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"To become warriors, the cohiuanos must abandon all and go alone to the jungle, guided only by their dreams. In this journey, he has to find out, in solitude and silence, who he really is. He must become a vagabond of dreams. Where are they? Where are the songs of mothers comforting their babes? Where are the stories of the elders, the whispers of love, the battle cries? Where did they go?" - [Embrace of the Serpent - Ciro Guerra] ___________ Just another Berlin liver. [aspiring writer / director] A Vagabond of Dreams.                 _______________________________________________________________________________ PS — You Smash it – and I’ll build around it.

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A VERY OPEN LETTER TO JOHN HOYLAND FROM JOHN LENNON John Lennon, The Black Dwarf, 10 January 1969.

Dear John,

Your letter didn’t sound patronising – it was. Who do you think you are? What do you think you know? I’m not only up against the establishment but you, too, it seems. I know what I’m up against – narrow minds – rich/poor. All your relationships may be poisoned – it depends how you look at it. What kind of system do you propose and who would run it?

I don’t remember saying ‘Revolution’ was revolutionary – fuck Mrs Dale. Listen to all three versions (Revolution 1, 2 and 9) then try again, dear John. You say, ‘In order to change the world we’ve got to understand what’s wrong with the world. And then – destroy it. Ruthlessly.’ You’re obviously on a destruction kick. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it – People – so do you want to destroy them? Ruthlessly? Until you/we change your/our heads – there’s no chance. Tell me of one successful revolution. Who fucked up communism – christianity – capitalism – buddhism, etc? Sick Heads, and nothing else. Do you think all the enemy wear capitalist badges so that you can shoot them? It’s a bit naive, John. You seem to think it’s just a class war.

Apple was never intended to be as big as Marks and Spencers – our only reference to it was to get the kind of deal we used to get from this nasty capitalist shop when we were downtrodden working class students and bought a sweater or something which was reasonably cheap and lasted. We set up Apple with the money we as workers earned, so that we could control what we did production-wise, as much as we could. If it ever gets taken over by other workers, as far as I’m concerned, they can have it.

When I say we con people – I mean we’re selling dreams. Friends of mine like Dylan and Stones, etc who are doing their bit would understand what I said – ask them – then work it out.

The establishment never slotted us into a ‘cheeky chappy’ bag, dear John – WE DID – to get here to do what we’re doing now. I was there, you weren’t. So suddenly the papers told you we were taking acid – two years after the event! So you decided that our music was best then. You’re probably right about why they didn’t bust me before – they, like you, had me ‘tagged’. I’ll tell you something – I’ve been up against the same people all my life – I know they still hate me. There’s no difference now – just the size of the game has changed. Then it was school masters, relatives, etc – now I’m arrested or ticked off by fascists or brothers in endless fucking prose.

Who’s upset about the arrest? OK. I’ll have a cup of tea. I don’t worry about what you – the left – the middle – the right or any fucking boys’ club think. I’m not that bourgeois.

Look man, I was/am not against you. Instead of splitting hairs about the Beatles and the Stones – think a little bigger – look at the world we’re living in, John, and ask yourself: why? And then – come and join us.

Love, John Lennon

PS — You Smash it – and I’ll build around it.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO JOHN LENNON John Hoyland, The Black Dwarf, 27 October 1968.

Dear John

So they’ve done you after all. I didn’t think they ever would. It’s a nasty experience and I offer you my sympathy, for what it’s worth. But I hope you won’t be depressed about it. In fact I hope this experience will help you understand certain things that you seemed a bit blind to before. (That sounds patronising but I can’t think of how else to put it…)

Above all: perhaps now you’ll see what it is you’re (we’re) up against. Not nasty people Not even neurosis, or spiritual undernourishment. What we’re confronted with is a repressive, vicious, authoritarian system. A system which is inhuman and immoral, because it deprives 99% of humanity of the right to live their lives their own way. A system which will show you if you step out of line and behave just a tiny bit differently from the way those in power want.

Such a system – such a society – is so racked by contradiction and tension and unhappiness that all relationships within it are poisoned. You know this. You know, from your own experience, how little control over their lives working-class people are permitted to have. You know what a sick, evil, and brutalising business it is to be a “success” in this kind of rat race. How can love and kindness between human-beings grow in such a society? It can’t. Don’t you see that now? The system has got to be changed before people can live the full, loving lives that you have said you want.

Now do you see what was wrong with your record “Revolution”? That record was no more revolutionary than Mrs. Dale’s Diary. In order to change the world we’ve got to understand what’s wrong with the world. And then – destroy it. Ruthlessly. This is not cruelty or madness. It is one of the most passionate forms of love. Because what we’re fighting is suffering, oppression, humiliation – the immense toll of unhappiness caused by capitalism. And any “love” which does not pit itself against those things is sloppy and irrelevant.

There is no such thing as a polite revolution. That doesn’t mean violence is always the right way, or even that you should necessarily turn up on the the next demonstrations. (There are other ways of challenging the system.) But it does mean understanding that the privileged will do almost anything – will murder and torture and destroy, will foster ignorance and apathy and selfishness at home and will burn children abroad – rather than hand over their power.

What will you do when Apple is as big as Marks and Spencers, and one day its employees decide to take it over and run it for themselves? will you let them get on with it? Or will you call in the police – because you are a business-man, and Business-Men Must Protect Their Interests?

One last thing. You’ve written some marvellous, honest, beautiful music. (And it’s an indication of the weird effect capitalism has had on you that you felt it was necessary to pretend that in doing so you were only conning people.) But recently your music has lost its bite. At a time when the music of the Stones has been getting stronger and stronger. Why? Because we’re living in a world that is splitting down the middle. The split is between the rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless. You can see it here, and in the jungles of Vietnam, and in the mountains of South America, and in the ghettos of the U.S. and in the universities all over the world. It’s the great drama of the second half of the twentieth century – the battle for human dignity fought by the exploited and the underprivileged of the world. The Stones, helped along a bit by their experiences with the law, have understood this and they’ve understood that the life and authenticity of their music – quite apart from their personal integrity – demanded that they take part in this drama – that they refuse to take part in this drama – that they refuse to accept the system that’s fucking up our lives. You did it for a bit when you were taking acid – the only time in your career when you stepped outside the cheeky chappy slot the establishment had slid you into, and the time when your music was at its best. But they didn’t bust you (Why not, John?), and the way was open for you to come to represent not rebellion, or love, or poetry, or mysticism, but Big Business…

But after all, they still hate you, even if you are a company director. They hate you because you act funny and because you’re working-class (in origin at least) and you’re undisciplined and you weren’t in the army and, above all, you’ve been going out with a foreigner. So now it’s happened.

As I said before, don’t be too upset about it. In an unjust and corrupt society there is no dishonour in being arrested, and certainly none of us on the left are going to think any the worse of you for it.

But learn from it, John. Look at the society we’re living in, and ask yourself: why? And then – come and join us.

Yours Fraternally,

John.

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