Liminal Space

Wow

I can’t believe that last post I wrote was hijacked by white people yet again. If you don’t know, their wonderfully original critique rests on the implication that I’m angry and assume the worst about white people’s intentions because I called them racist and dehumanising. Let me make clear - yes, I do assume that white people always have racist and dehumanising intentions. And no, I don’t give a shit about your hurt feelings or you.

Can I make it clear enough? White people are NOT welcome to follow my blog or reblog my posts or join in any conversation that I initiate. You are not welcome to pollute any of our spaces with your toxicity. This is a racist-free zone.

Thanks for the proper replies from my mutual followers though. I’ll respond to you once I get the chance, cos I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. Unfortunately a deadline is looming and I have to get off tumblr for a while. I’ll be back though. Much love

I’m thinking of how best to word this, because last time I criticised First World PoC, that was reblogged by a white asshole trying to derail and minimise racism towards First World PoC. So here’s a general disclaimer - I hate white supremacy and I’m completely on the side of PoC everywhere experiencing racism. I am living in the UK so I know exactly how it feels.

BUT we have to start talking about First World privilege and imperialist attitudes amongst diasporic PoC, at least amongst diasporic South Asians (since I don’t know about other PoC groups).

One small example, because this meme has been going around in a lot of comic skits making fun of white racists - the idea that it is (extremely) offensive when someone asks you where you’re from. Yes, the white person has a racist and dehumanising intention - they always do.

But 90% of the time I sense that the offence is more to do with the implication that you are the same as the Third World people you so look down upon. You’re offended that the white person has implied that you’re not a ~real~ American/British person/whatever and therefore you’re not human, and you’ve already swallowed the idea that non-Americans/non-First World people aren’t really human. So clearly it is offensive if someone mistakes you for a person from the Third World.

The analogy that works for me is a straight person getting offended when someone mistakenly thinks they’re gay. When this happens, it’s obvious that this is an expression of the straight person’s homophobia and not a problem with the person who mistook their sexuality. Because there’s nothing wrong with being gay, so nothing offensive about someone implying you are.

So can someone explain this to me? What is so offensive about someone (mistakenly) implying that you - First World diasporic PoC - might come from the Third World?

nowinexile:

“Neighbors gathered on the roof of a family’s home in Gaza, hoping Israeli pilots would refrain from bombing the house once they saw the number of people on the roof. Israeli pilots bombed the house just now, committing a massacre. In Gaza solidarity means offering your own body to protect your neighbor’s house because your body is your last and your only line of defense. These are the people of Palestine.” - Mahmoud Mroueh

hummussexual:

The Deceased from Day One of Israel’s Latest Offensive Against Gaza

In the first day of Israel’s latest offensive against the Gaza Strip, the following twenty-four Palestinians were killed:

1. Rashad Yassin
Killed in the first wave of air strikes after a destroyed house collapsed on him in central Gaza Strip

2. Muhammad Shaaban
Killed with victims #3 and #4 as they drove a civilian car through the center of Gaza City

3. Amjad Shaaban
Killed with victims #2 and #4 as they drove a civilian car through the center of Gaza City

4. Khader Abu Jabal
Killed with victims #2 and #3 as they drove a civilian car through the center of Gaza City

5. Abdullah Kaware
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

6. Mohammad Ashour, child, aged 13
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

7. Riyadh Kaware
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

8. Mahmoud Judeh
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

9. Bakir Mahmoud Judeh
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

10. Ammar Mohammad Judeh
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

11. Hussein Mohammad Kaware, child, aged 14
Killed after locals gathered on the roof to act as a human shield to keep Israel from targeting the house in Khan Younis

12. Siraj Iyad Al-Abdel, child, aged 8
Succumbed to his wounds shortly after the Kaware family’s house was bombed earlier in the day

13. Unidentified, child
Killed in an air strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City

14. Suleiman Salman Abu Al-Sawaween
Killed in an air strike just north of Khan Younis

15. Ahmad Moussa Habib
Killed with victim #16 by an air strike launched against a motorized tricycle in Gaza City

16. Ahmad Ahed Habib
Killed with victim #15 by an air strike launched against a motorized tricycle in Gaza City

17. Fakhri Saleh Ajjouri
Killed by an air strike targeting a motorcycle in the northern Gaza Strip

18. Hafiz Mohammed Hamad
Killed while at his home surrounded by his family, victims #19-#23, in Beit Hanoun

19. Ibrahim Mohammed Hamad
Killed by an Israeli air strike on his home in Beit Hanoun

20. Mahdi Mohammad Hamad
Killed by an Israeli air strike on his home in Beit Hanoun

21. Fawzia Khalil Hamad
Killed by an Israeli air strike on her home in Beit Hanoun

22. Mehdi Hamad, child, aged 16
Killed by an Israeli air strike on his home in Beit Hanoun

23. Suha Hamad
Killed by an Israeli air strike on her home in Beit Hanoun

24. Unidentified
Killed in an Israeli air strike and confirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health

This list of deaths is corroborated by printed news as well as details made public by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel officially commenced its latest offensive against the Gaza Strip — “Operation Protective Edge” — on July 8, 2014. Israel killed an average of one Palestinian per hour. There are no reported Israeli casualties.

So sad for Brazil right now… I wish Colombia could’ve loaned them James to make up for what they did to Neymar. Why aren’t we allowed to do that again? Colombia y Brazil = países hermanos.

Argentina had better win this World Cup.

shitrichcollegekidssay:

justsomeantifas:

Hello, I’m the person who asked about your view on Anti-Theism, and…I’m really confused? Your response seems unprofessional and kind of rude… How is anti-theism a ‘hobby for assholes’? Religion has been used as a means to oppress since the beginning of time. It’s a way to control, to discriminate. Racism/sexism/political hierarchy is basically built into every mainstream religion and is very, very often cited to back up similar political ideas.

They’re almost always the leaders and/or creators of oppressive organizations and perpetrators of harmful propaganda in media.

Is it possible to defend and raise up oppressed people while also working towards the slow dismantling of their religions? And to say that these religions are *NOT* inherently sexist/homophobic is to be ignorant. Nearly every religion is this way and has acted upon these beliefs. You can’t just separate the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ religious people. A nun handing out food to the homeless is just as homophobic and sexist as a member of the westboro baptist church, because, after all, they read from the same text and that text is homophobic and sexist.

The same with any muslim, wiccan or jewish person. Their base texts and beliefs surround transphobia, misogyny and homophobia. You can HAVE culture without religion! You can celebrate any religious holiday and not be of that faith, if it’s a part of your history/culture!

I’m just really confused as to why you would think Anti-Theism is a ‘hobby for assholes’. It makes me think you don’t…know what it is? Or that you don’t view religion as oppressive? I would venture the latter and then ask, why don’t you? All it takes is a quick Google search to solidify such beliefs. (Such as ‘misogyny quran’ or ‘homophobia bible’, and then to search maybe ‘religious wars/murders/beheadings/sexual assault’)

I don’t want to come off as ignorant, I’m just trying to understand your POV, especially since I love this blog so much. (I spent about an hour writing this and going over it, just making sure I’m not being rude or ignorant and im sorry if I messed up.)

Thank you.

Honestly, one of the grossest well-intentioned messages I have ever received. Am I supposed to couch my words in academese? You seem to veer pretty closely into tone-policing. Do not dismiss my anger and frankness as incoherent. What I wrote is still true. Antitheism is profoundly violent, colonialist, and white supremacist. This is white feminist drivel:

“Free the oppressed savages from themselves!!!”

I’m tired of it. You do not understand the ways in which our ways of knowledge and believes are deeply intrinsic to our cultures. Yet you seek to erase them without the barest understanding.

You generalize mainstream religions, as if you can erase thousands of years of difference in billions of peoples’ lives, and then go on to generalize all religion. You analyze western culture, white supremacy, whiteness. And then apply those judgement to our own. This is a literally a “You know nothing, John Snow”. Straight up, ‘splaining: a perfect intersection of arrogance, confidence, and ignorance.

Is it possible that we don’t need you to free us? Is it possible that we are, and have been addressing system issues in our communities? I don’t know how many times I have to repeat that if you are not a part of that community you do not get a word. It is not your work to do. It is not your critique to make. Just as if you are white, you have no say in what racism is. You claim I ignorant, as I sit here: my ancestors chopped up and fed to dogs when women, ‘homosexuals’ and ‘gender-diverse’ people were always an important part of our beliefs. Of our communities. Of our cultures. It is profoundly sickening. It is profoundly insulting. A nun handing out food to the homeless is literally a fucking nun handing out food TO THE HOMELESS. What kind of false equivalence even is this?

You lump in Islam, Wicca, Judaism. I am almost shocked with rage. These are not the same. These are not the same. Each one has issues in its communities unique to them. These are not the same. Your assertions are egregious.

We can have culture without religion. Are you aware that’s not always the case? Did anyone ask you? Are you aware that we are aware of that? Did you know that right now we have atheists in our communities? Do you understand that our beliefs, our understandings of reality, our ways of knowledge and knowing are often inseparable from our culture?

This message makes me think you don’t…know anything about us. That tens of thousands of years of what we are should be dismissed merely because you deem your ways better. Congratulations, this is alignment with white supremacy.

All it takes is a quick Google search to begin to understand this. All it takes is a quick Google search to begin to see how varied religion is, and that you generalizing like this is erasure. This is in many ways the same violence that has been wrought on our communities and continues to be perpetrated.

If you are an anti-theist or apologist for this sordid bigotry, please do me the consideration of getting the fuck away from me.

Keffiyeh F.A.Q. Part 2

thisisnotarab:

Keffiyeh F.A.Q. Part 1 (answered by the lovely Iman)

1. I’m a convert/revert to Islam, can I wear the keffiyeh?

• The keffiyeh does not belong to a religion. The keffiyeh is not a Muslim or Islamic symbol. The keffiyeh is Arab. It is worn by Arab Christians, Arab Jews, Arab Muslims, and Arab whatever they believe in. So, unless you’re at a rally or protest or function in support of the Arab people, no, you can’t wear it. 

2. I bought a keffiyeh from an Arab source or seller, can I wear it?

• I could buy a whole package of bindis from an Indian merchant, but that would not give me the right to wear them. So, unless you’re at a rally or protest or function in support of the Arab people, no, you can’t wear it. 

3. I’m a non-Arab married to an Arab, is it okay to wear it?

• See above… or, I don’t know, ask your spouse.

Look, at the end of the day, a non-Arab can take off the keffiyeh and go back to their normal life. An Arab/Middle-Easterner takes off the keffiyeh and they are still seen as a “terrorist” or “heathen” or “Al Qaeda.”

The keffiyeh is not just a part of our culture. The keffiyeh is used to protect our faces from the tear gas thrown at us. The keffiyeh is used to wipe the blood from the wounds inflicted by our oppressors. The keffiyeh is used to dry the tears of the hundreds of thousands of mothers and fathers and sons and daughters as they cradle their deceased loved ones. The keffiyeh is used to send a message that we are fighting every day just to exist. The keffiyeh is used as a shield against the battle faced in the form colonialism, dictatorships, violence, and oppression.

Don’t sully our existence by wearing it around your neck just to stand out.

»Nadeen