That would be the one next summer – August 2, 2027, to be precise. This is being referred to as the “Eclipse of the Century“ because its totality duration will be one of the longest of the 21st century (6 minutes and 22-23 seconds near Luxor, Egypt).
“Although total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, they recur at any given place only once every 360 to 410 years. A total eclipse [is when] the dark silhouette of the Moon completely obscures the bright light of the Sun, allowing the much fainter solar corona to be visible. During an eclipse, totality occurs only along a narrow track on the surface of Earth. This narrow track is called the path of totality.”
( Solar Eclipse, Wikipedia )
Since most of the planet is covered with water, every time there is a total solar eclipse there are not that many suitable places for us landlubbers to view the path of totality. This 2027 EOTC will cross parts of southern Spain, Gibraltar, Egypt, Morocco and other countries of northeastern Africa, and parts of the Middle East. And since there are a growing number of eclipse chasers, [1] you have to plan early to secure accommodations in/ transportation to such locales.
Earlier this year, after we (MH and I) had made plans two years ago to be in the zone of totality for the August 12, 2026 eclipse, [2] an astronomer friend of ours – who was responsible for us seeing the total eclipse in 2017 which passed through central Oregon ( moiself wrote about that in The Experience I’m Not Describing ) – alerted us to a trip being planned by an eclipse-chasing colleague of his, to see the EOTC. Astronomer Friend® asked if our family, in any combination, might be interested? MH and I, plus our enthusiastic offspring, said yes, and put down the necessary deposits.
The EOTC trip will be to Morocco. That country was chosen by the experienced eclipse-trip-planner for being closest to the longest total duration without being in Egypt ( for reasons of political stability ). Not long after that was decided, I did what I do before considering any travel plans: moiself looked up Morocco’s history and current situation re women’s rights. Like most Moslem-dominated countries, theirs is not a stellar record, but they are progressing, and there’s been genuine modernization in terms of political and civil rights for women. Translation: the country wouldn’t require *me* (or any females in Morocco, including female Moroccans) to dress up like a pillar or other forms of infrastructure.
Moiself was content with that. Until I wasn’t.
When you have to have safety tips, that means it’s not safe.
What is that saying – no; it’s much more than a saying…more like a life guideline:
Standing up for your principles only counts when it is inconvenient to do so.
Many, many years ago, during a time of great strife and discrimination and anti-homosexual hysteria, I asked gay friends, coworkers, neighbors and family members how best to be what we now would call an ally. The variety of suggestions moiself received all shared one request in common, which I can summarize thusly:
“Please do not patronize entities of any kind – including countries – that do not support LGBTQ rights and/or which actively discriminate against us. Your vehemently disagreeing with their policies while willingly giving them your patronage and your $$ is passively supporting their discrimination against us.”
I promised to honor that request, as much as possible. [3] One of the people I made that promise to is now dead. But I’m not. And I remembered that promise recently, and looked up Morocco’s LGBTQ rights situation. [4] My first, kneejerk reaction, moiself is not proud to say, was totally self-serving and not at all worthy of virtue-signaling:
Shit shit shit shit I can’t go to Morocco.
I alerted my family (MH; daughter Belle; son K ) to this – with the caveat that my decision is my decision, and they must decide for themselves. Belle immediately chose not to go on the trip, as have I. As of this writing, MH and K are 90% probably also not going. MH told me that his main reason for wanting to go was to be with the great group of friends who will be going – friends we’ve known since college and who came out to stay with us during the 2017 eclipse. That was as much a pull – getting to spend more time with those people – as seeing the eclipse, for me, as a reason to do the trip. But I’ve never been very good at pretending to not know something once moiself knows it, and I know this now, and it pisses me off, and I can’t support traveling to/spending money in a country where it is illegal for some human beings to be human beings.
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Department Of I Am Not Going To Blog About *This*….
I was going to blog about the current season of The Great British Baking Show, but then I got some news – the *This* – and lost the impetus to write further. Next week moiself will be up to taking on the bakers. As for the *This*… just wondering, rhetorically. Have you ever received heart breaking news – news that you were 99% certain was inevitable, yet still felt kicked in the gut to receive it?
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Freethinkers’ Thought Of The Week [5]
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May you someday see a solar eclipse in its totality;
May you not have to compromise your principles to see anything awe-inspiring;
May you gird your loins for those inevitable gut kicks;
…and may the hijinks ensue.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
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[1] Eclipse chasers are people, from professional astronomers to laypersons who don’t even own a telescope, who travel around the world trying to be the path of totality for the next total solar eclipse….just because once you’ve experienced it, the SFA (So Fucking Awesomeness) is something you want to experience again.
[2] The impetus (read: excuse) for our trip in August to Iceland.
[3] It’s not always possible to know, for example, every business’s political donations.
[4] “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Morocco face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are illegal in Morocco. Gay and lesbian Moroccans face many hardships in the country, as they have limited legal rights. Moroccan police disproportionately target perceived LGBTQ people, and attitudes towards the wider LGBTQ community remain mostly negative throughout the nation…. Article 489 of the Penal Code of Morocco criminalises “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex”. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Morocco and can be punished with anything from six months to three years’ imprisonment and a fine…. The Moroccan government uses the law as a way to police members of the LGBTQ community. When a person is arrested in Morocco for a suspected homosexual act, their name is publicised, thereby publicly identifying the individual before a trial takes place…..” ( excerpts, LGBTQ rights in Morocco, Wikipedia )
[5] “free-think-er n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists. No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah. To the freethinker, revelation and faith are invalid, and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth.” Definition courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ffrf.org
