Welcome to 2025 on Eartotheground! I can’t believe that it’s been nearly 6 years since I started this blog to contribute to a culture of awareness, resistance, and celebration of those whose voices are so often marginalized. But as Covid19  swept through the globe, and then the genocide in Gaza started, my preoccupations were often linked to urgent and heart-breaking matters. 

The sense of outrage and grief that have accompanied the witnessing of these global events,  has not left me, nor countless others. But the veneer of democracy has been scratched away both at the International level and domestic levels as ultra-right agendas and parties dominate numerous countries. Now more than ever, this drop in the cyber-ocean, should resist the death cult headed by corporate and  neoliberal/fascist governance. And so in this post, I share the poetry and music of Rebel Diaz,  Llunr, and Yusa.

I have also accompanied this with some of  drawings inspired by the current season and events such as the Los Angeles wildfires.  Having seen first hand the beauty of the foothills in Pasadena and Altadena, I can well visualize the disastrous combination of the abandonment of public infrstructure such as fire managment— combined with the unstable weather patterns generated by climate change, and the incredibly over-inflated real estate value connected to the U.S. propagnda machine that is Hollywood and mainstream entertainment and media. Even the rights to water are controlled by the zionist Resnick family who own the vast mount of industrial agriculture in the state. We’ve seen more about the million-dollar homes than entire nations that have been devastated deliberately such as Palestine and Haiti.

Let’s hope the lives of ordinary people are not forgotten in this maelstorm of celebrity worship. Many many working people lost thir homes in these fires (especially the Eaton Fire) including a large century-old Black community and many Californians of Mexican origin. So not just a small white elite.  

The Santa Ana winds have been prt of LA culture  for ages;  the great Raymond Chandler (Red Wind: A Collection of Short Stories) had this to say about them: “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen.” And indeed it has. 

It remains to be seen what post- January 20th events will unfold. Is there really going to be a ceasefire in Gaza so the developers can rush in to further the whims of settler colonial rule?  Will the world’s richest country continue to abandon its people to the vagaries of climate catastrophe and private gain? 

I hope you’ll join me in 2025  as I continue to share the voices and art of those whose pleas for justice and human dignity remind us that another world IS possible.