تغميسة بالأحلام…ولا بالأحلام

للأحلام أهمية في حياتنا ومرتبطة بكلمات وأفعال لا تنفصل عنها. في تغميستنا تناقشنا بكيف أن الأحلام تكبر وتتغير معنا، فهي ليست بشيء ثابت. اختلاف الحاضرين بالجلسة غذاها بتنوع بالعمق وجعلنا ندرك بأن الأحلام غير مرتبطة بعمر أو أطر نضعها في حياتنا أو حتى تُوضع لنا.

بدايتنا للجلسة بسؤال ما هو حلمك؟ فتح الأبواب لقصصنا الشخصية بأن تدخل دون استئذان، كلما تعمقنا وانغمسنا بقصصنا وما هو قريب لحياتنا وواقعنا كلما كان التعلم بالجذور، يرويها ويغذيها وقد يصلح التعبان منها. تنقلنا بين الأحلام دون أن نعرف الوجهة النهائية لهذا التجوال الفكري، ولكن في هذه الجولة كنا جميعاً نبحث عن النور.

الأحلام شئ خاص جدا يرافق الشخص كظله، كما نحترم أفكارنا وأفكار الآخرين، لا بد أن نحترم أحلامنا وأحلام الآخرين. لذلك كان السؤال هل ما تشاركه هو حلمك؟ ام حلم الحياة المدنية الحديثة التي نعيش؟ حتى احلامنا قد تصبح استهلاكية عندما تُحتل العقول، الاحتلال يمنعنا من أن نحلم احلام مرتبطة بذواتنا. احتلال الأرض واحتلال الفكر قد يمنعاننا من أن نحلم فترتبط الأحلام بالحرية، حرية تحقيق الأحلام، الحرية من داخل الإنسان ومن خارجه بما يعيش من واقع. احتلال اللغة يضيف بعداً آخراً، بكيف استبدلت اللغة الحية بلغة مؤسسات مرجعيتها بعيدة عن حياتنا.

بهذه التغميسة خرجنا بمجموعة أسئلة، ما علاقة الحلم بالأمل؟ وما علاقة الحلم بالخيال؟ والفرق بين الحلم والرؤيا؟ وبين الحلم والهدف؟ وهل ممكن لأحلامنا بأن تصبح عبء علينا؟ وما علاقة الحلم بالوهم؟ وما هي العلاقة بين الحلم والحقيقة؟ وهل لنا أن نضع الأحلام على مشرحة التقييم؟ ومتى ندرك بأننا نعيش أحلامنا؟

لا يوجد حلم لا يتحقق ولكن متى نُدرك بأنه تحقق.

education for what?

wrong side of capitalism

I’m wary of the term “education”, because of the historic use of education to enslave populations through systematic indoctrination. Education has been used strategically in the colonization of our minds as a means of erasing our identities and loosening traditional ties, and allowing us to accept the destruction of our social and ecological fabric.

Education still separates us economically, as knowledge becomes capitalized through the privatization of education. So only those who can afford high tuitions can access a private education, which then provides access to employment and greater material wealth.  But this access is limited to the wealthy or those who are allowed access to debt, which they spend the beginning of their lives (or the rest of it) paying off.

All the while, less resources are being allocated to public education, denying those on the bottom the means to struggle against their enslavement.  While also denying us traditional sources of knowledge, resources, crafts, and sustainable lifestyles. The cycle is vicious, and it is for us to learn how to use our minds beyond our education to find sustainable solutions for the pains of our world, outside of exclusion and limited access. This is a part of what shaped our thinking in the creation of taghmees, focusing on spreading shared learning outside of the boundaries of “education”.  Learning is all about heart:) and using your heart to understand the world outside of our normal frameworks.  Thank you for the space and opportunity to reflect.

playing to win

dare to live a different dream

We are taught to compete at a young age, through innocent channels of games and play.  Can you think of any games or activities that are collaborative rather than competitive?  Meaning that there are no winners or losers, where the objective is not to be “better than” but simply to be “better”.

Just a thought, but if we were taught as children to collaborate rather than compete, wouldn’t we work together to solve problems rather than work so hard to crush each other (the competition)? If the underlying objective of the activities we engage in as children was one of nurturing group success and shared reward rather than personal achievement and gain, would our adult “common sense” not push us to question the devastating consequence of placing competition at the center of our survival, the way it is now?  Would we ever accept the logic of patenting technology or intellectual property rights, the way we do now?  Would we rationalize the dumping of millions of tons of food every year, while millions go hungry for the sake of regulating market prices / profit margins of competing entities, as happens in our present reality?

Would we be so calm and accepting in the face of the world that is presented to us in its current unfair and unkind form?  Would we not, in this alternate non-competitive scenario, simply look to a friend (or several) and start figuring out a way to tackle any seemingly impossible task together, the way we’ve “always” done, since we were little kids playing?  Wouldn’t we be used to approaching each activity and task, as we were taught and as was modeled by adults, using the range of our different skills, abilities, and capacities to create suitable group solutions that result in a shared win?

Dare to live a different dream… this is only one.