Fighting for Our Personalized Utopias
Do we all, to some relative existential extent, secretly struggle to create and live in our own distinct and personalized utopias? Utopia may be the ultimate protagonist in the story of life, but every story needs an antagonist to counterbalance that weight. Thus, utopia and dystopia are mutually constitutive, one can not exist without the other. It is similar to the age old story of a Heaven and Hell. Since many people live in a personalized, versioned world of dystopia, it follows that each one also pushes to have her own crafted version of the “perfect” society she wants to reside in. It may not be obvious to an individual, but it is more clearly identifiable by simply glimpsing through the history of counterculture in the 1960s. Counterculture can be defined as a series of movements that aim to achieve both cultural and personal liberation. These movements naturally emerge because of each one’s desire to imprint bits and pieces of her own utopia onto the world at large. Some people take more noticeable actions than others, but each is trying to make true, long-lasting changes to society. These people are the ones that lived, breathed and drove the counterculture movements. We may call them activists or artists, or even derogatory terms such as hippies and anarchists, but they are simply participants in the movement who wanted to turn parts of their respective utopias into reality in our society.
Civil Rights Movement
Remember the time in History class when we learned about the civil rights movement? No one should forget one of the most impactful social movements that forever changed the lives of African Americans, women in general, and indeed, every citizen in America. Let us think back to the Sixties when this transpired. Many activist groups were formed. They were made up of people who had similar visions of an utopia where people of color, women, and minorities would receive equal treatments and rights.
One of these groups was the infamous, Black power support group known as the Black Panther Party. Its members advocated for self-defense against police brutality. Members originally participated in peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins to protest against segregation. However, the constant threats of attack from the Ku Klux Klan, police, and local white mobs fueled the need for a strategic change and different pragmatic approach. The Panthers began to carry weapons and firearms for self-defense. Their goal was not to start fights with the police or those that upheld the predominate, racist social constructs, but to protect and stand up for themselves from the inequality and racism that existed during that time. While an utopia where racial equality is completely eradicated is unlikely, the civil rights movement ultimately led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act which made it illegal to “separate people based on race, color or national origin.” Individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds, geographic areas, and a wide range of ages were united because each had developed a related and similar utopia and yearned to make it a reality.
Haight-Ashbury District
Counterculture was not only about the politics and policies of the time. It was also about personal liberation. If anyone has the time and is in the area, one should take a stroll down the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco. You will find yourself staring at the flashy, vibrant buildings and famous Victorian houses that line the streets. Now, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Do you hear the music of Rock and Roll fused with laughter? Can you smell the pungent marijuana that fills the air? Welcome to the Sixties in the Haight-Ashbury District.
This was once populated with “hippies” who flocked to the area because of cheap rents and vacant properties after WWII. The Haight became known as the center of drug experimentation, the “Rock and Roll” lifestyle and acid rock music. Art in the form of poetry, painting, and performance art were also an essential part of the community. Many rocks bands including the famed Grateful Dead were formed as Psychedelic Rock became popular. Many hippies used psychedelic drugs such as LSD to alter their minds. Individuals such as Ken Kesey promoted acid tests which gave people the opportunity to take acid in a friendly, peaceful environment surrounded by their friends while listening to relevant, complementary music. The community was essentially made up of free spirits that did not want to conform to societal norms and the respective laws that confined them. Their utopia was a world of personal freedom. Whether it was experimenting with drugs and sex or just a stress-free, happy existence, they simply wanted to live the way they wanted to live, without restrictions or inhibitions.
The Diggers
A smaller group of radical activists named the Diggers, but more informally known as “community anarchists,” also lived in the Haight-Ashbury District in the Sixties. Their moniker comes from the old English Digger in the 1600’s who wanted to live in an utopia free from capitalism. Having similar ideals as the old Diggers, they offered people the opportunity to live in their utopia, a world without money. The San Francisco Diggers gave out free food, transportation, medical care, and temporary housing. Every day at 4pm, the Diggers served food behind a yellow frame called the Free Frame of Reference at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The food was either donated or stolen and fed approximately a hundred people.
In addition, the Diggers opened Free Stores where everybody was allowed to take or give any items that the store offered. They also attracted many others through artistic approaches. Free music concerts were given and included performers such by Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and numerous other bands of the time. Street performances took place such as “The Death of Money,” which consisted of members dressed-up in animals masks carrying a coffin filled with fake money singing to the tune of “Death March.” Leaflets titled the “Diggers Papers” contained art pieces, poetry, and essays. This seemingly radical lifestyle to most was simply the Diggers rational way to make their utopian society a reality. Members were able to thrive in their ideal world while also influencing and giving the opportunity to others in the community to live in this same manner.
The Summer of Love Leads to the Fall of Haight-Ashbury
However, utopias are generally not sustainable. It cannot last in perpetuity. In the summer of 1967, youths, tourists, and college students arrived in large numbers to Haight-Ashbury because of their attraction to this seemingly, cultural utopia. The District could not accommodate everyone due to the extraordinary high influx of people. Eventually, the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood deteriorated due to overcrowdedness, drug issues, and homelessness. “The Summer of Love” inevitably led to the fall of the “hippie movement” in the Haight, but no one will forget its significance in shaping our current views of counterculture, personal freedoms and cultural utopias.
Us Today
So let me ask you again, do we all struggle to create and live in our individual utopia? Social and cultural movements in the Sixties clearly show the efforts of those who struggle and strive to create, maintain, and share a self-created, community utopia. Living a non-normative lifestyle like the Diggers is only one way of living in our individual utopias. There are countless other ways. Some are so minuscule and subtle that we do not even realize that we are constantly trying to live in our own personal utopia. It can be a simple act such as donating food to a homeless because your utopia is a place where no one is starving. It can be the pursuit of a more meaningful and less high-paying job because being passionate about your professional life is an integral part of your utopia. The list goes on and on. Every single day, each of us are part of the ongoing movements driven by fighting, sharing and living for what we believe in.
