20 year old boricua grrrl looking for the Marceline to my Princess Bubblegum. My name is Melanie.
I really fucking would. The latest in this line of cis-feminists I’ve noticed is Raven, aka unknowable woman. By asking for trans-inclusive language we’re being mean to women.
This is her response to people being upset with a poster that had a uterus on it and a slogan about women:
God fucking forbid women have one thing of their own in this world. We can’t write about ourselves, we can’t speak about ourselves, we can’t advocate for ourselves even within our own so-called “social justice” spheres without someone telling us to shut up about our own experiences.
That’s right folks, us mean ol’ trans folk are silencing women. How bout that! Even though trans folks like me are active and vocal in the pro-choice movement, which benefits cis women, we really should just shut up.
But, no, we have to love her because she got into a battle on twitter with Ryking. And I mentioned this to someone once, that I distrust cis-women in social justice, feminist, and pro-choice environments more than cis-men sometimes, because when cis women pull the ‘we’re being marginalized by you!’ card a lot more people listen. And I got called a misogynist. Which, incidentally, is apparently what we automatically are because we don’t want people telling us that a uterus makes you a woman.
This stuff, this is why Die Cis Scum is a phrase that exists. Because if we dare to talk, we’re silencing women. And when they say ‘women’, you bet your ass they only mean cis women.
Fuck cis people man, I am fucking done with your shit.
I love (and by love, I mean hate) how these cis feminists are always implying that anyone who isn’t a woman is oppressing them, because non-woman always equals male, apparently.
And the justification of this cissexist erasing shit is that cis-woman-specific language is “needed” to point out that these anti-choicers are motivated by their hatred of cis women. Or in other words, “They aren’t thinking about anyone else, so why should we?” Like because cis women are the targets, we shouldn’t acknowledge who else is affected. Their needs are more important.
The funny thing is, the vast majority of anti choice legislation is actually specifically targeting and affecting women of color. But these white cis feminists completely ignore that fact. The face of the pro choice movement is white, white, white. So their whole “it’s about hating and killing WOMEN, not just PEOPLE” logic falls fucking flat. They cling to that language not because it most accurately describes the target demographic, but because it makes the debate all about them and their white cis needs.
(And it really sickens me that people finally did something about Ryking when he went after a really well known white cis feminist blogger, despite all of his past harassment of women, especially women of color. But they deny, deny, deny this cuz whiteness has nothing to do with it, oh no.)
like i said yesterday, there’s a reason why “feminists” these days know Jessica Valenti more than Audre Lorde. it’s shit like this that caters to middle class white women. Andrea Smith calls this out in Conquest (which seriously has like, a laser eye on so many feminist issues). WoC didn’t get abortion rights after Roe v Wade, they were still too poor to afford it; the medicalization of abortion only exacerbated that problem. WoC care about contraception, being not-poor enough to feed their kids, and basic health care that is affordable. White woman feminism is about a capitalistic career track, not having to have kids, and getting into the white man’s world. Meanwhile, Women of Color are just trying to survive.
(via fivelettered)
#cis people #die cis scum #anti choice #abortion #feminism #why i'm not a feminist #white feminists #unknowablewoman #transphobia #cissexism #race #racism #white privilege #2nd wave bullshit
GOD
WHO KEEPS MAKING THESE
OH MY GOD
I CAN’T
(Source: tranceblossom, via kyandi)
#good
White Feminist: OMG! YOU DON'T GET IT! They're using it figuratively, so why do you feel offended? Nobody called you that! You're the only racist around here!
Me: *listening to rap music*
White Feminist: WHAT'S WRONG WITH U OMGAWSH!?!?! Why would you listen to such garbage, it's offensive to me that you're allowing yourself to be oppressed! UGH!
Madonna always laid claim to being a female artist who was breaking new ground and in her own testimony laid claim to an engagement with feminist politics. A lot of times people act as though feminists bring an unwarranted critique to Madonna but I think Madonna receives so much attention from feminists precisely because she positioned herself as a woman within the music industry who was going to break new ground and who was going to challenge the sexism of that industry. And, as we know, for early on in her career she actually did live out that particular practice and that’s I think, why many of us continue to have affection for her as a cultural icon even as we feel incredibly disturbed by the fact that stardom, which by it’s very nature has to be reproduced again and again, meant that at a certain point as an aging woman, Madonna had to have a new gimmick to renew interest in her, and it’s not surprising that a major part of her re-invention of herself becomes a re-attachment to sexism.
When Madonna appeared in, I think it’s Vanity Fair, that she appears in, in all the little girl sort of sexual sadomasochistic kind of pictures and everything, it’s suddenly a complete repudiation of the kind of images of a powerful woman that she theoretically talked about wanted to put forth and it’s a reinvestment in patriarchy, but let’s face it, there’s always going to be more money to be had and more stardom to be had in patriarchy and for a while Madonna worked the feminist revolutionary tip as far as she could push it and then she needed a new driving force.
To me Madonna symbolizes so much the question of greed. I think exactly like many rap musicians, I don’t believe in her “real life” Madonna is committed to any of the sexist images that she’s quite willing to reproduce for a profit. But, in fact, she’s willing to turn that particular trick in order to make more and more money even though we all know this is an incredibly wealthy human being who theoretically should not have to debase and degrade her principles to earn money but the reproduction of stardom says, “I must earn more and more and more money” and it’s interesting that not only does she come back to patriarchy but she also comes back to white supremacy.
I was so amazed by the incredible racist comments she makes in Spin Magazine in a recent interview about black culture and black men, when she goes on to tell us, “but black men are the most sexist men on the planet.” I said it’s kind of like Madonna out of Africa, it’s like report from the front: “I went into the jungle, I fucked all those black men and I used black culture in my videos but I’m here to testify that they really are primitive, that they really are the most sexist people on the planet. I used to kind of like black people but I’m not sure I do any more.” And I was really fascinated by that, cause I thought to myself, this person is actually using this interview to reposition herself as a voice for the Right. Because let’s face it, there’s more money to be made on the Right than there will ever be to be made on the Left.
#i seriously love her #bell hooks not madonna
http://malheureuxmarxist.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/young-lords-history-1-tb-truck-liberated/
lately i’ve been interested in the idea that the lumpenproletariat (or the unemployables as huey p newton called them) should be the focus of radical organizing. this week, i’m going to post different actions, programs, and writings of the young lords and other organizations that took this analysis. im probably going to focus more on the young lords, because people are less familiar with them from my experience
I originally read all of these in The Young Lords: A Reader. If you’re unfamiliar with the Young Lords, the introduction is available on google books here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Iod_Z41WIT0C&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false
TB Truck Liberated
(From the newspaper Palante, 3 July 1970, volume 2, number 6)
Everyday, Puerto Rican people are faced with the same deadly health problem tuberculosis – a disease that affects our lives and a disease that can be prevented. The reason that t.b. isn’t being prevented is that preventing diseases like t.b. cuts the profits of the capitalists that run the city hospitals. Therefore, the hospitals don’t work on preventing these diseases.
The YOUNG LORDS PARTY has always said that the time will come when the people take over all the institutions and machinery that control and exploit our lives. On June 17, the YOUNG LORDS PARTY put this idea into practice. On this day, we liberated an x-ray truck from the politicians that had been using the truck only for propaganda purposes that serve their own interests and profiteering businessmen that only think about making money.
The truck was seized only after members of the YLP had gone to the Tuberculosis Society several times asking them for the use of the truck. Each time, the request was refused. By refusing us, they made it clear that they aren’t concerned with the health of our people. These trucks have been seen in our community only on a very limited part-time basis. We realized that the reason our people didn’t use it was because the people running the show prior to the LORDS were outsiders who couldn’t relate to our people, our language, and our customs. They never made any real attempt to get the people to use the x-ray facilities.
In the three days that we have had the truck, we have already tested 770 people. According to the technicians, the usual amount of people taken care of in the same amount of time is about 300. So, as far as the YOUNG LORDS PARTY is concerned, this truck rightfully belongs to the people!
The last point of our 13 Point Program and Platform states that “We want a socialist society.” Under a socialist society, medical services are extended outside of the hospital by setting up clinics in all communities and by visiting people’s homes. This type of medical service is called preventive medicine. Although doctors admit it is needed, preventive medicine will never be done in amerikkka as it is today, because in the capitalist society in which we live, capitalists run health services in order to make more money, not to improve health care. The sicker we are, the more money the capitalist makes. ‘The YOUNG LORDS PARTY believes that health care should be a right for all people not a privilege. That is why we put the x-ray facilities in the hands of the people.
The Ramon Emeterio Betances Free X-Ray Truck now belongs to the people. It will be on the streets 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. This truck is here to service the needs of our people.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL!
LIBERATE PUERTO RICO NOW!
Carl Pastor
Ministry of Health
YOUNG LORDS PARTY
#puerto rico #boricua #communism #communist #socialism #socialist #borikua
http://malheureuxmarxist.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/the-ideology-of-the-black-panthers/
Continuing in my series looking at organizations that believed the lumpenproletariat should be the focus of organizing, here’s portions of a speech given by Huey P Newton. i’m posting excerpts but the entire thing is a fantastic read
http://hueypnewtonarchive.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/speech-at-boston-college-18-november-1970/
In 1917 an event occurred in the Soviet Union that was called a revolution. Two classes had a contradiction and the whole country was transformed. In this country, 1970, the Black Panther Party issued a document. Our Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver, who now is in Algeria, wrote a pamphlet called “On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party.” In that work Eldridge Cleaver stated that neither the proletarians nor the industrial workers carry the potentialities for revolution in this country at this time. He claimed that the left wing of the proletarians, the lumpen proletarians, have that revolutionary potential, and in fact, acting as the vanguard, they would carry the people of the world to the final climax of the transformation of society. It has been stated by some people, by some parties, by some organizations, by the Progressive Labor Party, that revolution is impossible. How can the lumpen proletarians carry out a successful socialist transformation when they are only a minority? And in fact how can they do it when history shows that only the proletarians have carried out a successful social revolution? I agree that it is necessary for the people who carry out a social revolution to represent the popular majority’s interests. It is necessary for this group to represent the broad masses of the people. We analyzed what happened in the Soviet Union in 1917. I also agree that the lumpen proletarians are the minority in this country. No disagreement. Have I contradicted myself? It only goes to show that what’s apparent might not actually be a fact. What appears to be a contradiction may be only a paradox. Let’s examine this apparent contradiction.
The Soviet Union, in 1917, was basically an agricultural society with very large peasantry. A set of social conditions existing there at that time was responsible for the development of a small industrial base. The people who worked in this industrial base were called proletarians. Lenin, using Marx’s theory, saw the trends. He was not a historical materialist, but a dialectical materialist, and therefore very interested in the ever-changing status of things. He saw that while the proletarians were a minority in 1917, they had the potential to carry out a revolution because their class was increasing and the peasantry was declining. That was one of the conditions. The proletarians were destined to be a popular force. They also had access to the properties necessary for carrying out a socialist revolution.
In this country the Black Panther Party, taking careful note of the dialectical method, taking careful note of the social trends and the ever-changing nature of things, sees that while the lumpen proletarians are the minority and the proletarians are the majority, technology is developing at such a rapid rate that automation will progress to cybernation, and cybernation probably to technocracy. As I came into town I saw MIT over the way. If the ruling circle remains in power it seems to me that capitalists will continue to develop their technological machinery because they are not interested in the people. Therefore, I expect from them the logic that they have always followed: to make as much money as possible, and pay the people as little as possible – until the people demand more, and finally demand their heads. If revolution does not occur almost immediately, and I say almost immediately because technology is making leaps (it made a leap all the way to the moon), and if the ruling circle remains in power the proletarian working class will definitely be on the decline because they will be unemployables and therefore swell the ranks of the lumpens, who are the present unemployables. Every worker is in jeopardy because of the ruling circle, which is why we say that the lumpen proletarians have the potential for revolution, will probably carry out the revolution, and in the near future will be the popular majority. Of course, I would not like to see more of my people unemployed or become unemployables, but being objective, because we’re dialectical materialists, we must acknowledge the facts.
…
Today’s capitalist has developed machinery to such a point that he can hire a group of specialized people called technocrats. In the near future he will certainly do more of this, and the technocrat will be too specialized to be identified as a proletarian. In fact that group of technocrats will be so vital we will have to do something to explain the presence of other people; we will have to come up with another definition and reason for existing.
But we must not confine our discussion to theory; we must have practical application of our theory to come up with anything worthwhile. In spite of the criticism that we have received from certain people, the Party has a practical application of its theories. Many of our activities provide the working class and the unemployed with a reason and a means for existing in the future. The people will not disappear-not with our survival programs they will not. They will still be around. The Black Panther Party says it is perfectly correct to organize the proletarians because after they are kicked out of the factory and are called unemployable or lumpen, they still want to live, and in order to live they have to eat. It is in the proletarian’s own best interest to seize the machinery that he has made in order to produce in abundance, so he and his brethren can live. We will not wait until the proletarian becomes the lumpen proletarian to educate him. Today we must lift the consciousness of the people. The wind is rising and the rivers flowing, times are getting hard and we can’t go home again. We can’t go back to our mother’s womb, nor can we go back to 1917.…
#black panthers #racism #socialism #communism #socialist #communist
I just saw someone suggest that the world would be an infinitely better place if everyone was vegan - even ‘Peruvian indigenous villages’ because we live in ‘a developed world’. In short the person is being purposely vague but ultimately suggesting making contact with uncontacted tribes in order to force them to become vegans; talk about turning the quest for global veganism into a genocide project.
Establishing contact with isolated tribes is a sure way to exterminate at least 50-90% of their population and if you do it in order to force a vegan lifestyle upon people who live in areas where an entirely vegan lifestyle just isn’t viable, you’d be sure to have said indigenous group entirely gone from the face of the planet in less than a year.
But at least those pesky natives wouldn’t be eating meat, am I right?
Not to mention that veganism, despite all it’s positive sides, isn’t as eco-friendly and wonderful as people would like to think; one of the reasons why the Brazilian Enawene Nawe tribe is currently being driven away from their lands is so that people can use their ancestral lands to grow soy for vegans and the meat industry alike, while simultaneously pumping out loads of pesticides into the rivers in the area, thereby making a pescaterian tribe (the Enawene Nawe don’t eat meat) lose their main source of food as the rivers are more or less killed by the poison dumped in them.
The thing that bugs me, that always bugged me, was this complete denial of the circumstances, conditions and even the moral framework of non-western people.
Nobody thinks about the destruction of healthy ecosystems for farming, rising commodity prices in production zones (like how quinoa is too expensive for Bolivians to buy it, despite growing and relying on it for centuries), or how the adoption of westernized diets has created a public health crisis.
Then there’s the moralizing. This universalist ideology that declares that in order to live at the apex of ethical humanity, we must all convert to veganism, which will in turn solve all manner of environmental issues and end the brutal factory farm system, praise God.
And sure, industrial-level agriculture is problematic, and the meat industry in particular is brutal. There is something seriously wrong with how we get our food, and there is nothing wrong with frank, serious discussions about how we feed ourselves. The way that life, labour and the environment is exploited demands serious critical examination.
But veganism is a lot more than that. It’s a code, a way of life which derives all of it’s legitimacy and authority by uncritically appealing to Western concepts of humanity and morality. In seeking to impose a universal, moral veganism, it’s adherents utterly fail to account for views and philosophies which exist outside of the dominant/normative power structure and, in point of fact, denies their legitimacy and worth completely. That’s pretty fucked up and it accounts for the very real racist undertones in arguments levelled against indigenous people who hunt to support themselves. Witness the hue and cry of the animal rights community over Newfoundland’s seal hunt, and see how many times you can pick out words like savage.
I can guarantee that I do not hunt for the reasons that these people think I hunt, and I do not approach the taking of a life in the way that these people believe I do.
And frankly, I’d rather wear real wool than something that was made with plastics. The oil industry isn’t really known for it’s environmental stewardship, and that shit is in my backyard.
(via lavender-labia)
#vegan #militant vegan #veganism #dietary choices #food #privilege #oppression #whiteness #power #stigma #moral #ethics #animal rights #vegetarian #vegetarianism #poverty #choice
