the wrong end of the telescope

So the youth section of our main conservative party released a campaign material called "We have a drea(M)." This is. I don't even. Besides the fact that this particular party didn't exactly support the Civil Rights Movement in the US OR the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the sheer gall of using something like MLK's words for a slogan for a political party (who are not known for their diversity--in fact, every kind of inequality has been worsened during their reign, woot) is just. Jesus fucking CHRIST.

This, by the way, is coming on the heels of the mother party's new idea program, in which they assert that their ideas built Sweden, when they have voted against every single goddamn social reform that we are famous for, including public health care, Social Security, daycare, 40-hour work weeks, and--you know, I could go on. They did eventually vote for women getting to vote, but only because they were cornered into it. Said idea program also states that they have fought for justice all along, especially sexual, racial and gender equality, when--well. *beats head against wall*

I mean, the bright spot in it all is the twitter hashtag #stuffmoderaternadid where people make fun of them for claiming to have fought for social justice by making up other things the party obviously did, including inventing the internet, punk rock, and authoring the Bible.

But in general I'm just so fucking furious I don't even know what to do. "We have a drea(M)?" I cannot even.

In reference to the racist party we seem to have voted in, people are now starting to say things like, “Well, I obviously don’t agree with their ideas, but I think it’s important to have a discussion about immigrants…”

Fuck that shit. First of all, it’s a discussion about immigration if it is anything at all (and the distinction is really really important because it frames the debate as being about an issue as opposed to being about individual people). Second of all, to decide that such an incredibly heterogeneous group ("immigrants") is all the same ("lives on welfare" "has it easy" "commits a lot of crime") is bigoted and also a mistaken framing of the discussion as “us” and “them” where “us” represents some kind of category of “real Swedes”. May I ask what qualifies one to become a Swede? Paying taxes? Having children here? Marrying a Swede? BEING BLOND?

Have your goddamn debate about immigration if you want to, but frankly, it won't solve our problems. We ought to be talking about small towns and we ought to be talking about democracy and we ought to be talking TO the voters and not over their heads, and we ought to not let the racists link the frustration of people without jobs or prospects to immigration, because it's a faulty link. And we can also have a discussion about immigration, but it ought to be about how we treat people who come here, because how we do it right now, well, that's some seriously flawed methodology if we're looking to make integration work (in the sense that the way we treat asylum seekers and illegal immigrants often borders on inhumane).

Most importantly, can we just agree that this is complex, and can we talk about why seemingly simple solutions (stop immigration) won't work? CAN WE GET SOME COMPLEXITY UP IN HERE THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS.

Regarding the recent SPN Big Bang racist fail:

1. People who speak a language you don't understand do not gibber or jabber, they talk. You just don't understand them. ETA: This post is more detailed concerning this point.


2. If your story has a major tragedy whose victims are portrayed as somehow less than your protagonists, if said victims have no agency (as in, they don't do anything, they get things done to them), and if they (and their deaths) are there only to provide angst for your heroes, then you are doing it WRONG.


3. If you're considering writing a fic about a tragedy that is still going on, then tread carefully. Very carefully.

Note: the link above goes to an extensive collection of the offending quotes from the story; there's a full roundup at Unfunny Business.

I was going to write a long and thoughtful entry on representation in fiction and how Gail Simone, for instance, gets it right, and I will still write that entry, but I hit a point where I'm a little too angry to write it.

The thing is, representation is an important issue in more ways than in fiction, and tonight on Swedish television in a segment on Hassa Helal, the Saudi poet, there was a blatant example of Doing It Wrong. Very unfortunate: it was on a talk show I quite like (it's about literature). Even more unfortunate: it's not like this is an isolated uniquely Swedish issue.

Standard disclaimers apply: I'm very capable of being wrong, and please tell me if you think I am.

( see, it's very clear who is allowed the authority to speak )

This is part 2 of what I started over here, that is, this is the post of some of my favorite WoC musicians. Once more, this rec series started because of RaceFail 2009 (if you don’t know what this is about, the link goes to rydra_wong’s time line, which includes a link to a summary post). Like last time, I’m refraining from my own commentary on racism in favor of promoting these musicians (though I’m planning a post on what it means to be a Good Girl, and how that matters to this issue) but I will say this: one kind of oppression is not like another, and listening is sadly underrated. For the love of all that is holy, look up intersectionality somewhere.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list (ETA: I'm not pretending to be an expert of any kind, is what I actually meant by that), nor is this a list where one artist is like another, because much like last time, these women do not sound like each other simply by virtue of being Women of Color. As for why they’re here, well, some of it is that as a singer and a lyricist and a person, I owe something to every one of these women. And it might be wishful thinking, because who doesn’t wish they sounded like Aretha Franklin or wrote like Nina Simone; and it might be self-confidence, because singing Beverley Knight’s Who I Am with my sister on stage made everything click, all at once; and it might be my journal title (Vienna Teng) or inspiration for lines in a poem (Vienna Teng) or the truest, brightest moment of happiness of my junior year at college (dancing with the girl I love best to “Pata Pata” because it reminded her of home).

Here, then, have seven musicians. Clicking on their names below the cut will take you to their MySpace page or homepage or Wikipedia page, depending on what felt the most informative. In all of these places there are links that let you know how to buy their albums and/or other merchandise. I also added links to Amazon’s stores for Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba, and Aretha Franklin. The sample songs I offer here is intended to encourage you to further support these artists and other musicians of color in making music. If you like it, please spend some money on them. The information I used for their short biographies mostly came from their Wikipedia pages, from Musician Guide or my own background knowledge.

( Ryeisha “Rye Rye” Berrain )

( Tracy Chapman )

( Aretha Franklin )

( Beverley Knight )

( Miriam Makeba )

( Nina Simone )

( Vienna Teng )