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Neoism
I've very recently read Stewart Home's Mind Invaders which is a compilation of lots of subversive stuff from different sources. Following is an excerpt a document from that book that is the closest thing to a self-definition I can find from the Neoists... I'm not sure how relevant it all is to The Invisibles, though; I suspect the hand grenade was just Grant nodding vaugely in the direction of a real world underground group.
Viva Neoism!
Neoism is a cultural movement influenced by Futurism, Dada, Fluxus and Punk, which emerged from the Mail Art Network in the late seventies. Neoism is a methodology for manufacturing art history. The idea is to generate interest in the work and personalities of the various individuals who are said to constitute the movement. Neoists want to escape from 'the prison of art' and change the world'. With this end in mind, they present capitalist society with an angst-ridden image of itself.
Anyone can become a Neoist simply by declaring themselves to be a part of the movement and adopting the name Luther Blissett. However, Neoists don't restrict themselves to using the name Luther Blissett, They use the name Smile too. Neoists call their pop groups Smile, their performance groups Smile--even their magazines are called Smile.
This is a genuine existential experiment, it is an exercise in practical philosophy. Neoists wish to determine what happens when they cease to differentiate between assorted artefacts and individuals. However, while Neoists place thier faith in practical philosophy, they DO NOT endorse the study of logic as pursued in the universities and other authoriarian institutes. Neoist philosophy is to be tested on the streets, in pups, and night clubs; it involves the creation of a communist culture--not theoretical abstractions.
Capitalism masters the material world by naming and describing those objects it wishes to manipulate. By rendering names meaningless, Neoists destroy the central control mechanism of bourgeois logic. Without these classifications, Power cannot differentiate, divide and isolate the revolutionary masses. Because they are sick of the fragmentary world in which they live, the Neoists have agreed to adopt a common name. Every action carried out under the banner of Luther Blissett is a gesture of defiance against the Order of Power--and a demonstration that the Neonists are ungovernable. Luther Blissett is a true individual in a world where real individuality is a crime!
Ultimately, Neoist philosophy is a revolutionary project which is undertaken with a view to improving the lot of mankind. Neoism supercedes all previous philosophies because it consciously founds itself on rhetoric rather than factual observation.
Neoists belive in the value of fraud as a revolutionary weapon. They practise an impure science and regularly fake thier results. Using this methodology, Neoism has effortlessly refuted the dominant illusions conected to the mental set 'individuality' and now claims its right to slaughter all those who refuse to realise thier true humanity. The success of Neoism is historically inevitable. LONG LIVE LIFE !
Contact: Neoist Alliance, BM Senior, London WC1N 3XX, UK
Richard Jones [rejone@compuserve.com]
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