Political Bodies
Digital resources, media, and reflections to foster change through individual and collective political agency.
We all have a body, therefore, every interaction perceived through it—both internal and external—is a political experience.
OUR BODIES AND OUR AUTONOMY OVER THEM ARE BEING THREATENED, ABUSED, EXPLOITED, CONTROLLED, AND DISREGARDED BY POWERFUL POLITICAL BODIES. WE HAVE AGENCY AND CHOICE WITHIN THESE SYSTEMS—SOME MORE THAN OTHERS—WHICH MEANS WE MUST ACT FOR OURSELVES AND FOR THE ONES WHO CAN’T.
these past months have led me to a lot of reflection not just regarding the state of the world, but on what i want to do about it. moving forward, 10% of my substack earnings from paid subscriptions will be donated to charities, non-profits, foundations, and projects that are directly building a better future.
every organization i mention here is in this collection, always open to everyone.
*
i speak a lot more about this, the circumstances that have led me here, and my view on how we can build a future that we find worthy of dreaming about in my latest interlude live session :)
Times are dire, so to navigate this darkness, we must come together and, through our light, adjust our eyes to see the path through it.
NAVIGATION MAP
aka table of contents
every essay, video, article, archive, and website in this post lives in a Sublime collection, so you can browse them in one place and save them to your own library :)
POLITICAL BODIES
COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS
“At the Colombian Commission of Jurists, we represent individual and collective victims of the conflict before national and international bodies, support families in the search for missing persons, litigate before the Constitutional Court to defend violated rights, and advocate before the UN to improve the human rights situation in Colombia.”
*these websites are in Spanish so just use the translate feature on your browser to read in your preferred language :)
A Requiem for the Human Heart
by Sabahat Fida and Hitesh Sonar on The Swaddle
“How the history of the organ is a barometer of human morality” - dynamic visual essay
My heart has been torn, twisted, and stretched, but I refuse to let it be broken. I used to wear it on a gold chain around my neck, a futile effort to claim its ownership, a poor attempt at protection through display.
My heart remembers, and though it’s still standing, it’s not broken, but maybe it’s mad. Mad about being overworked to hold my sickly body together—to not let it break.
Every time a doctor told me it was in my head, it just protested louder and louder. I ignored it and just kept blaming myself, taking every pill that was supposed to fix my “broken” brain.
110 - 135 - 80 - 170. My heart tells a story through a rhythm that everyone can listen to but no one cares to hear. 95/70 - 100/80 - 90/60 - 80/55. My blood pressuring me to stay alive, pushing my heart to work harder and harder.
The systems are failing, both inside and out, but I refuse to just accept survival.
Colombia: Reflections on Fear and Heartbreak
with Noise Casino & gugol maps on Refuge Worldwide
“How do we confront the rampant uprising of the far right?” - radio show
Is my country of the people or of the state?
Who gets to be worthy of being a person in their eyes?
When do I stop being a person and just start being a body?
If I have enough money, can I buy the “person” status?
If I don’t, am I just a sacrificial pawn in the chess match that always turns out to be checkers?
Would I be just another number on the tally that grows alongside the zeroes on a check?
Do we not remember the mass graves dug and filled by the state?
If I remind us, will my voice be taken, like a dog whose vocal cords were cut?
Is our mother-land meant to be torn by foreign bodies?
If I defend her, will my voice be taken, like the ones from the people who wanted her safe?
How many people would still see me as a person if I were to be taken by a foreign body?
Would they value the foreign body more than the one whose body its invading?
Why would thinking every body is a person make me an enemy of the state?
I fear that our democratic bodies are being colonized once again.
Burning House / Burning Horse
by Ella Finer on The Contemporary Journal
“Emergency and Emergence” - experimental audiovisual performance
A RITUAL OF REMEMBRANCE:
collective memory as fire, individual memory as fuel
Light a candle in a dark room
Sit comfortably in front of it and take a few deep breaths
Stare at the flame, observe the way it flickers, how your breath sways the light
After a few minutes, snuff or blow the candle and close your eyes
Observe its after-image on the back of your eyelids with the same detail as you did when you could still see it
