Image description: Young protestors in school uniform part of the pro-democracy movement still ongoing in Thailand.
Hi everyone,
This is my last New Wave edition in 2020. Thank you all for subscribing and reading as I’ve grown this newsletter from a mere idea into an actual real life thing, and I hope you stay reading as it continues to grow and evolve. Some quick organizational news from me: New Wave will be on a break from December 22nd, 2020 - January 11th, 2020. In the new year, you can continue to expect newsletters 3-4x per month.
Apologies as I haven’t written too many editions in December, but as you can all imagine, it’s been a really rocky end of 2020. My head has been all over the place, from being wrapped up in trying to finish up work engagements to cancelling travel and figuring out emergency visas to entire life changes and all of that sort of thing. During all of this, I’ve been prioritizing healthy work-life boundaries, refusing to allow clients to walk all over me, clear and direct communication, and trying to have difficult conversations that feature more listening and empathy. And I’ve been reflecting on what the pandemic has shown many of us: what privileges we have that are lifesaving, and how those privileges are sustained by the labor of countless invisible, often women, often racialized, often poor, often othered people.
This reflection has been collective. It’s been hard to gather my opinions and thoughts while things have been changing at breakneck speed. We are now in the fourth wave of the pandemic here in Hong Kong, while in other places it’s only the second. I’ve cancelled my travel plans back home that were partially out of necessity and continued to apply for visa extensions here in Hong Kong. And in the meanwhile, I’ve been having conversations with friends about traveling for the holidays - by all means, I have not been able to stop or convince anybody to change their plans. But when I made this entire process transparent and public on Facebook - my own travel/visa situation and the difficulty I’ve been having seeing other people travel for non-necessary reasons, particularly to poorer countries in the Global South during a global pandemic - I found that I created a space for people that I know to share their pain, hurt, anger, and confusion. Many people responded to one friend in particular, who shared that she’s been hurt to see feminist friends travel to Mexico, where she’s from and currently lives, while she cannot see her own family.
When another friend of mine compared travel-shaming the new pandemic virtue signaling in 2020, I disagree. Virtue signaling is certainly a problem, and something that both the pandemic and contemporary social movements have exacerbated simply by nature of how values and moral codes are changing in real time over social media. But I recall the early days of pandemic virtue signaling, when people were saying things like, “We’re all in this together! Stay home and socially distance!” Those people clearly didn’t have any working class or homeless friends. People who have their own homes and are able to transition their work onto a computer are able to stay at home and socially distance - they don’t necessarily represent the majority of the world’s population. And so I think different people are participating in some of the travel-shaming that’s going around. These aren’t the same as the people who posted selfies of their gorgeous homes with #quarantine #socialdistancing. Those who are complaining about travel are people who are not traveling, people who are watching their governments put profit over people’s lives and let tourists in. People who have been subjected to a violent economic logic in economies that supposedly depend on tourism, but never seems to get any richer from it, or actually change socioeconomic mobility.
I asked another friend, Sonaksha Iyengar, who is a young feminist illustrator living in Bangalore, India, to share her reflection on this topic with New Wave. Sonaksha is chronically ill and has been staying home for most of the year, and shared how the pandemic has exposed the pain, uncertainty, and long-term health risks that she and others have already been living with.
“In my conversations with friends who are also living with chronic illness and/or pain, we’ve been coping with heating pads, memes, and half jokes. We wake up everyday thinking: is it chronic illness or is it COVID-19 because there are so many overlapping symptoms. In some ways the uncertainty that this year has brought has been a constant for many of us [already].”
Every time we make a choice to stay home, we’re protecting people who are at a higher risk of infection. But for many people, staying home or going out isn’t a binary because there is no choice. There are people whose jobs still require them to go out: my mother, who is immunocompromised, is one of them. I’m also thinking about how many people’s lives have been displaced during the pandemic, whether that’s through the inaccessibility of digital spaces or health care. When we talk about community care and accountability, we do know that many of our access needs might be in conflict with each other. And so it becomes more important than ever to think of spaces and our actions with care and consideration. Who is being left out because their needs are too “complicated” to fit into a world that upholds ableism?
I think what I’m hoping for is that we’re all evaluating the decisions we make with the choice we have or don’t have, while thinking about ourselves, but also far beyond ourselves: about the communities that we’re part of and the ones that are constantly left out. It’s also been a reminder that our governments are ill-equipped to handle a crisis like this and now more than ever, we need to dismantle the oppressive structures that hold power. We’re asking and giving mutual aid and once again, it has demonstrated the strength of people showing up for each other, and I think that’s what I’m counting on.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has defined my 2020, as it has for the entire world. But the ways in which we are individually affected are different for structural reasons. One of the greatest things I hope to take into next year is a greater collective ability to understand how our choices and lives interdepend and intersect. More conversations in community and with community. I cringe at how some people I know are currently talking about vaccines. They don’t realize that they are extremely privileged to even think that they will be getting vaccines next year.
One of the questions that I have for 2021 is how we can have better conversations about how to actually practice solidarity. Solidarity is one of the things that movements, organizations, and activists all love to talk about, but I’ve often found the idea a bit vague. Am I in solidarity with a cause simply because I showed up to a meeting? Or because I wrote an article about something? Or because I show up for 4 months in a row simply to observe, take notes, work on a longer project about? (These are all actual things I have done and wondered about). What does it mean to actually practice solidarity with movements and spaces and issues that do not affect your immediate lived reality on a daily basis? I don’t have any answers. But I have a suspicion that one pathway forward may be to change the way we make decisions with the privileges and in the structures that we do have. For my friends who have pushed back in conversations with me about traveling (to see family, to see loved ones and not necessarily for tourism) during the holidays during the pandemic, I struggled to communicate to them that their decision would not only affect them and their families. It would affect all of the invisible people who they do not know who are working in unsafe conditions during this pandemic on a daily basis. It would affect all of the people who made invisible choices not to see their families or friends or loved ones during this pandemic, so that others could be safe. How can we visibilize the invisible and value that invisible labor, love, and sacrifice? This is the largest question that I am bringing into 2021 with me, and the lingering sad conversation I am still replaying in my head on repeat. Can we widen these conversations and invite people in our community to help us with these choices? When we make decisions that affect others, do they have any opportunity to express their opinions, thoughts, and feelings? Would that be something closer to a more tangible form of solidarity that I’m seeking? Or maybe solidarity is even the process of even trying for that - the attempt in of itself, that grasp and reach for the other, instead of the default zero-sum mentality of “well, the choice is mine if I have it.”
If solidarity doesn’t mean much in the age of performative allyship, then maybe we can politicize and specify feminist solidarity more - and collectively. How are we going to build strong transnational movements to counter right-wing fascist, authoritarian, neoliberal capitalist governments if we don’t acknowledge structural privileges and internal differences? My wish for feminist solidarity is to escape the trending protest and organizational slogans and instead become associated with these processes and conversations that are full of uncertainty but try to visibilize the invisible and explicitly name those who are left out - in community.
Earlier this year, I asked readers for feedback to influence New Wave’s direction in the future. Here’s what some people shared about what they’re currently enjoying about New Wave:
“I love the transnational aspect of it. We need more media that covers feminism and other social movements transnationally. I honestly can't think of anything that could be improved. I love your newsletter!”
“I like how New Wave is committed from the start to creating a space for young feminists while also addressing the larger conversations about feminist media. It's collaborative, personal, and insightful!”
“I'm taking a social break but I just hopped back in here to tell you how much I enjoyed reading "On 'extraordinary' young people" - It was a great read. It touches on things I have been reflecting on in my own life. I appreciate you taking the time to write this(:”
“As a young feminist I'm so grateful to have a resource like New Wave to look out for and learn from especially in contextualising so much of what is happening everyday around and to us, some of which we don't even process before the next thing happens.”
What people shared that they would love in the future:
“Not sure if you're already thinking of this/have the capacity for this/if NW is the place for this, but creating an online community of mentors and mentees is something that's so so important, esp. for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. At some point you can tap into your audience and collaborators for this?”
“More information about the short term and long term goals of New Wave.”
“Essays and profiles are strong formats and I would also suggest extending into multimedia - featuring art from young feminists, sharing videos of young leaders, etc.”
“idea boxes - less news, more concrete actions”
If you’re interested in sharing your thoughts and hopes for New Wave with me, feel free to reply directly to this email and tell me what you think. If you’re a bit less confrontational, you can submit anonymous feedback here. I promise that I am reading everything and taking all of it under consideration.
A huge heartfelt thank you from me to all of you this year for supporting New Wave and signing up and telling your friends about this newsletter. This newsletter is a huge project for me and I know that I’ll be able to dedicate the time that it deserves next year, so get ready for some important and necessary changes. As for sharing my short and long term goals of New Wave, I can say: I need for this newsletter to become financially sustainable, but also create real value and community. That will be one of my top priorities in 2021. But in terms of short term content calendar, you can expect much of the same content from me next year: profiles of young feminists working in the Global South, across the diaspora, and in underrepresented regions, and essays on topics like feminist influencers on Instagram and celebrity activism, and the domestic labor/privilege that holds up activism. My biggest goal for next year in terms of content is to begin featuring other voices and commissioning writing, as well as finally featuring some New Wave-exclusive art :) If there’s something specific that you’d like to see, or something that you’d like to write for New Wave, just respond to this newsletter and let me know.
Ani Hao is a young feminist writer, journalist and media consultant. She reports on young feminist activism and youth-led social movements globally.
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