Sunday 11 October 2020 – everywhere

During the recent rebellion we lost an inspirational ally, David Graeber – a man without whom many of us might not be part of XR.

You might know him from his books – Debt: The First 5,000 Years, or Bullshit Jobs – or from Occupy Wall Street and the phrase ‘We Are The 99%’. You may even have been lucky enough to have been taught or encouraged by him.

There are tributes far more eloquent and personal than this everywhere, – do search them out: rarely does one see an outpouring of love so universal. David was not just a unique brain, a man whose thinking will change the world – he was the kindest, most generous, most gentle of souls. He leaves a gaping hole in our intellectual landscape.

He was part of XR’s rather grandly, oddly-titled Brains Trust, but also Art Group. David, with his wife Nika, welcomed us into their world, inviting us to explore creativity as a map to navigate our precarious future.

We didn’t know him for long, but it didn’t feel like that. Meeting David was to be sure that you had known him – and would know him – forever.

We had only just begun. And we knew that we were going to have SUCH FUN rewiring our fucked-up system.

One of the things David had been grappling with recently was how we might replace our society’s reliance on production and consumption.

He thought we might be able to substitute these with CARE and FREEDOM – because then we could have permanent growth.

David, we will not stop until that care and freedom are at the very heart of a resilient, loving society, and we will never forget the brief, dazzling time we spent in your company.

XR Art Group

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We would like to invite friends of David near and far to join us on October 11th in gatherings small and large, wherever you may be, to organise a carnival memorial to celebrate his life, thoughts, inspirations, friendships, communities and the movements he helped animate.

Click here for the full letter of invitation and further details. As we would like to link these different gatherings, we ask you to get in touch with us, even if you are not yet sure what form it will take, so that we can better understand how we might connect everyone on that day.

Just send us your name (or nickname), a place where you want to be on October 11 (don’t send a specific address, just the name of the town or district of the town if it is big). We respect your privacy and suggest you make up a special email just for this case.

carnival4david@riseup.net

XR will be getting involved in (at least) the Carnival in London. If you want to help / take part / organise elsewhere drop us a line at XR4David@protonmail.com and we’ll coordinate.