c a n e l a

This is an illustration I did for the August 2014 issue of Popular Science Magazine. The assignment was to show a scifi take on human aging in the future. I wanted to do something relatively positive, so I drew a lady whose life has been been prolonged through cybernetic enhancements and augmentation, so she gets to spend time with her great-great-great-great grandchildren. 

More then 3 million people in France were marching for ‘freedom’ today…if I think about the relation between ‘freedom’ and France today I think about the 14 African countries that are obliged by France, trough a colonial pact, to put 85% of their foreign reserve into France central bank under French minister of Finance control still now..Oh let’s march another march, insult prophet Muhammad once again and produce another sad video spot because we care so much about the people in Africa! Oh really a few thousand people were murdered in Nigeria the other day? And in Gaza, Syria and other places this is happening every day?! Too bad but you know what, 17 white people died in France!!! What a limitation of our ‘freedom’!

""In March 2008, former French President Jacques Chirac said:

“Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third [world] power”

Chirac’s predecessor François Mitterand already prophesied in 1957 that:

“Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century”

At this very moment I’m writing this article, 14 african countries are obliged by France, trough a colonial pact, to put 85% of their foreign reserve into France central bank under French minister of Finance control. Until now, 2014, Togo and about 13 other african countries still have to pay colonial debt to France. African leaders who refuse are killed or victim of coup. Those who obey are supported and rewarded by France with lavish lifestyle while their people endure extreme poverty, and desperation.

It’s such an evil system even denounced by the European Union, but France is not ready to move from that colonial system which puts about 500 billions dollars from Africa to its treasury year in year.”

you have to remember that the palestinians have been besieging israel for a very long time now with no signs of relenting. the israelis have been modernizing their people while the palestinians have been employing their fundamentalist jihad for centuries now.

Israel has only existed for 66 years. That actually isn’t a “very long” time, I have grandparents a decade older than Israel. Even though Zionist settlement in Palestine began as early as 1880, as of 1946, two years before Israel was established, Jews in Palestine amounted to only 32% of the population. Despite that fact, when Israel was created the Jewish population was awarded 56% of the land of Palestine, and a disproportionate portion of fertile land and natural resources. What has occurred since the establishment of Israel is called ethnic cleansing, and has created a situation where some 9 million Palestinians are refugees or internally displaced persons, where thousands upon thousands have been killed, and where the Palestinian people are still denied self-determination, freedom of movement, equal legal status, and other basic human rights by the Israeli government.

Israel has been able to maintain and expand its settler-colonial project (or, as you put it, “modernizing their people”) in Palestine thanks to aid from the United States government, among others. An extremely conservative estimate of US aid to Israel thus far is $123 billion, and the US currently gives Israel $3.1 billion per year, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid, free or discounted weaponry, and research agreements which spur Israel’s modernization.

And what has happen to the Palestinians? First off, this:

Palestine is an illegally occupied country, and Israel is the occupying force. Under international law, Israel- as the occupying power- has the legal and ethical obligation to protect its occupied Palestinian population, and does not have the right to declare war on territory it is occupying, nor use military force against its population, even in so-called “self-defense.” International law also affirms the right of occupied people (the Palestinians) to resist occupation- including the right to armed resistance against the occupying power.

Even if we were to brush aside the hideous racism of your assertion that “palestinians have been employing their fundamentalist jihad for centuries now,” historically your racist nonsense still wouldn’t hold any water. Prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in relative harmony within Palestine. While there are absolutely fundamentalist groups within the Middle East generally, and even within Palestine itself (in far, far less numbers than the US media would have you believe), fundamentalism is neither the sole domain of Islam or even necessarily religious in origin and intent. Fundamentalism is a *political* issue- perpetuating right-wing ideology like nationalism, racism, xenophobia, and control over the life and choices of others by cloaking these more easily identifiable methods of hate in religious doctrine. Equating fundamentalist outliers with the whole of a population is akin to saying that every single Christian in the world is the Westboro Baptist Church.

In fact, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas is reacting to fundamentalism itself- the Zionist interpretation of Jewish fundamentalism (and to be clear, this is not representative of Jews or Judaism in the least). Zionism is a right-wing, settler-colonial, fundamentally racist ideology which necessitates ethnic cleansing to establish a state for the Jewish people, in which only Jews have full rights of citizenship and where at least 150 Jewish-only settlements currently exist on Palestinian land. A Jewish person whose family has lived in another country for centuries can move to Israel, and the moment they step off the plane they receive full citizenship rights. Meanwhile, a Palestinian whose family has always lived in Palestine is treated as a second-class citizen in Israel.

Hamas is fighting with homemade rockets which don’t have warheads or guidance systems. They fire mostly from Gaza, a 139 sq mile patch of land with a population of 1.8 million (nearly half of which is children). There is no place Hamas could fire rockets from in Gaza that is *not* densely populated, The allegations of human shields and storing weapons in schools are false and majorly misrepresented, respectively. In the two instances where weapons were found at UNRWA schools, both times the schools were abandoned- which can hardly be used as evidence that Hamas stores weapons in the occupied schools being bombed.

Israel has full military control of Gaza. Israel has plundered Palestine’s natural resources, and Israeli settlers have burned an estimated 800,000 olive trees, which Palestinian farmers depend on to live. Specifically because of Israel’s control and treatment of Palestinian land and people, the UN has stated that “Gaza will not be livable by 2020.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19391809

The people of Gaza are facing not extinction, but termination at the hands of Israel. Hamas has offered a 10 year truce provided Israel meets 10 pretty basic demands- many of which the international community has been calling for for decades now. They are:

Withdrawal of Israeli tanks from the Gaza border.

Freeing all the prisoners that were arrested after the killing of the three youths.

Lifting the siege and opening the border crossings to commerce and people.

Establishing an international seaport and airport which would be under U.N. supervision.

Increasing the permitted fishing zone to 10 kilometers.

Internationalizing the Rafah Crossing and placing it under the supervision of the U.N. and some Arab nations.

International forces on the borders.

Easing conditions for permits to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Prohibition on Israeli interference in the reconciliation agreement.

Reestablishing an industrial zone and improvements in further economic development in the Gaza Strip.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/report-israel-conditions.html

And unlike Israel, Palestine actually has a much better record of honoring their truces.

Anita (Ardmore, PA) | “Guyanese-American”

“‘Negro’ certainly is a passé term from way back when. We got over ‘Negro,’ we got to be ‘Black and Proud,’ and I’m still Black and proud. I always liked the term ‘Black’ because it doesn’t leave people out. I find ‘Black’ a more encompassing term than ‘African-American.’ ‘African-American’ leaves me out in a way.”

Rosa (Bronx, NY) | “Black Puerto Rican”

“You have a lot of incredible Afro-Latino activists who still don’t say that they’re Black. What they say is that they’re ‘African-descended.’ They say they’re ‘Afro-Latino.’ But a lot of people still won’t say that they’re Black. I think most of people’s issue with calling themselves Black is psychological. It’s fear. If you don’t have to be Black, why would you want to say that? In this country, everything Black is negative. I didn’t start calling myself Black until I was a sophomore in college. But once I learned about the power of the Young Lords and the Black Power Movement, I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t I want to say I was Black?’”

Kenya (Atlanta, GA) | “Black”

“As an African-American, many of us trace White blood in our lineage to slavery and my family background is no different. The bottom line is my parents are Black, their parents are Black, my great grandparents are Black, and that makes me Black. I know there are people who are looking and thinking ‘She’s not Black.’ And that’s fine too. At the end of the day, I’m Black because I’m Black.”

Marianna (Baltimore, MD) | “Black“

“I get ‘exotic’ a lot ‘cause people can’t really pinpoint. ‘Is she Dominican?’ ‘Is she Trini?’ ‘Is she Black and Filipino?’ ‘Is she Black and Japanese?’ It’s almost like they can’t tell so that’s alluring. All they know is it’s not ‘just Black’ and that’s all that matters. They think it’s ‘Black and something,’ but it’s that ‘something’ that they’re more focused on and that holds their attention a little bit more.”

Ariel (Brooklyn, New York) | “Black”

“In Cuba, some people don’t see me as Black. Even Black people will deny my Blackness. Since I was a child, people gave me different names like ‘el chino’ because when I was younger I was really looking more like a Chinese. And then they called me names connected with my race and my ethnicity like ‘mulatto’ or ‘moro.’ They tried to emphasize that I was different because my skin is Black, but my hair is ‘White.’ So for many people in Cuba, I am mulatto or I am interracial – they don’t consider me Black. I think it goes back to the plantation days when slaves had a child with the owner, and for being less dark, that child would have a better job and a better position in society. Cuba has a long history of Whiteness in that sense – many Black people consider themselves as moving forward in society when they marry somebody White or when their kids are less dark.”

Soledad (New York, NY) | “Black Latina”

“People ask me ‘What are you?’ all the time. People tweet me that question. I used to take great offense, like immediately get annoyed; partly because I didn’t think the question came from a very good place. I think I read it as questioning my value and my reasons for being wherever I was. But now, I think it’s two-fold: One, I think that because I’m a journalist, people are really just trying to understand who I am. ‘You’re somebody I see on TV, but I don’t know you in person, so who are you?’ So often, it’s not really about the question. It’s about ‘What side are you on?’ and ‘What perspective do you bring?’ Then two, I think that part of my job as a journalist is to educate people about stories and some of these stories I’m a part of. I’m part of ‘Black in America’ even in the context of who is the filter of the story.  So I’ve really gotten much better at taking that question and I’ve stopped hating it so much. It’s my job to elaborate and explain for people who I am. My mom is Afro-Cuban. My dad is White and Australian. I’m Black. I’m Latina.”

Malene(Brooklyn, NY) | “Black of Mixed Heritage”

“Trinidad is a cosmopolitan nation, probably more racially diverse than the rest of the Caribbean. We have descendants of European enslavers, freed Africans and enslaved Africans, Chinese and other Asian migrants, and a small East Indian population. You have all these mixtures and the mixtures are acknowledged. So I’m not Black in Trinidad; they consider me to be Chinese creole. They use all kinds of terms to identify people based on their racial makeup – ‘Indian,’ ‘negro,’ ‘creole,’ ‘Chinese creole,’ ‘Spanish,’ ‘coolie,’ ‘dougla.’ A ‘coolie,’ for example, is an East Indian. ‘Dougla’ is the mix of Black and East Indian. There’s really no difference between the two. It’s like saying ‘nigger’ and ‘nigga.’ To me, it’s all offensive. All of it comes from hateful places.”

Liliane (São Paulo, Brasil) | “Black”

“In Brasil, people of my color can be considered either Black or White, but it would depend on the situation, and it would also depend on the social and educational condition of the people who are seeing you. So what happens is that when someone of lower socioeconomic status sees me, they would treat me as White. But if I go to a high-class restaurant, where the people are of a higher status than me, people treat me as Black. Usually the general thought for Brasilians is that the place for Black people is in the kitchen or on the soccer field or in samba. So if you are not in one of those places, it’s like ‘Who are you and who allowed you to be here?’ And you can feel it.”

Adrian (Brooklyn, NY) | “Black Puerto-Rican”

“I think part of the misconception about Blackness is that it’s a skin color. For me personally, it’s just my way of life. Whether it’s my bloodline and family history, or the neighborhood I grew up in and the people I grew up with, or something as simple as the food that I eat, there’s so many different ways that I can identify with Blackness to where if somebody were to ask me, “Adrian, what makes you Black?” I would probably just counter the question with, “What doesn’t make me Black?” It’s not even something that I’m trying to prove. It’s just in me.”

Lauren (Philadelphia, PA) | “Black and Italian / African-American“

November 20, 1969: The Occupation of Alcatraz begins.

On this day in 1969, seventy-nine Native Americans, mostly student protesters, set out in a boat to occupy the San Francisco Bay’s famous island prison at Alcatraz (“the Rock”). In this highly-publicized event, occupiers protested the American government’s policy in dealing with Native Americans, particularly its numerous broken treaties with Native American tribes and its Indian termination policy. The protest was fairly effective in achieving recognition for the latter issue; in 1970, President Nixon delivered to Congress a message in which he criticized termination and instead recommended self-determination, and throughout the 70s, the federal government passed legislation that promoted the sovereignty of Native American tribes. During this period, President Nixon also more than doubled the budget of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

The principal organizer of the occupation was Adam Fortunate Eagle, a half-Chippewa activist; the spokesperson for the Indians of All Tribes organization was part-Sioux, part-Mexican activist John Trudell; another leader was Richard Oakes, a Mohawk Indian who lived with his family on Alcatraz until 1970 and sent this message to the San Francisco Department of the Interior:

We invite the United States to acknowledge the justice of our claim. The choice now lies with the leaders of the American government - to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit’s land, or to institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian…

We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide. Nevertheless, we seek peace.

When the Ohlone and other indigenous peoples inhabited the San Francisco Bay Area, Alcatraz was regarded with suspicion, and it was even used as a place of exile and ostracism. It was abandoned as a federal penitentiary in 1963, and it was subsequently claimed by the 1969 protesters by “right of discovery”, the doctrine used to justify the acquisition of native-held lands by colonial powers (especially in the 19th century). The occupation lasted until 1971, and, for nineteen months, students, married couples, and even children lived on the island, garnering support from even celebrities like Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando. The last protesters left in June of 1971, after electrical power and telephone lines were cut off by the government. The occupation’s stated goal of creating a spiritual and cultural center on the island was never fulfilled, and most of the activists’ demands were never met, but it was influential overall, especially given its direct effect on federal policy toward Native Americans. 

Hi

Smut Peddler just broke $100,000 in funding on Kickstarter

Her prospective agent told her: "I cannot represent you unless you get plastic surgery to make your eyes look bigger.”

During her TV appearance on Wednesday morning, host Sheryl Underwood said: "You made a choice that was good for you and you have represented your race, women and your colleagues.”

Sharon Osbourne added: "It was the right thing to do."

you literally want to flop in “historical accuracy” when it’s set in a fictional kingdom, with an amalgamation of clothing styles that are either butchered attempts or native to no one, freaking snow magic, and—allow me to repeat— talking snowmen and improper riding of reindeer that aren’t built to be ridden in the first place. but suddenly Inuit redesigns aren’t historically accurate enough? Because the author of a fictional story was a white Dane?? Might you be interested in learning that the earliest known version of Cinderella was about a Greek slave girl and an Egyptian pharaoh? Historical accuracy doesn’t mean squat to Disney and everyone knows it, it’s an extremely tripe card to pull.

you wanna talk history tho? Greenland was settled by pre-Inuit cultures around what is believed to be 2500BC give or take. King Christian IV claimed Greenland for Denmark in the early 1600s. Which they ‘inherited’ from the Norse, who still only got there in about 980 AD a good 3000 years after the Saqqaq culture(pre-Inuit) did. 

do you literally think that every single person in Denmark/Scandanavia was some kind of 100% white Aryan wet dream until magically after world war 2 some brown people finally wandered by??? even though they had an entire country full of indigenous peoples under their thumb AND a monopoly on trade with the place until like 1953 like is that really something that is going through your head at this very moment because i am truly aghast.

Ask yourselves why you find yourselves thinking, believing, and vehemently protesting that "there were no PoC in [insert european country here] at the time anyways!!!!" like seriously sit down and think about who taught you that white people hold a monopoly on existing every goddamn where.

Tokyo Godfathers.

This my friends, is a masterpiece of a movie. Three homeless people, A runaway teen, a alcoholic father, and an ageing trans woman, are wandering the streets on Christmas eve, when they find a baby abandoned in a dump.  They decide to care for it, while they wander around trying to find her mother, meeting several oddballs on their way.

Directed my the great Satoshi Kon, this movie is a must watch for anybody! It’s hilarious, touching, and will have you at the edge of your seat by the end of the crazy journey! 

…Aaaaannd, now it’s on Netflix! If you don’t have it, you can also watch it here: http://www.goodanime.net/tokyo-godfathers-movie

NO I’M NOT TAZ IS UPDATING AGAIN

IN COLOR

My gods. I’ve done more than a little research into Aztecs and never even saw a mention of codices.

Well, yeah. The Spanish burned them. They burned all the Aztec books. Even that isn’t an Aztec book, it’s basically a supervised copy made in the same style.

The Aztec libraries were burned purposely to erase Aztec history, suppress rebellion, and eliminate “pagan” religious and cultural practices. Once the people who remembered them died, those practices were lost forever.

The only thing that remains are descriptions of Aztec society created by or supervised by the Spanish.

Just the same as the Aztecs, the Spaniards destroyed countless Maya artifacts and books in order to better subjugate the Maya, who were less centralized than the Aztecs.

And speaking of the Aztecs, the Spaniards were so surprised that the Aztecs had created aqueducts because - well, that’s a Roman thing. They ended up destroying Aztec aqueducts when they laid siege to Tenochtitlan.

Most of what remains from the Maya is related by urns or pottery, since most of the bark books were burned. The crowning jewel of Maya literature was the Popul Vuh or El Libro del Consejo “The Book of the Council”, which only exists because the Spaniards allowed a translation of it - but of course, the original was lost. But the Popul Vuh is the Mayan Bible; and a lot of it deals with the stories of how mankind was made by their gods.

And the same would have happened to the Inca if it weren’t for El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. A good portion of what we know about Incan civilization comes from El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who was a mestizo - part Incan, part Spaniard. He spoke Spanish and quechua so he was able to make detailed volumes about Incan history and legends that were passed down by word of mouth.

His collection is known as Comentarios Reales de los Inca “Royal Commentary of the Incas”.

Los Comentarios Reales is so interesting because it talks about Incan culture in depth, while El Inca Garcilaso plays translator and gives context.

You thought Greeks invented theater? The Incas had Tragedy and religious plays. The Spaniards didn’t really let that into their curriculum because Greek/Roman theater was considered the pinnacle of culture.

You like highways? The Incas had a system of highways built where runners ran with news across a system of checkpoints to deliver it.

You want to know about how Spaniards tried to force Incas to Christianity? He writes about how they treated their version of God Pachacamac as a pagan deity because the Spaniards were ignorant.

You want to know more about slave trade and the control the Spaniards had over Peru and the other viceroyalties? That’s there too.

The Spanish turned all self-congratulatory and claimed that they’d conquered the Incas early on, as early as 1515 and that Pizarro did it all by himself. They don’t mention what El Inca Garcilaso does that Pizarro was in Panama and didn’t get the go-ahead to conquer the Inca until 1529-1531.

I have this blog because people do not have access to these resources. You can get a PhD and still not know these things.

And that is why they passed laws in Arizona to prevent people from learning about their people, their history, their culture.

Because people who know their history, their culture, have pride. People with pride will not believe you when you try to tell them they are inferior. That they deserve to be treated badly. That they deserve oppression.