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Peace Psychology Book Series

Series Editor
Daniel J. Christie
Marion, OH, USA

The scope of threats to human security at the dawn of the 21st century
is daunting. Terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, nuclear
proliferation, failed states, ideological struggles, growing resource
scarcities, disparities in wealth and health, globalizing trends,
violations of human rights, and the continued use of force to advance
individual, group and national interests, are all complex problems. At
the same time, we are witnessing countervailing trends in the growing
recognition and endorsement of nonviolent means of resolving
differences, the importance of reconciliation processes in human
relations, the promotion of cultures of peace, and the building of
societal structures and global institutions that promote peace, human
rights and environmental sustainability. During the past 20 years, peace
psychology has emerged as a specialty in psychology with its own
knowledge base, perspectives, concepts, and preferred methodologies
to grapple with threats to human security and seize opportunities to
promote human well-being. In regard to the problem of violence, peace
psychology scholars and activists place human psychology and its links
to other disciplines at the center of their efforts to prevent and mitigate
episodes of violence and structural forms of violence. In addition to
reducing violence, peace psychologists seek to develop theory and
practices that promote relational harmony across levels (from
interpersonal relations to global networks) and equitable human well-
being. The Peace Psychology Book Series recognizes that the emerging
and multi-faceted problems of human security challenge us as scholars
and activists to develop psychologically-informed theory that will
deepen our understanding of the major threats to human security, and
 p g j y
create practices that will help us address some of the most urgent and
profound issues that bear on human well being and survival in the 21st
century.

Series Advisory Board

Herbert Blumberg , Goldsmiths College, United Kingdom Daniel Bar-
Tal , Tel Aviv University, Israel Klaus Boehnke , International
University Bremen, Germany Peter Coleman , Columbia University,
USA Cheryl de la Rey , University of Cape Town, South Africa Shelley
McKeown Jones , University of Bristol, United Kingdom Yayah
Khisbiyah , Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Indonesia Siew
Fang Law , Victoria University, Australia Wilson Lopez Lopez ,
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia Winnifred Louis ,
University of Queensland, Australia Anthony Marsella , University of
Hawaii, USA Fathali Moghaddam , Georgetown University, USA
Maritza Montero , Central University of Venezuela, Venezuela Cristina
Montiel , Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines Ann Sanson ,
University of Melbourne, Australia Mohamed Seedat, University of
South Africa Michael Wessells , Columbia University and Randolph-
Macon College, USA
Editor
Fatima Waqi Sajjad

Peace as Liberation
Visions and Praxis from Below
Editor
Fatima Waqi Sajjad
University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan

ISSN 2197-5779 e-ISSN 2197-5787

Peace Psychology Book Series
ISBN 978-3-031-41964-5 e-ISBN 978-3-031-41965-2
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41965-2

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive

license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, corrected publication
2023

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively
licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
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dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

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Endorsements
Peace as Liberation: Visions and Praxis from Below is a welcome
intervention in the field of peace psychology, and just what is needed to
redress the entrenched Eurocentricity of peace studies. Incisive,
confronting and genuine, it is a wonderful collection of essays that
centres the voices and agency of subaltern scholars. Highly
recommended.
—Richard Jackson, University of Otago, New Zealand
After fighting the 20 Years War by demonizing Islam and being
defeated, US NATO started a new proxy war by demonizing the former
Cold War enemy. Global South is no longer as docile as before. No, its
very wisdom sheds light on the path to save innocent people who
sacrifice blood in the proxy war.
—Isezaki Kenji, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan
We are living through a profoundly significant moment in the
history of Decolonisation, even as old Balances are splintering, and old
Hegemons are tottering. It is timely, it is relevant, and it adds depth to
the burgeoning clamor of critiques, as the ‘subalterns’ are finding their
Voice. Freed from the muzzles of their erstwhile masters.
—Rajani Kanth, ex-Harvard University, United States
This groundbreaking book breaks barriers in peace studies, giving
voice to marginalized perspectives and challenging epistemic violence.
A transformative must-read.
—Zahid Shahab Ahmed, Deakin University, Australia
To the souls struggling to breathe
In the segregated chambers of knowledge, being and power
Of modern/colonial world
Foreword
Peace psychology emerged as a recognized area of research and
practice within the field of psychology during the early 1980s, a time
when a growing number of psychologists viewed the increasing
tensions in the US-Soviet relationship and the attendant threat of
nuclear war as an existential crisis. Psychologists and other social and
behavioral scientists, especially in the United States, Germany, the
United Kingdom, and Australia, began to reorient and focus their
research on the management of conflict and prevention of nuclear war.
With the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, peace psychologists
turned their analytical lens and practice toward intrastate wars, the
clash of social identities, and the structural and cultural substrates of
ethnopolitical conflict and violence.
All these historical developments took place in Western countries
with no regard for the voices and views of scholars and practitioners
residing in the Global South, where most people live. Accordingly, for
scholars steeped exclusively in a Western intellectual tradition, the
epistemic frontier of knowledge was bounded by borders that excluded
marginalized communities, where emancipatory praxis and rival views
of reality, knowledge, and the knowledge production process already
existed.
The present volume unleashes an epistemic landscape beyond the
bounded frontiers of Western intellectual traditions. Within those
Western boundaries, peace is viewed as the pursuit of harmony in
human relations, while outside those boundaries, it is revealed that
harmony is not attainable nor sustainable without enacting the
emancipatory agendas that foreground equity in human relations,
especially in the construction of knowledge and reality. These
emancipatory agendas seek to engage and redress the continuing
violence of coloniality, manifest in the occupation of the mind and the
being of subalterns. Emancipatory impulses make it possible to
problematize thoughts that elevate the knowledge and status of
colonizers while disenfranchising members of the Global South.
The violence of coloniality is addressed in this book, which lives on
when local knowledge and the knowledge production process of
subalterns are undermined and discredited. Until recently, peace
psychology and, more broadly, peace scholars have unwittingly
contributed to epistemic violence.
At the same time, the book foregrounds an emancipatory spirit, and
as such, this volume, along with other titles in the Peace Psychology
Book Series (viz., Emancipatory and Participatory Methodologies in
Peace, Critical, and Community Psychology; Enlarging the Scope of
Peace Psychology; and Liberation Psychology), are a living testament to
the decolonial turn in peace scholarship and praxis. Importantly, as the
title of the volume suggests, Peace as Liberation: Visions and Praxis from
Below, presents the voices of scholars who are in the process of
“becoming” or fully realizing their human potentials to speak their
truth despite the constraints of epistemic violence. A careful reading of
this outstanding volume will reward the reader with that same sense of
liberation.
Daniel J. Christie
Preface
Stop the words now. Open the window at the centre of your chest and
let the spirits fly in and out... (Rumi)
This book opens a window. A window to let the spirits fly in and out
of the confined knowledge domains of contemporary times. As a peace
scholar from the Global South, I had been looking for this window for
many years. The word ‘Global South’ represents a vast space, with many
problems of peace, many more hopes and visions of peace and even
more desire and vigor to enact peace. But when I, as a peace scholar
from the Global South, navigate through the existing epistemic
chambers of peace studies, I don’t find the problems, the hopes and
desires I can call my own. I don’t find my voice, my concerns and my
visions of peace in the dominant Peace Psychology and Peace Studies
domain. However, I do hear some voices that show me a way. I find
some windows carved by the people from my location, who have been
here before me. They have left words and visions I need to hear and see
in the North centred chambers of peace. These words hit me hard. I
hear Frantz Fanon and I instantly connect with his soul. His words open
a space I can call my own. I hear Paulo Freire and I know this is the
teacher I want to be. So I see this opening I can hold on to. This window
to my world is known by many names. In Peace Psychology, this is a
domain called Liberation Psychology, a broad framework of visions and
praxis that recognizes continuing oppression of human beings under
prevailing systems. And so, I push this window wide open through this
book to let in the voices, the visions, the screams, the joys I need to hear
in peace discourses. I am letting in the air I need to breathe in order to
live and thrive in epistemic spaces of Peace Psychology and Peace
Studies. I hope this open window will help peace psychologists, peace
scholars and practitioners look beyond the walls of North centred
peace canon, when they think and do peace from different locations.
I have been a teacher of International Relations (IR), Peace and
Security Studies in Pakistan in the years following 9/11. I was drawn
towards Peace Psychology and Peace Studies domain when I first
encountered Johan Galtung’s definition of violence; ‘violence is present
when human beings are being influenced so that their actual somatic
and mental realizations are below their potential realizations’ (Galtung,
1969; p. 168). The idea of human beings not being able to achieve their
full potential, owing to multiple forms of structural and cultural
violence, resonated with my lived experience. I found Galtung’s focus on
human beings and human potential, to explain the problem of peace,
more convincing than traditional IR’s focus on states and their security.
The idea of positive peace was far more appealing to me than the idea
of national and international security.
My problem, as a teacher in Pakistan in the years following 9/11,
was the problem of countering/preventing violent extremism through
education. The security literature at this time projected violent
extremism as a problem rooted in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Religious seminaries (madrasas) in my location were termed as ‘the
incubators of violent extremism’ (Kean & Hamilton, 2004; p. 369).
Madrasas and public education in my country became a central concern
of international security literature (Singer, 2001; ICG, 2002, Haqqani,
2002; Kronstadt, 2004; Hathaway, 2005; Fair, 2008; Bajoria, 2009;
Hussain et al., 2010; Winthrop & Graff, 2010). As a teacher, I was closely
in touch with two different streams of thinking at this time, (a) the
literature that presented ‘radicalized youth’ in Pakistan as a threat to
international security, (b) the minds and pulse of young people in my
country. I could sense their anger and frustration over what they saw
happening in neighboring Afghanistan, as the US-led ‘war on terror’
unleashed. The stories they read and heard from across the border
were appalling. However, the security and International Relations
discourses they encountered in and outside their classroom were
largely oblivious to the suffering of the people on ground. The young
people in Pakistan clearly recognized that the slogan of ending
terrorism through war was irrational. However, they also knew well
that the right to define what is rational or irrational, who is rational or
irrational, did not belong to them. The people in power could coin new
terms, define new categories and put people in them as per their
preference. We, in the Global South, could only consume this
‘knowledge’ coming from above, even when we recognized the gaps and
contradictions within this knowledge. My students and I tried to make
sense of the new set of vocabulary that emerged in post-9/11 peace
and security literature. The terms radical, radicalized, extremist,
jihadist, Islamists, religious fanatics became a consistent feature of the
new terrorism discourse. None of these terms had a clear definition, so
they could be applied and used in a variety of ways. We could sense the
irony of how, only a decade earlier, the international security regime
was actively and closely working with Afghan militants to oust the
Soviets from Afghanistan.1 How they were lavishly praised at that time
for their resolve to wage jihad against the Soviets.2 But the ironies
could not be questioned, just consumed silently. And if they made you
angry, you are a problem. Watch out for the new labels in circulation,
waiting to be pasted on those who dare to be upset.
But all this was upsetting. This was the structural violence Galtung
was referring to. The more I dwelled in the problem of violent
extremism; the clearer I could see its entanglement with the colonial
matrix of power; the deep-rooted pattern of power embedded in the
modern/colonial world since its inception. Quijano (2007) explains
how the conquest of Latin America five centuries ago led to the creation
of a new world order that involved a ‘violent concentration of the
world’s resources under the control and for the benefit of a small
European minority’ (p. 168). The patterns and relationships of colonial
domination (coloniality) continue to this day even when political
colonization has ended decades earlier. The complex web of coloniality
involves continuing control of political, cultural, epistemological and
symbolic domains. The control of knowledge remains a key instrument
of power, as it leads to the colonization of minds and being (Quijano,
2007). Navigating through the problem of violent extremism, I heard
the voice of Gayatri Spivak, inquiring ‘Can the subaltern speak’? (Spivak,
2015). Her case for the absence of subaltern voices in the academic
discourses about them offered me the words I had been looking for. I
found the word ‘epistemic violence’ to explain my problem with
contemporary security discourses. Subsequently ‘epistemic violence’,
i.e. the silencing, sidelining, discrediting the voices of the subjugated in
the knowledge domains, became my central concern as a peace scholar.
Peace after all is about mitigating violence. This book is an effort to
undo epistemic violence in Peace Psychology as it unearths the
silenced, sidelined and discredited voices and visions from different
parts of the world. This volume visualizes peace as liberation from
subjugation. I hope this one volume is followed by many others that
unleash the suppressed voices in epistemic chambers of peace.
References
Bajoria, J. (2009). Pakistan’s education system and links to
extremism. Council on Foreign Relations. https://​www.​cfr.​org/​
backgrounder/​pakistans-education-system-and-links-extremism.
Accessed 2 May 2021.
Fair, C. C. (2008). Madrassah challenge militancy and religious
education in Pakistan. United States Institute of Peace.
Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of
Peace Research, 6(3), 167–191.
Haqqani, H. (2002). Islam’s medieval outposts. Foreign Policy,
133(133), 58.
Hathaway, R. M. (Ed.) (2005). Education reform in Pakistan: Building
for the future. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
https://​www.​wilsoncenter.​org/​sites/​default/​files/​media/​
documents/​publication/​FinalPDF.​pdf. Accessed 6 July 2020.
Hussain, A., Ahmad, S., & Arif, N. (2011). Connecting the dots:
Education and religious discrimination in Pakistan: A study of public
schools and Madrassas. https://​www.​uscirf.​gov/​sites/​default/​files/​
resources/​Pakistan-ConnectingTheDot​s-Email(3).​pdf
ICG (International Crisis Group). (2002). Pakistan: Madrasas,
extremism and the military. Islamabad.
Kean, T. H. & Hamilton, L. (2004). Nine/eleven commission report.
Final report of the national commission on terrorist attacks upon the
United States. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the
United States. https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Re
port.pdf. Accessed 2 Feb 2020.
Kronstadt, K. Alan. (2004). Education reform in Pakistan.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for US Congress.
Singer, P. W. (2001). Pakistan’s Madrassahs: Ensuring a system of
education not Jihad. Brookings. https://​www.​brookings.​edu/​
research/​pakistans-madrassahs-ensuring-a-system-of-education-
not-jihad. Accessed 18 June 2020.
Spivak, G. C. (2015). Can the Subaltern Speak? In Colonial discourse
and post-colonial theory (pp. 66–111). Routledge.
Winthrop, R. & Graff, C. (2010). Beyond Madrasas: Assessing the links
between education and militancy in Pakistan. Brookings Centre for
Universal Education. https://​www.​brookings.​edu/​research/​beyond-
madrasas-assessing-the-links-between-education-and-militancy-in-
pakistan. Accessed 6 July 2020.
Fatima Waqi Sajjad
Lahore, Pakistan
Contents
Introduction:​Let Me Be Fully Human
Fatima Waqi Sajjad
Part I Reimagining Peace from Below
Restoring Peace as If Our Life Depends on It (as It Does!)
Ksenija Napan
Iqbalian Liberation Theology:​Spiritual Self-Affirmation,
Meritocratic Democracy, and Non-hegemonic International Orders
Sohaib Ali
Part II Transformational Resistance to Undo Oppression
The Liberatory Effects of Indigenous Ceremonies in the Aftermath
of Mass Trauma
Merose Hwang
What Do We Resist When We Resist?​Peasants’ Land Rights
Movement and the Emergence of New Social Life in Pakistani
Punjab
Muhammad Qasim
Searching for Liberation in Higher Education: Testimonio from
Miami-Dade County
Ivania Delgado
What Is Peace for Palestine/​inians Under Israeli Settler Colonial
Occupation?​Counterstory Imaginings of Peace Through
Transformational​Resistance to Erasure
Bernardita M. Yunis (Varas) and Tiera Tanksley
Postcolonial Legacies of Conflict:​Educational Language Policies
and Resource Exploitation
Munjeera Jefford, Achille Fossi and Eric Keunne
Part III Problematizing Hegemonic Discourses
The June 1981 Coup:​The Stolen Narrative of the Iranian
Revolution
Mahmood Delkhasteh
Decolonizing Pakistani International Relations
Ahmed Waqas Waheed
Beyond Westphalia and Aberystwyth:​Decolonial Reflections on
the Origins of International Relations Discipline
Syed Wajeeh Ul Hassan and Fatima Waqi Sajjad
Correction to:​What Is Peace for Palestine/​inians Under Israeli
Settler Colonial Occupation?​Counterstory Imaginings of Peace
Through Transformational​Resistance to Erasure
Bernardita M. Yunis (Varas) and Tiera Tanksley
Index
Contributors
Sohaib Ali
University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Ivania Delgado
Core Faculty, Social Work, School of Cultural & Family Psychology,
Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, Pasadena, CA, USA

Mahmood Delkhasteh
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Lincoln,
UK

Achille Fossi
University of Yaounde I, Toronto, ON, Canada

Syed Wajeeh Ul Hassan

School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Management
and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Merose Hwang
History Department, Hiram College, Hiram, OH, USA

Munjeera Jefford
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Eric Keunne
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Ksenija Napan
College of Health, School of Social Work, Massey University, Auckland,
Aotearoa, New Zealand

Muhammad Qasim
The Department of Political Science and International Relations, The
University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Fatima Waqi Sajjad

University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan
School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Management
and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Tiera Tanksley
University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

Ahmed Waqas Waheed

Department of Government and Public Policy, National University of
Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

Bernardita M. Yunis (Varas)

University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Footnotes
1 See the National Security Archive. https://​nsarchive2.​gwu.​edu/​NSAEBB/​NSAEBB57/​essay.​
html

2 President Reagan’s Remarks After a Meeting with Afghan Resistance Leaders on November
12, 1987. https://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​c9RWtx8myQc. Accessed 7 June 2023.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
F. W. Sajjad (ed.), Peace as Liberation, Peace Psychology Book Series
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41965-2_1

Introduction: Let Me Be Fully Human

Fatima Waqi Sajjad1
(1) University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore,
Pakistan

Fatima Waqi Sajjad

Email: fatima.sajjad@umt.edu.pk

Keywords Peace psychology – Epistemic violence – Liberatory peace –

Transformational resistance
Fatima Waqi Sajjad is the founding Director of the Center for Critical
Peace Studies and Associate Professor at the University of Management
and Technology Lahore. Her work questions epistemic violence and
injustice in Peace Studies and beyond. She is the author of “A subaltern
gaze on White ignorance, (in) security and the possibility of educating
the White rescue plans” (2023). Security Dialogue; “On the delusion of
disobedience amid coloniality: location Pakistan” (2023). Third World
Quarterly; “Rethinking education to counter violent extremism: a
critical review of policy and practice” (2022). Ethics and Education,
17(1).

Introduction: Let Me Be Fully Human

Violence is a central problem of Peace Psychology. The discipline seeks
to identify, understand, explain, and mitigate multiple forms of direct
and indirect violence. It conceives peace as “the absence of violence.”
Galtung (1969) conceptualizes violence as conditions that undermine
human beings’ ability to realize their full potential. Peace, in this sense,
refers to the conditions that allow human beings to be fully human, free
to live up to their full potential. Conversely, the conditions that make
some human beings less human than others are conditions of violence.
Despite giving ample attention to the problem of violence, Peace
Psychologists remain largely oblivious to certain forms of violence
prevalent in contemporary knowledge domains. Christie et al. (2017)
point towards the prevalence of epistemic violence in Peace
Psychology. Epistemic violence refers to the silencing of the
marginalized, racialized, and colonized people in the process of
knowledge production. It involves undermining local knowledge
systems and the credibility of locals as knowers (Spivak, 1999).
Epistemic violence is not specific to Peace Psychology. It is a wider and
deeper problem linked to the colonial past and neo-liberal present of
modern knowledge systems. However, owing to the centrality of the
problem of violence in Peace Psychology, epistemic violence should be
given more attention by Peace Psychologists, a deficit in Peace
Psychology that is addressed in this edited volume.
Christie et al. (2017) call for enlarging the scope of Peace
Psychology and advocate “an inclusive approach” that allows space for
“critical reflection… and engages with epistemological pluralism rather
than epistemic violence (p. 7).” This book is a fearless step in this
direction. It celebrates the voices and agency of the subaltern,
marginalized and racialized scholars, by collecting their diverse visions,
testimonies, and struggles to push boundaries and create spaces for
peace within oppressive systems. Peace in this book is viewed as
“liberation” from oppressive systems that undermine human potential.
It is conceived as a process of becoming fully human under repressive
conditions.
The title “Peace as Liberation: Visions and Praxis from Below” points
towards the deeply entrenched violence of modern times, manifested in
contemporary world and knowledge structures. The word below refers
to a location of disadvantage in the modern world (the Global
South/the lesser side of the economic and/or racial divides). The
volume offers peace visions and struggles of the people who live “below
the vital ability of shaping the world according to their own vision….
They live within the theory and practice of a world, largely created by
those ‘above,’ but also in worlds partly defined by alternative visions
that critique praxis ‘from above’” (Blaney & Innayatullah, 2009; p. 663).
Mignolo (2005) terms this unfavorable location as the other side of the
colonial difference, referring to the North-South and/or the racial divide
created by centuries of European colonial exploitation. Grosfuguel
(2002) explains “To speak from the subaltern side of the colonial
difference forces us to look at the world from angles and points of view
critical of hegemonic perspectives” (p. 209). Thinking and doing peace
from below is an act of epistemic disobedience, a challenge to the
hegemonic view that “credible” thinking on peace can only be done by
the people “from above.”
With the aim of undoing epistemic violence in Peace Psychology,
this volume presents a vivid collection of peace visions and praxis from
different parts of the world, from people representing the other side of
the colonial difference. It includes contributions from New Zealand,
South Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Palestine, Germany, Canada, Cameroon, and
the United States. In keeping with the purpose of this project, a bottom-
up approach was adopted to collect voices of the
marginalized/racialized scholars from different locations. Instead of
starting with a fixed framework, I asked the contributors to speak in
their own way, and eventually a colorful pluriversal picture emerged
out of this collection. Most contributions in this volume tend to fall
under the Liberation Psychology umbrella. Liberation Psychology views
oppression “as the interaction of intrapsychic factors with systemic
factors, such as sociopolitical injustice” (Comas-Diaz & Rivera, 2020; p.
3). With its origins in the emancipatory movements of Latin America
and works of scholars like Paulo Freire and Martin Baro, Liberation
Psychology belongs to a wide spectrum of decolonizing theories and
praxis that “recognize the legacy and continuing reality of the
colonization, exploitation, and domination of other places by Western
Europe” (Comas-Diaz & Rivera, 2020; p. 18). Liberation Psychology
embraces an interdisciplinary approach and keeps a close association
with liberation philosophy, theology, pedagogy, and praxis. It
acknowledges knowledge as subjective, situated and grounded in
people’s lived experiences (Comas-Diaz & Rivera, 2020; p.44). Montero
and Sonn (2009) point out that Liberation Psychology challenges
dominant theory and practice of Peace Psychology, especially the
conflict management and resolution approaches informed by Western
liberalism, that seek to reduce tensions in conflictual relationships,
without questioning the broader social order that causes them. This
volume is a move away from the dominant liberal peace praxis towards
the subaltern liberatory peace agenda.
So, what does it mean to become fully human under systems that
create difference among human beings? The following section points
towards some possible directions, offered by Liberation Psychology.
But first, it examines key problems of modern Psychology, identified
earlier by scholars from below.

Of Psychological Science and Human Beings

What does a man want?
What does the black man want?
At the risk of arousing the resentment of my colored brothers,
I will say that the black is not a man (Fanon, 2008, p. 1, emphasis
added).
As a black man, Fanon was acutely aware of the violent conditions
that make him less human than others. As a Psychiatric, trained in
France, he tried to practice what he learnt, in an Algerian hospital
during the Algerian war of independence that vehemently sought
liberation from French occupation. This experience made him fully
aware of the necessity of examining the social conditions of his
patients. Fanon’s work is a vivid description of the tense social
conditions that define a colonial world and how these conditions
constitute the colonizing and colonized self (Butts, 1979).
The discipline we call Psychology emerged as a science during the
late nineteenth century along with modern medicine and sexology. The
colonial context of the nineteenth century informed these disciplines as
they sought “to understand, measure, categorize, and rank” individuals
along biological lines (Distiller, 2022). Despite different strands of
Psychology that emerged in the twentieth century, dominant
Psychology remained preoccupied with “hypotheses, laboratories,
equipment, observation, measurements, experiments and the use of
scientific method to formulate and test objective facts about human
behavior” (18). Distiller (2022) points out that from humanities
perspective, science is not “a way to access unmediated truth,” rather it
is “a technology of truth creation” (18). Oppressive systems operate
through the creation and normalization of artificial binaries and
boundaries among people. Psychology has been used to highlight
differences and create and assert boundaries rather than connections
among human beings (Distiller, 2022). The discipline revolves around
the Western notion of human being which is founded on a system of
artificially created, hierarchically ordered binaries (self/other;
good/bad; white/black; master/slave; male/female; subject/object)
that refuse to see complicit, non-binary nature of human beings. The
neat order of things defines the Western liberal world. Distiller (2022)
characterizes modern liberal self in the following words:

A liberal subject is one who requires sameness in his

relationships, who cannot truly tolerate difference. He is born
from the Enlightenment’s valorization of the rational, self-
enclosed individual, a mind who can and should know and
control himself – and thus, a subject fundamentally alienated
from the capacity to handle encounters with the otherness that
is central to what it means to be human ( p. 43)

One cannot overlook the fact that the liberal slogan “all men are
born equal” was never compatible with the reality of racism,
colonialism, genocide, and slavery. The Enlightenment scholars raised
slogans of rights, liberty, and freedom at a time when Europeans were
committing massacres and enslaving people in other lands. Mills
(1997) points out that the Enlightenment scholars refused to see the
reality of racial/colonial exploitation and reserved all newly
constructed rights and liberties for the category of full persons only –
the White liberal self. Race, according to Mills (1997), was an effective
technology of power, created and deployed to create the modern world
where White supremacy was a norm. The idea of racial difference – a
group of people (coded as Whites) having rights and status of full
persons while others (non-Whites) having a different and inferior
status of sub-persons – formed the basis of the modern world.
According to Distiller (2022), the liberal self recognized the
humanity of others, but it did not recognize their inherent equality. The
others could become equally human only when they became more like
the liberal self. The liberal self represented what it meant to be human.
Psychology and other Social Sciences were built on these
foundations. The elevation of the scientific method as a guarantor of
truth and knowledge was backed by certain assumptions about the
capacities of the knowing subject (the researcher) and the object to be
known (the researched). Both were not equal in the process of scientific
investigation. The method allowed “the subject to produce and secure
true knowledge about the object – that is, objective knowledge”
(Maldonado-Torres, 2017; p. 432). With Psychology, the idea that
human mind is not only the subject but also the object of scientific
research became solidified. Subsequently, this form of Western
scientific enquiry acquired a “normative status” and led to the dismissal
of other forms of knowledge, a development termed as epistemicide by
Santos (2015). Maldonado-Torres ( 2017) points out that epistemic and
ontological colonization happened side by side as a result of “the search
for objectivity through methodic science” (p. 433). The coloniality of
being, power, and knowledge originated and evolved in tandem,
creating and normalizing differences among human beings.
In the 1960s, Martin Luther King pointed out some deep rooted
connections between structural oppression and psychology, in a
historic speech to the American Psychological Association. He offered a
“radical revisioning of psychological science and practice to address
oppression.” Around the same time, Fanon pointed out how scientific
explanations miss structural racism and oppression that form
individuals’ psyche. He suggested ways to make Psychology more aware
of the impact of structural violence on individuals. The pleas of Fanon
and King, however, were largely ignored by the Psychological Scientists
of their times (Desai et al., 2023).
Peace Psychology remains connected to the broader historical
context of Psychology. Law and Bretherton (2017) point out how
Psychology was developed by affluent and educated scholars from the
Global North. The life context and experiences of these scholars sharply
differed from the experiences of the Southern scholars, who lived
through colonial exploitation and who continue to live under conditions
of disadvantage. Contemporary neoliberal systems of knowledge
production have added to this disadvantage. The neo-liberal systems
view “credible” knowledge as “something that can be possessed,
patented, traded, ranked and measured” (p. 22); hence they undermine
knowledge rooted in the lived experiences of the Southern scholars.
The institutional promotion of “psychology as a science” strengthens
this particular view of knowledge and contributes in marginalizing and
discrediting other forms of knowledge from the South, such as “folklore
and spiritual rituals that are richly expressed in oral, visual, or
ceremonial forms” (p. 23). Highlighting the North-South imbalance of
Psychology knowledge making, Law and Bretherton (2017) call for an
open approach towards “other paradigms and ways of looking at the
world” (p. 29). As cited earlier, Christie et al. (2017) make a similar plea
for Peace Psychology.
Answering these calls from the Peace Psychologists, this volume
makes an effort to open space for Southern voices, experiences, and
knowledges in Peace Psychology. In fact, it takes a step further and
views the problem(s) of peace from the location of the Global South.
From this position of disadvantage, we consider, what does it mean to
be fully human under conditions of oppression?
We find some answers in the principles of Liberation Psychology. To
us, being fully human entails being able to see and think clearly under
conditions of oppression (conscientization), being able to speak/state
what we see (problematization), being able to act to transform
conditions of oppression (praxis), and being able to visualize peaceful
conditions while confronting violence. This book offers the visions and
praxis of liberation that help people from below become more fully
human.
The book is divided into three parts that disrupt dominant
discourses of Peace Psychology as they center the voices and agency of
the subaltern scholars (Comas-Diaz & Rivera, 2020; p. 44). The first
part titled Reimagining Peace from below offers peace visions of
scholars residing in Eastern locations of the globe that transcend
mainstream Western notions of peace. This part includes two chapters
that offer two distinctive visions of liberatory peace; in the first chapter,
Ksenija Napan shares her unique story and imagines pluriversal
possibilities of peace. She contemplates ways to live life with Earth as
opposed to life on Earth. The chapter embraces images, music, and
poetry, as it freely imagines creative possibilities of peace on Earth. The
second chapter describes Muhammad Iqbal’s vision of spiritually
guided peace. Iqbal was a renowned poet and philosopher from the
early twentieth century British India whose poetry and thought carry
powerful messages of resistance and liberation. Iqbal’s poetry remains
widely popular among the “previously” colonized Urdu-, Hindi-, and
Persian-speaking people, and it earned him the title of “the poet of the
East.” Focusing on the peculiar positionality of Iqbal, as a Muslim
thinker in British India, Sohaib Ali explores how this proponent of
reformist neo-traditionalism from the East gets into an active dialogue
with the West without losing his grip on Islamic ethical norms and
spirituality.
The second part of the book titled Transformational Resistance to
undo Oppression provides a glimpse of multifarious struggles of
racialized, marginalized, silenced, and traumatized people in different
parts of the world against direct and systemic violence in their
locations. The oppressive systems exist in the North as well as in the
South. The volume intends to narrate stories of oppression and
resistance connected to Western colonialism and coloniality without
losing sight of the oppression connected to the Southern ruling elite.
The first chapter in this section tells the story of Cheju island in
South Korea, a heavily militarized “demilitarized zone” that has a long
legacy of brutal atrocities committed in the name of national security.
Merose Hwang describes how secret spiritual ceremonies in Korea
serve as a source of solace for the local communities who live with the
traumatic memory of their ancestors’ mass murders. Hwang examines
Cheju Island’s community rituals to commemorate “April Third
Massacre.” She describes how these rituals support healing of the local
community and stimulate resistance against hegemonic cold war
narratives and systems.
The next chapter highlights resistance of the peasant movement in
Okara district of Pakistan, against military landlordism, which is a relic
of the British Raj in India. The military control of the agricultural land
in Okara reveals how colonial legacies continue to live and thrive in
“post-colonial” lands. The old systems are eagerly inherited and
diligently maintained by the local ruling elite. Muhammad Qasim gives
a detailed description of the peasants’ resistance under the banner of
Anjuman Muzareen Punjab (Tenants Association of Punjab). This
ethnographic study offers a rich account of the culture of resistance in
Okara, as reflected in popular poetry, jokes, slogans, slang, and
anecdotes of resistance among the peasants.
Next, Ivania Delgado explores traces of systemic oppression in
higher education by collecting testimonies of psychology and social
work students in Miami. This study is based on Ivania’s personal
experience as an educator and student. She explains how, as a student
in Miami, she had to consume the myth of meritocracy every day and
how her educational and clinical training in psychology taught her to be
ahistorical and apolitical. These discourses denied her lived experience
as a bilingual woman of color. As an educator of psychology and mental
health, Ivania strongly advocates an education that recognizes students’
lived experiences, which makes them feel seen, acknowledged, and
included.
The next chapter by Bernardita Yunis and Tiera Tanksley is a
counter story that challenges “the apartheid of knowledge that exists in
academia around Palestinian experience.” Using the framework of the
Critical Race Theory, the authors consider how counter stories are used
by the Palestinians as an act of transformational resistance to “defy
death, silencing, and erasure” and to “catalyze hope, healing, and
futurity.” The authors point out that peace, for Palestinians, means
“transformational survivance practices in the face of colonial erasure.”
The following chapter examines colonial roots of contemporary
language policies in Canada and Cameroon. Eric Keunne, Achille Fossi,
and Munjeera Jefford observe how colonizers’ languages English and
French continue to have an elevated status as compared to the native
languages in both countries. The conflictual and inadequate language
policies have resulted in violent clashes in these locations. The authors
point out how the continuing preference for the colonizers’ languages
indicates internalized oppression that sustains linguistic hegemonies.
The third part of the volume is titled Problematizing Hegemonic
Discourses. It includes contributions that challenge dominant
discourses in political and academic spaces. Problematization is a key
principle of Liberation Psychology as identified by Comas-Díaz and
Rivera (2020). It remains tied to the process of conscientization that
leads to change.
 The first chapter in this part of the book, titled “When a coup is not
a coup: The stolen narrative of the Iranian revolution” by Mehmood
Delkhasteh, can potentially change popular perceptions about Iranian
Revolution. It tells the story of Iran’s first elected President Abolhassan
Banisadr, who was overthrown in June 1981 by the revolutionary
government on charges of incompetence. Delkhasteh problematizes the
official Iranian narrative on this important episode of Iranian history.
He also questions the wider acceptance of this official narrative by
Western scholars. He explains how Banisadr’s story challenges the
orientalist assumptions of Western scholars who refuse to see anything
beyond despotism and oppression in the Islamic discourses. This
chapter is a counter hegemonic narrative that will unsettle popular
discourses on Iranian Revolution.
The last two chapters problematize academic discourses of
International Relations and the way they are projected, consumed, and
reproduced in post-colonial spaces like Pakistan.
Ahmed Waqas Waheed uses insights from liberation Psychology and
his lived experience as a Pakistani academic, to examine structures of
knowledge production in Pakistan. He observes how Pakistani
academics uncritically adopt and reproduce hegemonic discourses of
International Relations and how publication policies in the country
reinforce Western ascendancy in research and education. Alatas’ notion
of “captive mind” explains the prevalence of uncritical approaches in
Pakistani academia. Captive mind in education blocks promising
possibilities of knowledge creation in the country.
Wajeeh ul Hasan and Fatima Sajjad reexamine dominant narratives
of International Relations. They explore colonial roots and racial
undertones of the discipline that continues to inform and shape global
politics and policies. The chapter highlights how International
Relations (IR) as a discipline is barely international, as it conveniently
ignores the voices and experiences of a large part of the globe – the
Global South. The chapter reviews the onset of decolonial perspectives
in IR and how they challenge the mainstream of the discipline.

References
Blaney, D. L., & Inayatullah, N. (2009). International Relations from below. In The Oxford
handbook of international relations.

Butts, H. F. (1979). Frantz Fanon’s contribution to psychiatry: The psychology of racism and
colonialism. Journal of the National Medical Association, 71(10), 1015.
[PubMed][PubMedCentral]

Christie, D. J., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2017). Toward a socially transformative peace psychology:
Overview of the symposium and proceedings. In Enlarging the scope of peace psychology (pp. 3–
17).

Comas-Díaz, L. E., & Rivera, T. (2020). Liberation psychology: Theory, method, practice, and social
justice (pp. xx–314). American Psychological Association.
[Crossref]

Desai, M. U., Laubscher, L., & Johnson, S. (2023). Perspectives (of people of color) on
psychological science: Does psychological science listen? Review of General Psychology, 27(2),
155–163.
[Crossref]

Distiller, N. (2022). Complicities: A theory for subjectivity in the psychological humanities (p.
265). Springer Nature.
[Crossref]

Fanon, F. (2008). Black skin, white masks. Grove press.

Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace and peace research. Journal of Peace Research, 6(3), 167–191.

Grosfoguel, R. (2002). Colonial difference, geopolitics of knowledge, and global coloniality in

the modern/colonial capitalist world-system. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 203–224.

Law, S. F., & Bretherton, D. (2017). The imbalance between knowledge paradigms of north and
south: Implications for peace psychology. In Enlarging the scope of peace psychology (pp. 19–
36). Springer.
[Crossref]

Maldonado-Torres, N. (2017). Frantz Fanon and the decolonial turn in Psychology. South African
Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 432–441.

Mignolo, W. D. (2005). Prophets facing sidewise: The geopolitics of knowledge and the colonial
difference. Social Epistemology, 19(1), 111–127.
[Crossref]

Mills, C. (1997). The Racial Contract.

Montero, M., & Sonn, C. C. (Eds.). (2009). Psychology of liberation: Theory and applications.
Springer Science + Business Media.

Santos, de Souza B. (2015). Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide. Routledge.

Spivak, G. C. (1999). Can the subaltern speak? Harvard University Press.

Part I
Reimagining Peace from Below
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
F. W. Sajjad (ed.), Peace as Liberation, Peace Psychology Book Series
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41965-2_2

Restoring Peace as If Our Life Depends

on It (as It Does!)
Ksenija Napan1
(1) College of Health, School of Social Work, Massey University,
Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Ksenija Napan
Email: K.Napan@massey.ac.nz

Keywords Indigenous wisdom – Co-creating – Peace – Spirituality –

Liberation – Ethic of restoration

Abbreviations
DSM 5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
IONS Institute of Noetic Sciences
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid

Ksenija Napan is a hopeless optimist attempting to dismantle

seemingly opposing polarities stemming from constructed illusions
imposed by a powerful minority on the majority of life-loving
benevolent human and non-human beings residing on Earth. Ksenija
cherishes the endless patience and generosity of mother Earth and is
inspired by the creative nature and Indigenous wisdom of her own
ancestors and ancestors of Aotearoa that ‘adopted’ her when her home
country ceased to exist. She is passionate about co-creating a spiritually
respectful, sustainable, and socially just world in order to transcend
binaries, restore planetary well-being, and dismantle hierarchies that
prioritise white anthropocentric attitudes. Her background is in social
work, social psychiatry, and education. Her teaching/learning processes
are inquiry-based where learning is peer and self-assessed and inspired
by the integration of science, Indigenous wisdom, and various forms of
art.

Introduction to the Context or Ko wai au? (Who

Am I and What Is My Context?)
I woke up with a song ringing in my ears. It was Angelique Kidjo’s song
Mother Nature. The lyrics roll over her tongue and she’s got a
determined look. Angelique Kidjo means it (Kidjo et al., 2021).
When I wake up with a tune ringing in my ears, I always check the
lyrics as there is often an important message from my dream state. This
one was shouting at me: Wake up, stand up!!! I love how determined
Angelique Kidjo is and the frequency of her voice confirms it, yet she
dances and there is this unity in the dichotomy of a dead serious song
with light-heartedness and joy of dancing together. A famous musician
Sting features in a way (I guess) a white, middle-class man should; he is
in the background in black and white, supporting with his famousness,
but not standing in the first row nor overpowering with his presence,
tone of voice, or demeanour. Sting represents what the people of his
influence should do; sit in the background and support in whichever
way their power allows them. This is the first step towards peace,
decolonization and the restoration of balance.

Life is in movement, and stillness gives birth.

We need each other!

Let me start this chapter with who I am and how personal, political,
professional, cultural, and spiritual intersect in my life and work. I am
using a traditional Mā ori way of introduction because although I am not
Mā ori, Aotearoa (New Zealand) is my home. Although I never felt truly
welcomed by English colonisers, even though they signed my
immigration documents, I felt deeply and warmly welcomed by Mā ori.
The welcome happened through relationships, in my dreams, through
art and music, carvings, and a strange sense of connection to my own
ancestors while sensing the presence of Mā ori ancestors in Aotearoa. It
happened physically when a teaching Marae1 Te Noho Kotahitanga with
its wharenui2 Ngā kau Mā haki got opened at Unitec where I worked at a
time, and I was privileged to teach a Master of Social Practice course
called Spirituality and Social Practice. The experience of cocreating
learning with students from all over the world and wharenui herself
that held space for us, inspired us, and enabled transformative learning
was incomparable to any other teaching I have ever done.3
My home is in a country that was discovered by master way-finders
who travelled the oceans navigating by stars, being guided by their
ancestral wisdom, and intuition, trusting their sense of knowing. On
their journeys, they discovered a beautiful land they named Aotearoa –
A land of a long white cloud that became their home. I resonate with the
Indigenous beliefs of my chosen country and feel and respect the
beliefs, values, and communication with nature including a deep
connection to Papatū ā nuku (Mother Earth) and Ranginui (Sky Father).
When I landed on these shores, I was overwhelmed by its beauty,
aliveness, and a spiritual sense of serenity I have never experienced
before (Table 1).
Table 1 Who am I?

In te reo Māori In English In Croatian

In te reo Māori
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ko Medvednica te maunga Medvednica(Bear Mountain) is my
Ko Sava te awa mountain
Ko rererangi Air New
Zealand Boeing 777 te
waka
Ko Ngāti Pākehā te iwi
Ko tangata Tarara the
hapu
Ko Te Noho Kotahitanaga
te marae
Ko Ngākau Māhaki te
wharenui
Ko Ksenija Napan tōku
ingoa
nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā
koutou tēnā koutou katoa
In English In Croatian
Greetings to all Pozdrav svima
Medvednica je moja
planina
Sava is my river Sava je moja rijeka
Air New Zealand plane is the vessel that Air New Zealand avion
brought me to Aotearoa (New Zealand) me doveo na Novi
My tribe is light-skinned Zeland.
My ancestors are coming from the Moje pleme je svijetle
Balkans by the Adriatic sea puti.
Te Noho Kotahitanga is my marae Moji pretci su s Balkana
blizu Jadranskog mora.
Ngakau Mahaki is my place of
communion Moja marae je Te Noho
Kotahitanga.
Ksenija Napan is my name
U Ngākau Mahaki
Greetings to everyone obnavljam moju dušu.
Moje ime je Ksenija
Napan
Lijep pozdrav svima

I am starting by introducing myself in Te Reo Mā ori (Mā ori

language) because Aotearoa (New Zealand) is the country of my choice
and the first country in which I truly felt at home. By being engaged and
immersed in another culture, I learned about my own more than what I
learned from my biological family while living in Croatia, which used to
be a part of Yugoslavia. The second column is in English, for the
majority to understand. As much as English has been a colonizing
language, it also enabled humans to communicate across continents. I
am grateful to have a second language that enables me to communicate
almost wherever I go. I always wonder if the world would be a very
different place if humans travelled with an open heart, curiosity, and
humbleness as opposed to the intention of conquering, subjugating,
and diminishing.
The last column is in my mother tongue. By reading it, any person
from any part of former Yugoslavia will know that I am coming from
Croatia, from Zagreb, the capital city where the mountain is in the
North, and the river in the South divides the old and new parts of the
town. This divide represents the ‘local South’ and the ‘local North’ of my
cultural heritage including the in-between part where life and learning
happen. Introducing myself with my mountain and my river also speaks
about my ecological heart and my connectedness to Earth and the flow
of her waters. This worldview goes beyond the shackles of nationality
and represents my grounding in the place where I was born yet allows
my spirit to roam free and feel grounded in my chosen home. This
duality is not a binary; grounding and freedom sit together enabling me
to fully express myself as I am and in my natural flow. It resembles
Antonovsky’s (1987) notion of the sense of coherence which enables
people to remain healthy in challenging and stressful situations. It
builds on the importance of the ability to find meaning and purpose in
extraordinary circumstances (Frankl, 2014). This is a deeply spiritual
endeavour, yet devoid of any religious dogma or colonising impositions
of exclusively external deity. This perspective does not deny the
external deity, it just transcends ‘either – or’ binary thinking and
replaces it with ‘and also’ while uniting seemingly dichotomous
binaries and enabling genuine idiosyncratic understandings to emerge.
It seems essential to shift focus from pathologizing to salutogenesis
(Antonovsky, 1987) to enable people from all parts of the world to
create meaningful connections through an active process of
engagement with personal, professional, cultural, political, and spiritual
life. This process is deeply grounded in the indigenous soul of every
human (that for some may have been deeply buried), and it allows
transcendence that can be liberated from social and cultural
impositions.
Concepts of liberation psychology (Torres Rivera, 2020) resonate
with my beliefs, more specifically terminology like deideologizing
(when people can construct their reality by critically reflecting and
questioning the ‘reality’ imposed by those in power), denaturalization
(when interests of power dynamics within society are questioned), and
problematization (when through critical reflection interests of those in
power are challenged) are closely linked to the process of
conscientization which enables raising conscience which I believe is a
prerequisite of moving forward and creating a socially just, sustainable,
culturally, and spiritually respectful world. Through intuitive, yet
critical thinking, feeling, sensing, and doing, a new paradigm may
emerge which has the potential of bringing forth the world and not only
create a single change in a single location but transform the perception
of reality worldwide.
This process comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable
(Cruz, 1997), and just like in Cruz’s poem To Comfort the Disturbed, and
to Disturb the Comfortable: Onward Children of the Sun, the comfort
comes from processing the trauma and coming back home, to our true
Indigenous.
Whenever asked, if pressed, I declare myself a mongrel, just like my
dog (and I love dogs). My ancestors are coming from the Balkans and
are connected to the Adriatic Sea and numerous rivers that flow and
merge with it. My heritage was not something to be proud of or spoken
loudly about as every 40 years another war swipes through the
territory and winners re-write the history. Oppression, discrimination,
violence, ridicule, and changing rules are common and taken as normal.
I was brought up believing that it is more important to live your life
with integrity than what your ‘pedigree’ says. I was brought up to be a
citizen of the world because my mother believed that it is safer for me
not to be upfront about my heritage and stay under the radar, protected
with the umbrella of humanity and equality, bringing me up to be fit for
the world she was hoping to come: a world of equality, prosperity, and
fulfilment. I later discovered that one cannot become a citizen of the
world before discovering their own roots first. And my roots were
wobbly, weak, polluted and a bit rotten. Yugoslavia, the country of my
birth does not exist anymore. It was destroyed in a bloody war during
which neighbours were killing neighbours, brothers were killing
sisters, families were falling apart because of political or national
disagreements, and while the part of the country I used to call home
(Croatia) celebrated independence and freedom from the ‘socialist
oppression’, I was grieving for my happy childhood and youth knowing
that Yugoslavia was a very special experiment heading the movement of
non-alignment (Stubbs, 2023) and a refusal to belong to the artificial
polarity of the East and West during the cold war period and beyond.
Although Yugoslavia itself does not exist anymore and got shattered
into six seemingly independent tiny countries (striving to become part
of the European Union with more or less success), the land, its
mountains, rivers, and sea remained amazingly beautiful, and I still feel
a deep connection with the frequency they emanate feeling deeply
touched and connected every time I visit or reminisce.
Mother Earth transcends our political disagreements,
possessiveness, and discrimination fuelled by national pride. Growing
up within the Yugoslavian experiment of political unalignment allowed
me to have free education all the way to the Master’s degree, free
healthcare, an intrinsic value of equity that often got challenged
(Massey et al., 1995), the sense of freedom of expression and being able
to travel with a highly valued passport, and deeply ingrained worldview
that the needs of the community are equally important as the needs of
individuals. If the community is rotten, individuals cannot thrive and
vice versa. I travelled a lot and was curious about how culture shapes
perception and beliefs and how in turn those beliefs shape the life that
we experience. I refused to belong to any religion but had my personal
connection with God and a life force that permeates all living beings.
When I was growing up, capitalist countries looked superficial and
glitzy, and communism seemed oppressive and uniformed, but the
socialism I lived under was far from ideal. As a young person, I was
protesting against the flaws of socialism yet was very aware of the
runaway train of rampant capitalism based on a wrong assumption that
the profit of a few individuals will eventually benefit a community and
that wealth from the top will miraculously trickle down. From an early
age, I was aware of how the use and discard philosophy is
systematically destroying the planet and how my country was a
dumping ground for rubbish from the West (aka Global North). During
the war in 1990s, we received tons of expired medicines from rich
countries including second-hand prosthetic legs and arms (!), and then
when we dumped it all to pollute our rivers, war profiteers came! Lots
of researchers and do-gooders wanted to establish their agencies,
extract knowledge for their research, and leave more devastation than
what they found all under the assumption of good intentions – ‘Let’s
help poor primitive Balkaneros, establish a few social service agencies
(while neglecting what already existed) and buy some of their land for
cheap while we are here!’ My country got colonised by stealth. Some
parts of what used to be my country became luxury holiday places and
investment opportunities for rich Europeans, and some other parts
became waste dumps. Locals started selling the land and houses that
belonged to their ancestors for centuries and started moving to richer
European countries to do jobs not requiring qualifications they earned
over the years. When they were lucky enough to get jobs they
specialised in, they would be much less paid and often ridiculed for
their accent or non-individualistic way of thinking. Croats, Serbs,
Macedonians, Monte Negrans, Slovenians and Bosnians share their
food, offer drinks, and are extremely hospitable, and this is rarely
reciprocated in the West. Short-term well-being of the individual will be
sacrificed for the long-term well-being of the community. Individualistic
capitalist beliefs seem to do the opposite. Being positioned between the
East and the West, some learned to navigate these polarities and some
stayed perpetually confused.
I was aware how in the Western world or so-called Global North, the
banks were built looking like temples of the twentieth century with
humans pledging their allegiance to the money god. I never understood
why an old lady with 10 cats and million books is called a hoarder but a
billionaire with ten mansions is perceived as successful. Charity always
felt condescending, and becoming a social worker for me meant
transforming society and preventing social problems, not trying to fix
people and make them fit into the system. Living in a socialist country,
we were aware of numerous inequalities and injustices that still
existed, as well as that there was a lot of room for growth; however, I
realized that socialism deeply penetrated my skin only when I worked
in the USA. I was shocked that women there were paid less than men
for the same job and was surprised when I saw massive gaps between
rich and poor unseen in Yugoslavia. Racism, classism, and homophobia
were palpable, and although talks about money and religion were
avoided, being rich, Christian, having a proper accent, and anglicizing
every Latin word meant being educated. In contrast, in Croatia,
anglicizing Latin words signified intellectual snobbism and lack of
education. I was surprised how professional people were strictly
specialized but not knowledgeable about the wider world or how
things connect and are interrelated. Knowledge was commodified and
individualized. Social workers would specialize in working with, for
example, people with eating disorders but were reluctant to do
anything about the media, propaganda, and political context that
contributed to it and would focus on fixing people, but not the system,
supporting force-feeding and maintenance of physical life without
addressing the roots of the problem. In those days, the capitalist system
was perceived as sacrosanct, but socialism was criticized without them
even knowing much about it. I have noticed a similar supremacist
attitude towards mental illness, and since I was in the USA after
completing my master’s in social psychiatry, I could not believe how
individualistic and therapy-oriented social work practice was. In a
country where social work gained its professional status, there was not
much social left.

There were almost more spies than people in communist countries

and there were almost more psychotherapists than people in
capitalism.

Is this the same social control, just different means? Why is fear
used to seemingly maintain peace?
Are we devolving or evolving?
Although the USA prides itself in being a democracy, I was unable to
see any critical reflection on their political system, and the majority
perceived the system they lived in as perfect while having deeply
ingrained prejudices about other parts of the world. They organized an
interview with me at a local radio station asking me a number of
offensive questions showing their complete ignorance about anything
outside of their local area of interest. I was not offended but truly
puzzled about how people with so little knowledge can be so self-
assuredly arrogant and make so many assumptions about my country
and the rest of the world. That was quite some time ago and I hope I
would have a different general perception if I worked in the USA today.
The Internet widened people’s horizons and I hope the majority knows
the difference between communism, socialism, capitalism, feudalism,
and slavery now. Or maybe not? Is individualism creating arrogance
and confidence on hollow legs, enabling people to trump the planet and
each other without any regard or awareness of the importance of the
whole and the community?
When did the reverence for life disappear?
I also noticed that the deeply individualistic approach to any
problem was fuelled by funding that encouraged it. When humans are
pathologized, and when professionals are paid for every minute of the
service they provide, it is not likely that these professionals would put
much effort into changing the system or making themselves redundant
because that system works well for them. This obsession with fixing the
individual to fit the system maintains the perpetuation of the colonial
mentality (Kuti, 1977), deeply ingrained racism, prejudices, and a literal
understanding of holy books from monotheistic religions without
engaging in any type of critical thinking and contextualisation.

Liberating Oppressed, Oppressors, and In-

Betweeners Through Decolonising Minds,
Bodies and Souls
Coloniality is a system of devaluation that corrosively eats away
sovereignty, personal worth, ancestral wisdom, and hope.

In my Universe, decolonization is a personal, professional, political,

cultural, and spiritual process through which colonizers acknowledge
the harm done by their ancestors and become aware of the privilege
and advantage they still enjoy today at the expense of indigenous
people and the planetary resources they exploit. Humans realize how
damaging the imposition of beliefs and ways of being is and how it is
still hurting generations of indigenous peoples all around the world as
well as the damage it is doing to descendants of colonizers, their
families, communities, and societies. Humans become aware that there
is a belief system that enabled this level of discrimination to rule the
world, and they consciously chose to replace it with belief systems
grounded in their own ancestral lands or, if they cannot trace it, adopt a
system that resonates with the depth of their being without
misappropriating it.

Decolonizing requires raising the consciousness of the colonizer to

become aware of the damage coloniality has done to them, as well
as to the communities they oppress either historically or currently.
 Coloniality, like any system of exercising power-over, is built on the
same principles as patriarchy. Women have liberated themselves
through processes of deideologizing, denaturalization, and
problematization that led to conscientization (Torres Rivera, 2020), but
it seems that men are still lagging behind, still wearing suits and
uniforms, and exercising power-over. Until men realise how patriarchy
harms them, they will consciously or unconsciously maintain the status
quo. The same goes for racism, homophobia, disablism, speciesism,
exploitation of Earth and her atmosphere, and all other discriminatory
beliefs that exercise power-over instead of power-with. The ones who
are oppressed will naturally employ all strategies to resist, rebel,
boycott, ridicule, transform, connect with like-minded, and heal their
wounds through art, political action, and resistance. Oppressor, on the
contrary, is so drunk on their power that they rarely notice how
damaging the act of oppressing has been for them, their children, and
those whom they oppressed. Power-with is an antithesis of power-over,
and it includes consensus reaching, restoration of harms done,
collaborative teaching and learning processes, non-binary gender
equality, ecologically sustainable living, and appreciation of indigenous
wisdom. These ways of being benefit all, not only those in power or of
the preferable skin colour (or lack of), class, caste, or gender.
Atuire and Bull (2022) acknowledge the multilayered nature of
colonialism and offer a three-dimensional approach to decolonization
with hegemonic, epistemic, and commitmental elements which include
but are not limited to a shift of power and decision-making to local
communities, revisiting intellectual and cultural models and making
conscious decisions to engage and be accountable to local communities.
This approach may eventually create a shift in the consciousness of the
population; however, a simultaneous paradigm shift may facilitate a
global movement that would reflect in all aspects of human life where
power-over prevents empowerment of all life on Earth to flourish.
Global and local are not polarities; they are part of the unifying way
of perceiving reality where they become equally important in
addressing global and local challenges we face.

Are we colonizers of the Earth or are we her indigenous children?

 I deeply resonated with Mā ori and many other Indigenous cultures
and beliefs because I always believed that Earth is alive and that
intelligence is universal, but that biology determines its expression.
In other words, if I were a snail, I would do what snails do as my biology
would determine my perception and the expression of my life force
(Napan, 2002). Mā ori call that life force or essence of life mauri which is
present in all beings including rivers and mountains. Recognizing the
essence of life and its multiplicity of manifestations evokes reverence
(Schweitzer, 2017). Reverence is a feeling, it is a sense of awe that
includes respect, appreciation, amazement, and grace. Reverence
invokes peace and cherishes life. If colonizers just allowed themselves
to feel and get to know the people of the land, the new civilization they
would build would integrate the best of all worlds. However, their belief
system and the idea of them being superior (while their deeds
demonstrated their inferiority) created many years of grievances,
preventing the natural growth of indigenous societies, and infliction of
enormous pain and trauma.
I was born with the belief that humans are not on the top of some
imaginary hierarchical ladder. I see life being a multidimensional spiral,
not a flat line, and I experience all beings being more like flickering
sparkles of light than mere slabs of meat. I also perceive life as being in
constant motion, transformation, and flow.

If life manifests in movement and stillness gives birth, we cannot

perceive movement and stillness as binaries. They are
complementary.

The principle of interdependence and relationality aligns with the

notion of ubuntu (Oppenheim, 2012) expanded to all life, not only
humans. I am because you are (and this includes all beings, perceivable
and not perceivable to the limited human senses).
The planetary fact that one being’s waste product is another being’s
lunch enables Earth to be a self-generating, self-regulating, and self-
sustaining organism. Earth does not only harbour life, Earth and her
atmosphere is life. The more we are in coherence with Earth’s rhythms,
the more we are in coherence with our own. The more we live in accord
with our beliefs, needs, and wishes, the better we realize the
importance of collaboration, sharing, giving, and contributing to the
community and the life of the planet.
Mā ori philosopher and educator Joseph Selwyn Te Rito describes it
coherently.

It is to do with that sense of being essentially at one with nature

and our environment, rather than at odds with it. As tangata
whenua we are people of the land – who have grown out of the
land, Papatūānuku, our Earth Mother. Having knowledge of
whakapapa4 helps ground us to the earth. We have a sense of
belonging here, a sense of purpose, a raison d’etre, which extends
beyond the sense of merely existing on this planet. (Te Rito, 2007,
p. 4)

This understanding resonates with David Suzuki’s thought that our

perception determines the way we treat the world around us (Suzuki et
al., 2007). We will treat a mountain and her ecosystem differently if we
perceived her as a deity or as an equal representation of life and not as
a pile of dead rocks that we can recklessly kick, dig into, and excavate
whatever we can sell for a short-term profit. Years of tyranny that the
misinterpretation of holy books coming from monotheistic religions
imposed on communities through colonization shaped the perception
of the world. Colonization was not only about physical subjugation,
exploitation, and confiscation of land, it was a process of spiritual
violence that devalued centuries of sustainable belief systems and
community organisation that existed before the invasion of colonisers.
Indigenous wisdom was perceived as primitive while colonisers
inflicted the most primitive violence on humans, animals, and
ecosystems. Reverence for life was replaced with instilling fear from a
judgmental white, white-bearded omnipotent invisible man looking
down on humans imposing the idea of white man supremacy over all
other beings including women and non-white or homosexual men,
demanding obedience and mediocrity. This is not to romanticize pre-
colonial societies as human life has never been ideal, but to expose the
primitivism and violence that was inflicted on communities around the
world in the name of ‘prosperity’, anthropocentrism, supremacy, and
individualistic gains. Calling people of the land primitive must have
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
— Il signor Brissenden, non ha lasciato l’indirizzo? — domandò
all’impiegato che lo guardava con curiosità.
— Come? non sa?
Martin fece segno di no.
— Ma i giornali non hanno parlato d’altro!... Lo hanno trovato morto
nel letto; s’è sparato un colpo di rivoltella nella testa.
— Lo hanno seppellito già? — domandò Martin, con una voce
strana, che non gli parve la sua.
— No, dopo le indagini, il corpo è stato mandato nell’est. Se ne sono
occupati gli uomini d’affari della famiglia.
— Hanno fatto alla svelta, mi sembra.
— Le pare? È successo cinque giorni fa.
— Cinque giorni fa?
— Sì, cinque giorni.
— Ah! — disse Martin, e, fatto mezzo giro, uscì. Si fermò nel
prossimo ufficio telegrafico, per mandare un telegramma al
Partenone, pregandolo di pubblicare il poema. Poichè aveva in tasca
solo sei soldi, mandò il telegramma con porto assegnato. Ritornato a
casa, si rimise al lavoro. Passavano i giorni, passavano le notti
senza ch’egli abbandonasse il tavolino. Usciva solo per andare al
Monte di Pietà, mangiava quando aveva fame, e roba da mangiare,
e quando non aveva nulla, rinunziava. L’opera era composta,
capitolo per capitolo, ma egli vi aggiunse una prefazione di duemila
parole, che la rese più potente. Non era spinto dalla voglia di fare
cosa perfetta, ma costretto in certo qual modo dal suo senso
artistico. Lavorava come in sogno, stranamente distaccato da tutto
ciò che lo circondava, come un fantasma trattenuto da una specie
d’incanto sui luoghi della sua vita anteriore. Un fantasma è l’anima
d’un morto che non sa d’essere morto, — gli avevano detto un
giorno, ed egli si domandava se non fosse morto, per caso,
senz’accorgersene.
Finalmente «Troppo tardi» fu compiuto. Il commerciante di macchine
da scrivere ero venuto a riprendersi la macchina, e sedeva sul letto,
mentre Martin, sull’unica sedia, copiava le ultime pagine del
manoscritto.
— Fine — scrisse in lettere maiuscole, e davvero quella parola
aveva un significato profondo per lui. Egli vide sparire l’impiegato
che portava con sè la macchina, con un senso di liberazione; poi si
stese sul letto. La testa gli girava, dalla fame. Da trentasei ore,
infatti, non mangiava, ma egli non pensava neppure a questo:
disteso sul dorso, con gli occhi chiusi, non pensava a nulla, invaso
da un torpore che cresceva, tra incubo e delirio. Si mise a recitare ad
alta voce i versi d’un poeta anonimo, che Brissenden recitava con
piacere. Maria, che l’ascoltava in ansia, dietro la porta, fu colpita dal
tono monotono di quella specie di litania, di cui non comprese il
senso.
«È finita» era il titolo del poema.

È finita,
ora taci, o lïuto.
Canzoni e canti del tempo perduto,
canzoni e canti
son passati come ombre vaganti
fra trifogli di vivo incarnato.
È finita,
ora taci, o lïuto.
Cantavo un tempo come a primavera
l’allodola tra cespi di rugiada,
ed oggi sono muto,
simile ad un fringuello affaticato.
La gola ogni canto ha perduto.
È finita,
ora taci, o lïuto.

Maria non resse più, e corse in cucina a riempire una ciotola di

minestra, con tutti i pezzi di carne e di legumi che il cucchiaio potè
raccogliere dal fondo della pentola. Martin si raddrizzò e cominciò a
mangiare, assicurando a Maria, tra un boccone e l’altro, che non
aveva delirato e che non aveva febbre.
Quando lei l’ebbe lasciato, egli rimase seduto sulla sponda del letto,
con gli occhi tetri e vaghi, sino al momento in cui lo sguardo gli si
posò sulla fascetta lacerata d’una rivista giunta la mattina e ch’egli
non aveva aperta, e un lampo gli attraversò il cervello assopito.
— È Il Partenone, si disse, — Il Partenone del mese di Agosto, che
contiene certamente «Effimero». Se il mio povero Brissenden
potesse vedere questo!
Appena ebbe sfogliato la rivista illustrata, ecco apparire «Effimero»
adorno d’un magnifico «cappello» che lo precedeva e d’illustrazioni
del genere di Beardsley, in margine. A un lato del «cappello» era la
fotografia di Brissenden; dall’altro quella di Sir John Value,
ambasciatore di Gran Bretagna. Precedeva una nota redazionale,
nella quale era citata una frase di Sir John Value che dichiarava
come non vi fossero poeti in America; la pubblicazione di «Effimero»
era quindi una risposta alla bolla di Sir John Value! Cartwright vi
appariva come il più grande critico d’America, e veniva citato il brano
dove egli aveva dichiarato che «Effimero» era il più grande poema
che fosse stato mai scritto in America. La prefazione della redazione
finiva così: «Noi non abbiamo potuto ancora valutare «Effimero»
come merita; forse non sarà mai possibile. Ma l’abbiamo riletto più
volte, ammirandone le idee e la forma meravigliosa.» Seguiva il
poema.
— Briss, vecchio mio, avete fatto bene a morire. — mormorò Martin
lasciando cadere la rivista illustrata. La volgarità, la banalità, che ne
sprigionavano erano scoraggianti, ma nel suo stato di apatìa, egli
osservò come il suo disgusto fosse superficiale. Avrebbe voluto
adirarsi, ma non poteva, non se ne sentiva la forza: come un fiume
gelato, il suo sangue non riusciva a spezzare il ghiaccio che pesava
sulla sua indignazione interiore. In fondo, che cosa importava tutto
ciò? era bene intonato alla società borghese che Brissenden odiava
tanto.
— Povero Bris! — prosegui Martin: — non me lo avrebbe mai
perdonato. — S’alzò con uno sforzo di volontà e aprì una scatola
che usava un tempo per riporvi della carta da scrivere a macchina.
Ne trasse fuori undici poemi che il suo amico aveva scritti e li lacerò
in parecchi pezzi che gettò poi nel paniere. Egli compì questi gesti
languidamente, poi, quand’ebbe finito, sedette sulla sponda del letto,
e ricominciò a fissare il vuoto.
Non seppe quanto tempo rimanesse così. A un tratto, sullo schermo
vago della mente, egli vide formarsi una lunga linea bianca,
orizzontale, strana, che si precisò e divenne una catena di banchi di
corallo, frustata dalle spumeggianti ondate del Pacifico. Poi, nella
linea degli scogli, egli distinse una piroga. Indietro, un giovane dio di
bronzo, dal perizoma scarlatto, remava, e la pagaia sgocciolante
luceva al sole. Egli lo riconobbe: era Moti, il più giovane figlio di Toti,
il gran capo; lì era Tahiti, e di là, da quella bianca linea di scogliere
fioriva la dolce laguna; all’imboccatura del fiume era nascosta la
capanna di fogliame del gran capo. Cadeva il crepuscolo: Moti
rientrava dalla pesca. Egli attese il balzo dell’ondata che l’avrebbe
portato al disopra dei banchi.
... Poi vide se stesso, seduto sul davanti della piroga, come aveva
fatto tante volte un tempo, con la pagaia in mano, in attesa del grido
breve di Moti, per immergerla violentemente nel gran muro d’acqua
turchese, nel momento in cui s’innalzasse dietro di loro. L’acqua
sibilava sotto la prua, con un getto di vapore, e ricadeva in pioggia
attorno a loro. Un urto, un rombo, un sordo ruggito come di tuono, e
la piroga ondeggiava sulla calma laguna turchina. Moti rideva,
scuoteva le goccioline salate, dalle sue ciglia, e tutt’e due remavano
insieme verso la spiaggia corallina. Attraverso le palme dei datteri, i
muri di verzura di Toti si doravano al tramonto. La visione si spense,
e davanti ai suoi occhi, ridiventati lucidi, apparve in mostra il
disordine della sua misera cameretta. Invano, egli tentò d’evocare
Tahiti: egli sapeva che c’erano delle canzoni fra i datteri e che le
ragazze ballavano al lume della luna, ma non riusciva a vederle. Non
vide altro che la tavola in disordine, il posto vuoto della macchina da
scrivere e il vetro ingrassato. Con un gemito, chiuse gli occhi e
s’addormentò!
 CAPITOLO XL.

Dormì d’un sonno pesante tutta la notte; la mattina fu svegliato dal

postino. Martin, stanco e senza slancio, diede uno sguardo indolente
alle lettere. Una rivista illustrata, alla quale chiedeva da un anno il
compenso che gli spettava, gli mandava 110 lire, ch’egli segnò sul
libro dei suoi conti, senza alcuna gioia. Era passata la gioia febbrile
dei primi chèques ricevuti; era finito il tempo delle grandi speranze.
Ora, riceveva uno chèque di centodieci lire per mangiare, non altro.
Con la stessa posta, un settimanale di New York gli mandava uno
chèque di cinquanta lire, quale compenso di versi umoristici
pubblicati parecchi mesi prima. Ebbe un’idea, che egli considerò con
attenzione: poichè non sapeva che cosa avrebbe fatto, e non aveva
desiderio di fare checchessia, e, d’altra parte bisognava vivere e
pagare i numerosi debiti, non sarebbe stato un buon tentativo quello
di affrancare tutto il mucchio di manoscritti accumulati sotto la tavola,
mandandoli nuovamente in giro pel mondo? Ne avrebbero accettato
forse uno o due... così avrebbe potuto vivere.
Dopo aver riscosso gli chèques alla Banca d’Oakland, comperò
cinquanta lire di francobolli, poi pensò alla colazione; ma il pensiero
di dover tornare a cucinarsi il pasto nella cameretta ingombra, gli
ripugnava, sebbene così facesse una seria economia. Andò dunque
al caffè del Foro, ordinò una colazione da dieci lire, diede due lire di
mancia al cameriere e comperò un pacchetto di sigarette egiziane
da lire due e cinquanta. Era quella la prima volta che fumava,
dacchè Ruth lo aveva pregato di non farlo più. Ma, a che scopo, ora,
rinunziare a quel piacere? con dieci soldi, evidentemente, avrebbe
potuto comperare un pacchetto di Durham, e della carta da sigarette,
in modo da fare quaranta sigarette; ma perchè poi? il danaro non era
altro, per lui, che un mezzo per soddisfare un desiderio
momentaneo. Senza bussola, senza remo, senza porto all’orizzonte,
egli s’abbandonava alla deriva, senza lottare ulteriormente, giacchè
lottare significa vivere, e vivere soffrire.
I giorni passavano; egli dormiva regolarmente otto ore ogni notte, e
sebbene consumasse i pasti, in attesa di nuovi chèques, in trattorie
giapponesi dove spendeva dieci soldi, pure, incominciava a rimetter
carne e a riempire le guance infossate. Non s’estenuava più, ora,
privandosi di sonno e lavorando troppo; non scriveva più, non apriva
un libro, girava molto per i campi, e vagabondava per ore e ore nei
parchi tranquilli. Non aveva nè amici, nè conoscenti, e non cercava
neppure di farsene, non pigliava gusto a nulla. Attendeva che un
impulso nuovo, — di dove?... non sapeva nulla — gli riordinasse la
vita. E i giorni passavano, vuoti, piatti, senza interesse.
Talvolta, egli sfogliava giornali e riviste, per vedere sino a qual punto
«Effimero» fosse stato maltrattato. Era un successo, naturalmente;
ma quale successo! Tutti leggevano il poema e tutti discutevano, per
sapere se si trattasse o no di vera poesia. I giornali locali se ne
erano impadroniti, e pubblicavano tutti i giorni colonne intere di dotte
critiche e di lettere di lettori convintissimi.
Elena Della Delmar, proclamata, con l’aiuto d’una gran réclame e
spinte, la più notevole poetessa degli Stati Uniti, rifiutava
assolutamente a Brissenden un seggio in Parnaso, a lato a lei, e si
sforzava di provare in tutti i giornali com’egli non avesse nulla del
poeta.
Il numero seguente del Partenone conteneva abbondanti
congratulazioni, fatte a se stesso pel movimento suscitato, faceva
della ironia su Sir John Value e sfruttava la morte di Brissenden nel
modo più sfacciato. Un giornale che aveva una tiratura di
cinquecentomila copie pubblicò un poema inedito di Elena Della
Delmar, nel quale lei scherzava su Brissenden; in un altro, lo
parodiava.
Parecchie volte, Martin dovette riconoscere che il suo amico aveva
fatto bene a morire. Egli odiava tanto la folla, ed ecco che tutto ciò
ch’egli aveva di più sacro e di più alto in sè, diventava pasto della
folla. Tutti i giorni la vivisezione della Bellezza continuava: persino
gl’infimi scribacchini s’aggrappavano alla coda del Pegaso che
portava Brissenden, per aver modo, così, di farsi distinguere davanti
al pubblico.
Un giornale scriveva: «Riceviamo proprio ora la lettera di uno che
scrisse un poema quasi simile — ma molto superiore — poco tempo
fa». Un altro giornale, con imperturbabile serietà, biasimava la
parodia della signorina Delmar, e aggiungeva:
«Evidentemente, la signorina Delmar ha scritto per celia, ma ha
dimenticato il rispetto che un grande poeta deve sentire per un altro
poeta, specialmente quando costui è forse più grande di tutti. Però,
sia o non sia gelosa la signorina Delmar di colui che scrisse
«Effimero», il certo è che non può non rimanere impressionata da
questa opera, come tutti, e che verrà un giorno in cui, senza dubbio,
lei si sforzerà di emularlo».
Dei pastori tuonavano dal pulpito contro l’Effimero; il solo che ne
prese le difese fu espulso come eretico. Il gran poema fu anche una
fonte enorme di allegria. I versaioli umoristici, i caricaturisti, se ne
impadronirono e se lo godettero a piacere; esso fu fonte inesauribile
di scherzi d’ogni genere. Così Charles Frenshan confidava ad Archia
Jennings, col vincolo del segreto, che cinque righe dell’Effimero
davano ad un uomo il ballo di San Vito, e che dopo dieci righe, al
disgraziato non rimaneva altro che annegarsi.
Martin, nè rideva, nè digrignava i denti; era profondamente rattristato
da tutto ciò. Rispetto alla caduta del suo ideale, di cui l’amore era la
mèta radiosa, lo svanire delle sue illusioni circa i letterati e il pubblico
era poca cosa, in verità. Brissenden aveva avuto ragione, mille volte
ragione, ed egli, Martin, aveva perduto in un lavoro stupido, da
forsennato, parecchi anni della sua giovinezza per scoprire a sua
volta, che le riviste illustrate, le riviste letterarie, i giornali, non erano
altro che bassa réclame, snobismo e vile traffico: ebbene, era finita!
si diceva per consolarsi. Partito diritto per volare verso una stella,
egli era naufragato in un pantano pestilenziale.
Sovente, gli si ripresentavano alla mente visioni di Tahiti, della chiara
e dolce Tahiti, e anche di Paumotu, e delle montagnose Marchesi.
Egli si vedeva spesso a bordo d’uno schooner mercantile o di un
fragile trabaccolo che scivolava all’alba tra gli atolls cosparsi di
ostriche perlifere, sino a Nuka-Hiva e al golfo di Taiohae.
Là, Tamari — lo sapeva — avrebbe ucciso un maiale per fargli
onore, e le sue figlie dai capelli fioriti l’avrebbero preso per mano e,
fra canti e risa, incoronato di fiori. I mari del Sud lo chiamavano, ed
egli sapeva che un giorno o l’altro avrebbe risposto al richiamo.
Intanto, egli girava a caso, si riposava, si stendeva, dopo un lungo
viaggio nel paese della scienza. Quando il Partenone gli mandò lo
chèque di milleottocento lire, egli lo rispedì al notaio della famiglia di
Brissenden, e se ne fece dare ricevuta, poi firmò un biglietto di
riconoscimento del prestito di 500 lire, che Brissenden gli aveva
dato.
In breve, Martin cessò di frequentare le bettole giapponesi. Quando
proprio stava per abbandonar la lotta, ecco che la fortuna gli si
mostrava favorevole, — troppo tardi —. Senza il minimo fremito di
piacere, egli aprì una busta mandatagli dal Millennio, ne trasse uno
chèque di millecinquecento lire, e vide che si trattava de
«L’avventura».
Quand’ebbe pagato tutti i debiti e restituite le 500 lire di Brissenden
al notaio, rimase con 500 lire. Ordinò allora un vestito nuovo, e prese
i pasti nelle migliori trattorie. Dormiva sempre nella cameretta in
casa di Maria; senonchè, vedendo il suo vestito nuovo, i monelli del
vicinato cessarono di chiamarlo «vagabondo» e «buono a nulla»,
nascosti dietro gli steccati, o appollaiati sui tetti delle casupole.
Il Warren’s Monthly gli prese «Wiki-Wiki», la novella hawaiana, per
un compenso di 1250 lire; la Rivista del Nord gli pubblicò il saggio
«La Culla della Bellezza» e il Makintosh’s Magazine, la
«Chiromante», il famoso poema scritto per Marianna.
Editori e lettori erano ritornati dalle vacanze, e gli affari andavano
bene. Ma Martin non riusciva a capire per quale strano capriccio
tutto ciò che era stato ostinatamente rifiutato durante due anni, gli
venisse ora accettalo di colpo. Egli non aveva pubblicato nulla; fuori
di Oakland nessuno lo conosceva, e a Oakland quella poca gente
che credeva di conoscerlo, lo considerava come un noto anarchico.
Nulla spiegava dunque quel ricredimento improvviso, che era
dunque un capriccio del destino.
Poichè «La Vergogna del Sole» era stata rifiutata da un buon
numero di riviste, egli finì col seguire il consiglio di Brissenden, e si
mise in cerca di una Casa Editrice. Dopo aver sopportato parecchi
rifiuti, Singletree, Darnley e C. lo accettarono, promettendo di
pubblicarlo integralmente. Senonchè, quando Martin chiese un
anticipo, essi risposero che per principio non ne davano; che non
solo i libri del genere di rado rifondevano le spese, ma che essi
dubitavano di poterne vendere più di mille copie.
Martin calcolò che se così stavano le cose, poichè il libro era
venduto a 5 lire la copia, col 15%, avrebbe avuto
settecentocinquanta lire, e si rammaricò di non essersi specializzato
nel romanzo. «L’avventura», infatti, che era poco più lunga, gli aveva
procurato il doppio.
In fondo, il famoso avviso del giornale, letto un tempo, diceva il vero:
le riviste illustrate di prim’ordine pagavano anticipatamente e
pagavano bene, tanto che il Millennio gli aveva dato, non due ma
quattro soldi per parola. Essi prendevano il meglio della letteratura;
non prendevano infatti la sua?
Scrisse a Singletree, Darnley e C. offrendo loro la cessione dei suoi
diritti d’autore su «La Vergogna del Sole», mediante compenso di
500 lire; ma essi non osarono assumere quel rischio. Egli non aveva
bisogno di denaro in quel momento, giacchè parecchi dei suoi primi
lavori erano stati accettati e pagati subito. Dopo aver pagato i suoi
primi debiti, egli fece persino aprire un conto corrente in banca, d’un
migliaio di lire. «Troppo tardi», che era stato rifiutato parecchie volte,
riuscì a collocarsi presso la Casa Meredith Lowel. Allora Martin si
ricordò delle venti lire dategli da Geltrude un giorno e della promessa
di restituirgliele centuplicate. Chiese perciò un anticipo di 2000 lire,
e, con sua grande sorpresa, l’editore gli mandò subito lo chèque,
con un contratto, da rimandare a rigor di posta. Egli cambiò lo
chèque in monete d’oro e telefonò a Geltrude che aveva bisogno di
vederla.
Lei giunse, ansante, trafelata, per essersi sbrigata in fretta. Certa
che Martin dovesse trovarsi in mezzo a guai, aveva ficcato nella sua
borsa qualche suo risparmio. Era così convinta d’una disgrazia, che
gli si precipitò fra le braccia singhiozzando, mentre gli porgeva la
borsa.
— Sarei venuto volentieri da te, — disse lui, — ma mi dava fastidio il
pensare a una inevitabile scenata col signor Higgingbotham.
— Si calmerà certamente, un giorno, — assicurò lei, mentre si
domandava che diamine fosse accaduto a Martin. — Ma tu faresti
meglio a trovare un impiego, prima di tutto; un’occupazione seria.
Bernardo stima un onesto lavoratore. Quella faccenda dei giornali lo
ha sconvolto; non l’ho visto mai così inferocito.
— Io non cercherò impieghi, — disse Martin con un sorriso. — Puoi
dirglielo da parte mia. Non ho bisogno d’impieghi, ed ecco qua la
prova. — E le quaranta monete d’oro si sparpagliarono sulle
ginocchia di Geltrude con un chiaro tintinnìo.
— Ricordi il luigi che mi hai dato un giorno in cui non avevo da
pagare il biglietto del tranvai? Ebbene, te lo restituisco, con
novantanove piccoli fratelli, diversi per età, ma della stessa
grandezza.
Geltrude aveva paura, quando giunse, ma ora era atterrita; i suoi
sospetti, giustificati, diventarono certezza. Essa guardò Martin con
occhi pieni d’orrore e sussultò al contatto dell’oro, come se fosse
ferro arroventato.
— Sono tuoi! — diss’egli ridendo.
Lei incominciò a singhiozzare e gemere con voce strozzata: —
Povero figlio, povero figlio!...
Là per là Martin rimase perplesso; poi, indovinando la causa del suo
sconcerto, le porse la lettera di Meredith-Lowell, che accompagnava
lo chèque. Essa lesse avidamente, asciugandosi le lacrime, e
domandò quand’ebbe finito:
— E questo vuol dire che tu hai guadagnato onestamente questo
danaro?
— Molto più onestamente che al giuoco; l’ho guadagnato col mio
lavoro.
Essa riacquistò un po’ di fiducia, e rilesse attentamente la lettera.
Martin dovette stentare un po’ a spiegarle come quel danaro gli
fosse venuto, e ancor di più, per farle capire che glielo regalava
veramente e non ne aveva personalmente alcun bisogno.
— Te lo deposito in una banca, — disse lei infine.
— Tu non farai niente di tutto questo; il danaro è tuo; spendilo come
ti piace; se non lo vuoi lo darò a Maria, che saprà farne buon uso, te
l’assicuro. Intanto provvedi a procurarti una serva e a goderti un
buon riposo.
— Racconterò tutto questo a Bernardo, — dichiarò lei andandosene.
Martin fece una smorfia ironica e disse: — Fa’ così. Forse allora
m’inviterà nuovamente a pranzo.
— Ma sicuro che t’inviterà, ne sono sicura e certa! — esclamò lei
abbracciandolo con fervore.
 CAPITOLO XLI.

Un bel giorno, Martin si sentì solo, vigoroso com’era, in buona salute

e inattivo. La cessazione d’ogni lavoro, la morte di Brissenden, la
rottura della relazione con Ruth avevano lasciato un gran vuoto nella
sua vita. Certamente non era sufficiente per lui mangiare in una
buona trattoria e fumare delle sigarette egiziane. Il mare lo
chiamava, è vero, ma gli pareva che gli rimanesse ancora qualche
cosa da fare negli Stati Uniti, e che potesse ricavarne altro danaro.
Avrebbe atteso dunque per farne una buona provvista da portare
laggiù. Alle Isole Marchesi, conosceva una vallata e una baia che si
potevano avere per mille dollari cileni; la vallata si stendeva dalla
baia in forma di ferro di cavallo, sino ai picchi lontani le cui cime si
perdono nelle nuvole, per un’ampiezza di circa mille chilometri
quadrati.
Essa era piena dei frutti dei tropici, di galline selvatiche, di cinghiali,
e anche di bestiame selvaggio, e sulle alture passavano branchi di
capre cacciate da bande di cani selvaggi. Tutto il luogo era
selvaggio, non abitato da creatura umana. Egli poteva averlo per
mille dollari cileni. La baia, — lo ricordava benissimo, — era
magnifica, con una pesca d’acqua sufficiente alle navi più grosse e
così sicura, che la Società del Pacifico la raccomandava come la
migliore a cento leghe in giro. Egli avrebbe comperato uno di quegli
schooners accomodati a yacht, carenati di rame, che filano come il
diavolo, e avrebbe fatto commercio di perle attorno alle isole. La
vallata sarebbe stata il suo quartiere generale; là avrebbe costruito
una casa di verzura, simile a quella di Toti, e si sarebbe fatto servire
da negri. Il direttore della fattoria di Taiohae, i capitani di bastimenti
mercantili, tutto il fior fiore dei pirati del Pacifico, sarebbero suoi
ospiti. Egli sarebbe ospitale con tutti, riceverebbe come un sovrano e
dimenticherebbe tutto ciò che aveva letto e il mondo che lo aveva
così amaramente deluso.
Ma per fare tutto ciò, bisognava rimanere in California il tempo
necessario per riempire la cassa. Già, giornalmente, il danaro
arrivava a fiotti, che aumentavano. Bastava che uno solo dei suoi
libri avesse avuto successo, e il valore di tutti i suoi manoscritti
sarebbe cresciuto. Egli poteva anche raccogliere novelle e poemi in
volumi e assicurarsi in breve l’acquisto della vallata, della baia e
dello schooner. Poi non avrebbe scritto mai più. In attesa, intanto
bisognava scuotere quell’apatia normale e vivere in modo meno
stupido e meno abbrutito che non facesse lui in quel momento.
Una mattina di domenica seppe che la scampagnata dei Fornaciai
avveniva quel giorno allo Shell Mound Park, e vi andò. Egli aveva
troppo spesso frequentato una volta quei divertimenti popolari, per
non conoscerne i minimi aspetti, così che, appena entrato, risentì
tutte le sensazioni d’una volta, ampliate. In fondo, quello era il suo
ambiente! Egli era nato là in mezzo, vi era cresciuto e benchè se ne
fosse volontariamente allontanato, gli piaceva ritrovarcisi.
— Vorrei essere impiccato se quello lì non è Mart!... — disse una
voce, e una mano cordiale gli battè sulla spalla. — Dove sei stato
durante tutto questo tempo? Hai navigato? Vieni a bere un bicchiere!
Ritrovò tutta la sua banda, la sua banda d’una volta, tranne qualcuno
che mancava e qualche faccia nuova. Non erano affatto dei
fornaciai, ma come un tempo, frequentavano i ritrovi della domenica,
per il ballo, le lotte ed il divertimento. Martin bevve in loro compagnia
e si sentì rivivere. Quale follia averli lasciati! — riflettè; certo,
sarebbe stato mille volte più felice se fosse rimasto fra loro, senza
libri, senza cultura, senza alte relazioni. Eppure, la birra gli sembrava
meno buona d’una volta; Brissenden gli aveva guastato le bevande
a buon mercato; i libri gli avrebbero anche guastato i compagni di
gioventù? Egli non volle riflettere a queste cose, e si diresse verso la
sala da ballo, dove incontrò Jimmy, il piombatore, in compagnia
d’una biondona che lo lasciò immediatamente per Martin.
— Bah! è come una volta! — dichiarò Jimmy alla compagnia che lo
pigliava in giro vedendo che Martin e la bionda ballavano con
slancio.
— E io me ne infischio un po’! sono troppo contento di rivederlo!
Guardate come balla bene! È meraviglioso! E la capisco, quella
ragazza!
Ma Martin rese la bionda a Jimmy, e la banda dei compagni si divertì
a guardare le coppie che giravano come un vortice ridendo e
celiando a gara. Tutti erano contentoni di rivedere Martin. Essi
ignoravano tutto della sua carriera letteraria durante quei lunghi
mesi, ma l’amavano come uomo. Il cuore solitario si adagiò in quel
bagno di cordialità; egli si sentiva come un sovrano ritornato d’esilio.
Così se la godette liberamente, e come al tempo d’una volta, quando
ritornava dal mare, fornito della paga, gettò il denaro a piene mani. A
un certo punto, egli scorse Lizzie Connolly che ballava con un
giovane operaio; poco dopo, facendo il giro della sala egli la ritrovò
seduta a un tavolino, che prendeva dei rinfreschi. Sorpresa e tutta
contenta di rivederlo, lei gli chiese di accompagnarla in giardino,
dove avrebbero potuto parlare senza che la sua voce fosse
soffocata dal frastuono dell’orchestra. Dalle prime parole scambiate
egli la sentì sua. Tutto lo provava: l’orgoglioso abbandono de’ suoi
occhi, il dono carezzevole della persona tesa verso di lui, il modo
come lei beveva le minime parole. Non era più la giovinetta ch’egli
aveva conosciuta, ma una donna, ora; e la sua bellezza non aveva
perduto nulla del fascino selvaggio, il cui ardore sembrava più
contenuto, più discreto.
Com’era bella! Dio! com’era bella!... Egli sentiva che bastava che le
dicesse: «Vieni», perchè lei lo seguisse in capo al mondo.
Stava così meditando, quand’ecco, sulla sua testa, un colpo così
formidabile che per poco non lo buttò a terra. Era un magistrale
colpo di pugno assestatogli con tale precipitazione e con tale furore,
che non aveva raggiunto il bersaglio: la mascella di Martin. Il quale si
voltò vacillando e, vedendosi nuovamente il pugno addosso, con la
rapidità d’un bolide, s’abbassò vivacemente. Il colpo passò senza
sfiorarlo neppure, trascinando l’uomo, che girò su se stesso. Martin
lo seguì con un vigoroso crochet di destro, accompagnato dal peso
di tutto il corpo. L’uomo cadde sul fianco, si rialzò di balzo, si lanciò
nuovamente come un forsennato. Martin vide una faccia convulsa
dalla collera e si domandò quale potesse esserne la causa; ma, pur
sorpreso com’era, lo colpì con un formidabile destro, e l’uomo cadde
rovescio indietro, inanimato. Jimmy e la sua banda accorsero verso
di essi.
Martin era tutto eccitato e vibrante. Ecco che ritrovava i giorni d’una
volta, con i balli, le lotte e i divertimenti! Pur vigilando con occhio
prudente il suo avversario, egli guardò Lizzie. Di solito, le donne
lanciano delle grida quando accadono di queste cose; ma lei non
aveva gridato: trattenendo il respiro, leggermente curva innanzi, col
volto avvivato, guardava con interesse appassionato e con occhi nei
quali fiammeggiava un’ardente ammirazione.
L’uomo s’era rialzato e si dibatteva fra le mani che cercavano di
trattenerlo.
— Mi aspettava, lei! mi aspettava, lei! — gridava a squarciagola. —
Aspettava che ritornassi, e poi quel ruffiano lì è venuto a togliermela.
Lasciatemi, vi dico! Lo voglio conciare per le feste!
— Che ti piglia? — disse Jimmy, tenendolo solidamente. — Quel
ruffiano è Martin Eden, e non ha le mani di pasta frolla, t’avverto, e ti
mangia vivo, se lo stuzzichi.
— Io non voglio essere derubato così! — esclamò l’altro.
— Egli ha vinto Flying Dutchman, lo conosci, quello? — proseguì
Jimmy, con tono conciliante. — E in cinque rounds. Tu non
resisteresti neppure un minuto contro di lui, sai!
Questa informazione parve produrre un effetto calmante, perchè
l’irascibile giovanotto degnò Martin d’uno sguardo calcolatore.
— Non ha l’aria d’essere così bravo, — ghignò poi, diventato già più
calmo.
— Così, appunto, aveva pensato Flying Dutchman, — rispose
Jimmy. — Su, vieni. Non mancano donne. Vieni dunque.
Il giovanotto acconsentì a lasciarsi tirare verso la sala da ballo, e
tutta la banda lo seguì.
— Chi è quello? — disse Martin a Lizzie. — E poi, che diavolo l’ha
preso?
Già, l’eccitazione della lotta, tanto durevole e viva un tempo, era
venuta meno; ed egli sentì che ora analizzava troppo quella vita
proprio primitiva, per poterla vivere con allegria cordiale. Lizzie fece
un gesto d’impazienza.
— Quello lì? un uomo da nulla, — fece lei. — Mi corteggiava. Come
capirete, mi sentivo terribilmente sola. Ma non vi ho dimenticato. —
Lei abbassò la voce guardando diritto davanti a sè. — L’avrei
piantato per voi, in qualunque momento.
Martin lanciò uno sguardo verso la faccia che si voltava; sapeva che
bastava che stendesse la mano per averla, e si domandò se, in
fondo, un linguaggio corretto, perfettamente grammaticale, fosse
veramente indispensabile alla felicità. Poichè egli non rispondeva
nulla, lei aggiunse ridendo: — L’avete conciato ben bene!
— Però è un giovanotto robusto! — concesse egli generosamente.
— Se non l’avessero trascinato fuori, forse non l’avrei domato
facilmente.
— Chi era dunque quella signora colla quale vi ho incontrato una
sera? — interrogò lei bruscamente.
— Un’amica, non altro.
— È passato molto tempo da allora, — mormorò lei penosamente.
— Mi sembra che siano passati dei secoli.
Ma Martin cambiò argomento. La condusse al buffet, le offrì del vino,
le paste più costose; poi tutt’e due ballarono insieme e seguitarono
finchè lei fu stanca. Egli ballava bene, e lei lo seguiva nel vortice
della danza, appoggiandogli la testa sulla spalla, in una vertigine
d’estasi, ch’essa s’augurava eterna.
Poi andarono a passeggiare sotto gli alberi; e, come aveva fatto
tante volte, egli s’allungò per terra, con la testa sulle ginocchia della
compagna. Egli era semi addormentato, e lei gli accarezzava i
capelli e lo contemplava con adorazione. Alzando a un tratto gli
occhi, egli lesse la tenera conferma su quel volto appassionato, e lei
prima abbassò i suoi, poi lo guardò fisso con audace tenerezza.
— Mi sono guardata, durante tutto questo tempo, — mormorò lei,
con voce così bassa, ch’egli l’udì appena.
E Martin comprese ch’era la verità, la miracolosa verità, e si sentì il
cuore dolcemente tentato. Dipendeva da lui renderla felice; e se la
felicità era stata negata a lui, doveva perciò negarla a quella donna?
Bastava sposarla e condurla laggiù, nel suo palazzo di verzura delle
isole Marchesi. Il desiderio d’agire era forte, ma più forte era in lui la
fedeltà all’amore; finito ormai il tempo dei capricci e degli abbandoni!
Egli era mutato, e ora capiva sino a qual punto.
— Morrò vecchio scapolo, Lizzie, — diss’egli lievemente.
La mano che gli accarezzava i capelli si fermò un momento, poi
riprese il gesto sapiente. Egli vide il volto di lei mutare espressione,
diventar duro come per una risoluzione improvvisa e luminosa.
— Non volevo dir questo, — fece lei, poi s’interruppe. — Comunque,
non ci tengo. Oh! non importa! — ripetè. — Sarò orgogliosa d’essere
la vostra amica. Per voi, farei qualunque cosa.
Martin si raddrizzò e le prese la mano; in quel semplice gesto c’era
una gran franchezza, una calda simpatia, ma così poca passione,
che lei ne rimase gelata.
— Non parliamo di questo, — disse lei.
— Voi siete una nobile donna! — disse Martin. — Io dovrei essere
orgoglioso di conoscervi; e lo sono, Lizzie. Voi siete il raggio di sole
della mia tetra vita, e voglio essere sincero, perciò, come siete stata
voi.
— Che lo siate o no, è lo stesso. Fate di me ciò che volete: potete
gettarmi nel fango e calpestarmi, se vi piace. E sareste il solo,
quanto a questo! — fece lei con aria di sfida. — Non per nulla ho
imparato a difendermi dacchè ero piccola!
— E perciò non lo farò, — diss’egli con dolcezza. — Voi siete così
retta, così generosamente fiduciosa, che voglio trattarvi come
meritate. Non voglio ammogliarmi, e... non voglio amare senza
sposare. Una volta non era così; si cambia. Mi dispiace d’essere
venuto qui, oggi, e d’avervi incontrata; ma che farci, ormai?
Veramente io non immaginavo che le cose dovessero finire così! Ma,
Lizzie, sentite: io non so dirvi quanta amicizia senta per voi; v’è di
più, anzi: vi ammiro e vi rispetto. Voi siete ammirevole e
adorabilmente buona. Ma, a che scopo tutto ciò?... Intanto, vorrei
fare qualche cosa per voi; la vostra vita non è stata facile sinora;
permettete che l’agevoli. (Un lampo di gioia attraversò i suoi occhi,
poi si spense). Io sono quasi sicuro d’aver fra breve un bel po’ di
danaro, molto danaro.
Egli abbandonava il sogno tanto accarezzato della vallata laggiù, del
palazzo di verdura e del bel yacht bianco. In fondo, che importava
tutto ciò? Egli se ne sarebbe andato come tante altre volte, su una
nave qualunque, in un luogo qualunque.
— Bisognerà parlare di questo, insieme. Voi avete desiderio di
qualche cosa, no? di istruirvi, per esempio? Non vi piacerebbe
essere stenografa? Penserei io a questo. Forse i vostri genitori sono
ancora viventi? Potrei metterli in una drogheria o in altro negozio del
genere. Dite ciò che vi piacerebbe, qualunque cosa, e l’avrete.
Lei non rispose nulla; con gli occhi fissi, immobili, rimaneva
apparentemente insensibile; ma Martin sentiva che soffriva, e in un
modo tale che egli ne soffrì e si pentì di averle parlato.
Ciò che le aveva offerto, del danaro, così volgarmente, sembrava
tanto meschino a paragone di ciò che gli offriva lei. Egli le offriva una
cosa estranea, alla quale lei non teneva, mentre lei gli offriva tutta se
stessa, col suo fardello di vergogna, di sacrificio e di peccato.
— Non parliamo di questo, — disse lei finalmente con un singhiozzo
ch’essa coprì con un colpettino di tosse. Poi, alzandosi: — Andiamo,
venite, mi sento stanca morta.
La festa era terminata, e la gioventù s’era in gran parte dispersa. Ma
quando Martin e Lizzie lasciarono l’ombra degli alberi, trovarono la
banda dei compagni, che li aspettava. Martin capì immediatamente il
perchè: c’era odor di battaglia nell’aria, e la banda gli si offriva a
guardia del corpo. Essi varcarono il cancello del parco, seguiti a una
certa distanza dall’altra banda, quella degli amici che l’innamorato
respinto di Lizzie aveva adunati, per vendicarlo della perdita della
propria dama. Alcune guardie, temendo risse, cercarono di
impedirle, spingendo i due gruppi separatamente verso il tranvai di
San Francisco.
Martin dichiarò a Jimmy che sarebbe sceso alla stazione della 16ª
strada per prendere il tranvai elettrico di Oakland.
Lizzie, calmissima, pareva che non s’interessasse punto di quanto si
stava tramando. Allorchè si fermò alla stazione che s’è detto, il
tranvai era lì, pronto a partire, col manovratore che faceva risuonare,
impazientemente, la campanella.
— Eccola! — consigliò Jimmy. — Corri! pigliala su! Intanto noi lo
tratterremo. Su, va’! Spicciati!
Questa manovra sconcertò la banda avversaria, per un momento;
poi, essa si lanciò all’inseguimento del tranvai. I bravi borghesi
d’Oakland che s’affollavano sul tranvai osservarono appena il
giovanotto e la giovane che s’erano affrettati a salire e s’erano seduti
davanti, all’esterno. Essi non istabilirono alcun rapporto fra questa
coppia e Jimmy che, saltando sul marciapiede, gridò al conduttore:
— Via vecchio! lasciali tutti giù.
Nello stesso tempo Jimmy fece una piroetta su se stesso, e i
viaggiatori lo videro che assestava un pugno sulla faccia d’un uomo
che tentava di salire sulla vettura. E da ogni parte calarono pugni
sulle facce. Era la banda di Jimmy, che, proteggendo l’accesso al
tranvai, riceveva l’assalto della banda nemica. Poi il tranvai partì