Susanne Oberbeck

Matthew Stone and friends interview Susanne Oberbeck.

Matthew Stone: How can we change the world and what is there to be done?

People need to be made aware that trying to prove they are men or women destroys them and others.

Nicola Lane: What does success mean to you?

Success is to be free from constraints, not be oppressed or abused by those in power, and be able to stick to your dreams and beliefs.

Success is also if the thing you do leaves an impact on people, moves or inspires them, makes them fancy you, or changes the world, but that’s obvious.

Steph Raynor: Are we anywhere near where we need to be?

I don’t like the use of the word ‘we’. Who is ‘we’? ‘We’ seems to have been used to justify all kinds of atrocities and banalities. Trying to answer your question anyway, I don’t think anybody needs to be anywhere. An ideal or fixed state would be boring.

MS: What should not be left unimagined?

Matthew this question is too complicated! I have written two pages and feel like I’m sounding like an absolute twat.

All I can suggest is Bin Laden and people like that should be banned from having an imagination, and people who don’t normally say anything should be able to tell us about their dreams.

I think the less you are a part of existing institutions and structures, the easier it probably is to imagine something that people are trying to tell you is impossible. Why take anything for granted? And what is really “real”?

It kind of comes back to your first question, which I think is mostly about power and conformity. Conforming in order to be powerful, or so they think. If people forgot about the need to prove that they are someone, or someone powerful, it might be possible for example for world leaders or even ordinary people to have an online discussion like this instead of fighting a war. And this is where we arrive at John Lennon’s “Imagine”.

Discuss!

Ebe Oke: What unique gifts do you have to offer to this world?

A unique perspective. BIG Balls.
I like to think I have a unique musical and lyrical instinct. But maybe this is something only Ebe can really answer.

MS: What question should be added to this list?

What is your vision for a future society, I mean in terms of political system, families, human relations, architecture, reproduction and so on?