualise the show. TransAction's gorgeous technical manager Stacey Potter, genius videographer Sara Maguire, photographers Yasmin Yaqub and Paula Hateley, director Natalie Wilson, movement practitioner Darren Pritchard and many other artists have collaborated with me over the three years to create a multi-art form gender-bending theatrical extravaganza!
3) In previous interviews you have defined yourself as a transgendered female – and described yourself as a ‘gender terrorist’. Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by these?
The show is a celebration of Trans, alternative gender identities and female masculinity. It explains these terms better than I could ever put into words. Transgender for me means I transition between a female sex and a masculine gender. Gender terrorism is about all the different ways I like to F**k with that. I get thrown out of the women’s toilets, get cruised by gay boys but I’m proud of my roots in woman! At the moment I really like dressing up as a drag queen and screwing with people’s heads as a butch in drag!
4) As a gay man I get annoyed when I’m filling in a form and it says ‘marital status’ or it says ‘gender’ (as opposed to ‘sex’) and you have to tick ‘male’ or ‘female’. What do you think I would think of the show?
You’d love it! These are the kinds of things that drive me to continue doing what I’m doing. As my high fem associates would say ‘Burn the boxes not the bras’ or ‘Boxes are for shoes not for people’.
5) Finally, what kind of people do you anticipate coming to see the show, and what can they expect?
I hope people from all walks of life will come to see the show – after all gender is one of the few things we all have in common. I’ve only had one Member of Parliament but lots of artists, academics, activists’, social workers, young people and teachers have come to see the show. Although it’s important to see work that re-affirms identity as marginalized minorities (misrepresented in the mainstream), my work reaches far beyond the queer community into the diversity of the human experience. I don’t want to be ‘ghetto’ ised. I believe in the power of consciousness raising theatre.
Join me on a journey across the full spectrum of emotions; wonderment, fear, anger, comedy, tenderness, confusion and hope. To be inspired and entertained: turned inside out, broken down, spat out, put back together, be sent on your way with questions and / or a self-righteous self affirmed grin (plus a sparkle in you’re eye the size of Bush’s Ego)!
General Interview 2
A:Gender by Joey Hateley
Artistic Director
TransAction Theatre Co.
Join me on a journey across the full spectrum of emotions; wonderment, fear, anger, comedy, tenderness, confusion and hope. To be inspired and entertained: turned inside out, broken down, spat out, put back together, be sent on your way with questions and / or a self-righteous self affirmed grin (plus a sparkle in you’re eye the size of Bush’s Ego).
Some people have more ‘fluid’ characteristics than others… but I think this is often misinterpreted. Fluid to me means changing slowly over the course of ones life as we all do from childhood to adolescence, 20, 30s…. 80s and so on. I hope I’ll never stop evolving! Gender is just one of the ways in which we change over the years. Performativity of gender is different… much more fluid and short-term for me. When people are aware of it they can play with their identity some days or choose not too at other times. We all play different roles every day anyway to a certain extent. It just depends how rigidly you decide to draw the ‘boxes’ around yourself and how hard you fight to the internalisation of you’re ‘identity box’.
Sexuality is who, where and what turns you on. Sex is you’re biological reproductive genitals / bits. Gender is lived ideology acted out through the body. Embodied in the Flesh throughout the years of repetition, consciously and unconsciously perpetuating the illusion of something that’s natural. Reinforced and universalised through different types of social bodies across time. Morphic memory; merely giving the illusion of something’s that concrete. 5000 years built on the presumption that the world is made of binaries; self/other, white/black, good/evil, sun/moon, rational/emotional, mental/physical, Man/Woman. Entire conceptual systems, universal truths, belief structure, identity and morality created by but always in relation to masculine/feminine. For the good of God; for the good of the nation and globalisation, for the perpetuation of a stable workforce. Every Western Tradition and Patriarchal Institution stakes its existence on keeping things the way they are… the way they always have been! The show speaks of a ‘3D rainbow spiders web oscillating above the globe as a metaphor to change our ‘mainframe’/symbolic system or the ways in which we perceive ‘reality’, normality and truth.
It was a joy to work with Manchester based Videographer Sara Maguire and Phat designs / video. I’m not a very technical person… I just have fab ideas that I need help putting into practice and I love collaborating with other artists!
I love creating and performing equally - they are two totally different things but they are my life! I’m also a freelance theatre practitioner who runs workshops directs and devises performances with diverse groups across the country.
Why do you think it’s important for the gay community to have work targeted specifically at them? Many gay artists have expressed unhappiness with always being tagged as a gay artist. Where do you stand on this?
Although its important to see work that re-affirms you’re identity as a marginalized minority (misrepresented in the mainstream), my work reaches far beyond the gay community into the diversity of the human experience. I don’t want to be ‘ghetto’ ised. I believe in the power of consciousness raising theatre – what’s the point preaching to the converted? This show (along with past shows) are written for everyone.
With the emergence of Drag Kings, do you think that females are finally catching up with the Drag Queen concept?
Drag kings can’t be compared to drag queen’s in a binoric way. A lot of Drag Kings express alternative forms of masculinity for their own pleasure. It’s more socially acceptable for men to ‘down’ their status and dress as women but its less acceptable for Drag Kings to ‘up their status’ and ‘pretend’ to be men. It’s not that there are less Drag Kings its just that we don’t see them on TV and in magazines. There are a huge amount of different types of Drag kings and alternative forms of female masculinities as exemplified accessibly and excellently in Judith Halberstam’s book ‘Female Masculinity’. Some Drag Queen’s still ridicule femininity in misogynistic ways. There are so many different types of gender performances going on in the world it would be impossible to know where to begin!
Exploding the spaces between power, gender and sexuality, dIRTY is shocking, insightful and visionary. dIRTY is a peculiar perverted psycho-drama; a multi-art form socio-sexual extravaganza of physical theatre, surrealist poetry, sound-scapes, tragedy, and a man in a nappy! dIRTY is damaged pschye, a self-destruct button, a journey from micro to macro, from morphic memory to shared consciousness and self/social awareness. dIRTY is about violence, survival and the struggle for integration - a metaphor for the self and the globe; making magic in defiance to taboo territories in a self-destructive world. dIRTY is theatre of the periphery; cutting edge ritual, cruelty and desire. We challenge you to not be offended… by the secrets, by dIRTY’s truths, their lies and our twisted minds. Where would you draw the line?
Review of dIRTY (DVD Act 1, Script Act 2).
Written by Mark Emery ~ gender anarchist
Alias Marcosia Jules Merrymake
8/09/05
My senses gleaned deceptively from watching the first Act of Dirty. It initially delights and titillates with a tableau of eccentric characters, wild in their representations, playing teasingly on the edge humour, glittered with sudden ejaculatory explosions of dark adult sexuality, transgressing the edge of comfort and widening the eye of vision, as the innocence of childhood representation is corrupted and forever stained.
This apparent gentle leading in with humour, the mood of circus in the movement, costume and split stage presentation, creates an intriguing yet unsettling landscape of boundaries broken and extreme personalities at war with and entirely dependant on each other.
Stage left is a little easier on the senses, but this is merely a good example of bipolar juxtaposition to create the whirlpool of confusion created when a psyche is trampled on and violated in the ritual act of sexual abuse. Although it could be interpreted that the left side of the stage was masculine and the other feminine, on stage we see the complex labyrinth of an abused psyche, struggling within itself to give house room to its apparently warring yet wholly indivisible fractured elements.
The gross debauchery of stage right shocks the viewer with its visceral sexual abuse made all the more powerful through combining the stage left persona of father and satanic high priest - a brilliant representation as the expression of either are intimately close. Thus the scenes between Jacob, the father figure and Terry the physicist, philosopher F2M are chillingly disturbing and gloriously portrayed in the best tradition of dark theatre, drawing to mind the writings of the Marquis De Sade. These scenes are unflinching in their portrayal of a child moulded by ritual abuse. They are uncomfortable to view but bearable because they are so well done. Isolated on stage this would be hard to watch. Its trauma is ameliorated though by the weird balance of representations the audience sees. This seems like a deliberate ploy as the theatrical technique serves to represent the survival techniques of the abused psyche seeking refuge and coping in a complex compartmentalised internal world.
At the end of Act One another reality appears - a labyrinth from which there is no escape that will always carry fracture and alienation, but will paradoxically strengthen, heal and raise awareness in the search for integration. There is a useful relationships drawn between structures of power in society and abuse in the home. The home is the microcosm of the macrocosm of society. The abuse that occurs there mirrors the power abuses which society itself is equally implicit in.
On a singular note the gremlin is a powerful device on stage, echoing without any dialogue and just through movement and guttural sound the wordless elements of the base ego drives behind the actions and thoughts of some of the characters.
Dirty is a brave attempt to display on stage the many components of an abused psyche and hints at the recently agreed, though sometimes disputed, phenomena of multiple personality disorder, where the psyche fragments into a series of different personalities in order to avoid the horrific trauma of the abuse. It succeeds because it has the courage to represent the internal world of the disintegrated and fragmented psyche without any restriction to prurience or correctness. This makes Dirty a work of radical theatre that needs to be shown to a wider audience. It will not be everyone’s cup of tea and it will certainly rock a few boats. This is what good theatre is all about; not reinforcing the bourgeois values of little Britain, but tearing apart our assumptions and complacency - shocking us; forcing us to encounter issues, which, strange though it might seem, are more at the heart of things than we might realise.
The line ‘take her to hell and she brings herself back every time’ echoes the strangely optimistic ending, where despite the fragmentation and disintegration, we finally see that these are the warring factions within an integrated whole. As such, Dirty is perhaps not simply a portrayal of the panoramas of abuse but a startling glimpse into all of our psyches.
Dirty is a production, which is waiting to be taken on by a company with the courage and resources to present it to a wider public. This is a superb work that needs to reach and enrich a wider audience. It will challenge, but in the challenging it has much to offer and in its entirely is an enriching and fulfilling experience.
Dis’ Passionate STATE is the white washing of culture, a challenge to the audience and a struggle for the performer. An exploration of white privilege, belonging and agency, Dis' Passionate STATE explores the invisible ways in which power operates. Amidst fragmented identity politics of multi-cultural Britain, Dis' Passionate STATE is desperate for coalitions to be built, but is terrified of failing. The psychological implications for denying the existence of Dis’ Passionate STATE is too great a sacrifice to ignore. Dis’ Passionate STATE is a state of meditation and a quest for action, but the performer doesn’t know what to do. Dis' Passionate STATE is a call for disarmament, honesty and responsibility. The performer questions the relationship between lived, inherited, imagined and experienced identity, seeking a different type of reality. Dis’ Passionate STATE tries to reach culturally diverse audiences, but the performer can only hear the sound of their own voice. The show promises a deconstruction of apathy with long periods of dis-connection and moments of catharsis. Dis’ Passionate STATE seeks to find a point of departure and a way forwards throughout the duration of the performance.
Dis' Passionate STATE is desperate for coalitions to be built.
Dis' Passionate STATE is a quest to re-define community.
Dis' Passionate STATE asks the audience to finish the show.
Dis' Passionate STATE is a call for action.
Dis’ Passionate STATE is written and performed by Joey Hateley, devised and directed by Peggy Shaw from Split Britches and produced by TransAction Theatre Company by commission of The Drill Hall, London.
(2006)
With straight men, I’m straight; sometimes a mate.
Gay boys if you’re lucky you can be my date.
Girls - you need to know I’m the best Daddy in the world.
Baby dykes, BOIs & Ys can call me ‘Sir’.
With working grrls I’m a sister
With sluts I am the Emperor
With High femmes I’m the perfect gent
Mistresses, I’m a well-trained faggot
With power femme's I’m a good girl in the sheets
With Asian Femmes I’m a white boy on the streets
Classed and racialised, depending on who I’m with
I’m a target for security and all that is policed
A mutant transgender terrorist.
A Sex Radical Marxist feminist.
I’m a white trash Scally
I’m a gay boy; I’m a tranny
I’m a truant, I’m a freak
What you don’t want your kids to be like
I’ll be everything you want and more
Make you beg for things you never thought possible
Turn you into my slave master mistress
A polyamoras polygamous, playmate.
I see myself as a man, not a woman in drag.
I'm a female transvestite; not a gay man.
I'm a transgendered queer, I am not a drag king.
A female man who fucks gay boys, it seems.
I am a butch femme who sucks boy dykes
A lesbian in a man's body, not transvestite.
I am a butch dyke who straps on for Drag Queens
I'm becoming a man, not a lesbian it seems
I'm a guy with a cunt not a female 'in drag.'
I'm a woman 'in drag', I don't wanna be a man
My masculinity is real, I am not a cross dresser
I'm a drag queen, not a fem impersonator
A gay transvestite and female entertainer
A camp butch sir with no 'bull dyke' behaviour
A bi-butch bottom daddies boy andro switch,
A high femme dyke mommy's girl, a very camp mistress
Pylons bridge road kill infected forests into oilrig cities spread over mountain coloured skies dipped in buttercup radiation as men fall from the moon. A moment of passionate futility outside of time. Protecting my unborn baby with a gun to her head. Sitting on stage like the front line. Confronting you with chromatic departure, as soon as I’ve arrived. Each star struck second so harshly divided, feminising the rhythm, seducing the challenge, alienating myself. Protectors minders and shape shifters - uncertain as the surface of water running breathless into tree trunks rooted in hyper space, our fragility is powerful; sewn into the sleeves of nature. Give life to those who have come before us, speak from beyond the grave, where there are no solid objects and we are everywhere. Connecting in technicolor flow, metta-filled multi-directional rainbows embracing the confusion of worlds beyond words, colliding realities feelings reeling in possibilities of how I could stop and we could begin. Dive in, celebrate, self-sacrifice undo the sensibilities that have deadened us from being here; present; U, I, we, us, bringing every impulse into being like the sweet soul sister seducer of fluidity flowing effervescent food through our swollen veins and faces; making present every sparkle, gasp, dream, endeavour.
There was space. Space and silence. Hold me. There was space and silence, silence and space. Hold me. Please hold me. Touch came. A touch that tingled with consciousness. A mindful touch. An eclipsing sensation. And then it was gone. As if it had never came. Space and silence. Silence and space. Alone again. Hold me. Please. A touch that engulfed me. A touch that sent shivers through my harmony into blissful unity. So complex so simple I smiled, tentatively. I opened, I beamed, I fed from a stranger who’s touch was so intimately tender. I wish to thank you. For serenity. For humility. For a wholesome eternity of beauty, where I am no-longer separate and we are infinitely heavenly.
White trash road to nowhere.
White trash road to bitter resentment.
White trash road to anger over ‘what I ain’t got’.
White trash jealousy of the packy corner shop; racking in a killing - ’97 pence for beans’?!
White trash road to desecrated dignity.
White trash supremacy over that refugee speaking some stupid language; getting a free ride in my country?!
White trash road to dodgy businesses, flashing lights and rotting back rooms. White trash road to Hollywood, media fuelled comparisons’ and disaffected youths – un-grateful; unlike our grandparents taught us.
White trash fear of the Mosque and the Asian communities ‘resourcefulness’
White trash insecurities as our families fall apart around us.
White trash road to gambling, getting wankered and screwing your mates over – never loosing face to the defaced surroundings that we call ‘home’; where we belong, where our roots have grown and our children will die young.
White trash road to drop out, opt out, internalise, decompose and whatever you do stand your ground; with pride, don’t let the bastards see they bring you down.
White trash fear in the middle of the night.
White trash hatred of what isn’t mine.
White trash vomit on piss stained pavements
White trash blag, bullshit and imprisonment.
White trash paranoia; anger through a needle, smacking that bitch up that wants you to pay her!
Screwing ourselves harsher than any ‘outsider’; then stabbing your neighbor.
Do I think I’m something special? I see the world in a unique way! Why’d you wanna hear what I have to say? The need to be understood, like food for thought to sort the madness amongst the storm seeking solace in another’s silence. My learned friends I do digress. Why must I put you and myself through this!? Banging my head against the wall preaching to the converted from the point of view of western privilege. Do you think this makes a difference? It’s what we’re all here for ain’t it? Hear something; see something, touch taste feel something different from the mainstream brainwashing rose tinted bullshit machine. Re-telling reality; re-seeding society, morality, normality, re-working their narratives into our truths until we live our lives by their laws, police ourselves by their rules; becoming our own Hollywood hero’s, in our own little silver screen dream.
Grab opportunity by the balls and make it; take it; work it; fake it; tell everyone that u the man and sell it; cut the slackers the infirm and the handicapped. Everyone can have their share if they want it badly enough; you just gotta fight us for it. Who’s gonna give up football for global warming, MTV for a few million starving, designer clothes for child labour trafficking.
Keep taking your medicine; meths and fags little worker ants. You’re only as free as you are in your brain, cause everything else is tied to your wage, yr age, location, ‘ability’, race, class, gender and sexuality - in a web of institutionalised lies that feeds our bodies spirits minds. The messengers have the real power in our lives. These are the people of whom to be scared. You need only look EVERYWHERE.
I appose fixed identity; expose the queer, black and disabled community; clinging to its crotches and boxes; separating ourselves from society. Can we not fall in love with diversity? What’s behind some-ones eyes instead of what they look like or what’s between they’re thighs? It is time to reclaim control, shame and sexuality. The only way we’re allowed to play as adults; taken away from us. The sex and gender scam; the sacredness of love protected by a sham that feeds the rich and keeps the masses reproducing romanticism, integrated into every part of the system that makes the planet spin.
This place, our space, everything that is cutting edge; stolen sold and re-made; forever on the move. Politics of the periphery, unity through diversity; our underground, our home, our battleground; trickling down; entertaining the troops, feeding mass production in the name of inclusion and mainstream evolution.
Homeless academics, environmental anarchists, disembodied artists, disabled Asian activists, black feminist transgender revolutionaries, it is time to re-define community. Judging each other’s behaviour harsher than any ‘outsider’! Protecting difference through border patrols and ‘insider mentality’? It isn’t a case of distance - them and us; it’s about humanity and a shared responsibility; starting up here, and in here, and right here, between you and me, in every second of reality.
Does what we do make a difference? Do who we are effect change? Working for a Imperialist regime and an early grave. Making the green side of the fence greener; to appease western guilt; as if that’s gonna make the bigger picture shift. It’s different being a gender terrorist when you’re white and you live in UK Manchester! A freedom fighter in a country with clear boundaries and conservative values. I should be doing aid work in Sudan rather than standing here having a wank. Note to self. Do something that’s worthwhile with your time before you die. I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud.
One colour creed ethnicity; from the same continent originally, white trashing a growing global community; a capitalist fascist regime of hypocrisy. The rape of spirituality for financial gain, the drugging of millions for social control, ethnic cleansing in the name of religion, the pillage of landscapes, visionaries, teachers. Oil and arms securing links between countries, Man to Man businesses marriage built on property, the good of God at the expense of humanity; blood ties privileging new life when so many are dying. 97 street kids with AIDS, immigrant workers with a pittance for a wage keeping one westerner in their place, in our plastic palaces of fear fuelled hate. I’m ashamed of my government, my privileged ignorance, ancestral fear of all whom is different. The 1st step to recovery, whether your pink, multi-coloured or flowery is to admit you’re a racist, living in a western supremacist dictatorship.
Damaged disillusioned apathy is the effect of western bureaucracy. Does anybody here have anything to say? Dare to dream the way forward. We’ve at least gotta talk about it. How the fuck are we going to sort this out? If no-ones got the balls to say ‘cut the crap’ - we’re going back in on ourselves. Who’s gonna stand up and say “no more?’ Get yr money back on the door. I’ll be fucked if I know what to say anymore to be cause over this dispassionate state, I’ll just have a chat with the World Bank, that’ll sort it straight out! Who wants to finish this show outside? Shall we take this onto the street when we’re done talking about it?