The weight of the suffering world. #LittleAmal falls for a second time, caught by a lamppost as she rests and gathers herself before dragging the dead tree of MotherEarth towards those with power in their hands tonight.
Accompanied by those trying to turn away from the deeply wrong ways of living which are bringing death and profound loss to so many #LittleAmal struggles on; bewildered; disoriented and clearly reluctant to go back again into the #Cop26 Blue Zone and beg for mercy
Her journey from Syria in search of her mother has brought no resolution, just mourning, and now she weeps over the loss of a second Mother; Mother Earth and in despair; and with the anger of grief she walks on
At the border between the city and the UN designated zone she parts company with her companions in Glasgow and with a heavy heart, crosses this international border and leaves the rest of us behind
We stand watch as she walks into the distance along the side of the railway arches - like so many seeing family for the last time; like those on the border of Poland and Belerus. The fences poignant designators of who may and those who may not cross.
And the band play on - The grief of and for the world in the figure of a child refugee and the dead tree she is bound to carry into the heart of power.
Yes, it gets harder. Maybe it’s because the world has now seen through the lies; stopped clutching to the meaningless phrases served up as propaganda, is giving money and protest time as a habit now, not exception 1/
Maybe we’ve all been too wet and cold on the streets begging for a ceasefire, for an end to deliberate starvation, laying out children’s clothes on the cold earth in protest now actions which are regular as clockwork. 2/
Maybe its the opening of timelines and feeds knowing that there is only a worsening of the horror, a worsening of the lying, a worsening of the starving, a worsening of what seems like madness in our leaders who cannot even vote for what is glaringly obvious 3/
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
For last 3 years I have sustained an international cultural project with leaders in Ghana, Mexico, Scotland, Morocco, Zimbabwe & Gaza for eradication of GBV
Israel has eliminated our work in Gaza. 1/
The UN reports that 67% of those killed the IDF are women and children.
No percentage is acceptable in the work to eliminate violence against women.
These war crimes must be properly documented and prosecuted in the ICC, following the protocols.
When I say Israel has eliminated our work I mean that every institution and NGO that was part of our work had been destroyed. There is no infrastructure left since Israel eliminated it, to enact the project in Gaza.
I mean families we worked with not even buried in graveyards 3/
What a swirl - and designed to be - that's the performative cruelty of declaring culture wars and open season on anyone who dares to leave a place where they have been abused or persecuted. 1/
All wars - those of words and cultures and those with weapons - are deadly in intent. Necropolitics is the word Achille Mbembe the great Cameroonian Philosopher has used to describe this. A politics of death 2/
In all wars but especially where a particular group of people are singled out for deportation & for varieties of eradication there are various ways in which language and censorship of all forms of art - media, education, speech - take shape. Each specific context is different 3/
My heartfelt apologies to everyone @SDVisitors last night who was hoping to hear me celebrating 20th anniversary and offer words of sense-making and maybe soothing in the face of cruelty of detention. Sadly my husband had an accident and I received an emergency call at 5pm 1/
He will be fine - very shaken - head trauma and a broken rib it seems and quite the shiner this morning - thanks to @GlasgowSubway staff especially Kevin for care and help. 2/
It made me thankful that I - unlike all those in #detention - can know care; can draw on the love & humour of friends & family; can find understanding and belief when we say something terrible has happened - unlike those subject to the culture of disbelief in the Home Office 3/
“We identified the following metaphors: CUTS ARE AN ENTITY; CUTS ARE A THREAT, CUTS ARE ILLNESS, CUTS ARE VIOLENCE; plus, on the other hand, RESEARCH IS HEALTH, RESEARCH IS A JOURNEY, RESEARCH IS CONNECTION.” @kentbuse@VolcanoJenni@claire_horwell@CUSP_Network@MIDEQHub 2/
“First, we suggest that the metaphors used have a persuasive and evaluative aim and function. Second, we open up a space for an interdisciplinarity between CMA and ‘idioms of distress’.” 3/