Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco])

Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco])

Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco])

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I’m telling
you a place of
purple rocks
stretching to
the sunset…I’m
telling you
eyes like a
pharaoh’s…I’m
telling you huge
bouquets of flowers
drooling in cheap
rooms…I’m
telling you
betrayal is the law.
Learn the rhythm
of betrayal, a
jetty stretching
to eternity,
purple and orange
sky. Learn
the children
on the rocks,
the product
of betrayal,
the body of
a pharaoh, limbs
of grey and purple
dust. Limbs
that crumble under
systems designed
to blast children
into dust. You
can’t know who
I pray to.
You don’t
know where
I go, my
trap doors.
You don’t know
who loves me,
who makes me
a queen. You can’t
see the place
I am, so you
hate me. I
plunge into
the water;
I dive for
the truth;
I don’t look
back. I don’t
stop until
I turn to
dust darkening
the cheeks
of a pharaoh
bathing in gold.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

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Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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