LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Friday, April 30, 2010

I Will Not Write For The Sake Of My Mental Health

What's happening with the oil catastrophe in the Gulf and the legislative catastrophes in Oklahoma (women's health and control of their own bodies) and Arizona (stalinist style personal identification state), I dare not even begin to write about them. My anger is so great that what will result at this time is incontinently incoherent.


Every damn month of 2010 there has been a massive natural catastrophe, including for April the Icelandic volcanic eruption plume (which some speculate is caused by the lessening weight of the melting glacial ice).

April, however, we've had a string of catastrophes that are entirely man-made: the mining disasters caused by capital's refusal to abide by mining safety standards resulting in the deaths of miners and their loss to their families, to the cruel anti-woman legislation in Oklahoma, the anti-migration laws in Arizona that are the freeway to denial of voting rights and arrest of anyone and everyone for nothing other than what the arrester feels like -- and which will do nothing to curb the global migration movements due to failed states, failed economies and climate change (you want to stop migration from Mexico to the U.S.? start with rolling back NAFTA -- you all know, right, how NAFTA serves BIG AGRI? and how quickly it destroyed Mexico's own agriculture?) -- and now this, BIG OIL BP creating yet another catastrophe for the Gulf.

No. I cannot write about these things without getting figuratively sick to my stomach from anger laced by disgust and fear at the keyboard.

1 comment:

K. said...

Reads to me like you're doing a great job writing about it.

This Oklahoma thing is beyond cruel: It's depraved and sadistic. The people of Oklahoma have voted a gang of Torquemadas into office. But, the states know best, right?