TOSCA Time: Feral Revolutionary Howl for Our Democracy
by The Ox
Son of Peter Weiss’ Marat and Abbie Hoffman

NOTE: For those who have no patience for anything resembling poetry, or have a short attention span, or are just soooo busy… you can jump to http://oxtogrind.org/archive/350, which will provide a sound bite of what’s below [actually, a better link for you, Arundhati, if Hamish Hamilton sent you here on my recommendation]. Another option is to only glance at what’s in boldface below.

“God bless the Berrigan brothers, but no one should have to suffer in jail again to push the powers that be. Or write to gangster politicians, pleading. [Long pause.] Nor march in circles.” — A voice in my sleep

TOSCA = Taking Over the State of California. Nonviolently. Legally. I wanted to title this piece TOSCA Time: Feral Revolutionary Howl, but I didn’t want to lose too many souls before I got rolling. This is the CONDENSED version of this article. The full piece is available upon request. THE READER can skip the quotes directly below and proceed to the paragraph that begins with OUR GOVERNOR. Only three provisos: THE READER must acknowledge first that no Democratic or Republican candidate in the 2010 Californian gubernatorial race will — to put it mildly — serve their interests sufficiently. And… that none of the marginalized “other parties” have a chance in hell of winning. And… that there is too much of an urgency connected with too many major issues to simply be satisfied with planting political seeds. Don’t be dismissive because you don’t believe we can pull this off. I can tell you HOW once you get behind the thrust of TOSCA http://oxtogrind.org/archive/331.

“Few people know about the revolutionary roots of Opera. Less know how the Paris Opera not only managed to escape destruction during the French Revolution, but was protected by French revolutionary officials, despite its long association with the royal court and ostentatious displays of aristocratic opulence.” — The author’s mentor, who first recommended the use of Puccini’s Tosca for the acronym TOSCA

“[Laws are] spider-webs for the powerful and the rich, chains that no steel can break for the small and weak, fishing nets in the hands of the government.” — Proudhon, who embraced a lifelong stance against violence

Why do people in California have to suffer through nightly news reports which televise politicians coming out from behind closed doors to announce the state of their negotiations on the budget? Why can’t we watch them negotiate? And why can’t we watch Obama and his brainstorming over federal budgetary (and other) issues?

OUR GOVERNOR and Lieutenant Governor will be figureheads of a sort for the purposes of satisfying electoral requirements. In fact, our (non-politician) figureheads will be two of about a dozen citizens serving California from the Sacred Seat in Sacramento together. All decisions will be made by the group/coalition/union. And all meetings will be filmed for public consumption, providing true transparency. The idea is to enable the public to determine for themselves who the gangsters are, and who represents their points of views, their hearts’ desires. Who is concerned with their needs. Who sees what is actually being experienced, felt in the streets, in the homes of the vast majority of people.

No one in our Governor group will be interested in a career in politics. The group will be primarily interested in achieving certain publicly stated goals during their tenure. Those goals will be arrived at through constant dialogue between our group and all interested citizens from now until election day. In fact, the composition of the coalition will be determined by voters prior to the statewide election. No primaries because we will have no party affiliation, but… who winds up serving in the group will be determined in great part by the say so of citizens. As you read this there is ample time to recommend this person or that person. Recommend yourself as a candidate, if you like. And while you’re at it… make sure to express your views on any given issue.

Which brings me to question of ACCESS. Citizens will have, for the first time in the history of California (the country, I believe*), access to one or more members of the gubernatorial group 24×7. Again, HOW this sort of thing will be implemented — HOW any given element of TOSCA will be implemented — can be delineated upon request. First decide if you like the basic framework.

*Actually, we’re probably talking about “the world” here.

Whereas the general public will have a greater say than ever before with any political party, there will be NO SAY respecting certain issues on which a Governor of California can move unilaterally (See http://oxtogrind.org/archive/311). One example is the Death Penalty. I can tell you ahead of time — and perhaps save a lot of heartbeats — that no one will be executed in California during the tenure of TOSCA. In fact, we’ll most likely be able to lay the groundwork for permanent abolition of capital punishment in the state, influencing other states to act likewise. Another specific part of our agenda has to do with political prisoners. Our present system of incarceration makes EVERYONE suffer, even those who are barricaded within gated communities. Ask us to delineate our absolute stances in all realms.

A few very interesting considerations:

Our figureheads will be write-in candidates.

With or without the solidarity of well-intentioned, principled “other parties” our write-in candidates will garner more votes than any other “third party” in California history — overnight, out-of-nowhere, with no mainstream media outlet coverage to speak of — creating serious ripples nationally and internationally even if we lose. Multiply that “impact” by a thousand-fold if we lose but pull in more votes than one of the major parties.

The powers that be can’t do away with the thrust of TOSCA by eliminating any given individual vis-a-vis scandal, assassination, etc. Any member of our coalition — in that sense — can be replaced easily.

OUR “CAMPAIGN” WILL BE WAGED ON A ZERO BUDGET. We don’t need any money whatsoever to do this. Recruitment will NOT be based on fund raising. Only those totally bereft of imagination can fail to see what a victory based on that would mean*. Why we know that we’re creating a watershed in history.

*Internationally

I think I’ll stop here.

Revolution speaks for itself… as it is happening.

There’s only so much blah blah that’s worth the heartbeats ahead of time.

Keep doing your good work in whatever corner you’ve chosen. Ten minutes of your time TOTAL will enable you to participate as per http://oxtogrind.org/archive/315 (See A-H at the bottom). Most of our high profile supporters http://oxtogrind.org/archive/336 have not committed to more than that… and that’s all the general public needs to do. However, with a small core group of citizens on fire and willing to do a bit more, we can — I promise that I won’t waste your heartbeats — that we’ll motivate sufficient numbers*. And have fun in the process.

*This is the furthest thing in the world from a traditional voter registration drive.

What can be better than doing the right thing, being in solidarity with the sweetest people on earth?

With all due respect to Henry Miller, I am the happiest man alive!

“The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky,—
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat—the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.”

To be honest, I feel that everyone should make TOSCA a top priority. I do not see anything else on the activist table as an option for moving in solidarity in large enough numbers soon enough. And moving en masse expeditiously is absolutely necessary. I am NOT attached to TOSCA, except that I see no viable alternative for meaningful collective large scale action at present. Only a handful of demonstrations within the last half-century + (at best) fall into the kind of category I’m talking about, and that does NOT include the first huge (international) gathering protesting the Iraq War.

Richard Martin Oxman at headburg@yahoo.com
http://oxtogrind.org/archive/305 delineates some of my background
http://www.counterpunch.org/mickey02102004.html covers some of what my family accomplished in 2004 with no experience and less of a budget producing what was arguably the biggest cultural/political/environmental event in the history of Santa Cruz, California, a “progressive” bastion known for such fare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM-Hdn7h7tU#GU5U2spHI_4 shows what our youngest did on the campus of Stanford University in prep for the arrival of Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka… just prior to being “asked to leave” (escorted off campus) for talking about Bechtel’s privatization of Bolivian water on the grounds of Stanford’s Bechtel International Center; about 7′, it should be seen through to the end.
www.frenchpaintbox.com, www.cancerfreeitaly.com and www.parisgraves.com are archived, dated sites which, nevertheless, provide a family introduction of sorts… along with www.marcelsgeo.blogspot.com and www.sosylvie.typepad.com