It's like I'm experiencing the opposite of pessoptimism, "optessimism," where the mind knows that even the smallest of actions matter, that not everyone will champion the cause of liberation to the same degree and that's normal (liberation was always won like that), but the heart feels like nothing matters if it isn't directly reducing the suffering of the oppressed right this moment.
I really like the word psseoptimism, and my own opposite for it. I might just use it in the title for my new post about this whole coneference I went to.
I think I need to read some books like these. I was at an inter-MSA conference and it was all live and lovely and jolly and then I open my phone and see vidoes of literal humans burning in tents, and it made me question the point of having a conference at all. Sure, Palestine was in the talks and in the bazaar as merch and donations, but it all felt like playing pretend—drinking non-existent tea from little palstic cups with teddy bears and dolls around the table while people are wailing and screaming and dying outside your room.
There was a palestinian tatreez workshop and we learend basic tatreez (i'm a guy btw so there were like 5 guys on one side and 50 women on the other lol) from a palestinian embroiderer, learned some of the history and her own story and her grandmother's, but later when i saw those videos, all that felt useless. I know tatreez is an art of resistance, but i couldnt shake off the feeling that it was meaningless in the face of all this genoicde. I know it isn't, but it still feels like that.
i started reading this yesterday and then lost it and had to dig into my substack history to find it again to restack the BARS and to leave this comment!! i’ve added every since piece of literature you’ve spoken about here into my TBR and i’m so excited to experience them all! thank you for this beautiful piece x
I’m truly honoured, thank you so much for taking the time!! Do let me know your thoughts once you get to the books (confession, I’ve not read Time Shelter but Hammad references it in Recognising the Stranger!)
Steadfast 🇵🇸
It's like I'm experiencing the opposite of pessoptimism, "optessimism," where the mind knows that even the smallest of actions matter, that not everyone will champion the cause of liberation to the same degree and that's normal (liberation was always won like that), but the heart feels like nothing matters if it isn't directly reducing the suffering of the oppressed right this moment.
I really like the word psseoptimism, and my own opposite for it. I might just use it in the title for my new post about this whole coneference I went to.
I think I need to read some books like these. I was at an inter-MSA conference and it was all live and lovely and jolly and then I open my phone and see vidoes of literal humans burning in tents, and it made me question the point of having a conference at all. Sure, Palestine was in the talks and in the bazaar as merch and donations, but it all felt like playing pretend—drinking non-existent tea from little palstic cups with teddy bears and dolls around the table while people are wailing and screaming and dying outside your room.
There was a palestinian tatreez workshop and we learend basic tatreez (i'm a guy btw so there were like 5 guys on one side and 50 women on the other lol) from a palestinian embroiderer, learned some of the history and her own story and her grandmother's, but later when i saw those videos, all that felt useless. I know tatreez is an art of resistance, but i couldnt shake off the feeling that it was meaningless in the face of all this genoicde. I know it isn't, but it still feels like that.
I love that word: steadfast. This is a beautiful reminder to remember our commitments. To remain grounded in our pursuits of freedom.
i started reading this yesterday and then lost it and had to dig into my substack history to find it again to restack the BARS and to leave this comment!! i’ve added every since piece of literature you’ve spoken about here into my TBR and i’m so excited to experience them all! thank you for this beautiful piece x
I’m truly honoured, thank you so much for taking the time!! Do let me know your thoughts once you get to the books (confession, I’ve not read Time Shelter but Hammad references it in Recognising the Stranger!)