BOOK OF THE MONTH: THE DARKER NATIONS

The Darker Nations (via amazon.com)

Spanning every continent of the global South, Vijay Prashad’s fascinating narrative takes us from the birth of postcolonial nations after World War II to the downfall and corruption of nationalist regimes. A breakthrough book of cutting-edge scholarship, it includes vivid portraits of Third World giants like India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser, and Indonesia's Sukarno—as well as scores of extraordinary but now-forgotten intellectuals, artists, and freedom fighters. The Darker Nations restores to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World, whose demise, Prashad ultimately argues, has produced a much impoverished international political arena.

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Decolonizing Culture

THE DECOLONIZER
November 2015

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BRIEF HISTORIES: THE NEW JEWEL MOVEMENT (GRENADA)

by Dubian Ade

via berniegrantarchive.org

The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation group (NEW JEWEL) was established in March of 1973 in response to the deplorable economic conditions under Eric Gairy's neocolonial administration and Gairy's increasing corruption within the government. Gairy had been pushing an agenda for Grenadian independence and began talks with the British Crown as early as 1970. Gairy had intentionally excluded the Grenadian people from the negotiations.

Gairy had first come to prominence as the founder of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP). Under the GULP ticket, Gairy had won the election of 1951 and was elected to leader of the Grenadian assembly. Gairy had become the first Black Grenadian to hold that office.

Gairy's tenure as leader of the assembly was marked with serious corruption. So much so that in 1962 the British colonial administration intervened in Grenada to schedule new elections. Gairy was defeated by Hurbert Blaize but was reelected to leader of the assembly in 1967 after economic conditions failed to improve. Grenada was granted its independence on February 7th 1974 after more than two centuries of British rule. Gairy had become the country's first prime minister.

HOW TO'S: HOW TO MAKE A RADICAL NEWS PAPER

The Black Panther (via Bobbyseale.com)

Newspapers are very important tools for building movements. They can be used to distribute information, provide first hand reporting, offer an alternative to mainstream news coverage, and be a platform for voicing the concerns of the movement. The best newspapers can also mobilize the people around particular issues, challenge mainstream news coverage of the movement, educate, and be a space where the marginalized are centered and have a voice. News papers can also be a source of income for the movement. For example, the Black Panther Party For Self-Defense used sales from The Black Panther to fund bail money for members that were in jail and covered legal expenses. Newspapers are the best way to keep the people up to date with the movement, mobilize support, and most importantly, politicize the people.

Step 1: What Are Your Politics?

What do you stand for? What does the movement stand for? What is the movement fighting for? The answer to these questions will determine the politics of your newspaper and the lens that you are working with. Say your newspaper is explicitly feminist. Then the content and the issues addressed in the newspaper will have a feminist lean. The politics of your newspaper will influence every other aspect of your publication.

STRAIGHT, NO CHASER: THE CRUCIBLE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER

by Patrice Lockert Anthony

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must someday die,
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.
Inscrutable His ways are, and immune
To catechism by a mind too strewn
With petty cares to slightly understand
What awful brain compels His awful hand.
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black, and bid him sing! 

"Yet I Do Marvel" by Countee Cullen (1925)

The Black Lives Matter movement has met with a number of assaults. None of which is more curious to me, or more pernicious by nature, than the "go to" charge of "all lives matter" as a counter response. The "all lives matter" movement, within the context of its response to the "Black Lives Matter" movement is a subversive counterpoint to the inconvenience of truth telling. It is inconvenient to spend time, money, thought, energy, et cetera on the meanings and truths behind the egregious loss of black lives in a nation that refuses to hold itself accountable at individual, organizational, or societal levels.

This is what's at the heart of Countee Cullen's poem, "Yet I Do Marvel." To be pressed at the level of faith/belief in something that you've fought for, died for, celebrated, defended, and then to be left to wonder how that thing which you so honor could set you up for such unconscionable, unbearable pain of heart wrenching, soul destroying bias. It is a conundrum, to be sure, to live in a country which makes such full use of your sweat, imagination, and brilliance, only to turn around and beat you up, and down, with a foot on necks while refusing to acknowledge self-evident truths.

REST IN POWER, AMANCAY DIANA SACAYAN

via chacodiapordia.com

40 year old trans woman and prominent Argentinean LGBT rights activist Amancay Diana Sacayan was assassinated in her Buenos Aries apartment on October 13th. Sacayan was the Co-Leader of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA) and an outspoken champion of LGBT rights in Latin America. She was also the director of Argentina's Anti-Discrimination Liberation Movement (MAL). Well known and revered in Latin America, in 2012 Sacayan was personally presented with her corrected national identity card confirming the legal status of her name and gender by Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez. Sacayan is now the third trans woman killed in Argentina within a two month period.

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The Newsfeed

THE DECOLONIZER
November 2015

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WHAT IS THE DECOLONIZER?

THE DECOLONIZER is not the one

THE DECOLONIZER is not to be played with

THE DECOLONIZER is not to be trolled at

THE DECOLONIZER is not to be trifled with

THE DECOLONIZER will strike back

THE DECOLONIZER cannot be infiltrated

THE DECOLONIZER cannot be white

THE DECOLONIZER cannot be colonized

THE DECOLONIZER refuses to be brutalized

THE DECOLONIZER refuses to cooperate

THE DECOLONIZER refuses to be dominated

THE DECOLONIZER refuses to be sexualized

THE DECOLONIZER refuses to be mis-gendered

THE DECOLONIZER refuses to die

THE DECOLONIZER does not negotiate with white supremacists

THE DECOLONIZER does not negotiate with patriarchy

THE DECOLONIZER does not turn the other cheek

THE DECOLONIZER will fight for freedom

THE DECOLONIZER is revolution

THE DECOLONIZER is the tipping point

THE DECOLONIZER is the last stand

THE DECOLONIZER is the back against the wall

THE DECOLONIZER is the fist in the air

THE DECOLONIZER is nothing less

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What is THE DECOLONIZER?

THE DECOLONIZER
November 2015

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THE DECOLONIZER, NOVEMBER 2015

THE DECOLONIZER, November 2015

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THE DECOLONIZER gives a special thanks to @DecolonizeMedia 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/