Decolonization Quotes

“Do you know why people like me are shy about being capitalists? Well, its because we, for as long as we have known you, were capital, like bales of cotton and sacks of sugar, and you were commanding, cruel capitalists, and the memory of this so strong, the experience so recent, that we can't quite bring ourselves to embrace this idea that you think so much of. As for hat we were like before we met you, I no longer care. No periods of time over which my ancestors held sway, no documentation of complex civilisations, is any comfort to me. Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to me, what I became after I met you.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place

“Always remember that the people are not fighting for ideas, nor for what is in men’s minds. The people fight and accept the sacrifices demanded by the struggle in order to gain material advantages, to live better and in peace, to benefit from progress, and for the better future of their children. National liberation, the struggle against colonialism, the construction of peace, progress and independence are hollow words devoid of any significance unless they can be translated into a real improvement of living conditions.”
― Amílcar Cabral, Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amílcar Cabral

“The act of writing, it seems to me, makes up a shelter, allows space to what would otherwise be hidden, crossed out, mutilated. Sometimes writing can work toward a reparation, making a sheltering space for the mind. Yet it feeds off ruptures, tears in what might otherwise seem a seamless, oppressive fabric.”
― Meena Alexander, The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial Experience

“A trip to a Central American jungle to watch how Indians behave near a bridge won't make you see either the jungle or the bridge or the Indians if you believe that the civilization you were born into is the only one that counts. Go and look around with the idea that everything you learned in school and college is wrong.”
― B. Traven, The Bridge in the Jungle

“Our minds must be as ready to move as capital is, to trace its paths and to imagine alternative destinations.”
― Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity

“As far as historic records are concerned,
the religion of violence is christianity,
the government of violence is america,
the kingdom of violence is britain.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“My first language is English,
my second language is Turkish,
my third language is Spanish.

English is my slave,
Spanish is my friend and brother,
and Turkish, my lover.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“When you name our African children European and Arab names, what you are simply telling them is that only European and Arab children have a place on this earth.”
― Dumisani Tafadzwa Mayele

“Jewish trauma gets special treatment because of its colonial propaganda value, while "extinction level" Indigenous Holocausts are swept under the carpet, never to become mainstream history.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“Earthright Song

[Verse 1]
Humanity comes from Africa,
no crown owns a single grain.
If you are not indigenous,
you are an immigrant.

The soil is older than every border,
older than flags and state decree.
Earth is property of no brute empire,
nor promised prize of manifest atrocity.

[Pre-Chorus]
No badge can baptize brutality,
no holy water can bleach blood stains -
the land remembers the salt of tears
of every people ever slain.

[Chorus]
Awake, Arise, Adopt the World -
tolerate no intolerance, no inequality.
Naskar ignites, all humans unite -
our world is our responsibility.

Awake, Arise, Adopt the World -
reason is braver than conspiracy.
From the river to the galaxy,
kindness is braver than cruelty.

[Verse 2]
Women are indigenous to their bodies,
Palestinians are native to their home.
Privilege cannot buy righteousness,
nor can blind faith redraw chromosome.

Happiness is not an imperial gift,
Freedom is not a colonial property.
Joy is not a nationalist bequest,
Earth is not a zionist charity.

When erasure becomes religion,
mutiny becomes our right.
Stars that burn for others,
wither in body, but live in light.

[Pre-Chorus]
Divide and rule, marks the animal,
unite and integrate, makes humankind.
We are stardust come alive -
unbent, unflinching, borderless mind.

[Chorus]
Awake, Arise, Adopt the World -
tolerate no dogma as divinity.
Naskar ignites, and borders collapse -
our world is our responsibility.

Awake, Arise, Adopt the World -
hope blooms where a human stands.
Till all of us are free, none of us are free -
we lift the globe with naked hands.

[Bridge]
From Palestine to Kashmir to America,
every land shall be humanized,
not by bullets and atom bombs,
but by atomic people against the lies.

Acts of terror by governments
are still terror all the same,
genocide wrapped in diplomacy
is just murder by another name.

[Final Chorus]
Awake, Arise, Adopt the World -
tolerate no hate, no inhumanity.
Naskar calls to the champions of choice,
service of humanity is practical divinity.

Till all of us are free,
none of us are free -
heart, brain and backbone,
are the real holy trinity.

[Outro]
Human is the bridge,
and bridge is the truth.
Nobody is undocumented,
on a planet built on loot.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Naskar Goes to Earth: Field Notes from A Planet of Apes

“Zionism is racism - Colonialism is cannibalism - Nationalism is terrorism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“In a world built on exploitation it is impossible to be human without being political - only the super rich apes, and farm animals can afford to stay neutral, in fact, if the livestock ever became political, the whole world would have to become vegetarian.

So let's be political full steam ahead, let's be human for a change, not just goodlooking monkeys, or good little livestock: Zionism is racism - Colonialism is cannibalism - Nationalism is terrorism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“This World is A Lie (Sonnet 3136/Song)

This world is a lie on top 'a lie on top 'a lie, oh!
All history is made up of a bunch of fake heroes.
Stripped homes 'n stole gold 'n burnt books, no scruples!
Years went by, tears ran dry, no remorse, no marrow.

Hate sold as holy, and fear sold as tradition.
Church built on erasure, by cannibals on a "mission".
Reich after reich after reich dressed as zion,
Trees are all empty for monkeys are in government.

Zion and zionism, not one, but different.
One thing to be Christlike 'n another to be Christian.
To each other we're promise, to each other we're medicine;
Shelter to each other, we're pilgrims on an island.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“In a colonised world, domination does not begin with the occupation of land. It begins with the occupation of appearance. The coloniser does not merely seize territory; they take control of the stage on which reality is presented. They reshape the world until conquest appears as civilisation, domination as order, extraction as development, violence as security, possession as legitimacy and power as virtue. He dresses himself as morality. He presents himself as civilisation. He presents himself as progress. He builds monuments, institutions, roads, churches, schools, parliaments, armies and cities that all silently proclaim the same message: 'We belong at the centre of the world.”
― Yamin Kogoya, The Papuans: Being Papuan and Papuan Being

“[Suspicious Things]

Among the things
I find suspicious,
and hold responsible
for the world's estrangement:
elegant suits,
evening gowns,
neckties,
wedding rings,
the briefcases
of diplomats
and businessmen,
money,
blue eyes,
blond hair...

22 January 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“[Wristwatches]

I opened the drawer of my desk,
the one where I keep old things,
and suddenly before my eyes
leapt wristwatches
whose batteries had died,
whose time had frozen still.

Watches once gifted to me
by teachers and friends
at different moments in my life —
tokens of praise for my diligence,
for my respect for time.
None of us imagined then
that time would one day stop for me,
that it would die of a heart attack,
and cease to matter at all
on the day my country was occupied and destroyed —
the day invaders from outside,
with the help of thieves from within,
burned or uprooted
everything beautiful in it.

Since that day,
I have refused to wear a wristwatch,
and I will not wear one again
until my people reclaim
their time and their dignity.

And when that day comes,
there will be no need for watches anyway.
Time itself will lose its meaning,
for I will have turned into a butterfly,
into a bird,
into a narcissus flower or an orange blossom —
or perhaps I will become
a white bloom on an apricot branch,
a spring that flows endlessly,
needing neither time nor timing.

In that same drawer of old things
I found pens whose ink had run dry,
lying there like mummified bodies,
just like the frozen time
inside those dead watches.

And in a moment of despair,
a feeling struck me like lightning,
leaving behind a terrible, trembling question:

What if this is a wound
that no amount of time can heal,
and a cause
that all the ink in the world
cannot resolve?

February 5, 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“The myth of Eden and the idea of returning to it has destroyed more lives than any other myth. Eden was never lost. It was invented to explain our exile — the same optical illusion that has killed travellers in every desert on Earth: heat, light and thirst combine to create the mirage of water on the horizon, which always appears to be the same distance away, no matter how far the traveller walks towards it. A mirage is not a place. It is a symptom projected outward from the body’s desperation and mistaken for a destination.”
― Yamin Kogoya, THE GHOSTS OF EMPIRE: Religion, Memory and the Psycho-Cosmocide of the Human Cosmos

“[The Flower Seller of Arequipa]

On a refreshing spring evening,
while wandering through the city of Arequipa in Peru,
I met a young Venezuelan
in the heart of the city.
From his eyes,
his greeting,
and the kindness of his spirit,
I knew at once
that he was homeless, like me.
I knew he came
from one of those countries
to which they had done
what they did
to Iraq,
Syria,
Libya,
Yemen,
and the list goes on,
growing longer
and more painful.
After a long conversation,
in which we exchanged stories
about attempts to plunder our countries
and scatter us across the world,
we stopped before a Peruvian flower seller
who had spread her flowers
on a simple mat
along the pavement.
She was a woman
in her late forties,
perhaps younger.
Time, after all,
is harsher on those
who struggle
for every mouthful of food
and every sip of water.
I greeted her in Spanish
and, picking up a bouquet,
said jokingly:
“May I buy these
at the local price,
rather than the tourist price?”
The flower seller smiled.
And through my new Venezuelan friend,
who translated her words into English,
she replied:
“Flowers are beyond price,
dear visitor.
If poverty and injustice
did not exist
in my country
and in the world,
I would not sell flowers at all.
I would give them freely
to every passerby.
And that is precisely why
I sell them as cheaply as I can.
Not because flowers are cheap,
but because I believe
every human being
deserves a bouquet of flowers.”
Her words touched me deeply.
So I asked her
what flowers meant to her.
She answered
in a gentle voice:
“Flowers sadden me
as much as they delight me.
They sadden me
because I know
that most people in this world
are like flower buds,
stifled by circumstance,
never allowed to bloom.
And they delight me
because their fragrance endures,
even after our harsh hands
have cut them.
Flowers, like all that is precious,
are mortal.
They taught me
that mortality itself
is what makes natural beauty
so beautiful.”
Before I parted
from that kind flower seller,
she asked me in turn
why I loved flowers.
I said:
“I owe flowers
everything I know
and every step
I have taken in life.
And as an Iraqi,
I have always dreamed
that we might plant flowers
for one another
instead of landmines.”
At that,
she placed a bouquet
in my hands
and embraced me warmly.
I then gave the bouquet
to the kind Venezuelan guy,
and in my heart
cursed those responsible
for the impoverishment
and displacement
of millions
of good and gentle souls
throughout the world.
And I thanked fate
for a precious human moment
that could never have happened
without a love of flowers.

21 September 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“Jews are not the most dehumanized community in the world, muslims, native americans, and blacks are, yet antisemitism dominates all popular discourse on human rights, because that's the only little narrative where white people emerge as the good guys.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“[Politicians of the Global Slave Market]

To succeed as a politician
in the grand circus
of global political depravity,
one must be willing
to auction off
one's people
and the wealth of one's country
in the imperial marketplace
of human bargaining.
The hallmark
of such politicians
is the ability
to sell everything precious
in the name of honor,
everything sacred
in the name of principles,
and surrender itself
in the name of peace.
As for recognizing them,
nothing could be easier.
They are distinguished
by the absence of action.
Their entire vocabulary
consists of little more than
condemnation,
denunciation,
expressions of concern,
calls for restraint,
and carefully rehearsed appeals
for calm,
all intended
to keep victim
and oppressor
exactly where they are,
for as long as possible.

8 October 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“Jews are not the most dehumanized community in the world, muslims, native americans, and blacks are, yet antisemitism dominates all popular discourse on human rights, because that's the only little narrative where white people emerge as the good guys.

There's a universally recognized jewish holocaust remembrance day, and that's great, but I have just one question - where is the native american holocaust remembrance, where is the congo and kenyan holocaust remembrance, where is the palestinian holocaust remembrance, where is the punjab and bengal holocaust remembrance - all of which were far bloodier in scale than nazi follies, why is your history, memory, ethics, all so retarded!”
― Abhijit Naskar

“Diary of A Mad Polyglot
(Sonnet 3177-3178)

If you want to find out
if a language is beautiful,
don't listen to how the
pompous aristocrats speak,

listen to how ordinary people
on the streets speak -

that's why turkish is painfully romantic,
french is amorous, castellano is passionate,
german is disciplined, arabic is enigmatic,
persian is divinely mad, urdu is earthy,
whereas english is just useful,
mostly transactional.

English is the universal second language
of planet earth, nothing more - it's primarily
a language of convenience, not culture -
and this comes from a person who
once adopted the language out of love,
until he got disillusioned by history.

If left to me, I'd like to spend the rest
of my life writing only in turkish and spanish,
turkish as main canon, and spanish as complementary,

but that wouldn't do much for my mission on earth,
hence english is the main canon,
and turkish and spanish are supplementary.

But down boy, don't count it as a white victory yet!
Because mine is Naskarian English, not white english,
and it'll take many a restless nights to distinguish the two.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“English is the universal second language of planet earth, nothing more - it's primarily a language of convenience, not culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“If a white person is hyper-productive, he's a genius. If a colored person is hyper-productive, he's a fraud.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“Till White Man Verifies (Sonnet 3188)

If a "white man" cannot verify it,
is it really rational!
If a "white man" cannot verify it,
is it really poetry!

If a "white man" cannot verify it,
is it really philosophy!
If a "white man" cannot verify it,
is it really theology!

If a "white man" has no need for religion,
is there really any need for religion!
Once a "white man" declares his "true religion",
isn't it proof that all others are false!

Till a "white man" climbs the Everest,
do the Himalayas really exist!
If a "white man" cannot recognize genocide
outside one little white-friendly holocaust
narrative, did the genocides really happen!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“Till a “white man” climbs the Everest, do the Himalayas really exist!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“[A Shopping Mall and Bullet Holes]

While walking through the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
a country worn down and drained by the wars of the global elite, much like my own,
I reached a street corner
and noticed, on my right,
the vast building of a modern shopping mall.
On my left stood an old apartment block,
its walls riddled with bullet holes,
as though they were eyes
still bearing witness
to the senseless deaths that had unfolded there
in a war where the gunfire ceased,
yet neither its causes
nor the criminals behind it
ever truly disappeared,
remaining hidden,
like foul pus beneath a boil
that may burst
at the slightest awakening of consciousness.
And I wondered bitterly:
When will the world understand
that violence does not erupt by accident,
nor stumble into existence by chance?
In our age,
every violence is arranged in advance,
sanctioned by a small elite
that decides, with full intent,
that any people who refuse
the gospel of malls,
consumption,
and triviality,
must be disciplined
through the gratuitous death
of those who resist.
And that, at any cost,
the minds and souls
of the survivors
must be riddled with bullets as well.
At that same intersection,
I noticed an elderly woman.
Her hair was red,
and her eyes were deep and sorrowful,
like bullet holes.
I also saw a group of young people
dressed in the fashions
displayed in those very malls.
The old woman looked at them
as though she wished
to tell them everything that had happened.
But they did not notice her.
Their eyes were fixed
on the screens
of their smartphones.
And then, with a heaviness in my chest,
I found myself asking:
Did anyone ever tell them
what happened here?
About the sound of gunfire?
Could they tell the difference
between artillery fire
and fireworks?
Did this broken woman,
who seemed shattered by what she had endured,
ever tell them
the true price she had paid?
Did she tell them
about all the holes
still lodged
in her heart
and in her history,
paid for with her life,
so that all these malls
and all these cheap consumer goods
might fill their gaze?

4 July 2024”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“The first duty of every white person is to make amends, not out of guilt, but out of human responsibility - in fact, the will of reparation is the first sign that a white person is becoming human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“Either your history is indigenous centered or your history is meticulously crafted monkey mythology, crafted by cunning monkeys, to manufacture docile sheep, never to make them realize, that the hunters are the transgressors, while the world belongs to the lions first. Sure, the world belongs to all, but not until, every stolen dignity, stolen honor, stolen dream, stolen childhood, motherhood, parenthood, are made amends for first, not monetarily but mentally.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human

“If you want to tackle racism after the damage has been done, focus on race relations, but if you want to cure the system that produces racism, focus on decolonial studies for children.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Jashn-e Insan: Stranger is God, Helping is the Prayer