The Decolonizer, April 2016

THEDECO LO NIZER April 2016

Do You Find Us Unsettling?

Eid Is Across The River

On Stereotyping

On Boko Haram

TABLEO FCO NTENTS 1

What is THE DECOLONIZER?

2

Do You Find Us Unsettling?

6

The News Feed

8

Eid Is Across The River

10

Decolonizing Culture

12

Brief Histories

14

On Stereotyping

15

A Love Note To Ithaca

16

On Boko Haram

17

Straight, No Chaser

19

Who Will Survive America

20

Track The Movement

W hat IsTHEDECO LO NIZER? THE DECOLONIZER can see you

clutching your pearls

moving towards the other side of the street

as if you hands weren't dripping in filth

as if your bloody fingerprints aren't on everything

When we bare our teeth to you

the way we have also bared our bodies

the way we have also bared our dreams

you begin to cry like a baby

as if this knife in our back does not have your name written on it

THE DECOLONIZER can see you

You were not this fragile

before

They say Malcolm is still alive

somewhere in Cuba with Assata and Ramona and Marcos

preparing the revolutionary army

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DoYouFindUsUnsettling?

By The Decolonizer

And it does not matter what we do. Because the fact that we are still breathing is enough to insight discomfort in you.

You are amazed at our benevolence. You are fearful of our anger. You worry about our retaliation.

So, you find The Decolonizer to be unsettling eh?

When white domination is made into the status quo any interruption of power is likely to feel uncomfortable for you.

And when we do retaliate, when we decide to resist the oppression we are faced with on a daily basis, you have always reacted violently. You have smothered our voices.

You have punished us for expressing our anger as you continue to destroy us. You have ousted us for refusing to cooperate with you, for refusing to be dominated. You have censored us, thrown us in jail, killed us.

The Decolonizer says: Good.

That means that it is working. Colonizing settlers who live on Indigenous lands should never feel comfortable. Colonizing settlers who had benefited from chattel slavery should never feel comfortable.

Colonizing settlers who benefit from global white supremacy should never feel comfortable.

You'd give anything to be comfortable here.

Here, in this place made of blood and flesh and bone. This hollowed out carcass one is supposed to call a country.

We are uncomfortable here every day.

Imagine the discomfort of being impaled by the steel columns of United States white supremacist settler colonialism. Imagine what it feels like to be a person of color in prison, in the barrio, on a reservation.

Imagine what it feels like to have someone erase your name. To be Black, Brown, and woman. To be trans, Black and homeless.

You should be as unsettled as we are.

Your comfort means everything to you.

With guns you have taught us how to value your comfort. That we must keep our mouths and legs shut. That when you slide the knife into us, we must not scream.

We must take it, repeatedly, and not make a sound. Many have bled to death trying to keep you comfortable.

You taught us that your comfort is a valuable resource. When we are told "you are one of the good ones, you are not like the others" we know it means: "I am comfortable around you. You are obedient and fit to eat the crumbs off of my dinner plate." Many Uncle Tom's have died trying to eat the crumbs.

You taught us that making white people feel uncomfortable could be the difference between life or death. When we walk into a store or walk down the street we had better not look suspicious.

You taught us that your comfort kills.

You are only comfortable when you are dominating. You are only comfortable when we are dominated.

Because that is how it has always been.

Because people are comfortable with what they know. Because you are used to lives being measured by your comfort level.

Whole economies have been built around your comfort. Homes and fences and cars have been built. Amenities, fancy restaurants, exotic vacation getaways, full body massages: your comfort is capital.

And police, lets not forget police! Police everywhere. Around the corner, at the door, down the hall, safeguarding your comfort.

Protecting you and your property. Police keeping you safe, making you feel comfortable.

With police around you don't have to do any of the killing. They'll do it for you!

The settler colonial state is built around your comfort.

The settler colonial project has always been about your comfort. In fact, it has gone through great pains to convince you that you are a citizen of the United States. That you belong here. That this is your country.

It has fed you tales of history that make you feel comfortable here. It has passed laws that make you feel comfortable here. It has fought wars to make you feel comfortable here.

But lets face it, you aren't REALLY comfortable here.

If you were you wouldn't need any of these things. No, you are not really comfortable here, because you know that you shouldn't be here.

You'd give anything to forget what has happened here. Where ever you walked you've had to step over the dead bodies to get there.

Whenever you have eaten you have had to rinse the blood off of your hands.

You'd give anything to be comfortable here.

You are uneasy. You are apprehensive. You are nervous. You know that at any moment we might be justified in bringing the violence to you that you have brought to us.

You have told us that we make you feel uncomfortable. We are done being the casualties of your comfort.

The Decolonizer cares so little about your comfort that it is laughable.

Do you find us unsettling?

Did you actually think The Decolonizer gives two shits about your comfort? If you are unsettled perhaps it is because we want you to be.

Maybe then you will be motivated to un- settle this country.

There is another meaning for the word "unsettling."

Unsettling, as in perpetually insurrectional in opposition to United States empire.

Unsettling, as in the abolition of settler colonial white supremacy.

Unsettling, as in dismantling the structure of colonial white supremacist patriarchy.

Unsettling, as in interrupting the voice of white supremacist domination.

Unsettling, as in removing the oppressive occupation of indigenous lands.

"Unsettle," you know, as in end your occupation on this land and/ or get the f* * * out.

This country needs to be unsettled.

Everyone in this country should be unsettled. And if you are not uncomfortable yet then you are probably part of the problem.

The Decolonizer is not here to comfort you or hold your hand. You are not supposed to feel good about colonization, you are supposed to do something about it.

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TheNewsfeed NavajoW omanKilledbyPoliceinArizona Loreal Juana Barnell-Tsingine was a 27-year-old Navajo woman who was shot five times by a policemen in Winslow, Arizona on March 27th. Tsingine was approached by police because she fit the description of a shoplifter they had been pursuing. Arizona police tried to justified the shooting by reporting that Tsingine allegedly threaten the police officer with scissors.

That's right. Scissors.

Furthermore witnesses say she didn't even have that during her encounter with police. No one had seen her wield anything at police during the encounter.

The police failed to provide medical attention to Tsingine.

Native activists are calling for an independent investigation of the killing and are demanding a U.S department of Justice investigation of anti-Native discrimination by police departments in the border towns of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico.

A vigil was held on April 2 that gathered mare than 350 people. The vigil rallied support for the end of police brutality against Native people, especially Native women.

Jamar Clark:NoJustice On March 30, 2016 Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced the two officers involved in the November 15th state-sanctioned murder of Jamar Clark will not face charges. Freeman declined to present the case to a grand jury.

Clark was approached by police after a call about an alleged domestic dispute between Jamar Clark and his "girlfriend." RayAnn Hayes, the woman who was present on the night of the shooting has since said that she was not dating Clark and never made a call about a domestic dispute. After trying to break-up an altercation at a party, she fell, twisted her ankle, and busted her lip. Hayes called 911 and told the dispatcher that she was hurt and could not move. Jamar Clark was with her and was trying to help her.

Clark was shot in the head as he was handcuffed according to over a dozen witnesses.

Yet, Freeman insists that he was not handcuffed and that none of his DNA was found on the inside of the handcuffs (even though blood was found on the handcuffs).

Freeman also insists that Clark was trying to reach for an officer's gun while pinned to the ground. Officer Dustin Schwarze pulled the trigger after reportedly hearing Clark say "I am ready to die" but the gun was jammed, so Schwarze proceeded to try again the second time. No witnesses recall Clark ever saying "I am ready to die."

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AkaiG urley:NoJustice Officer Peter Lang was convicted of man-slaughter in the death of Akai Gurley. However, The Brooklyn District Attorney announced March 23rd that Lang should not receive jail time and instead, receive five years probation including six months of house arrest. On April 19, 2016 the court followed suit and sentenced Peter Lang with five years probation and 800 hours of community service. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun said there is "no evidence, either direct or circumstantial, that the defendant was aware of Akai Gurley's presence and therefore disregarded any risks [to him]." Chun dismissed the previous man-slaughter conviction after looking the surveillance video and said " shooting someone never entered his [Lang's] mind" and therefore "I find incarceration to be unnecessary." Peter Lang's trial attorney said that while he is relieved that Lang's sentence was reduce, they still intends to appeal the charge because they believe Lang did not commit a crime: "we still intend to appeal, as we feel that the incident was a tragic accident, but not a crime."

Killer SentencedTo12YearsFor Murder of TransW omanIslanNettles 21-year-old Black trans woman Islan Nettles was murdered on August 17, 2013 in Harlem. The killer, 25-year-old James Dixon took a plea bargain in excange for 12 years in prison. Dixon was charged with manslaughter and first-degree assault this April. Dixon was reportedly flirting with Nettles that night and had attacked her after after realizing that she was trans. Nettles was knocked unconscious and badly beaten. She died five days later due to her injuries. Nettles' death sparked protest by trans activist calling for an end to anti-trans violence.

Islan Nettles' mother Delores Nettles pushed for Dixon to be charged with a hate crime but was unsuccessful. Delores Nettles and other trans activist and advocates decry the short sentencing and question why Dixon was only charged with manslaughter when this was clearly murder.

Flint W ater CrisisContinues Three city and state officials have been charged with involvement in the continuing Flint water crisis. Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have been charged with several counts including violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act and official misconduct. Mike Glasgow, a city utilities manager who allegedly altered a water quality report is charged with neglect of duty and tampering with evidence. They are the first official charges issued in the Flint water case. Although Glasgow, Prysby, and Busch are implicated in the crises, many have argued that they were not the top decision makers responsible for the crisis. Governor Rick Snyder remains in office, has yet to receive any charges related to the case, and hasn't even been questioned by investigators. Snyder and his appointed emergency manager made the decision to switch the City's drinking water from the Detroit System to the corrosive Flint River.

Tamir RiceFamilytoReceive6MillionDollar Settlement The family of Tamir Rice won a six million dollar wrongful death lawsuit for the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the hands of police officer Timothy Loehmann. The settlement marks the end of legal proceedings and means that no criminal charges can be brought to Timothy Loehmann in the case. A Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict officer Loehmann of any charges last December. A federal civil rights investigation is pending. The family, who originally called for criminal charges to be brought against Loehmann, still remains cheated out of justice by the Cleveland Judaical system and forced to accept a cash pay-out for the murder of their 12-year-old boy.

7

EidIsAcrossTheRiver

By Jie Wu During my journey to Babu ghat, I walk past Raj Bhavan.

Built in 1803 by the Governor General of India Lord Wellesley, Raj Bhavan, meaning government house in Hindi and Bengali, had been the residence of the Governor General and then Viceroy of India, and then that of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal (after the capital was shifted from Calcutta to New Delhi). After India?s Independence from British rule, it has now become the official residence of the Governor of West Bengal.

This place has hosted many leaders, mostly foreign colonizers and imperialists. As I walk past the secured main gate, the two uniformed security guards look at me with serious and inquisitive faces. I take no second glance and continue walking towards Babu ghat. Along this pathway surrounding Raj Bhavan, there are many trees and birds. Many times I had walked through this area and heard the sweet calls of a cuckoo bird. Very happy and surprised, I would look up into the trees but I was never able to find the source of these sweet calls. At the end of this tree covered pathway, I am faced with a major road named Government Place West.

At this point, I have two choices: my first option is to walk straight towards the Shahid Khudiram Bose Road, where the Eden Gardens cricket stadium is located, and the second is to walk further down and turn left into Esplanade Row West where the High Court and the State Bank of India are located. In 2014, when I first arrived to India, I used to prefer taking the second path, past the High Court and the State Bank of India. As I walked along the High Court, I would try some of the street foods. I had foolishly convinced myself that it would be okay for me to try the street food near the High Court because the customer base were important judges and lawyers. If the food was bad, these lawyers and judges would probably sue the food vendors, right? I had severe cases of gastro- intestinal problems during that time; I guess the lawyers and judges didn?t really sue these food vendors.

Through the hard way, I learned my lesson, to not crave for street food. Nowadays, I prefer taking the first pathway. I would cut through the Shahid Khudiram road and walk past the series of gates to the Eden Gardens cricket stadium.

Shahid Khudiram road is named after Khudiram Bose, a Bengali revolutionary and freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement.

After a failed attempt to kill judge Kingsford, he was sentenced to death when he was only eighteen years old. During present times, very few of the Bengali youth I have met hold this revolutionary zeal towards positively transforming the society in which they live in.

The majority wants to learn perfect English, get into an elite school, find a well- paying job working for the government or a multinational, and succeed in life (even if it means to exploit fellow brothers and sisters and sell one?s culture and country to foreign colonizers and imperialists).

(also known as Amusements of the Modern Baboo in English) published in 1825. This novel humorously exposed the explicit "new babu? culture with all its vices and excesses (meat eating, alcoholism, sexual misconduct) as a contrast to the traditional Hindu system of values and religion. Later, during the Indian independence struggle, the term "babu? was used with a satirical connotation towards the Indian elites who were disconnected from the majority of native Indians who suffered most from foreign British rule.

I have now arrived at Babu ghat ? the place descending into the river, where Calcutta babus and non- babus perform prayers and make offerings to gods, goddesses and the river Ganga. Babu is a local term used to address the educated and respected people in Kolkata.

During British rule in India, the British colonizers had raised and "educated" a class of natives proficient in English who served as clerks, civil servants and took up other high- class jobs. These predominantly male natives became the elite of the Indian society and they were respectfully addressed as "babu" or "baboo.?

Even though India became an independent country in 1947, the babu legacy didn?t die.

It manifests itself in the everyday social interactions between the lower classes and the upper classes, and between the babus and the foreigners.

This historical title "babu" or "baboo? can be used in many contexts and can assume different connotations depending on the situation in which it is used. Its original purpose was to address any important person worthy of respect hence it was a desirable title. According to an English civil servant in India and scholar, John Beames, "formerly babu was only used as a title of respect; now (sometime between 1858- 1902), especially among Europeans, it is used also to designate a native clerk who writes English.?

For the British colonizers, the babus played important roles in helping to ensure British rule of India and maintain its cultural, social, economic and political dominion over the Indian natives. As long as the majority of Indian natives looked up in awe and blindly served the babus (the elites who in turn served the British), then British rule of India would continued unquestioned as if the colonizers had the Divine right to rule over India.

Over time, revolutionary thinkers started challenging this "babu? legacy and its role during British rule in India. For instance the author Babani Charan Bandyopadhyay, played with the meaning of the title "new babu? (referring to the pampered sons of the old wealthy babus) in his satirical social novel Nabababubilas

"Decent people don?t go to Howrah,? a Kolkata babu points out to an incoming foreigner friend going to work in Howrah. This self- labeled "decent" Kolkata babu wanted to "decently" explain to this friend that for her own safety, she should not go to Howrah ? the dangerous dark place where "the wild things are?. According to this babu?s thinking, she was a delicate, naive and innocent foreigner woman who shouldn?t see the Other side of India. The dangerous world of slums in Howrah.

It?s the Other world where "those people?, "those blind and envious masses?, "the poor? and "the violent? ones live. These were the words used by the Brazilian middle- and upper- classes to describe the "Others," according to educator Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Similar words are now used in Bengali and Hindi by the babu classes in Kolkata to label the basti (slum) dwellers in Howrah.

As I enter Babu ghat, I stroll past the street food vendors. There stands the familiar coconut wallah (wallah is a Hindi term used to address people involved in a specific trade). He sits with his serious face, knife nearby, surrounded by his army of coconuts. I used to be one of his customers. Further down stands the lady chai (tea) wallah and the pan wallah (pan is a commonly chewed mild- stimulant plant). Many of these sellers camp near the river because of their trades and due to their need for water.

Their families survive on the free water from Hooghly river in a world that is becoming more and more privatized. With Hooghly?s water, they are able to cook, bathe and clean while continuing their humble trades.

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This brings me memories of one of Ramaswamy?s translated stories from Subimal Misra, a Bengali anti- establishment novelist and short- story writer. One of his "anti- stories? (meaning a story that does not follow conventional rules of story- telling) is set in Babu ghat during the auspicious Mahalaya prayer day.

During Mahalaya, many Hindus go to the Ganga river, make offerings, chant mantras and pray for the liberation of the souls of their ancestors, a timing which coincides with the Durga puja festival: Goddess Durga is set to arrive in a few days. Durga puja is considered one of the most important festivals for Hindus in Bengal.

In this Misra short- story, the plot centers on a drowning wealthy man (most likely a babu) at Babu ghat during Mahalaya. Seeing this, a poor, bare- bodied man asks his wife to give him all her jewelry and he would then make an attempt to save her drowning husband. The wife, who had almost seventy to eighty thousand rupees worth of jewelry with her, didn?t give the jewelry to the poor man and went on to ask different people to save her husband. The workers in a life- saving boat said they didn?t have divers and the river traffic police said they didn?t receive any order regarding this hence her husband ended up drowning at Babu ghat. I believe this story brings out the hypocrisy of the middle and upper- classes in Kolkata. In the end, the wife wasn?t able to give up her jewelry in exchange for the life of her husband.

I continue walking towards the ferry ticket counter. I had learned that there is no need to wait in a single line. All I have to do is to push forward towards the counter, give five rupees and say "Ekta, Howrah" which means one ticket to Howrah. With my ferry ticket in hand, I slowly stroll down the pathway leading towards the ferry dock. As I walk, I notice that a classical Indian devotional song is playing on the ghat?s loudspeakers. Under the bridge- like pathway, an old fisherman lays on his back in his little fishing boat as he hums this song. An urge arises within me to take a few photographs of this scene. I hesitate. Will people think I?m a tourist?

I look around; other young Indians are taking photos with their cell phones. Seeing this, I gain courage to take out my little digital camera and steal a few shots. After snapping the photos, I pause for a few moments to enjoy the moment. Then I continue walking towards the ferry with the sign "R.M.K ghat? which means Ramkrishnapur ghat.

I step into this white and blue striped ferry and walk up towards the standing section near the ferryman?s cabin. I am able to find myself a suitable spot where I can get a good view of the river throughout this journey.

As I get comfortable in this spot, two young males who were standing at the dock come and stand next to me. They are about 12- 15 years old and their hands and mouths are busy munching on snacks. Both are eating roasted corn that was being sold at the ghat and they also hold two packs of the crispy fried snacks. I start feeling a little hungry but I look out towards the wide river and soon the hunger disappeared. A few minutes later, the ferryman?s bell rings and the journey starts to the Other side of the river ? Howrah.

Howrah used to be a well- known center of trade, pilgrimage, education and handicrafts long before the establishment of Calcutta as an English trading post on its opposite river bank, according to my research supervisor V. Ramaswamy. With the rise of Calcutta as the capital of British India, this sister city on the other side of the river was gradually transformed into an industrial city supplying Calcutta and the rest of the colonial world (partly due to its location, abundance of labor and access to raw materials).

Employment opportunities with jute mills, iron foundries, cotton mills, engineering works and other types of factories attracted many poor, landless farm workers from rural West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to settle in Howrah. At first, its residents were mostly single or recently- married males but over time, these migrants brought along their families. Many Talimi Haq School students and teachers are second, third or fourth generation descendants from these migrant workers settling in Howrah.

According to Amina baji in her article "For 40,000, this is home,? she explains how Priya Manna Basti, the neighborhood where the school operates, came to existence in the early years of the 20th century. It grew around the jute mills that provided employment to the migrants who flocked into Calcutta. Jute mills are factories that transform raw jute (a natural plant fiber) into products such as sacks, mats, bags and clothing.

"Bastis? ? this a local Hindi and Bengali term used to refer to the slums where the poor and the low- income reside. Its original meaning was "settlement? but over time this term became associated with the living quarters of the poor.

According to an article by Talimi Haq School director, V. Ramaswamy, and architect, Manish Chakravarti, bastis usually have a distinct appearance ? congested, tile- roofed huts made of brick, earth and wattle, generally poorly serviced in respect to "water, sanitation, sewerage, drainage and waste disposal.? Community surveys in bastis usually record high population density, below- average life expectancy rates and soaring maternal and infant mortality rates in comparison to its middle- class counterparts.

The ferry cuts through the Hooghly?s waves with a crispy sound in the direction of Howrah. The water is muddy with all the silt carried through its course from the Himalayas. It is this silt that makes Bengal one of the most fertile regions in India. It is this silt that is used to produce clay products sold all around the world. It is also this muddy silt that is picked by the "earth- lifters? in their humble boats and used in Hindu rituals and funerals by the river. The ferry attempts to stay on its course as it journeys to Ramkrishnapur ghat in the city of Howrah.

In the middle of the journey, the two young boys finish their roasted corn and throw the plastic packets into the river. The river takes it all. They opened their plastic packets and throw the plastic into the river. The river takes it all. I suddenly remember Farida baji, one of Talimi Haq School?s teachers, saying, "You research the Ganga? Bhai, did you know most of the sewage from Priya Manna Basti goes untreated into the Ganga? If you want to see, you can ask Binod bhai to take you there.? The middle and upper- classes want to deny the existence of the lower classes, except to silently serve them. Impossible task.

One time when I went to observe Chhath puja at Ramkrishnapur ghat, there was a wealthy- looking man, perhaps a Brahmin, performing rituals by the river, then I looked to the side and there was a little broken- down hut by the river, with a crouched man washing his underwear. Such is the hypocrisy of class and caste? The upper- class and caste man, trying to purify himself, took all the impurities from the poor man whom he had been denying his right to exist as a respected human being.

Such is the hypocrisy of class and caste? If you deny Life to others then it all comes back to you. The law of karma as stated in both Hindu and Buddhist texts.

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DeclonizingCulture Bookof themonth:

Artist of themonth:

Freedom I s A Constant Str uggle

Sapphire

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.

Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.

Sapphire, also known as Ramona Lofton, is a Black queer author and spoken word artist who has been active in the New York spoken word scene since the late 70s. She self published her first collection of poems Meditations on the Rainbow in 1987 and published a collection in 1994 called American Dreams. She is best known for her novel Push which was adapted into the 2009 film Precious.

Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "Freedom is a constant struggle."

Filmof themonth:

W ordof themonth:

I t I s A Good Day To Die

Settler

A Good Day to Die chronicles a movement that started a revolution and inspired a nation. By recounting the life story of Dennis Banks (The Last of the Mohicand, War Party), the Native American who co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968 to advocate and protect the rights of American Indians, the film provides an in-depth look at the history and issues surrounding AIM's formation. From the forced assimilation of Native Americans within boarding schools, to discrimination by law enforcement authorities, to neglect by government officials responsible for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, AIM sought redress for the many grievances that its people harbored.

Banks' personal struggle culminated in major armed confrontations at Custer, South Dakota and Wounded Knee climactic flash points which saw him standing steadfast as a leader for his cause.

Bittersweet and compelling, A Good Day to Die charts the rise and fall of a movement that fought for the civil rights of American Indians.

This month's word is Settler Settler (noun): Any non-indigenous person who lives on occupied territory under colonial rule. All colonizers are settlers but not all settlers are necessarily colonizers. For example, non-Indigenous people of color who immigrated to the United States or were brought here through slavery are not apart of the colonizing class but still benefit in some way from colonial occupation of Indigenous lands.

Settler in a sentence: All settlers in the United States must check their privileges as settlers and openly challenge the colonial state.

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BRIEFHISTO RIES:ThePeoplesUnitedDemocratic Movement (PUDEMO )(Swaziland) members. Many were forced to leave Swaziland or go into hiding during this time.

By Dubian Ade The land- locked African country of Swaziland, which boarders on South Africa and Mozambique, was a colonial territory ruled by the British from 1902 to 1968. During the time of British colonization, Swaziland did enjoy some political autonomy. The Swazi monarchy remained in tact and under the newly crowned king Sobhuza II the British administration was able to extract natural resources from the region. This relationship between the Swazi king and the British administration would continue for half a century.

Independence was granted to Swaziland in 1967 as Britain took interest in abandoning its colonial holdings. In Swaziland, that transition was relatively bloodless, a constitution was drafted, and elections were held in 1968.

The King was forced to buy back land that had been given to white settlers during British occupation. To pay for this, Sobhuza forced every Swazi to offer the equivalent of one cow as payment for the lands. With this money the King established Tibiyo TakaNgwane, a private trust that today functions a personal bank account for the Royal Family.

Fearful of the new wave of political activity in the kingdom after independence, King Sobhuza II proclaimed a state of emergency on April 12, 1973. His decree effectively suspended the 1968 Constitution, suspended the Bill of Rights, outlawed all political parties, and granted the king supreme power over the Swazi government. To this day, the 1973 Decree remains the highest law in Swaziland.

Sobhuza reinstated the traditional chiefdom system and the country became an absolute monarch. Public expression of any views related to a political party was considered an act of treason. Those charged with treason were persecuted, thrown in jail, and tortured.

The king gained the power to appoint all cabinet members and government officials.

Following Sobhuza's death, King Mswati III ascended to the thrown on April 25, 1986 when he was only 18 years old. Within a month after his coronation Mswati dissolved the royal advisory board, appointed a new prime minister, and reconfigured the cabinet members.

Mswati's rule was characterized by the most fascist and autocratic policies. Repression continued, political parties remained outlawed, government corruption ran rampant and extrajudical killings were enacted by the Swazi police force.

The brutality of Mswati's regime was coupled with his obscenely lavish lifestyle which had always been at the expense of the Swazi people. To date he has thirteen royal palaces, a fleet of Mercedes and BMWs, and private jet worth 17 million. Mswati has an estimated net- worth of 200 million. The King owns nearly every means of production in Swaziland, and personally controls Swazi natural resources such as iron ore and gold. Mswati III owns at least 60% of the land in Swaziland. At least 70%of the Swazi population lives on land trusts held by the King. Mswati has a personal stake in nearly every major industry in Swaziland.

All the while two thirds of the Swazi people live in extreme poverty. 69%of the people live below the poverty line. 63%of Swazis live on less than $1.25 per day. Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world at 26%. 210,000 Swazis are estimated to be living with HIV. A coalition of workers, intellectuals, and students formed The Peoples United Democratic Party (PUDEMO) on July 6, 1983, three years before Mswati ascended to the thrown. As soon as it was formed it was officially banned by the Swazi government. Under the leadership of Mario Masuku, who was elected president of PUDEMO in 1986, PUDEMO became the largest oppositional party in Swaziland.

At its very inception PUDEMO had championed full liberation of the Swazi people, the abolition of the Tinkhundla government, and the formation of a free and democratic Swaziland. Central to it's political goals was the formation of a multi- party democratic system.

PUDEMO was also in strong opposition to the apartheid system in neighboring South Africa, as South Africa was and continues to be a close collaborator with the Royal regime in Swaziland.

The Swazi regime under the rule of the Liqoqo council, which had seized control of the country after Sobhuza's death, immediately took steps to persecute PUDEMO

A large- scale campaign was organized by PUDEMO in the late 80s that mobilized students, the church, poor and working class Swazis to push for a democratic Swaziland.

The campaign was so successful that the Swazi authorities rounded up eleven PUDEMO members including Masuku and charged them with high treason in 1990. The members were eventually acquitted of the main charge but were found guilty of attending "illegal meetings."

Kilson Shongwe became president of PUDEMO in 1991. During this time PUDEMO released one of its most important pro- democratic documents, "The Way Forward: Towards A Constituent Assembly Through A Negotiated Settlement." The document outlined a detailed plan for popular democratic participation in the Swazi government. Under PUDEMO a congress focused on youth organizing called the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) was formed in 1991. SWAYOCO became one of the more powerful wings of democratic organization in Swaziland. The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) was also formed to organize exiled Swazis and PUDEMO members and provide contact with those outside of Swaziland.

In 1996 a series of massive workers strikes were organized that brought the country to a crippling standstill. Worker strikes continued in 2000 after Mswati's regime forcefully evicted at least 200 rural residents from their homes and dumped them in remote areas of Swaziland without food or water.

PUDEMO's activities put international pressure on the Swazi government and were largely the reason for the new Constitution that was drafted by Mswati in 2005. The Constitution, although providing a basic Bill of Rights, failed to remove the 1973 Decree and effectively allowed the King's power to remain in tact. Political parties remained banned and all branches of government were still controlled by the King.

Mario Masuku, who was re- elected as the president of PUDEMO, has been thrown in jail at least three times and was arrested as recently as May 1, 2014 for giving a speech.

He is currently in prison. PUDEMO leaders have and continue to be assassinated, jailed, and tortured for their political activity.

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O nSterotyping The act of stereotyping succeeds by transferring the reasons for inequality and difference onto the oppressed.

By Bud Gankhuyag Before Malcolm Little became Malcolm X, his complicated life led him from being a top student to being imprisoned for a decade for burglary. His status as an iconoclastic speaker was famously preceded by the fast- paced criminal lifestyle he led in Boston that eventually spiraled into his decade- long incarceration.

After almost 250 years of slavery (1619- 1865), generations living under Jim Crow, decades of discriminatory housing policy and de jure segregation across the country, and the squalor of millions of men, women, and trans people of color in the prison industrial complex, white people have the audacity to believe that black and Latinx Americans are wholly responsible for the persistence of racial inequality.

Even before this period of his life, however, he was once a high- performing, enthusiastic student at Mason Junior High School in Michigan, where he participated in basketball and the debate team, among other activities. One day at school, Malcolm shared with his white male teacher that he wanted to pursue law, only to receive a devastating psychological blow that would affect him for the rest of his life.

"He kind of half- smiled and said, "Malcolm, one of life?s first needs is for us to be realistic. Don?t misunderstand me, now.

We all here like you, you know that. But you?ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer - that?s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be. You?re good with your hands- making things. Everybody admires your carpentry shop work. Why don?t you plan on carpentry? People like you as a person - you?d get all kinds of work.?1 It was then that I began to change - inside.

I drew away from white people. I came to class, and I answered when called upon. It became a physical strain simply to sit in Mr. Ostrowski?s class."

Having been visibly distraught from these words yet too shaken to confide in others, Malcolm soon after transferred to another school in Boston, only to later drop out and be led into crime, targeted by the police state and branded as another number in the prison industrial complex.

Mr. Ostrowski?s words were particularly incisive because they stunned Malcolm?s capacity to make independent judgments of himself. His words forced Malcolm to turn against his own mind, to fall below the thin ice from which he stood into a paralyzing state of cognitive dissonance, unable to sift his personal truth from his teacher?s violent conjecture.

"Grieving is a pattern that is cut and fitted around my mind,? once wrote Sophocles in Electra.2 Similarly, little Malcolm Little was forced to falsely grieve his humanity, complexity and youthful drive, robbed and killed by his teacher as quickly as it first sprout.

It was this very insistence, the forcibility of it all, of the racialized ascription of character that led Malcolm to believe those very things being said about him. Stereotyping, or in other words, the culturally endorsed power exercise of the erasure of individuality by a group of people against another, is a more elusive surgical instrument in the master?s toolbox; because it can be neatly packaged in an ostensibly benevolent presentation, it can often be a more effective means of perpetuating oppression than explicit, vitriolic bigotry.

Stereotypes are labels that are naturalistically argued and culturally affirmed, deliberately depoliticized in order to accomplish the goal of burying the very politics that creates these stereotypes. The word itself often evokes a phenomenon that supposedly contains no political or historical context, as if the widespread labelling of an entire group of people landed as mere serendipity on the lap of the oppressor. Is the word not the result of a compartmentalizing relegation of an entire factory of historical and political processes to a more isolated form? Does it not at least point to something more than a label?

Similarly, why do men demoralize and objectify women, only to call them sluts or tell them they are at fault when raped? Why is the stereotype that indigenous people are lazy alcoholics still a contemporary cultural artifact? Why do cisgender people continue to estrange transgender people? How many transphobic people have actually met a single transgender person? And all of this stereotyping occurs while we tell ourselves that we are not racist, sexist, or transphobic. It has proved easier for us to colonize, displace, gentrify, appropriate, and depoliticize than to look at ourselves as possible reasons for the condition of today?s world.

Seven months into my current occupation, a co- worker approached me and tried to endear me with her observation that I behaved like ?the stereotypical Asian male.?

On top of the embarrassment and insult, this moment provided me the confirmation and clarity I needed on how others perceive me in this predominantly white- populated workplace, where I cannot work the same work as my white counterparts without being arbitrarily ascribed a label to which I did not consent.

According to white folks, they have personalities, and we are reduced to stereotypes. If I make a misstep, I am given a shrug or ignored altogether; when I succeed, I am showered with praise. I expect the treatment would be different if I were black. Then again, I would also expect the treatment of people of color to be different if white people were not racist.

1 Malcolm

X with Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as Told to Alex Haley (New York: Ballantine, 1964), 43- 5.

2 Anne Anlin

Cheng, Melancholy of Race (New York: Oxford, 2001), vii.

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ALoveNoteToIthaca

By Bud Gankhuyag

I write this and speak to honor the lives stolen by police brutality and racism and to interrogate the structures that house the people who practice murder as an institutional weapon against people of color. From Cleveland, Ohio, where Tamir Rice was gunned down by police in a matter of seconds, to Hempstead, Texas, where Sandra Bland was falsely arrested and ?found? dead in her cell, to our very own Ithaca and Binghamton, where the families of Shawn Greenwood, Keith Shumway and Salladin Barton have had to bury their loved ones murdered by local law enforcement, the same enforcement that patrols your streets every day.

As locals put on their 9- 5 clothes and pretend that our town is forgiven from historical trauma, as shoppers and pedestrians across town pursue their next material item, we must rise and shout out that business cannot go on as usual, because the inaction behind everyday events is a silent approval of the injustice that is equally an everyday event. So when they say "business must go on,? they might as well be honest and say "white supremacy must go on.?

All the meanwhile, our city promotes itself as the beacon of liberal and progressive values. They say that Ithaca is 10 square miles surrounded by reality, but in truth, the reality is all around us! Is your progressivism really effective when you would rather promote your organic farm than actually acknowledge the land as that of the Cayuga Nation, a nation that has still to this day not been recognized as sovereign in their native homeland?

Is it really meaningful when the same federal tax dollars that pave our roads and fund our schools is from the same pool of money that sends missiles to towns in Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan and abroad? What about their roads, their infrastructure, their schools?

So let us throw the veil out and see what is really taking place here: the people of this town would rather practice yoga and sip on their imported tea than speak out against Islamophobia and anti- Sikh violence. People in this town find that a better use of their time is not going to a black lives matter rally but to reggae night, salsa night, or any other multicultural event that lets them feel less racist. Being apolitical is itself a political choice.

If you are someone who helps keep Ithaca ignorant and complacent, then be honest with yourself and say that you are part of the problem. In this town and all across America, injustice does not only drag on. It continually reproduces itself when people choose to take no stand against it. So I urge everyone to pop their conceptual bubble of Ithaca, rethink your own positions in structures of power, and decide if you either want to resist against forces that marginalize and subjugate people of color everyday, or continue to be a faceless cog in the machine of white supremacy.

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O nBokoHaram

By Umeek Adams What is Boko Haram? What will they do?

What they?ve done all along?

Boko Haram (which loosely translates to western education is a sin) is a militant islamic group that was founded in Borno, Nigeria in 2002 by a young, charismatic preacher named Mohammed Yusuf. He believed Imperialists had imposed an un- Islamic or western way of life upon Muslims in 1914 when Nigeria was formed

by British colonial authorities.

The concept was to impose Sharia law (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria turning it into a Islamic State. It?s important to note before 2009 Boko Haram didn?t use violence as their tactic to overthrow the government. That all changed after a "crackdown? in July 2009 when members of the group refused to follow a motorbike helmet law and were brutalized by Nigerian police. This led to an armed uprising in the northern state of Bauchi against authorities and spread into Borno, Yobe, and Kano which resulted in the slaughtering of 800 people.

Mohammed Yusuf peacefully surrendered to police during the "crackdown? was arrested, interrogated and shortly after executed after police claim he attempted to escape but witnesses say it was a extrajudicial killing.

Following the slaying of their leader Boko Haram went underground. They conducted kidnappings, bank robberies, and other illegal activities to finance the group and stockpile weapons. They emerged just a year later with a new leader named Abubakar Shekau whose character would usher in a new wave of militant tactics Nigerians would come to describe as"pure evil.? Boko Haram would earn the infamous title of Deadliest Terrorist Group in the world.

In September 7, 2010 50 militants attacked a prison killing five and releasing 700 inmates. Shekau implemented more terroristic tactics in August 2011, when a suicide bomber rammed a car into a United Nation Headquarters in Abuja killing 23 people and injuring more than 75 others.

After this attack in 2011 the CIA, FBI, and The Justice department all urged for Boko Haram to be added to the list of foreign terrorist organizations, but a State Department under Hillary Clinton declined to have them added to the list. It wasn?t until 2014 that Boko Haram was added to the list after 276 girls were abducted in the middle of the night from their school dormitory (some escaped in events following but 219 remain missing). The abductions started a worldwide outcry.

In the years since Boko Haram has killed thousands of Nigerians in mass gatherings of people such as markets and refugee camps using suicide bombers.

Boko Haram has sold at least 2,000 women and girls into sex slavery, and burned down countless villages and churches displacing 1.6 million people.

What's the difference between Boko Haram/ ISIS and colonists/ imperialists?

The only difference is we can acknowledge one's ?pure evil? nature and hold them accountable and the other we DON'T! We will continue to live in a society with deception, greed, and terror, that was built on deception, greed, and terror.

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Straight,NoChaser Pi ctures of Fai th

By Patrice Lockert Anthony I am a Christian. I?m leading with that statement because I know what I?m going to say will alarm some other Christians. Indeed, it will so alarm some that they will seek to vilify the author, and discredit the author?s words. They may want to accuse this author of being a heathen, or evil even, someone who?s just making it up to send a message.

None of those things will be true, of course. In fact, what I?m writing about in this column is to point out someone else?s "made up? message. None of the paintings which depict the image of Christ are accurate. None of them are an honest depiction of Jesus based on descriptions given in the Bible.

The Bible is the book for Christendom. The depictions of Christ we see with the pale skin, blue eyes, long straight hair and slender physique are straight out of the Renaissance. And the dominant societies of the time (militarily and economically) made it manifest. But it?s a lie. It is an arrogance of false superiority perpetrated against not only non white human beings, but also against the Holy Trinity.

History, logic, and the Bible itself are evidence of the lie. It could not be true when put up against the realities of the time in which Jesus lived. It cannot be true when weighed against the evidence of birth, religion, and lifestyle.

Often I?ve heard people and churches alike talk about Bible- based faith. Then I look up and around and I see these paintings, these pictures of a man who does not resemble the savior. I see them and I wonder how deep the illness of race superiority goes that people who profess to love the Lord and be faithful to the Bible would deviate from the same Bible where it describes Jesus?s hair as being like wool.

Jesus was a carpenter who walked everywhere in a hot land, and a Jew who was embedded in the clothing and hair grooming of his time. He wouldn?t have clipped his beard evenly. Jesus, as a carpenter, probably wore his hair short. As a pedestrian in a hot land, it is highly unlikely that Jesus had anything except a dark, swarthy skin. It is also unlikely that Jesus, as a carpenter, wore long flowing robes, or looked slender. All of those changes were made by painters who because of race- prejudice could not conceive of the Son of God looking like anything other than themselves.

In faith~

For the record, no carpenter of Jesus?s time could have looked as the paintings depict.

There was no mechanization, no trucks, etc. It was hard, back- breaking, muscle- building, sweaty labor- intensive, physical work. They had to peel bark, make all the cuts, and transport the wood mostly by hand (with the assistance of animals). They didn?t have 2x4s and 4x8s being delivered to them. When you engage in that kind of work, your musculature "expands? to represent the work you do. In other words, carpenters would have had thick, ropy, muscles, broad shoulders, probably thick thighs and calves, and bulked waists and abdominal muscles. It would have been necessary to accomplish the work.

So why the white washing in Hollywood and in churches alike? Race- prejudice and a horribly flawed sense of self plays into it.

Many would argue that what Jesus looked like doesn?t and shouldn?t matter. It is who he was and is that matters. For over two thousand years whites have argued without words, that it does matter (then and now). In churches and on movie screens everywhere, Christ looks like the paintings. If it doesn?t matter, why are they willing to go against their faith and the Bible to make sure Jesus looks like them?

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W hoW ill SurviveAmerica?

Loreal JuanaBarnell-Tsingine Loreal Tsingine was a 27-year-old cist Navajo woman who was shot and killed by police on March 27, 2016 in Winslow, Arizona. Winslow police got a call about a shoplifter at a local connivance store.

Tsingine was spotted several blocks away and supposedly fit a description. When police approached Tsingine they claimed that she threaten them with a pair of scissors. No witnesses saw Tsingine brandish anything at police. Tsingine was then shot five times by police.

KeyonnaBlakeney Keyonna Blankeney was a 22-year-old Black trans woman who was killed on April 16, 2016 in Rockville, Maryland. Blakeney was found dead with trauma to the upper body at the Red Roof Inn. She is at least the ninth trans person who has been murdered this year. In Montgomery County, she is at least the second trans person to have been killed within seven months. Zella Ziona was also killed in Montgomery Countyin October of 2015.

ShanteThompson Shante Thompson was a 34-year-old Black trans woman who was shot and killed on April 10, 2016 in Houston, Texas. Witnesses say Thompson and 33-year-old cist man Willie Sims were approached by a group of eight people armed with various weapons. The two were then brutally beaten in the street, Sims was stabbed to death and Thompson was shot. Police have since arrested 23-year-old Tariq Lackings in connection with the killings. Thompson is at least the eighth trans person who has been murdered this year.

Rest InPower 19

TRACKTHE MO VEMENT April,2016 # NoDAP

# BLMTentCity

In North Dakota over 200 Native people from various nations road on horseback on April 1st to protest the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline, which would cut across the Missouri River and into Indigenous burial grounds, will contaminate the river and desecrate lands sacred to the Lakota Sioux Nation. The Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux, and Rosebud Sioux Nations road together from the Tribal Administration Building to Cannonball, North Dakota. The Missouri River is an important source of water for the reservation. Dakota Access is currently waiting on a permit to proceed with the pipeline.

Black Lives Matter Toronto made headlines when they staged a massive occupation of the Toronto Police Service headquarters for two weeks from March 20th to April 1st. Following the lack of charges against the police officer who shot and killed Andrew Loku in 2015 and the refusal of the Ontario Special Investigations Unit to release the name of that officer, BLMTO released a list of demands calling for police accountability. In addition to the release of the identity of the officer involved in the shooting, BLMTO also demanded release of name of the officer involved in the 2014 death of Jermaine Carby.

Despite efforts break up the encampments at #TentCity, thousands of protesters resisted. Indigenous groups also stood in solidarity with #tentcity in what was a very successful action.

# JusticeForJamar

# VivasNosQueremos

The non- indictment of the two officers involved in the murder of Jamar Clark was released early this March. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis March 31st in response to the non- indictment. Several hundred marched from Elliot Park to the Hennepin County Government Center where a downtown rally was organized. Officers in riot gear oversaw the action. Minneapolis Black Lives Matter protesters are determined to continue seeking justice for Jamar and all others who fall victim to the policing state.

Thousands of woman gathered in Mexico City on April 24th to protest the increasing number of femicides and sexual violence in Mexico. The protest began as a social media campaign bringing awareness to sexual violence using hashtags such as #NoEsNo, #NoMasViolencia, #VivasNosQuermos, and #24A. Protesters also shared stories in the street and on social media about their first harassment #MiPrimerAcoso. Women were empowered to take back their voices and conduct their own independent reporting of sexual harassment when media and law enforcement continue to victim blame. There have been a series of recent mass mobilizations against femicieds in Mexico that began with International Woman's Day.

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Special thankstoour contributing writers Umeek Adams Patrice Lockert-Anthony Jie Wu Bud Gankhuyag Dubian Ade

THE DECOLONIZER gives a special thanks to @DecolonizingMedia for their continued coverage on issues regarding # indigenousliberation and for their righteous use of images. Their work continues to influence THE DECOLONIZER. Check out their work at http:/ / decolonizingmedia.tumblr.com/

Call For Submissions Do you have something to say with regards to race, class, gender, sexuality, and its intersections with colonialism today? Do you have something to say with regards to these intersections in the Ithaca community? Then we want YOU to write for THE DECOLONIZER! Please send all submissions to thedecolonizernewsletter@gmail.com. As always, poetry is welcomed.

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