‘Love Life’ is Bella’s Agony Aunt column by Jamie Heckert… because the personal is political and the ‘state we’re in’ is complicated.

Freedom, in Scotland and elsewhere, isn’t something that is given by governments or other authorities. It’s something that’s practiced. And not just in social movements or halls of power. It’s part of everyday life.
Contact Jamie – our Love Life Editor at: bellaslovelife@aktivix.org

Hey – I didn’t know you wrote for Bella C. I’ve only posted here once (Real World Avatar) and don’t find much time to scrutinise blogs. However, I had to ask you for your thoughts on why we (i.e. the so-called civilised) do not understand that everything comes from nature. We are so smart. We can cure diseases and send probes into outer space yet the ruling culture is based around planet-trashing perpetual consumption (to provide economic growth, you understand!)

OK, not the best question but I’d appreciate your thoughts! What the hell is wrong with us?

All the best for 2012 Jamie

Mandy x Continue reading →

By Jamie Heckert

What is one man’s and one woman’s love and desire, against the history of two worlds, the great revolutions of our lifetimes, the hope, the unending cruelty of our species? A little thing. But a key is a little thing, next to the door it opens. If you lose the key, the door may never be unlocked. It is in our bodies that we lose or begin our freedom, in our bodies that we accept or end our slavery.

- Ursula Le Guin, Four Ways to Forgiveness

            Freedom, in Scotland and elsewhere, isn’t something that is given by governments or other authorities. It’s something that’s practiced. And not just in social movements or halls of power. It’s part of everyday life. It’s in our bodies, in our relationships with ourselves and each other.

I am grateful to feminists such as Le Guin who remind me of this. All too often in social movements or political discussions, it’s those everyday things that can get left out, made out to be ‘just personal problems’. I don’t see that neat line, myself, between personal and political. The relationships of domination that make up official economies and political systems aren’t magically stopped by little things like bedroom doors, declarations of love or other markers of personal life.  And, as Le Guin and others point out, genuine acts of love are part of revolutionary change.

And so this column, where I am serving as Bella Calledonia’s new Anarchy Aunt. Writing and talking about the links between intimacy, sexuality and radical politics is what I do. I taught sex education in Edinburgh schools for 8 years (what a great job!) and did a PhD on anarchism and sexuality. Doing that, I learned that intellectualising the emotionally challenging stuff in life doesn’t make it all better. Oh, no! I still appreciate political theory and intellectual discussions. But I like them even more if they’ve got heart. How do we really learn to listen to ourselves and each other? How do we practice that freedom that I suspect we all want? It doesn’t happen (just) from reading Karl Marx or even Emma Goldman. It happens from the real life practice of relationships. And it’s not easy. We all need help. Continue reading →