to progress. beyond.

I heard about this art exhibit at the guggenheim that involved posing a question to every person who came to the show: "what is progress?"

And thinking about it. Progress is. . .

. . .a monopoly on ideas. its really about who gets to decide what is progressive. which person, which formula is truly able to pick out progressivism. is it better now? really? who is to say?

. . .a judgement on what is good and what's better. its a linear relationship on events. something needed fixing, someone made it better, and we progressed. but how is it that all life must be drilled down to a linear equation. an introductory statement, the body paragraph, and a conclusion?

. . .the excuse to get up in the morning. a piece of purpose. If we didn't believe things were getting better, that things were moving forward. why even try?

. . .elitism. progress is a scale on which to balance superiority. think - folks who believe that america has progressed much farther than the sudan. european nations are more progressive than south american countries. why do you think its necessary for people to name "developing" or "third world" nations. its the scale of progress, my friend.

when i think about my life and the role that "progress" has played, i wonder if progress, and the title "progressive," is really the biggest problem. an elitism of who owns progress, who can make it, who has already made it, and who stands in its path. progress is a group of people that exclusively own politics and power. its just another word/philosophy/idea to demostrate how capitalists and, democratic ones at that, choose and try to own other people, movements, struggles, to stand up on the shoulders of the people on the ground to proclaim like originaldreamcolonialistcharacter John Smith without collaboration or question, "This, my friend, this is progress, I have won it for you - you're welcome."

I don't want progress. I want justice. I don't want to own "wins," i want to see communities strengthened and cherished. I don't want figureheadspoliticians--unrepresentativeplaceholders who think they represent us all, tell me what is better than before.

i want something better than progress. something that is circular, something vertical and deep and visibly complex and sticky. and it tastes like vegetables from a local garden and water untainted by toxins and a place to breathe clean air and an opportunity to choose and have dignity and access, to share and love. how can we get there, when we are so concerned with piecemealprogress from this place that we are now?

i want progress beyond progressive.