#response of the opressed

[sabugabr]

RRR, Black Adam and the Response of the Oppressed

OR: The Colonial Wound and how to approach Violence as a solution against the mechanisms of oppression

OR: how to get the debate right VS how to ruin it completely

Spoiler: RRR gets it right

So, I was keeping this one to myself because it's a very delicate subject, but rejoicing in RRR's recent Golden Globe nomination, I thought hell might as well talk about it.

First of all, a very important disclaimer:

I am not here, in any way, defending or endorsing any side in this debate. My personal views on violence and armed struggle and guerrilla warfare are not what I will be addressing. Armed struggle, is an extremely complex issue that is still being debated today by theorists and academics much more qualified than I am, so no.

Rather, my aim here is simply to address how this debate has been represented, and my take on this issue: media portrayals of social, historical and most importantly, decolonial debates. And recently in 2022, we've had two approaches (And yes, I am fully aware that this topic is much better covered in dozens of media that have this debate entirely as their main focus, but I am talking about superhero blockbusters here, so keep that in mind) that may seem similar, but are fundamentally completely divergent:

The Telugu movie RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt)

And curiously, DC Film's Black Adam

No need to say, there'll be major spoilers ahead, so be warned

1. THE RESPONSE OF THE OPRESSED

Before I start, I would like to clarify as briefly as I can some terms and concepts that I consider necessary to begin to understand decolonialism and the response of the oppressed, a term that was coined in the famous quote by Jaylen Brown during the height of the BLM movement, "Do not confuse the response of the oppressed with the violence of the oppressor".

Pierre Bourdieu differentiates the violence of the oppressor into two categories:

explicit violence – in which the action of the dominant subject is visible (and therefore, in our current society, subject to questioning and legal or moral limitations)

and symbolic violence – conceptualized by Bourdieu when he addressed the issue of male domination in society and all the faces in which it presents itself – and we see it everywhere, from racial demographics in income distribution to that homophobic joke your uncle always makes.

This relationship of systematic domination can be understood as a chain, and in view of the necessary rise of awareness and consequent rupture of this chain, Audre Lorde presents the uses of anger.

By connecting the idea of symbolic power and the breaking of the domination relationship with the use of anger, we have the explosion of a natural reaction of the oppressed triggered by centuries of imprisonment in their own fear and, bringing this reality specifically to colonial relations, using anger over your own fear results in liberation. (source)

And although it wouldn't hurt to address the revolutionary terms in its most famous roots in the French Revolution and etc, here it seems more fitting to comment on Marx. And class struggle.

Briefly, Marx and Engels saw revolution as the result of organized political action by the exploited. Therefore, one can only speak of revolution when there is a rupture with the old political, social and economic order; and in its place, new standards of social relations are established whose principle is to ensure freedom and social equality among men.

This is what we mean when we talk about inverting the social order, and Marx will also use the terms infrastructure (productive forces + relations of production) and superstructure (politics, police, army, law, morals, religion, etc.).

The superstructure, for Marx, is created by the most favored and dominant class, but determined or conditioned by the infrastructure.

Therefore, the revolution would happen when the working class (and in that logic, any oppressed group) reversed the order and took control of the superstructure.

In short, this can be understood as the basis of revolutionary thinking.

Now apply this to the invasion, colonization and genocide scenario, and you'll see where I'm going here.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKK THAT'S A BIT EXTREME EXAMPLE SORRY but actually in Black Panther I the plot could very well be read through Marxist lens (and that has certainly been done), but I won't even go into that here, god forbid Wakanda Forever hahahah imagine that, anyway going back to my thread

2. ARMED STRUGGLE

A quick definition of armed struggle, which can be found in dictionaries, is armed resistance against oppressive regimes. In the armed struggle, the militants understand that the situation of society requires drastic action so that it can be modified, and for this reason they decide to take up arms and declare war on the oppressive regime. Guerrilla warfare is an example of armed struggle.

In the armed struggle, a group of militants opposed to the current regime in a given society, organize actions that can be strikes, attacks on barracks or public buildings, etc, aiming to destabilize the current power with the aim of overthrowing it and placing a different regime in its place, like a democracy, for example – in general, the armed struggle follows a leftist tendency. (source)

In Brazil, for example, the armed struggle appeared mainly as resistance to the Military Dictatorship between 1964 and 1985.

All of this goes along the idea of using violence as resistance to oppression (as already pointed out before): fire is answered with fire. In the specific scenario of the guerrilla, the French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic Jules Régis Debray writes the controversial book Révolution Dans La Révolution, where he points out that "The main objective of a revolutionary guerrilla is the destruction of the enemy's military potential"; the enemy is stripped of it's military power (it's weapons) to ensure a greater chance of victory.

"To destroy an army you need another army.", Debray says. "Precisely because it is a mass struggle, and the most radical of all, the guerrillas need, in order to triumph militarily, to gather politically around themselves the active and organized majority, since it is the general strike and the generalized urban insurrection which will give the coup de grace to the regime and destroy its latest maneuvers - last minute coup d'état, provisional junta, elections - by extending the struggle throughout the country." (source)

Does that all ring a bell?

Sure it does.

Now, these are all historical scenarios, and nowadays the moral debates about armed struggle have become extremely more complex (as they should), and the disarmament discourse is taking more and more space in these debates. Is armed struggle the only solution? Wouldn't there be others?

But it is still a complex debate. The Brazilian rapper (and political thinker and, dare I say, philosopher) Mano Brown, a strong advocate of disarmament, staunchly defends that violence, most of the time, bounces back on the oppressed, not the oppressor.

Look at him all precious

He argues, however, that one cannot simply condemn the oppressed who react violently. Already in 2006 he presented in an interview that:

"I am in favor of disarmament, but this argument is difficult, things should be done differently […] People are coming as a class struggle, you know? Rich people don't want poor people to arm themselves and remain unarmed. And poor people don't want rich people to arm themselves and remain unarmed. Did you see the kid's argument: "How are the police allowed to carry guns while I remain unarmed? " It's kind of uneven. It's confusing." (source - translated by me)

Mano Brown is part of the Brazilian rap band Racionais formed by 4 black men from the periphery, who revamped their music after realizing that it could be used to foment violence. They front a series of social programs, and revolutionized the way peripheral music is seen and consumed. Nowadays, in 2023, Mano Brown hosts one of the biggest political interview podcasts in Brazil (having even interviewed Angela Davis), is considered one of the most active leaders of the racial struggle, and along with the other members of Racionais, has taught open classes in estate universities.

The Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire, considered one of the most notable thinkers in the history of world pedagogy, inaugurates in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (you can read it translated right here) the idea of the liberation pedagogy. He strongly emphasizes that liberation pedagogy is a political process that aims to awaken individuals from their oppression and generate actions for social transformation – through education.

NOW WITH ALL THAT IN MIND WE CAN FINALLY MOVE ON TO WHAT MATTERS,

3. THE MOVIES

I'm going to talk about RRR here first because it makes me happier, but for reasons of time and your patience I'm not going to extend myself so much in the analysis of this film technically, and if you want a more detailed look at the grandeur and the importance and the genius of this film, please watch any of the many videos that are now appearing on youtube on the subject (I recommend RRR: Make Movies EPIC Again, by Jared Bauer, and The Importance of RRR, by the wonderful Accented Cinema)

ONCE AGAIN ATTENTION FOR BIG, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

The story therefore revolves around two men: Raju, who infiltrates the British army to steal fireguns and deliver them to the people's guerrilla, and Bheem, a Gond leader who is after Mali, a child of his people who was kidnapped by the British to basically serve as a pet.

They meet under false identities, and unaware that they were both fighting for the liberation of India (through different methods), the two men form an extremely strong bond of love and friendship, which results in their struggles coalescing into an evocation of patriotic unity and popular resurgence against the colonial forces.

First of all, RRR is a fictionalized biography of two real-life Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. So, in real life, Alluri Raju actually stole guns from the British to stage uprisings against the British Raj, and Komaram Bheem really was a Gond revolutionary leader who coined the slogan Jal, Jangal, Zameen (transl. Water, Forest, Land) wich became a call to action for Adivasis (or Scheduled Tribes) peoples.

You can see the flag in the last scenes

This "historical aspect" (in addition to the incredible, completely impossible and impossibly glorious action scenes) makes it plausible to draw parallels between RRR and Tarantino's historical revisionism films like Django Unchained (2013) and Inglourious Basterds (2009), where in all cases we see scenes of extreme violence that somehow feel justified, or cathartic, for being directed against oppressors (slave masters, Nazis, British colonizers, etc etc)

The parallels are just there.

Black Adam, on the other hand, states in its synopsis that "After nearly five thousand years of imprisonment, Black Adam, an anti-hero from the ancient city of Kahndaq, is released in modern times. His brutal tactics and righteous ways attract the attention of the Justice Society of America, who try to stop his rampage by teaching him to be more of a hero than a villain, and they all must band together to stop a force more powerful than Adam himself."

So we have a superhero story set in the present day in a fictional country on the Sinai Peninsula (that means, right there besides the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal), occupied by a mercenary crime syndicate called Intergang, who brutally oppresses the Kahndaqi people while robbing their mineral resources. All good, all great.

But as stated in the synopsis, the film's great moral conflict revolves around whether the use of violence against mechanisms of oppression is justified or not.

Basically,

And while these two scenarios may seem similar, the approach the two films take to this debate, which, as I've said before, is EXTREMELY DELICATED, and EXTREMELY COMPLEX, is completely different. Firstly, because RRR is the only one of the two that treats it as, well, a debate.

From the beginning, RRR establishes the two characters as essentially polar opposites; Raju is fire

Look at the scenery with the european buildings in the background

Bheem is water

And here, the native, untouched forest with pure cristaline water

Bheem is the god Bhima, immovable, patient and resilient

(like water)

And Raju is the god Rama, heroic, springy and skillful

(and hot)

Bheem is the legs (the foundation) while Raju is the arms (the action)

They ✨ complement ✨ each other

And this is translated into their different approaches to the revolution: Raju with his arms policy (inherited from his guerrilla father), who operates within the system to overthrow it, and Bheem with his native philosophy, using the land, the fauna, the culture, the religion, the people themselves as agents against oppression, operating from outside the system to overthrow it.

At the beginning of the film, Raju dresses Bheem in western clothing so that he can attend a British party (which allows him to know the building and locate Mali), and at the end of the film, Bheem dresses Raju in the traditional clothing of the god Rama, and arms him not with european firearms but with a sacred bow and arrow, evoking his native homeland in what configures the real defeat of the colonizers.

Not even getting into the merits of comparing these two films technically, just talking about the discourse itself, what for me fundamentally separates RRR from Black Adam, and even Django and Inglourious Basterds, is precisely Bheem's character. It's the other way to fight (but fight nonetheless)

This does not mean that the armed struggle is delegitimized, or diminished. On the contrary, it is explained, justified (within that historical and social context) and respected. People who fought in the armed struggle, and died in the armed struggle, are honored and respected. It allows you to understand where the idea of arming the population is coming from (in a certain parallel with Mano Brown's interview that I mentioned above), but it also presents other discussions on the subject, that happened at the time, and still happens today.

And above all, as I mentioned before, the film presents and reinforces the idea of inspiration. Even if education is presented only very briefly, in a popular assembly, in the long term, the film still gives extreme focus to the importance of raising awareness among the oppressed people.

This can be clearly seen in the scene where Bheem is being tortured in a public square by the British government, and refuses to kneel.

So when the torture becomes too much to bear, he starts to sing

Now, this is the most important scene in this movie and I'll die on this hill

And then, this happens

Bheem inspires not only the population, but also Raju, who even after years of enticement by his own father, steps back on his original (armamentist) plan when he realizes that "I was under the impression that guns would bring us freedom. But Bheem inspired a whole crowd with one song"

Even though in the context of the film the "path of choice" was still violent (this still is, after all, an action superhero movie), the message of this scene is extremely metaphorical. The idea of a song (art) inspiring all people to "become a weapon" against an oppressive regime is very powerful, and it resonates deeply in anti-opression movements all over History. It is, literally, the power of the people.

Furthermore, at crucial moments in the plot, both Bheem and Raju put aside their collective struggles for the other's individual good; Unlike his father, who readily accepts the militarization of his child son for the greater good, Raju, when questioned by his guerrilla companion for abandoning 15 years of work to save Bheem, says that "I will bear it for another 25 years, but I won't sacrifice Bheem for my goal".

Bheem, here, represents not only the friendship and love between them, but, metaphorically, an entire ideal of the people. Ultimately, one can say that this film addresses the idea of "what are the limits in my revolution": I will not sacrifice the other for my revolution; the limits of my revolution must be the wellness of the other (and in our metaphorical reading here, the wellness of the people).

Parallel, the torture scene can be metaphorically read as: the only valid sacrifice is my own, never that of the other. (and I won't be commenting on the revolutionary character of ideas like martyrdom and self-sacrifice, but yes). That's what Bheem and Raju do throughout the entire film, they put the other above themselves.

And in the end, they kill the british defeat oppression together✨

Now, as I've mentioned before, yes, this movie still ends violently, yes, it still glorifies and celebrates this violence in some of the best action scenes I've seen in my whole life, yes, it is heavily patriotic and sometimes a little bit too on the nose about it, yes, and did I rejoyce in it? Yes.

But it cannot be denied that RRR at least presents a reflection not often seen in films of the genre, which is the mere existence of real debate. In addition, the film is placed in an extremely specific historical context, portraying real historical figures, real life revolutionaries, folkloric parallels, a gigantic symbolic charge, in short, a whole other deal.

Besides it, the only difference between this film and idk, Braveheart, or Star Wars, is that in this film the social and racial parallels, the guerrilla warfare and class struggle (and the colonial wound) become clearer – and perhaps this is a more responsible way of representing a revolution.

NOW, BLACK ADAM ON THE OTHER HAND KKKKKKK

As mentioned in the synopsis, the background of Black Adam is curiously similar: we have an oppressed people, we have the militia, a clear racial reference to a real-life conflict, which affects thousands of people daily, and the figure of a mythologically evocative hero with super powers who will free the people from oppression through violent means. And yes, there is debate: we have the Justice Society, which condemns Black Adam's methods and questions his use of violence, only to be proven wrong at the end of the movie.

But the "proved wrong" isn't really built, or developed (as Intergang is quickly forgotten when they all start fighting each other and then… Satan? For some reason??), and it basically boils down to this:

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

And that's so funny because he actually just… killed like 3 soldiers in the second act of the movie. That's all he did.

And it gets even funnier because at some point we have a scene that genuinely makes a VERY VALID point that made me very hopeful when I was in the theater watching it

Like, this is SO VALID and she is SO RIGHT and this is such a great argument and a great debate point and then it just... goes nowhere

He just killed like 3 guys he didn't even talk to the people he just, quite literally, killed some pawn soldiers and went on to fight his own individual battles that had nothing to do with the actual opression state of the country besides them telling you that "it was bad".

The problem with Black Adam's is ac how shallow the argument is. Nothing is justified, nothing is not even debated, we just have Hawk Man going "killing is bad" and Black Adam going "yeah but I do it caused I'm disruptive like that", and even when we have this "inspire the people" moment is just... this kid with a cape doing this symbol and yes, symbols of struggle are a great tool in fighting oppression, and yes they work and they're so, so great, but this one specifically kind of just…was there?

LIKE OK THIS IS ALL GREAT but then it lead to people… fighting zombies?????

zombies ??!?!??!!!????

Like, how, seriously, how does this have to do with any of your previous state of opression? How does this change absolutely anything??? Are we going to have elections after the zombies thing, or... ?

And that, to me, is such a poor and wasteful way of representing people power that, even though I didn't take this film seriously, I couldn't help but feel mildly frustrated. Much of the recent wave of blockbuster media about decolonialism, in my opinion, has been making this same mistake, which is apparently thinking that just because a movie is made to be a blockbuster, or a superhero movie, or an action movie and easy entertainment, it cannot tackle complex topics. It cannot deepen a discussion. It can't take 10 minutes off a fight scene to establish a full dialogue. As if that would, idk, tire the audience maybe? Idk.

As if a universe of superheroes, or fantasy and action, couldn't contain a scene like this:

This scene seems so simple but it is so, so huge

Andor is perhaps an example out of the curve, because Andor is a series that makes a great effort to represent the fight against oppression in a very serious and responsible way, making it its main theme, of representing what a fascist government is,how a fascist government acts and affects all layers of a population, what is the immigrant cause, what is the armed struggle, what is it like to be a person of color in an far-right government. And it does all of this in an unprecedented way in the genre so far, indeed.

But as I said before, perhaps this should be how all media represent these themes. Because otherwise, even the best of intentions can turn against the causes you sought to defend. And ok, I know that Black Adam is "just a superhero movie" and that maybe it's unfair to demand so much from a movie that only came to propose a simple entertainment with fight scenes and jokes, and I had fun watching it indeed. I love Dwayne Jhonson we all do. But the thing is, if you're going to represent that debate, I genuinely believe it can't be done as simply, or as poorly explained, as it was in this film. A poorly presented arms discourse can become an attack on the legitimization of the armed struggle in its historical context, it can become a justification for a shootout against anti-oppression demonstrations, it can become the excuse for why a policeman mistook an umbrella for a rifle, or a piece of wood for a gun, and killed innocent (and peripheral) men.

In the best of scenarios, the intent is simply forgotten, or it's so hidden in the metaphorical layers of the work that it's easy to miss them. If that weren't the case, there wouldn't be so many racist, misogynistic, right-wing Star Wars fans, for example (just to be clear, I'm not attacking Star Wars here at all, ok, I'm just using it as an example – you'll agree with me that I've never seen any Cambridge professors attack Star Wars)

And fair is fair, Luke did explode a moon-sized military base full of millions of people and all that...

SO ANYWAY

Armamentism is an extremely serious issue, and it must be handled very, very carefully. As I mentioned before, RRR has a historical context, and an argument builded throughout the entire film; I hardly think anyone comes out of RRR, or WomanKing, wanting to pick up a gun and simply shoot someone (I hope). But the way this idea was presented in Black Adam, it is not an exaggeration to say that someone might have had this impression after watching it. At the very least, the movie took no care making sure this wasn't the case, and that for me is troubling enough.

The struggle against oppression and decolonialism are extremely important topics, and I am happy that these themes are increasingly making themselves present in more and more media works (and we have had several very good ones recently) – and Black Adam does have good ideas in the middle of the mess. But if you're going to make a film to talk about oppression, without actually commiting to approach it responsibly, why do it?

And ok, RRR does have a very imperative call to action but well, look at them, would you not answer???

#decolonialism #rrr movie #rrr #black adam #dc #dc universe #indian cinema #guerrilla I guess #star wars #andor series #andor #marx #marxism #killmonger #black panther #dwayne johnson #response of the opressed #racisim #movie essay #movie gifs #revolution #antifascism

[ohsalome]

20 days in mariupol won oscar

Congratulations to the team and to everyone involved. With our war going "out of trend" over the last year, any opportunity to represent ourselves is precious. With any luck, maybe some film nerds will even watch the movie itself.

Now, if you don't mind, I will go on a digital sabbatical for a couple of days until the whataboutpalestine crowd runs out of their bile

#response #a reminder for anyone new that i am specifically complaining about western kids who play opression olympics between two wars #while being involved in neither of those

[eldritch-horror-from-the-void]

Sigh...

I made another.

#darth maul #maul opress #maul memes #listen I'm pmsing and I have no control okay? #I am not responsible rn #might have to click for better quality idk

[autismmydearwatson]

(Maul voice) hm yesss I have the autism. Of course I do. My special interest? Oh yes of course. My interest of specialty is cutting killing maiming murder biting biting biting biting biting biting bi

#this is the response Savage gets when he asks how Maul got diagnosed #maul is autistic i dont make the rules #darth maul #maul opress #star wars #autism headcanon #autistic maul

[vendettavalor]

@mayxthexforce said: "that could have been worse." (From Feral to Savage)

⚔️ Can We Talk About What Happened Prompts // CLOSED ⚔️

"That could also have been a lot better," Savage huffs, dusting himself off as he steps out of the battered and bent exit of their (stolen) ship. As soon as they are far enough away, the near-empty fuel tank which had been billowing smoke and gas suddenly explodes. The entire vessel is engulfed in the prismatic flames of the rhydonium-based fuel, leaving it as little more than a smoldering pile of scrap metal and wasted potential.

As was to be expected. After all, Savage was a warrior. Not a pilot.

He doesn't seem all that dismayed despite the circumstances. They'd find a new settlement with new people and new ships. And inevitably, they'd find no new leads. Thus, they'd steal another ship, slip away, and continue on their never-ending quest for answers. Their quest for their other brother. Mother Talzin had been cryptic and vague about where or how to find him. But so long as they had the amulet around his neck, they had at least a rough idea of what to do or where to go.

"My talents are wasted trying to navigate in these giant cages. The sooner we are reunited, the better." He grumbled, blindly leading their way into the dense underbrush of their latest crash site.

Oh what an adventure they were on...

#ask : is this what you wanted #mutual : all of my best friends #mayxthexforce #( cm : savage opress ) #response : i know it gets better from here

[bijoumikhawal]

we've got a new one boys, Copts are privileged because we used to own a lot of land that Nasser tool from us and therefore harassing Copts trying to preserve Coptic culture is protecting us

#cipher talk #What if I told you that we used to own MOST of Egypt. Because we used to be the fucking majority population. #This was a deranged response tbh #The context is there's a woman I know from Abyei who gets a lotta shit for talking about how Arab supremacy and Islsmic religious opression #Hurts her and how it's tied deeply with anti Black racism in Sudan #And she was accused of 'dividing the Ummah' (she is not a Muslim) #And I expressed solidarity and support by saying I had been told similar things over Coptic language rights #And some whack job came in saying all of what I outlined with a screenshot from an academic paper #As well as 'making an effort to see you as fellow Egyptians is actually rationalizing protecting you' #The fuck do you MEAN making an effort #We were here first! #Yall are Egyptian too but we were LITERALLY HERE FIRST

[magnoliamyrrh]

im glad hyenas aint the most popular movie bc its message would go way over the head of ppl. ramatou would b a sexworker girlboss (already seen this god awful take) who is not only admirable, but she girlbossed her way back in town to an eye for an eye the man who ruined her life and also fuck up her entire village, to "turn the world into a whorehouse." except the movie shows how this isnt good. how draman created her through his actions, and how the world creates her by relegaing her to a whore, but also how her decision to turn the world into a whorehouse and do the same to others isnt acceptable or good. its understandable, sad, tragic, but no good. the movie in general shoes how an opressed, traumatized, post-colonized people both are pushed into, but also choose to behave in ways which turn them into hyenas, relinquish their morality and dignity, how poverty and hardship and promises of better things lead to actions which are not morally defendable nontheless. how opression may have created them, but how they are creating themselves through their own decisions and actions as well, how its not acceptable or good. tragic, sad, understandable, but not good.

the whole movie is basically "just bc the world fucked u up and youve been opressed and victimized doesn't mean uve got no responsability for your actions and how you are, and also, watch out that you dont become just like your opressors" and thats a morality way beyond the one weve got today

#white westerners: write 150 page essays on how no opressed person ever has any personal moral responsibility for issues and behaviors #bc society leads to said issues #senegalese cinema in the early 90s: lol. no #brilliant god damn film i fall in love w it more every time i watch it

[trinrose3]

oh the irony of europeans complaining about americans as if they aren’t the whole reason that america is Like This

#its almost like...they dont take responsibility for their actions and influences... #...and that they have a superiority complex built on the back of all the people they opress....

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

"For years the West said economic cooperation would persuade dictators to support rules based international order. But all we did was feed their economies while letting them break all the rules. China is betting that we will repeat this mistake. It's time to try something else," Landsbergis wrote on Twitter.

P.S. In reality, the CCP regime in Beijing is an illegitimate tyranny! The useful fools of the West, making investments in the communist-controlled economy since 1989, leaked Western technologies, strengthened the communist army, repressive institutions and increased the aggressiveness of the tyrannical regime in the international arena. The only legitimate China is the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan (ROC) …The West’s investment in communist economy was the most stupid idea ever heard since 1989...

Unfortunately, the Baltic States succumbed to the pressure of Western fools and allowed the opening of embassies of communist tyranny, in fact dens of spies, in our capitals

#Baltic States #response #opressive regime #communist regime #Estonia #Latvia #Lithuania

[aristotels]

ive started a shitstorm here and im still getting ppl in my inbox and notes absolutely missing the entire point of WHY knowing basic geography is important.

people calling me out for european imperialism are proving it by not even understanding the differences between western and eastern europe and the economic differences and exploitation or understanding what the fuck imperialism itself is and what constitutes it. yall keep arguing with a person from balkans about eurocentrism and this is why you should know where balkans are. i dont care about you knowing that zagreb is the croatian capital, its rly not important, the purpose of this entire discussion is understanding economic contexts of different countries

the actual purpose of this converstation is learning what imperial core is and how usamericans not trying to learn abt the countries theyre exploiting is harmful.

blue countries constitute the imperial core and hold monopoly over market, trade, education, military powers, etc. if you live in them you have some responsibilities. you affect the periphery and semi-periphery countries. your votes, your president, etc, affect them. you have a duty to know about the countries that your country opresses.

i also hope people read at least the wikipedia page on globalism if they wont read marx. and you can actually learn what the fuck global south is too

here's more information on imperial core countries and how that affects the rest. its a newer article, as opposed to the maps from 2000 and 2005.

im srsly done w this whole discussion and unless you want to discuss actual issues about exploitation and neocolonialism instead of asking me to name 50 usa states dont botheeeer im done

#reposting individually cuz propa was smart and disabled reblogs lol #txt

[maxellminidisc]

Idk maybe I'm seeing shit but I'm starting to notice an alarming rise in posts by mostly younger* (usually white/tme) folks with tons of unchecked transmisogyny, be it intentional or unitentional (ie that one where op was raving about how tme/tma is a genital check, the stupid shrek post where somebody was trying to turn the transmisogyny in shrek into a modern narrative for rep, that one incredibly thoughtless one about finster, etc). I feel like it's the result of a nasty cocktail of our current anti trans climate and a consequence of what trans women have been warning and SCREAMING at us to pay attention to on a communty level: that decentering trans women in the fight against terf ideology and disregarding transmisogyny as a whole and how it operates even within the community is harmful and leaves them far more vulnerable than they already are.

Like it's just incredibly alarming seeing people yelling at trans women that transmisogyny is essentially not real to them worse than I've seen in a while, arguing SO loudly by being wildly wrong because they dont even understand what transmisogyny even means or how its works, constantly trying to downplay experiences and even education that trans women are trying to give us so we can better help them, trying to twist the narrative against trans women by saying that them trying to fix this constant decentering of their opression is "in-fighting and in-fighting is terf/fash/cop shit". Of course none of this is new, but like there seems to be a saturation of this attitude as of late and it is genuinely worrying me.

*I say younger because most of the op's of the types of post I'm seeing have mostly been people 18-21, theres a lot to be said about why that is, BUT I'm not saying people my age or older aren't capable of/haven't already been doing this, it's just that I'm seeing a rise of it in this age group. I just find that they may be a litmus test for shifting attitudes and that should be something we look out for, we have a responsibility to do better by each other regardless of age.

[ladywaterfall]

I, for one, will never forget that time i wrote a mlp g2 fanfic in which moon shadow stole an ancient powerful necklace which granted the wearer the ability to see into the future from queen silver rain because moon was an orphan with no friends except dainty dove, who was a pegasus/earth pony hybrid and couldn't fly even after her moult (in this fanfic pegasi have fluffy wings until age 12, then they grow into their flight feathers), but then the leader of the orphanage twinkle star (who was also a pegasus/flutter pony hybrid) got hired by queen silver rain to murder dove, but dove escaped and is now hiding in the woods near the pegasus kingdom, but moon doesn't know that and is planning her revenge on the monarchy.

meanwhile, sundance hates her responsibilities as the princess of the earth ponies, along with her brother firefly and her sister crystal, who has always been overlooked by her parents sunsparkle and night star (who dies while trying to stop moon shadow from escaping with the necklace), until light heart commits arson in the castle during the midsummer day tryouts for a new jester (her popular sister trixiebelle was chosen instead of her) and she ans sundance escape through a secret passage which sunsparkle ordered secret tale and merry moments to build before they ran away to the lost library in the middle of the rainbow forest.

Afterwards sundance meets sweet berry (who is melanistic and has really strong magic) in a cottage in the woods and together they go back to the castle, assuming light heart was captured. they sneak into the castle and watch crystal deliver a prophecy about incoming doom, then sunsparkle tells sundance that sweet berry killed her sibling ivy with her magic. they look for light heart in the dungeons, but instead find moon shadow, who drugged all the guards and she knocks sundance unconscious right before light heart showed up. turns out she had been in hiding in a nearby town. they run away from the scene of the crime and decide to go to the lost library, but not before scaring all the royal guards with sweet berry's magic.

they meet merry moments and secret tale at the lost library, who casually tell light heart that she is a hybrid and that trixiebelle is not her real sister. sundance captures moon shadow and makes her give up the necklace that she took from crystal, and she joins their friend group. merry moments suggests that they should go to the flutter kingdom, because she doesn't recognise the necklace and the flutter kingdom is the most mysterious of all the kingdoms. moon shadow leaves to contact her ex girlfriend dainty dove.

sundance, light heart and sweet berry go to the flutter kingdom, where they meet an exiled border guard named morning glory. she says that the flutter kingdom is an opressive dystopia ever since the old rulers mysteriously disappeared and were replaced by the new queen. morning glory disguses light heart and sweet berry as sundance's government officials and they visit the palace while sweet berry has an existencial crisis about killing ivy by accident five years ago. morning glory breaks into the royal library and finds out that she is actually the lost princess of the flutter ponies, but she rejects this responsibility in favour of escaping with light heart to the unicorn kingdom.

light heart meets her sister dainty dove, moon shadow, crystal (who ran away after sunsparkle tried to use her prophecy powers to declare war on the other kingdoms, and copper glow, who is an outcast from society due to not having magic. together they spy on queen silver swirl, and discover that she is stealing the unicorns' magic in order to conquer the world (why is every ruler in this fanfic trying to conquer the world smh) and that crystal is secretly half unicorn, and that the necklace was worthless all along. all the kingdoms go over and have an epic fight, which the main characters stop of course. crystal also turns her mom into a ghost because yes.

i spent half an hour typing this out.

DROP THE LINK-

but fr there's SO MUCH going on here. I love that you did that.

The corruption of ponies in power. arson. mysterious conspiracies. lost princesses. accidental murder?? turning your mom into a ghost. TRULY iconic. absolutely love it.

#also g2 representation! #truly the first time I have seen night star in anything #the high stakes and drama wow #this reads like the plot of a YA novel OR how we actually played with our toys in childhood #my little pony #my little pony g2 #my little pony fic #g2 mlp

[sappho-favourite-pupil]

#SERIOUSPOST

You know what makes me really, really upset?

People who claim they are not homophobic, just because they would never actively harrass or kill a queer person. They are like "i disagree with their lifestyle, but i would never harm anyone of them".

It's like selling weapons and yet claiming you are not responsible for how those weapons will be used by others. You might not be pulling the trigger yourself, but sure as hell you are not innocent either.

And i mean full offence: how can people like that claim they have nothing to do with this kind of hate crimes, while agreeing with the reason behind said hate crimes? While they are constantly teaching their kids and talking to their friends and family, saying that the ones like me are "sick" and should not exist? While they are getting voted and elected, and use their power to opress me with words and pass new laws that will make me even more oppressed?

The worst fucking thing is when one of these bigots come up to me and is like:"i know you are gay, and that's kind of disgusting, but yk what? I could never hurt you".

First of all, yeah, you are, and second, what do you expect me to do with this information? It's almost like they expect me to reward or even thank them, for not wanting to kill me. Like: "you should be grateful that i despise you but choose not to act it out, there are loads of "stuff" like you who are not this lucky!".

That's disgusting, and not only disgusting, but also scary, because i genuinely do not know if i am safe around you. Yeah, you say you would never harm me, but who knows? I'm not stupid, i see and read what happens all around the world, almost everyday. And most of the time, you do not have the choice to just cut these people off, maybe because they are your classmates or coworkers.

In conclusion, as Dua Lipa would say, "if you are offended by this song, you're clearly doing something wrong".

#lgbtq community #lgbt pride #lgbtqia #lgbt rights #homophobia #transphobes #lesbianism #lesbian yearning #femme lesbian #dyke #masc lesbian #sapphic #wlw #pride month #lesbian #serious post

[thenightmarketofdathomir]

I woke from a strange dream. It seemed as if an age had passed -- that the dust gathered in the corners could not be swept off, even by those that trespassed. Indeed, I found footsteps crisscrossing the floors of my shop.

Dathomir is a strange place, my love. One never knows what creatures haunt the dark, nor what stumbles from the deepest places where, I fear, we so often abandon ourselves to those desires we dare not speak for fear of recrimination.

But I am lonely, and I wish you would whisper them to me once more.

So stir my soul. Lull me back to slumber once more with pleasant thoughts of brothers three:

One golden, one bronze, and one as red as the crimson dawn.

So... I will set this candle on the table here, and though the wax is low, the flame flickers gently. Maybe in the days to come, someone will kindle a blaze, and me once more.

---

Welcome back to the Night Market of Dathomir

The inbox is open to take requests again, but this time, I'm going to be a bit more selective, and a little more irregular in how they're answered -- maybe they'll be out of order. Maybe I'll answer one a week or five in an hour as the mood strikes me. I'm not sure.

Truth be told, the format serves as a good warmup for me when writing other things, and maybe it's the eclipse, but I feel that old magic bubbling again.

*If this is your first time, we've got a pinned note at the top of the blog that describes its purpose and service, but the short is that we answer prompts sent in as asks about the Opress Brothers, and we usually lean towards spicy stuff with our responses. 18+. No age in your profile means I'll block your butt. Cool? Cool. Wishmonger out and nocty too.

#the wishmonger says #darth maul #darth maul x reader #savage opress x reader #savage opress x you #darth maul x you #maul x reader #maul x you #feral opress x reader #feral opress x you #savage opress #feral opress #feral (star wars) #the opress brothers #the night market of dathomir

[vendettavalor]

@sithsjedi said: "Women confound you, don't they?" — Shi’al to Savage LMAO

⚔️ Curious Sentence Starters // CLOSED ⚔️

The question seems to puzzle Savage more than anything. It’s not immediately evident. But those who have studied him long enough recognize his confusion by the slow blink and the blank stare he offers as the question seems to sink in and actually process. His brow furrows a bit, creating a deep fissure in his forehead as he ponders on the deeper meaning of the question. A meaning he cannot interpret with his current frames of reference.

“My knowledge of females of other species are limited.” He finally states, flat and calm. “Where I come from, women are witches. They spend their lives away from males training to perfect their understanding and abilities with magicks. That is what I grew up knowing and that is what I carry with me.”

It’s… a simple answer. No greater nuance or more subtle meaning interwoven into the words. There is no anger, no resentment. Just the understanding that the Nightbrothers and Nightsisters were what they were. He didn’t recognize them as a cult. He didn’t recognize the way he grew up as being abnormal. He didn’t see anything wrong with the fact he was raised apart from his mother, or that he alone was responsible for the care of his siblings. He didn’t see anything wrong with the fact that his existence centered around being a great and powerful warrior. That violence was all that he knew. That he was crafted as a weapon of conflict.

“I feel I am no more confounded by women than I am by any other being.” It’s not a statement of confidence or arrogance. He didn’t mean it in the sense that women were simple creatures as easy to understand as any other. No. He means it as: I understand women about as much as I understand any other living thing - very little, because I have very little experience engaging with anything outside of the understanding of allies or enemies by which I categorize things in my mind. Life is an endless fight for me, and I cannot afford to devote deeper thought into anything that isn’t perceived as dangerous.

It’s perhaps in this moment that Savage makes it very clear that his mind has been permanently placed in a mindset of survival. He is not living. He is merely keeping himself alive as best he can given the circumstances. But then again, can anything more truly be expected of a man who has lost everything?

#ask : is this what you wanted #mutual : all of my best friends #sithsjedi #response : i know it gets better from here #( cm : savage opress )

[bonefall]

You have at least one religious follower!

LGBT+ Christian, so I'm kinda numb hatred from both sides, and you're not being offensive at all!

You're not even hurtful, somebody called me something really bad which amounted to "opressed loving the opressors".

Keep doing what you're doing, you're perfectly valid in your opinions and so far the most nuanced blog on warrior cats tumblr!

Jeez, I'm sorry someone ever said that to you, that's super shitty!

Like, I have my opinions and strong feelings, and a lot of distrust for organized religion because of life experience, but I don't hate religious people. I even had to cut family out of my life who kept proselytizing after I'd set boundaries; doesn't mean that ALL religious people are like that.

I write Clan spirituality in a way that tries to approach that. The Clans are a theocracy and the Leader has divine right to rule, and that's terrifying. The ancestors mean a lot to the living cats but StarClan itself is flawed. Morality changes over time as the divine shifts in response to culture.

Personal belief can be a very good and comforting thing; but religion is an invention of the living in BB, prone to human/feline flaw.

I guess it just surprises me in a positive way that I've approached it well enough to have not alienated people. It's cool to know I've been tactful enough to thread the needle I suppose.

#Don't get me wrong though I do block people I catch with actively destructive beliefs #Like transphobes. Get lost. I will add ANOTHER trans cat if you look at me funny #But not ALL Christians are like that #In fact I think most christians are just kinda culturally that way. Most people don't really think through such fundamental beliefs. #religious talk #bone babble