222 Don’t Be an Ally, Be a Traitor

Inspired by a Tweet from Sidrah Ahmad, the Prinxesses explore the concept of being a traitor, rather than an ally.

In This Episode

News

* ‘Veggie discs’ to replace veggie burgers in EU crackdown on food labels (The Guardian)* Proposed California fur ban would make state first in nation to outlaw the product (KTVU)

Joke

I would like to tell you a chemistry joke but….

Main Topic

Callie has been noodling on this topic for a while, after seeing this Tweet by Sidrah Ahmad on the Purple & Black Anarchism page on Facebook back in the fall of 2018:

Picture says: I don’t want men to be allies. I want you to be traitors. I want you to be traitors to the system that violently holds you up at the expense of women. I want you to betray the silent pact that patriarchy makes with you to have your back so long as you don’t make waves. Revolt. – Tweet by Sidrah Ahmad

This concept brings up so many questions: is the word ally meaningless? Do we need yet another label? What do/es we/she mean by ‘traitor’?

We also talk about a post in the VWPA Society by Meneka that generated a lot of relevant conversation about what it means to be an ally and what the parameters are (the discussion was surrounding the (paraphrased) statement “If your partner is homophobic, you are not an ally”).

Nichole ties some of this into our current administration and how many actions that are simple protest are being labeled “terrorism” and how the word “traitor” fits in nicely, if not frighteningly, into this pattern.

This, and much more ahead!