Aralez: Decolonial Blog & learning sessions

After the second world war many countries gained their formal independence from their colonizers. However, we still see a reproduction of neo-colonial outcomes and practices that are reproduced within countries, nation states and the borders that were created under colonialism. This can be observed in legal, social, cultural, economic and military infrastructures, to name a few dimensions. Structures that are still heavily influenced by the European colonial powers both historically and in present time. The question then becomes; what does decolonization entail in the 21st century when we can see that ‘coloniality’ is still being reproduced? And what is the difference between anti-colonial and decolonial struggles? And in what way can we repair the colonial harm done? We will look at these questions from an (south) African perspective to analyze how eurocentrism is reproduced and ways in which we can decolonize and re-think these power structures.

About the Speaker:

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis on Africa. He is a leading decolonial theorist with over a hundred publications in the fields of African history, African politics, African development and decolonial theory. His latest major publications are Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (Routledge, July 2018); Rethinking and Unthinking Development: Perspectives on Inequality and Poverty in South Africa and Zimbabwe (Berghahn Books, March 2019) coedited with Busani Mpofu; and Decolonization, Development and Knowledge in Africa: Turning Over A New Leaf (Routledge, May 2020).

A conversation – centered around images – about the entangled tradition of Marxism and national liberation – a tradition that emerges out of the October Revolution and that deepens its roots in the anti-colonial conflicts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This is an introduction to a wide-ranging conversation that includes many different revolutionary movements, mostly rooted in the continents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and highlighting the importance of creating a new cultural project for liberation.

Revolutionary artist Tings Chak, along with Ingrid Neves and Daniela Ruggeri of the Art Department of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, have drawn over a hundred portraits of revolutionaries from around the world. During this learning session, we will go over some of these portraits, key national liberation Marxists in the Global South - José Carlos Mariátegui, Mao Zedong, Amílcar Cabral, Haydee Santamaria, Ho Chi Minh and EMS Namboodiripad - and reflect on the power of culture to advance the struggle for liberation.

About the speaker:

Tings Chak 翟庭君 is an artist and writer based in Beijing. She is Art Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, which strives for Global South Unity in the anti-colonial tradition of Bandung and the Tricontinental Conference. Tings is a member of the art and culture working group of the International People’s Assembly. She is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel, Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention (The Architecture Observer 2014; Ad Astra Comix 2017) based on her work as a migrant justice organizer in Toronto. Her research work focuses on the culture of national liberation and socialist struggles, and the horizons that this history gives for the movements of today.

Within the context of the global ecological crisis, non-western narratives, under the discourse of decolonization, have emerged as innovative and inspirational perspectives when thinking about current global issues. However, those narratives carry the risk to be subalternalized, extractivized and culturally appropriated by hegemonic epistemology. Those issues strengthened and might even reproduce the logic of crises. Meanwhile, arguing change, transformation and action.

In this lecture, Milton is inviting you to think about some questions as:

Milton Almonacid is Professor of History and Geography at the Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile. He has more than 12 years of international experience in matters related to cultural, intercultural and global studies in areas such as science and technology studies, philosophy of sciences, sociology and history of knowledge production. His fields of interest are Epistemology of Sciences, Decolonization of Knowledge, Whiteness Studies, Indigenous Epistemologies, Non-Western Global Narratives and Intercultural Translation, amongst others. Milton holds a Master's degree in Political Science (Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Rennes), Philosophy (Université Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne) and Psychoanalysis (Université Paris VII, Denis Diderot) focused on the study of social movements in Chile, the construction of the legitimacy of scientific thought, as well as Mapuche contents excluded from the social identity of Chilean society.

In het kader van Indian History Month geeft Rocher Koendjbiharie een lecture over de impact van het kolonialsime op queer identiteiten in India Het Westen claimt de voorloper te zijn op LHBTQIA+ rechten en ziet zichzelf als de drager van progressieve waarden. Met een wijzende vinger veroordeelt het Westen landen in het Globale Zuiden die de rechten van de LHBTQIA+ gemeenschap onvoldoende waarborgen. Maar wat het Westen hierin weglaat is dat veel sentimenten en soms zelfs wetgeving in deze landen juist een erfenis zijn van de Westerse aanwezigheid ten tijde van het kolonialisme. In deze Decolonial Learning Session geeft Rocher Koendjbiharie inzicht in de impact van het kolonialisme op queer identiteiten. Aan de hand van voorbeelden uit India laat hij zien hoe landen die nu worden veroordeeld op LHBTQIA+ vraagstukken juist een rijke geschiedenis aan genderdiversiteit en queer identiteiten hebben en door het kolonialisme zijn onderdrukt en gewist.  

Bio: Rocher Koendjbiharie is schrijver, spreker, podcaster en publicist. Hij is oud-hoofdredacteur van online LHBTQIA+-platform Expreszo.nl en nu podcast-host van Nee, Man de podcast. Middels geschreven en gesproken woorden probeert hij de wereld een betere plek te maken. Hij ziet zijn pen als een wapen in zijn strijd tegen onrecht.  

About the organization: Aralez is a grassroots network and organization for decolonisation in Amsterdam. To find out more about our vision and events check out our website: https://stichtingaralez.com/vision/ Want to stay updated? Sign up to our newsletter: https://stichtingaralez.typeform.com/ 

Info Decolonial Learning Sessions: The goal of the decolonial learning sessions is to build a larger and more sustainable activist community and network which can exchange and learn more about decolonial theory and practise. During the online lectures and interactive Q&A sessions, participants will be provided with perspectives on decolonization, activist movements, colonial history, different forms of oppression, spirituality, and how neo-colonialism is manifesting today. The program is meant for those who are interested in being part of, social movements, activism or who want to learn more about the ongoing global struggle for decolonization and dismantling forms of oppression. The goal for the learning sessions is that they are accessible for people with or without academic backgrounds. We are a voluntary organization and rely on donations, if you wish, you can donate here: IBAN: NL67 TRIO 0320036073 t.n.v. Stichting Aralez Mention “Support Decolonial Learning Session”

www.stichtingaralez.com

The Western response is caught in a war fever: sanctions against Russia, weapons to Ukraine and more military budgets for NATO. US and European policymakers are already preparing for a protracted guerrilla war, some openly talking about ​​turning Ukraine into a new ‘Afghanistan’. Although the primary fault is clearly with the invader, Russia – the West seems eager to prolong the war indefinately. Could diplomacy succeed and prevent such a tragic fate?

In this decolonial learning session, we’ll dive deeply into the origins of the 8-year long war in Ukraine to debunk some of the common misconceptions about the country. From the EuroMaidan movement to the relevance of fascist movements; from the expansion of NATO and Russian imperialism to IMF neoliberal imposition in Ukraine. How can a balanced account of the conflict help us further towards a peace accord? And what can people in the West actually do in solidarity with Ukraine?

Momenteel verschijnen steeds meer boeken, artikelen, exposities en onderzoeken over de Nederlandse bezetting van Indonesië. Veel aandacht gaat uit naar de onafhankelijkheidsstrijd van 1945-1949 die door Nederlanders lang als ‘politionele acties’ werd geduid terwijl het om een ‘herbezetting’ ging.

Nearly a billion people have no access whatsoever to electricity, whilst the rich are embarking on space trips and fantasize about colonizing mars. Yet the climate crisis is not just marked by economic inequality. It is marked by imperialism. 92 percent of the climate catastrophe engulfing the planet is caused by Global North, robbing formerly colonized countries of the atmospheric space required to ensure humane living standards. To make matters worse, every year immense amounts of resources and labor-power are drained from the Global South to the Global North, to maintain a wasteful consumption lifestyle that is killing the planet.

This fossil-based capitalism is backed by a massive imperial army of NATO, a bloc of rich countries spending more on the military than the rest of the world combined. A bloc that is invading nations, overthrowing governments and brutally sanctioning entire peoples that refuse to bow down. Proposals for a Green New Deal that do not tackle imperialism are bound to fail, exacerbating a system that is marked by climate apartheid. Max Ajl will be joining us to unpack the various Green New Deal proposals that are out there, and help us find out what an anti-imperialist climate strategy could look like.

About the speaker:

Max Ajl is the author of the critically acclaimed book A People’s Green New Deal, which scrutinizes the most famous green new deal proposals and offers an eco-socialist and anti-imperialist alternative. Max is an associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment, an associate editor at Agrarian South & Journal of Labor and Society, and a postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University. He is currently working on a book about the role of peasants in the underknown Tunisian revolution of 1942-1956. Throughout his work, Max focusses on national liberation, peasant struggles and anti-imperialism.

How does traditional medicine co-exist next to conventional medicine in the post-colonial Dutch Caribbean?  

During this Decolonial Learning Session Durwin Lynch will touch upon inter-and transgenerational traumas of Dutch Caribbean (sub)communities in relation to colonialism, racism and oppression. In his view embracing traditional healing practices, that have in general been kept ‘invisible’ throughout history, might support healing processes of inter and transgenerational trauma. He will focus his talk on exploring the deeper rooted tensions that both support and hinder the coexistence of traditional and conventional Western medicine/healing in the Dutch Caribbean. What are the historical roots of these tensions? To what extent is a potential bridge between traditional and conventional Western medicine/healing desirable and possible?  

About the speaker: 

Durwin Lynch originates from the Dutch Caribbean (born in Surinam, raised on Curacao) and has a strong interest in addressing inter-and transgenerational trauma healing of Dutch Caribbean (sub) communities. He works as a PhD Researcher on the topic of ‘Public Engagement in Science’ at the Athena Institute Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and is the Program Coordinator of the Master Management, Policy Analysis and Entrepreneurship in the Health and Life Sciences.

In this learning session, Kjelld Kroon will share with us how Bonaire experiences colonial politics from the European Netherlands in the 21st century. Leading to the questions: How can it be that the Netherlands that speaks so much of human rights and equality is violating these principles so systematically in the so called 'Dutch Caribbean'? How can colonialism have ended when there are 'oversea territories' and can there be such a thing as 'fair' dependency?

About the speaker:

Kjelld Kroon comes from Rincon/Bonaire and studies in Leiden. He is an activist for Bonaire's political rights and did an internship at Human Rights Bonaire in 2021. As a philosophy student; Global and comparative perspectives (Leiden) he specializes in decolonial and political philosophy.

What is the necessity for (holistic) reparations and what would it entail in practise?  

More than 500 years of colonialism has institutionalized various forms of oppression and extraction ranging from genocide, ecocide, continuous warfare, economic/social inequalities, racism and exploitation. How can we better understand the impact of colonialism reflected in today's world and power relations, specifically by looking at the consequences of Transatlantic slavery for both the Afrikan continent and the Afrikan diaspora? What would reparations for this massive crime against humanity look like? What are examples of initiatives and efforts made to stop and repair this harm on an international level? And how does Afrikan Reparations relate to the struggles of other peoples who have also experienced historical & contemporary group-based injustice? Esther Stanford-Xosei will explore these questions from a Pan-Afrikan, Internationalist and decolonial perspective.

About speaker: 

Esther-Stanford Xosei is a Reparations Specialist, Legal Advisor, International Advocate, Political Advisor, Scholar-Activist, Media Spokesperson, Environmentalist, Historian, Educator, Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Mentor. On a personal, political and professional level, repairing the historical and ongoing damage to Afrikan people and Mother Earth motivates Esther-Stanford Xosei to do her work.