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Eyewear Publishing - Giacomo Donis

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244 pages

English

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A people's history and the horror of war: Howard Zinn meets Apocalypse Now. Political autobiography. March 1972, about to graduate from NYU. A journey: two days and nights in the New York subway. Love it or leave it. A decision: become a Great Academic Marxist; blow up the Williamsburg Bridge; go into exile. Vietnam Veterans with placards, for and against the war. Seven placard-men at the seven gates of Thebes, brandishing their shields. A decision. Political or personal? Or pure Zen? Mind or no-mind? Kill for peace! Dylan, Hendrix, or the Fugs. The two Suzukis, or Dogen. Monk and Coltrane! The relation between Hegel's logic of thinking as such and his logic of practice, which does not exist. The screech of the subway stops. A fork where three roads cross, the realm of shadows, what is to be done? A Chinese menu? Stab it! Stab it with your fork! But what I, myself, decide is not the point. The point is the question of 'what a decision is and what making a decision means.' The answer is 'never stop asking.' Ask yourself. Ask FDR, JFK, LBJ, McNamara and his band, John Kerry, or a Vietnam War veteran of your choice. Ask Nixon, Kissinger-Trump! Ask Trump! Ye great decision-makers, have you ever asked yourselves what a decision is and what making a decision means! That is the question. The Empty Shield asks it. Repeatedly, repetitiously, abysally, and, possibly, once and for all.

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Activism

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Publié par	Eyewear Publishing
Date de parution	20 mai 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781839782565
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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First published in 2020
by Eyewear Publishing Ltd
Suite 333, 19-21 Crawford Street
London, W 1 H 1 PJ
United Kingdom
Cover design and typeset by Edwin Smet
Printed in England by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved
2020 Giacomo Donis
The right of Giacomo Donis to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Seth Benardete, excerpts from Two Notes on Aeschylus Septem from Sacred Transgressions: A Reading of Sophocles Antigone. Originally published in Wiener Studien 80 (1967) and 81 (1968). Reprinted with the permission of St. Augustine s Press.
Eihei Dogen, excerpts from Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Master Dogen, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Copyright 1985 by the San Francisco Zen Center. Reprinted by permission of North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus Giroux, LLC.
Douglas Linder, excerpts from An Introduction to the My Lai Courts-Martial (1999). Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Ezra Pound, excerpts from Canto I and Canto CXIII from The Cantos. Copyright 1934, 1969 by Ezra Pound. Excerpts from Homage to Sextus Propertius from Selected Poems of Ezra Pound. Copyright 1926 by Ezra Pound. Reprinted by permission of Faber Faber, Ltd. and New Directions Publishing Corp.
From Zen Mind, Beginner s Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki. Protected under the terms of the International Copyright Union. Reprinted by arrangement with The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Shambhala Publications Inc., Boulder, Colorado, www.shambhala.com .
We have made every effort to contact The Fugs to obtain permission for the use of copyright material. To no avail. In any event, the author wishes to thank Edward Sanders and the late Tuli Kupferberg, who is at the heart and soul of this book.
ISBN 978-1-912477-92-0

in memory of Wolfango Intelisano
6 October 1942 - 15 December 2012
friend, true brother, genius of political art, even dead you breathed life into this Empty Shield
An Enemy of the People
Prologue
Departure
The First Gate
The Second Gate
The Third Gate
The Fourth Gate
The Fifth Gate
The Sixth Gate
The Seventh Gate
The Gateless Gate
Epilogue: political autobiography
Postscript: a palimpsest
Acknowledgment
Biography
An Enemy of the People
a grilling
Friday, 13 June, 2014: I go to Milan in peace, with a light heart. Joyful.
I had written to the Consul:
Pardon me, but I would like to say this, and correct me if I m wrong: I think that being a citizen of a free country entails being able to freely relinquish this citizenship, just as it means being able to freely leave the country. Isn t this one of the things that has always distinguished the United States as a free country from certain unfree countries around the world?
And the Section Chief, Mr. W., actually responded! and gave me the appointment for renunciation of my almost 64-year-old US citizenship that had been denied me for four months.
So here I am.
The Consulate itself is a menacing little skyscraper right in the center of Milan. US soil. A medieval fortress with a modern face. An invisible moat around it, full of piranhas, or probably worse. 2 p.m., a blazing sun, I stand outside the door with 4 or 5 other visitors. We sweat. We wait. Security. One person admitted at a time, to the first chamber.
Take off your jacket, take off your belt, take off your shoes, NO SUNGLASSES, KEEP YOUR HANDS IN PLAIN SIGHT AT ALL TIMES -Hey, hey, USA! And you keep asking, Why do they hate us?! Second door opens. Empty chamber. Third door, opens. Long empty corridor. Elevator, goes exclusively to the 7th floor. Up I go. 7th floor: more security -armed to the teeth.
Feeling a little less joyful. Tired. I get to meet Signor S.! the nameless clerk ( no, I m not allowed to tell you my name ) I d been phoning nearly once a week, whatever the day, at 2 p.m. sharp, since last March, a kind, friendly, patient man. News of my appointment? I m between a rock and a hard place, he told me one day. And yesterday at 2 p.m. he phoned me! Told me his name! Spoke Italian. (He is Italian.) Wanted to have all my papers filled out and ready for me. Stia tranquillo , take it easy, you ll just be signing these papers, swearing the oath of renunciation, won t take you long at all. Last address in the US: 1972, 137 Rivington Street, NY NY. Want my phone number too? I joked: 777-1056, it s so catchy I can t forget it. Where s this Rivington Street? he asked me. Lower East Side. Puerto Rican then-violent, cheap-gentrified now. We chatted about his trip to New York, to Harlem in particular.
Now, in Milan, I see Signor S. beaming at me, a white-haired man in his (late?) fifties, from his side of the bullet-proof glass separating us-just a little hole to speak through. Without thinking, I put out my hand (IN PLAIN SIGHT) to shake hands with this kind, formerly nameless man-an awkward gesture! The security guard flinched.
Through the small slot I give Signor S. my US passport, for good, and my Italian Identity Card and name-change (James to Giacomo) document to be photocopied. I go to another hole in the glass and pay the $450 renunciation fee. Then I wait to meet the Consul-actually Section Chief. Sitting down, I hope. Nope. Standing in front of another hole in the glass.
Hi, I m Patrick. Throws me for a loop. I don t even remember that Mr. W. s first name is Patrick, I try to glance at the copy of his email I have, in plain sight, among the papers in my hand, to check the name. Yes, Patrick. Very friendly! Good! I see Signor S. standing, deferentially (Patrick was the only one sitting down), behind him, to his right. I say, I really want to thank you for responding to my appeal and facilitating this procedure [after 4 months of agony], and I want to thank Signor S. too, for his patience. [Sure, I m trying to be friendly, but I m also perfectly sincere.]
Now, Patrick says: This is a very very sad day for me. [Ye gods, I wonder, what s wrong?! I hope his cat didn t die this morning.] This is the one part of my job that makes me feel very very sad. [Yes, he said very very sad twice in a row.]
I see Signor S. stop beaming. I feel a Euripidean black cloud descending, and I m not wrong.
US citizenship is the most valuable thing in the world. It is the most precious thing anyone can have and there can be no good reason for giving it up. You are going to have to tell me exactly why you want to renounce it. My tongue is suddenly heavy as lead. Billy Budd flashes through my mind, killing the Master-at-arms because of his convulsed tongue-tie. Speak, man! said Captain Vere. Speak! defend yourself. But Billy could not speak- his right arm shot out and Claggart dropped to the deck. I tell myself: relax, there s bullet-proof glass. Stai tranquillo . Ride out the storm.
Do you feel animosity towards the United States? Not at all, I say. [So much for sincerity, but I realize I m about to be grilled like a sausage in a skillet.] I hope we can part as friends. But this is not Patrick s intention. Not in the least. You have to tell me the real reason why you want to give up this citizenship. For a long quarter of an hour he tries relentlessly to heat things up, and I to cool them down. Not easy! And I m really tired now, it has already been a very long day for me, getting up early, the trip from Venice, the heat.
So, I go through the-completely sincere-reasons I d already stated at the Venice consular office last week. Knowing all along that Patrick has read the report and is-clearly, and to my complete surprise- not happy with it in the least! In short:
I ve been living in Italy for over 40 years; in the past 20 years I have been in the US for exactly one week; due to ill health I cannot travel at all-and certainly cannot cross oceans-not now and, in all likelihood, not ever. When I became an Italian citizen in 1999 I had no intention whatsoever of retaining my US citizenship, and the Embassy in Rome informed me of how simple it was to renounce it. But my mother pleaded with me, please, why can t you keep both citizenships?! [Other reason, unmentionable : my cousin s hare-brained idea that with dual citizenship you can get Social Security (ha ha!) plus you have everything to gain and nothing to lose (ha ha ha ha!).] But my mother has changed her mind over the years, we have talked about it a lot. About the fact that citizenship means owing allegiance to a country, not just having-benefitting from-its passport, and I owe all my allegiance to Italy and none at all to the United States. Which does not mean Italy is perfect or that I love every single thing it does or that happens here -- Patrick interrupts me: Yes, yes, that s all fine and good, but none of this is a reason for renouncing US citizenship. With all the trouble you re going through, waiting so long [thanks!], coming to Milan despite your health, paying the fee-No! this is not a reason for renouncing your being a citizen of the United States!
But I ve been living in Italy since I was 21, for 42 years, practically my whole adult life.
But you lived the first 21 years in America, what about that?!
Well, what about it? I stammer. My allegiance is to Italy, not to America. I do not consider myself an American, I do not feel American, isn t that a reason?
No, that s not your real reason, Patrick says.
I feel like I m trying to break a hole in the prison wall with my bare hands.
I also stated that I oppose dual citizenship on principle . For so many people-rich people especially, football players-a passport is just a convenience, a tool, there is no identity involved, no political obligation whatsoever.
Patrick liked the word political -he d been waiting for it and he pounced on it.
OK, you left the US in 1972 and have never lived there since. Why did you leave at that time, and why didn t you ever go back?
SirYesSir! Vietnam. Patrick knew where he wanted to get me. Yes,