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

“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

“If you grew up with western media, you get brainwashed into asking, why are most terrorists muslim! But grow up and study actual history of the human race, then you start asking, why is every terrorist white!”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Outside the Gutters of West
(Sonnet 2679)

If you grew up with western media,
you get brainwashed into asking,
why are most terrorists muslim!
But grow up and study actual history
of the human race, then you start asking,
why is every terrorist white!

To look at Islam through western lens is like
looking at the sky through a woodworm's eyes,
the same is with Sindh, the same is with China,
the same is with Africa, and Latin America.

Objectivity is an impediment to understanding -
if you yourself are not right smack in the middle
of the experience, you have zero grasp of the truth,
even if your head is full with facts and figures.

But then again, this is not something
a stubborn eurocentric mule can fathom,
even to entertain the possibility
that the prized imperial commodity
of objectivity could be a fallacy,
you have to have a decolonized mind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“To look at Islam through western lens is like looking at the sky through a woodworm's eyes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“To look at Islam through western lens is like looking at the sky through a woodworm's eyes, the same is with Sindh, the same is with China, the same is with Africa, and Latin America.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Center of the world is indigenous.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Center of the World is Indigenous (Sonnet 2680)

Fact of the matter is,
most white scholars eventually
turn out to be just another colonial twit,
no matter how brilliant, how learned they are,
because animal conditioning doesn't wear off
with mere education of the intellect -

your soul must be disinfected of colonial filth,
which is not possible until you intrinsically
embody the pain, indignity, and humiliations
of the oppressed, subjected through generations.

Your opinion on religion, your opinion of reason,
your opinion of philosophy, your opinion of society,
it's all just opinion, that too of a lesser lifeform,
until you outgrow your whiteness and look at
the world through the actual center of the world -
and the center of the world is indigenous.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Most white scholars eventually turn out to be just another colonial twit, no matter how brilliant, how learned they are, because animal conditioning doesn't wear off with mere education of the intellect - your soul must be disinfected of colonial filth, which is not possible until you intrinsically embody the pain, indignity, and humiliations of the oppressed, subjected through generations.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Unified Global South (Sonnet 2687-2688)

White bias doesn't affect only white people,
it affects colored people as well.

For example, US citizens can practically
travel to the entire world without visa,
despite being the most undeserving,
while rightful Africans cannot travel
even within the continent without visa.

This is why I say, white is not a color,
white is a mindset of exploitation.

If you want to rescue your plundered dignity,
first you gotta decolonize your own mindset.
Philosophy alone doesn't advance a society,
you gotta build the infrastructure for it.

For example, make the entire Global South
Visa Free for all its citizens, and I guarantee,
within a hundred years the Global South
will be the Powergrid of the Human Race,
like it once was, until the predators of Europe
contaminated the world with their unwelcome touch.

Foster the psychology, policy will follow.
Foster the intent, intelligence will follow.

The ultimate mission is a unified humanity,
but practical integration of the human race
beyond color and culture is not possible
until we decontaminate the planet of every last
trace of colonial vice legislated as virtue.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Make the entire Global South Visa Free for all its citizens, and I guarantee, within a hundred years the Global South will be the Powergrid of the Human Race, like it once was.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“White is not a color, white is a mindset of exploitation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“The Christian Church is the original religious persecutor of planet earth, British monarchy is the original terrorist organization of planet earth, Druncle Sam is the planet's longest running pandemic, Israeli state is the planet's youngest delinquent.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“My entire life is black history month, islamic science month, indigenous philosophy month, asian theology month, valentine's day, Mother's Day, Woman's Day, Earth Day, Palestine Month, all at once.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“This would mean nothing if a white person said this, but I tell you as a colored person - oneness is the greatest of paradox, where we must call out history for its horrors, but at the same time we must be big enough not to dwell in the past, otherwise the present will never bloom - we must let love simmer, without being consumed by contempt, otherwise atrocity will never end, only switch sides.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Beware of white people bearing gift.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Not sonnets, Naskar Sonnets (2883)

I repeat, it's not sonnets, it's Naskar Sonnets,
don't try to fit them into your puny, whitewashed,
backward eurocentric customs and conventions -
you're welcome to keep your little legends,
but don't go comparing your lampposts with the sun!

I'm not superior to your aristocratic literature,
I'm just from a different dimension altogether,
a civilized dimension, a non-xenophobic dimension,
a non-misogynist dimension, a non-settler,
non-privileged, non-primate dimension -

a dimension where I write as I live,
I live as I write, instead of being
a saint on paper, while a sicko in life.

I don't write to earn your approval or trust,
I write to shortcircuit your jungle customs -
it's you who has to stand the Naskar Test,
not the other way around.

If you could finish even half of what I've written,
you'd either hate me enough to kill,
or you'd be so massive a human that everywhere
you look you'd find your own reflection,
wearing different skin and different clothes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“It's not sonnets, it's Naskar Sonnets, don't try to fit them into your puny, whitewashed, backward eurocentric customs and conventions - you're welcome to keep your little legends, but don't go comparing your lampposts with the sun!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I repeat, it's not sonnets, it's Naskar Sonnets, don't try to fit them into your puny, whitewashed, backward eurocentric customs and conventions - you're welcome to keep your little legends, but don't go comparing your lampposts with the sun!

I'm not superior to your aristocratic literature, I'm just from a different dimension altogether, a civilized dimension, a non-xenophobic dimension, a non-misogynist dimension, a non-settler, non-privileged, non-primate dimension.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“If you want safe, go read those mushy european literature written by privileged white aristocrats, sheltered in romanticized make believe, living off the exploits from plantations - Naskar is not for those seeking a safe narrative, the point of Naskar is to knit your neurons human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“How to be human despite being white
(Sonnet 2890)

How to be human despite being white?
Just don't be a christian nationalist,
be jesus-like, not a christ salesman.

How to be human despite being british?
Don't be a monarchist or aristocrat.

How to be human while being a jew?
Simple, just don't be a zionist.

How to be human while being hindu?
Simple, don't be an islamophobe.

How to be human while being an atheist?
Have some regard for human frailty.

Beware of white people bearing gifts,
beware of white people's religion,
as well as white people's rationalism,
because the former initiates erasure,
while the latter inflates ego.

And if you're white, then first and foremost
betray your bloodline, betray your pilgrims,
your founders, your forefathers, only then
you might one day become human,
despite your historic handicap of whiteness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“How to be human despite being white? Just don't be a christian nationalist, be jesus-like, not a christ salesman.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth