“Are you allowed to represent yourself?” – how weird is this question?
Interestingly, it’s a question we find behind some pretty strange yet uncommon statements people make about politics.
Although this episode – and an almost identical one in Lithuanian! – was sparked by something that has just happened in Lithuania, I talk about something universally important: political representation.
What is the current paradigm when it comes to who is allowed to represent whom? What is the role that the concept of a myth plays here? And why do we have to talk about political representation in the first place?
This is the perfect episode for International Women’s Day.
Why? Because we can’t talk about women’s progress in any society without talking about political representation.
Give it a listen.
As I’ve promised in this episode, here are two books I highly recommend on the topic of gender quality and “who is allowed to represent whom”.
- Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
- Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo
“Books by women? So niche…”
Find my article on gender-based violence here.
Subscribe to my articles below or check out and subscribe to my free newsletter on Substack!
Latest from the Blog
On One of The Gravest Crimes against Humanity That Not Every Country Chose to Condemn at The UN
The UN just voted to describe the transatlantic slave trade as ‘the gravest crime against humanity’. Yet not every country, according to its vote, agrees. My commentary is on what the abstentions show.
Your Antiwar Voice Is Needed More Than You Might Think
The war machine won’t stop until it’s stopped, just as its propaganda won’t just disappear on its own. It was to be actively pointed to, deconstructed, and rejected as loudly as possible. And this is where everyone’s voice matters.
Good News: We Are on a Boat Ride Together; Bad News: It’s Being Steered by Psychopaths
We’re on a boat steered by psychopaths — and they’re not taking us anywhere nice. As the U.S. and Israel are destroying Lebanon and Iran, one thing can’t be clearer: it is the whole world that has to make them stop.
There Are Those Who Celebrate Women’s Day and Cheer for the Bombing of Schools
Using the “liberation of women” is not new when it comes to justifying the unjustifiable. Notice how it is used again in Iran, including by those who are known to intentionally harm women and children.
MY Country Stands with Fascist Regimes. What about Yours?
Let’s normalise talking about the secondary rage and grief you might be feeling seeing your government appease, bow down to, and support fascist regimes
From Iran to Palestine: Beware Those Who Say They Liberate Children by Bombing Schools
Israel has been murdering children in Palestine and Lebanon for decades. Now, it has chosen to murder children – under the guise of regime change – in Iran.
From Cuba to Palestine: Beware Those Who Seek to See Hospitals Run Out of Fuel
What we’re seeing in Cuba is an intensification of imperial violence by those who have been unleashing it on Palestine, too. The parallels here are many, including how the mentality of a coloniser cannot be more on display here.
Have You Witnessed Democratic Mechanisms Being Eroded on Live TV? Here’s An Example
If you couldn’t believe what you were seeing during Pam Bondi’s, the U.S. Attorney General’s testimony in a House Judicial Committee hearing on the Epstein files, here’s how to make sense of it. It’s also why it is terrifying.
From Palestine to The Epstein Files: Will You Demand Justice or Embrace Collective Amnesia?
It is not only the violence by the ones in power that the Epstein files resemble Israel’s destruction of Gaza – it’s about the (potential) collective amnesia, too.
How Fascist Regimes See Growing up, Standing up for People, and Writing Poems as Threats
Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli forces two years ago today – and that is one of the threads of history that I talk about in my essay-like video. It’s about fascism, its victims, the heaviness of witnessing these horrors, and how we can move forward.
On U.S. State Violence: A Continuation, Not a Rupture
The recent murder of Alex Pretti by ICE agents is one painfully clear indication – or, rather, a reminder – that in the U.S, the violence abroad has come back as fascism at home.
After Having Enabled It for Decades, The EU Is Appalled by U.S. Imperialism — Only When It Threatens Its Shores
After having enabled U.S. and Israeli military aggression around the world, notice the EU appeal to international law when the territorial integrity of Denmark is threatened by the U.S.
The Exploding Head Media 
3 thoughts on “Are You Allowed to Represent Yourself?”