#decolonial

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.

"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.

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.

🗣

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.

- There’s no Queer Liberation without decolonization

- There’s no Indigenous Liberation without Palestinian Liberation

- There’s no Environmental Justice without land back

The concept of time is culturally constructed.

(Please give the original video your views.)