That Word “Solidarity” — I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.
29th February 2016
There’s a scene in an old Pogo book in which Owl and Pogo are playing the parts of comrades living under Soviet rule. Pogo is a peasant, and Owl is a minor functionary, an apparatchik. Owl tells Pogo he once yelled “Down with the government!” — into a paper bag. To prove his story, he fetches the paper bag and opens it. Out of the paper bag bursts a speech balloon that says: “Hooray for the government!”
Owl says sheepishly, “I disguised it a li’l bit.”
That’s what the video below reminds me of. It was recorded during Hijab Day last week in Ottawa, which was one of those festive feminist occasions when right-thinking Canadian wymyn show their solidarity with their Muslim sisters by wearing the hijab in a defiant gesture against male domination and the oppressive patriarchy.
The Afghan woman featured in the video was asked if she would also show solidarity with the young Syrian woman in a Flemish asylum center who refused to wear a hijab, which resulted in a violent brawl between the Syrians and the other culture-enrichers in the camp. The Afghan woman said that yes, she would show solidarity — by wearing her hijab.
Freedom is slavery, baby!