#decoloniszing

I was wondering if you knew such resources, and just a general idea of how we can truly make our project accessible. We already provide alternative text for a lot of our social media posts, but is there something more that we can do? 2/2

Hey, I don’t have much of an answer for you. I haven’t really come across these resources either. I’ll list what I have found at the end. As far as making your project accessible, alt text is a good step. Alt text will help screen reader users, but it leaves out low vision users who may not rely on a screen reader. So using a large, clear font with a decent contrast ratio (high contrast may be difficult for those with dyslexia to read, low contrast is hard for those with visual issues to read) and limited color palette (color blind friendly) for any infographics would be beneficial. If it’s viable, a text description is always good but with places such as twitter it’s difficult to do that. Transcribing audio helps the Deaf / HoH community or anyone with auditory processing issues. Avoid flashing images or videos. There’s a lot of information out there for making content accessible (i suggest starting here).

here’s a website specifically for hiring disabled writers

Reclamation press:  We publish books by people within diverse disability communities

Oleb Books seeks to expand representation of disability in literature by publishing disability stories by writers with disabilities.

Disability Studies Quarterly has a lot of useful information to read

Here’s a list of books & movies about “the disability experience” (not all of them are by disabled authors)

goodreads list of books by disabled authors

an old course outline for “disability in literature” comes with a reading plan and book list

Top 13 books for understanding disability

What does it mean to be a disabled writer?

Over the past few days there have been wonderful posts by wonderful people that are very important and ought to be shared. However a lot of these posts are linked to Twitter/ Instagram and are shared through automation, and hence they lack Image Descriptions or Alternative Texts.

We have formed a Tumblr group where we share these posts, and individual volunteers can repost them with IDs.

If anyone is interested in joining the group of volunteers and pages dealing with social activism to collaborate, DM @decoloniszing ! Or send a request to join.

This is important because accessibility shouldn't be a brownie point or an add on. It should be normalised.

And please give this a signal boost.♥️⚡

That time Malcolm X met Fidel Castro in Harlem 60 years ago on this day.

A year after the Cuban Revolution, Castro and his delegation came to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, but the management of the Manhattan hotel the delegation booked now refused to house them after the US government already pressured other hotels to reject the Cubans. Upon learning of their situation, Malcolm X invited them to come uptown to Harlem, to stay at the Black-owned Hotel Theresa, where MalcolmX said he would be greeted with open arms.

People from Harlem received the 34-year-old Cuban revolutionary leader by the thousands, with masses huddling round-the-clock in front of the hotel. Castro was to them that bearded revolutionary who had told white America to go to hell and his stay there was an important acknowledgement of the struggle African Americans shared with the rest of the Third World in resisting racism, colonialism and imperialism.

When the 35-year-old Malcolm X received Castro they talked about the incredible inhospitality the Cuban party had experienced at the Shelburne hotel, the insulting demand made upon them for a $10,000 deposit against damage to be expected from Cuban "barbarians" after a racist slander campaign in the press that included baseless charges of plucking live chickens at the hotel. But above all, Fidel spoke of Harlem. "I always wanted to come to Harlem," said Castro, "but I was not sure of what kind of welcome I would get. When I got the news that I would be welcome in Harlem, I was happy" The Black people of the United States were not as brainwashed by the government's anti-Cuban propaganda as whites, he continued.

Revolutionary Cuba, a majority Black nation, was wiping out racial discrimination. Cubans, Africans and the Black people of the United States were all in the same boat. "I feel as if I were in Cuba now. I feel very warm here." Malcolm X responded that it was indeed true that, "We in Harlem are not addicted to all the propaganda the U.S. government puts out." And then they embraced.

Text ID:

Slide 1: “What are we building?”

Slide 2: “A website that serves as an accessible catalogue of literature that receives data from local bookstores and libraries from all around the world, prioritises literature by people of marginalized and intersectional identities, challenges the patriarchal, eurocentric and colonial biases within which our understanding of literature often operates.” end ID.

We are also happy to accept pitches for autobiographical narratives (in any form– written essays to zines) with decolonization as the theme. Last date to submit the pitch: 14th of October.

ID: “Are you a bookstagrammer? Do you write book reviews? Do you procrastinate by reading instead of studying/ working (we see you!)?

Submit to The Zing! We are specifically looking for book reviews that serve the purpose of recommendations.

The theme for our first issue is decoloniszation.

So the book you choose to review must be centred around decoloniszation. There are no restrictions on the genre of the book you are recommending-- poetry, fiction, non-fiction, everything is welcome.

Last date to submit: 21st of October. Read the submission guidelines in our bio.” end ID

dob is committed to breaking away from oppressive algorithms and, information technology. But to build a website like this we need people who understand how sociopolitical mobility AND distribution of information function.

It would truly be a shame if we build a website that just ends up replicating Google and Amazon, and for that we need the expertise of radical librarians. It doesn't matter if you are just a student.

If you have a background in Library Sciences, gender and ethnic studies DM us!

We can't provide monetary compensation at this point in time because we're entirely comprised of volunteers, but we do assure a wholesome experience!

This summit was beautiful and we were so blown away with the nuances that were discussed by all the speakers and panelists.

Some key themes of the summit:

Ending capitalism and re-envisioning socialism

Abolishing the police state and the PIC

Ending imperial wars by the United States against vulnerable countries

Ending the violence of economic sanctions and embargos

Tackling poverty and hunger

Tackling the rise of right wing and left wing authoritarianism in countries

Tackling patriarchal violence

Ending colonial theft of land from Indigenous people

Ending ecological violence and fascism

Ending white supremacy

Introducing our public calendar!

We want to use our platform & reach to promote and support events by people from marginalized communities. If you want us to promote your event*, fundraiser, etc, you can email us the poster along with a short description and a link.

Spread the word and reblog