νυκτιπόλος

“As the late Gilles Deleuze once put it, the cry of the Zionists to justify their racist violence has always been “we are not a people like any other,” while the Palestinian cry of resistance has always been “we are a people like all others.” European intellectuals must choose which cry to heed when addressing the question of Palestine.”

“We’re in danger of losing what the entire second wave of feminism, what the entire second wave of women’s liberation was built on, and that was ‘Biology is not destiny’. ‘One is not born a woman,’ Simone de Beauvoir said, ‘one becomes one’. Now there’s some place where transsexual women and other women intersect. Biological determinism has been used for centuries as a weapon against women, in order to justify a second-class and oppressed status. How on Earth, then, are you going to pick up the weapon of biological determinism and use it to liberate yourself? It’s a reactionary tool.”

Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Emily Dickinson, from a letter to Mary Bowles (about December 1858)

“The chaotic, cacophonous chamber of social media hides the direction of power. Consider the way in which social media backlash offers the illusion of collective power; a celebrity or brand will say something racist or sexist, tweets and Instagram posts will accrue, critiquing their mistake and demanding redress, and the company or celebrity will issue an apology. This process is often swift and exhilarating – it can feel highly compelling, like watching a sport – and gives the sense that powerful figures are accountable to ordinary people. In fact, these processes strengthen our affective ties to celebrities or brands, while also making profit for social media platforms.”