War Against the World

Recently, certain theocratic groups have been a constant source of news. It is my view that politics and religious fanaticism do not mix well at all.
Even in "liberal" Finland, there's been statements such as "the government has gotten its mission from God", and that God is to be feared. It follows that the government's mission is a fearsome one; and that much would seem to be true. Be that as it may, it looks like the powers that be have shed their pretense of being empowered representatives of the people, and elected instead to answer to a "higher calling" (other than the Christian Party, which has always been like that, I suppose).
In fact, on close inspection, a lot of finnish society is influenced by christian theism - and many would like to keep it that way (eg. certain songs being sung at school). There is also no separation of church and state, here: a few christian sects have the prerogative of collecting tax, and are formally supported by the state apparatus. Even the flag has a cross on it, by jiminy!
Here is a video production that plays with some of these themes.


It was originally meant for the Wild compo at the aptly named JumaLAN 2016 (Jumalan = of God). Unfortunately, I was unable to book edit times for the last parts before the party, so I sat on it for a while and now released it at Simulaatio 7, where it got disqualified. The name is from a series called Black Sails that deals with piracy in the West Indies. My political standing is firmly anarchist, but I've voted Pirate in the past.
An effect in the video, I'm sure you can tell which one, is a re-hash of pakkoruotsi by HTeL. Here's the video capture of that:

It is a protest demo against mandatory swedish education. Christendom came to Finland from Sweden by way of the sword, so I think the placement of this demo within my work is apt. But, rather than take the path of the aggressor and follow the finnish adage "what would remove evil if not evil?", I think we should adapt to this teaching of the Master, the One-well-gone, Buddha:

putting away all unkindness to sentient beings, he abstains from destroying life. He lays aside the cudgel and sword and, full of humility and pity, he is compassionate and kind to all creatures that have life

(emphasis mine)
And, thus, we come to the main themes of this productions, which are the overt and covert symbols of violence in our society. I, for one, feel a decrease, not an increase, in security, when armed thugs and neo-nazi paramilitary forces on patrol cross my path.