Alternative Editorial: Resurrection
Not everyone celebrates Easter. Even so, the meaning embedded in the story—crucifixion followed by resurrection (which is today)—is compelling. A man can labour all his life in service to humanity, only to be betrayed by his own community and put to death in the worst possible way. But then he returns to life, without anger, ready to take life on again.
Amongst the many possible meanings, there is the possibility of infinite regeneration - of the body, the spirit, the community.
Just recently we have been struck by a similar sensibility, in a genre of TikTok videos known as #corecore. It shows the excruciating pain of how Western society's values and structures betray the vast majority of the humans who adhere to them, condemning them to meaningless lives and vacuous deaths.
But in the very expression of their waking up to an unjust fate, we also find a rebirth. These videos are not protests, people demanding their rights. They have seen through the whole socio-economic-political system - along with the media that sustains it - and they now want something else.
It's as if the spirit of the (largely) young people in these clips has been released from the treadmill of broken promises and resurrected: indeed, awakened. Now they will not settle for any compensation: a pay rise or cheaper goods.
Nothing will salve the pain of their self-deconstruction, other than a genuinely alternative reality. A life in which they can be seen as fully human; a future that responds to deeper needs than simply material ones. One that gets the awesomeness of life itself.
As one of our adopted cities - London - takes a holiday, we decided to rest our news cycle and simply share this sensibility with you, in a series of #corecore videos posted above and below. Beware: they are challenging and demanding and imperfect. Yet they display a profound reconnection with life and what it could offer, if we could get free of the constraints of our current civilisation.
[Note: you may have to unmute the speaker icon on these embedded videos, to hear their full effect - Ed.]