This morning I woke up to these words by Guardian journalist Nesrine Malik: “Sometimes a disaster is so large that it obscures its own details.”
Again.
Sometimes a disaster is so large that it obscures its own details.
In this article, she describes the horrors that daughters, women, and mothers are going through in Gaza. Thousands have lost their children others forced to give birth under heavy bombing. When a disaster is so large that it obscures its own details, we want to close our eyes. Today, I would like to speak to the importance of keeping our eyes open, embracing the nuance of bearing witness to a televised genocide and continuing to bring joy into our daily lives. How can we sit with grief and joy? The answer is probably to hold tenderness.
Today more than any other day I feel the invisible thread that connects all women around the world. Even when I don’t want to write, or talk, on this day I hear the voices of those who speak, there is movement in the air that asks us to rise.
Every year, I write a prayer or spell for all women around the world, today I’d like to share it with you:
May you Love yourself radically, even when you don’t want to, it is one of the most rebellious things you can do. Dig deep into your skin and find the conditionings that still make you a child of the patriarchy: eradicate them lovingly. Fight for the right to speak without being interrupted, don’t fight the fights that are not worth it. Be angry when it is necessary and fight for the right for all to walk the streets freely without feeling in danger, fight for the eradication of impunity in rape cases, for legal and safe abortion EVERYWHERE, for the rights of women who are being killed trying to protect land, for paternity leave, for assisted reproduction for all those who want to have children, for those being pressured into motherhood, for equal pay, for representation, for trans rights, for equal rights everywhere without exception. Know that your silence will not protect you. Be a Kill Joy, speak up in front of the raised eyebrows of family members who think you are ruining their dinner. May you continue to work on yourself from a place of love and never ever forget that you are not alone in this.
May we keep fighting until every woman is free. May we keep our eyes open. May we never forget that we are connected and that our freedom cannot be achieved in isolation. May we soon celebrate the freedom of all women, and may we continue this work until that day.
In tender entanglement,
Vi
Today, there is no audio, or suggested reads, I just wanted to share my thoughts with this beautiful community. I can, however, flag some essays where you will find relevant recommendations and thoughts (see below).
Thank you for reading and supporting this work in the way you can.