The Decolonizer, June 2016 by THE DECOLONIZER

THEDECO LO NIZER June, 2016

Aint I Revoltin' Dear Christian Homophobe: I Am A Fucking Person Too Eid Is Across The River

Feminism, I Need You

TABLEO FCO NTENTS 1

What is THE DECOLONIZER?

Aint I Revoltin'?

The News Feed

Dear Christian Homophobe: I Am A Fucking Person Too

Eid Is Across The River

Decolonizing Culture

How To's

Brief Histories

Feminism, I Need You

A History of the Guatemalan Civil War

Straight, No Chaser

Who Will Survive America

Track The Movement

W hat IsTHEDECO LO NIZER? THE DECOLONIZER lives

THE DECOLONIZER lives

Aint IRevoltin' By The Decolonizer

Aint we t he st uf f of your wil dest night mares? The st uf f t o make whit e America scream? Aint we the menace to society? Anit we the constant threat? We carry our transgressions on our bodies. You can see where the whip landed to punished us. See the scars from jumping over this barbed wire fence. The cuts from escaping boarder patrol. A dress against a male bodied woman. Having sex with who ever the fuck we are attracted to. Using our bodies like sludge hammers. Smashing the shit out of gender binaries. Crushing white supremacist patriarchy. You were a little more than disturbed. Embarrassed at your own longings, the way they twist and warp under the weight of gendered repression.

If you aint revol t in' you aint shit Once upon a time a colonizer landed on Indigenous lands. And Indigenous people discovered him, swinging a machete in the forest. He was the most savage thing anyone had ever seen. And he brought with him all of his ideologies. He brought colonialism, white supremacy, racism, ablism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, class oppression, orientalism, and Christian hegemony.

You aint shit Back to gendered repression, sexual repression, anti- queerness. We revolt against these things not because we went to a vigil. We revolt against these things not out of charity. We revolt against these things because all of us must transgress the gender and sexual binaries that were brought here by colonialism. All of us must revolt against how we have been conditioned and the violence that has been done to our humanity. There are consequences to revolt. We bare the scares of what has been done to us for resisting. We have been killed, tortured, raped, beaten for resisting. As we are dripping in our own blood they call us repulsive. Say we are obscene. Say that we are revolting.

The Decol onizer says: Fucking right we are. If you aint revol t ing you aint shit . We have made the slow trot away from asking questions like "why do they hate us?" to questions like "why not revolt tomorrow?" "why not revolt today?" Things arent going to get much better. Things are going to shit. With our suffering in our collective memories we will learn to hold each other better. It is because we know what it is like to suffer. It is because we will have learned to hold each other for our survival.

And he made structures and institutions of power out of these things. And they connected and layered on top of each other in many ways, in many ways they were inseparable. And what brought it all together was something called settler colonial white supremacist patriarchy. And the indigenous people revolted against this, as did all people of color under oppression. And they proved...

If you aint revol t in' you aint shit Meaning, if you aint revolting against colonialism, white supremacy, racism, ablism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, class oppression, orientalism, and Christian hegemony...

TheNewsfeed Anti-Q ueer ShootingInO rlando On June 12, one of the most horrific shootings in U.S. history occurred at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. At least 49 people were murdered and 53 people were injured by a single gunman named Omar Mateen around 2am Sunday morning. Pulse was hosting Latin Night during the night of the shooting and featured mainly trans Black and Latinx women. Trans people of color were the major targets of this mass shooting and news media outlets continue to ignore and erase this fact. News media outlets also continue to distort the motives of the gunman in an effort to link him with ISSIS. CNN reports that the Mateen alegedly "pledged allegiance to ISSIS" during the night of the shooting. The FBI has stated that Mateen's connection with ISSIS is the largest part of this investigation. The largest part of the investigation should be the epidemic of anti-trans and anti-queer violence that has reached ghastly proportions in the United States and has disproportionately affected trans and queer people of color. In 2015 at least 21 trans people were killed in the U.S., the largest number of recorded trans deaths. Mateen was born in New York City and was a United States citizen. Many who knew him including his parents say that he was not particularly religious. The shooting at Pulse nightclub was a hate crime. News media's attempt to focus on the shooter's Muslim identity has everything to do with U.S. Islamophobia.

TeachersResist inO axaca State repression has escalated the situation in Oaxaca, Mexico where the radical teachers union Section 22 (CNTE) continues to strike against the neolibral education reforms instituted by President Enrique Pena Nieto. The policies, which are being introduced in an effort to standardize education, have required changes to the Mexican constitution and the formation of a government teacher evaluation system that would result in massive layoffs for teachers. The teacher strike had began May 15th in the midst of the 10 year anniversary of the Oaxaca Commune, a famous mobilization of Section 22 teachers that occurred in 2006. On June 11th, striking teachers were met federal troops in a violent raid of a teachers blockade at the Oaxaca State Institute of Public Education. On June 19th Mexican troops opened fire on striking teachers, killing at least 12 people. The Mexican government continues to deny that state forces were armed.

BlackLivesMatter Activist Convictedof "FelonyLynching"AtACourt Lynching On June 1st, Back Lives Matter activist Jasmine Abdullah became the first Black person convicted of lynching in the United States. The 29-year-old lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Pasadena was arrested last year after she attempted to protect another Black woman from being arrested by Pasadena police. Abdullah had just finished a Peace March that she and the chapter organized on behalf of Kendrec McDade, a 19-year-old Black teenager who was murdered by police in 2012. According to the California penal code, the term "lynching" is perverted to mean "the taking by means of a riot of another person from the lawful custody of a police officer." The code is a reference to a 1933 California anti-lynching law that was formed to prevent lynching mobs from forcefully retrieving people held in police custody. Normally interfering with a police officer is only a misdemeanor. Yet, In an effort to trump-up the charges, the Peace March has been interpreted by the prosecution to be a mob inciting to riot, an interpretation that couldn't be further from the truth. Abdullah faced up to four years in prison but was released on bail June 18th.

NoIndictment For TexasPool PartyO fficer Video footage of Officer Eric Casebolt body slamming a 15-year-old Black teenager at a pool party in Mckinney, Texas went viral June of 2015. On June 23, a Texas grand jury declined to bring any criminal charges against officer Casebolt. Casebolt's actions and behavior was clearly documented in the video, in which he not only slammed an unarmed young Black woman, but also pointed a gun at concerned bystanders in the crowd. Yet the grand jury determined that there was no sufficient evidence to bring a criminal case against Casebolt. Not even so much as a reckless endangerment charge was filed. Casebolt had resigned four days after the incident last June, after coming under considerable fire for his actions in the video.

FreddieG ray:NoJustice Two of the six officers involved, officer Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson have already been acquitted of all charges related to the Freddie Gray case. Caesar Goodson, the officer who drove the police van in which Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury, was acquitted June 23rd. Goodson faced the most serious charge of the six officers. With Goodson acquittal, chances look very bleak that the other four officers will be charged in the case. Questions are now being raised about the prosecution after Baltimore detective Dawnyell Taylor testified that the narrative presented to the grand jury was misleading. The prosecution has argued that Taylor has been trying to sabotage the case on behalf of the officers. Baltimore Judge Barry G. Williams refuses to believe that Goodson intentionally gave Freddie Gray a "rough ride" as he was driving the police van. The next trial is scheduled for July 5th.

NoCivil RightsChargesinJamar ClarkCase On June 1st U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced that no federal civil rights charges will filed against the Minneapolis police involved in the Jamar Clark case. Luger determined that Clark's civil rights were not violated when two white Minneapolis police officers fatally shot him on November 16, 2015. Luger maintaied that there was "insufficient evidence" to bring a federal case saying that "it is not enough to show the officers made a mistake, that they acted negligently, by accident or even that they exercised bad judgment to prove a crime. We would have had to show that they specifically intended to commit a crime." In March, a Hennepin County Attorney declined to bring the case to a grand jury.

Dear ChristianHomophobe:IAmAFucking Persontoo By Rosi AlmĂŠstica I am an angry WOC. That?s all you?ll know about me for now because you?ve managed to piss the fuck out of many communities. After the Pulse shooting, I?ve become sick and tired of your bullshit hypocrisy. You posted about being supportive of me and I chose to believe such lies. Talking about, praying for my aching community and shit. Y?all managed to make it about pro- Islamophobia and pro- Second Amendment rights, which makes me sick to my stomach. The biggest massacre since Wounded Knee and y?all fuckers want to talk about "These damn Muslims in my country, they?re damn terrorists! ?. Well shit, I guess I?m a fucking terrorist too having Mediterranean blood in me. But here?s the fucking facts: you see, we?re people. We are your mail persons, cashiers, and other professions but we hide. We hid because of people like the killer who hates people like me. The Jewish community still stings over Auschwitz, The Islam religion is continually attacked after 9/ 11, Sikhs are getting killed for wearing a turban. Blacks, Latinxs, and other marginalized groups are still hurting. The LGBTQIAP+ community is stinging. It feels like a gunshot wound and the Dr. can?t find the source of bleeding. Furthermore, people would believe that POC would be the majority responsible for mass killings. But yet again, you?re wrong! According CNN, "some 64%of the shootings were done by white men?. Another fucking crazy statistic from USA Today, "96%of these mass killings are committed by men.? How long does the white man have to blame the Black, Hispanic, Middle- Eastern communities to realize that these crimes have been done by mostly white people? How much time does it take for White cis- het America to realize that gay people are killed all the time and it?s never in the media? To pick at the white christian brain, where in the bible does it mention homosexuality is an abomination? Sodom and Gomorrah yeah,yeah, yeah. But dude, that shit was back in time of the Jewish book, because the Christian Old Testament is there as a reminder of what NOT to do. So as a fucking WOC who?s bisexual, STOP BEING HYPOCRITES and let me breathe. I am a fucking person too. I am a college student and I demand that my wounds heal by themselves. Don?t protest our funerals, our celebrations and our Pride marches. We have been hurt too much too recently.

EidIsAcrossTheRiver By Jie Wu 7. The river of time flows to Saturday, July 18th 2015: It?s finally Eid day! Ramaswamy is giving me a ride to Howrah in his car, along with his friend Nilanjan. We are now going for Eid lunch at Talimi Haq School. The driver stops the car near Grand Trunk Road and we enter Priya Manna Basti. As we walk through its familiar, narrow lanes, I notice that this place is in a festive mood and it has put on a new set of clothes ? a beautiful dress with circular and zig- zagging designs of red, blue, yellow and green shining into the surroundings. Under its entrancing colors, children play in the rain, elderly men sit and converse, and young males wearing clean white kurtas stand in groups in the middle of the street, chatting and laughing. Young women cut through these groups with their new, most beautiful dresses and fresh henna designs in their hands. It?s finally Eid, the joyful ending of the twenty- nine or thirty- day period of fasting, prayers, charity and piety undertaken during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. As we walked into the school, we were greeted by smiles. "Eid Mubarak, Jie bhai,? wished one of the students. This special greeting means "Happy Eid? in Urdu. "Eid Mubarak,? I replied. More students came to wish "Eid Mubarak? and I wished the same to them. I am very happy to see all the students and teachers together at the center. Last year, I had also celebrated Eid here and I sure missed this beautiful and joyful festival. Amina invites us to sit down, we chat and relax. She asks if we are ready to eat lunch. We replied that it was okay. We set out the plates and Amina prepares to serve the lunch. As she opens the cooking pans, the room overflows with the scent of spices. Amina is a wonderful cook and her dishes are enjoyed by all the students and teachers. With a big smile, Amina baji serves chicken curry, puri (fried bread), pulao (Indian fried rice with spices), and different kinds of sweets like sewai and laccha (made of a pasta- like vermicelli). Amina baji, as a gesture of kindness, keeps serving us more and more ? we

"Small Boat, Big Bank," photo by Jie Wu have to cover our plates in order to stop her from giving us more food. Amina tells me how she cooked all these special foods in the morning. She didn?t have time yesterday night because she stayed up the whole night performing the special Eid prayers with some teachers and students at the center. Amina baji is a tireless fighter and she does not give up fighting for what is just. I remember one of her inspiring statements describing her life, "By staying within the limits of what is good, and living within the same society, I tried to change myself. In doing this I faced many difficulties and challenges. But I never admitted defeat before anyone.? I am now starting to understand Amina baji?s struggle as woman in Priya Manna Basti. I am now starting to understand the struggle of the young female students at Talimi Haq School, whom the male- dominated society will soon push to get married early, have children and become a housewife. I am now starting to understand the struggle of the young male students at Talimi Haq School, who might have to give up their studies to become the bread- winners for their families. I am now starting to understand the struggles of being a Muslim basti- dweller in apartheid- India, divided by markers such as class, caste, culture, gender, privilege and religion. After setting out to do research on people

and the Hooghly river and volunteering with Talimi Haq School, I have accidentally stumbled upon the "global apartheid- like system? that separates yet binds all people on the Earth together. A complex system evolved from the past forms of colonialism and imperialism, maintained by myths, manipulation, division, false generosity and inability to enter into an honest dialogue as equal brothers and sisters. I have finally journeyed to the Other side to see Amina baji, Farida baji, Binod bhai and all teachers and students at Talimi Haq School as dear brothers and sisters. As Paulo Freire said, "No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is a commitment to their cause ? the cause of liberation.?

END. My sister, Amina Khatoon, and brother, Binod Shaw, supported by a global network of friends of Talimi Haq School, are now leading a major crowdfunding campaign to start sewing classes, health clinics and health classes for young women at this center. Now that you have been introduced to the lives of sister Amina, brother Binod and all the teachers and students of Talimi Haq School, please share your Love and support this campaign launched on Indiegogo with the name ?Talimi Haq School - Sewing and Health Education Project.? Here is the link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/talimi-haq-

DeclonizingCulture Bookof themonth:

Artist of themonth:

This Br idge Called M y Back

Anida Yoeu Ali

Now in its forth edition, this landmark anthology edited by Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga brings together a number of voices from radical women of color. The deeply personal and deeply political writings by these women of color have served as essential feminist reading since the early 1980s. Originally released in 1981, This Bridge Called My Back is a testimony to women of color feminism as it emerged in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor CherrĂe Moraga writes, ?the complex confluence of identities? race, class, gender, and sexuality? systemic to women of color oppression and liberation.? This new edition includes a new forward by Cherrie Moraga.

Anida Yoeu Ali is a contemporary Cambodian-American artist and scholar whose works span performance, installation, video, images, public encounters, and political agitation. As a first generation Muslim Khmir woman born in Cambodia and raised in Chicago, Ali's work explores themes of diasporic and transnational identities. Ali has an interdisciplinary approach to artmaking and her installation and performance works investigate the artistic, spiritual and political collisions of a hybrid transnational identity.

Filmof themonth:

W ordof themonth:

The Battle of Algier s

Decolonization

This critically-acclaimed film, commissioned by the Algerian government, shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. After their defeat in Indochina the French foreign legion had much to prove while the Algerians were determined to gain independence from France at all costs. An even-handed and unflinching portrayal of the atrocities committed by both sides in one of the bloodiest revolutions in modern history.

This month's word is Decolonization Decolonization (noun): The physical and psychological process of ejecting a colonizing power from the land, body, and mind of the people. Decolonization is a continual process of unlearning the socialization of colonization, including the inferiority complex of the colonized, the gendering of colonization, the repression of sexuality under colonization. It is also the very real destruction of the colonial system and the removal of occupation on Indigenious lands. in a sentence: "If we wish to describe it precisely, we might find it in the well-known words: 'The last shall be first and the first last.' Decolonization is the putting into practice of this sentence. That is why, if we try to describe it, all decolonization is successful" -Frantz Fanon

HowTo's HowtoFormAG uerrillaFoco A guerrilla foco is an organized group of insurgents that wage an armed revolutionary struggle against an oppressive regime. The foco concept was first introduced by Ernesto "Che" Guevara during the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The foco became the basic unit organization for guerrilla movements across the globe. The guerrilla foco is described as an armed vanguard of the people. It is not a vanguard in the sense that it leads the people to revolution. The foco is simply an armed segment of the people that emanates directly from it. Because of this, the guerrilla foco is at the mercy of popular support and depends on the people for resources, lodging, information, and combatants. In a guerrilla war, the revolution begins with the formation of a guerrilla foco and ends with the emergence of an alternative government. As the war escalates, the people form the necessary infrastructure around supporting and sustaining the foco. What emerges after the revolution will be reflective of the community of resistance formed during the guerrilla war.

Step 1: Are Conditions Right for a Foco? A guerrilla foco will not be successful without popular support. Before any foco is formed, you must first assess whether or not conditions are right for a foco to exist. Unfortunately, it is often when conditions have declined to such an extent that the people are left with no other option, that a guerrilla group can be formed. However, you can try to build the support you need through campaigns, rallies, and other forms of mass action. When it is clear that non-violent protest has been exhausted you can proceed with the formation of the foco.

Step 2: The Make- up of the Group Identify possible members of the guerrilla foco. Ideally, these should be people that are not only trustworthy, but also have the same politics. Weapons training and skills are always a plus but should never be a condition for entering the group. The most important attributes of a good candidate is that they are trustworthy, have sound politics, and are from the communities most affected. The size of the initial group should be no more than 5-10 people.

Step 3: Group Dynamics The guerrilla foco is often the beginning of what will come after the revolution is won. Because of this, the foco should reflect the deepest morale and ethics of the people. Make a code of ethics for the group and statement of the group's politics. Group dynamics should be organized in a way that destroys cist male domination. Women, trans, and queer combatants must be affirmed and encouraged to take leadership positions in the group. Patriarchal gun-culture must be thoroughly smashed within the group.

Step 4: Setting up the Guerrilla Foco When all pieces are in place and there is enough popular support, the guerrilla foco can be formed. Set up a series of bases that are extremely underground, difficult to find, and can be easily abandoned. Traditionally, a guerrilla foco functions best in the jungle or rural countryside. However, urban guerrilla warfare can function well but with no more than 5 people. It will prove very useful to have a medical practitioner who is down with the cause among your ranks or in your circle of immediate contacts. You will need to utilize radio, internet, newsprint and other media to maintain communications with the people and continue to build popular support.

Step 5: Foco Operations The first thing the foco should do once it is formed is establish relationships, supply lines and networks of support with the local people. The foco will need to depend on local people for resources. The foco should use enemy supplies as a source of weapons. Whenever the foco launches offensives it is also an opportunity to retrieve weapons and other resources. Foco operations should be organized with the clear goal of weakening and eventually eliminating the current government. This is done through armed offensives, large-scale sabotage, general strikes, and other means.

BRIEFHISTO RIES:TheViet Minh(Vietnam) By Dubian Ade French colonization of Vietnam began during a period in the mid 1800s under the justification that French Catholic missionaries in Vietnam needed more protection. Seeking a foothold in the region, the French increasingly intervened in affairs pertaining to missionaries and the Nguyen Dynasty. A series of surprise attacks by French troops in 1859 including the capture of Saigon, resulted in the French acquisitions of Bien Hoa, Gia Djnh and Djnh Tuong. By 1863 the French had expanded its colonial holdings to include Cambodia, Cochinchina, Annam, Tokin, Chau Doc, Vinh Long and Ha Tien. Laos was added in 1893 after the Franco- Siamese War. These territories would be formally established as so- called "French Indochina" in 1887. The French colonial project in Vietnam moved forward with the most disgusting forms of exploitation and enslavement. Enormous swaths of land were converted into rice and rubber plantations on which millions of Vietnamese people were forced to work. French factories and mines housed the most miserable working conditions. Worker salaries were extremely meager and some were only paid with rice. The "corvee" required other male peasant farmers who did not work on plantations to provide 30 days of unpaid labor building colonial buildings and infrastructure. Corporal punishment was a common practice used by French overseers to inspire workers to work faster. The most infamous plantations were those owned by the French rubber tire company Michelin Tires. It was reported that within a twenty year period from 1919 to 1938 there was at least 17,000 reported deaths on Michelin plantations in Vietnam, an average of 850 deaths per year. The colonizers also used large amounts of land to grow and export opium. The opium market proved very profitable for French administrators and by the 1930s more than 80 tons of opium was produced by plantations per year. Opium became a tool of sedation used to control the Vietnamese people. A political climate began brewing in opposition to French colonialism in the early 20th Century. The writings of Vietnamese nationalist such as Phan Chu Trinh and Phan Boi Chau strongly opposed the French colonial regime. Pro nationalist quoc ngu

pamphlets and publications became popular. Many of these publications remained underground as the colonial administration enforced harsher policies prohibiting pro nationalist propaganda. As WWI broke out, there were numerous anti- colonial revolts in Cochinchina, Annam, and Tokin. One of the most important was the Thai Nguyen uprising, in which over 300 Vietnamese soldiers revolted and retook the town of Thai Nguyen for several days until the French authorities recaptured the city. During the war, many Vietnamese nationalist took part in the French Communist Party including one Nguyen Sinh Cung, who would later be known as Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnamese Marxist community remained underground until the late 1920s, forging relationships with Chinese and Soviet supporters. By February of 1930 the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) was formed. The ICP was a unification of splintered Communist groups in Tokin, Cochinchina, and Annam, all of which demanded the overthrow of French imperialism. The ICP would be the precursor to what would become the Viet Minh. Japan began it's invasion of Vietnam in 1940 in the midst of WWII. The German military had defeated the French and began the military occupation of the northern France. The French puppet government that was established, often called "Vichy France," was completely beholden to Nazi Germany. Not only were French forces in Indochina severely weakened prior to Japan's invasion, but the Vichy government was forced to cede control of Hanoi and Saigon to Japan in 1941. Ho Chi Minh returned from exile in China in to Pac Bo in January of 1941. He returned as the Vietnamese people were confronted with two occupiers: Japan and the French colonizers. In conjunction with the ICP, Minh formed the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (Vietnam Independence League) or Viet Minh on May 19, 1941. Although the Viet Minh was initially formed around Communist politics, it was not an explicitly Communist organization. Instead, it was its nationalist and anti- imperialist leanings that most defined it. Ho Chi Minh himself made an effort to establish the Viet Minh as an organization that was open to all Vietnamese people, regardless of their political beliefs. The Viet Minh called for all of it's people, soldiers, workers, peasants, intellectuals, merchants, youth, to fight

against French colonialism and Japanese imperialism. In 1943, a Viet Minh guerrilla army began to infiltrate Vietnam in order to repel Japanese forces. Viet Minh forces liberated large areas of northern Vietnam from Japanese control. In light of Perl Harbor, The United States took the opportunity to support the Viet Minh in its fighting against the Japanese forces.The Viet Minh also enjoyed the support of the Soviet Union and Chinese Communist groups. Under Ho Chi Minh, the guerrillas captured Hanoi. By August, 1945, Japan had surrendered to Allied forces. The Viet Minh took the opportunity to seize power and declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi, with Ho Chi Minh as its president. The French however did not want to let go of Indochina and refused to recognize an independent Vietnam. By September of 1945 the French had already began reestablishing its colonial administration. With the help of British troops, the French took control of several Japanese- held administrative buildings. The United States would refuse to help the Viet Minh struggle against the French, mainly because of U.S.' relationship with France and its disillusionment with Communist influence in the region. By 1946 French colonial control was restored and the French- Indochina War had began between the Viet Minh guerrillas and the French aided by the British. Many of the Japanese soldiers who were left after Japan's defeat sided with the guerrillas in the fight to liberate Vietnam. The war went on for eight years until the legendary Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, in which the French were finally defeated. However, the subsequent negotiations at the International Geneva Conference did not eject the French, but instead divided Vietnam in two. Northern Vietnam was to go to the Viet Minh and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. South Vietnam was to go to the puppet Emperor Bao Dai. U.S. backed Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem removed Dai in 1955 and became president of South Vietnam. All the ingredients were in place for another conflict: The Vietnam War. South Vietnam was essentially made into a Western satellite in an attempt to stop Communist expansion. Once the South Vietnamese government failed to hold elections, Viet Minh guerrillas were activated to liberate the remaining half of the country from Western rule.

Feminism,INeedYou By Carmen Manzana I don?t think I?ve ever needed anything more in my life than I need feminism. It has validated me, saved me, and brought me back from the darkest points of my life. However, "just feminism? isn?t enough. I need feminism that sees me as a whole complex human being who is multidimensional and capable of fucking up several times. I need feminism that sees my multitude of identities as a depressed queer Xicana and acknowledges that my experiences are intertwined with my identities. I need feminism to recognize how gendered violence has dictated my life. Even at times that I don?t think that I?m good enough to fall within a women of color, Xicana feminism, I know that my stories, my experiences and my truths are indicative of how I navigate my intersections. I need feminism to recognize that I hated myself growing up. I need feminism to recognize the type of self- hatred that happens when the mainstream is telling a young, Mexican woman that she?s not enough or that she?s too much. Finally, I need feminism to recognize how having immigrant parents has shaped and informed my life. It has made me grow up faster than most of my white peers. It has made me live with a guilt complex and it has made me overwork myself to the point of burnout and depression. I need feminism to recognize the type of unexplainable feelings that a 12- year- old child experiences upon hearing her father?s concerns about being undocumented, about not being able to have a license, about being pulled over by the cops and saying how he was respectable enough to not get checked. The feeling you have when you hear about immigration raids and your mother asks, "if that ever happened to your dad, what would we do?? The feeling you get when you walk into your college advisor's office, shut the door behind you and start crying because you don?t know how to fill the FASFA because your father is undocumented. Before I can ever claim feminism, I need feminism to acknowledge all of my feelings. Every heart wrenching, difficult, confusing and painful decision that I?ve made are rooted in these systems of oppression, and need to be told, acknowledged and praised. I don?t know where I would be without my intersections. I?ve been able to learn, study and write about my life and understand my life through a systemic lens that tells me that I?m not at fault for my experiences. As much as I don?t and won?t claim "just feminism," I wouldn't be alive without it.

AHistoryO FTHeG uatemalanCivil W ar By Bud Gankhuyag The Guatemalan Civil War was the longest and bloodiest civil war in Central American history. Spanning from 1960 to 1996, the violent conflict between the state and guerrilla forces devastated the Guatemalan land and people, who feel its legacy in many ways today. in 1954 the United States government initiated a coup d?état against the Guatemalan government for its own interests without regard to future consequences.The Guatemalan Civil War was facilitated by the United States government. The extremely bloody conflict between the state government and left- wing guerrilla groups left deep scars on the Guatemalan people, who through immigration and recollection are still in the healing process today. In 1944, a mass democratic movement in Guatemala mobilized against the oppressive administration of President Jorge Ubico, who forced many citizens to perform labor for the United Fruit Company, a U.S. company that held many operations on the vast amount of Guatemalan land they had acquired. Ubico?s ousting led to the election of Juan José Arévalo, a popular leader who worked to abolish Ubico?s vagrancy laws and enact labor rights, social security, rural education, and government loans to small farmers. Arévalo did not at first align himself with any Communist ideology, but when powerful dissenters from United Fruit Company began to oppose him, he looked to the Communist party for support. He was then succeeded in 1951 by Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, who continued the trend of broadening social rights, only this time under the very thing acutely perceived by the U.S. government as a threat: an official Communist banner. The United States government was chiefly responsible for precipitating the events leading to the civil war by staging a coup and installing the repressive right- wing government that brought unprecedented violence to the Guatemalan people. Guzman?s most striking act was Decree 900, a law enacted in 1953 ordering the government seizure of all property larger than 600 acres and not in cultivation. These lands were to be used to loan to small farmers, and the previous owners of

the land would be compensated based on the tax value of the land. This law held serious implications for the United Fruit Company, which had in its possession about 600,000 acres. Guzman specifically targeted the United Fruit Company, seized much of its property and offered its owners a $1.2 million remittance. Quickly rejecting the offer, The United Fruit Company started receiving support from the U.S. government. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA director Allen Dulles advised President Eisenhower to approve "Operation Success,? an overthrow of Guzman?s Communist government. The Cold War politics of competition justified the anti- Communist containment ideology, but U.S. economic interests fueled the motivation to intervene as well. The government succeeding the overthrown and planted by U.S officials in 1954 became the repressive regime whose unpopular actions sparked civil war in 1960. Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas led the coup and became president of the succeeding government. He supervised the arrest of over 9,000 Guzman supporters, outlawed trade unions and returned the land which had been re- appropriated by Guzman to the United Fruit Company. Protesting these actions and unwilling to be stripped of the civil freedom they had earned under Guzman, bands of guerrilla groups emerged in protest of Armas, including Escuela Politécnica and MR- 13. The Guatemalan Civil War went on to become a bitter and violent power struggle between the left- wing guerrilla groups and the repressive state government. In 1963, Armas was assassinated and replaced by Colonel Enrique Peralta. Three years later, the radical Revolutionary Party held power under elected president Cesar Mendez but was detained after military- backed Carlos Arana Osorio became president in 1970. Following Osorio?s rise to power, he ordered his military rulers to embark on a large guerrilla- hunting campaign, which resulted in at least 50,000 deaths in a span of a few years. Similar massacres occurred later, namely one in 1981 in which state death squads killed 11,000. Two more coup d?etats led by military leaders and Mejia Victores respectively followed, with warfare and casualties at a constant. With violence a capricious factor in each term, several other presidents circulated through the government, while withstanding criticism from the rest of the world for its ongoing history of human rights violations.

In order to find and repress these guerrilla groups, the Guatemalan national military and police employed tactics of fear and violence to terrorize and discipline not only guerrillas but all Guatemalan people. Memories of corpses dropping from helicopters and frequent death squads roaming neighborhoods marred the Guatemalan memory. Guatemalans, whether part of guerrilla organizations or not, were kidnapped and tortured by Guatemalan officials. Especially brutalized were the indigenous people of Guatemala, who have historically been oppressed by the Guatemalan government. Wendy Mendez, a survivor of the civil war, recounted the interrogation she and her mother faced by policemen, who dumped her head in a bucket of water and shocked her with electricity. In her own words, "I remember one of the policemen laughing and saying to my mother, ?Look what we are doing to your baby.?" In post- war surveys, the Recovery of Historical Memory Project counted human rights violations in the civil war and attributed 89.7%to the Guatemalan government and 4.8%to guerrilla groups. The study also confirmed that most of the violence was against the indigenous Mayan people, including testimonies of homicide, kidnapping, displacement, torture, rape, injury, and destroying of homes and property. Generations of Guatemalans had seen nothing but warfare in their homelands, and a war that would not end until the dawn of the new millennium, a long 36 years later. In 1994, the Oslo Accords arranged both sides of the conflict to gather together and negotiate an end to the grueling war that ravaged the Guatemalan land. These talks ended with plans to end the war and for democratic elections. In 1995, guerrilla rebels declared a collective cease- fire, and Alvaro Arzu was elected president in 1996. He then fired all senior military officers and signed another peace agreement with the guerrillas. This became the official end of the Guatemalan Civil War. By the end of the war in 1996, over 200,000 people were dead or missing.

Straight,NoChaser A Space Of Our Ow n By Patrice Lockert Anthony Get out of our room. Stop claiming our space as your own. Don?t pretend that we need your presence to tell our stories. Don?t act like you?re protecting fairness and what is just. Don?t say, "We should get to sit at the table, too.? Don?t want to be there in case you need to "defend? yourselves. ALL PEOPLE WHO AREN?T WHITE DESERVE TO HAVE A PRIVATE SPACE WHERE THEY DON?T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE WHITE. It is as necessary to good mental and emotional health as breath is to life. IT. IS. NECESSARY. Stop saying stupid things like, "If they get to have a private space, then white people should get to have a private space.? White people have always had access to private space. White people have even been known, throughout history, for taking others?spaces for themselves by whatever means necessary. Stop feeling left out when you?re not invited to the meeting. How many meetings have you attended where there were no black or brown faces? Did you complain then? Did you get up and leave? Did you refuse to participate until the exclusionary practice ended? No policymaking, rule making, or lawmaking, to fit your convenience. No bitching and whining to put a public face on your sense of the unfairness of it all. No making sure that communities and lawmakers shake their hypocritical fingers in black and brown faces for daring to claim a space where they might speak freely. Private meeting space is necessary for black and brown people to safeguard us from retaliation (political, professional, etc.). It is necessary so that we don?t have to worry about hurting a white person?s feelings (as if any white person attending a meeting with only white people present ever worried about hurting our feelings). It is ludicrous and wrapped up in the lies of denial to proclaim racism, reverse discrimination, amidst cries of, "segregation is wrong, it hurts us all.? This columnist is not advocating segregation. She is advocating for equity. White folks have been going behind closed doors forever for whatever reason they please. To suggest that now, when black and brown folk want to do it is racist and discriminatory, makes white people seem like they practice policies and politics of convenience, oh wait a minute . . . White people everywhere, you do not always get to control, or be on top, or even included. Stop being so arrogant, ego- centric, and self- centered as to think it is all about you, all the time. Stop being so desperate to always be at the center. Sometimes folks need a private meeting space where they can rail (to criticize severely) against other.

Sometimes it is necessary to gather with others like you (other black and brown faces/ bodies) and speak forth on the injustice, inequities, unfairness, the violence done against your people, the black and brown folk who are dying because white people want to have guns, but don?t want to tame their prejudices, so they shoot first, then claim self defense. We need to be able to talk freely about the pain these incidents cause. We need to be able to speak out loud and not in hushed, whispered tones. We need to be able to say that white folk have it in for us. That white folk are out to get us . . . without being accused of paranoia, or whites getting teary- eyed as they "feel our pain.? It is a cumulative pain. Hundreds of years of pain on our backs and in our souls. White people cannot empathize with this pain. Some white people may sympathize, but empathy requires that you be able to put yourselves in the same place, and white people don?t have that experience of hundreds of years of hatred, bad laws, cut- rate justice (if any justice at all), or having whole towns burned down because white folk can?t stand seeing black success (Obama, anyone).

Get some. Meet together with other white people. Explore and discover how America (and indeed, the world) got this way. Settle into your guilt long enough to get past being paralyzed by it. Then, maybe, in your private meeting space, you could figure out a way to stop making a white problem, black. For now, though, get the hell out of my "Black and Brown People Only? private meeting space.

In faith~

White people cannot emotionally weigh- in on news report after news report of black bodies slain by cops, community members and sometimes neighbors, because the first thing that white person saw was the color of the skin, and the first thought after that was couched in unholy terror, such that the only way it could be addressed was by murder.White people don?t have this experience. Stop wanting to share my private space to make yourself feel better. Fix yourselves. You are well- practiced at creating your own private meeting space.

W hoW ill SurviveAmerica? G oddessDiamond Goddess Diamond was a 20-year-old Black trans woman who was found dead in a torched car on June 5, 2016 in New Orleans. It is believed Diamond died of blunt force trauma before the car was burned. News media has consistently misgendered them. Daimond is at least the fourteenth trans person murdered this year.

AntwunShumpert Antwun Shumpert was a 37-year-old cist Black man who was shot and killed by police on June 18, 2016 in Tupelo, Mississippi. Shumpert was driving his friends car when police pulled him over at a routine traffic stop. Shumpert allegedly ran out of the car before the officers approached it. The officers chased after him with a dog. Witnesses say that Shumpert surrendered to police before being shot four times and maimed by the police dog.

Michael Moore Michael Moore was a 19-year-old cist Black man who was shot and killed by police on June 13, 2016 in Dothan, Alabama. Moore and his two friends were pulled over at a routine traffic stop. Police claim that Moore allegedly reach for a gun tucked in his waist and prompted police to open fire four times. But witnesses say that Moore was unarmed and police never recovered a gun at the scene. Moore's family has demanded a though investigation and believes that Moore was shot as his hands were up.

Rest InPower 19

TRACKTHE MO VEMENT June,2016 # Oaxaca

# MphokoGoHome

The massacre that occurred June 19th that left 12 protesters dead at a teacher blockade in Oaxaca has sparked national outrage in Mexico. On June 26th over 10,000 people marched to El Zocalo square to protest the state murder and repressive teacher reforms of the Pena Nieto regime. More than 200,000 doctors and nurses have joined the teachers in the strike. The governments response to the mobilizations have been brutal. Federal and state police have stated that force will be used to break- up any blockade and encampment. In Mexico City, thousands have been protesting calling for President Enrique Pena Nieto to resign. At least 22 people have gone missing since the conflict. Section 22 of the teachers union will continue to organize blockades in response to the repression.

Zimbabwe Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has come under fire as he continues an 18- month stay at a luxury hotel in Harare at the price of $400 a night. Mphoko's spending is at the direct expense of the Zimbabwean people, many of whom survive on just a dollar a day. Protest against the goverment has been met with extreme repression in Zimbabwe, with protesters often beaten, tortured, and jailed. Furthermore, media coverage of any demonstrations critical of the government are often eliminated by the Zimbabwean authorities. An anti- government activist Sten Zvorwadza staged a protest at the hotel that was caught on video and has been widely circulated as growing descent builds against the Mphoko and the Zimbabwean government.

# FreeOscarLopez

# Palestine

With conditions getting increasingly worse in Puerto Rico, calls have gotten louder for Puerto Rican decolonization and independence from the United States. As apart of that call, activists and international leaders have demanded that the United States release political prisoner and Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera. Lopez Rivera has been behind bars since 1981 on conspiracy charges in relation to his connection to the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). He has since been in jail for 35 years. June 20th was declared International Day of Solidarity With Oscar Lopez Rivera by the National Boricua Human Rghts Network. Solidarity actions in support of Oscar Lopez Rivera were organized in 43 countries. Venezuela Forgin Minister Delcy Rodriguez demanded that the U.S. release Lopez Rivera. Cuba presented a U.N resolution calling on the United States to create a path for Puerto Rican independence on June 20th.

65 Palestinian political prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) began a hunger strike on June 19th at Megiddo prison. The strike is in protest against Israel's decision to send political prisoner Bilal Kayid to administrative detention without trial. Kayid had served a 14- year prison sentence for his connection to the PFLP and was expected to be released this year. Kayid himself began a hunger strike on June 13th in response to the ruling. Israeli police upon hearing news of the strike proceeded to raid the prison and assault the striking prisoners.

Special thankstoour contributing writers Rosi AlmĂŠstica Jie Wu Patrice Lockert-Anthony Bud Gankhuyag Carmen Manzana Dubian Ade

THE DECOLONIZER gives a special thanks to @DecolonizingMedia for their continued coverage on issues regarding # indigenousliberation and for their righteous use of images. Their work continues to influence THE DECOLONIZER. Check out their work at http:/ / decolonizingmedia.tumblr.com/

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