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Practical Anti-corporate magick

  
  

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The Mad Hatter
12:39 / 28.07.01
I've started a thread over on the Switchboard Boycott thread, relating to which companies ought to be targetted, so I've come over here to take about how. I know quite a few people around these parts have read "taz" by Hakim Bey, but for those who haven't he suggests invoking terrible curses on malign institutions.
quote:a technique adapted from Malaysian sorcerers: send the Company a package containing a bottle, corked and sealed with black wax. Inside:dead insects, scorpions, lizards or the like; a bag conataining gravegard dirt along with other noxious substances; an egg pierced with iron nails and pins; and a scroll on which an emblem is drawn (see symbolfor more on this). An accompanying note explains that the hex is sent against the institution and not against the individuals- but unless the institution itself ceases to be malign, the curse (like a mirror) will bedin to infuse the place with noxious fortune, a miasma of negativity. Prepare a press release explaining the curse and taking credit for it in the name of the American Poetry Society. Mail copies of this text to all employees of the institution and to selected media. The night before these letters arrive, wheatpaste the institution premises with xerox copies of the Black Djinn's emblem, where they will be seen by all employees arriving for work next morning.

So whose up for a bit of anti-coroprate action? Ideas on who go in the thread in The Switchboard, ideas on how and when go here.

[ 28-07-2001: Message edited by: The Mad Hatter ]
 
 
Mordant Carnival
13:42 / 28.07.01
WOOOOHOOOOO!

I wanna play.
 
 
Mordant Carnival
15:54 / 28.07.01
BTW- your symbol link doesn't work.
 
 
The Mad Hatter
16:15 / 28.07.01
Bum, it was working earlier- I've fixed this up instead and added more details from the text about the drawing of the symbol and advice on counter balancing the curse with a blessing. I suggest we bless The WOMBLES and Ya Basta.


Symbol link that works

[ 28-07-2001: Message edited by: The Mad Hatter ]
 
 
SMS
16:42 / 28.07.01
I personally think that using magic to curse others is bad for the soul. May I suggest sending them a mirror (in a metaphorical sense) so that they can see what evils they cause, and sending them love, so that they care?

This would also help us be more flexible in choosing which corporations to target. We could target all of them with a clear conscience.
 
 
The Mad Hatter
18:15 / 28.07.01
Lovely sentiment SMatt, but one recipient of your love will not change a corporation's ways I feel. This is a war now, I care little for my soul and more about my planet and the human race. Besides they have far more weapons than us. I suggest its time to get tough. For the sake of your karma send out an equal amount of blessings to good folks who don't shit on the planet, use slave labour or fund wars.
 
 
Mordant Carnival
23:05 / 28.07.01
If that is SMatthewStolte's way of doing things, then by all means let him carry on.

I think we need the gentle side of the arts. Sometimes I fear getting lost in my own anger, appropriate tho' it may be.

I feel that part of my role in this life/reality/whatever is to sling bad medicine around if I feel it's really necessary, but even those of us that are attuned to the warrior architype should never forget that each supposed enemy is only an ally, unenlightened. Like Uncle Al said: every man and every woman is a star.

Okay: now where can I get hold of a GM-free, environmentally friendly, free-range scorpion?

[ 29-07-2001: Message edited by: Mordant Carnival ]
 
 
SMS
23:28 / 28.07.01
How is the war you're proposing any different from the wars they fund?

If we can use magic to curse the corporations you feel are so evil, then why would my methods fail? You wish to punish them for their crimes? Why? So that they might learn not to do them again? Or would you just say fuck 'em, and let them lose their power, their money, and all the the things that matter to them? At least they'd be out of power. But now there is an open market for tennis shoes or computer products or whatever it was this evil corporation had sold. Someone will take their place, and who is to say that they would be any better than before? Perhaps we could be the ones to take their place, jump on the opportunity and market our shoes like madmen, and we could use labour in poor nations, but pay them a decent salary, give them medical insurance and benefits, and be really good about it. But why should we be trusted? We've already shown that we don't have compassion for people we know are bad. And how do we choose these people? We can't look into their hearts and see this badness. We have to judge by their actions, but different people judge differently. We may think they are bad, but others think they are good.

Why is it that if we can use magic to curse these corporations, we cannot use magic to make them care about their poor workers, or to love the people fighting those wars they are funding?

[ 29-07-2001: Message edited by: SMatthewStolte ]
 
 
Mordant Carnival
23:56 / 28.07.01
quote:Originally posted by SMatthewStolte:
Why is it that if we can use magic to curse these corporations, we cannot use magic to make them care about their poor workers, or to love the people fighting those wars they are funding?

[ 29-07-2001: Message edited by: SMatthewStolte ]

That's where you come in, mate. Like many, I'm afraid I find myself unable to do aught but lay into the status quo.
 
 
nul
03:34 / 29.07.01
Corporate Magicians are better at this than we are. They've crafted sigils that affect billions, they've conducted rituals that can cause the ruination of millions of lives or create new opportunity for those same millions.

If the best defense we can muster is sending them eggs with pins and nails in it, we're in for an extremely counter-offensive.

With this in mind, I want to see some cooler sigils. I'm not fighting anyone unless I see some snazzy implements of destruction.
 
 
The Mad Hatter
06:27 / 29.07.01
quote:Originally posted by Mordant Carnival:
If that is SMatthewStolte's way of doing things, then by all means let him carry on.


Yes, let him sell his shoes and send out loving vibes to individuals, if thats his thing. I'm totally behind it as long as he does something.

On the scorpions, area of habitation permitting, go and find one thats already dead of natural causes, or improvise. Like wise with the other bits. Incidentally, anyone know what benzoin actually is?

SMatt, BTW, they curse is for the institution. I want to see them go out of business or change their ways. I want the evil inherhant in the very idea of a company who uses sweat shop labour or pollutes the environment with toxic waste, to be stopped. The curse is not on specificic people in the company. All of them could become enlightened and leave the company tommorrow and the evil corporation would still be there functioning with replacement unenlightened money grabbing drones. Maybe your mirror could make the individuals care and change things in what ever way they can- that too would be a valuable magickal contribution.

Brendan if signils are your thing, then create one in what ever snazzy way you fancy and share it and its goal with us.
 
 
nul
13:44 / 29.07.01
Pah. I'm no good at making sigils, and certainly not snazzy ones that have a broad appeal.

What I need is a good graphic design artist who can design to my exacting specification. Yes, then we can summon the Master into this... err... I mean fight the bad corporations.
 
 
Burning Man
13:58 / 29.07.01
An interesting anecdote:
Personally I hate working for the MAN, but I do so anyway because it pays well and often I have a lot of down time where I can surf a fast connection for free.

I work for a marketing company, whose one big client is a major beer manufactuer. An evil giant through and through because you know they wont be happy until the whole world is drinking their product. Let's face it alcohol is a major drug that ruins more lives than tobacco and "illegal drugs".

So my company was bought out by a major international player, and I thought. "Oh cool, there will lots of ensuing chaos and it will be very fun." (I'm a closet Discordian). Sure enough there was and there still is. I also do minor things within the company to show my displeasure with the Man. I'm very vocal about the evils of our client, all the suits know that I have no respect for their elietst (sorry) golf-playing lying asses, I don't bill when I take office supplys and make color copies, you know that sort of stuff. As far as I know, all the people I worked just thought I was a little odd, but pretty nice.

I was transferred to a new dept with another woman from my dept, and I dont work on beer anymore. However, since the merger, now the chaos has rubbed off on me. Our company is facing lay-offs down the road and I have already been repremanded by the new management for my attitude problem (btw-old habits and behaviors are awful hard to break-my) new co-workers think I'm funny "Uh-Oh" instead of funny "ha-ha".

There are no lay-offs planned, but let's face it, I have an offical reprimand on my record. Guess who will be targeted if the axe falls.

Oh, side note-my new group works with a client who sells office products. I thought "OK" that's better than beer. Then I found out the same week that my company is pitching fot tobacco company business, that the office product company is primarily a huge forest raping logging company. Those fuckers!

Anyway! We need this business to avoid lay-offs of which I feel I would be one.

So, the question is-When companies get fucked with, lazy cheese-eatin bastards like myself also get hurt and might have to go out and find real jobs. Which when all is said and done, might not be so bad until you remember that no matter what you end up doing-you are still working for the Man because the Man is fucking huge and only 20 or 40 companies rule the fucking earth.

Yak, yak, yak. I've said too much.

Burning Man-out
 
 
Mordant Carnival
15:28 / 29.07.01
Point, Burning Man. A lot of fingers in a lot of dirty pies.
 
 
01
15:52 / 29.07.01
But if you were the CEO of your marketing firm would you be taking these contracts? Or would you be taking more contracts that you could morally live with. Along with subliminally inserting Barbelithian consciousness bombs inside each ad campaign?
 
 
big city deserter
16:22 / 29.07.01
I sympathise with you Burning Man. I used to work for an advertising company responsible for the Manchester Airport runway two campaign, which was an eco-protest sore point in the UK. I battled with my conscience about this and rationalised that I needed the money and yeah, there was little work for me and an internet connection. But in the end I had to get out and find other work. Now I work for the civil service, working for a different Man basically. One that fucks up a lot but also provides a welfare state, which I help maintain. Have you thought about changing jobs?
That aside I'm in on doing something magickal to the fat cats companies. But I'm thinking more along the lines of inducing a bit of fun chaos than a hex. Signils a-go-go.
 
 
Seth
18:18 / 29.07.01
Got to say, I totally agree with SMatthewStolte. Why spread hate when you can spread sticky luurve?

The "you must become a monster to fight a monster" attidue is bullshit. I know, you're focussed on the institution and not the people, but wouldn't it be preferable (and more rewarding) to see the employees liberate themselves?
 
 
nul
19:36 / 29.07.01
Frankly, the "love conquers all" attitude is bullshit as well.
 
 
Burning Man
19:54 / 29.07.01
Thanks for the imput. As a matter of fact, I have thought of getting out and doing something more worthwhile. When I do, then I'll give em a whammy.
 
 
Mordant Carnival
20:25 / 29.07.01
I've been giving this some thought. I'm not entirely happy with the whole black djinn thing for various reasons, and I don't much care for the intimidation aspect- it's likely to fuck up the wrong people. For example, a cleaner arriving for work at 6.30 am will be way more psychically and psychologically vulnerable than the CEO who rolls in at 12.00. I think one would want to be a little more specific as to who or what is on the business end of the spell. I suppose I'm prepared to give our hypothetical CEO a nervous breakdown (hell, he can check into the Priory for a month or two and then retire to Bali or something), but mostly we want to be screwing with the corporate organism. And anyway, I like to make my own spells.

I guess the best bet would be to tailor a spell for the particular company in question, detailing exactly what they are doing wrong.
 
 
Yagg
09:07 / 30.07.01
I'm going to bring up a chicken-and-egg question here. Do we want to wage war on corporate power because it perpetrates evil acts? Or do we want to attack the overriding belief system that encourages corporations to put profit above all human concerns, thus allowing these evil acts? Is everything about money because the world is ruled by corporate interests, or is the culture of money responsible for the corporate takeover of Planet Earth?

Or to cut through my own babbling, does The Man make greed, or did greed make The Man?

(That'd be a good song lyric, where's my guitar..?)

My point (yes, I do have one) being this: What are we at war with? The corporations themselves? Or a belief system of which they are a part?

I'm just trying to be a good soldier here. In order to be effective, we need to identify the target before we start dropping sigil-bombs on anyone.

On the other hand, if we just want the glory and thrill of creating some Chaos, let's just have at it!
 
 
01
09:07 / 30.07.01
quote: Do we want to wage war on corporate power because it perpetrates evil acts? Or do we want to attack the overriding belief system that encourages corporations to put profit above all human concerns, thus allowing these evil acts?

Both. Both tactics are essential. Do what you works for you and don't worry about what the other guy's doing. The universe has already got it all worked out. Throw bombs or flowers. They're both just as important. Remember: We Win.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
11:08 / 30.07.01
I'm up for spreading chaos at corporations. I don't like the curse idea, karmiclly speaking. But a little (or a lot, I suppose) chaos never hurt anyone, just makes 'em have to change to get along. Should be fun.

[ 30-07-2001: Message edited by: Johnny O'Clock ]
 
 
Ierne
11:19 / 30.07.01
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim
  as-salaam alikum
 O White Djinn, Radience of Mohammad
King of all spirits within me
O Black Djinn, shadow of myself
AWAY, destroy my enemy
- and if you do not
then be considered a traitor to Allah
- by virtue of the charm
La illlaha ill'Allah
Mohammad ar-Rasul Allah

I realize it's Monday morning and I've not had my café yet but... Why should a prayer to Allah help dismantle (for the most part Xtian) corporations? Are we still fighting the Crusades or something?
 
 
The Mad Hatter
14:19 / 30.07.01
Ierne, the prayer to Allah works if you believe/enforce it with will. This is my understanding of magick culled from Crowley. Call it Allah, God, Eris or Geoff. It don't matter mate.
Glad to see a response and even gladder that people disagree with me. So what is to be done? A signil to put the company out of business will cause unemployment as will anything involving a miasma of negativity and misfortune. We don't want to hurt so much as the slightest cleaner or pension fundee. So bascically are we going to stop corporate evil through effecting a global change of mind, as Smatt suggested we do to the CEO's? Shall we start with the big money men, send them loving change your ways and have some compassion spells and have a seperate campaign of chaos to create a ripe situation for change, plus a sideline in dismantling the corporate structure by any means possible, or at least rendering it laughable, unprofitable or unmasked in its evil ways? As long as we all pick how we do it, why and for the united purpose of making the world a better place to be, as long as we all DO SOMETHING instead for sitting at our computers in our safe western society, debating the finner points of how to create a servitor and divining our love lives and which Tarot are best. Become the compassionate warrior. Like Zerone says bomb or flowers, they're both just as important.
 
 
Yagg
14:52 / 30.07.01
Next project: A bomb that shoots flowers!
 
 
Mr Tricks
22:33 / 30.07.01
hmmm . . . interesting...

A while back we discussed creating Memes that could have the Flower-bomb effect on media...

That conversation lasted about 5 minutes

Still we're living in very excited times... I'm down to see some work directed towards unveiling the propaganda safeguarding George W's Pro-corperate adgendas...

but HEY That's Me!!!
 
 
nul
01:56 / 31.07.01
The hippie dream is dead, if only because the corporations hijacked it and drove it down to it's most base form. However, as we can see, it's remnants are slow to die off. You can't kill an idea, but you can pervert it, corrupt it, smelt off the idealism and replace it with materialism.

Corporations should be commended for their ingeniunity in face of such loud, boisterious opposition. Maybe we should steal their images and ideals, pervert and corrupt them. And I mean really corrupt them, none of this Adbusters bullcrap. Parody and corruption are as different as apples and oranges.

With this in mind, let's all put on bright blue shirts with Buddha plastered all over them, nice suits, nice black ties, load up the trunk with tequila, LSD, DMT and shotguns. We can take down Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse in style.
 
 
Mr Tricks
18:01 / 31.07.01
How about an underground Mickey Mouse Prono Ring???

I can just see him in a gang bang with the Power Puff girls...

We can have Minni playing Dominetrix with the South Park Boys...

Hell!!! even a snuff film with Goofy & Kenny!!!
 
 
Burning Man
18:40 / 31.07.01
Son of a Bitch, I just got laid off today. Fucking nasty multinational fuckbeast. I had a good thing going, great pay for minimal work and they had to catch on and give me the boot. Damn!



I wonder what I'm gonna do next.

Burning Man
 
 
SMS
00:49 / 01.08.01
Make up a sigil to get yourself hired at another job (this time, a place with morals, if you like) and we'll all charge it.

Sorry to hear you got laid off. Hope things get better.
 
 
Warewullf
06:13 / 01.08.01
Christ, that's bad, Burning Man.
Hope you find another job soon.
 
 
big city deserter
20:59 / 01.08.01
Burning Man- can I curse you're old company now?
Good luck with the job hunt man.
 
 
Mordant Carnival
17:16 / 02.08.01
Burning Man: Soz to hear about the job, guy.

I've been having a bit of a think about this topic. I've been toying with the idea of a Chaos Bomb ritual. It would go something like this:

The mage gets dressed up in 'terrorist' gear (fatigues, shades, facemask, bandana, bullet belt; whatever says terrorist to you), and creates a suitable image to produce a chaos bomb effect. The Invisibles neato psychedlic hand grenade that we all know and love might make a good start, but I also like the idea of a round cartoon bomb with a hissing fuse of glitter paint.

So you make your bomb picture using good intense colours, ones with significance to you. I would personally opt for lipsticky red or shocking pink, but that's just me.

You incorporate a sigil, probably but not necessarily against the organization in question. If this is against your principles (or you happen to work for the company) then your sigil should attack whatever bad practice has got you all aerated in the first place. For example: My will is for XYZCorp to stop using sweatshop labour.

Charge the sigil. Copy the image up a few times and punt it out to various bigwigs at the top of the corporate food chain, with brief explanation as to what the bomb does and why it does it. Once you have set this in motion, take time every so often to meditate and visualize the bomb going off: the headquarters of the company is pervaded by a luminous flowering cloud of chaos, seeping through the physical infrastructure, the psychological framework, the psychic entity. Chaos sleets through every aspect. I find myself picturing this as a fluro pink miasma, but you could use whatever image strikes you as appropriate.

I hasten to add that I haven't tried the above, although I certainly mean to at some point. Have fun, kiddies!

[Marvin Martian] Where's the KABOOM? There's supposed to be an Earth-shattering KABOOM! [/Marvin Martian]
 
 
xytar with a Z
01:46 / 17.02.06
reading this now, I still like the idea.


Has anyone seen the CBC documentary "The Corporation"?

Basically showing how it is the legal environment in which these entitys function which gives them the power they enjoy. You see a corporate entity is recognized as a human being. How's that for a bit o magic?

The way it was done was really slick. When the US added the 14th Amendment supreme court (SCOTUS) also ruled that an incorporated group had the same rights as a person.

here's the quick n dirty http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030919.html

perhaps that's the point of 'attack'?
 
  

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