This spike lee film paired with Hill Harper’s Letters to An Incarcerated Brother
have me thinking
about this current war in Ukraine
About reports of Russian soldiers raping children, women, men, each other in their own troops. Rape has long been a tactic in war
And when it happens the people who
commit these war crimes
return to their home countries
damaged goods, broken men and women with “soldiers heart”.
It’s frustrating.
It’s frustrating
That our current day ‘warrior class’
are fed by the propaganda machine
Being told and tell the same ol lies that they are defending and protecting their countries freedoms
when in reality they are made into destructive agents if chaos actively
Making our societies worse off
because we civilians are having our time stolen by continually having to explain to the ‘warrior class’ that they are in fact hurting the people and hurting our chances at freedom.
They don’t want to believe us because they want to believe so badly that what they’ve done is ok, is good. They think they are acting with impunity but we see
We know the affects their actions have on them and have on us and a global society.
We waste our breathe trying to tell returned-soldiers-now-cops to stop killing us, to seek help, to seek therapy for their aggression only to receive responses of therapy isn’t manly enough to for them. And apparently there is a stigma for not being born a man.
In Hill Harpers book and in this film they relay the fact that gangs and cops (the warrior class) are cultures that are the same same but different —they are convinced that to live violently is to seek glory is to be a man. And in both they are actually not serving themselves or the people anything anyone needs. In fact they are doing the exact opposite. These violences are destroying our chances at freedom, true justice, peace and delightful delightful “piece”.
Now I agree “not all men” which is why I’m not daydreaming about a global sex embargo on all men, just the men glorifying and perpetrating violences—you went to war and now you want my respect? You killed, maimed, raped ‘bc you were commanded to’ and now you want to rest in my bed?
Sry but go funk yourself honey.
I’m not trying to take away anyone’s guns bc I understand hunting, I understand the need to defend oneself against the ‘warrior class’. But if You are returned from war or actively serving, if you sit around all day/night playing violent video games, joking about the wonders of drone warfare, and/or are talk down to women—
I don’t have time for you anymore.
I’ve spend and spent too much of my time worrying about disappeared women, spousal abuse, child molestation to give you any more of my time. I wipe my hands clear of you. We can talk, we can be civil, however you aren’t coming anywhere near my spaces of intimacy. See this red handprint across my face—that means I’m done with you sirs.
However— I’m happy to reward a few good men some of this great pootie because they are actively seeking and creating the conditions of peace we so desperately need in our societies around the world. Men and women like this deserve to be glorified as our true freedom fighters
So I repeat after Lysistrata and I hope you repeat it too:
No peace, No Piece
No peace, No Pussy
Raise hell peacefully,
Anne Arkhane
P.s. This film has me wanting to read Lysistrata. When a film makes me want to read the book or a book has me wanting to see a film I think that’s a sign of a good story. Not every story needs to be translated into multiple formats—this one is deserving.
The Pluck 