Dear friend

How are you? I thought I’d send you this note now that I’m away. Do people still do that, send letters and postcards from their travels? It’s a pity if they don’t, I have always loved the writing and receiving of cards and letters, it’s so much more personal than those photos and messages you suspect your friend has sent out indiscriminately, isn’t it?

Where am I? I’m sorry, yes, Omicronia, dear friend! A rather impromptu trip, you know the kind, but here we are, or rather I am, wondering how I got here. Not a secret, really, I know how I got here, no good deed goes unpunished, just one of those unfortunate coincidences. I had to leave the family behind and I’m quite pleased I did, there is not much to do around here. I have read a great deal and that has been wonderful.

They say every visitor experiences it a bit differently and I’m sure that is true. What have I experienced so far? Something akin to that last visit by Lady Influenza: nasal congestion, a sore throat, headaches, and a seesawing fever. The highest peak I’ve climbed: 40.3/104.5 degrees. I’m not ashamed to admit that made me a bit dizzy, but at least my body is putting up a fight, I’ll give her that.

I did have my jabs in order, so I do believe I’ll make a comeback. Like any responsible traveller, I would never leave home without making sure my vaccines were up to date. Of course one hopes one won’t need them, but one can never know, so why risk something so easily avoided? You can’t ring the insurer and ask for fire insurance once the house is on fire any more than you can ask the doctor to administer a Covid jab once you’re hospitalised. “I’m sorry, but it is too late.” That is what they’ll tell you. And then how will you feel? Like a proper pillock, that’s how.

And just like during Lady Influenza’s visit, I’ve had the strangest dreams. One was particularly horrendous and keeps recurring: war. A war was being waged in Europe. But it wasn’t a dream, was it? It is real. It is Cold War 2 but not World War 3, at least not yet. Dear friend, please tell me you agree that this, all of it, is inhumane insanity. Dear friend, if you happen to pop by the Kremlin or the FSB or know someone at Wagner, do tell them that Putin is an affront to humanity. Oh, I’m sure that after Grozny, Georgia, Crimea and Syria they have no illusions, but a reminder won’t hurt anything.

And dear friend, please tell any and all Russians you know the truth about what is going on, if they don’t know already. Dear friend, please tell them that “The West” doesn’t have a problem with Russians but with Putin, his regime and minions, and if Putin keeps insisting that “The West” indeed does then he obviously thinks that Putin equals Russia and doesn’t that just say it all. Tell them we are not threatening anyone with nuclear war, we don’t want another Hiroshima or Nagasaki, not in our home, not in yours, not anywhere on the planet. (I heard Dmitry Kiselyov has boasted how Russia, by which he means Putin, can turn America into radioactive ash. Now that is nothing to boast or joke about. We are a human error, a misunderstanding or misinterpretation away from nuclear war, so not funny.) Tell them we are in awe of anyone who dares to defy a government squeezing the life out of its citizens and civil society. We know it has become difficult and dangerous and that makes state terror even more immoral because governments should serve the people and not the other way around.

Tell them we are not out to wipe out your history, culture, language or traditions, Europeans are steeped in a cornucopia of our own, so we do understand and respect what they mean to a nation and its people. We are not and do not want to be Americans, we want to be Swedish and German and Portuguese and French and Greek and Maltese and so on, we want to live in peace and prosper and work together to solve the problems of today and of the future and we would dearly love to see you help us do it. Dear friend, tell them we feel sorry for the boys sent out to die in battles Putin’s army may win but in a war Putin himself has already lost. Too many banks, businesses, cities and governments turned a blind eye for too long; so long as the money flowed, Putin could act with impunity, and now Ukrainians are paying the price. I do hope this ends now; this type of corruption and hypocrisy has lined the pockets of a chosen few and breadcrumbed the many, and that does not bode well for the planet any more than Putin’s reign benefits the Russian people at large.

Dear friend, I hope you agree that you can be a patriot and a conservative without being a dodgy nationalist; it’s not a competition and it’s certainly not a zero-sum game. I do know a great many devout conservatives who love their children as much as I love mine, and I don’t think they’re pretending either! But values, words and sentiments such as patriotism, spirituality, family, integrity and unity are not the sole property of people and nations who identify as conservatives, they are universal values and aspirations. Claiming to be a defender of these values against the degenerate and queer X (X being whoever your leader claims is the threat), mixing business finances and interests with national finances and interests while being a head of state who expects a cult-like following are not hallmarks of a man serving his country but the trademarks of fascism, and that never ends well for anyone.

Yes, I’m calling Putin a fascist, it’s certainly a more accurate description than calling Zelenskyy a Nazi. A Jewish Nazi, imagine that, dear friend. That's like calling the Pope an atheist. Inconceivable! And someone has to speak up, we all do, for all the Russians who face two choices: silence or prison. There is no mocking or criticising Putin at home but we are not obliged to do his bidding, follow his rules, or listen to his lies. So fire away, a genuinely strong and confident man would take it in his stride. Words would be had, insults traded perhaps, but you would not end up in prison for having and voicing an opinion, eh?

There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours. Thus spoke Jean-Paul Sartre. Dear friend, it is a cruel and crazy and beautiful world. Not perfect, but the only one we have. We seem to be going from problem to problem, from catastrophe to catastrophe, and you will hear claims that these are signs of the end of times. A conglomeration of disease, war, economic and environmental upheavals snowball and keep rolling until there is no stopping the downward spiral and the end of civilization as we know it. This same type of perfect (shit)storm destroyed ancient Rome, Egypt, Chinese dynasties and the kingdoms of Mesoamerica. Nothing, not a single empire, has lasted forever.

But. I do hope we have evolved along the way. And yet. I do fear we lean too heavily on gurus and technology and a shiny future innovation that will come and save us from ourselves when the problem is the way we live, the scarcity and inequality that has followed our progress and success as a species. That 19th century vision of progress and success does not serve humanity in 2022. We have to let go of those beliefs and models and come up with something new and we have to do it now and we have to do it together. The Putins and Trumps and Modis and Johnsons and Bolsonaros of the world will try to convince you otherwise. The fossil fuel industry will fight back. That only proves that they don’t care about us or the planet, they are milking it for all it is worth for as long as they’re allowed to. Are we going to go down with them, dear friend?

Oh but my fingers are tiring, and so must your eyes be. I didn’t mean to write such a long and rambling letter, I only wanted to ask how you were doing. I do hope this finds you safe and well, but one never knows for sure, that is why I’m asking. I need to go and put the kettle on now. I know I’ve recovered when I fancy a coffee, a cider, and a shag. Not quite there yet, I’m afraid, but hope springs eternal. Hope springs eternal, dear friend.

Love,

Dita

P.S.  Happy International Women’s Day!

P.P.S. What is this letter Z I see taped and painted here and there and everywhere? Are they all rooting for Zelenskyy? Are they all waiting for Zorro? 🤔😉 Enquiring minds want to know! Inquiring minds? You say potato, I say mango and lime. As I said, not a competition, live and let live.