“Join the party of love”

This is nothing new to you all, but inspiring just the same.

Here are a few choice excerpts:

Love, in sum, is a deep sense of warmth directed towards another …

Che Guevara wrote in a 1965 letter: ‘At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.’ …

We can see more clearly now than ever the presence of emotions in politics, particularly negative ones. The way to respond is not to try to shut down emotions in politics altogether – to try, in vain, to insist on calm, rational discourse. The way forward lies in working out which emotions have a rightful place in politics, being clear about what we mean (and do not mean) by those emotions, and translating those emotions into political practice …

How, then, are love and politics related? Some indigenous traditions have for centuries explored how love, or something akin to it, can play a part in collective decision-making. In the New Zealand indigenous Māori culture, aroha (loosely translated as ‘love’) has long been a key value in dispute resolution. …

A radical politics of love does not just exhort people to offer warmth to all, but accepts that some steps need to be taken before love is possible. Survivors of sexual violence, or those affected by white supremacy, cannot be expected to turn spontaneously into ciphers of love. As hooks puts it so succinctly: ‘Without justice there can be no love.’ A radical politics of love is therefore bound to a commitment to redressing historical wrongs and other existing injustices. It requires us to ‘think constellationally’, in the words of the Nigerian-American novelist Teju Cole: we must think about how love is nested in a network of other values and relationships, which also need to be attended to for love to be realised.

[video:https://youtu.be/ZPrIulnAblk]

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Big Al's picture

Thanks for the reminder.

[video:https://youtu.be/bH9sBgekdZo]

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janis b's picture

@Big Al

Lord, we don't need another mountain,
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last till the end of time.

Thanks Al, for keeping the faith.

[video:https://youtu.be/vxyqhyhSEXc]

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Big Al

at a free University Student Union concert in the early 70's. She was quite a performer, with an unique and dignified style.

Mollie


"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures--they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive."--Gilda Radner

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

You continue to provide a salve for these times.
Reading the link made me think of all the times I have said or hear the phrase "No Justice, No Peace!"
I think perhaps many times (not all) what I and others actually were asking for was: "More Justice, More Love." In all the ways that the link discussed justice and love.
Thanks.

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janis b's picture

@peachcreek

the relationship between peace, justice, and love; and the need for salvaging all that we still can.

[video:https://youtu.be/HD8UaJqkdzo]

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

I admit that I had never looked at politics in that light, but it makes sense.

This following quote caught my eye,


Prisons embody a failure of love in institutional form, and make people see themselves in terms of the worst thing they’ve ever done.

This makes so much sense. Three or four years ago, Mr M and I watched a prison documentary in which big burly, hardened inmates teared up as they expressed how years and years of incarceration had intensified their feelings of worthlessness, failure, and loneliness.

In turn, they expressed thankfulness and gratitude that they had been accepted into a prison program which allowed them to live with, and train puppies/young dogs as therapy dogs. For most of them, it was the first time that they had ever experienced love and acceptance. Each one of them expressed that the caring and nurturing interaction with their canine charges had literally transformed their lives--for the better, of course.

As an aside--when you show up, you always seem to come with words that are kind and encouraging.

Thank you.

Pleasantry

Good to see you, as usual.

Mollie


"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures--they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive."--Gilda Radner

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

janis b's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

We dog lovers know the value inherent in the unconditional love of them. They bring out the best in us.

Thank you Mollie, and the best always.

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smiley7's picture

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janis b's picture

@smiley7

for the very touching music.

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enhydra lutris's picture

those excerpts.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

enhydra lutris's picture

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

janis b's picture

@enhydra lutris

I have not subscribed, but it’s a magazine I know I'll always find articles of interest in. Another online publication I enjoy is The Hedgehog Review.

Glad you enjoyed it.

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