Week 5 - Celebrations amid the chaos

I'm so pleased, and so tired.

She’s out!

yassmin_a

A post shared by yassmin abdel-magied | ياسمين (@yassmin_a)

LISTEN LAYLA, my third book and second work of fiction, has been released out into the world. It feels surreal to be doing celebratory virtual events from the same corner that I have lived in all year: this tiny desk has seen LAYLA from conception into reality, and now even her victory lap is centered around this small, white rectangle of MDF tucked into the corner of my flat.

That being said, we’ve made the most of it. I’ve done podcast chats with Shameless, ABC’s The Writers, Persistent and Nasty, interviews on fashion with Sunday Life and have an upcoming Q&A with the inimitable Randa Abdel-Fatah on Thursday inshallah (tickets are still available!). Even the reviews thus far have been kind. In fact, there’s been enough positive PR that an old school friend messaged saying it was nice to see headlines that didn’t refer to me as Australia’s ‘most hated Muslim’. 😂 I will take that as a win.

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I sat in on another panel about ‘cancel culture’ recently. I usually avoid such events like the plague, finding them rarely interested in nuance and following fairly predictable avenues of discourse. However, a young Muslim journalist was moderating said panel for a media company I don’t completely despise (and if you know me, that’s high praise!), so I thought it might be worth checking out.

I ended up being right, and wrong. No particularly original or illuminating points were made (though there was a strident defense of liberalism, which I appreciated as an evolution of the one typically made for free speech), but the contributors were measured, thoughtful, considerate. On reflection however, I did leave with something new: a reignited curiosity about why people care so much. Why is discussing cancel culture so evergreen, across so many demographics?

I have theories: for those who have always been in positions of power, this might be the first time they are facing real winds of change. It might be the levels of fragility in the west’s civil society - a sense of discomfort at saying what is on one’s mind is seen as akin to censorship, instead of an opportunity to reflect on whether that discomfort is pointing to anything else (lack of self awareness?). It might be frustration at one of the few mechanisms of public accountability today being disregaded as bullying. It might be all those things at the same time…

I’ve always had a reasonably set take on this: that being able to hold those in power accountable is important, and right. But I am starting to recognise that the tent of ‘cancel culture’ is so broad, that I may in fact be co-signing behaviour that I do not condone, or deem outright unacceptable. I must also admit that I have spent some time dismissing any further inquiry into CC as… well, as I dismissed in the paragraphs above. Not really going to teach me anything I don’t know, given my lived experience and all. But a lack of curiosity is akin to intellectual death, is it not?

That CC has animated so many for so long is worth (in my mind) another look, if not to change my position but to understand the dynamics of a cultural moment that has stretched into an era. To be really honest with you, I don’t know what having ‘another look’ actually means practically… except to say that I am open to changing my mind. Or having it broadened, at the very least.

That’s gotta be worth something, right?

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What I’m reading this week: a piece on the social media myths around the Arab Spring. Can you believe it’s been a decade?

What I’m watching this week: I started (and quickly inhaled) the latest season of Ru Paul Drag Race UK. The perfect lockdown anti-dote.

What I’m listening to this week: Always podcasts! This week, I mulled on Brene Brown’s interview with the Gottmans. The topic? ‘What makes love last’. Also, I spoke with Myriam Francois on her podcast, ‘We need to talk about Whiteness’.

What I’d like you to pay attention to this week: a friend and I are writing an open letter about Emma Barnett, the host of Women’s Hour on the BBC. There are have been multiple incidents recently of hostile and discriminatory behaviour towards Black and Muslim guests, many of whom were brought on the show in good faith and were treated disgracefully. If we don’t draw a line in the sand, this behaviour will continue to be accepted and normalised, and that’s not okay. There are no calls for cancelation, but rather, accountability. Ironic, given this week’s newsletter. Let’s see what happens.

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Thanks for subscribing and reading this week’s edition of Diasporan Diaries. Please, comment with thoughts, questions, critiques…and share if it resonated.

Much love, strength and safety to you all.

Best,

Yassmin