Decolonization Quotes

“Do you know why people like me are shy about being capitalists? Well, its because we, for as long as we have known you, were capital, like bales of cotton and sacks of sugar, and you were commanding, cruel capitalists, and the memory of this so strong, the experience so recent, that we can't quite bring ourselves to embrace this idea that you think so much of. As for hat we were like before we met you, I no longer care. No periods of time over which my ancestors held sway, no documentation of complex civilisations, is any comfort to me. Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to me, what I became after I met you.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place

“Always remember that the people are not fighting for ideas, nor for what is in men’s minds. The people fight and accept the sacrifices demanded by the struggle in order to gain material advantages, to live better and in peace, to benefit from progress, and for the better future of their children. National liberation, the struggle against colonialism, the construction of peace, progress and independence are hollow words devoid of any significance unless they can be translated into a real improvement of living conditions.”
― Amílcar Cabral, Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amílcar Cabral

“The act of writing, it seems to me, makes up a shelter, allows space to what would otherwise be hidden, crossed out, mutilated. Sometimes writing can work toward a reparation, making a sheltering space for the mind. Yet it feeds off ruptures, tears in what might otherwise seem a seamless, oppressive fabric.”
― Meena Alexander, The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial Experience

“A trip to a Central American jungle to watch how Indians behave near a bridge won't make you see either the jungle or the bridge or the Indians if you believe that the civilization you were born into is the only one that counts. Go and look around with the idea that everything you learned in school and college is wrong.”
― B. Traven, The Bridge in the Jungle

“Our minds must be as ready to move as capital is, to trace its paths and to imagine alternative destinations.”
― Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity

“Only Backward Minority of Earth
(Naskaristana 2543)

Eurocentrism is the biggest fraud in education,
eurocentrism is the antithesis of education.

The only minority that has historically caused
irreparable damage to the world are the white people,
yet you confuse every little mediocre literature
from such backward population as default knowledge -
and by act of conscience if a braveheart white defies
the status quo, you declare them as woke infected.

First sign of an educated mind -
you don't start a conversation
on philosophy mentioning greeks,
you don't start a conversation
on poetry mentioning the english.

White people discovered nothing but other people's land,
other people's science, other people's philosophy -
Europe is the real footnote in the history of knowledge,
till you understand what this means in your bones,
your philosophy is just as fictional as your theology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Eurocentrism is the biggest fraud in education, eurocentrism is the antithesis of education.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“First sign of an educated mind - you don't start a conversation on philosophy mentioning greeks, you don't start a conversation on poetry mentioning the english. Europe is the real footnote in the history of knowledge.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“White people discovered nothing but other people's land, other people's science, other people's philosophy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“March of Human (Trisonnet 2556-2558)

When the world feels cold and hollow,
and the clouds won't let you breathe,
awake, arise, and walk the marrow,
you are fire fated to be free.

Every heartbeat, an anthem of love,
every syllable breaks a chain -
you're the thunder you ought to follow,
rise untamed, and history's rearranged.

Every silence holds a scripture,
every wound is a sacred drum -
every time you defy despair,
you teach midnight how to hum.

When the Human speaks, mountains wake,
tired hearts of earth unbreak -
turn the world from ash to flame,
help the broken speak their name.

When the Pilgrim speaks, borders fall,
the migrant soul becomes the all -
in the quake of your cosmic call,
empires misplace their mighty gall.

Write like time's a fragile toy,
like galaxies sit in your palm -
roar with justice, rain with joy,
awaken chaos into calm!

From deserts to the deltas,
from river to the sky,
be the ink of revolution,
that refuses to comply.

Grab history by the collar,
take hate and make it dust -
when you near, tyrants stutter;
lift the planet from the jungle gutter.

When the Heart speaks, the Earth rewrites,
buried stories are restored with rights -
paint the future with your bare hands,
teach the fire how to stand.

When the Human walks, the soil revives,
forgotten streets all come to life -
with every step, with every beat,
Awake, Arise, and Breathe Complete!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“The Naskar DSM (NDSM Sonnet 2596)

If your history book, pol-sci book,
criminology book, doesn't register
the US government as the planet's
number one terrorist organization,
followed by the british empire,
you are studying fake history,
fake sociology, fake criminology.

If your psychology book
doesn't declare upfront,
that ultraindividualism is a sickness,
you are studying fancy make believe;

if your DSM doesn't mention that,
fundamentalism and nationalism
are the vilest plague of the mind,
it's the DSM of a lesser species.

Yet you know what the irony is -
egotism, dollarism, fascism,
fanaticism, fundamentalism,
these are all normal, all natural,
but they are normal in the jungle.

The question is not, is it natural!
The question is, should it be human nature!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“If your history book, pol-sci book, criminology book, doesn't register the US government as the planet's number one terrorist organization, followed by the british empire, you are studying fake history, fake sociology, fake criminology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“If your history book, pol-sci book, criminology book, doesn't register the US government as the planet's number one terrorist organization, followed by the british empire, you are studying fake history, fake sociology, fake criminology.

If your psychology book doesn't declare upfront, that ultraindividualism is a sickness, you are studying fancy make believe; if your DSM doesn't mention that, fundamentalism and nationalism are the vilest plague of the mind, it's the DSM of a lesser species.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Nobody is undocumented on a planet built on loot.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Till you outgrow white narrative, you'll never learn the human story.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Why You Must Speak Your Name
(Naskaristana 2593)

You know why I have to mention my name
over and over, in as many places as I can,
even though the name is not important -
it's because my name represents every people
ever trampled beneath the feet by the
half-educated apes out to spread "civilization" -

my name represents the congolese,
my name represents the palestinians,
my name represents the sikhs,
my name represents the muslims,
my name represents each and every human being
incarcerated for merely existing.

So I say again, the name is not important,
yet you must speak your name,
because every time a human speaks their name,
an ape loses their footing in history.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“The name is not important, yet you must speak your name, because every time a human speaks their name, an ape loses their footing in history.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Stand and burn the colonial syllabus.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Our names (Global South) are not doormats of empire, our dust is larger than Greece and Rome.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Decolonization Anthem -
Song of The Global South
(Sonnet 2616-2619)

Humanity is mightier than empires of apes,
life is braver than borders of the dead.
No one's undocumented on a planet built on loot,
champions of freedom are champions of truth.

We are children of the Global South,
not a lost cause or subjects of pity,
not tax breaks in a donor's ledger,
nor footnotes in whitewashed history.

Our lands are rich with brains,
our soil is rich with minerals,
our veins pulse with creation,
hearts bright with civilization.

They looted our gold,
then sold us "aid" -
they burnt our libraries,
then sold us "education."

Colonizers were the real cannibals of history,
out to civilize humans with far advanced society -
suffering of the South was not bad luck or destiny,
just the grand design of Manifest Atrocity.

Rise, O Peoples of Earth -
Rise till the looters fall.
Roar like Sonnets of Naskar -
Fire the fascists, free the world!

In every culture we carry the cosmos,
in every tongue we carry our home.
Our names are not doormats of empire,
our dust is larger than Greece and Rome.

Own your color, your accent,
own your stories, your theologies,
be proud of your sweat, your stubborn dignity -
for the North wrote itself as civilized,
but we, the Global South, authored humanity.

They told us, history is white,
holiness is western, progress is european -
but the hands that built the world,
with science, medicine, poetry,
philosophy, astronomy and mathematics,
were black, brown and indigenous.

Stand and burn the colonial syllabus,
disown the doctrines built on erasure -
rise and write like blood on fire -
write your anthem, write your future.

Rise, O Children of Earth,
no matter the color or culture,
you have more heart than ape empires,
more soul than parasites and vultures!

Burn the cartels, fire the fascists -
I lived my duty, now you be the Naskar.
Let the cosmos stand witness,
to the spark of human nature.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Humanity is mightier than empires of apes, life is braver than borders of the dead. No one’s undocumented on a planet built on loot, champions of freedom are champions of truth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Colonizers were the real cannibals of history, out to civilize humans with far advanced society – suffering of the Global South was not bad luck or destiny, just the grand design of Manifest Atrocity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Decolonization Anthem (Excerpt)

We are children of the Global South,
not a lost cause or subjects of pity,
not tax breaks in a donor’s ledger,
nor footnotes in whitewashed history.

Our lands are rich with brains,
our soil is rich with minerals,
our veins pulse with creation,
hearts bright with civilization.

They looted our gold,
then sold us “aid” –
they burnt our libraries,
then sold us “education.”

Colonizers were the real cannibals of history,
out to civilize humans with far advanced society –
suffering of the South was not bad luck or destiny,
just the grand design of Manifest Atrocity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Rise, O Peoples of Earth –
Rise till the looters fall.
Roar like Sonnets of Naskar –
Fire the fascists, free the world!”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Own your color, your accent, own your stories, your theologies, be proud of your sweat, your stubborn dignity – for the North wrote itself as civilized, but we, the Global South, authored humanity. They told us, history is white, holiness is western, progress is european – but the hands that built the world, with science, medicine, poetry, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics, were black, brown and indigenous.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Eurocentrism - The First Global Catastrophe (Sonnet 2626)

Climate change is nothing,
the first humanly caused
global catastrophe was eurocentrism -

before colonials, science was rooted in society, and
philosophy was rooted in community, not snobbery,
medicine was centered on people, not profit,
religion was lived experience, not salesmanship -

farmland was family, not property,
innovation empowered life, not luxury -

psychology prioritized understanding
and healing, not analysis and isolation,
poetry was the everyday way of life,
not aristocratic escapism.

Sure, there was superstition back then as well,
but no superstition of the pre-colonial world
comes close in atrocity to the fancy superstitions
of the imperials marketed as progress.

Eurocentrism is the biggest impediment to education -
stand and burn the colonial syllabus, that's enlightenment!”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Eurocentrism is the biggest impediment to education.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Before colonials, science was rooted in society, and
philosophy was rooted in community, not snobbery,
medicine was centered on people, not profit,
religion was lived experience, not salesmanship. Sure, there was superstition back then as well, but no superstition of the pre-colonial world comes close in atrocity to the fancy superstitions of the imperials marketed as progress. Eurocentrism is the biggest impediment to education - stand and burn the colonial syllabus, that's enlightenment!”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Ethics 101: do not take ethics lessons from America. Theology 101: do not take divinity lessons from the Vatican. Geopolitics 101: don't take democracy lessons from the West. Economics 101: don't take economy lessons from rich white men.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Geopolitics 101: don't take democracy lessons from the West.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock