Escape From Plan A

Q, Elaine, and Gavin discuss chapters 1-5 of Settlers, by J. Sakai. We break down the book’s analysis of America’s white mythos and how it is still directly applicable to current events, such as the MAGA riots at the Capitol last Wednesday.

It’s increasingly clear that the settler attitude Sakai described has not changed in 400 years and that continues to prescribe how white America makes its decisions. What happened at the capitol wasn’t a coup or insurrection. It didn’t challenge the class interests of power, the petit bourgeoisie just want their slice of the pie. Focusing only on the racism of the white working class is a shallow argument because it’s not the racism that’s the problem, it’s the class alliance underlying the racism.



Settlers explains the desperation, fears and aspirations of the settler-aspiring class, why radical organizing tends to drift toward liberalism and the neocolonial policy of installing a petit bourgeoise ruling class as representatives of POC groups inside and outside the US. This includes every form of representation politics from representAZNs to Syngman Rhee. To understand what is happening, and for us to organize effectively, we need to understand real US history, not just the white revisionist version, or ethnic studies offshoots.

Support us on Patreon if you enjoyed this episode. We'll be back this week with Bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/planamag

REFERENCES:

West Bank Robbery Podcast (https://west-bank-robbery.captivate.fm/)

Interview with J Sakai by Decolo (https://soundcloud.com/decolo/j-sakai)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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After an extended hiatus because he ran out of things to say, Teen joins Diana to talk about Asian RadLibs vs. Tankies. Seems like everyone has something to say about the 'Tankies' these days. And it's mostly RadLibs doing the talking, on their vastly bigger platforms. But Tankies have social media esp Twitter as an outlet, where the playing field is more even.

Teen and Diana do a deep dive into the psychology of RadLibs, the point that Tankies are trying to make, and trying to answer the question: how can one find actual pride in being an Asian American?

Support us on Patreon if you enjoyed this episode: https://www.patreon.com/planamag

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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Adam is joined by guests Joy Alessi, Raana and Sungkwan Jang in the second installment of our series on the issue of Adoptees Without Citizenship. In this part, we review the progress that was made in advocacy for an adoptee citizenship bill this year and also the challenges that were faced. We also discuss the expectations for 2021 and give our end of year thanks to all the volunteers and organizations that worked tirelessly on this issue.

TWITTER:

Adam (@snbatman)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

USA Today article: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/12/16/international-adoption-does-not-guarantee-adoptees-us-citizenship/6310358002/

Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC): https://kagc.us/

Adoptee Rights Campaign: https://adopteerightscampaign.org/

Adoptees For Justice: https://adopteesforjustice.org/

GUEST BIOGRAPHIES:

Sungkwan E. J. Jang - Serves as the program director at the Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC), the largest nationwide network of Korean American voters and a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he directs legislative relations, public relations, digital strategies, and education programs, with an emphasis on organizing youth voters. Since 2016, Sungkwan has worked with over 1,500 undergraduate students from 120 universities in voter registration drives, guest lectures and workshops, and civic action training. He has worked on the Adoptee Citizenship bill for the last two years.

Joy Alessi - An adoptee from South Korea, Joy discovered that she had not received U.S. citizenship during her U.S. adoption or thereafter. Since learning that thousands of international adoptees share similar legal failures, Joy has worked to educate both advocates and policymakers of the problem’s adoptees face without citizenship protection. As Executive Director of the Adoptee Rights Campaign, Joy’s work focuses on building effective resources for impacted adoptees and supporting passage of the Adoptee Citizenship legislation.

Raana - An impacted adoptee, she has been advocating for U.S. citizenship rights with Adoptee Rights Campaign since 2016.

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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John, Michelle, Arnav and Diana daydrink and talk about Asian cooking, restaurants, and food racism beyond crying about our stinky lunches. American attitudes about Asian cuisines reveal more about deep-seated ideological and infrastructural issues in the US than about Asian countries or people.

This is Part 1 of the 4-hour holiday episode. In Part 2, available on the Plan A Magazine Patreon, we talk about more food stuff, and John gets very, very drunk. Join the Patreon at www.patreon.com/planamag

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Banner art: "Masks" by Wai Lin

Writer and media critic Josh C of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org) talks to Diana about his work all year uncovering the lies and racist bias in western media coverage on China's COVID response. Josh also shares tips on how to critically review media for yourself, and how he stays motivated to do this important work.

This is Part 1 of the episode. In Part 2, available on the Plan A Magazine Patreon, we discuss China more broadly and play the game "What Would You Do If You Were An Imperial Propagandist?" Join the Patreon at www.patreon.com/planamag

TWITTER:

Josh C. (@JoshC0301)

Diana (@discoveryduck)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

Donate to FAIR: https://www.cambeywest.com/EXT/?f=donate

Josh's China COVID articles:

1.) https://fair.org/home/no-china-didnt-stall-critical-covid-information-at-outbreaks-start/

2.) https://fair.org/home/debunking-trump-and-corporate-medias-who-china-coverup-conspiracy-theories/

3.) https://fair.org/home/coronavirus-alarm-blends-yellow-peril-and-red-scare/

4.) https://fair.org/home/why-its-wrong-and-racist-to-blame-covid-19-on-chinese-wet-markets/

5.) https://fair.org/home/evidence-free-lab-leak-speculation-boosts-trumps-xenophobic-approach-to-coronavirus/

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Director and producer Jenny Shi joins Dave, Kin, and Diana to talk about her feature-length documentary Finding Yingying. Finding Yingying is about the life and death of Zhang Yingying, a Chinese visiting student at University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne, who was kidnapped and murdered June 9, 2017. The film poignantly focuses on Yingying and her family, challenging traditional crime narratives, and interlaces Asian American issues such as media representation, school funding, sexual violence, and bridging cultural gaps.

Finding Yingying premiers December 11. For more information, go to www.findingyingying.com.

join the Escape From Plan A Patreon at www.patreon.com/planamag

TWITTER:

Finding Yingying (https://twitter.com/YingyingFilm)

Jenny Shi (https://twitter.com/jiayanjennyshi)

Professor Kin Cheung (https://twitter.com/ProfKinCheung)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

Student visa rule change unfair, foolish, by Kin Cheung: https://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-opi-international-students-cheung-20200714-nrpcalcqdzblbjvqulqjnkzrwa-story.html

Revisionist History, what's wrong with the LSATs and how to improve higher ed:

http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/32-the-tortoise-and-the-hare

Man Who Killed Korean Woman 'just felt like it,' Brisbane Times:

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/man-admits-killing-korean-woman-in-queensland-20180806-p4zvrl.html

Annie Le's article on petty crime at Yale: https://www.webcitation.org/5jnWl6Nsz?url=http://bbs.yale.edu/images/B10_1.pdf

Norcal Rapist Trial just concluded. Convicted on all counts! Should receive life in prison. Sentencing next month: https://www.kcra.com/article/norcal-rapist-trial-verdict-roy-waller-nov-18/34715221

Three University gynecologists sexually assaulting Asian students at USC, UCLA & Columbia, each over 30 years of abuse.

-USC: https://nextshark.com/usc-gynecologist-george-tyndall-target-chinese-students/

-UCLA: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/us/university-of-california-settlement-gynecologist/index.html

-Columbia: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/09/us/columbia-university-ob-gyn-robert-hadden/index.html

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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Jules, Michelle, Peter and Diana take a deep dive into the latest on COVID vaccine development (as of November 19). Why are the vaccines closest to approval from US companies mRNA-based? Why isn’t the US supporting COVAX, the international vaccine accelerator? We discuss the long, continuing legacy of white nations using POC as lab rats to advance medicine, what we’re suspicious of and optimistic about vaccine prospects.

This is Part 1 of the episode. To enjoy Part 2, join the Patreon at www.patreon.com/planamag

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines in Development, Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2798-3

COVAX, World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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Nia and Tee have an expansive conversation about Transgender Day of Remembrance from an Asian diaspora perspective. Let us remember the trans and gender-diverse people who have been victims of white supremacist police violence and violent policing within communities of color. Let us fight the colonialism at the heart of violence against trans femmes, and question hegemony in all its manifold manifestations.

Join the Patreon at www.patreon.com/planamag

Twitter:

Nia(@nxn_nrc)

Tee (@t_uxo)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

Trans Day of Remembrance 2020 Update: https://transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-tdor-2020/

Demand Justice for Tony McDade: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-justice-for-tony-mcdade?source=direct_link

Philippines deports US Marine convicted of killing transgender woman in 2014, USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/09/13/joseph-scott-pemberton-marine-deported-philippines-after-killing/5785522002/

Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body, Siobhan Somerville: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3704199?seq=1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B-9GJkUg543_6n2IRaGzR6vrCMM0kmmP/view?usp=drivesdk

The timeline of LGBT in Vietnam history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m4Pl2nl93Q&feature=youtu.be

Call Her Ganda, Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szI8Dv_EeHk&feature=youtu.be

Disclosure, Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysbX6JUlaEc&feature=youtu.be

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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Seibo Shen joins Teen to talk about psilocybin and the experience of shrooms. Seibo is the founder and CEO of the cannabis company Hanu Labs (https://hanulabs.com/) and has deep experience with psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms). Teen tries to describe to Seibo his first experience with the psychedelic, what it was really like, whether it was a worthwhile, and whether or not people should be encouraged to try it.

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Katya Kazbek joins Teen to discuss the recent film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. This isn't a film review, but a critical discussion of Borat as a form of xenophobia and racism that is endemic to liberal politics. In particular, the way liberalism is built on a foundation of superiority, which requires internalizing the idea of the foreign Other as inferior (though not necessarily unliked). This was a really fun discussion, and if you loved Borat we're not trying to impugn you for it, promise!

Join the Patreon at www.patreon.com/planamag

Twitter:

Katya(@kazbek)

Teen (@mont_jiang)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

Supamodu (https://supamodu.com/)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

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