ECOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
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Finally, opposition requires a third, reconstructive moment. Oppositional
desire may be symbolized by the ‘opposable thumb’ that brings reconstructive
and evolutionary possibilities into being through critical invention. Often, the
desire for resistance is the mother of invention as oppressive circumstances
inspire us to imagine and reason new ways not only to survive but to flourish.
Opposition is incomplete without the act of reconstructing a coherent and
organically rational vision of the future. It is insufficient to merely critique and
contest social and ecological injustice. Opposition enters into its fullness when
we begin to think through our oppression to create a desirable new world.
The expression of oppositional desire can be suppressed by authority,
but it cannot be dissipated altogether. Moments of overt oppositional desire
emerge in the direct demands for freedom that make up the body of social
demonstrations and resistance throughout history. However,
oppositional
desire cannot always be expressed overfly. Sometimes, it will assume covert
forms ranging from anonymous acts of sabotage to the most subtle expressions
of psychological resistance. The sodo-erotic, then, represents not just the overt
expression of a range of sodal desire. It also represents the potential for sodal
desire, the impulse toward freedom itself. Oppositional desire is the force that
pushes green tongues of weeds through cracks of the blandest parking lots,
just to say: “I will not go away.” It is that which inspires us to resist, not just to
fulfill our basic material needs, but to express our desire for a particular quality
of life, a particular sensuality, connectedness, and texture that endows life with
meaning and a deep sense of satisfaction.
FivE QuaIMes Of OpposhioNAl DesIre
All five fingers of sodal desire can be rendered oppositional in a context of
sodal hierarchy and oppression. For instance, sensual desire may assume an
oppositional dimension when we oppose forces which obstruct our desire for
sexual or sensual self-expression. Women’s fight for sexual freedom represents
a form of oppositional sensual desire as women fight for file right to love and
determine the fate of their own bodies. The movement for lesbian, gay,
bisexual,
and
oppositional
institutions
transgendered
desire
of
when
compulsory
liberation
people
take
represents
action
heterosexuality.
to
Sensual
moments
challenge
desire
of
overt
patriarchal
assumes
an
oppositional dimension when we incorporate our love for beauty into forms
of direct action, creating new ways to express dissent and visions of a utopian
future through visual art, theater, music, and poetry. The desire for ‘nature’,
when expressed in oppositional terms, represents as well an expression of
oppositional developmental desire. The yearning to restore and elaborate
ecological integrity by contesting capitalist and state practices, and the desire to
fight file parallel social and ecological injustices that constitute environmental