Thanks, Susan. There's a woman on Substack, Louise Haynes, who posts about protest songs every day, and gives historical context who you might like to check out. https://substack.com/@louisehaynes/
Diana, that quote deserves to stand alone for a moment before anything else is said.
A public too exhausted to sort truth from lie will eventually stop trying. That exhaustion is the product being sold.
That is the clearest description I have read of what is actually happening. Not a side effect. Not collateral damage. The product itself.
Your question about the Philippines, about Iran, about the labour movement, about lost languages — they are all the same question. How do you erase history? You don’t burn the books. You exhaust the people who would read them.
Future-proofing rights starts there. With refusing the exhaustion. Staying sharp when everything around you is designed to dull you.
The grief you carry about your family’s lost languages — that is not a small personal story. That is exactly what the machine produces at scale. And the fact that you can name it, trace it, feel its weight — that is resistance in itself.
Empires come and go. None of them saw it coming. The ones who outlasted them were the ones who remembered who they were
And that begs the question, Shams, who are we here in the western world? I wonder if anyone knows. It feels like we're all doing our best to get by in a ponzi scheme world.
That is the right question. And the honest answer is that many of us are still finding out.
But knowing who you are is not a luxury right now. It is part of the work.
We came from somewhere. We carry something. Even when it was handed to us broken or half buried.
The road is long. The picture is bigger than any one of us can see. But every person who stays conscious, who keeps playing their part — that is how momentum holds.
The outcome will come. Whether in our lifetime or not is not ours to decide.
What is ours is to stay clear. Stay engaged. Not let the exhaustion win.
I don't know where you're from, Shams, but here in Canada we just had the NDP (New Democratic Party -- Canada's traditional labour party) leadership race, and Avi Lewis won.
In his acceptance speech, he talks about two generations of politicians before him -- his Dad and his Grandpa -- who were also very prominent NDP members. He brought many of us to tears when he told of how his Grandpa told his Dad, and then his Dad told him, that we won't see the changes in my lifetime, but maybe in yours. Avi then said that he refuses to say that to his kid. (See this at 15:40 https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7146359)
And I want to see the changes we need in my lifetime too. We desperately need to get onto a better path.
Diana, where I’m from matters less than where we’re all heading.
People focus on geography. But in every land there is some injustice. The question was never which soil you stand on — it was whether you stand for something while you’re on it.
The Avi story moved me. But the most honest line wasn’t his refusal to repeat it to his child — it was the original transmission itself. Father to son across generations: we may not see it, but you might. That is not defeat. That is the longest form of faith.
History doesn’t remember the tyrants as long as they remember themselves. It remembers the ones who kept planting.
Change has never come from the top down. It rises. Society moves and power eventually has no choice but to follow or fall.
To the young — we did what was possible. The battle is yours now. May you live to see what we worked toward.
But they must be prepared for the road. Comfort without difficulty produces weakness. Our kids need to know how to carry hardship — not to suffer needlessly, but because without that capacity they will not hold what we are trying to hand them.
Some plant the seed. Others harvest. Some enjoy the fruits.
The work is not wasted because we don’t see the end of it.
I'm glad the Avi story moved you, and asked about where you're from to see if you were aware of this bit of obscure political stuff.
I don't think the work is ever wasted, but I can't help but wonder if the moment is right, despite the propaganda, algorithms and all else that influences people.
I found all of it moving -- the transmission, the message, being part of the whole process. I joined the NDP to vote for Avi and convinced three others to as well.
Having said that, it's not now all on Avi's shoulders, we all have to keep doing what we can, and know that we have a political ally.
Thank you Diana. And well done for bringing three others with you — that is exactly what it looks like when ordinary people move.
You’re right that the moment feels uncertain. But moments rarely announce themselves clearly. Most people who lived through turning points only recognised them looking back.
The propaganda is loud. But so was every other machine that eventually fell silent.
I don't know if hard-won rights can be future proofed when younger generations tend to think because they might be better educated, and more technologically savvy than their parents or grandparents that they have nothing or little to learn from them. Call it the arrogance or self-assurance of youth, which one can be lucky to grow out of. It seems that rather than learning from history, if young people nowadays even study history, they are doomed to keep making the same mistakes maybe not when they are young, but when they are older and in positions of power and influence. (See how every war is stupider and more devastating than the last!) I'm reminded of Joni Mitchell's song, Big Yellow Taxi, and the lines: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
In the US, we must first eliminate the Trumpistas/MAGAtistas and then recover our hard won rights -- most of which have already been taken away or at least severely compromised. We must also disgorge the billionaires, overturn the Extreme Court Rulings (McCutcheon and Citizens United), et al., remove ReThuglican judges, reverse most Trump policies...
The likelihood we'll even have elections this year is no better than 75 percent. We have an unprecedented, unmitigated EVIL in charge (at least in part because of those who piously protested about Harris and her support of genocide). The civil rights, economy, the environment, the financial divide between "haves" and "have-nots," the war with Iran, and the evils yet to come have been and may be MUCH worse than we expect.
Let's get our rights back first and THEN worry about how to "future proof" them...
Such an interesting question to ask Diana .
Loved the collection of protest songs. I am old enough to remember how some of these were big hits ❤️
So am I, Susan. I'm sure there are more recent protest songs that I just haven't heard. I love those kinds of songs!
True, I don’t listen to much contemporary music anymore.
Preferring old favourites .
I have been planning doing something on Protest songs . If and when I do, you will get a mention 🧡
Thanks, Susan. There's a woman on Substack, Louise Haynes, who posts about protest songs every day, and gives historical context who you might like to check out. https://substack.com/@louisehaynes/
Thanks for this sharing, I will follow up on Louise 🙏
My pleasure, Susan.
Diana, that quote deserves to stand alone for a moment before anything else is said.
A public too exhausted to sort truth from lie will eventually stop trying. That exhaustion is the product being sold.
That is the clearest description I have read of what is actually happening. Not a side effect. Not collateral damage. The product itself.
Your question about the Philippines, about Iran, about the labour movement, about lost languages — they are all the same question. How do you erase history? You don’t burn the books. You exhaust the people who would read them.
Future-proofing rights starts there. With refusing the exhaustion. Staying sharp when everything around you is designed to dull you.
The grief you carry about your family’s lost languages — that is not a small personal story. That is exactly what the machine produces at scale. And the fact that you can name it, trace it, feel its weight — that is resistance in itself.
Empires come and go. None of them saw it coming. The ones who outlasted them were the ones who remembered who they were
And that begs the question, Shams, who are we here in the western world? I wonder if anyone knows. It feels like we're all doing our best to get by in a ponzi scheme world.
That is the right question. And the honest answer is that many of us are still finding out.
But knowing who you are is not a luxury right now. It is part of the work.
We came from somewhere. We carry something. Even when it was handed to us broken or half buried.
The road is long. The picture is bigger than any one of us can see. But every person who stays conscious, who keeps playing their part — that is how momentum holds.
The outcome will come. Whether in our lifetime or not is not ours to decide.
What is ours is to stay clear. Stay engaged. Not let the exhaustion win.
I don't know where you're from, Shams, but here in Canada we just had the NDP (New Democratic Party -- Canada's traditional labour party) leadership race, and Avi Lewis won.
In his acceptance speech, he talks about two generations of politicians before him -- his Dad and his Grandpa -- who were also very prominent NDP members. He brought many of us to tears when he told of how his Grandpa told his Dad, and then his Dad told him, that we won't see the changes in my lifetime, but maybe in yours. Avi then said that he refuses to say that to his kid. (See this at 15:40 https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7146359)
And I want to see the changes we need in my lifetime too. We desperately need to get onto a better path.
Diana, where I’m from matters less than where we’re all heading.
People focus on geography. But in every land there is some injustice. The question was never which soil you stand on — it was whether you stand for something while you’re on it.
The Avi story moved me. But the most honest line wasn’t his refusal to repeat it to his child — it was the original transmission itself. Father to son across generations: we may not see it, but you might. That is not defeat. That is the longest form of faith.
History doesn’t remember the tyrants as long as they remember themselves. It remembers the ones who kept planting.
Change has never come from the top down. It rises. Society moves and power eventually has no choice but to follow or fall.
To the young — we did what was possible. The battle is yours now. May you live to see what we worked toward.
But they must be prepared for the road. Comfort without difficulty produces weakness. Our kids need to know how to carry hardship — not to suffer needlessly, but because without that capacity they will not hold what we are trying to hand them.
Some plant the seed. Others harvest. Some enjoy the fruits.
The work is not wasted because we don’t see the end of it.
I'm glad the Avi story moved you, and asked about where you're from to see if you were aware of this bit of obscure political stuff.
I don't think the work is ever wasted, but I can't help but wonder if the moment is right, despite the propaganda, algorithms and all else that influences people.
I found all of it moving -- the transmission, the message, being part of the whole process. I joined the NDP to vote for Avi and convinced three others to as well.
Having said that, it's not now all on Avi's shoulders, we all have to keep doing what we can, and know that we have a political ally.
Thanks for the conversation, Shams.
Thank you Diana. And well done for bringing three others with you — that is exactly what it looks like when ordinary people move.
You’re right that the moment feels uncertain. But moments rarely announce themselves clearly. Most people who lived through turning points only recognised them looking back.
The propaganda is loud. But so was every other machine that eventually fell silent.
I don't know if hard-won rights can be future proofed when younger generations tend to think because they might be better educated, and more technologically savvy than their parents or grandparents that they have nothing or little to learn from them. Call it the arrogance or self-assurance of youth, which one can be lucky to grow out of. It seems that rather than learning from history, if young people nowadays even study history, they are doomed to keep making the same mistakes maybe not when they are young, but when they are older and in positions of power and influence. (See how every war is stupider and more devastating than the last!) I'm reminded of Joni Mitchell's song, Big Yellow Taxi, and the lines: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
In the US, we must first eliminate the Trumpistas/MAGAtistas and then recover our hard won rights -- most of which have already been taken away or at least severely compromised. We must also disgorge the billionaires, overturn the Extreme Court Rulings (McCutcheon and Citizens United), et al., remove ReThuglican judges, reverse most Trump policies...
The likelihood we'll even have elections this year is no better than 75 percent. We have an unprecedented, unmitigated EVIL in charge (at least in part because of those who piously protested about Harris and her support of genocide). The civil rights, economy, the environment, the financial divide between "haves" and "have-nots," the war with Iran, and the evils yet to come have been and may be MUCH worse than we expect.
Let's get our rights back first and THEN worry about how to "future proof" them...
The whole western world needs to get lots of rights back. They've been eroded over decades.