It is so good to read your longer form pieces on here. I have been struggling to piece together any cohesive thoughts for the past nearly a year during this genocide. Being at Columbia School of Social Work during the most violent student repression (remote but engaged), the limits of academic freedom particularly in the bourgeois private institutions was omnipresent. From sitting in a class literally titled "International Social Welfare" where we discussed forced displacement and I was the only one to say "and on Palestine??" to my class of international social workers.. to asking a professor permission to reflect on the rates of postpartum depression in Palestinian mothers in Gaza under bombardment and the woeful inadequacy of ANY mental health interventions for these times.. it was apparent that the legacy of Edward Said at Columbia resides and is nurtured ONLY in the hearts and minds of the student activists and not the institution. He was ALWAYS too good for that place. Further, I have been wanting to sit down and also write longer form pieces on politicization, organizing and education outside of the academy and frankly away from social media but am grappling with the feeling of- "am I disengaging from the role of witness if I leave social media, or am I freeing up my capacities to do deeper and longer term more sustainable work towards liberation?" I hate giving genocidal billionaires my data and monetary support but feel that without social media we won't see the truth that is being so violently suppressed from our view. Regardless, leaving xitter and instagram to be more deeply engaged is feeling more and more necessary. Thank you for EVERYTHING you say, write and do. I admire you and. your work and am over here in solidarity. Be well.
226 days and 76 years
Hey Jairo,
It is so good to read your longer form pieces on here. I have been struggling to piece together any cohesive thoughts for the past nearly a year during this genocide. Being at Columbia School of Social Work during the most violent student repression (remote but engaged), the limits of academic freedom particularly in the bourgeois private institutions was omnipresent. From sitting in a class literally titled "International Social Welfare" where we discussed forced displacement and I was the only one to say "and on Palestine??" to my class of international social workers.. to asking a professor permission to reflect on the rates of postpartum depression in Palestinian mothers in Gaza under bombardment and the woeful inadequacy of ANY mental health interventions for these times.. it was apparent that the legacy of Edward Said at Columbia resides and is nurtured ONLY in the hearts and minds of the student activists and not the institution. He was ALWAYS too good for that place. Further, I have been wanting to sit down and also write longer form pieces on politicization, organizing and education outside of the academy and frankly away from social media but am grappling with the feeling of- "am I disengaging from the role of witness if I leave social media, or am I freeing up my capacities to do deeper and longer term more sustainable work towards liberation?" I hate giving genocidal billionaires my data and monetary support but feel that without social media we won't see the truth that is being so violently suppressed from our view. Regardless, leaving xitter and instagram to be more deeply engaged is feeling more and more necessary. Thank you for EVERYTHING you say, write and do. I admire you and. your work and am over here in solidarity. Be well.