What the Eye Can See

July 20 - Spinwheel City, Paquin

"People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse in their mouth." - Raoul Vaneigem

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I do love art galleries. The use of empty space, the lighting, the peace and quiet. The range of human experience on display on every wall for all to taste.

The Pleasure Principle Art Gallery in Spinwheel City was having an exhibition of poster art from the student revolt and civil unrest that rippled across France in May 1968. Though a relatively small group at that time - their membership had been steadily declining over the years - it was the Situationist Movement that provided the ideological foundation for the revolt.

I found it useful to examine the art of propaganda and persuasion, especially now with the Jade Revolution operating in Araxes. By studying past political discourse, one can gain fresh insights into the struggles and conflicts of our own time.

So, what might the Situationists say of the union of the political systems of Sihnon and Londinium? Would they see that we have managed, at last, to balance individual freedoms with collective responsibility?

"Too many corpses strew the paths of individualism and collectivism. Under two apparently contradictory rationalities has raged an identical gangsterism, an identical oppression of the isolated man."



And what of the billions of human beings who now enjoyed a standard of living that our ancestors could never have imagined?

"The millions of human beings who were shot, tortured, starved, treated like animals and made the object of a conspiracy of ridicule, can sleep in peace in their communal graves, for at least the struggle in which they died has enabled their descendants, isolated in their air-conditioned apartments, to believe, on the strength of their daily dose of television, that they are happy and free."

I made my way upstairs.

The Situationist movement had its roots in Surrealism. Art from this period could be found in the upper gallery. It may have been part of the permanent collection.



My favorite piece was Lee Miller's Eye by Man Ray, 1932. I was drawn to the work not because it was a surrealist image but because of what this eye would one day see.

Fashion model turned photographer, years after this picture was taken, Lee Miller became one of the first women war correspondents. It was Lee who reported on the first wartime use of napalm. It was Lee who reported on the liberated Nazi concentration camps of Buchenwald and Dachau.

Here was a woman who bore witness to some of the greatest crimes of her time and she told the world. With that, in my opinion, she became an instrument of justice.

And, there was also an amusing photograph taken of her bathing in Hitler's bathtub in his abandoned apartment on April 30, 1945, the day the dictator commited suicide.

Take that Adolph.



My communicator came to life. An encodded transmission from _______.

From a private condominium in downtown Albion City, he was employed in an plains clothes capacity to monitor traffic in the downtown core of the Zenobian capital city. He was located a short distance from the hospital that had treated the clone of Audrey Aurotharius.

Our survellience in Albion City was not widely known. It would surprise some to learn that a member of my team was conducting operations in the capital. However, it was important to have trusted people in key places. It was important to have eyes on the ground.

"Good evening Trooper," I said, leaving the gallery.

He got straight to the point, "We had some visitors the other day."

"And were they behaving themselves?" I asked.

"Well," he replied, "they seemed like they didn't want to be noticed. Ran for the outskirts of town when I arrived. Must have had a ship out of bounds."

"Perhaps they didn't have travel permits," I said.

He transmitted a physical description of the two visitors.

"They were wearing the insignia of the 405th," I observed, "These sound like Nova's people."

"We've been a busy little port from my sensor records," he added, "Seventy-five visitors."

"Good to know," I remarked, approaching the government buildings.



"Also did an inspection of Korolev station," he continued.

Korolev Station was an old mining station deep in the Halo. It was also the current location of Svetlana Pleides, survivor of the bombardment of Shadow, and one of our witnesses against the war criminal, William Faith.

"And what did you find on Korolev?"

"Nothing to worry about," he said, "A little lax about safety. They seem to be trusting force fields way too much. one failure and the whole place suffers catastrophic decompression."

I did not like the sound of that. It would mean the loss of an important witness.

"It was an old mining station, correct?" I asked. Jade had been a miner.

"An old mine," he confirmed. "Apparently, they cored out the asteriod. I'm guessing prisoner labor."

"Any idea who was the original mining company?"

"Nope," he replied, "Current methods obliterate the whole rock."

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File copy.

Jade Revolution posters.

Location: Al Raqis city, Araxes. June and July.