'Where does it hurt'
The state of the world with Warsan Shire
I am trying to be hopeful about the state of the world. I really am. This is a daily struggle. I speak, not of the personal, but the political - and though the two are somewhat intertwined, I write with the privilege of being protected through my caste, class, and religious affiliation among other factors. I try to see through the eyes of the revolutionaries who tore through Sheikh Haseena’s residence.
My favourite meme of the event showed the Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec (whose swag and quiet confidence catapulted him to instant fame) alongside a man whose loot from Sheikh Haseena’s residence was a very large fish.
Clearly he had his priorities right. The events reminded me of what happened in Sri Lanka - similar scenes of indignation turning into celebration - with the deposition of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Hope dwindles though, after realising that the situation in Sri Lanka hasn’t improved too much, and Namal Rajapaksa is to be announced as the SLPP Presidential Candidate… one twitter commentator had this to say:
I don’t know if “nothing changes”. I believe that every time a fascist ruler is ousted, it has a ripple effect on other countries and peoples where control, surveillance and manipulation have been normalised. Each of these events are distinct, and comparison in such cases is usually a fraught endeavour, which is why it is worth paying attention to the way in which the Indian Godi media has been covering the things happening in Bangladesh. Another commentator on twitter commented that Indian twitter loves making everything about themselves - and this is not untrue.
I’m not really going to bother gathering evidence for the blatant propaganda and spread of misinformation in this bombastic victim posturing. As an extension of the authoritarian state in this country, many in the mainstream media have taken great pains to ensure that they are indistinguishable from right wing trolls. Chaos and unrest in a neighbouring “Muslim” country is just the right opportunity for most “nationalists” to pat themselves on the back, is it not?
Even these patriots are suddenly speaking of Vinesh Phogat. The gumption! we are all familiar with the filmmaker, Payal Kapadia, who had a similar story…
But while watching Phogat fight and celebrate her win, one could again sense the anger that turned into determination. It was heartbreaking to see this - really - what a system can do to an individual.
I share a screenshot from Shyam Vasudevan’s article on Vinesh Phogat:
Of course, we all hope she wins the Gold medal. Of course, the opposition will shove it in the face of the BJP in Parliament. And Of Course the trolls will say things like “she got this far because of Modiji”. Kya hi bole… the wheel continues to turn.
When I saw images of the people on the streets and the violence which reached its peak just before the final overthrow, I was reminded of Neruda’s “Come and See the Blood on the Streets” (repeated thrice in the poem). The repetition brings home the horror of civil war, revolution, and uninhibited violence to me. Language surrenders in the face of such vivid and embodied experience.
I share today’s poem with this mood as background and critical force. I turn to Shire, also, as a way of articulating the continued sense of disorientation that events both global and local continue to bring.
This poem isn’t part of any of her published collections, as far as I understand. It was featured in her blog, and has subsequently been shared on various informal poetry platforms on the internet. Poetly has previously featured the writing of Warsan Shire: Home.
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