CALL IT WHAT IT IS
IT'S NOT A HATE CRIME, IT'S WHITE SUPREMACY. EDITION NO. 2 - REPUBLISHED APRIL 2022
"THE ENTIRE EAST, THE DARK WORLD, IS
ON THE RISE, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR
NOT. AND AS THE DARK WORLD RISES
UP IT PUTS THE WHITE WORLD ON THE
SPOT, IT PUTS THE WESTERN WORLD ON
THE SPOT. AND IT PUTS YOU AND ME ON
THE SPOT. WHY DOES IT PUT US ON THE
SPOT?
BECAUSE
ALTHOUGH
WE'RE
THE WEST, WE'RE FROM THE EAST."
- MALCOLM X
2
IN
ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE IS NOT A NEW PHENOMENON
Contrary to mainstream belief, violence against Asians did not start in 2020 when the COVID-19 virus came to the US. Although instances of violence against Asians rose exponentially since the start of the pandemic, we cannot forget the long history of violence. We must remember those harmed and killed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese interment camps, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Philippine American War, post-9/11 Islamophobia and the ensuing War on Terror, and the Cold War. The US government slaughtered 10 million people in Asia during the Cold War, and continues to instill Sinophobia and xenophobia in the hearts of its people as we usher in the New Cold War era. To this day, Asians are demonized and dehumanized, yet some still erroneously equate Asians' so-called "proximity" to whiteness with "privilege." While lighter skinned Asians do hold some privilege, especially within the Asian community, this harmful "Model Minority" rhetoric excludes Black and Brown Asians and erases the long history of violence against all kinds of Asians - East, West, South, Southeast, etc. 3
It erases all the forms of violence inflicted upon Asian women and trans/gender non conforming Asians, undocumented Asians, mentally ill Asians, and working class Asians. It erases the imperialist violence in Asia that forcibly displaced Asians from their home countries, leading to mass migration to the US, where those without papers are needlessly criminalized then deported. Deportations are a form of anti-Asian violence. Mass displacement and dispossession are forms of anti-Asian violence. The exploitation of workers in the Global South is anti-Asian violence. Criminalizing sex work is a form of anti-Asian violence. Expanding the sex trade is a form of anti-Asian violence. The military-sexual industrial complex is a form of anti-Asian violence. Criminalizing mental health crises is a form of anti-Asian violence. Increased policing and surveillance from the fascist police state is a form of anti-Asian violence. Providing military aid to the fascist, right-winged president in the Philippines is a form of anti-Asian violence. Supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the active genocide of Palestinians is a form of anti-Asian violence. Anti-Asian violence goes beyond what the media typically portrays. 4
The increase of violence against Asians since 2020 is no coincidence either. Vijay Prashad discusses the impact of "hybrid wars" in setting the stage for the Cold War against China to proliferate. This refers to the paired ideological warfare and occupation tactics the U.S. nation-state wages through fear-mongering, propagandizing about "China as a dominating superpower," normalizing of sexual and other violence against Asian women - the list goes on. Ultimately, this justifies U.S. occupation of China and other nearby countries and further minimizes the effects of Amerikan empire. These recent acts of anti-Asian violence are not "hate crimes" they are the product of the xenophobic, Sinophobic, imperialist, settler colonialist, white supremacist, fascist police state. The term "hate crime" only serves to individualize acts of violence and neglects the longstanding history of anti-Asian violence as a consequence of U.S. colonialism/imperialism. The call to #StopAsianHate is a cry in the dark! Asking those who enact violence to simply make the individual choice to "stop" fails to recognize that violent, hateful ideas do not simply fall out of the sky, and cannot simply be eliminated via self reflection. Violent ideas and actions towards Asians are the result of hundreds years of colonial occupation, imperial invasion, and vicious anti-communist propaganda that has always sought to vilify Asians and their resistance against empire. 5
"ANTI ASIAN HATE IS A DIRECT OUTCOME OF US
IMPERIALISM
LITERALLY
CELEBRATE
IN
CAN'T
AND
THE
INDO-PACIFIC.
MURDER
NOT
HAVE
YOU
MILLIONS
AND
ANTI-ASIAN
HATE.
CENTURIES OF SINOPHOBIC, ORIENTALIST, ANTI-
COMMUNIST
PROPAGANDA
HAS
RATIONALIZED
THE U.S. GENOCIDE OF MILLIONS OF ASIANS. AND
THIS PROPAGANDA CONTINUES STRONGER THAN
EVER
TODAY
TO
MANUFACTURE
CONSENT
FOR
CONTINUED U.S. AGGRESSION AND IMPERIALISM
AGAINST CHINA AND THE PACIFIC."
-VRYE X PACHA HIERBA
6
For this violence to end, we must actively oppose and fight imperialist expansion in all its insidious forms. Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, and neocolonialism is the last stage of imperialism. Imperialism and neocolonialism have caused the violent displacement and dispossession of not only Asian people, but also Black and Indigenous people. We must therefore fight against the root causes of forced migration. We must also actively oppose and fight any call to increase policing as a response to the anti-Asian violence, as the police themselves are a tool of the oppressive ruling class, and only function to criminalize, dehumanize, brutalize, encage, and kill racialized and colonized people, gender oppressed people, poor people, queer people, disabled people, people who do sex work, and all other oppressed peoples. We must fight to abolish ICE, abolish borders, abolish prisons and police, and abolish the military industrial complex. We must fight to abolish the amerikan empire as we know it and build from its ashes a new world in which all forms of life are treated as sacred, because as Ruth Wilson Gilmore tells us, where life is precious, life is precious.
7
REST IN PEACE:
Yang Song - a Chinese sex worker in Queens who fell to her death in 2017 in attempt to evade arrest during a police raid at her massage parlor. Jennifer Laude - a trans Filipina woman murdered in 2014 by US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was then pardoned by Duterte and deported back to the US. Christian Hall - a 19 year old Chinese transnational adoptee who was murdered by Pennsylvania State Police after they were called to respond to a mental health crisis. He was shot with his hands up (December 30, 2020) Angelo Quinto - a Filipino man who was suffering a mental health crisis when the Antioch Police Department was called. Police showed up, ripped him away from his mother, and knelt on his neck to “subdue him.” He become unresponsive, and died three days later (December 26, 2020). Mhelody Bruno - a trans Filipina woman who was murdered by a former corporal in the Royal Australian Air Force in 2019 during sex. Okinawa prefecture, Japan is the site of countless rapes and murders of indigenous Okinawa, Japanese, and Korean women by the U.S. military, including the rape and murder of a 6 year old (1955) and rape of a 12 year old (1995). ADDED APRIL 2022: Christina Yuna Lee Michelle Alyssa Go Yao Pan Ma GuiYing Ma Jean Chang Kan Fung Lauren Cho And countless others
8
"IMPERIALISM
OVER
THE
EASTERN
MIDDLE
REACHING
HAS
LAID
WORLD.
ASIA,
THE
THE
EAST,
ITS
HEAD
HEART
ITS
AFRICA
BODY
IN
IN
THE
ARTERIES
AND
LATIN
AMERICA. WHEREVER YOU STRIKE IT,
YOU
DAMAGE
IT
AND
SERVE
THE
WORLD REVOLUTION "
- GHASSAN KANAFANI
99
JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST
US IMPERIALISM!
We must unite to fight against the paper tiger that is the amerikan empire. Learn more and get involved with the groups who are doing the work: Qiao collective - a collective of Anti-Imperialist comrades from the Chinese diaspora providing education in order to counter American war/fear-mongering towards China, the DPRK, and others. Party for Reclamation & Survival - A revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist party with values of Eco-Socialism and Proletarian Feminism that conducts Red Aid in order to build power across the so called “u.s.a”. Panther Solidarity Organization - The principle mass organization of the RIBPP, comprised of the broad masses of people organizing within their own various oppressed communities. Local chapters/collectives include Newark, Ridgewood (Queens), Western Mass, and Springfield, Illinois Nodutdol - NYC based organization of Diaspora Koreans mobilizing to advance peace, decolonization and selfdetermination in Turtle Island and Korea. 10
Learn more and get involved with the groups who are doing the work: The Red Nation - Indigenous Anti-Imperialist comrades, led by values of queer indigenous feminism, antiimperialism, and decolonial socialism. They have chapters around the country, a deeply educational podcast, and frequent virtual events. Anakbayan North Jersey, Anakbayan Rutgers, Anakbayan Manhattan, Anakbayan Queens - An organization of Filipinx comrades around the world with local chapters in NJ and NYC, organizing and mobilizing their communities to fight for national democracy/sovereignty in the Philippines. Malaya NJ, Malaya NYC - An organization of American Filipinx comrades dedicated to resisting dictatorship and fascist killings in the Philippines, as well as advancing the fight for national democracy. Migrante NJ, Migrante NY - An organization of Filipinx workers/immigrants in America fighting for rights and welfare in the US, and for genuine liberation in the Philippines Red Canary Song - The only grassroots Chinese massage parlor worker coalition in the U.S that centers basebuilding with migrant workers through a labor rights framework and mutual aid. 11
FROM
PALESTINE
PHILIPPINES,
DEATH
TO TO
THE THE
US WAR MACHINE! FROM
PALESTINE
PHILIPPINES,
DEATH
TO TO
THE THE
US WAR MACHINE! FROM
PALESTINE
PHILIPPINES,
DEATH
TO TO
US WAR MACHINE! Scan the QR code with your smartphone's camera to read this zine online.
A zine brought to you by Tea Bee & friends. Instagram: @tea_bee444 Originally published April 2021 under Ridgewood for Black Liberation (now disbanded).
THE THE