Purple Magazine
— The Revolutions Issue #40 F/W 2023

editor’s letter

No one believes anymore in the idea of revolution. It’s a term from the past, associated with violence, political failures, and lost illusions.

Yet, deep within us all, we see the need for radical change. My generation dreamed of an artistic alternative, an indie counterculture, and a cyberpunk underground. But we’re beyond that. The future of our planet is at risk, and social inequality has never been more extreme. Change is not an option. For new generations, it’s a duty, an impossible mission we’re entrusting to them.

French writer Virginie Despentes states it radically: “Not all generations have aspired to change the world; not all generations have been given the duty to change the world.

My generation was never told, even before we could read, if you don’t change the world, you’re all going to die. They are gender-fluid, and they are pansexual; they are racialized or supportive of the racialized;

they no longer want to be confined and defined by poverty and injustice; they are shamans; they are witches.
And what interests me is to be able to tell them everything is possible, starting with the best, and it’s a matter of desiring something else

In fact, the revolution is not to come.

It’s already here. The revolution is permanent and multifaceted.

All generations are now facing a chaotic period of multiple revolutions, some exciting, others dangerous, and yet others disastrous. To name a few: the climate crisis, cosmological discoveries, quantum theories, post-humanism, the rise of artificial intelligence, neuroscience, the gender revolution, and the burgeoning psychedelic revolution. All these mutations coexist to form a paradoxical world of fantastic promises but also of insane risks, which ultimately create confusion.
We are propelled by a revolutionary élan without knowing it, and a thousand revolts, a thousand angers, a thousand signs, a thousand discov-eries, and a thousand other possibilities testify to it. The point, as Virginie says, is not to be afraid.
It’s a question of desire. We still have the opportunity to change the world.

Olivier Zahm

[Table of contents]

The Revolutions Issue #40 F/W 2023

Table of contents

© Purple Institute

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