some wisdom from Guillermo Gómez-Peña and the Pocha Nostra
1. practice responsible hedonism, vindicate the sacred right to party. fight puritanism in all its forms. it is a subtle form of political control
3. practice intelligent skepticism; o sea, question simplistic forumlas; simple answers; one-sided versions; dogmatic solutions; self-righteous positions. question everything, coño, even these commandments
7. learn other languages, especially those that will help you to understand and communicate with your neighbours, with the new millennium, we must each be fluent in at least three languages
12. go high-tech. we have no other option. if you don't participate in the net and expropriate the new digital technologies for humanistic purposes, you will soon be out of the game.
8. confront with valor and generosity the oppressive and narrow-minded tendencies in your/our own ethnic or gender-based communities. the enemy is everywhere, even inside ourselves
5. discuss politics and culture daily with friends and colleagues. we must sort things out collectively.
13. as corny as it may sound at the millennium, beyond your politics, you must remain a loyal friend and relative, a tender lover, a good collaborator, and a responsible citizen.
4. go out of your way to remain informed. distrust mainstream media. subscribe to various alternative magazines. scan the net regularly. read the foreign press as often as possible. welcome other points of view.
2. avoid simplistic binary oppositions; us/them, good/bad, oppressor/oppressed, first world/third world. things have become logarithmically more complex. new conceptual models to understand and explain our times must be fluid, open-ended, and multidimensional.
11. fight self marginalization. be an outsider/insider/ be a temporary member of multiple communities. we need to be everywhere, in the media, in major institutions as well as in community-based ones.
6. travel as an intelligent and humble tourist. remember, tourism at best is about understanding yourself, not the place you have chosen to visit.
10. sit at the table with your true enemies. talk with them. don't lose it. be polite but firm. it is painful, but necessary.
9. fight narrow-minded nationalism. establish alliances and co-alliances with groups and communities who are undergoing similar crises. debate with others who disagree with you.
14. don't make the mistake we are making in this text and take yourself too seriously. if you stop laughing, you are dead