What happened on campus at University of Texas at Dallas on May 1, 2024 — and in its aftermath — makes no sense to me whatsoever. On that day, colleagues, students, community members and others were shackled and jailed. And while they were released within 24 hours,...
Protest
States of Emergency, Then and Now: Artists’ Reflections on Sustained Turbulence and FLEFF
Patricia R. Zimmermann opens her book “States of Emergency: Documentaries, Wars, Democracies” (2000) with a reality-check: “We are poised on a crumbling, frightening precipice as we edge into the enigmatic morphing media landscapes of the twenty-first century. Whether...
Seeing Women-Led Revolutions
Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, the U.S., Ukraine, South Africa, and… I started writing this before the latest decree by the Taliban banning women from education post-puberty. And while Iranian women were leading their revolution despite new tortuous rapes and...
Iran | ‘We Fight Because We Love Life and Want to Live it the Way We Deserve’
The first time I walked down the streets of my neighborhood without a headscarf was a strange experience. Like many Iranians around me, I was never a Muslim in heart and I had never wore…
News from Iranian Women, in Their Own Voices
I had been contacted by a few Iranian women to speak with them just shortly after Mahsa Amini’s death and the demonstrations/revolution began. Then later I contacted them to ask whether the new decree to disband the “Morality Police” was of any real consequence for...
Damn the Court; This Is Not What Democracy Looks Like
I could wait to fully try to clear my head and calm my heart but that might not happen soon enough, and this moment “we” are in is urgent. For friends who say they have lost hope I am reminded of what I have said too often in these last few years. Hope is not an...
Tears of Joy and Hope Turn to Tears of Despair
Nearly 30 years ago, I was in the kitchen on the phone with my obstetrician. My husband, Tim, on the other side of the house, heard me scream with joy. Life-altering news made me cry. I was going to be a mom to a daughter. And the baby, yes, at that point it was my...
Until Black Bodies are Free, None of Us Are Free
This is an incredible moment — both dire and promissory. The right-wing zealots have taken power in the Republican party and the Court and have exposed themselves by doing so. Instead of mystifying their power, they have unveiled it for all to see.
Our Bodies, Our Lives; With and Beyond the Law
This is a moment of crisis. The right wing in this country is radically trying to solidify its power. The Supreme Court is now a site for this take-over. It is why these judges decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt, once and for all, to decimate Roe.
An Earth Day Communiqué: The 9/11 Climate Banner
To commemorate Earth Day, April 20, 2022 This communiqué/report will address the controversy over a banner that was displayed at a recent climate justice rally in Albany, New York on Tuesday, March 8, 2022 and which subsequently focused on two state senators and the...