Happy International Women’s Day

Remember that patriarchy created Capitalism to extract value from the masses and then concentrate them in the hands of a few capitalists.

Patriarchy invented religion and Gods in the image of powerful men because the idea of heaven and hell would give people an illusion of justice while living in an economically unjust world. After all, when unprivileged people believe that all their hard work in this life will eventually be compensated in the afterlife, they are less likely to organize an uprise against those who exploit people and nature for profit.

Patriarchy denies women equal rights and opportunities, safety, economic power, and autonomy; it reduced women to properties owned by men and as incubators that gave birth to more workers and soldiers that served and protected patriarchy’s wealth extraction and exploitation systems.

Patriarchy is an ancient system of oppression and exploitation. It is a manufactured construct, not a default fixture of our reality. It harms people regardless of gender, but even more so, people who challenge the patriarchy’s hegemonic idea of masculinity.

Patriarchy harms our environment and nature, too. As Francis Bacon said, “nature must be taken by the forelock,” because as it seems, nature is a woman and patriarchy’s idea of resource extraction and economic growth is a rape fantasy!

Today we celebrate women, recognize their struggles against patriarchy, and learn from their many achievements.

I’m hurting

I am hurting right now. Last week a colleague of ours died; he was the same age as me. I ended a relationship with someone who has been my life’s most extended and deepest friend and lover of over ten years. Also, a project I diligently worked on was cancelled due to insufficient funds, which doesn’t sound as bad as the first two, but it still hurts a bit.

The relationship I ended hurts the most; it’s the kind of grief I don’t know if I’ll get over but eventually gather enough strength to move on.

I’ve been participating in activities celebrating life for the last few days. I attended a Flaming Lips concert, a Spring celebration party at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and a Blues and Fusion dance night where I could dance with all my friends and favourite dancers. One heart-healing property of Blues and Fusion dance is that you can feel and process your emotions while in motion with a dance partner embracing you on the dance floor.

I won’t try to medicate or suppress my pain. I won’t distract myself from it. I am going to feel my emotions to their full strength and depth. I’ll let them run through me while I’m processing my grief.

The Democratic Surround by Fred Turner

In my quest to learn more about the origins of fascism and modern liberalism in North America, I came across Fred Turner’s books. The Democratic Surround describes how a group of artists and anthropologists during the 40s and shortly after WWII set the ground for the multimedia-rich, consumer-driven world we live in today. Why is multimedia significant? At the time, fascist and communist authoritarian leaders used broadcasting technologies such as Radio and Television to bring about repression and conformity to their societies, and multimedia was an alternative method of offering a more democratic, inclusive, and open social order.

The Democratic Surround By Fred Turner

The author shares stories from Bauhaus, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and Black Mountain College in North Carolina. This group of artists and intellectuals organized art and multimedia events such as the Happenings and Family of Man, which were interactive, used rich multimedia, and were also heavily fused by propaganda to promote social freedoms combined with consumerism and capitalism. These events eventually set the stage for the psychedelic counterculture and later cyberculture which Turner covers in his next book, From counterculture to cyberculture.

Remember that these multimedia events predate Burning Man or the Internet itself. The Happenings, for example, were mainly organized by white men and offered little to no gender or racial diversity. While nude women were part of the interactive art performances, women, people of diverse sexual orientations, and Black and indigenous people often had little to no involvement in organizing and planning the events.

I still wonder whether a few art events could shift the mindset of a nation from fascism towards some variation of liberalism. Still, I’ve also learned that subcultures and countercultures often have more influence on the mainstream mindset than we realize.

I don’t like the short winter days

I don’t like Winter; I’m not too fond of the short days. Right now, I was going to get dressed and go to a local cantine where I could have a drink, food, read a book, and people watch. But it’s already too dark to read anything inside an establishment; streets become unsafe in downtown Vancouver once it’s dark for people who walk alone, and I don’t want to go out only to dine on my own while I have healthy food my fridge. So I decided to get back in my comfy clothes and stay home. It’s not an ideal situation.

Happy Yalda 2022

Happy winter solstice! Did you know that Yalda is the Persian’s winter solstice? Yalda means “birth,” and the Yalda festival is at least 2500 years old. It symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness.

You celebrate Yalda by wearing something red, lighting candles, staying up all night, snacking on pomegranates and roasted nuts, drinking red wine, reading poetry, and reflecting on your existence within cycles of nature and living as one of the many life forms.

Yalda is one of the many ancient traditions that the Islamic invaders and occupiers who colonized Persia 1400 years ago failed to exterminate from people’s lives. As you might know, Iranian women and youth have been uprising against the theocracy of the Islamic regime in their country, and during this Yalda, they are continuing to fight on the streets. So while celebrating Winter Solstice, please keep them in your thoughts.

Happy Yalda, and may light be in your lives!