#decolonial

[catsonjas]

think a lot of people on tumblr need to hear this, cause many have lost the plot on many of these different conversations that all inherently have connections.

[songs-of-the-east]

Historical Solidarity between Socialist countries like Yugoslavia and Poland with decolonizing countries in Africa

In the early weeks of 1961, news broke that sent a jolt through much of the decolonizing world: Patrice Lumumba, the Republic of the Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister, had been executed. Lumumba had become a powerful symbol of African independence after he led Congo to liberation from Belgian colonial rule in June 1960. But his time in office was short lived. Just months into independence, he was deposed in a coup backed by internal rivals and western powers. Captured and handed over to secessionist forces in Katanga with the complicity of Belgian authorities, Lumumba was killed on January 17, 1961.

His death was met with outrage in Socialist nations. In Yugoslavia, anger exploded into the streets. In Belgrade, a crowd estimated at 150,000 gathered to condemn what they saw as a brutal act of neo-colonial interference. Chanting slogans and carrying placards that read “Glory to Lumumba; Death to Colonialism,” the protestors marched with growing intensity. Clashes with police erupted, culminating in the storming and looting of the Belgian embassy. The protests were not isolated to the capital, they spread to other cities as well, with Congolese students studying in Yugoslavia joining in. That same year, Belgrade’s new student dormitory was named in Lumumba’s honor.

Other Socialists countries experienced similar reactions. In Poland on February 14th, 1961, the Belgian embassy was met with riots, when around a thousand students (mostly from the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute), gathered outside and chanted slogans, denouncing Belgium as responsible for Lumumba’s death. Polish authorities, far from suppressing the unrest, appeared to welcome the public outrage. Government officials issued statements condemning Belgium, and state-run newspapers published fierce denunciations of “imperialists” and “colonial murderers.” While Premier Jozef Cyrankiewicz even sent an official telegram of condolence to Congolese rebel leader Antoine Gizenga, recognizing him as the legitimate vice premier of the Congo. The night after that protestors stormed the embassy destroying it and covering Belgian officials with crimson paint.

Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Lumumba’s assassination was not just seen as the silencing of a leader, but was also interpreted as an attack on the very idea of self-determination. His legacy ignited mass mobilizations, symbolic acts of remembrance, and a wave of anti-colonial solidarity.

[lachrymalhaze]

another stance of mine I'll make loud and clear here on my blog since I interact with a lot of trans content and tumblr occasionally puts stupid shit up on my algorithm:

"TMA/TME" terms are bigoted, useless, intersexist, straight up racist, and I can't believe they're still being unironically thrown around the damn net.

(this post's experiences are also centered in the usa)

Okay. Now that we've got that out of the way: I keep seeing blogs apply "TME" (transmisogyny exempt) to transmasculine people, sapphics in general, butches in general, and cis women.

Oh brother.

Some of you fuckers have incredibly narrow world views, tunnel-vision life experiences, no diversity in your family or friendship groups, no diversity in your social media followings, and boy does it SHOW. It shows. It shooooows. It's a quick block from me and a fast assumption you're white as hell and have a white as hell circle if you throw that shit around willy nilly. Decolonization also means deconstructing such binaries like this: that a "trans's woman's issue" is "only hers" and could only ever affect her. It's not that simple.

A couple of important points.

-) Transmisogyny often affects transmasculine people (trans men included!) because of the hypervisibility of transfeminine people. Medically is where it shows at its worst in my experience. If you spend any time at all listening to trans men talk about trying to get medical care, deal with insurance, get medications, deal with legality around name changes et cetera, you'll find that a LOT of instances revolve around people writ large assuming we are transitioning the other way around (masc to fem, rather than fem to masc), even if they see an F birth marker and see/hear you are taking T.

I'm not going to explain to you in depth at the moment how this means medical discrimination or medical care denial and other headaches for transmasculine people whether by well intentioned individuals or not. look it up. the tldr is we are still treated and seen as women in hospitals, and simultaneously, we are seen and acknowledged as trans and there is hostility in that. People are very uncomfortable with it. Baddies in red states especially I'm sure know what I'm talking about.

-) Many of us start out looking androgynous, do not pass, or stay looking androgynous, or simply cannot pass even if that's the desire or goal.

Not to mention feminine dressing trans men, and black and brown trans men. People on the street don't see a visibly trans person and instantly assume they're a man (or a man worthy of respect) and afford them respect, either. Facial hair and muscles or no. That's made up in your fucking heads. We get stopped on the street by cis men and harassed about if we are "real females." We are at risk of being hate crimed. Pay attention.

-) GNC people, black cis women, cis women of color, indigenous cis women, cis women with PCOS, cis women who for any reason appear unconventional, effeminate gay men, drag queens who are men, boys who grow up in homophobic and transphobic environments expressing feminine presentations, butch women, butch lesbians of all kinds, masculine presenting women, ET CETERA.

...are all at risk of transvestigation and violence thereof. Of being accused of either: "not being a real woman", "trying too hard to be a woman", "being a fake man", "being a sissy", et cetera. And there's a word for that. It's called transmisogyny. Homophobia, lesbophobia, racism, and transmisogyny are inherently intertwined. They aren't inseparably unique units.

And more of you would do well to remember this when you post walls of text that honestly doesn't mean anything at all, aren't grounded in any real lived experiences, real community or real identity, outside of "hurt feelings, I want to be valid and I want to be the most oppressed." Yes, not every person experiences transmisogyny by default, but MANY, many people who are not inherently trans women (or not exclusively) are at risk of experiencing transmisogyny and other forms of violence and abuse, femicide and hate crimes linked to how much of a "real man or woman" they are perceived as.

And anyone could experience (systemic) transmisogyny at any time if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing accosted by the wrong, vapid, malicious fucking cunt, someone who wanted to weaponize laws against them for their own gain, hurt them badly or otherwise, even if they were the whitest most feminine perisex cis woman you ever saw. Texas's newest bathroom is a prime example of this kind of fuckery.

Pay. Attention.

Stop arguing over "who is exempt" and "how exempt" and start asking "how many people are affected" and "who is the most at risk" (the answer is MOST OFTEN black trans women and men and intersex people. The answer is an incredibly long list of marginalized identities. The answer is a growing list. The answer is intersectional.) "how do we empower them" "how do we protect them" "how do we empower them to protect themselves long term" "how can I use my specific privileges wherein I dont have (as much of an issue or issue) to keep my friends safe/r" et cetera.

This post is NOT for hatred for trans women/fems either and if anyone reblogs it who's hateful towards trans women you can get impaled on eleven thousand spikes. This post is intended to raise awareness around transmisogyny as a widespread issue and that "exempt" is a chronically online concept.

We keep losing people in our community. Fucking pay attention. Protect trans life.

[ameeraljinn]

What… is Talia even wearing here?? 😭

This is supposed to be Talia al Ghul in disguise btw.

But look at it face veil, head covering, exposed midriff, tight dancer outfit. This is not a real outfit 😭

It’s basically veil + belly dancer costume + “desert princess” aesthetic.

A Western fantasy of Arab womanhood.

And this comes from something called Orientalism.

Orientalism turns “the East” into exotic, sensual, mysterious instead of specific, real, lived cultures.

So instead of representation, you get “vibes.” And those vibes are almost always sexy, dangerous and other.

And it matters because Talia is supposed to be a politically aware strategist, controlled and powerful but visually she’s framed as seductive, exotic, not a person but a fantasy.

They want her to be intelligent and dangerous, but they present her through a stereotype.

That contradiction happens constantly with Arab characters.

Also I’m crying because Batman recognizes her through lines like:

“her movements… unmistakably graceful…”

Sir. She is dressed like a walking stereotype 😭

And this isn’t just about Talia either.

Arab characters in media repeatedly get reduced to assassin, terrorist, or exotic figures. This is done over and over again.

Media scholar Jack Shaheen talked about how Arabs in Western media are often reduced to variations of the “bomber, belly dancer, or billionaire” stereotype.

And the wild part is… the Al Ghuls basically hit all three.

billionaire -> global elite, controlling resources

bomber → League of Assassins / terrorism-coded violence

belly dancer → Talia dressed like… this

So even when you think you’re getting a “complex” Arab character, they’re often still built from the same stereotypes.

Arab identity is not a costume. It’s cultural, historical, regional, linguistic, and deeply diverse. And it absolutely does not look like a belly dancer outfit from a 70s comic.

You can write Talia as powerful without turning her into an Orientalist fantasy. We deserve Arab characters who feel like actual people.

And even the dialogue reinforces the framing:

“serving girl” “fluid as quicksilver… unmistakably graceful”

Even the narration objectifies her.

Her body = visual spectacle Her movement = sensual performance Her identity = secondary to fantasy

[queercodedangel]

That moment when the "natural" system actually requires constant social, legal and political force to constitute and maintain itself

🗣

[letter2bledi]

The audacity

To display sacred objects ritual masks, ancestral symbols, vessels of meaning as mere “art.” To take what was once living, breathing culture and lock it behind glass, stripped of its voice, its people, its purpose.

These masks were never meant to be static. They danced, they healed, they connected worlds. And yet, here they are coldly lit, catalogued, consumed. The legacy of the Dakar-Djibouti mission and so many others like it, theft disguised as discovery, violence wrapped in curiosity.

It’s infuriating to see pieces of our spiritual lives treated as trophies of empire, while their true homes still ache with absence. These objects don’t belong in museum basements, they belong in ceremonies, in communities, in continuity.

The audacity, indeed. And the least we deserve is restitution not as charity, but as justice.

[isabellascarlett1]

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Your reminders that:

- There’s no Queer Liberation without decolonization

- There’s no Indigenous Liberation without Palestinian Liberation

- There’s no Environmental Justice without land back

- And fuck Christopher Columbus

[hussyknee]

The concept of time is culturally constructed.

(Please give the original video your views.)

Edit: Post locked because someone else pointed out that the tendency to monolithize and generalize the diverse cultures of the African continent as "African culture" is rooted in white supremacy, and the tendency to mythologize it as purely oppositional to "Western" thought is another iteration of the Noble Savage concept. Therefore the framing of these discourses are antithetical to decolonisation. But still, do watch the video and then watch the linked criticism. I didn't want to take the chance that the first one would take off without the counterpoint of the second.