Spectacular Times THE SPECTACLE The Skeleton KepsNever go back? This double reprint was originally published as 'The Spectacle: A Skeleton Key'(1981) and 'The Spectacle: Another Skeleton Key'(1982) [Numbers 8 and 9 in the Pocketbook Series]. Both issues went out-of-print very quickly. We frequently receive requests to reprint earlier issues in the Pocketbook Series and to explain some of the basic ideas expressed in Spectacular Times. 'The Skeleton Keys' is an attempt towards meeting those requests. 'The Skeleton Keys' is not philosophy pre-packed for consumption. It is just another tool and should only be used as such. Think for yourself - test the ideas you find here. How would you argue against them? How would you defend them against the argument that you have just constructed? Look around. Don't accept anything that doesn't check out in the light of your own experience. pepprrrr 1983 cil,” and tapping would not work if it could. be-made ‘own and challenged i cour | He ays the publie should trust par truth case ‘he seeret decisions made by | Mints andi savas of power wont but yt w CHE aa seve OAR Ove Conkid cnet, (LIU Cee, We can tranqullis, pede, meee, shoe, opel, stp), nays este, chill, tempararily Did, deafen or just phin seare the wits ont of anyone thw police havea proper need to contol and restr,” Te Home Otc i tote a | new form of pre strobe un devigned for not contzl, ‘The gun, shaped like a largo | hairdryer, causes a wide range ‘of effeets, rom momentary di traction fo severe naused and headaches, In some individuals ft ean) cause a mild form of epilepay. White collar cops: at Toms River, New Jersey, Lightsensitive people can be a i hrown info a ‘Dover Tomasi Potice Chief Richard (: Chement Te if wi sty at Copia 1 vies whlch are rite a . a ne HH teed it be ole Ahk orcs Ty League ok, Al tice from Scienife Development Branch Sergeant (o captain are getting the new uniform equipment. laboratory ia St Albans, Herts, which is designed, says the chic, to loninale | the American policeman's more sal (restapo looka clei: RIOT BATON geod Fer busiwess Feo! ats mk "We are poisoned by the Spectacle, All the flononts necessary for a cure (that de for the construction of our everyday lives) aro in the hands of specialivts.” Raoul Vanai gen " ai atation which is built on the original alte of the inn of the good Samritan,” "Your Guide to Jordan" I - or eat ‘The secvanty of the specialists of fewer oe carefully HOHE sane Unemployment means the Army can pick and chooses the average intelligence of recruits has risen, though bright men ae nt aways thought cesrable (If you're in Ballymurphy you don’t want your chap saying ‘Why me?” when you ell him to shoot_the chap ‘on the next roof"), As their of |duly seeshirts ested, they regarded themelies as the tnd mohe—[“ovemier wnt Cobras” (the vo Ok wad Cia belog the SPG' adap ‘ fod symbol), and 19 rile Lane to feel speeval, dos ve her STG. |they would arrive on duty iunming, in fine unison, the Dambusters’ Maech,Gut jin the eva, what do they yh astik?, agut! ak funy hat? ‘Th they are doing so wall hy ire their lives Filled with the sane wind tunbing mediocrity that the rest at us safler? The good life BRITONS last year spent wore on aleohol, wed their cary more, and: spent more Hine watehing television, How long vill they stoy lel seraats? "Vaile 1t a obvious that detaila of the faust emit vie too pe, (Le ‘meonmaary (lo Lait the {nformtion given to the alddle and Vovar ranks of the police, security foroes and emergency arvicen 1n case 1t affects their willingness to perfors," from "Open Road” bh they tvet monder whose side thy BFE BA ase “ever woes ncung Flt Stet ocogrpter rpm aah lag inden, Arup of plain cots men ‘ere ee arin fom Brion pice station ated wth ih ave hades bound wit lac inulin tg, ‘Ueilored ple rid othe ol fo war with thse imple. ‘They were cep, anne 4A whe ie on Cher ‘The Brixton Aight hada taumatle eft mt ‘They say thal thelt command, structure wat In dliarray. ‘Among the storles which are ow i bitterly repeated is 4 suggestion that some senior ffcers removed thelr own pauletes a0 that they would fot be targets for the rioters and thus made it {mposstble for junior ofces to know who ‘Was supposed to be In charge, Aeetat evente nuit have shown hue Who choove to serve power - when ph tomes to shove « juik how fre they tan rly on their ‘suparives®,Fragmentation Beause appeetsion is delegated down the power yen through spevalite, 4 precsion ‘sale is. specialized. While we ore highly watited to ottock the oppresion that pinches as most. iF we toncentrate solely on our ome gurttalar Baal oyprresion. we play tito the hands of the ipeeialsks of power, Fighting one oppression we mast sever lobe sight of the fact that it 4 only, part of the total oppression, Frgneatory ristone my win Us ome inpiiemant iw our oun position | ME May ita win» victory — but fir caer hed” we cut off the monster grout « new one in anather place, "Anything les than a direct attack upon all the conditions of our lives is not enough." Carol Birlich "Prnguentary opposition ia like the teath on 4 cogwhee] = they narry together to make the nachine go round, the machine of the Spactacle, tho machine of pover....averyone is asked his opinion of every detail to stop them having one of tha totality." Raoul Vaneigen “CNDS pection Is that we Want to get rid of nuclear wea: pons, We dont vant io vel enlancled with other issues” Fragmentry teustence is often blind to the betel oppression ( oad to its ead bnurdity), CHE, the Campalen for Homoserval, quality, 16 co: | ordinating the reform moves jand wi the case of a Aormer bombardier in the Hoval Anlllery, Mt Sohn Bruce, who issuing the British Govern ment in. the European Court {or courlemartalling him last year, He wat sentenced {0 nine rwonihe and a discharge: with lsgrace for having sex with another man while on leave {ru the Army 1 was Just about 0, lead imo sections of mien 10 Nor em [reland when the Miia Police pounced.” Me Brice yt esterday Support uy (ats! fine, So that 4" Soldiers tan ge bo cid the opprention a Ubter?"The struggle for sonething to eat, for confort, for stable omploynent and for security are, on the social front, so many aggressive raids vhich, despite their very real _inportance , are slovly but surely becoming rearguard actions," Vane gen All sw phyval meatal ond enotionsl taeryy ond wrabiity ib avhausted jut surviving . jst tiying, to make our ttisbence tolerable: "The incapacity of many people to cope with the world they live dn io not a problen of basic | inebilities but a problen of trained incompat. one," Howard J, Ehrlich Therapy ‘Certainly a sassive propaganda campaign to publicize the possibility of a revolution, of a total transformition of the vorld ds vitally iaportant = but it vill prove totally ineffective if it isn't simultaneous with the creation of mass therapy... people in the atreeta, in the offices and factories know dann wall what's going on, even if they can't write ossays about all its theoretical ramifications. The point is they can't do anything about it, What needa understanding is the state of paralysis everyone is ins” Christopher G1 ("ening the 20th Contury""Ite criteria are only valid for thoae who accept the Spectacle and are satiefied vith playing a role in it." Raoul Vanei gen soot fr the et. Hhere are plenty f already, rteuperabed alternatives twoilable, wv rege sun on bu sean ny CND Xmas Cards Resisting n bes of simple sural condanas ut to the sluery of working for Freedom, © | Liquid protest "People will never break out of their statis for the sake of a minor rearrangenent, There have been too aany already, Only the hope off a total change ia going to inflane anybody, Who tho hell is going to exert thenselves to get another frozen chicken, another pokey room’ fut the possibilities of living in one's om cathedrals..." Cheletophor Gray Near at hand, another land "Cur remarks on the construction of everyday life cannot be recuperated by cultural or sube ulturel establishaonts (thinkers with three veka paid holiday) for the very good reason that all eitutionlet ddeas are no sore than the development of acts attenpted constantly by countless people to try to prevent another "dey being no nore than twenty-four hours of wanted tine,” ‘Agoul Vangiger AVINEYARD worker, Gerard Stngle, 2, opened the taps of wae casks in i th: plover's cellar at Nuits St Georges, endiug ot 3500000 of topquali Tigo dove the sees ecaue he did wt like caplolit,” police reparied vestBehind Ure pathetic search for new palitwal port ies by pis gates to follow, gos to worship , tne contomer goods, Atel experiences and Ate ‘Mternatives' ig avery real need bo break out of the Sacitty of the Spectacle (it nly for on hour 0 wetk), but hang nistaken the Spectacle for reality people try to be ‘realistic’ sbast their se a they *kaow® life cau'l be like that oll the Kime. Now the new alternatives ore “discovered” 06 ligt as the Spectacle can produce them. Sp what 1s be be done ? for a stort we con look for ogpor tunities to intervene in radical situations ~ to try ty speed wp the reishtinary froeess, To idevtity the real demand — the demand for real lifes the one demand | the Spestacle cannot mack. To encutiye people to be trly realistic ond demand the impossible , 1 Engaters manic sik of | "Neaningful action, for revolutionaries, ia viatever increases the confidence, the autonomy, the initiative, the participation, the solidarity, the equalitarian tendencies and the selfsactivity of the mssos and vhatever assists in their demystification, Sterile and hareful action ia viatever teinforces the passivity of the moaoa, their apathy, their cyniciem, their differentiation through hierarchy, their alienation, their reliance on others to do things for then and the degree to which they can therefore be tanipulated by others = even by those allegedly acting on their behalf," Solidarity (London, Tawitably a at of the ime we are ?4 tobe made to Geel Ue the Vans Andersen character who didw't Kwan obout the | tlothes . Communicating ww dilkicatt, | Ta the Scaty of the ue peckacle you con 500 .. pains ct the bars util ys try be BN GRUTLCED BY We Pave!” get out,"How ig daily life to be reinvented? Ty crouting situations that jolt people out of customary vaya of thinking and behaving... seve have to see through the Spectacle, destroy the atage sets, now that there are other ways of doing things," Carol Ehrlich To conkront the Spectacle with iks twin irrelevance, To create - ot | ‘ nhich qe bey ad the point oF 0 return, nyt +0 situation OTHER TIMES STO = ‘ANIMALS! = 45p STIL - 'MORE OF THE SHAME’ ~ 40p Reprint $18/9 - ‘THE SKELETON KEYS' ~ 50p All prices include postage = cheques and postal orders payable to ‘Spectacular Times!, Abroad = Sterling cheques or money orders only (any negotiable currency bills/notes are also acceptable) SUBSCRIPTIONS Sond us £1.00 (or more) and ve will arrange for a UNIFORMED STATE EMPLOYER to deliver each now iseue of ST to the address of your choice - and we'll remind you when the foney runs out, This Issue Compiled & written by Larry Law Production by Liz Printed by Acorn Bookshop, 17,Chathan St. Reading. Cover printed by Presto Print Reading. 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