GUM JOURNAL 21/22 - ISSUE 3

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The most beautiful part of our identities is their malleability.

Growing up with two linguistic versions of myself – one in English and one in Italian – meant that identity was something I always deemed to be totally fluid. Even the way I perceive my voice changes depending on the language I’m speaking. I was always conscious that I preferred words in one language or the other, but until living in Spain this past year I’d never really considered how different words could better describe my feelings, my desires, and all that makes up my identity. And so it began: questioning where my queerness fitted into the English, Spanish, and Italian translations of myself. Both identity and language are constructed by us as people, and so theoretically they should allow us to totally express ourselves and create our own concept of self.

However, it is significantly harder to express gender-queerness in a language where the concept is grammatically non-existent, compared to one that uses gender-neutral terms. But although it is difficult, it is not impossible. Languages are cultural pick ‘n’ mixes that we ourselves create, and universal inclusive vocabulary is well within our reach.

The idea of gender-neutrality and gender-queerness in both identity and subsequently language predates colonialism. Take for example Native ­ American ‘two-spirit’ identities, that refer to individuals who don’t fit the binary male or female categories placed upon us in the West. In Navajo culture, that of the native people of the Southwestern United States, the term Nádleehí is used to describe a person who is assigned male, but who identifies strongly with their idea of femininity. Of course, these ideas of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are completely subjective to the individual and exist on a spectrum.

Whilst the recognition of sex and gender as different things was deemed a 21stcentury Western milestone, these ideas are not as new or radical as some might think.

Similarly, some languages have always used gender-neutral grammatical systems –­ even the singular pronoun ‘they’ has existed in English since the 14th century. The Tagalog language, native to the Central Philippines, is just one of many gender-neutral Austronesian languages that uses the third person singular siya for ‘he’, ‘she’, and ‘it’ combined. However, following 333 years of Spanish rule in the Philippines, many words naturally became gendered according to the grammatical rules of the colonising language, such as using ‘-o’ and ‘-a’ as suffixes to denote gender. A seemingly small grammatical tweak can modify an entire population’s understanding of gender. If the language we speak fundamentally shapes how we understand the world around us, it is essential to adopt a more nuanced approach to the bounds of it all.

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So, in the present day, why is it so hard to use gender-neutral language in Spain or Italy, for example? It is grammatically understandable, as these two Romance languages are famous for their heavily gendered and rigid grammar structures. Impressively, the Spanish language has managed to adapt its gendered grammar by adopting the gender-neutral pronoun elle (pronounced ‘EY-yeh’), as a rather beautiful alternative to the masculine él or feminine ella. This neutrality extends to adjectives and nouns used in both singular and plural forms, where the ‘-o’ or ‘-a’ suffix can be replaced with an ‘-e’ in spoken form, or ‘-x’ or ‘-@’ in written form, usually seen online. For example, todos or todas (meaning ‘all’ when referring to a group) becomes todes, todxs, or tod@s. This phenomenon has already taken off in many Hispanic countries, with the goal of inclusivity for all gender identities through the power of language. However, the Spanish language can only stretch so far; whilst these gender-neutral alternatives work, they cannot overcome every concrete grammatical rule. No nouns in Spanish are truly gender-neutral, and coming up with an alternative to the singular definite articles (el and la, meaning ‘the’) has proved difficult.

Italian, on the other hand, still has a long way to go. The schwa vowel (represented in English in the sounds of the <a> in ‘about’ or the <e> in ‘taken’) is commonly used as a gender-neutral alternative to the ‘-o’ or ‘-a’ suffix that Italian adjectives and nouns use, but does not have the same cultural clout as its Spanish counterpart.

Nor does a gender-neutral pronoun really exist. In fact, the official Italian linguistic governing body, Accademia della Crusca, refuses to recognise the suffix as a legitimate alternative – even though the schwa derives from Italian dialects and can actually be pronounced. Following the Italian parliament’s regressive vote against making homophobia, ableism, transphobia, and ableism hate crimes, I don’t see its integration being very likely anytime soon.

But if Spanish can do it, surely all languages can? I posit that languages really are reaching a place of superfluidity, within themselves and in exchange with each other. Living in a queer space in Granada, I have noticed peoples’ preference for using queer terminology in English – whether borrowed from RuPauls Drag Race or not, it indicates to me that some words just sound right in one language, and the sentiment is horribly lost in translation in another. And having this affinity to certain words in a non-native language is quite frankly a beautiful thing. As language revolves around us, we will naturally bring it along on our increasingly interconnected journeys of identity, hopefully ending up with an assortment of borrowed terms that fit us perfectly. In the least pretentious way possible, my choice of ‘she/elle’ pronouns at the top of this article is a nod to my very own melting pot of borrowed cultural identities.

I’m at the stage, at the time of writing this article, of exploring the part of my identity that doesn’t entirely resonate with ‘she’ and ‘her’ pronouns. Upon rereading my own discussions of language, I felt I owed it to myself, in all my linguistic versions, to at least experiment with the addition of ‘they’ to my ‘she/her’. Though whilst it was somewhat fitting, it didn’t entirely feel like me. We as humans often feel an inexplicable connection to words, and strangely, it is one that I feel more closely to the Spanish equivalent elle. It is here where my identities meet a crossroad – will this better-suited descriptor ever transcend literal and metaphorical language boundaries?

Maybe someday, in a faraway bilingual office in Barcelona, I’ll look down at my ‘she/elle’ pronoun pin, and smile.

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FEBRUARY 2022

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Artwork by Magdalena Julia Kosut (she/her), editorial artist

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Words by Ava Ahmann (she/her)

THE BLACK SNAKE

MAY 2022

THE BLACK SNAKE

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At a November summit in Washington DC, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described Canada as a ‘major gas and oil- producing company, er--country’. As he uttered this Freudian slip, Enbridge Inc, Canada’s largest oil company, may likely have been at the forefront of his mind. Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline underwent expansion in the US state of Minnesota last summer, resulting in a series of bitter standoffs between police and environmental activists.

Despite protest, the line is now fully operational, transporting 760,000 barrels of crude oil per day, oil to be burned, releasing unfathomable amounts of climate change inducing gases, in order to feed limitless capitalist consumption. In its wake are charges being brought against 700 environmental activists, or water protectors, many being felonies carrying the potential of up to 15 years in prison, at times with terrorism enhancements. These charges, being brought by the State of Minnesota, represent a continued US government policy of aggression against those who engage in actions opposing oil and gas projects.

Water protectors, and Indigenous leaders from the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and White Earth Band of Ojibwe, gathered in camps along the pipeline’s route over the course of summer. Following an agreement between the state of Minnesota and Enbridge, the salaries of the Minnesota county police working the protests were paid by the Canadian company in order to spare taxpayers. Reporting from More Perfect Union revealed that Minnesota county police employed torture tactics, utilizing pressure holds and strangluation, called ‘pain compliance,’ resulting in partial facial paralyzation known as Bell’s Palsy.

These protestors, subjected to police brutality, are facing charges of felony theft, as well as ‘gross misdemeanour trespass on critical infrastructure’, a charge that has been adopted in many states in specific cases relating to oil and gas pipelines. Many of these critical infrastructure laws were adopted using ‘draft legislation’ provided by a lobbyist group funded by the fossil fuel companies Shell and Exxon Mobil.

In 2017, water protector Jessica Reznicek disabled Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction machinery, preventing the flow of oil for six months. No one was injured. In late August of 2021, Reznicek began her 8 year sentence in federal prison following her guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. Receiving the ‘federal crime of terrorism’ enhancement, Reznicek was forced to pay $3 million in restitution to the owners of the pipeline, plus three years of supervised release.

The crime of ‘theft’ that some water protectors are being charged with is related to the loss of money associated with the direct action water protectors undertook. Say you chained yourself to a piece of Enbridge owned machinery for several hours until you were removed and arrested by police, potentially to be held at a bail as high as $10,000 - $25,000, the time that you spend attached to that bulldozer or crane will then be calibrated into money lost by the company.

In short: protestors are being charged with felonies for stealing time, and as the old adage goes - time is money.

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For investors and the heads of these companies themselves the stakes are high. Enbridge is a multinational corporation that attracts all sorts of investors, including Susan Rice, director of President Joe Biden’s Domestic Policy Council, who was pressured to sell her $2.7 million in shares in the company following the administration’s support of Line 3. The cost of protest and the delaying of pipeline development can lead to a decreased value on the stock market, thus providing the impetus for fossil fuel companies to seek legislative enhancements, and special relationships with law enforcement, in order to deter activists.

TigerSwan, a private security contractor, with roots in the U.S. Military and State Department’s amorphous war on terror, was employed by pipeline owners to handle the DAPL protests. The result was a multilevel surveillance effort, in which protestors were monitored as if they were wartime enemies of the US government.

Documents obtained by the Intercept reveal that, in communication between TigerSwan and government officials, water protectors were characterized as ‘jihadists’ and the camps where protestors lived as ‘battlefields’.

The state sanctioned brutalization of those seeking to protect natural resources from contamination, in an era of extensive environmental destruction and natural disasters, with the sole aim of protection of capital, serves to characterise the settler colonial project that is the US. As Kyle Rittenhouse walks free for the murder and maiming of three men, in a trial upheld by President Biden, Reznicek sits in prison. Of the 700 water protectors facing a federal sentence, many will meet the same fate, deemed ‘terrorists’ for stealing nothing but time. Meanwhile, the Line 3 Pipeline continues to operate as the largest tar sand oil pipeline globally, and the companies, er countries, of US and Canada continue to produce profit for the elite.

1)Anti-Protest Laws Threaten Indigenous and Climate Movements 2)Adrian Morrow, Twitter re Trudeau statement 3)10 biggest Canadian Oil and Gas Companies 4)Line 3: protests over pipeline through tribal lands spark clashes and mass arrests 5)More Perfect Union 6)Jessica Reznicek 7)DAPL Surveillance 8)Susan Rice 9)700 protestors/ funded police

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MAY 2022

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May 2022

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May 2022

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May 2022

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Conspiracy theories have flourished in the age of technology, with 4chan, Reddit and Facebook becoming breeding grounds for ‘theorists’ regardless of political affiliation. The Covid-19 pandemic has provided ample opportunity for conspiracy theories to flourish, with coronavirus being touted as a hoax caused by 5g radio towers that were installed by the alleged ‘global elites’ in order to exact control over the ‘duped’ populace. Whilst these may seem outrageously ludicrous to most of us, for many they are treated as reality.

There is no shortage of comical and outright wacky theories; my personal favourite being that the real Avril Lavigne is dead and was replaced by an ‘imposter’ several years ago. ‘Chemtrails’ - the idea that planes release dangerous chemicals, such as anthrax or deadly diseases - come in at a close second. And third place goes to the Mossad’s (adorable) animal division, purportedly some of Israel’s top spies. Whilst these particular theories are relatively humorous, not all are Generally, the nature of conspiracies tends to gravitate towards disillusions of some alleged power structure, probably the most enduring of which is the infamous ‘Illuminati’. Whilst there was indeed an actual society that was created during the late 18th century, the concept of such has spiralled out of control. The so-called ‘Illuminati’ is considered the harbinger of the also so-called ‘New World Order’, identified through now well-known symbols of the ‘all seeing eye’ and pentagrams.

This is a popular theme amongst theorists, that the apparent political and global elites are out to get poor hapless citizens, which is heavily associated with historic antisemitic ideologies of Jewish power.

A common theme has emerged throughout many of these theories; those grounded in antisemitism. It has been theorised for hundreds of years that the Rothschild family was both a proxy for, and symbolic of, a ‘global Jewish power’.

This was then strengthened by the antisemitic propaganda The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which became a core tenet of Nazi propaganda and consequently abetted in the deaths of millions of Jews. Controversially, this theory has retained popularity across the political spectrum; both the far right and the far left continue to support this unproven belief and use it to disguise their unabashed antisemitism.

In a similar vein, Hungarian Holocaust survivor and left-wing philanthropist, George Soros, has been subject to incredibly unsettling accusations that he is a ‘puppet’ of global politics. Despite very publicly donating vast amounts of his fortune to charities and progressive causes, this is consequently treated as ‘proof’ of his alleged far reaching political power. The Illuminati, the Rothschilds, Soros; three peas in a conspiratorial pod, accused by theorists as out to rule over the ‘apathetic masses’.

Equally disturbing are the fascist groups that believe that ‘Whites’ are being ‘ethnically cleansed’. This ‘White replacement theory’ has been attributed to, as the inspiration for the deadly shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the US and two Mosques in New Zealand, which resulted in over 60 casualties amongst them.

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, White nationalist marches became much more commonplace in the US, most notably seen in Charlotteville where crowds chanted “Jews will not replace us” and an innocent counter protestor lost her life. We must not allow these views to go unchallenged; freedom of speech is not freedom to incite hatred and violence.

May 2022

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During a destructive 4 year term in the White House, Trump heavily promoted the racist theory that Barack Obama was not in fact born in the US, which was subsequently referred to as the ‘birther movement’, as well as another racially motivated allegation that Obama is covertly Muslim. This spread like wildfire amongst his followers who, frankly, did not need to disguise their racist ideals. Whilst it’s easy to put a humorous spin on the deceitful theories that Trump promoted during his Presidential tenure, they remain just that: dangerous. Likewise, other such alarming conspiracies have emerged since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, questioning the nature of Covid-19, the effectiveness of lockdowns and the safety of the vaccines. Many a bumbling, misinformed cohort of ‘lockdown’ protestors have taken to the streets, to voice their opposition to the government’s pandemic safety measures, or what they would refer to as the ‘plandemic’. Allegations that Bill Gates has implanted the vaccines with a microchip, again, may seem just as fanciful as our wonderful old Avril conspiracy, but in fact signals a continuation of a dangerous trend in health-related disinformation. What are not as recent,

are the false claims that vaccines cause autism, a spurious assertation made by former English medical professional Andrew Wakefield. The claim was hastily debunked, and his license was subsequently removed.

However, the damage was already done. This claim has endured for decades and a notable decrease in an uptake of the MMR vaccine and a significant rise in deaths from measles in the UK has been attributed to Wakefield’s claims. This really does demonstrate the potential detriment that initially-assumed-harmless conspiracies can enact.

From ‘flat earthers’ to ‘Area 51ers’, the world of conspiracy theories is utterly bizarre, to say the least.

Many provide entertainment. Many can give meaning to the hardships of everyday life. Many are destructive.

It seems that as human beings, we cling to fanciful theories for a host of reasons, and it doesn’t seem like we’ll be stopping anytime soon.

May 2022

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May 2022

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May 2022

(S Her) he /

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MAy 2022

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//// CREATIVE WRITING \\\\

MAY 2022

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MAY 2022

WE WEMOVED MOVED TH IS MORNING MORNI NG THIS

Words by Aimee MacDonald (she/her)