Decolonise Your Minds!

Decolonise Your Minds:
marginalised gendered People of Colour DECOLONISATION hui

Sat 4th - Sun 5th Feb 2012
Tamaki Makaurau (Ponsonby Community Centre)
(Auckland, New Zealand)

$20 waged/ $10 unwaged, or whatever you can afford

The People of Colour Decol Hui is a two day celebration of Decolonisation, Feminism and Anti-Racism, for POC/indigenous feminists and activists, all mixed up with DIY workshops, skill share and talks.


The People of Colour Decol Hui is for marginalised gendered people of colour; including women, transfolk, intersex, genderqueers, wimmin (etc)- of marginalised cultures, indigenous and ethnic minorities in Aotearoa.

We clarify that "pale" coloured and indigenous people are very welcome at this hui. If you self identify with being a person of colour, and are happy to be in this space, then please come along.

We know that people of colour/indigenous people can have many parents/gransparents from all over, and we won't be perpetuating policing around whether someone is coloured or indigenous or not. For us this is just the kinds of things we seek to eradicate.


If you want to come but you're not sure if this includes you, please get in touch

decol2012@gmail.com


The POC Decol Hui aims to open up space for discussion around being marginalised gendered tangata whenua and coloured tau iwi people in Aotearoa.

Examining the inherent power dynamics interwoven into our lives, connections between racism, sexism, colonisation, classism and other oppressions, and working in predominantly pakeha activist scenes... and how these things affect us and the feminist/ social justice/ peace/ revolutionary/creative work we do.

The weekend will be grounded around those main themes. There will be spaces for discusions to happen.

We hope that this gathering will enable us to share some experiences and tools for critiquing, challenging, and overcoming these oppressions.

There will be discussion forums, workshops and skill shares.

Featured discussion sessions/presentations/workshops include:

Elizabeth Kerekere: "Multiplicities: splitting ourselves across cultures, families and communities"

Belinda Borell: "Co-opting whiteness, raced-based motions and moving targets"

Ruth DeSouza: "The real impacts of marginalisation on bodies"

MZ and Zac: "Savage Beasts": Anti-speciesism and Decolonisation

Farida Sultana: "Asian feminism and decolonisation"

The POC Decol Hui is volunteer run.

If anyone has a workshop, skill share, discussion idea, from zine making, recipe swapping, difficult convos with family, kissing booths etc, that they would like to run please get in contact and let us know.

Further details (time, location) posted soon.Full(ish) programme will be posted in Jan 2012.

Exact info etc will be getting sussed shortly, consider this a heads up to get excited!!! Also for all our pakeha commrades out there fighting oppression, we welcome your support. Some things you could possibly do; include help with childcare, fundraising, food, places for people to stay during the hui etc. Get in touch :)

Email us any further questions. decol2012@gmail.com
Rego by 31 Jan 2012

(oh and please register even if you're not paying, so we know how much food to cook)



POC Decol Hui organisers: Rouge, Giang, MZ and Wai Ho


POC Decol Hui 2012 rego form:

name:


contact/s:


travel assistance wanted?:
(we have some money avail for gas, plane, train or bus)


food requirements?:
(food provided)


childcare costs assistance wanted?:
(we have some money avail to pay childminders)


waged, unwaged, none/or whatever you can afford?:


any topics you would really like discussed?


(venue and toilets are accessible)


copy, paste and email rego to : decol2012@gmail.com

hui cost details:

Account name: W L Ho conference
Bank account number: 02 1242 0549383 032

We wish to thank The Quakers, A-Fem hui, Rainbow Youth and individual donors, for their kind support. It's much appreciated.

Kickass article by Margaret Cho. Jus' sharin'.

http://www.margaretcho.com/content/2012/01/11/being-mad-on-twitter/

Mellow Yellow IV is now available for download!

Mellow Yellow IV

Contents include:

Age and Power
The beginnings of a manual on "how NOT to be an ally..."
On doing 101 again and again and again
Asian Anarchist Sisters in Berlin
T-shirt Slogans for the DIY activist
How to draw a vulva
Interspecies Interaction. A True Story.
Confessions of a workaholic
The weeping Buddha
Recognition, blindspots and stakes

+ much more!

This pdf is created in the printable format and this issue is read from right to left!

DECOLONISE THE MIC: Callout for Performers

DECOLONISE THE MIC: Callout for performers!

The Decolonise Your Mind Hui is a two day celebration of feminism, decolonisation and anti-racism held in Tamaki-Makaurau on the 4-5th of Feb 2012. We are organising a "Decolonise the Mic" night featuring people of colour performers. Performances can include but are not limited to: music, poetry, spoken word, songs, skits, raps, dances, drag etc. This event will also be open to allies. It will be held on Saturday 4th of Feb!

Please get in touch asap if you are interested: decol2012@gmail.com

Being Good Enough

So I was lurking on Myspace.com, reminiscing through my emotionally charged rants and post-hardcore mp3s and started reflecting on this socio-muso identity of recent past. You know, it took me 9 years living in Aotearoa and after several maybe/maybe-not talk sessions with good friend bamboo to finally pick up the mic and do music again. I am 28-yrs old and do vocals with an all-feminist hardcore punk band- Melting Pot Massacre. We're still figuring out our sound and getting to know each other, but it's a good place to be right now.

I want to talk a bit about my internalised journey with making Music, how it changed and keeps shifting my sense of identity and belonging in New Zealand even today. I navigated from PunkDIYism as a societally tolerated phase of teen-early adulthood globally, to something Politically Expressive for the repressed Asian youth particularly, to a period of MUSIC IS ENDLESS NOTHINGNESS and only now, a way to kick off all those negativity about "not being good enough to sing/perform in New Zealand". But firstly, I need to be honest with you. I do not know much about whatever's going on with punk music, zines or social movements per se these days. I am so behind on it all, looking up for updates online, don't even attempt to download/steal music or have headphones on walking on the streets. In many ways I "sold out", getting less involved with any direct action politics. I also stopped calling myself an anarcha-feminist since the Anarchist conference in Christchurch in 2005.

All of these factors contribute to why I have actively isolated myself from doing anything musically or creatively with anyone in NZ. Because my passion for punk was in its propensity to politicise, and because I reduced my politicial activity, it was easier to let the noise, the music subside and lose its signifiance. I guess for a long time prior to migrating to NZ, punk music was MY REASON FOR LIVING. it was personal and truly political. i had creative scene friends, i ran a zine and distro, i was in two bands, i mixed with Grrrls, it was literally how i woke up and lived my life on a day to day basis in Singapore. And then i got to nz, and i struggled "mingling" with people at Uni, I was awkward and the few dudemates I had were asian pot-smoking metalheads. It didn't help that I didn't drink or could socialise comfortably in pubs. I was also going through a messy violent home then, and was the butt of a few painful racist encounters with REAL nasty skinheads.

Okay, so nevermind punk. Wat about just performing? One day, I saw this ad for Miss Saigon. It was going to be this huge musical production, and I'd get paid for practices. I was looking for a job and thought, hey they need an Asian actress/singer, I'm vocally trained, maybe I should try it out. Heck, if there was ever a chance for me to enter the performing arts industry in NZ, this could be that big break I need. I remember wearing this red chiffon dress under an oversied velour coat, trying to look 21 for a twenty-one year old. When I got to the Theatre, there were eight tall beautiful Asian-looking ladies talking to each other in kiwi accents. I stood in the queue awkwardly for about two minutes and ran off crying.

I just remembered thinking to myself, I'm not good enough. What was I thinking? Maybe in Singapore. But not in New Zealand. I can't even talk like.. them. How the heck am I supposed to sing?

That time, there was this talent show on TV, something like American Idol but an early NZ version. I watched intently with my parents one night, and thought wow Kiwi folks sure have pipes. How do they project their voices that strongly? My parents seem to have read my mind and they started comparing Asians' weak, nimble throaty voices to White people's rounded, powerful notes. My mother was convinced it's because our bodies are smaller, hence diaphragms were smaller hence vocal capacity limited. I believed her!

Slowly, I quietened my "voice" into a hum, then into a whisper, and then into "I can't sing". This voice that used to win talentshows and band competitions in secondary school. That voice that got me to lead my school choir on national public concerts. That voice that punched songs by Nightwish and Cranberries in my first deathrock band. One time, my dudemates in Christchurch who were in a band called me to join them for a session. When I disclosed to them I used to sing, they asked me to sing something then. I don't remember what song it was but sing I did in their garage. Theyjust looked at each other, didn't acknowledge it or compliment or anything. They just said, Aw yep, and moved on to their own stuff. They ignored me. I felt more stupid after that and promised to not sing to anyone no more. I thought, fuck this. If my own supposed friends can't see my talent, then maybe, I really don't have the talent.

I guess for a long time, you can say I lost my self-esteem gradually and systematically. It was just so hard to even believe that you ARE good, you ARE different and that is OK, when you don't have people around you that actually believe in you. It was only in 2008 when I met dumpling about Mellow Yellow zine that I thought, hey, I don't have to forget all that awesome stuff I used to love writing about, I can do this because someone else is doing this. And then when I met bamboo in 2009, and she was telling me about her band, I was like, far out! So it is possible to get out there and do music eh, Asian and that! I also rediscovered my fandom for Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls, MY Precious and Bloody Rejects, to remind myself, fuck what people say, if you wanna scream your lungs out, just do it! I tell you what, when you actively look for good people and role models, inspiration AND motivation kick in real quickly! Don't let one, two or three people in your life make you feel less or slighted, because at the end of the day, if you get out of this shell and let yourself go completely, you just never know what other awesome thing you're capable of! I have never screamed in a band before, but I thought, if I'm ever going to give this music another go, this is it, I am ready now. This is where I am today, having bandmates who support me goofing and experimenting with how my voice sounds and that has truly made the difference. And you know what: I am good!

In a lot of ways, I'm sharing this story of how I came to appreciate what I am, what I can offer and create, from an awkward 19-year old migrant to a 28year old vocalist for a hardcore punk band, to put the message out there to anyone out there who's ever felt that they weren't good enough to sing, dance, act, draw, play, write beyond their countries of origin. I've met a lot of people in my way, and many who would tell me they used to do this and that in their country of origin but would then tell me they're too shy or scared to do it in NZ, mainly because they feel like, they're not good enough, or their English is not good enough etc. And I guess I just want to tell them that I totally get what you're going through, and I do believe that there is that right time and place for everyone to fully realise their own potential. But NOBODY is not good enough. No matter who you are and where you're from. When you're clear in your mind and your heart, and you believe in yourself, and you surround yourself with people who support your ambitions and goals to be completely yourself, you can do wonders! Find those good people and cherish their friendships. Don't give up!

Take your individualistic ostrich head out of the colonial sand

“What is colonisation all about? I mean that kinda stuff happens all over the world, it's just what people do, it's always happened. And it was so long ago.. You can't really do anything about it.”

This was part of the conversation I had with a young gay asian man while a small, staunch and chipper group marching for decolonisation up Queen St, to the (re)occupy Aotea campsite. And it's been on my mind ever since.

What I would have liked to say in addition, would have been that “Yup, I suppose it's always been happening. That the powerful, for a long stretch of current historical re-memory, have taken, oppressed and subjugated those less powerful. Taken and occupied land, resources and people.”

So the question, or statement rather, in response to that kind of thing said to people opposing colonisation, is “Yeah well, it comes down to whether and how you care about, and want to do anything about social justice.” And many people don't.

People have probably always beat up, set on fire, hung and killed other people, whether just because they want their stuff, because they figure their god said it was all good, or just because they lived and expressed differently in some kind of way. That is an observation. It's not a justifcation, for not doing anything about injustice.

We live in a time where the seductive and manipulative system of belief is that if you put your mind and energy to it, you can do anything. Inequality and inequity is merely bad luck or circumstantial, but once you actively engage in the fair and level playing field, you can achieve anything.

It's a pretty handy belief system. Also because it feels pretty empowering to a certain point.

It's one that the Model Minority (usually Asians) and many middle class gays, lesbians and queers happy champion. The possiblity of social mobility, being poor and then getting richer, combined with civil rights, do not mean that a system is fair and just and level. But many people think it is. And many people are pretty ok with the current system as it works pretty well for them. Until it doesn't.

The way we live is far from just. It's not close to serving most people most of the time. But we'd like to believe it is, because it's less work and less scary that way. We'd like to ignore rates of rape and sexual abuse, family violence, intergenerational wounds, poisoned rivers, toxic lakes, shrinking old forests, animals suffering, people living in poverty, poor mental and physical health, youth and adult suicide rates, and the ever widening gap between rich and poor. They are just unfortunate, circumstantial, and not indicitive of the way we live.

Its a great belief system because we don't have to do anything about it, and when anyone fails, it's just bad luck, or more likely because they haven't tried hard enough. So it's their own fault really.

Its hard to see, or want to see, structural oppression. It's hard to explain structural oppression to someone with an individualistic liberal framework, in a tasty soundbyte. It's because structural oppression is the whole platter, the table, the kitchen, the house, and the very land the house is on.

And that's hard to fit in a soundbyte.

But how about a story.

There is a family. Who lives in a house. One day another family turns up and moves on in, and forces the first family into the back shed out the back. The new family then takes over most of the vege garden and nine out of the ten fruit trees. The new family then moves in lots more of their cousins. The new family poison the rest of the vege garden they didn't take over, and chop down the fruit tree belonging to the first family.

The new family don't allow the first family to speak their language and do their own way of health care. When the first family protests at being kicked out of their house, their vege garden being taken or poisoned and their fruit tree cut down, they are thrown in the cellar. They are then told they've breached laws the new family made up and wrote in the new families own language. It's their own fault really.

Many years pass.

The new family's great great great grandchildren still live in the house, have most of the vege garden, and write the new laws in their language. The great great great grandchildren of the first family still live in the shed.

There are many more great grandchildren of the new family. They don't call themselves that though. They call everyone, including the first family descendents, New Housers. The descendents of the new family let the first family descendents have some veges and visit the house every now and then. They can't understand why the descendents of the first family suffer worse health than they do. They figure it must be about the first families descendents attitude to life.

And while we're telling tales, here are a few more.

Our fair and level “justice” system convicts Maori at higher rate than Pakeha for the same crime.

Our fair and level housing system favours Pakeha and European applicants.

Our fair and level job system favours Pakeha and European applicants.

And to all those Asians that love up the Model Minority Myth, those gays, lesbians and queers that think things are pretty level and fair, and if you don't “succeed” you're just not trying hard enough; here are some tales for you.

The Youth07 report that surveyed nearly 10 000 high school students, tells us that only a bit over 50% of Chinese youth are proud of their ethnicity. It also tells us that queers are over-represented in much of the negative stats including suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and all forms of bullying.

Shakti Community Council, that tends to Asian survivors of domestic violence is run off their feet.

We might think we are “ok” but we can't pretend our youth are.

If this feels like wet-blanket-party-pooping-negative talk, I will happily identify as all those things, if that's what telling our societal ostrich to take its head out the structurally oppressive sand is doing.

Statement in Support of the March and Rally against Poverty and Structural Oppression

As Asian tau iwi living in Aotearoa, we recognise the past and present injustices against tangata whenua.

We also recognise that through British colonialism and the theft of Maori land, the Pakeha-dominated political system has created wealth and a nation that provides "opportunities", "standards of living" that have become available to new migrants, old settlers and their descendents. These benefits and privileges we get from living on this land created and maintained by colonisation do not justify the violent process of colonialism.

We support calls to decolonise the "Occupy" movement and the 99%. Many of our homelands have been 'occupied' by colonial or imperialist forces in the not too distant past. The violence and destruction caused by imperialism has left a legacy in many parts of Asia and continues as an oppressive force through neo-liberal globalisation. The gap between the rich and poor is growing globally and the root of the problem includes colonialism, patriarchy and racism. The effect of poverty is racialised and gendered. It is no coincidence that 1% is mostly white men, and the most impoverished are people of colour. As a global movement seeking to address economic inequality, the "Occupy" movement must also address the roots of this problem instead of perpetuating further injustice by ignoring or sidelining the struggles of indigenous peoples.

We know that as Asian tau iwi living in Aotearoa, racism exists everywhere. Racism not only works to disadvantage ethnic minorities and tangata whenua, but it also works to divide us through negative racial stereotypes.

We choose to seek paths of justice that do not simply partake in further colonial injustices against tangata whenua.

We choose to look at social justice and our tau iwi responsibilities, not solely from a Western/Pakeha perspective, but from ancestral perspectives where our elders have experienced colonisation, imperialism, and perpetuated these injustices also, which continue to have impacts on sections of the Asian population.

We do this so we don't have to hand on legacies of grievance and injustice to our children and grandchildren, as has been handed to us as Asian tau iwi settlers, migrants and citizens.

These are the reasons we support tino rangatiratanga and encourage other tau iwi/migrants/refugees to join this march and rally!

March and Rally against poverty and structural oppression in Aotearoa!

Time	18 November · 17:00 - 21:00
Location	Britomart bottom of Queen St to Aotea Square
Created by:	Whaitiri Mikaere
More info	Rise up and Decolonize Global Action Day: Lets get free! Decolonize Aotearoa demands global and local economic justice. Indigenous peoples of the world Unite Together! An action by indigenous peoples and movements and non-indigenous peoples and their movements throughout the colonized world who have always been part of the 99%. We express our solidarity with those peoples who have lived under colonial and continue to live under neo colonial occupations. This rally has been organised to claim space as indigenous peoples and peoples of colour within the Occupy Movement. When we imagine decolonization, we do not make demands of those in power or those who are behind Occupy movements; we create power and frame the alternative. This event is organised by a coalition of Maori movements who are not part of the organizing body of Occupy New Zealand or of any the Occupy movements around the world. Because this land has endured colonial occupation and domination at the expense of Maori, we cannot promote or endorse the concept of occupation. Our engagement with Occupy movements or attendance at their demonstrations serve the purposes of claiming space for Maori and articulating the movement to decolonize on a local and global scale. We continue to observe brutality in the legacy of capitalism, a system that relied upon the enslavement of African and Caribbean peoples, the genocide and displacement of Indigenous peoples, and the violent seizure of lands for colonial profit. Economic exploitation of labor and resources is only one process of continuing colonization that disproportionately impacts Maori and other indigenous communities and third world peoples. We envision intersectional and comprehensive social justice that extends beyond limited narratives of class conflict. Struggles for self-determination have been waged for centuries by our ancestors before us, and will continue through the descendants who follow us. In the strength of “making our own power”, we have organized our own international Call to Action titled “Rise & Decolonize! Let’s Get Free” on November 18, 2011 at 5:00 pm. We invite all those who have a genuine willingness to engage and listen to attend our solidarity rally and become an ally in continuing the work of decolonization. This global action also supports the local and global occupy movements of the world who have bravely put themselves before the might of police states throughout developed first world countries in the pursuit of justice and freedom from capitalist imperialism's exploitation and control of the worlds wealth and resources in the hands of the elite few, the 1 percent. Nga mihi ki a koutou katoa! We therefore invite you to share this event with us, tena tatou!

RSVP and invite your friends on Facebook here!