Yasmin Nair's Piece At The Revived Evergreen Review

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Friday August 25, 2017 · 9:36 AM PDT

2017/08/25 · 09:36

“Kill Your Love: How to Build a New World with Pessimism and Failure”

I woke up today to discover that a) The Evergreen Review is back (yes...THAT Evergreen Review) and that b) Yasmin Nair had written A Manifesto.

The Evergreen Review, in its original printed magazine format was an outlet for some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, focused on existential questions of who we are, how we got here and where we can go — together. You can find the collected works of all issues at book stores. I recommend them to all.

Yasmin’s piece is a call to these very things. She begins by addressing aliens and trying to explain human beings to them. In so doing, she looks at how humans define aliens and uses our sci-fi movies as a recurring thread throughout the composition. It’s not every day that I see A Boy And His Dog, Brazil & Planet Of The Apes layered into an examination of NeoLiberalism, Capitalism, Gentrification, Utopia, Freud — and even our linear definition of time. Doing so, brought so much joy to my inner 12 year old and outer 57 year old.

Although Ms. Nair included many elements in our wide world, her gaze is singularly focused on “the Left” and how we operate in ways to undo our own stated & unstated goals.

She addresses how we got here

The problem is that no one quite knows what, exactly, is to be won. Do we win elections? What does the left know about winning elections? In Chicago, the putative left here ran a mayoral candidate who literally had no idea, till late in the season, what he would do once he got power—in interviews, Chuy Garcia declared that we needed to get in there first, as if somehow politics was like a building that had been locked to him. In fact, he had the floor plan, and could do anything he wanted. The arrogance of the left lies in its assumption that, really, after all, nothing needs an explanation. Just get us in there and trust us to do the rest.

So, there’s a frightening question that no one knows how to answer: what does the left do once it’s in power? What does an election yield if the left has already surrendered its core, when it’s too terrified to speak of its ideology?

Many forms of who we are

Microcelebrities are the mayflies of the social media world; a month is eternity, and few last beyond a year or two at their peak before settling into online corners of disgruntlement. Indeed, this transience helps perpetuate the phenomenon, as thousands upon thousands of bloggers, tweeters, and Youtube "personalities" vie to become the next flavor of the month. The problem lies less with who and where they are, and more with what their existence—and our obsession with them—has done to change who we are and how we respond to each other. We have adopted a microcelebrity way of being in the world. We aspire to the same levels of narcissism, which is, please note, different from being narcissistic. Which is to say, a prominent social drive these days is not narcissism per se, but that we fear that a lack of public narcissism will come across as a lack of self-awareness and mark us as inadequate for modern times. Along with this comes an easily held belief that everything we need to know about ourselves is right there, in public view, with no messy underside to any of us—after all, aren’t we all confessing all our sins and more?

how we self-sabotage,

Neoliberalism survives as well as it does because its machinations allow people to express dissent even as they in fact only echo support for its worst effects. During Occupy, it was incredible to watch so many take to the streets, finally critical of how capitalism had wreaked its havoc. But as I wound my way through the massive crowds and their signs, it also became evident that the palpable anger was not so much at the system but that the system had failed them. Signs everywhere said, in effect, “I did the right thing for years, and I was still screwed over.”

And, how we might get to some place together, that can be useful to us all

I grow tired of words like “love” and “solidarity” being thrown around, especially in the radical queer circles I inhabit, as if they mean the same thing to everyone. Love always devolves to the individual level, and when push comes to shove we choose the needs of our loved ones (which is to say ourselves) over the needs of our community and our world. This makes for good epics and action movies, but makes genuine justice that much harder to achieve. Love, furthermore, is cheap and easy as an organising tool. Rather than focus on the hard work of changing systems, we dwell endlessly on the degree to which we can love one another; inevitably, at some point or the other, we become so immersed in loving each other, we forget that justice should exist even for those we hate or dislike. Even if we can find a way to move forward without love, we can’t help but congratulate ourselves on how fabulous we are, how grand, to be able to resolve matters even with those we don’t love. The line between worldly love and self-love to the point of narcissism is thin.

I told you at the start that this would be the most pessimistic of the documents stored in the capsule. Pessimism is not encouraged, especially in this land of sunny smiling faces where everyone has to keep insisting that they’re okay, even as the world falls around them. But as I think of how to move forward, dear aliens, the struggle is to consider revolutionary zeal that is inspired not by boundless love for one’s fellow creatures or sunny optimism that “we” will be all right. Because “we” are fucked.

What I propose instead is a strategic pessimism, a full understanding that we will, as a band of queers once said, first get our asses kicked before we win. We have to dispense with the idea that we must first love or like those whom we work for and with and, instead, understand that the point is not to create a giant happy neighborhood where everyone knows your name.

This Manifesto is to me, a call to working toward a future that we can all live in. Even if we fear it is not possible. Without any need to love each other. Question everything. No sacred cows. Just the persistent drum of: who? how? where? when? and why?

I recommend wholeheartedly that you read and share Ms. Nair’s Manifesto as well as the entirety of The Evergreen Review. I for one, welcome their arrival on this day.

IL GOP bigots and thieves intro HB4474 "bathroom panic" anti-trans / anti-gay bill for TDOV

sexgenderbody

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Friday April 01, 2016 · 11:20 AM PDT

2016/04/01 · 11:20

Not to be left out in the season of hatred and bile that is the modern GOP flood of bigotry used as cover for naked corruption, greed and oppression — the IL GOP KKKrisitian Coalition of Professional White People (IL GOP) has introduced IL HB4474. They want their own “bathroom panic” hatred laws to punish queer people and now they have it.

The way this works is that it will start in the current format, and then all the provisions to eliminate rights for Union workers, employees and Democratic voters will be added later.

“Moderate” GOP Governor Rauner will sign it gladly.

Public hearing will be hosted by the Human Services Committee Hearing Apr 5 2016 8:00AM Stratton Building Room C-1 Springfield, IL

The dreadful people sponsoring this criminal behavior masked in bigotry and bile are:

House Sponsors
Rep. Thomas Morrison - Mary E. Flowers, Sheri Jesiel, Mark Batinick, Dwight Kay, Jeanne M Ives, Bill Mitchell, John M. Cabello, Reginald Phillips, John D. Anthony, Barbara Wheeler, C.D. Davidsmeyer, Keith R. Wheeler, David B. Reis, Adam Brown, Charles Meier, Randy E. Frese, Joe Sosnowski, Terri Bryant, Avery Bourne, John Cavaletto, Anthony DeLuca, Michael W. Tryon, Tim Butler, Brandon W. Phelps, Jerry Costello, II and John Bradley

h/t to Kerri Barber for telling me about this. Here is her post about it in facebook:

North Carolina’s new discrimination law is nothing more than a ruse for corporate agribusiness. They are using the religious right against other working people and children. This sounds like a bias on transgender persons’ rights to privacy, which is eerily familiar to the arguments we are having here in Cary Grove High School, but let’s take a look at what this bill really does.

Here is what the bill says: NC HB2 ncleg.net/...

PART II. STATEWIDE CONSISTENCY IN LAWS RELATED TO EMPLOYMENT AND CONTRACTING SECTION 2.1. “The provisions of this Article supersede and preempt any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy adopted or imposed by a unit of local government or other political subdivision of the State that regulates or imposes any requirement upon an employer pertaining to compensation of employees, such as the wage levels of employees, hours of labor, payment of earned wages, benefits, leave, or well-being of minors in the workforce…”

This is Insidious and wrong. Not only does this law do NOTHING to protect women from predators, it strips away the rights of transgender persons AND the disabled, veterans and children. Pay attention because this is happening all across the country.

According to sections 3.2 and 3.3 of the bill, “no person may bring any civil action” if they experience discrimination, even where discrimination is explicitly banned. You may not sue in state court for ANY case involving discrimination, including for age, being a veteran or disabled status. You have to go through federal court which is harder and more costly; expensive enough to prohibit the average person from exercising their rights. If your rights are limited by your net worth, that isn’t Equal Protection.

Attack on Children So why include that piece on child labor? Look at the big picture: Child labor laws in NC have not changed since 1938 when they were crafted to protect children who worked on their own family farms, not industrial farms. This new law protects the status quo.

While the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 sets the minimum working age at 14, the law allows children ages 12–14 to work in the agricultural industry as accompanied minors or with parental consent, but in North Carolina, it is LEGAL for children as young as 10 to be a paid employee in agriculture and WORK 14 HOURS A DAY.

Some have tried to end this practice. House Bill 838, "Protect Youth/ Family Farm Employment” received bipartisan support to provide requirements for businesses to give child farm workers rest breaks, limit hazardous tasks and cap their work hours and prohibit interference with school as it is with other industries. That proposed legislation never went for a vote. And now, with the passage of NC HB2, even if it passed, it could not be enforced. NCHB2 ~supersedes~ it and nullifies any protections it may offer.

If you consider yourself a Christian, if you consider yourself a Republican – can you still stand with these people and refuse to acknowledge the humanity of others? You are being used, your fear being preyed upon and it is costing us everything.

Pay attention because these attacks on our rights have already begun right here at home.

Up Rooted Innocence: vimeo.com/...

Here is the full text of HB4474 in all its criminal hatred:

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2015 and 2016 HB4474

Introduced , by Rep. Thomas Morrison

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 105 ILCS 5/10-20.58 new 105 ILCS 5/34-18.50 new

Amends the School Code. Requires a school board to designate each pupil restroom, changing room, or overnight facility accessible by multiple pupils simultaneously, whether located in a public school building or located in a facility utilized by the school for a school-sponsored activity, for the exclusive use of pupils of only one sex. Defines "sex" as the physical condition of being male or female, as determined by an individual's chromosomes and identified at birth by that individual's anatomy. Provides that no member of the female sex may use a pupil restroom or changing room that has been designated by the school board for the exclusive use of the male sex and no member of the male sex may use a pupil restroom or changing room that has been designated by the school board for the exclusive use of the female sex, with exceptions. Authorizes a school board to provide reasonable accommodations to a pupil to use a single-occupancy restroom or changing room or the regulated use of a faculty restroom or changing room if the pupil, if the pupil is an adult or an emancipated minor, or the parent or guardian of a minor pupil submits to school officials, in writing, a request to receive such accommodations and the pupil is a member of the male sex but does not identify as a member of the male sex or the pupil is a member of the female sex but does not identify as a member of the female sex. Sets forth a complaint procedure.

LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

HB4474 LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

1            AN ACT concerning education, which may be referred to as 2       the Child Privacy Act.
3            Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4       represented in the General Assembly:

5            Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Sections
6       10-20.58 and 34-18.50 as follows:

7            (105 ILCS 5/10-20.58 new)
8            Sec. 10-20.58. Pupil physical privacy.
9            (a) In this Section:
10            "Changing room" means a room or area, with or without
11       stalls for individual use, designated for a person to change
12       his or her clothes and includes a locker room, shower room, or
13       dressing room.
14            "Sex" means the physical condition of being male or female,
15       as determined by an individual's chromosomes and identified at
16       birth by that individual's anatomy.
17            (b) A school board shall designate each pupil restroom,
18       changing room, or overnight facility accessible by multiple
19       pupils simultaneously, whether located in a public school
20       building or located in a facility utilized by the school for a
21       school-sponsored activity, for the exclusive use of pupils of 22       only one sex. 23            (c) A school board may establish policies for special

HB4474 - 2 - LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

1       events, including athletic events, during which the school 2       board may temporarily redesignate a pupil restroom or changing 3       room. Upon the conclusion of the special event, the pupil
4       restroom or changing room shall revert to the designation under
5       subsection (b) of this Section.
6            (d) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this Section,
7       no member of the female sex may use a pupil restroom or
8       changing room that has been designated by the school board for
9       the exclusive use of the male sex, and no member of the male
10       sex may use a pupil restroom or changing room that has been
11       designated by the school board for the exclusive use of the
12       female sex. The prohibition under this subsection (d) does not
13       apply to a child under the age of 7 who is being assisted by a
14       parent, guardian, or family member or to a person providing
15       assistance to a person with a disability.
16            (e) A school board may provide reasonable accommodations to
17       a pupil to use a single-occupancy restroom or changing room or
18       the regulated use of a faculty restroom or changing room if the
19       following conditions are met:
20                (1) The pupil, if the pupil is an adult or an
21            emancipated minor, or the parent or guardian of a minor
22            pupil submits to school officials, in writing, a request to
23            receive accommodations under this subsection (e). This
24            request is considered a school student record that is 25            exempt from inspection and copying under subsection (r) of 26            Section 7.5 of the Freedom of Information Act.

HB4474 - 3 - LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

1                (2) One of the following applies: 2                    (A) The pupil is a member of the male sex but does 3                not identify as a member of the male sex.
4                    (B) The pupil is a member of the female sex but
5                does not identify as a member of the female sex.
6            (f) If a school board receives a written complaint from a
7       pupil enrolled in the school district or from the parent or
8       guardian of a pupil enrolled in the district regarding a
9       violation of this Section, the school board shall, within 30
10       days, investigate and attempt to resolve the complaint.
11            (g) The pupil or the parent or guardian of the pupil who
12       submitted a written complaint under subsection (f) of this
13       Section may bring a claim in the circuit court of the county in
14       which the school is located for any of the following if the
15       complaint is not resolved to the satisfaction of the pupil or
16       the pupil's parent or guardian:
17                (1) Declaratory relief.
18                (2) Injunctive relief.
19                (3) Damages, including the reimbursement of reasonable
20            attorney's fees.

21            (105 ILCS 5/34-18.50 new)
22            Sec. 34-18.50. Pupil physical privacy.
23            (a) In this Section: 24            "Changing room" means a room or area, with or without 25       stalls for individual use, designated for a person to change

HB4474 - 4 - LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

1       his or her clothes and includes a locker room, shower room, or 2       dressing room. 3            "Sex" means the physical condition of being male or female,
4       as determined by an individual's chromosomes and identified at
5       birth by that individual's anatomy.
6            (b) The board shall designate each pupil restroom, changing
7       room, or overnight facility accessible by multiple pupils
8       simultaneously, whether located in a public school building or
9       located in a facility utilized by the school for a
10       school-sponsored activity, for the exclusive use of pupils of
11       only one sex.
12            (c) The board may establish policies for special events,
13       including athletic events, during which the board may
14       temporarily redesignate a pupil restroom or changing room. Upon
15       the conclusion of the special event, the pupil restroom or
16       changing room shall revert to the designation under subsection
17       (b) of this Section.
18            (d) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this Section,
19       no member of the female sex may use a pupil restroom or
20       changing room that has been designated by the board for the
21       exclusive use of the male sex, and no member of the male sex
22       may use a pupil restroom or changing room that has been
23       designated by the board for the exclusive use of the female
24       sex. The prohibition under this subsection (d) does not apply 25       to a child under the age of 7 who is being assisted by a parent, 26       guardian, or family member or to a person providing assistance

HB4474 - 5 - LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

1       to a person with a disability. 2            (e) The board may provide reasonable accommodations to a 3       pupil to use a single-occupancy restroom or changing room or
4       the regulated use of a faculty restroom or changing room if the
5       following conditions are met:
6                (1) The pupil, if the pupil is an adult or an
7            emancipated minor, or the parent or guardian of a minor
8            pupil submits to school officials, in writing, a request to
9            receive accommodations under this subsection (e). This
10            request is considered a school student record that is
11            exempt from inspection and copying under subsection (r) of
12            Section 7.5 of the Freedom of Information Act.
13                (2) One of the following applies:
14                    (A) The pupil is a member of the male sex but does
15                not identify as a member of the male sex.
16                    (B) The pupil is a member of the female sex but
17                does not identify as a member of the female sex.
18            (f) If the board receives a written complaint from a pupil
19       enrolled in the school district or from the parent or guardian
20       of a pupil enrolled in the district regarding a violation of
21       this Section, the board shall, within 30 days, investigate and
22       attempt to resolve the complaint.
23            (g) The pupil or the parent or guardian of the pupil who
24       submitted a written complaint under subsection (f) of this 25       Section may bring a claim in the circuit court of the county in 26       which the school is located for any of the following if the

HB4474 - 6 - LRB099 15700 NHT 42453 b

1 complaint is not resolved to the satisfaction of the pupil or 2 the pupil's parent or guardian: 3 (1) Declaratory relief.
4 (2) Injunctive relief. 5 (3) Damages, including the reimbursement of reasonable 6 attorney's fees.

If you want to thank this veteran

sexgenderbody

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Wednesday November 11, 2015 · 1:32 PM PST

2015/11/11 · 13:32

I spent 8 years in the Green Berets, (18D) and it wasn’t for no flag or no Jesus.

So many of my friends from the service have gone the way of the intolerant, the racist, the sexist. I didn’t fight to advance the abuses of bullies, tyrants, bigots. I fought to stand up for everyone, and when I choose a side, I stand in the way of abusers, tyrants, bullies, bigots - not with them.

Usually on Veteran’s day or Memorial day, I say to anyone thanking me for my service

“If you want to thank me, make someone safe from a bully or a racist or a sexist or a transphobe. If you want to thank me, stand between a stranger and someone fueled by hatred and bigotry.”

If you want to thank this veteran, do something to create less veterans.

If you want to thank this veteran, teach boys not to become a rapist or street harasser…teach boys & men not to be silent when they see boys and men rape and harass.

If you want to thank this veteran, find out how your job, your 401k and that discount clothing outlet all profit from sending troops to kill and call it ‘freedom’.

If you want to thank this veteran, figure out how your silence translates into bloodshed, torture and death.

If you want to thank this veteran, stand in the way of abuse, cruelty and malice.

If you want to thank this veteran, make the world safe from people that want to make it unsafe.

why I could not watch President Obama deliver a eulogy

sexgenderbody

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Sunday June 28, 2015 · 10:09 PM PDT

2015/06/28 · 22:09

I did not watch the eulogy. I don’t need to clarify which eulogy of slain black people, because until now, there has been only one that was delivered by a President of the United States of America. but there have been an uncountable number of eulogies for black people slain and butchered by white supremacists / racists / police - often all three at the same time.

something about this eulogy made it impossible for me to watch. I love this President and I’m a big fan. he doesn’t do everything the way I would want, but I am a fan all the same. so, it was not President Obama that I was unwilling to watch. I’ve heard people say that this was one of his best speaking events ever. and I believe that. still, I will not watch.

I understand that the President’s eulogy meant a lot of good things to a lot of people. I am saying that I could not watch it. and here is why:

(posted at SexGenderBody's tumblr)

sexgenderbody

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 24, 2015 · 3:50 PM PDT

2015/04/24 · 15:50

Or “yes, it’s completely racist to equate Turks (because Muslim) to Hitler”

We are at the time each year where western nations find an outlet for their islamophobia in the outcry for the Armenians that were killed in Turkiye.

Note, the Turks did kill Armenians.

sexgenderbody

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 03, 2015 · 9:31 AM PDT

2015/04/03 · 09:31

#1 - I spent a good deal of my life trying to attain an educational degree.
Now that I have it, I'm spending what's left of my life trying to wipe out the detrimental effects of that very process.

#2 - Overwhelmingly, I saw folks of means occupy the seats of the institutions of higher learning.
Not everyone was a person of means, of course. I grant you that point. But the grand majority were.
Who therefore gets to be labeled "smart" or "intellectual"?

#3 - Nowadays I spend a lot of time looking at documentaries.
Whenever I do, I find myself looking carefully at the mannerisms of the 'experts' showcased on those documentaries.
I silently wonder how many of these 'experts' came from means.
I can't help myself.
Trust me when I say this: we're listening to the same voices of expertise, the same folks of means...over and over again.

#4 - I'm damn proud of what I accomplished, don't get me wrong.
This country (my country) allowed me that opportunity, and for that I will be forever grateful.
But that education likewise allowed me to peek behind the curtain and catch long glimpses of who actually runs this place called America.
You shouldn't have given me that opportunity.
You shouldn't have given me that doctorate.
But don't worry.
There are oh so few folks of my type and mindset following behind.

#5 - And that is by design.

#6 - And that last statement is the greatest "intellectual" fact I learned throughout my entire education.

-----------------------------------------
Arturo R. Nunez, Ph.D.
N6TAC

“Flower Dollars (TM)”

sexgenderbody

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Saturday March 21, 2015 · 6:07 PM PDT

2015/03/21 · 18:07

“Flower Dollars (TM)” or “that time when my daughter revealed to the world that she is going to be an even bigger smartass than me”

Posted at SexGenderBody tumblr.

sexgenderbody

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 09, 2015 · 7:23 AM PST

2015/01/09 · 07:23

People were murdered and that is horrid. Charlie Hebdo is a horrid racist magazine. I mourn the murder of anyone. I will never celebrate the deeds of Charlie Hebdo.

White western (read: EU & US islamophobes) are only too happy to lionize this racist publication as some sort of bastion of a free press. Charlie Hebdo is basically Rush Limbaugh pretending to be The Onion. It is not a satire attacking the abusers of power. It is the petulant racist mouthpiece of centuries of colonial wealth theft, genocide and conceit - attacking the abused. Charlie Hebdo openly mocked, derided and insulted blacks, Africans, Muslims, Algerians. It gives voice to French xenophobes and racists, mocking and dehumanizing people living in the lands that the French once stole by occupation.

Journalists and satirists railing against the abuse of power are imprisoned, “disappeared”, murdered, threatened and tortured every day. Mourn them. Name them. Hashtag them.

If you want to “be” someone, complete with a hashtag and everything - then “be” silent no more to christian fundamentalism or christian misogyny, or trans person intolerance and violence, or white police state oppression, or white banking that uses debt as a tool of oppression, or the slaughter of villages by companies in your 401k so that their execs can make their quarterly bonuses and your IRA can grow by a fraction of a percent.

#be an instrument of dismantling racism, sexism, genocide and oppression. if you can. and if you cannot, and all you can muster is to clutch your pearls about how the poor white menz are hated by those brown people, then #jesuisthefuckoutofmyface.

(posted at sexgenderbody tumblr)

White Christianity made simple and plain: be white or be dead

sexgenderbody

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Tuesday December 02, 2014 · 10:46 AM PST

2014/12/02 · 10:46

White Christians want to spare this mentally ill man from the death penalty for the murders he committed

But they did not want to save this mentally ill man from the same fate for the same crime

Both men professed fanatical devotion and inspiration to Christ. Both had a history of clinically diagnosed and treated mental illness.

Both men had their fates decided by white GOP Christian Governors that were named as defendants in criminal proceedings.

Justice and sympathy among white Christians is simple: be white or be dead

http://www.eji.org/...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Why I won't be taking the "Ice Kony Challenge"

sexgenderbody

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Monday September 01, 2014 · 8:28 AM PDT

2014/09/01 · 08:28

I've been giving the side-eye to this "ice bucket challenge" video thing for a few months now, and I've had some thinky thoughts on the matter. I'll just start here, in no particular order.