DEW Magazine #48 The Joy Issue Fall 2023: As the world seems crumbling right before our eyes, it’s important that we still maintain a positive sense around us. So, simply put, on this issue we invite you to form an “energy of change” that can be considered to counter the oppressive structures in a non-violent way.
Humanitarian crisis, war, global warming, economic fluctuations, political issues, it seems like so many things are wrong with the world. During these times, it’s only natural to experience a feeling of helplessness and anxiety as the world seems crumbling right before our eyes, and we can’t do anything about it. Although these problems will require a collective amount of effort and a huge amount of time to handle, it’s important that we still maintain a positive sense around us. One way we can remain positive is by doing good deeds for ourselves and others, such as showing our support for the freedom of Palestinian people will let us reclaim our humanity. By practicing acts of kindness and empathy outwardly, we’ll eventually create our own cycle of positivity that will help us have a brighter outlook in life.
After all, struggles for justice are often also struggles for the acknowledgement of an oppressed group’s full humanity. Joy is a basic sign of vibrant life, of thriving. It is one the things that makes us truly human. So depriving a group of people of joy, whether through a colonization, an outright ban, or the denigration or shaming of their sources of freedom, or through economic means, is a method of dehumanization. Reclaiming those sources of joy is a way to refuse to be dehumanized, to reassert our vitality.
When I think about the question, Is it ok to feel joyful while the world is (literally) on fire, while children are killed and glaciers are crumbling and billionaires stand by self-righteously counting their billions, I come to our common sense: If we relinquish our joy, we not only lose a profound source of unity, strength, and resilience, we also lose the point of it all. And so “we must risk delight.” And we must know that to do so is not a distraction from resistance, but one of its greatest sources of power. (Text Teuku Ajie)
CREDITS
Cover story Yui Aragaki in RUMCHE
Photography Kisshomaru Shimamura
Styling Kaori Suzuki
Hair Miho Emori
Make-up Anna Misawa
Casting director Kayako Sawa