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| A white woman with blonde hair stands in front of two dark-haired children, who are kneeling before her. The woman is looking at a tall standing set of scales and holding a handful of gold coins in one hand. One of the scales is filled with gold coins, and the other holds a stack of books. One of the children has an open book in hand, and the other has their hands outstretched towards the woman with the coins. |
What is the hidden cost of comfort?
Whose comforted is elevated over others'?
What does it look like to share power with others so that all can experience safety?
On April 30, 2024, the Sun moved into the second decan of Taurus, which is ruled by the Moon, who is exalted in Taurus. One way to think of planets in their exaltation is through the lens of privilege and systemic power (I first encountered this idea through the work of Diana Rose Harper, whose writings and teachings can be found here.) In Taurus–sign of pleasurable embodiment and material realities–the Moon, whose representations include dailiness, emotional/physical needs, and the people, might choose a path of least resistance for the sake of comfort, even if maintaining such a path would require the perpetuation of material inequities.
During the Sun's journey through each astrological decan of this year, I will read, reflect on, and write about a text that I find meaningful within the symbolic context of each decan. The book I read for this decan is The Singapore I Recognise: Essays on home, community, and hope by Kirsten Han. My keywords for the Six of Pentacles and the Moon in Taurus are: collective nourishment reckons with institutional power.
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| Cover of The Singapore I Recognise: Essays on Home, Community, and Hope by Kirsten Han |
Kirsten Han is a writer, journalist, and activist whose work centers on ending both the death penalty and the war on drugs in Singapore. She runs two newsletters–”We, the Citizens” (coverage of Singaporean news from a rights-based perspective) and “Altered States” (coverage of Singaporean drug policy “viewed through the lens of a Singaporean unlearning the punishing ‘zero tolerance’ narratives she’d been raised on”). Han co-founded New Naratif (a movement to democratize democracy in Southeast Asia) and is a member of the Transformative Justice Collective.
Kirsten Han’s first book, The Singapore I Recognise: Essays on home, community, and hope was published in 2023 by Ethos Books. I’d been an avid fan of “We, the Citizens” for a little while before I realized this book was in the world, at which point I did a little dance–Han’s newsletter is one of the few I try to read every issue of, and I really enjoy her prose, so the chance to read her essay collection was exciting. The Singapore I Reocognise is structured as both personal memoir of Han's life as an activist and journalistic essays she authored about the movement in Singapore to increase democratization and end capital punishment.
For transparency’s sake, one of the reasons I follow Han’s work is because I’m homesick. To speak more accurately, I have been homesick, a condition which has ebbed/flowed through my body like a weird tide for 25 years. It is possible to feel unentitled to claim any place as home and also to miss what you have never had. Reading Han’s essays helps me to practice political education as it relates to the place that shaped my family, and in this way is a way I can practice connection to my familial community. Han is also an active member in a political community I would wish to participate in if I were still tangibly connected to Singaporean society. Because I am a member of the most-privileged ethnic group in Singaporean society and a person who grew up with class privilege, it is of core importance to center my learning and thinking about Singapore in analysis of systemic power inequities, material benefits afforded to those of my privileged group, and material harms experienced by the most marginalized people in society. Han is one of the activists doing this cultural movement work of educating and engaging people in practices of transformative democracy, and the fact that her work is centered in the practice of writing is additionally rad.
For further transparency: I was not able to read the entirety of this book this month. Below are the chapters I cited from–I’m looking forward to reading the remaining essays of this book that surround these:
"Introduction: Claiming Recognition"
"A Process of Unlearning"
"All The Things We Do Not Know"
"A Traitor to My Country"
Below are 6 quotes from this book and 6 reflections. Because the Moon is the planet of everyday needs/activities and Taurus is the sign of sustained physicality, my reflections center on possible actions I can incorporate into my mundane life, inspired by these excerpts. (Many of these daily actions are writing-related, because the Moon is also the planet most often related to the act of writing!)
One:
“What does it mean to “recognise” a country? Whose recognition is deemed legitimate, and whose isn’t? Whose experience gets to define what Singapore is or isn’t?... What we see or know about Singapore is coloured by where we’ve come from and where we stand. For some people, the system in this city-state works a charm; for others, it’s a highly stressful nightmare.”
-- from "Introduction: Claiming Recognition" by Kirsten Han
Action: Start a document file titled “This Country.” Add two new sentences:
- The first sentence is a completion of this prompt: “One word I would use to describe this country to someone who has never lived here is…”
- The second sentence is a completion of this prompt: “One experience I have had while living in this country that causes me to choose the word I just used is…”
Two:
“In 2017, PJ and I, along with comic artist Sonny Liew, co-“founded a platform for journalism, research, art and community-building in Southeast Asia called New Naratif. Our idea was to not only make research about Southeast Asia more accessible to the people of the region, but also create space for locally based journalists and artists to produce important and relevant work and, crucially, be paid for it. We also wanted to develop New Naratif into a movement for freedom of expression and democracy—both major issues in a diverse region struggling with histories of colonialism and present realities of authoritarianism… Our trio comprised a historian who’d written about how Lee Kuan Yew had knowingly and “unjustly jailed his political opponents (PJ); an artist whose publishing grant had been revoked on the grounds that his graphic novel had the potential to undermine the government’s legitimacy (Sonny); and a freelance journalist and activist known for expressing critical views of the government (yours truly).”
-- Kirsten Han
Action: At the end of my day, identify one person I interacted with whom I would be interested in talking more with about their views on a political issue that matters to me. I can jot down a question I would love to ask them if given the chance. After writing down the question, I can reflect on whether I would like to initiate this conversation with them in the future.
Three:
The following quote is longer, but important to cite fully, as I believe it highlights commitment to dissent despite government suppression. In “A Traitor to My Country”, Han writes of how she, Liew, and PJ’s funding request for a project was not just denied, but given news report status in The Straits Times. She then connects this government action to an institutionalized rejection of difference and culture that views any resistance as inherently dangerous, reflecting that:
““The ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ game is easy to play in this country because the citizenry has been primed to see threats everywhere. To grow up Singaporean is to be constantly reminded of our precocity and precarity. We are told that it’s miraculous for a tiny island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula to even exist as a sovereign nation. From the classroom to ministerial speeches, it’s repeatedly emphasised that Singapore’s successes were not only hard won but could be snatched away at any moment. We’re warned about racial and religious strife, hostility from neighbours as we saw with Indonesia and Konfrontasi in the 1960s, the possibility of Malaysia cutting off our water supply, and economic competitors waiting to swoop in to “steal our lunches”... The constant invocation of vulnerability “can also be used to demand obedience and conformity. Fears can be stoked to create a sense of a crisis that politicians can then step in to ‘solve’. An option can be presented as the sole solution, and agreement with it the only acceptable way to demonstrate support and solidarity. Dissent and divergence can be framed not only as inconvenient, but as undesirable or even dangerous. Things are broken down into binaries: you’re either with us or against us. There’s no time for negotiating between everyone’s opinions when there’s a siege on, and Singapore is always under siege… This sort of framing is commonly found in Singaporean discourse. Speech and expression on matters of race and religion must be closely policed—by the PAP government, of course—to prevent the country from falling into sectarian violence. The Public Order Act must be applied, even to someone posing for a photo outside the State Courts for 15 seconds, because it is seen as an instance of potential public disorder. We can’t strengthen workers’ rights and introduce things like a national living wage because it’ll strip Singapore of our competitive edge and bring about our fall from the peaks[…] // “This sense of balancing on a precipice keeps us suspended in a state of anxiety, putting us on constant high alert for threats that could pop out anywhere, anytime, in any form. When a population is in this frame of mind, politicians can solicit support by demonising or scapegoating people, groups and communities that either don’t fit the mould or actively resist what they are trying to promote.”
-- Kirsten Han
Action: On a piece of paper, jot down all the things I plan to do today (or in the next few days or week).
- After doing so, circle all the activities I have planned that I am doing because they contribute to my sense of security in some way. (For example, I am planning on going to work every day this week because I have to maintain a day job to maintain my security in the capitalist society I live in.)
- After doing that, highlight every activity on the list that, if I were to not do it, would make me feel afraid of losing stability, security, or resources.
- After doing this, sit in a quiet, gentle space for five minutes. Write down one last thing on the piece of paper: What is one thing I would like to do tomorrow that would contribute to my sense of sharing my gifts/resources with another person?
Four:
Despite being targeted by the government in a local smear campaign that has resulted in general ongoing repression, violent threats, and accusations of treason, Han continues to write and publish in support of her belief that:
“We can’t rely on any one individual to ‘rescue democracy’ or bring lasting, meaningful reform to a country. Democracy isn’t a commodity that can be acquired; it’s an ongoing project, an aspiration that all of us need to fight for, over and over again.”
-- Kirsten Han
Action: Identify one group that is doing work you admire in your local community (neighborhood, city, state, et cetera). Write them a message of appreciation and connection (For example: Why does their work matter to you personally, and what experiences have you had that you can connect to their current efforts?), and send them this message.
Five:
Han’s written work is fortified by her lived experience and sustained practice, a reminder to readers that it is possible to struggle for the long-term, even when to do so comes at personal cost. On May 10, 2024, she wrote (in “We, the Citizens”):
“This is nothing short of a war,” K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Law, said in a ministerial statement about drugs. He really doubled down on the government’s policy of criminalisation, punishment and the death penalty, and took aim at “a small group of people who attempt to mislead the public with misinformation on drug traffickers and the death penalty”, i.e. me and my peers at the Transformative Justice Collective, among others. He accused us of glorifying drug traffickers, ignoring victims and abusing court process—going as far as to read out my email address in Parliament... It doesn’t strike me as very ‘normal country’ behaviour for a government minister to, after framing an issue as a war to “protect our people”, single out specific citizens to accuse them of undermining the country’s defence in this war. That’s not playing with fire at all!... It doesn’t come as a surprise—it’s been the government’s position for the longest time—but this hardcore War on Drugs narrative is really distressing because it leads to so much stigma and demonisation, creating false divides and leaving people uninformed (or even misinformed) about drugs, drug use and drug policy. It’s completely untrue that my colleagues and I don’t care about people who have been harmed or adversely by drugs and drug use. If you’ve followed our work, it quite clear that we do care, and that well-being, care and healing for drug users, their families and their communities is central to the work we do to push for an end to the death penalty and the War on Drugs. TJC’s members attend workshops and conferences, and are constantly engaged in conversations, to learn as much as we can about the experiences of people who use drugs and the support structures and policies that exist around the world to support them in more restorative and long-lasting ways.”
-- Kirsten Han
Action: Identify one person who has been speaking out on behalf of our most marginalized communities and who has endured the personal costs of repression (from government, media, and/or popular forces). Write them a message of appreciation for their work, and send them this message.
Six:
Han writes that “memory and storytelling are important forms of resistance.”
The Moon in Taurus connects the Six of Pentacles to two Major Arcana cards: the High Priestess and the Hierophant. Using her community (Moon) experience and journalistic training to share stories that the government would prefer remain enshadowed, Han participates in a tradition of standing up to institutions (Hierophant) that represent the maintenance of comfort (Taurus) over marginalized truths (High Priestess). What societal resources can be diverted towards supporting the storytelling and memory-work that are important catalysts to resisting normalized oppressions?
Action: What is a story that involves both myself and one of my communities that I wish more people knew about?
- If I have written about this story before: write one more page about it today.
- If I have not written about this story before: Write down the first sentence of this story.
* * *
Closing questions:
I would like to ask a few questions about democracy as a societal system in which power is fully and truly vested in the people of that society.
Where in your everyday life have you witnessed inequity of power?
Where have you witnessed people resisting inequity and sharing power, instead?
Who in your most immediate relationships–the people you spend the most time interacting with, talking to, living with, doing things with–do you feel the tension of power discrepancy with? Welcome yourself to consider race, class, gender, disability, citizenship, and any other societal factors that shape our lived experiences of power.
Who do you feel safe asking to share power with you?
What do you prefer to do: give care, or receive it?
Why?
Kirsten Han’s website: https://kirstenhan.com/
New Naratif, “a movement to democratise democracy in Southeast Asia”, relaunching May 2024: https://newnaratif.com/
Altered States, a newsletter that “focuses on drugs and drug policy, viewed through the lens of a Singaporean unlearning the punishing “zero tolerance” narratives [Han] had been raised on”: https://www.wethecitizens.net/tag/altering-states/
We, the Citizens, a newsletter that “covers news and developments in Singapore from a rights-based perspective”: https://www.wethecitizens.net/
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