#profitsoverpeople

". . .year after year I’ve grown tired of discourses that appeal to selfishness or economic reasons (which tend to be the same…) with the purpose of achieving what’s healthy or what’s ethically correct or what’ just (which tend to be the same…). From philosopher John Rawls (current touchstone of liberal / social democratic political theory) and his 'veil of ignorance' to Tea Party co-founder Debbie Dooley and her defence of the environment."

New article for Miista. You can read it here.

BLACK LIVES' CONDITIONS MATTER

My words on behalf of the Miista team. To read the whole article you can press here.

"1. Police brutality and murders such as that of George Floyd are the tip of a big iceberg. They cannot be explained away by talking of misguided individuals.

2. Racism is not only, nor mainly, in people’s minds. Behind it there is a whole social structure, a systemic machinery of discrimination that shapes stereotypes and the way citizens think and behave.

3. Of course, black lives matter, but not only when it comes to keeping or losing them. Besides police murders and impunity, the conditions in which black lives develop must be addressed, and that entails unveiling the racist structure of societies.

4. Anti-Black racism is inextricably linked to fierce capitalism and the history of capital accumulation that made slavery an essential “good” in the US. A great deal of the country’s wealth and hegemony comes, even today, from the profits of both slave work and the even cheaper work of freed slaves.

5. At the same time, a great deal of the country’s institutions were tailor-made by and for well-off white men, who became the “neutral” model of citizenship. Through history these “neutral” citizens have made sure they kept their positions of power with policies and legislations that trapped black people in a voiceless, impoverished status.

6. Furthermore, the “neutral” model of citizenship, formulated in civil rights, doesn’t suit the needs and problems of racialised and lower-class people, who don’t start from a position of economic security. No matter how equal before the law citizens are supposed to be, unfair social structures resulting from unfair historical relationships create the need of specific rights that attend specific needs and wrongs.

7. Sometimes, claims and proposals may be inadvertently discriminatory due to the model of universal citizenship in which they are based. Equal treatment prolongs inequalities.

8. Because of the remarks above, we reject the neoliberal discourse of deserving winners and guilty losers.
9. Because of the remarks above, we find censure of protests by pointing at what is considered “vandalism” and “looting” hypocritical or ignorant. Such censure either obscures or overlooks the institutional violence exerted every day on the collective.

10. As a consequence of the remarks above, we defend affirmative action and reparations, but we also believe that deeper changes in the direction of democratisation are what the majority of the population should aspire to. Inclusive processes of deliberation and a conception of societies as systems of cooperation are key to end inequalities.

11. At the same time, we believe that collaboration between women of all races, ages, sexualities, origins, etc., is essential for true progress and encourage the Miista community to participate in it. Current women movements have proved their capacity for inclusiveness as well as for influence and change, and we are confident that their history up to now is just the beginning."

SAMANTHASIDDHARTHA

Spike Jonze's Her and

so-called Eastern philosophies

(and more...)

New article for Miista

Click on the link!

CLAPPING AGAINST THE MINIMAL STATE

Super-Nurse: Photo and graffiti by FAKE (IG: @iamfake)

"Knowing as we know that unfettered markets don’t distribute wealth, but tend to concentrate it in a few hands, I wonder if 'we' who 'know' includes my neighbours. I wonder who are 'we' who 'know', and I end up with the idea that in this case the subject of knowing is a small group of people. I end up with the idea that my neighbours aren’t aware of the contradictions in, and implications of, their clapping. The daily ritual which, with the passing of one more week, went back to its origin as an exclusive tribute to the doctors and nurses in the public system."

My latest article for Miista. Read it here!

Also available on beauty & horror

DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO? KNOW THYSELF!

One of Kazuaki Tanahashi's Miracles of Each Moment (https://www.brushmind.net/)

". . . mindfulness is one of the most socially and politically revolutionary tasks we can undertake.

In an order where introspection is systemically hampered, practicing it can really make a difference. In fact, it is my belief (but also an idea implied by politicians, philosophers and social scientists who speak of alienation and false consciousness) that our lack of introspection favours the current state of affairs. Therapists, educators and scholars have highlighted the potential of mindfulness for liberating people from sedimented harmful prejudices instilled by culture and institutions."

New article for Miista! You can read it here.

CABIN FEVER

Poster by Matthieu Persan (http://www.barbudesign.com/)

"Three nights later, the recording of a woman being restrained by the police went viral. She resisted fiercely while crying for help and, in response to the reprimands coming from the windows of neighbouring residential buildings, she proffered a sentence of which only the last words are distinguishable. Something about 'being shut in.' In the context, the information being transmitted is easy to grasp. She couldn’t stand being shut in.

It was the despair in her voice what struck me to the point that I haven’t been able to forget her."

"What’s the problem, then? What happens at our homes that makes our staying in feel like being grounded? Why does it feel boring or distressing to the point of driving many up the wall on the second or third day?"

Read my new article for Miista here.

Also available on beauty & horror

WE NEED EACH OTHER

Ideas discussed and put together by the Miista team.
Written by yours truly.

Image by Mónica Trinidad

". . . we would like to shed a constructive light on this whole situation and see it as an opportunity to rethink ourselves and the ways in which we organise. . . 'Which is the normality we want to return to?' Or, in other words, “Is hoping for the coronavirus to pass the only or the main thing to hope for at the moment?” Our answer is no."

You can read it here.