Categories: uncategorized
Date: 31 July 2012 09:16:28
Mutiny! Why We Love Pirates and How They Can Save Us by Kester Brewin is a book from an artist and thinker you may be familiar with. As with his previous books, The Complex Christ and Other: Embracing Difference in a Fractured World, this one can be located in the middle of an inter-disciplinary overlap. It draws heavily on social and political history, contemporary social movement theory, philosophy, cultural studies, sociology and theology. Mutiny! takes pirates as the central theme through exploring historical and contemporary examples of real pirates, fictional texts which he links to pirates, (specifically Peter Pan, The Odyssey and Star Wars) and the way pirate imagery is used in modern Western society. Although at 155 pages of sensibly sized and spaced text the volume is too brief to do the topic justice and can be argued to touch on issues before moving away from them without adequate discussion. Before reaching the main text the copyright notice locates the author's position and the indicates the direction the book is going to take. It says, "This book has been written and produced under a fair pay for fair labour principle: private compensation followed by public benefit." This, together with the title, confirms that this is essentially a left-wing, Guardianista exploration of the subject which contains within it irony, humour and an appeal for change. Essentially it is founded on a Neo-Marxist understanding of social history and cultural symbols which it then happily combines with elements of anarchist and anti-capitalist thinking, throwing in a large pinch of radical and post-modern theology along the way. The book seems to be seeking to produce something fresh through the use of these different strands and for readers not familiar with the development of such theories in recent years it may do. I would argue for those familiar with the debates, writers and thinkers referenced as well as some which are not it seems to present standard thinking but through a different lens. Ironically what is fresh and distinguishes it from other texts is the way it reconnects with the past. The recognition of a wider social history which goes beyond simply referring to The Diggers, Levellers and early Ana-baptists is the refreshing part of the book. The text itself begins with a description of the capture and death of Captain Roberts, a Welsh pirate, who died in February 1792. After a brief analysis Brewin poses the question, "where are Captain Roberts' true descendants now?" The answer is not simple and Kester acknowledges this. He shows the answers vary from those pirates who can be found in the waters around Africa to those who are committing a different type of piracy in the sitting rooms of Islington. The conclusion he reaches is: "A splinter of Roberts' spirit is in each of us. We are all pirates now because, in these times of increasing corporate greed, cultural privatisation and financial oppressing the fight that was once theirs has now become ours." And within that last sentence lies the problem with this book. Brewin seeks to argue that all are in the some way being oppressed by institutions or systems and so all are faced with the choice of whether to engage in risky acts of piracy which he acknowledges by their nature are short lived. He goes on to say: "Where the young, the black, the gay and the voiceless find their path blocked pirates will emerge and raise merry hell - whether in parliaments or theatres or radio stations, or even on the printed page." This might be true to some extent.....but Brewin is a middle-class, white, heterosexual man whose greatest problems appear to come from being told he is not allowed to read Alice in Wonderland out loud to his children if it is electronically down loaded. When he effectively advocates piracy as a solution he does so from a privileged position. He understands the theory behind the emergence of pirates and the economic systems which can be argued to necessitate certain acts but he has only vicariously experienced the real effects. He knows choices aren't easy but he does not have to live with the consequences for the wider community when the pirates are caught and contained or when, as he briefly touches on with the contemporary Somali pirates who have now been incorporated into international crime rings, people who start doing something for genuine reasons are then forced into activity and partnerships they never intended and which can be just as oppressive as what they were seeking to escape from. The effect of this is that whilst he seeks to be careful not to romanticise the world of pirates and the consequences of their actions he does end up wearing exactly the same kind of rose tinted spectacles about pirates as the wider culture - whose use of pirate symbols he questions. Apart from the social history within the book the other two interesting parts involve a re-reading of the Peter Pan story which sees Wendy's encounter with Captain Hook as vital in unblocking her route into the adult world/ relationship with her father and a deconstructionist reading of The Prodigal son. The reading of the parable is described as "a dark reading" and it is.....but essentially it is just another neo-Marxist reading. For me this text is one which can be best regarded as a companion text to accompany other more meaty volumes on anti-capitalist thinking, radical theology or the role of piracy in contemporary cultural studies. I would say it is a particularly good companion for The Pirate's Dilemma by Matt Mason.