Green Bushidō.

OPPOSITE-EDITORIAL / ISSUE № 4

"The way of the warrior is the resolute acceptance of death," intoned Joseph Fullerton to me, as we walked down the Red Zone, the enormous scar down the back of Christchurch. Joseph, who is currently running for Riccarton Community Board, was elaborating on the principle of Green Bushidō, an idea of his he was turning over in his head. Joseph was quoting The Book of Five Rings, a text on martial arts by the sword saint Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote the text shortly before his death while living as a hermit in a cave.

Joseph explained the idea quite simply. Political change takes a long time, doubly so for positive ecological change. Within the duration of a single person's political activity or even their lifetime, they may see no change whatsoever. In their subjective experience, all they see is their own failure, even if their actions bear fruit after their participation. How does one cope with such a bleak experience? The resolute acceptance of death.

French philosopher Albert Camus would call it the refusal of hope. Consider the absurdity of the lordless samurai, the rōnin. The rōnin fights and kills to live another day, yet he knows that he will eventually be slain, rendering his past victories futile. Knowing this, does he sob on the ground and wait to starve? Does he pretend final victory is around the corner, and that he is immortal? No. He chooses the delicate central path, continuing to fight and kill to live, in full understanding that his own death is certain. To Camus, if one truly confronts the human condition, only this position is tenable:

"One of the only coherent philosophical positions is thus revolt. It is a constant confrontation between man and his own obscurity. It is an insistence upon an impossible transparency. It challenges the world anew every second. Just as danger provided man the unique opportunity of seizing awareness, so metaphysical revolt extends awareness to the whole of experience. It is that constant presence of man in his own eyes. It is not aspiration, for it is devoid of hope. That revolt is the certainty of a crushing fate, without the resignation that ought to accompany it." Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.

The modern leftist must walk the path of the rōnin: abandon the hope of the revolution that will not occur in your lifetime, but never abandon the struggle on which a brighter tomorrow will be built.

Even resolved to death, one immediately confronts the question of what, exactly, is to be done. Green Bushidō is once again buoyed by Miyamoto's wisdom: "It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways." Mao Zedong puts it less concisely:

"If you want to know a certain thing or a certain class of things directly, you must personally participate in the practical struggle to change reality, to change that thing or class of things, for only thus can you come into contact with them as phenomena; only through personal participation in the practical struggle to change reality can you uncover the essence of that thing or class of things and comprehend them." Mao Zedong, On Practice.

To be Marxist is to know that material reality defines what is possible. You may be living in a moment where the material reality constrains you and curses you to failure. Accept this, because we must struggle anyway; the material reality of tomorrow is built by the struggle of today. Revolt not just against capitalism, but against futility itself, for this is truly the only way to live.

As we walked through the Red Zone, discussing futility, I thought of Bill Sykes. After the 2011 earthquakes, Bill advocated for the devastated neighbourhoods to be planted with native trees, to replace the ruined shell with bird habitat and recreation area. He died in 2018, leaving the Red Zone mostly unchanged. Yet, 7 years after his death, Joseph and I were walking down the recently constructed City to Sea pathway, flanked by huge tree plantings. Downstream, earthworks proceeded to return a large section of New Brighton to a natural floodplain. Tree plantings continued every year. Somehow Bill's project had outlived him in the hearts of others.

Vote for Joseph Fullerton and Tom Unger for Riccarton Community Board. Vote for Tyla Harrison-Hunt for Councillor.