‘… we dedicate this year’s Mother’s Day to the ‘comfort women’ (casualties of Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery system).’
AS in 33 degrees Celsius (dry bulb or air temperature) and 64% relative humidity, giving us 27.38 degrees Celsius (wet bulb temperature), and that is only eight degrees (Celsius) away from the critical WBT for humans (you get to live for only six hours). “Beyond which the human body can no longer cool itself by evaporating sweat from the surface of the body to maintain a stable body core temperature… That combination of temperature and humidity whereby the person’s core temperature starts to rise is called the ‘critical environmental limit.’…People over the age of 65 comprise some 80%-90% of heat wave casualties.” [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-hot-is-too-hot-for-the-human-body1/#]
Brutally hot in Southeast Asia, but in Russian Moscow, it ranges from highs of 15-20 degrees Celsius to lows of 4-10 degrees Celsius. [https://www.accuweather.com/en/ru/moscow/294021/may-weather/294021] Why Moscow? Victory Day celebrations.
“On May 8, 1945, in Berlin, representatives of the German High Command signed the instrument of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces. The Great Patriotic War which the Soviet people waged against the German-fascist invaders is victoriously concluded. Germany is utterly routed… To mark complete victory over Germany, today, May 9, the day of victory, at 22:00 hours (Moscow time), the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, shall salute the gallant troops of the Red Army, the ships and units of the Navy, which have won this brilliant victory, by firing 30 artillery salvoes from 1,000 guns.” [J. Stalin (Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Marshal of the Soviet Union), Order of the Day, No. 369, 09 May 1945] “Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas… However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true–the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany. Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun.” [Stalin Victory Speech of 09 May 1945]
Sadly, no peace today. Russia attacked the Kyiv region with 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram. [https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-war-ukraine-latest-missile-attacks-air-raid-alerts-continue-2023-05-07/]
A hot war while rapid ice melting in Greenland is discovered: “Warming of the ocean waters surrounding Greenland plays a major role in driving glacier retreat and the contribution of glaciers to sea level rise…As the grounding line retreated by 3.8 km in 2016 to 2022, it carved a cavity about 204 m in height where melt rates increased from 40 ± 11 m/y in 2016 to 2019 to 60 ± 15 m/y in 2020 to 2021. In 2022, the cavity remained open during the entire tidal cycle.” [Rignot, et.al. “Melt rates in the kilometer-size grounding zone of Petermann Glacier, Greenland, before and during a retreat,” PNAS 2023, Vol. 120, No. 20]
Too hot. Quezon City, Philippines (08 May 2023) – The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines announced that Luzon is on red alert today from 1pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm and on yellow alert from 4pm-6pm. This is due to five power plants experiencing forced outages, which resulted in power interruptions across the region. In reaction, Greenpeace campaigner Khevin Yu said: “As El Niño looms along with more power outages and shortages, we reiterate the fact that our fossil fuel-dependent energy system remains unreliable, and that we need to expedite a just transition to renewable energy… Moreover, our energy generation is highly centralized, relying on big power plants to provide energy which makes it vulnerable to incidents such as unscheduled maintenance, breakdown of equipment and it can be affected by damages due to strong typhoons and other climate impacts… The government should increase the energy mix of renewable energy beyond 50% by 2030; start improving grid connectivity to support the entry of utility scale solar and wind facilities; and encourage investments on smart grids to decentralize energy generation.”
Don’t worry, Mom. We can still celebrate the second Sunday of May as “Araw ng mga Ina.” [Proclamation No. 266, s. 1988] Yes, it is only fitting and proper to confer tribute to the important role of the Filipino mothers like Gregoria de Jesus: “I was about to become a mother. Andres Bonifacio temporarily moved me to my parents’ house where I had been born, and there, too, our eldest child saw the first light of day, a boy, whom we christened also Andres Bonifacio and whose godfather was Pio Valenzuela. After two months, I returned to Manila, and before the end of the year we were victims of a fire in Dulong Bayan, which occurred on Holy Thursday, and caused no little trouble. We were forced to move from one house to another until one day our child died in the house of Pio Valenzuela, on Calle Lavezares, Binondo.” [Autobiography of Gregoria de Jesus. Translated by Leandro H. Fernandez. Philippine Magazine 27.1 (June 1930)]
In the aftermath of the extra-judicial murder of President Andres Bonifacio, the Lakambini of the Katipunan re-married: “By my second husband (Julio Nacpil) I have eight children.” [Mga Tala ng Aking Buhay ni Gregoria de Jesus. Alay kay G. Jose P. Santos na siyang humiling na sulatin ko ang aking kabuhayan]
Ok, Mom, here’s your poem: “Arise, then… women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies…From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
“In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient, and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.” [Mother’s Day Proclamation, Boston, 1870]
Yes, Mom, that was Julia Ward Howe, American abolitionist, feminist, the author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It is supposed to be a “Mothers’ Day for Peace.” Thus, we dedicate this year’s Mother’s Day to the “comfort women” (casualties of Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery system).
