Photo credit: Mickey Z.
Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
Nov. 15, 2015
“The skies have been darkened.” (Barack Obama, 11-14-15)
If Obama’s speechwriters are correct and terrorism does “darken skies,” I have a question: When will we choose to see the light?
The skies were mighty dark over Dresden and Tokyo and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How much light was to be found at No Gun Ri or My Lai, Fallujah, or Haditha? Let’s ask Doctors Without Borders about being terrorized by darkness.
Reality: The U.S. Department of (so-called) Defense (formerly: Department of War) has created a perpetual global blackout but we’re too heavily conditioned to do anything more than weep for the victims we’re told are worthy of our irrelevant tears.
We pray for Paris, we stand Boston Strong, we identify with (racist) French publications, and of course: We never forget (what we’re programmed to remember, that is).
I have penned many an article on the propaganda behind war and terrorism. I’ve deconstructed U.S. foreign policy in lectures from coast to coast. I’ve written entire fuckin’ books on the topic. So, I won’t rehash the documented realities here. If you don’t know them by now, shame on you. Do the work. That’s what search engines are for.
Instead, I have something for those who mean it when they declare their desire for a less violent culture. I have a three-word, sky-brightening suggestion. Or perhaps it’s a plea? Maybe even a demand: NAME THE PROBLEM.
You see, if we allow ourselves to view the state of the planet from the largest possible lens, we’ll see that regardless what “side” we’re on, there’s a commonality to the carnage. There’s a clearcut common thread linking the repression, the oppression, and the suppression. There’s another crucial three-word phrase we need to embrace before we can even contemplate lighting up the sky: MALE PATTERN VIOLENCE.
Whether you see it as terrorism or counterterrorism, whether you call it war crimes or self defense, whether you cheer the bombs or fear the bombs, it’s all part of the same patriarchal paradigm. This isn’t my opinion or agenda or personal bias. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence but, folks… the evidence is in: Males as a class are the johns, the rapists, the assaulters, the pornographers, the exploiters, the oppressors, the murderers, the terrorists.
So, once you’ve turned your Facebook profile pic into a French flag, I ask you to then ponder a single example of gynocidal terrorism: the so-called “honor” killings proscribed by male supremacist predators. This practice is pandemic and (again) further information is readily available to anyone with access to a search engine.
However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention India where, as Rita Banerji details, “More than 50 million women have been systematically exterminated from India’s population in three generations, through the gender-specific infliction of violence in various forms, such as female feticide through forced abortions, female infanticides, dowry murders, and honor killings.”
Read that one again: 50 million victims of femicide in only three generations.
Where are their candlelight vigils?
Where are their trending hashtags?
Where are their heart-wrenching memes?
Where is their goddamned Facebook safety check?
Who prays for women and girls, targeted from womb to tomb?
If it’s terrorism we wish to expose and yearn to stop, here’s a root: Patriarchy has been darkening the skies for centuries while its powerful tentacles (white supremacy, religion, capitalism) conspire to help snuff out the light.
If it’s terrorism we wish to expose and yearn to stop, here’s a secret: The skies only appear darkened because we collectively refuse to open our eyes.
Mickey Z. is the author of 13 books, most recently Occupy these Photos: NYC Activism Through a Radical Lens. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, you can “like” his Facebook page here and follow his blog here. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
"When Terrorists Target Civilians (Eyes Wide Open)" by Mickey Z. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://worldnewstrust.com/when-terrorists-target-civilians-eyes-wide-open-mickey-z.
