Tag: ideology

by jad

My Brain’s War Correspondent

People’s reactions to my trip to Lebanon have been thematically consistent. Most tell me that they’re thinking of me and praying for me; some say that they’ll miss me; even those who don’t know my reasons for travel have responded with a mix of investment and alarm. That’s a product of Lebanon’s place in the headlines since my last trip, I suppose. It’s been sweet to receive these sentiments, but the cumulative effect of it all is a mild sense of foreboding. Do people know something I don’t? Will I not make it back? What’s going on? That sense is … Continue reading “My Brain’s War Correspondent” →

by jad

Revolutionary Re-Enchantment

I’m fascinated by what draws people to occupy particular positions. In two very different organizations, I’ve heard bristling against the bogey of “identity politics,” which seems to act as shorthand for everything from managerialist “DEI” box-ticking tactics and the whole of Kamala’s campaign to the very erasure of class. It also borders on being a thought-terminating cliché. More interestingly, though, is when it seems to name a kind of permission for some to “speak again,” with all the problematics that come with that. It’s not just a racist dog-whistle; it’s a grasping at words in between stutters and hesitations. I’ve … Continue reading “Revolutionary Re-Enchantment” →

by jad

Hold The Tension

“Remember that a dialogue presupposes two sides. All too often comrades lecture people, not letting them get a word in edgewise. We must learn how to listen [emphasis in original] to people. Ask questions and get a sense of their political thinking.” We must learn how to listen. On one hand, it’s extraordinary that this needs to be said; on the other, thank God that and when it’s made explicit. All politics is learnt. All politics is also unlearnt. We are constantly relearning the give and take between the two. I’ve been engaging with a couple of points of political … Continue reading “Hold The Tension” →

by jad

32 Days

I didn’t want to mark a month, busying myself with the various “protagonisms” of the day, broadly understood. But now, 2 days later, the feelings are catching up with me. I’m thinking about all the arguing we’d be doing after the apparent “shattering” of the axis; he’d be telling me not to fall for the propaganda and I’d be insisting that he’s missing my point. I hear his voice in every cringe opinion I listen to among my new-found comrades so wrapped up in their “position in the imperial core” that they forget what it actually means to be “internationalist.” … Continue reading “32 Days” →

by jad

Red December

Behold the lambBehold the lambNot one stoneAtop another will stand. There have been a couple more full circle moments lately. New starts to old ends; resets with fresh means. This is one of them; a return to trying again. Taken at the second session of the @seattledsa new member winter cohort. They used my camera to take a group shot too but posting that one isn’t my style. Also: remember the communist I bumped into at Folklife? The one I took a portrait of with the Polaroid Go I’d borrowed? I finally popped into one of the cell meetings she … Continue reading “Red December” →

by jad

A Very Important Man Back Home

My father entered his death throws on the same night we all realized that Trump would be the 47th president of the United States. My mother called an ambulance as per standard procedure and we braced ourselves for the end. He resisted for five more days. My mother has a photo of my dad holding the remote control in his hospital bed. He was still interested in knowing what’s going on. I wonder if he heard the news that we were all reconciling ourselves with; I didn’t ask. There was something puzzlingly calming about holding our breath while the whole … Continue reading “A Very Important Man Back Home” →

by jad

I Am Grief

These double-exposures came about by reloading the roll that got stuck when my Ricoh point and shoot stopped working into a Nikon SLR; the frames clearly didn’t align properly, and the original frames were somehow flipped. No matter. These work well in visualizing my deep dislocation being here while Lebanon’s under attack. It’s a heavy, jumbled up feeling, but — irony of ironies — it’s far from unfamiliar. This slow, rolling rumble of indignation; I’ve felt it before. This gnaw of fear; I’m used to the feeling. These pangs of guilt; they’re always there. It’s all second nature, at this … Continue reading “I Am Grief” →

by jad

From Within

I’ve seen some delightful license plates around here; just now, I saw one that said “CTRL-F5,” which seems to mean “a hard refresh” on most internet browsers, which is the sort of geeky type of thing you’d expect in this zip code. What I didn’t expect, however, are plates that say “TAXWLTH” (tax wealth) or even “GRAMSCI” (a literal communist), both of which were very real and sadly not pictured. It seems that I might not be the only Lake Stinko commie pinko around. So, what would Gramsci have to say about holding proletarian sympathies in a zip code like … Continue reading “From Within” →

by jad

Nuclear Culture & Photography

“The first bomb, set to go off at a height of some five hundred metres, produced a nuclear flash which lasted one fifteenth-millionth of a second, and whose brightness penetrated every building down to the cellars. It left its imprint on stone walls, changing their apparent colour through the fusion of certain minerals, although protected surfaces remained curiously un-altered. The same was the case with clothing and bodies, where kimono patterns were tattooed on the victims’ flesh. If photography, according to its inventor Nicéphore Niepce, was simply a method of engraving with light, where bodies inscribed their traces by virtue … Continue reading “Nuclear Culture & Photography” →

by jad

“Phooey America”: Nuclear Culture

I’ve been interested in the history of the atom bomb and nuclear technology ever since I read about Hanford in a book on the Columbia River called “The Organic Machine” almost two years ago. This book inspired me to visit the region last summer for my first serious foray into film photography, and soon after, I would fortuitously meet a photographer at the PCNW fair who had published a whole book on that area I had just been to. I was hooked and I kept telling myself I’d visit again. I immersed myself in the history of that godawful decision … Continue reading ““Phooey America”: Nuclear Culture” →