#cosmopolitics

[child-of-hurin]

As narrativas de pretensão universal (o cristianismo, o iluminismo — e, portanto, a ciência —, etc.) não nos servem. Como tampouco serve a pretensão pós-moderna de fazer do desejo, juízo e vontade individuais um projeto com sentido em si mesmo.

A pós-modernidade não emancipa, assim como a modernidade não emancipou. A única narrativa de pretensão universal de onde se pode retirar algo que nos sirva à emancipação é a narrativa anticapitalista porque ela se firma, sobretudo, em negar o capital (ocidental e moderno), mas ainda assim com a tarefa de arrancarmos do postulado tudo aquilo que pretende explicar, pelo mesmo vértice, tudo o que não seja capitalismo.

As narrativas pré-capitalistas não são nem de pretensão universal e nem repousam sobre o pensamento liberal pós-moderno e, por isso, eu poderia remeter-me a ancestrais indígenas e olhar as notícias que se escondem, sobre povos que expulsam não-índios, na Amazônia brasileira ao tempo em que declaram sua plena autonomia. Quando perguntaram a um deles o que era autonomia, ele respondeu: “É se virar sozinho”². Poderia até parecer idiota que alguem lutasse contra forças de repressão oficiais e pára-oficiais para ter de “se virar sozinho”. Mas é exatamente nisso que encontrei a dissonância como proposta: nós não queremos dizer como se deve viver, nós não sabemos explicar como é certo viver, sós só queremos viver, redescobrir um modo de fazê-lo reativando antigos dispositivos de harmonia sincrônica entre histórias, tempos e arranjos da vida humana e não humana.

Esses povos restam e resistem, sincronizados ou sincretizados, em modos de organização da vida arranjados de maneira que a pergunta não precisa e nunca pode responder a todas as dissonâncias, abrindo espaço ao desajuste que gera outros arranjos, que se produzem, empareados.

(…) Essa questão se desdobra em outra: a ciência ocidental autocrítica condena a relação sujeito/pesquisador/cientista X objeto/alienado/receptor. Ela busca deslocar-se a ver, naquilo que procura entender, sujeitos/pesquisadores/cientistas, e não receptores. Isso é louvável (desde a minha opinião), mas ainda carregado de certa arrogância iluminista de fundo, por onde se inscreve a marca do conferir algo a alguém, essa generosidade ocidental superior. Presos à chave de que algum reconhecimento ocidental seja necessário para tudo o quanto se apresenta selvagemente alheia às lógicas de pensamento e ação aceitas.

Eu aprendi com os adolescentes pichadores das florestas de pedra por onde caminhei, que não interessa se não entendemos o que eles escrevem. Eles não escrevem a quem não quer entender, e quem quer entender picha. Eles não tem nenhum projeto de que isso seja político, apenas o é, pela total selvageria do ato e do processo. Eles não acham que essa seja uma alternativa e não propõe nada; e ainda assim se organizam e picham. Recusam a sociedade capitalista, e não propõe outra, e não se importam que não gostem, ou que não entendam. Não querem explicar, simplesmente querem pichar em paz. Eu descobri os idiotas de Bartleby, em favelíndios urbanos, que praticam alquimia produzindo tintas para marcar paredes e portões. Eles são fabricantes de cores e materiais que são pensados em sua interação com o meio ambiente. Algumas tintas chegam ao tom desejado apenas quando expostas ao sol intenso, são cores que fritam.

O olhar englobante vai apontar por todas as partes, mas não alcançará ver a profunda conexão entre os pichadores e os indígenas. Eles constituíram da dissonância uma comunidade, mas não querem propor nenhuma ideia, não acham nada sobre o que não consideram um problema seu — a sociedade que eles condenam. Eles só querem pichar em paz. Mas não podem. Está nisso seu próprio corpo inteiro em risco, junto com as suas ideias.

Helena Silvestre, Nota 14 - Carta Não Entrege à Filósofa da Exigência, em "Notas Sobre a Fome" (2019)

² https://noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/ultimas-noticias/2018/01/09/apos-expulsarem-de-madeireiros-a-professores-indios-defendem-autonomia-total-no-maranhao.htm

[hiosgarden]

Banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) (left) and Silky cane weevil (Metamasius hemipterus) (right).

[jmartin-dsign]

MTL - km627 - 2023 La grande ville restera toujours une source de questionnement pour moi. C’est une sorte de beauté ambigu que je chercherai tout ma vie à comprendre. L’aménagement en emporte-pièce donne un territoire incongru difficile à naviguer. Parallèlement, le paysage est empreint de symbole qui démontre toute la complexité de l’humain dans sa façon de s’approprier un lieu. Y’a une partie de moi qui trouve ça beau! 🤷🏻‍♂️ #mtl #mtlmoments #montreal #cosmopolite #streetphotography #colors #saturation #50mm12 #bigcity #mtlphotographer #finartphotography #photoseries #montréal #creativeprocess #frenchcanadianphotographer (à Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqbAI0aLB8u/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mythohumanism]

For being titled “politicslover” I have not done nearly enough politicsposting as of late, allow me to ameliorate this.

Reasons I am against ethnofocal politics:

-I believe in the importance of cultural dynamism (since culture is a tool for betterment of lives, not vice versa) and thus value interplay of cultures

- I am against cultural antagonism as akin to religious strife

- I value individualism insofar as I feel cultural groups ought not be a primary and unmoving loyalty

-I believe human flourishing is best achieved by sorting out what particular community works best for particular people in lived experience, not preset by some prefigured identity

-I believe cultures work best when organically flowing, not destroyed nor intentionally preserved (against cultural imperialism)

[kandoros]

Is it not written "It takes a thousand steps to get to the top of a mountain, but one little hop will take you all the way to the bottom"?

So I'm reading Witches Abroad and the first time we see Granny use magic is in Desiderata's cottage. Desiderata (deceased) was a big proponent of everyday magic. She was also quite blind. So when Granny and Nanny check on her cottage and definitely are not looking for her wand, there are no matches for the fireplace.

Granny doesn't like everyday magic. She says so. She even tells Nanny that if they found the wand she wouldn't use it, emphatically. She doesn't like the habit. But she's annoyed and wants her tea and needs a fire for that. So she uses magic.

But then she sees the mirror. And the face looking back isn't hers but Lilith's. Heres a quote about Granny:

"Very few people in the world had more self-control than Granny Weatherwax. It was as rigid as a bar of cast iron. And about as flexible."

And she smashes the mirror immediately and without hesitation.

Now we don't know who Lilith is to Granny at this point but upon reread this is a particularly interesting passage. By the end of the book we know Lilith is "the bad witch" and because she is Granny "had to be the good one".

Granny hates the fact she has to be the good one. She knows that if she was the bad one she'd be the most terrifying witch the Disc has ever seen. But she has to be the good one. That's her responsibility since Lilith turned out bad. She has to be good and she has to be responsible, especially since she has the power to be so evil and do so much damage if she ever lost control.

And I think that's why Granny smashes the mirror right then. She was annoyed at the lack of matches, she wanted tea, she used magic to get it. And that's not responsible witchcraft in her mind. So when she find Lilith looking at her through the mirror, she sees the person that forced her to have that self control. That made Granny Weatherwax a good witch when she wanted to be the bad one. And that hurt her.

This is also interesting when you consider Sam Vimes relationship with alcohol. Vimes used alcohol as a way to deal with a feeling of helplessness and lack of control. That addiction numbed the emotional pain and he had to be so careful in later books not to fall back into that habit.

Granny is the opposite. Her power is, maybe not addictive, but something she takes immense pride in. She wants to use it, she became the most powerful witch (not the most talented, that's Nanny) through hard work and dedication. But she can't use it because that wouldn't be responsible. Because everytime she uses it, it becomes a little easier to justify using a little more until she's using it for everything. Or anything. And she can't because she has to be the good one.

How much self control must that take? Granny spent her entire life becoming the best at what she does. Decades of mastering her craft and when she reaches the top she had to essentially stop. To put it aside and only use it in the most responsible way possible because if she slips, it's a long long way to the bottom.

Cast iron indeed.

[wtagovt]

Earth is Our Home, We Are a Family: Embracing Our Shared Humanity

Earth is our Home, We are a Family: Embracing our shared Humanity I feel stupefied by the world’s vast complexities and sectional politics. Our Earth is a romantic location, with its deep seas, huge mountains, complex ecosystems, and diverse backgrounds. However, despite everything that unites us, political identities and arbitrary borders can cause us to become separated. As an artist, I have…

[plazamayorcompany]

IOAN STREBA

Cosmopolite – Gypsy Blues # 2 IOAN STREBA COSMOPOLITE – GYPSY BLUES #2 Concert 21 November – Sunset Sunside – Paris Label Plaza Mayor Company, Distribution The Orchard-Sony Music – Inouie Distribution If you do not yet know Ioan Streba and his Gypsy Blues, you will be in front of major discoveries listening to his new album! Of Romanian origin, Ioan Streba has lived in France for more than…

[reitsportportal]

FEI Jumping European Championship Individual Final - nach der ersten Runde Steve Guerdat in Führung

Steve Guerdat, Foto: Archiv Die besten 24 nach vier Wettkampftagen kämpfen um den Einzug in die  entscheidende Runde Für die Reiterinnen und Reiter, die sich für das Einzelfinale qualifiziert hatten, ging es in einen  Parcours , gestaltet von Uliano Vezzani, einem der weltbesten  Coursedesigner, der es in sich hatte. Es dauerte bis zum 15. Starter, ehe es die erste Nullrunde gab. Max Kühner und…

[cosmopoliteus]

The life of a pianist: Has Spotify, Apple Music and Co. changed everything?

Los Angeles. An interview with pianist, composer and teacher Deniz Türkmen. The CosmoPolite Times: Let’s start right away. Are streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Co. having a positive or negative impact on the music world? Deniz Türkmen: Well, streaming services are of course good for musicians who don’t have contracts with big record companies and sponsors, in the old days you…

[cabinetofotherthings]

[ID: What makes the situation even more ominous is that, though I have no doubt whom they have in mind, everyone around me stubbornly avoid the word Jew. In lines at the stores, people refer instead to "them" and "that ethnicity." Newspapers also use substitutes of all kinds: "persons of nonnative ethnicity," "antipatriots," "Israeli stooges," "Zionists," "the fifth column," "bourgeois nationalists." And now they put new terms into circulation: "cosmopolites without kith or kin" and "those who hide under pseudonyms." That is, these aren't human beings but werewolves.]

-Emil Draitser, Shush! Growing up Jewish Under Stalin: A Memoir

[aragarna]

Zorro Vive

And vive bien!

So, I've finished Season 1 of the new Zorro show (available through Amazon in the US and most Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries), and I really enjoyed it!

Without spoilers, I'd say that its main qualities are that it's fun and earnest and more cosmopolite in its retailing of the old story. It doesn't take itself too seriously, there's plenty of little homages to previous adaptations. There's many interesting and well-developed characters - of all genders and ethnicities.

It's (literally) colorful, with a comic/pulp feel that suits it well. There's been a true care brought to the action scenes, and OMG the night scenes are damn well lit. It's rare enough nowadays so points for that. Generally, the show is quite beautiful.

More spoilery thoughts under the cut.

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from a new show. It's always hard to bring new canon to something so established and so iconic. And even though the Disney show is *not* the original canon, for a lot of people, it is.

But as a principle, same as for book adaptations or remakes, I'm not opposed to variations or changes. As long as they're good changes.

And I have to say, the vast majority of the changes in the new Zorro show, to me, were actually good changes, or necessary improvements for today's audience.

The most obvious is giving back a real voice to the Natives and not sugarcoating the colonization aspect. There's tension there. Natives are angry. But as years passed, people born there consider themselves "true Californians". Natives aren't just background characters or peons anymore. They're a driving plot force. They're shown in their own environment, with their own rites (I don't know enough about Natives of this area to know how accurate it is, but it felt a lot more authentic and respectful to me than other versions).

I do like the idea that the Zorro character comes from the Native culture, and that it's been passed on from one person to the next. Though it also brings my one big issue with the show: Diego becoming Zorro reads a lot like "a white dude steals a Native heritage." And yes, it's symbolic, and yes the fox spirit chose him, Diego didn't pick him, but still. Given that the audience is meant to support Diego (who really is a sweet guy!), that the narrative keeps showing us that Nah-Lin is wrong and should accept it, given the colonization context of that story, it's sitting a bit wrong with me.

This aside, I do like the exploration of revenge vs. justice, violence vs. a more measured response, in the face of adversity. When a few months back, the tagline "revenge is personal, justice is for all" appeared on the first poster, I wasn't sure what to think. I don't like revenge-driven characters. It's cliché and wrong. But the fact that the show precisely explored that, both with Diego and Nah-Lin, was actually quite interesting.

Diego, as I said, is a decent guy. A sweet boy really, vaguely immature originally but having to mature really fast, as the death of his father, the business of the rancho, the Zorro thing and Lolita's wedding are all dropping on him at once. Miguel Bernardeau is a clear departure from most of the previous Zorros, who were played by older actors, giving a more "adult" vibe to the character, but given he's supposed to be fresh out of college and out of his element, Bernardeau's more juvenile features fit the character well.

Nah-Lin is a lot angrier, and while in the context of the story, she's shown to be going at it the wrong way, all that anger *is* justified, and not something that can just be brushed off. Peace can't come easy when you anger people that way.

And you know who else I really liked? That damn Capitan Monasterio! Who would have thought LOL No, but seriously. Not sure why they named him that way. He was actually more of a Sergeant Garcia (or Mendoza from the 1990 show) than a Monastario. Obviously without the comic relief and cutely incompetent side of the character, but as the character who is a decent guy stuck between a rock and a hard place, serving a tyrannic boss and chasing a heroic outlaw that he may not hate that much.

I also really liked what they did with Lolita. An opinionated young lady that throws away all the corseting conventions of her time is always very relatable to me. Also, I just love her fashion sense. I wasn't sure what they were going to do with that impossible love triangle (I thought for a long time the wedding wouldn't actually happen). I wouldn't have thought they'd have Lolita figure it out, but I'm glad she did.

I'm glad they kept Bernardo, the mute confident. And I love Mei, too. The dynamic between the three of them (with Diego) is great!

Also, it's great to finally have a Spanish-speaking production, and have the characters speaking in Spanish, instead of having American actors put on fake accents.

I may have a couple of minor complains: namely that I didn't care about Samael nor Alejandro's first love. Not sure planting so early something that they're keeping for S2 is a right move. Feels like a waste of screentime. Also, I'm not particularly found of secret societies trying to rule the world, but it seems to be mandatory to any Zorro story... And the finale episode didn't actually wrap up that many plotlines - every major villain escaped! So that kinda made it look like Zorro didn't accomplish much, apart from breaking Lolita's heart, and his. But none of this prevented me from having a good time watching the show. I just really hope there'll be a S2 cause it'd be a shame to leave things there!

How about you guys? What did you think of it?

[ladyhearthkeeper]

My perspective may seem strange to some people who read this blog.

We all live in different worlds where being traditional or making a home is somewhat different, with different challenges.

I live in the outskirts of an extremly cosmopolite city in central Europe. And yet the country in itself has some very traditional roots, so it's a strange balance.

People have enough money to jet around at least once or twice a year (if not more, depending on the destination) and yet they say it's impossible for a family to survive on a single paycheck.

But most public kindergarten are overcrowded. You need to sign up sometimes even before the baby is conceived to have a spot in time for the mother to go back to work. So often, that second paycheck is used for childcare and expenses for homekeeping (cleaning, easy meals etc.)

We don't take care of our elders. They don't want to be taken care of by their family either. And yet how lonely they are. Old people's home also have waiting lists. And once they do get there, how depressing it seems to be stuck only with people their own age.

So now they want to build old people's home which incorporates homes for young families. All this, in order that different generations can mingle. Yet, intergenerational homes, three generations of a family living together, have become a thing of the past.

It's a strange strange world.

[fatehbaz]

In September 1967, the Mexican president, Gustavo Díaz, issued a decree restricting access to water resources in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca for extractive projects, affecting the hydrological flow in more than one hundred rural towns. Decades of water denial led to changes in the landscape, such as reduced river flow, lagoons being converted into farmland, and notable subsoil humidity impacts. In 2005, a drought strongly affected the life of the local communities and the nonhuman world in the region.

As a result of the limited availability of water and increasing drought, a group of 16 communities in the south of the Central Valleys, in the Ocotlán Valley, began to organize in order to deal with the socio-environmental crisis they were facing. This gave birth to the Coordinadora de Pueblos Unidos por el Cuidado y la Defensa del Agua (Coordinating Committee of Peoples United for the Care and Defense of Water, or COPUDA). With the support of the Centro de Derechos Indígenas Flor y Canto A.C. (Center for Indigenous Rights), COPUDA initiated a dialogue with the Mexican state about repealing the water ban and is also seeking legal recognition of the local knowledge that is used in water management implementation, which is based on what they call “sowing water” -- a rainwater catchment method used as a coping method in the face of the long-standing ecological crisis. In addition to this, COPUDA has recently sought to rename its site of action: the aquifer where the Indigenous and peasant communities it represents are living is now called Xnizaa, which means “our water” in the Zapotec language. [...]

In November 2021, the Mexican state repealed the 1967 water ban after 15 years of social struggle. Subsequently, in August 2022, the federal government issued water concessions to Indigenous communities, legally recognizing their water-management practices in the towns of the Ocotlán Valley. These communities rely on the Xnizaa aquifer and are now officially authorized to manage their water resources using their own knowledge and technologies, including their differentiated territorial perspectives.

---

Text by: Oscar Ulloa Calzada. “Cosmopolitics in the Territories of Xinzaa: The Defense of Water in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico.” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (Summer 2023), no. 10. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.

[christian-dubuis-santini]

Après s’être lamentablement vautré comme un crétin ordinaire sur la fausse pandémie (et vraie "psy-op" planétaire), le très décevant Zizek vient de s’enfoncer sans espoir de retour dans le pathétique en produisant un texte de propagande consternant à la gloire de la cérémonie d’ouverture des Jiho Paris-1984, après être passé en vingt ans du sublime de la subversion chrétienne au ridicule du transvetisme wokiste… Un misérable reste de ses incursions passées dans le texte lacanien lui permet toutefois de s’adresser à lui-même dans la dernière phrase qui est à lire ainsi: «aie honte de ce que tu as écrit, toi qui te présentes comme un "révolutionnaire" un "pourfendeur de l’idéologie", tu récupères, contorsionnes et manipules le langage pour finir par servir la soupe aux tenants de l’idéologie dominante, lécher le cul de Débile Gates, Cloche Souabe, et bientôt faire de la retape pour Calamar Arisque dans l’élection américaine, oublieux que tu es de l’incise marxienne: «les idées dominantes d’une époque sont les idées de la classe dominante de cette époque»…

Dans un Paris encagé surpeuplé de policiers cosmopolites, où l’espace public a été confisqué au profit exclusif des puissances de l’argent, effectivement seule L'Europe pouvait offrir à cette échelle un si beau spectacle de violation des libertés humaines et de sacrifice des enfants…

Un peu de honte aurait pu t’éviter d’avoir à mourir de honte.

Traître un jour, traître toujours !

Adieu Slavoj.