Let’s take a simple test. Ask yourself these questions: has Facebook ever placed a non-white nation’s flag on the top of the list as a choice for profile photo frames? Has Saturday Night Live ever had a Syrian, or Palestinian, or Yemeni choir open their show? Did liquor stores ever stop selling Russian vodka when it was involved in the Syrian civil war? Did Shell or BP or any other major fossil fuel company ever stop doing business with Saudi Arabia despite massive human rights violations or its murderous war in Yemen? I think the answer to these questions should come easily.

One might accurately say that this is merely performative activism that has little to no impact on the real conditions of people suffering from war. And that is correct. But there is more to this than simple virtue signaling.

In the past few weeks, reporters from various networks have been lamenting the war in Ukraine as different because it is supposedly a “civilized” country. The odious message here is clear: war is not the normal state for “white” countries. But the implication is even more odious: Ukrainians deserve more of our sympathy than Afghans, Palestinians, Rohingya, Somalians, Syrians, etc.

In other media, lavish praise was given to Ukrainian kids making Molotov cocktails to fend off Russian invaders. Just days earlier, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for allegedly throwing one. This same media was silent except for dispassionately repeating the IDF version of events.

These commentaries and the framing of events do not happen in a vacuum. Over the last several days as people fled Ukraine to neighbouring European countries, scores of Black and Indian refugees were turned away, many at gunpoint, while white-appearing people were allowed to cross over. Some have had to walk for many kilometres in frigid temperatures to reach the border. Many had infants and small children with them.

And on social media, a photograph went viral which showed a young, blonde-haired girl bravely confronting a soldier. It was erroneously attributed to being a Ukrainian girl and a Russian soldier. But the outpouring of sympathy was telling. When it was revealed that the girl was Palestinian and that she was courageously confronting occupying Israeli soldiers on her family’s land, that sympathy faded off the newsfeeds of many whose shameful hypocrisy was clearly demonstrated.

The prevailing arrangement of power in our world has been designed to eclipse the suffering of the Global South. We are told the lie, sometimes quite plainly, that war and calamity are a given to certain places in the world and have nothing to do with this arrangement or the exploitation and brutality that go with it. These attitudes are widespread in the mainstream, corporate media as well as among politicians of every stripe. And they often manage to filter into the way ordinary people think about world events and crises.

Without a doubt, war reveals our prejudices, biases, bigotries and indifference in a way that other situations do not. And the world has been set up as a hierarchy that puts white-appearing nations on the top of the list for collective sympathy. But regardless of what cynics might suggest, it does not have to be this way. We don’t have to pick and choose where and with whom we build our solidarity based on racist lies. We need only begin with the time-tested axiom: no human is alien to us. And go on from there.

Kenn Orphan, March 2022

*Photograph is of an African father attempting to flee Ukraine and is by Umit Bektas of Reuters.

What Russia is doing to Ukraine is horrific and should be condemned. There are thousands of Russians taking to the streets to oppose this war. All of them deserve our support unequivocally and without prejudice.

But when people in the Global South, be it Palestine, or Libya, or Yemen, or Somalia, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, do the same, they are often ignored or maligned by Western media. In fact, the oppression or war crimes they experience, especially when produced by or approved of by Western states or NATO, is often whitewashed. As Orwell inferred, it is as if it “never happened.”

We need to see through the ruse. All human beings deserve a life free of occupation, apartheid, cruelty and state violence, whether they live in Kiev or Gaza. Cry for Ukraine, but don’t let your tears or sympathy be coopted by our own merchants and profiteers of war.

Kenn Orphan, March 2022

Across Russia, in at least 48 cities, thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to protest Putin’s invasion and war on Ukraine. They have faced bitterly cold winter temperatures and brutal arrests by police, but they keep pouring out into the streets nevertheless. And they put many of us to shame. How many of us in the West would risk the same in opposing our government’s militarism, wars and war profiteering?

My fullest solidarity with these Russian antiwar protestors. Stand in solidarity against all war, state violence and militarism, whether it comes from Russia, the US, NATO, China or anywhere else. Stand for universal human rights and the preservation of what is left of our fragile biosphere. Oppose the war profiteers like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics and BAE Systems. Demand the global war industry be dismantled. And don’t equivocate on any of it.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photographers are Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images in Moscow, Denis Kaminev/AP in Moscow, Dmitri Lovetsky/AP in St Petersburg. 

There are some amongst the Western left who seem confused about how to react to the invasion of Ukraine. This is unsurprising since few of them knew how to build solidarity with the Syrian people and build an international antiwar movement, instead preferring to come to the defense of the oppressive government that they lived under simply because it was the supposed enemy of Washington. But if there is one thing this situation has shown, it is that ordinary Russian people are putting those Western leftists to shame.

Thousands have taken to the streets across Russia to denounce Putin’s invasion, and over a thousand have been arrested. None of them seem to have a problem with equivocation when it comes to war or their government’s criminality. Sadly, the same cannot be said for many on the Western left who are wringing their hands trying to find ways to defend Putin.

Without a doubt, Putin is not a 21st century Hitler as some Western propaganda outlets have inferred, and this is not World War II. We should reject such idiotic and shallow correlations. But he has invaded a sovereign country, and one that has been historically colonized by Russia in the past. One would think that would be enough for condemnation. Not so, to these leftists, many of whom have swallowed the rubbish of highly paid sock puppets on the Trumpenleft.

Being antiwar is not something we can afford to equivocate on. It is either a core principle, or else it is meaningless. Opposing Russian militarism and imperialism is as important as opposing American militarism and imperialism, as well as NATO aggression. Has the American Empire committed more atrocities and launched more wars? Yes. Has NATO expansion over the past couple decades exacerbated the situation? Of course. But this doesn’t mean that Russian imperialism does not exist or does not present a danger. And taking a stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in no way diminishes a stand against American invasions, meddling or covert actions in Somalia, Yemen, Cuba and dozens of other places.

If you claim to be on the left and cannot grasp this, then I suggest you step out of the way. Because the imperative now is to join in solidarity with our antiwar allies in Russia. Not to spout empty theoretics in the defense of some government or state actor simply because that actor happens to be the enemy of the American Empire.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photo is of a Russian antiwar protestor. Photographer is Peter Kovalev/TASS.

For anyone who may be tempted to support one, the solution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not US or NATO military intervention.

The US military and NATO (along with their associated nefarious agencies) have a long list of war crimes, most of which they have never had to answer for in any way that matters. Lest we forget the carpet bombing of South Asia? Agent Orange? Supporting and training death squads in Central America? Toppling democratically elected governments in Iran and Chile. Assassinations of political rivals like Lumumba? The use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus in Iraq? Torture in prisons like Abu Ghraib? Or the recent “mistake” of a drone strike in Kabul which killed many members of one family, including children?

The war hawks are salivating for more war, but escalation into more militarism will not solve any of this, it will only add to the misery. And it could, quite possibly, lead humanity toward its quietus. No to war anywhere.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was painfully apparent within certain circles of the West that there was a thorough lack of even a rudimentary education on what the Russian government is today. Some erstwhile leftists have even been seen praising the despotic leader in a fashion that would make even Putin cringe. So let’s make a few facts clear.

Putin is the de facto head of United Russia, a reactionary, rightwing political party that dominates the executive branch and the Duma (legislative). He, and he alone, has essentially what amounts to dictatorial powers. His party is not even remotely left, progressive or socialist in the least. And he has thrived on stoking racist nationalism.

What is interesting to note is that despite UR being the dominant political party, communists have been gaining more sympathy in recent years and there is a marked longing for the days of the USSR where at least in its hay day most Russians had reliable work, good educational opportunities, housing, paid holidays and a decent living standard. Today, the poverty rate has been rising steadily while population declines, leaving a lot of elderly Russians in a bad state. And, like the United States, powerful and wealthy oligarchs run the economy to the benefit of their coffers.

So it is laughable that there are some people who identify as left who cannot stop themselves from praising Putin as an “anti-imperialist” and thinking he is their comrade. Putin, himself, would laugh at such idiocy.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photograph by Sean Gallup / Getty

No one should blindly take Pentagon talking points as absolute truth. But the same applies to Kremlin talking points. Think of it this way. These battles are between the Great Imperial Houses of the 21st century vying for geopolitical dominance on the stage of a world whose biosphere is dying. It is ordinary people, and untold species, who are counted (or not) in the casualties.

Remember that last point, because it is what matters the most to everyone of us, no matter where we live.

Oppose them all.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

#NoWarAnywhere #Ukraine#Russia#NATO

Never equate an entire people with their government.

Tens of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets in scores of Russian cities, in frigid temperatures and against brutal crackdowns, to oppose Putin’s invasion and war against Ukraine.

The task of people of conscience is to link arms with them in solidarity and in opposition to ALL war everywhere, whether that be in Ukraine, the Middle-East, Africa or anywhere else.

Photograph is of an antiwar demonstration in St. Petersburg, Russia, by Anton Vaganov of Reuters.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

If we cannot connect with each other beyond the political chicanery and sheer idiocy of those who rule over us at this stage in our evolution, we will not grasp the urgency of our collective situation in any way that will matter. There is no national anthem, colourful flag, marching army or well worded propaganda that will stop the oceans from warming, the coral from dying, the seas from rising and drowning our cities, the fields from going barren, the people moving in enormous masses for survival, the forests from burning and countless species from going extinct.

That we still court war as any solution in this era of biospheric catastrophe speaks to our fatal disconnection from this earth and to each other. Do we dare deny the impermanence of our existence? Do we dare think we are beyond the warm embrace of the other?

Photo is of a young couple sharing an embrace at a train station in Kyiv following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The photographer is Daniel Leal for AFP.

Kenn Orphan. February 2022

“Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it’s the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself. …Science fiction is central to everything we’ve ever done, and people who make fun of science fiction writers don’t know what they’re talking about.” ― Ray Bradbury

When I was a little boy, between the ages of 7 and 10, I would make starships out of construction paper. I would fly them all around my room making the sounds I had heard from one of various science fiction shows I had watched on television. Star Trek, Battlestar Gallactica, Buck Rodgers, Star Wars. I loved anything that was sci-fi. I would spend hours drawing futuristic cities set on earth or different planets I would create in my imagination. I would invent alien languages and symbols. Devise plots that had to do with characters encountering other species. I had built an entire galaxy in my head.

In those years, I wanted so badly to live on one of those fictional worlds. If a time travel machine suddenly appeared I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I would be whisking myself away into the future. At night, I would lie in my bed thinking of space and alien planets. And I would try to force dreams to involve this fantastic universe I had thought up.

Like most kids, I shared some of my creations with my parents. And, like many kids, I experienced the pang of disappointment when they either seemed disinterested or would laugh. The laughing was the worst. It made that small boy feel even smaller. My mother was loving, but I knew she thought most of it was silly and didn’t have any curiosity. My father would often call the books and programs I loved “fairy tales.” And this was not a compliment. It was a way to disparage and denigrate them. Fairy tales, beloved by children since time immemorial, were not held in high regard in my home growing up.

When we grow older, we often think we have surpassed the impact of those formative years. We think the wounds we experience when we are young are gone because they often become layered with the concerns and responsibilities of adulthood. But this is a falsehood. More often than not, those wounds still sting when we encounter something that reminds us of them. A remark or an askew glance, and suddenly I can see that little boy again in my mind, desperately trying to act nonchalant and hide any tears that might be welling up inside.

Those kinds of things have an impact. For me, they crushed any ambition I had to write science fiction. Later in my teenage years, I briefly entertained working on the sets of sci-fi movies because I have always loved making dioramas and miniatures. But that notion fled rapidly from my mind thanks to the conditioning I had received and had internalized. I would go on for a “proper” education in a “respectable” field that provided the means for living a life like everyone else.

I gained a lot from the career I chose, but writing never left me. And over the years, I have been fortunate to have written a lot on things I care about. Our ecological crisis, human rights, war, art and culture. I don’t regret any of this, but I do regret not pursuing the life I really desired. Lately, I have tried to explore this further and work on some new projects. But I’ve come to realize that the hurt feelings of that little boy sometimes linger.

I was afraid of my father when I was little. Without a doubt, he was a good provider and he sacrificed so much for us. There were also tender moments. But he was easily angered and I mostly thought of him as a bully to be avoided. It was only later, when I was in my senior year of high school and then college, that we began to grow closer. He had mellowed and I had gained confidence to stand my ground. It is those later years that I cherish. And I think he began to feel some regret for the missed opportunities he had in encouraging me more.

He was a child of the Great Depression and his parents, immigrants from Greece, were dirt poor. He was born in a tenement in Manhattan and had to get a job as soon as he could to help. He didn’t have toys and I doubt his father encouraged him to play very much. Later, after serving in the US Navy, he worked for decades at a job he hated because it provided a good salary for our family. But I think he may have begun to question if that narrative was entirely true or more of what society told him was true. I was able to gain empathy for my father. But that didn’t mean that I could forget my wounds, because I know they altered my path.

It has taken decades for me to face these things with some measure of honesty. My father died several years ago, so I no longer have the option of discussing them with him. And now my mother has dementia and is unable to talk about such things at all. So, it often feels like a betrayal to divulge how I felt when I was a kid. Indeed, we cannot blame others for the choices we make in life, but children absorb every bit of our bitterness, anger, disappointment, ridicule and shame. And they unconsciously guide how we decide things.

Years into my adulthood I was lucky to discover a host of science fiction writers who defied critics of the genre and wrote brilliant pieces of literature that explored difficult and complex topics of racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, homophobia, war, ecological destruction, technological conundrums and capitalist exploitation. My favourites, Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K. Le Guin, all helped me release any morsel of embarrassment I might have held on to from my childhood.

It isn’t easy to face the shadows of our past, especially from our childhood. But I think it is necessary if we want to attain any peace or perspective about who we are in this life. I don’t know if I would have been successful at writing science fiction. And I don’t know if I will attempt it now. But I know that material success or notoriety isn’t really the goal. Fulfillment is. And I have gained too much compassion for that little boy with his paper starships and drawings of futuristic cities to give up just yet.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

Title painting is entitled Sanseriah and is by me.

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