Call For Submissions: The Lies That Build Empire
Calling all media makers: we’ll soon be kicking off BPF’s 2013 series, The System Stinks, and we need your help to make it happen! First up on the year’s list of themes:
The Lies That Build Empire
Observation shows us how lies cause suffering in our own lives. And some of the lies we encounter are those entrenched in systems, power structures, laws, norms, and language.
If you work hard enough, you can be somebody.
The poor deserve their fate.
Prisons, wars, and bank bailouts make civilians safer.
Good immigrants follow the rules and wait in line for citizenship.
Strong people don’t cry.
There are only two genders, men and women, and love between them yields national prosperity.
How do system-level lies affect us, personally and spiritually? Who benefits materially from these lies? Who benefits from denying that systemic lies or fictions help perpetuate real material differences? (Example: declaring “We are all one” does not magically create racial equality.) How do these lies buttress and lubricate the consolidating of resources, money, & power into the hands of a few? What makes them seductive — why might we want to believe in them? And if we interrupt these lies — in our own minds and collectively — is this enough to interrupt the crushing grip of global empire?
If you are a spiritual and political seeker looking to contribute toward liberation, we would love to hear from you. Send your Buddhist, Buddhist-friendly, or spiritual-activist media — art, essays, films, poems: you name it — to submissions@turningwheelmedia.org by January 15th, to be featured on Turning Wheel in February 2013. Selected works will also go into the PDF curriculum for The System Stinks, distributed to Buddhist Peace Fellowship members and study groups internationally.
We’re especially excited for media reflecting on
- action & organizing
- theory
- personal stories
- practices we can try at home
We also have a soft spot for media that demonstrates some of the creator’s vulnerability and courage, including a willingness to be surprised, and wrestle authentically with strong counter-arguments or uncomfortable contradictions. We’ve all got ‘em. The question is whether and how we learn from them.
Thank you for sharing your practice! Metta and solidarity,
Jupiter Das
I am a Buddhist. and I am a lover of budha. I will send a poem very soon to you on the above address
Regards
Jupiter Das
INDIA
Jupiter Das
I want to join buddiest conference any where at world . Kindly inform me so that I can attain IT
Regards
Jupiter Das
INDIA
Jupiter Das
KINDLY PROVIDE ME MORE INFORMATION BOTH BY MAIL AND POSTAL
My Address is
Regards
Jupiter Das
General Secretary
Voice of People
Tilada,Gopinathpur,Kendupatana
Cuttack-754203
INDIA
CELL 9861473447,9437447675
Katie Loncke
Hi Jupiter Das! Happy to hear you’d like to contribute a poem. I’d love to help out with a list of upcoming Buddhist conferences or gatherings, but unfortunately I don’t know of a centralized list like that. I’ll ask around though and see what I might be able to learn.
At this time we can’t really mail out information, but we try to make everything pretty clear and available here on our site: at the top, you’ll find more about BPF and Engaged Buddhism. Hope that’s helpful!
Take good care,
Katie
jpjesusss
Some love for the cartoonist: http://www.rall.com/rallblog/
Oedipa M.
Here is a lie that builds Empire: the corporations are making the rules, and we are the powerless victims. Many of us pretend that we are not complicit in empowering the corporations through our purchases. We think that we are being mindful of our purchases by looking for items that say “organic” or what have you, but we often do not look hard enough at how our monies contribute to corporations’ enrichment and the planet’s depletion.
I recommend checking out Daniel Goleman’s “Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything.” His insights can help us understand how we scapegoat and create the other in order to avoid our own responsibility.