Zenita Nicholson: Philosophical questions

Oct 28, 2015 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I first met Zenita Nicholson in 2012 when we shared the space of Rodneyite groundings we called People’s Parliament at the junction of High Street and Brickdam directly opposite the eastern face of Parliament Building.
She wasn’t an integrated member of People’s Parliament the way some of us were of which Sherlina Nageer and Joy Marcus of Red Thread stood out. She came occasionally. She didn’t appear to be the type that would take to Rodneyite groundings. She was more into pro-gay rights.
The last time I met Zenita Nicholson was three weeks ago at the junction of Robb and Bourda Streets. I was buying fruits and vegetable at the crowed alfresco market that takes place on Robb Street between Bourda and Alexander Streets three days a week. It was an interesting encounter. Many persons would say hello to me; I would respond and wouldn’t look back.
It is a habit that sticks with you when you have a public profile. They know you, they say hello and you respond and go your way. This woman said, “Hello, Freddie.” I looked around, acknowledged the greeting and in seconds looked away but she persisted and her smile was broad.
She wanted to know why I was so brief. I did not recognize her at all. Her hair was unusually short and she wore a large hat that hid her visage. When I did perceive her identity, there was a hug. That was the last time I saw Zenita Nicholson. I cannot say that I knew her at all.
Our paths hardly crossed at the People’s Parliament. When our groundings disappeared because the park we occupied was closed by Irfaan Ali the then Minister of Housing, I didn’t see her for a very long time except for a brief moment in early 2014 in New Market Street.
Since I didn’t know her I cannot pen any thoughtful notes on her. This column is written in anger from what I am hearing about alleged violence committed against her by her boyfriend. How could a phenomenally strong woman like Nicholson tolerate a male lover battering her?
She was an indomitable advocate for women’s rights. Her tragedy reminds me of two powerfully amazing examples which will forever find mention in the literature on feminist philosophy. One is the strange romance involving one of the world’s greatest pioneers in feminist activism, French philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir and her common-law husband, the 20th century philosophy giant, Jean Paul Sartre.
The other is the tragic relationship between two of the 20th centu‘ry’s greatest philosophers, German thinkers Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Simone de Beauvoir was France’s greatest feminist thinker. She made a priceless contribution to 20th century liberation of women. Yet this woman was in love with a man who took very young girls, some of whom were underage teens, as his lovers. He brought some of them to the marital home. Sartre would be at the café with de Beauvoir and would openly make passes at young girls in full view of his wife. Both were top class philosophy professors but she would neglect her own research to become engrossed in reading, researching and editing Sartre’s books.
The point is, how good an example to feminists was Simone de Beauvoir. Hanna Arendt was a philosophy student in the class of the man who wrote one of the most phenomenal books on the meaning of human existence, Martin Heidegger (“Time and Being”). No doubt Arendt was smitten by the erudition of Heidegger. They became lovers. But both lived in dangerous times. Hitler came to power in 1933; Arendt as a Jew had to flee Germany. Heidegger supported the Nazi regime.
In exile, Arendt continued her love affair with a man who supported the extermination of Jews. After the war, the affair was resuscitated. How do you explain the story of these two women? They of all people should know better because they were top class philosophers.
When I was a Ph.D student at the University of Toronto, I met a South African woman who was a huge feminist. I saw her put down a Trinidadian guy for referring to a female, as a girl. She said the respectful term was “woman.” But she was in love with a guy from Ecuador who treated her badly.
I knew a Canadian woman at the same university that was big on women’s liberation but she was in love with the lead singer in a Caribbean reggae band who was a pompous womanizer.
Many of the women liberation advocates I met in the early Working People’s Alliance had male relationship that caused you to question how liberated they were.

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Zenita Nicholson: Philosophical questions

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