the universal mother

Umair Haque has written what some might consider a controversial article on why AOC [US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] short-circuits the conservative mind and why the universal mother is the antidote to the authoritarian father.

“The universal mother is the antidote to the authoritarian father. Think about it. Reflect on it. Remember it. Treat the bizarre and weird contradictions of post-modern gender theory with the skepticism they deserve — my gender is the most important thing in the world, but yours doesn’t matter at all!! Understand it’s just conservatism and patriarchy in disguise, all too often, all over again — a kind of weak liberation to be sexually desired, to be virgins and whores, but not really existentially valued, as mother-creators, spring-bringers, winter-melters.” —Umair Haque 2019-01-16

For hundreds, even thousands, of years women have been excluded from power and AOC is taking the public podium back. She understands the new medium. I think AOC is a sign of the times and that we will see many more mother figures coming forward in the emerging network era. The reactionaries may currently dominate the public discourse, but over time they will lose.

“Why do our societies feel so out of control? So imbalanced? Like they’re collapsing and crumbling before our very eyes? The reason is very simple, in one way. Too many authoritarian fathers — not enough universal mothers. Societies like American and Britain have long histories of empire building, which reflect cultures of authoritarian fatherhood. It’s no surprise that as the world became a little more powerful, and they became a little less powerful — they retreated into a desperate search for authoritarian fathers. Reagan … Bush … Trump. But Theresa May is Britain’s authoritarian father — not its mother — sternly commanding it, threatening it with terrible punishment, cracking the whip over it.” —Umair Haque 2019-01-16

It’s the end of a triform society, dominated by markets and based on the printed word. We are moving into a quadriform society (T+I+M+N) soon to be dominated by the network form, retrieving gender balance [background reading]. Soon, the linearity and control of the written and printed word — patriarchal in their essence — will be obsolesced by the connected, electric medium.

Our future is networked and feminine. The traditional political Right wants to go back to the Pre-modern (Institutional) Era — dogmatic, faith, truth — while the traditional political Left wants to stay in the Modern (Market) Era — doubting, science, facts. However, the way ahead is to a Meta-modern (Network) Era — seeking, knowledge, combining. We need to cast-off our complicated and mechanistic approaches to governance and create a society that understands complexity. This is not through an authoritarian father figure but a universal mother figure focused on renewal. Creation is complex. Only mothers can give birth. Let’s give them the chance to create a better world.

This post is dedicated to my mother, Elli, 1930-2019.