BRT – The Struggle to Revitalize and Reclaim One’s Importance

If there is one thing Black Radical Tradition has thought me, it is the importance of identity. Through out this course, through every reading and lecture, somehow, for some reason, the word that constantly buzzed my mind was the element of identity, the constant struggle towards achieving it, the non-stop effort to reclaim one’s sense of self. It rather intrigues me to dig into the very importance of race and the subjugation that has existed against ‘the Black’ or ‘the Negro’ since time and, subsequently, struggle to achieve a sense of equality.

Black Radical Tradition teaches the importance of struggle and the eventual revival it brings about. The mere fact that after more than a decade of struggle against the corruptive oppression of the advantaged white supremacist, the empowerment, the fearlessness and the approach to revitalize the self-worth the historically disenfranchised ‘Negro’ can attain through gaining an independent nation (Haiti). That activists such as CLR James can convince a people to let go of senseless violence and seek change through a constructive social innovation.

That the continued reiteration of the importance of ones identity and the push towards struggling to find one’s identity can indeed sculpt a renewed sense of self. That individuals such as Toni Morrison can motivate a people to avoid the denunciation of their white oppressor and map out a renewed and empowered sense of identity from within.

BRT offers me a belief that to gain equality and to gauge societal importance for a hegemonized race can be achieved through relentless struggle without violence. The mere fact that Martin Luther King Jr. evolved a sense of collectivization through construction and struggle rather than destruction. That to make a mark, a renewed approach to gain freedom and equality was the way to gain recognition.

Black resistance movement has taught me that through out the journey of black liberation, from suffering from abolition to gaining civil rights, from the responsive ‘Black Power’ to creating the non-violent recognition of ‘Black Lives Matter’; the struggle of any movement should not be to gauge hatred and abhorrence, but to promote the humanity within the black community and attain the level of dignity the white supremacist never could.

That the Black movement in general was the epitome of reclamation of identity from the corruptive elements of slavery, capitalism and white imperialism with the progressive maintenance of tradition, beliefs and values to bring about an exemplary form of activism that has brought a community to the forefront today.

It has made me realize that there is no mile stone, no stringent idea or manifestation of thought that couldn’t be overcome under a systematic movement and struggle to revitalize and reclaim one’s importance.

Anzaldua’s Borderlands

Anzaldua’s Borderland is the unfortunate story of a people that lost their heritage, their importance and most importantly, their identity in the midst of the imposition of cultural supremancy and the constant struggle of an oppressed people to ‘fit in’ to the society.

Her book, a combination of sentimental poetry and description, is not merely the quest of a people, but more importantly, it is an anecdote of the life of a Chicana woman who was in a constant quest to find herself. Anzaldua, through her writing, questions the various normative constructs that are imposed on a society – the constant struggle an individual, more specifically, a woman feels as an ‘inbetweener.’ Anzaldua pens her thoughts to question the various indemnities and the binary division of ways to exist in a society.

What I find rather compelling in Anzaldua’s description of her societal surroundings is her boldness and fearlessness while questioning aspects such as the normative presence of femininity, homosexuality, religion and culture. Anzaldua’s life is the visual representation of an anti-thesis to the constructs that have so carelessly been imposed on post-colonial societies. The unfortunate fact that the white patriarchal supremacy took away the historical ‘way of being’ of her oppressed society. This can be highlighted by the variety of languages spoken by the Chicano men and women in the quest to search for their self-assumed identity. Through her text, she attempts to declassify this diminished sense of identity that has been corrupted in the quest to find its reality. She attempts to empower her people by arguing that being Latino or Mexican is not a state of mind or of citizenship, but that being Mexican is a state of soul, a way of being that lies in one’s internal self.

To sum up her assertion, Anzaldua brings about the concept of ‘la Mestiza’, a superior identity that is the catalyst to the ultimate revolution that will bring back the lost consciousness of her people. La Mestiza in literal terms is a woman of mixed Spanish and Indian descent, however, in Anzaldua’s eyes, she is a much more intricate and complex figure. By bringing about this form of identity, she counters the existence of the Mestiza as a conflicted being. She asserts that the Mestiza is not an inferior or conflicted identity, she isn’t a ‘half and half’, neither through gender, through her language, through her culture, but rather, she is a being in herself, a new form of identity, an evolved ‘combination of all.’ Through her creation of the Mestiza, Anzaldua breaks down the duality in terms of the subject and the object that keeps one prisoned in the quest to find oneself.

Anzaldua’s book provoked me to question my identity as a Pakistani. The mere fact that we live our lives in ignorance of who we truly are, what our reality is. To be fair, we have, in all honesty, lost our identity in the various phases that signify the development of our past. Sure, as an average Pakistani, I am an Urdu-speaking boy who finds pride in speaking English and complying with the various ways of a foreign sense of identity – fighting and trying to liberate myself of the stereotypical localized normative values that might, in all honesty, be a representation of my historical origins.

Don’t Give in Chicanita

Something I particularly loved was Anzaldua’s poem that so vehemently makes the reader gauge the sentiment of the Chicano movement. The poem tends to put the reader in the shoes of a Mexican woman who is reminded of her origin, her glorious past and the sacrifice of her ancestors. It gives her hope that the sacrifices of the Chicanos hasn’t stopped, that there will be a day when they will rejuvenate their sense of being and their identity will be restored and “like old skin will fall the slave ways of obedience, acceptance and silence.”

“We do not live single-issue lives” – Intersectionality

While researching on Intersectionality, I came across a quote from Audre Lorde’s address “Learning from the 60s” where she vehemently suggested that “there is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” This quote, I believe, is the living representation of what Kimberlé Crenshaw tries to highlight in light of the inconsistency of feminism to represent the hegemonized black woman. In retrospect, if there is one structural error that can be defined as the epitome of inconsistency in liberation movements such as feminism, it is the mere fact that they attain a rather polarized or blind-sided view of discrimination – disregarding the interconnectedness of all its various forms.

The forms of discrimination that have existed thus far have stemmed from an apparent dominant power structure: the ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.’ (Hooks) Hence, it is important to understand that the existing dynamics of structural power cannot be rectified by treating each form of discrimination rather independently. In other words, selectivism or treating one form of oppression as bigger than the other only suffices the misfortunes of some and exponentiates the ignorance of others – those who fall under multiple marginalized categories.

Intersectionality penetrates the layers of discrimination that combine to form a ‘matrix of domination’ by the privileged identities. This can be best explained under the ambit of intersectional feminist theory as explained by Hooks. She reiterates on the fact that sharing a single umbrella identity of being a ‘woman’ is a rather broad form of generalization. Hence, it isn’t sufficient enough to explain the multitudes of realities a woman has to experience – which is determined by the co-existing identities she attains as the multiple ‘layers’ that will continue to define the form of discrimination she will face as a part of her existence.

In other words, the living example of a sector intersectional politics provides representation to is ‘the black womanhood’. It highlights the bitter fact that social inequality and the redistribution of structural power exists even within the liberation movements – where there are a dominant few and the subjugated others. It attempts to rectify the error that tends to propagate the rejection of a binary presence of a woman: that an individual can be a woman and a person of colour. That the ultimate form of liberation should not be a utopian idea but a foreseeable reality for the black woman where she liberates herself from the chains of both her sex and her colour. Intersectionality highlights her misery in the sense that, if otherwise, she remains uncategorised – the worst form of identification that comes about as a result of the combination of subjugation towards her multiple existing identities.

Hence, intersectional politics, in all means, is productive. It is productive because it creates the basic understanding of how dominant categorizations such as class or race, independently or in combination, interact with gender to promote a strain of marginalization that, at the very least, requires recognition and subsequent rectification.

Beyoncé – ‘Formation’ of a Narrative

What makes Beyoncé a queen in her genre and an influential voice for her community is how she uses her music to make powerful social and political comments. Take for example, the internet-breaking video for her song Formation. While the song itself serves as a celebration of black culture and roots, the video is a visual masterpiece in its depiction of central themes of race, gender and sexuality. Was the fact that it was released just one day after the birthday of Trayvon Martin a symbolic gesture? The inclusion of a young black boy in a hoodie confronted by a wall of SWAT policemen seems to hint at this date as a tribute to Martin.

To unravel the first layer of connotations in this song, the lyrics are a forceful means of reclaiming conventionally insulting aspects of black culture and aesthetics; “My daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana, you mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bamma”. She unapologetically accepts and celebrates her heritage and the ‘blackness’ of her physical attributes with lyrics such as “I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils”. The presence of black figures in this music video are predominant in areas that were significantly inhabited by the southern masters at the time of the Civil War. Black men and women reclaim these spaces and their presence in the history of this region, dressed in elaborate historical costumes, they sip their tea and swirl their fans in defiance of the conventional roles of slaves that their ancestors were forced to fill.

Gender plays a pivotal role in both the lyrics and the visual representation of the black females surrounding Beyoncé in the music video. The phrase; “Okay, okay, ladies, now let’s get in formation, ’cause I slay”, became rooted in pop culture due to its significance in creating a narrative surrounding the representation of black women. Beyoncé blatantly displays her own power and the privilege she earned through her hard work with provocative lines such as; “When he fucks me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster, ’cause I slay”. She lords over the others as queen of the jungle and is unabashedly proud of her own achievements.

But tackling all these issues isn’t enough for Beyoncé. She also brings to light the plight of the hurricane struck areas in the south that were neglected by the government, showing flooded streets and a sinking police car over which, she belts out her lyrics. The video begins with a forceful voice asking, “what happened at the New Orleans” and through the images in her video, Beyoncé answers that question, juxtaposing flashes of sinking homes and lights from police cars. Graffiti screaming “STOP SHOOTING US” also lights up the screen towards the end of the video.

Beyoncé comes in strong with all imagery exhorting black people to claim their power and take control of spaces that were denied to them in history. This is a visual and vocal anthem that elevates the issues of black representation in the music industry, pushing it from the margins to the forefront with its powerful political and social message.

The Remnants of Colonization in the Normative Values of the Pakistani Society

For my final project, I intend to discover the deeply ingrained effects of colonization on the normative values of a society and its subsequent implications. The idea is to investigate the conventional values of a system that appear to have evolved from within, however, have the deep-rooted effects of the colonial past of a society. In other words, the inability of a society to ‘break’ from the imposed and infectious values of their unfortunate past. My area of study in this regard is Pakistan. I will be researching on the deeper corrupted values that I have found contradictory to the normative understandings of people in Pakistan.

I derive the importance of this investigation based on my personal experiences and from what I have understood and experienced as I have grown up in this society. What rather concerns me is the over-arching dilemma of identity and the elements of influence that I found contradictory and demeaning to our everyday conduct and existence. I believe it is elementary to point out the inherent differences that lie between the colonizers and the once colonized peoples of the subcontinent. We have so profoundly incorporated ideas of the colonizer that have corrupted our normative values and belief systems. I want to bring to the front a realistic image of these very corruptive values and what undesirable impact they have on our society.

At this point in time, I aspire to give my study and investigation a more pictorial shape. I intend to create a directory of images that are a living representation of these micro-level corruptive values. I want to humanize these problems and so, I will want to give it a structured outlook by organizing visual representations of such subjects. The images will incorporate people, sets, streets, art, old newspapers, advertisements (old and new), lyrics, poetry, speeches etc. to elaborate on the over-arching conventions and will try to bring forward the incoherence they exemplify. The medium of this directory will most probably be Instagram as it is a platform where I can make a sequential collection of pictures and short videos which will be followed by detailed descriptions for every post.

The Inconsistency of Humanism

What rather intrigues me is very essence of the need for terms such as ‘Negritude’ to exist. On an objective level, the need is quite apparent; the disparity and marginalization that the Europeans culminated, especially in the colonial states, calls for such notions of existing as a form of reparation.

It appalls me to see that the very idea that such a discriminatory evil in society, that is so widely acknowledged by every rational individual, requires such an overt form of narrative creation. I question the integrity of a society that recognizes the corruptive element of such notions yet, requires an active campaign to recognize its value; a “confirmation of (its) being.”

Hence, what Senghor brings to the table is a slap-on-the-face to the inconsistency of the rather esteemed concept of humanism. Humanism as an idea calls for the incorporation of rationalism and critical thought over the acceptance of dogma or superstition. It is rather ironic to see that the European philosophers of humanism, brought about such a positive concept in the global village and yet forgot to counter the otherization of the African nation – possibly the most marginalized people of all.

Thus, the sentiment by which writers such as Cesaire and Senghor bring about a movement to gain recognition for their cultural and societal values is quite self-explanatory. Objectively, the principles that the African hence upholds are in essence an anti-narrative to the very intellectual flaw of the European epistemology.

When Senghor emphasizes upon the inconsistency of the European humanism, he tries to explain how the Africans interpret reality differently. He explains how the African man believes in interpretation and not singularity of opinion. He emphasizes on the mere concept that moral law for the African man “..derives naturally from his conception of the world.” That the African art, poetry, literature, music, etc. in entirety has a meaning, that is has a right to exist. It has a right to be recognized “from (merely) existing to being.”

P.S: I value the belief that concepts such as affirmative action or positive discrimination should exist. This claim not only gives ground to the average victim of colonialism to have a platform to rehabilitate himself in society against the discrimination he/she has faced since time.

This text reminds me of the very conception of ‘Feminism.’ Unfortunate is the person who cannot conceive how deeply ingrained discrimination is in our societies. People question the very idea of having to put a label (Feminism) on the apparent belief of equality in society. Ideas such as ‘Negritude’ and ‘Feminism’ are the very foundation of the need for the existence of such narratives. The fact that without the constant reiteration on such values and the successful propagation of corrective thought, equality is not even close to becoming a reality.

The Unfortunate Eastern Feminist.

Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses is a compelling critique, by Chandra Talpade Mohanty, of western notions of feminism imposed upon the social order of the non-western communities. According to Mohanty, western feminist literature is deeply ingrained in the homogenization of third world women as ‘victims’ of the patriarchal social order. Parallel to Said’s critique of the Otherization of the “Oriental”, Mohanty also states that western feminist scholars overlook the nuances of the experiences of these women by imposing an all-encompassing idea of liberation and secularism which ignores the autonomy of third world women. Intersectionality is a concept that is also often largely ignored by the western writers who champion rights such as equal pay, failing to take into account that the women in these parts of the worlds desire different freedoms. Imposing their own structure of feminism highlights the overarching power structure in play which allows the western feminists to view themselves as saviors for the women in the east.
The imperialist tendencies of western thought is exposed in the view of eastern women as uneducated, unliberated victims who must be freed from the shackles of the patriarchy by the western saviors, much like Kipling’s ideology in the White Man’s Burden. Western feminist scholars create the image of the homogenized third world woman in order to establish a duality which allows them to identify and construct their own identity in opposition to the Other. This creates the concept of an us vs. them world that gives the western feminist positional superiority, inevitably denying any resistance put forward by the ‘third world women’. Negative stereotypes of these foreign cultures are reinforced by the feminist vitriol aimed at patriarchal structures oppressing women, without taking into account the liberty of the females in these communities to adopt certain practices such as taking the veil as an act of resistance such as in the case of Iranian women in post-Revolution times. Through Mohanty’s criticism of Western feminist scholarship, one understands the nuances of knowledge production, where holding the power to generate discourse about the “veiled,” therefore, necessarily oppressed women inherently pits the white, liberated, and superior woman against her subjugated counterpart. This also creates the notion of ‘savior complex’ where the western, liberated woman will sweep in and rescue her oppressed sisters from the yoke of patriarchy. As Mohanty states, “It is in this process of homogenization and systematization of the oppression of women in the third world that power is exercised in much of recent Western feminist discourse.”

An Unfortunate Tale of National Liberation

Cabral in his piece on national liberation and its contextual link with culture presents a realistic outlook of the manipulative rule the foreign oppressors had imposed on the indigenous colonized populations since time.

What rather intrigues me however is the theoretical accuracy of Cabral’s apt description of the situational development that implicates itself in terms of the establishment of the colonizers rule, the subsequent rise of the national movement, its manipulation by the ‘petite bourgeoisie’ and the eventual unfavorable and oppressive result of this struggled liberation.

According to Cabral’s view, the ‘petite bourgeoisie’ is, in essence, the perfectly crafted byproduct of the assimilation of the culture of the colonizer and the colonized. Cabral believes that the colonizers manifest their rule in the indigenous colonized populations by consciously constructing this new ruling class that appears to be favorable to the masses but in actuality is a scapegoat to maintaining a pseudo-cultural rule. In other words, the colonizer assimilates himself in the culture of the oppressed masses by appointing friendly rulers who suffice the demands of the masses in all cultural domains.

Cabral then integrates the continuation of oppression even after the colonizer leaves by the hands of the petite bourgeoisie itself through a culturally manipulated form of national liberation. This small established class of intellectual elites, who themselves are culturally intertwined through absorption of the multiplicity of cultures that has previously remained in society, assume a leadership role in the liberation movement which is widely accepted by the village world or the peasantry. They turn the liberation movement into their favor to reestablish the same oppressive rule in a new outlook that is devoid of the replenishment of the culture for which the oppressed masses fought. In essence, these leaders rid the system of the complexities they alone face as a class and subsequently superimpose this oppressive form of mod-national liberation on the nation as a whole.
The validity of this theoretical explanation can be judged by the fact that although this explanation is derived from the case of decolonization of Africa, it perfectly manifests itself on the British Raj and the eventual liberation of the subcontinent.

For the longest time, the British had established their rule in the subcontinent through puppet bodies that gave the people a false perception of shared power in the form of masqueraded bodies, for example, the princely states. Similarly, soon after the indigenous peoples of the subcontinent started to gain consciousness, they created puppet bodies such as the Congress which created a false form of shared governance in the eyes of the masses. Bodies such as Congress and Muslim League were in actuality coalitions of these very intellectual elites (the petite bourgeoisie) who interpretably, divided the subcontinent into two nations as a means of their personal idealistic struggles.

A specific perspective, in the context of Pakistan, to view the partition can be one of liberation for Muslims from the tyrannical rule of the British and the Hindus; however, the rich are still rich, the poor are still poor, and the minute petite bourgeoisie is more or less the same entity that still rules a country filled with underprivileged/oppressed masses.

Main Nahein Maanta, Main Nahein Janta..

This piece will broadly shed light upon two different histories and timelines that are so distinct yet so perfectly aligned in terms of their inherent conclusiveness. In other words, it will try to highlight the unparalleled sense of similarity between the anti-narratives of Dada Amer Haider Khan’s struggles and Sukarno Bandung’s sense of expression. In other words, it talks about the inherent similarity between the struggle of freedom from both capitalism and imperialism. In other words, it talks about the idea of ‘nations or people gaining consciousness’ and subsequently internalizing, in Dada’s words, a ‘break with the old world.’

I have tried to pen the following thoughts not on the basis of any prejudices or prior knowledge, but just through the mere construction of thoughts that have infatuated my thinking as I have read both the texts one after the other. Hence, it would be safe to say that after reading Dada’s pleasing description of his time in the hospitable, socially inclusive and collectivized USSR and the pain in Bandung’s speech against the struggles of colonization and imperialism, I can gladly express my thoughts as a compliment to the principles communism upholds in terms of treating a man of color.

The most prominent example of this escape from the western white man’s tyranny, in terms of the social and normative values they so proudly exemplify, is highlighted in a brief two pages in Dada’s excerpts. Dada rather regrettably talks about the idea of individualism or individual survival in American society and how such norms and values corrupt the society by inculcating a sense of ‘other.’ He talks about the assumed western superiority on the basis of their skin color and their religion, and how in essence, this unwarranted sense of pride is contradictory to their own set of beliefs. He gives the example of how the American declaration of independence states that ‘God has created all men free and equal’ yet, they assume the messianic role of civilizing the colored and ‘uncivilized creatures.’ This he believes is ‘nothing but a shameless hypocrisy.’ In other words, he explains how compromised, repressive, discriminatory and full of shit the life of a colored man is in the ‘civilized’ western world.

On the contrary, after reading up on Dada’s experiences and his description of his short journey in the USSR, I can easily discern that such a life exemplifies itself as a counter-narrative to the tyrannical life of the West. Dada explains the inclusiveness and collectivity in the communist society and how it transposes the validity of a human being from judged on the measures of fairness of skin and material value to being judged on the measures of ethics, inclusiveness, and morality.

After reading Dada’s excerpts, in context, Sukarno Bandung’s speech quite simply comes off to me as the speech of a communist leader who has successfully escaped the tyranny of capitalism. In that, he talks about the very errors that typically exist in a capitalist society that communism expells. Bandung in his speech expresses the elements of imperialism that had so profoundly corrupted the colonized world and its normative values.

In other words, at that point in time, the decolonized countries had finally gained a sense of self, a sense of identity, a sense of freedom. These people had finally started to understand the definition of living in a free society. Hence, through his speech, Bandung lays down the generalized principles of how to live in such a newly found free society.

Freedom from capitalism in the context of one and freedom from Imperialism in the context of the other hence, at least theoretically, tries to expound what it is like to live in “a classless society in which there would be no exploitation of man by man.”