Sign in with Facebook
Louis Yako’s Followers (15)
Louis hasn't connected with their friends on Goodreads, yet.
Louis Yako
Goodreads Author
Born
Iraq
Website
Genre
Member Since
September 2020
To ask
Louis Yako
questions,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Louis Yako
If I told you, it would cease to be a mystery!
|
Bullets in Envelopes: Iraqi Academics in Exile
|
|
|
أنا زهرة برية [I am a Wildflower]
—
published
2016
|
|
* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more,click here.
Louis’s Recent Updates
|
Louis Yako
shared
a
quote
“When will the world understand
that violence never erupts inadvertently, that all violence in our times is premeditated and agreed upon by a small elite that decides in advance that any nation that rejects malls, consumption, and superficiality, must be disciplined with free death for those who resist! It is also agreed upon – and it all costs – that the minds and souls of all survivors must permanently be pierced with bullet holes! [From a poem titled "A Mall and Bullets Holes". Original poem published in Arabic on July 4, 2024 at ahewar.org]” ...more Louis Yako |
|
|
Louis Yako
shared
a
quote
“A Mall and Bullet Holes"
While walking in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country devastated and drained by the wars of the global elite, exactly like mine, I arrived at an intersection and noticed a huge mall on the right side… On the left side, there was an old residential building filled with bullet holes that looked like eyewitnesses to all the free death that took place here in a war that has since ended, yet its real causes and the criminals behind it are still lurking in every corner, like infected pus ready to burst at any moment of awareness… I wondered bitterly: When will the world understand that violence never erupts inadvertently, that all violence in our times is premeditated and agreed upon by a small elite that decides in advance that any nation that rejects malls, consumption, and superficiality, must be disciplined with free death for those who resist! It is also agreed upon – and it all costs – that the minds and souls of all survivors must permanently be pierced ...more Louis Yako |
|
|
Louis Yako
shared
a
quote
“Selling & Buying"
Everyone is up for sale, because most are looking for nothing but selling and buying… They sell life to buy a wretched living! You see them selling with no shame or dignity, and whenever you encounter a sign of kindness or a smile, you soon discover that it is fake and for marketing purposes only… You see the sons of bitches and their children and grandchildren all busy selling real estate cars bodies and desires fruit and vegetables countries and agricultural lands natural resources (after proxy revolutions) clothes, shoes, and things – both fake and original – cheap gifts and souvenirs in touristy cities iPhones with ugly accessories long and wide lists of all things, big or small, that are supposed to make them happier trendier more attractive and more human… And between one sale and another, they rest and talk about values, the Creator, ethics, religion, what is prohibited and what’s allowed… Between one sale and another buy, you find them discussing dignity and freedom, theorizing the mean ...more Louis Yako |
|
"No better way to get educated on Iraq and Middle Eastern history affairs."
|
|
|
Louis Yako
and
1 other person
liked
Sergio's review
of
Bullets in Envelopes: Iraqi Academics in Exile:
"An extremely compelling and well structured book that also happens to be an very tough read about people's careers being derailed before their eyes as part of an assault on Iraq's education system and social fabric as a result of the UN's sanctions a"
Read more of this review »
|
|
“Oh, my friends, the first wish I have for the new year is to change the worn-out greeting: 'happy new year'. There is no happiness, only fleeting moments of joy. There is nothing new under the sun, only new ways of looking at the same eternal challenges and unresolved questions. There is no point in wishing for a perfect health in a profoundly sick world – the view is much clearer and more interesting when living on the edge. And so, I wish you all endurance as we go through another difficult year. I wish you courage to snatch a few more days (or moments) of joy as another year slips through the fingers of Time. I wish you much strength to maintain your equilibrium as we face new earthquakes of uncertainty in the coming year. Most of all, I wish we never give up on the possibility of doing things otherwise. And, of course, I wish you much love.”
―
―
“It is complicated,’ they say. I am so sick of this response. Many people use it repeatedly to escape depth and confronting reality. They use it to take solace in the fact that they don’t know (or don’t wish to know) the ugly truth of what is happening right in front of their eyes. They reduce crimes, injustice, war, pain, hunger, rape, and everything that must be unpacked, dissected, and confronted to this: ‘It is complicated.’ They say this about COVID-19, too. Oh, how I have grown to hate this response. Every time I hear this statement from someone, it sounds like ‘I am a loser’ to my ears. ‘It is complicated’ is the favorite response of lazy brains that refuse to think and do. Oh, my friends, I insist it is not complicated. If you really want to know, it is not so complicated. However, if you are really looking for reasons and excuses to justify your silence, complicity, and to protect your self-interest, then you are absolutely right – it is complicated!”
―
―
“This is precisely why the mainstream media’s language has failed us, it has not been telling us what we really need to know, because their language marches in step with that of the bankers, warmongers, oppressors, and executioners. We need a new language of radical love not radical hate.”
―
―
“Real wisdom lies not in just paying attention to what is being said, but in what is omitted from speeches.”
―
―
“Isn't it quite ironic that we may be coming to a day when we may find all kinds of full-time, steady and secure jobs at universities for all, except jobs for educators?”
―
―
“We have to bear in mind that oppression is almost never imposed on people in one big dose, because that could trigger an immediate revolution and uprising. Instead, oppression is given in small doses in such a way that each dose in itself is insignificant or negligible, but it is the total amount of these small doses that creates a great state of oppression and injustice.”
―
―
“The whole concept of “competition” needs to be revisited. In my view, competition and wisdom are two different paths that will never intersect... we need to seek wisdom rather than playing games and politics against our peers to get status and power.”
―
―
“We must rethink and change the worn out concept of the “job market” under capitalism, which is designed to dispose of people in a second if deemed unprofitable to the system.”
―
―
