If you think about it, friendships can become fraught in relationship to local and national politics

If you think about it, friendships can become fraught in relationship to local and national politics. The Americans talked about how whole families split in the wake of Trump's first election to power. Pakistanis have experienced division when it comes to differences and loyalties to Imran Khan. It's the same with BJP in India. Trumpian/MAGA , Insaafian and Hindutva politics have ruptured social consciousness and created divisions amongst friends.

Friendships and family bonds need to find a way to exist despite these political differences. 

I have felt the same with my international friendships. I have been think about how hard it is to relate to another human in the wake of the Genocide. I think it's hard to relate to Western friends and aquaintances because I don't know the meaning of these relationships anymore. If Western friends are not going to openly condemn and protest what their governments are doing for the sake of Israel , how do they value lives in the Global South? There is a sense of betrayal and distrust. 

I can imagine some would say this is not the way to look at these friendships and, one person doesn't represent their whole country nor is it imperative to prove you are against the Genocide. However, these are international friendships, forged in third international spaces, because we met as expatriates in third countries and, within elite expatriate bubbles in the Global South or at university in the Global North. I would imagine solidarity would be expressed or at least the imperative to demonstrate you are against the Genocide. 

When it comes to local and national politics, I know people in the periphery are invisible. And, they would like to see that those in the centre, those in privilege are not oblivious to their peoples' struggles.  After all, within the bounds of a nation states borders, those in privilege, those in the centre benefit most from the state, nationalism. 

I am mulling over these ideas and, how to think about friendships and loyalties and our place in the world. So, this continues to something I struggle with. 

It doesn't take long to understand how children are so unimportant in Pakistani society

It doesn't take long to understand how children are so unimportant in Pakistani society unless they are yours. Pakistanis have no discomfort, no moral outrage and certainly no embarrassment at barefoot tiny children begging on streets, children begging in marketplaces, children's labour in shops and businesses,  children's labour as domestic servants, and the worst for me, children's labour to care for privileged folks' children. 

In this sense, it is definitely point for reflection , asking oneself why would you perform moral outrage, copy cat online political protest, for the sake of Palestinian children and, be completely fine with the state of Pakistani children who are clearly tiered, classified according to nation and caste and class. 

Pakistanis are definitely OK with 26 million children being out of school. They aren't embarrassed about it. They aren't embarrassed that children work as domestic servants and beg on the streets. 

For many Pakistanis , especially liberal Pakistanis, their political stances aren't secular and principled. Their political stances are deeply rooted in the communal politics that created Pakistanis. They aren't really anti imperial or anti capitalist. 

I've been thinking about comfort and shame and embarrassment recently. 

I ground my ideas in politics and, concepts of secularism, class, empire, colonialism, structures, etc. We frame our ideas in context, in history, etc. One also has natural moral outrage. One believes one has a conscience. That poverty and inequality and suffering are fundamentally wrong. Amateurish thought process usually tries to explain away poverty by individual responsibility on the poor themselves. That if only you worked harder, you wouldn't be poor. And, that the poor are also lazy, cheats, and thieves. That if only they practiced family planning. 

I also really get embarrassed that we live in such an unequal society. How is not possible to be embarrassed at the mind blowing inequality that is so visible all around us. How can you have a stable and moral society with inequality ? 

Coming back to children, children aren't important even in families in terms of having individual rights, being seen as autonomous beings, and, being equal decision. makers. They are had for the sake of having them and, are spoiled in privileged families. I've been observing that regardless of class, though, they are all being reared by screens and not parents. I've noticed that boys are being spoiled by mothers , allowed to hit their sisters, and, their little egos are being absurdly massaged and allowed to overgrow. 

Are men and confused little boys going to define womanhood ?

Not only is liberal feminism severely limited and has no historical and structural context but the trans movement is really limiting or twisting the feminist movement. In the wake of the Gaza Genocide and, its links with the horrendous war in Sudan , I have said that Western Womanhood is dead. It's merely a spectre now. This spectre is the likes of Hillary Clinton, Ursula von der Leyen, Kamala Harris, Daniella Weiss. 

I would argue to add to the analysis that if women are no longer going to be defined biologically and, men who claim they feel they are women and the body itself is irrelevant, biological women become a non-thing, a non-being. 

Are men and confused little boys going to define womanhood ? Is this a sick manifestation of liberal feminism or of big bad patriarchy? 

We know that Westerners tried to raise LGBT rights in Gaza to distract from the Genocide, we know Israelis mocked suffering of Palestinian women and Israeli men and women and children actively block aid trucks, we know Israeli women are at the forefront of cheering for the IDF. As women and children are massacred in Palestine, should they shout out their pronouns and, die as woke feminists? 

This Genocide needs us to hold steadfast to womanhood. 

Western liberal feminism is tearing the real historical and structural struggle of millions of women who joined forces with men to liberate their countries from colonialism and, to build new histories where they were equals. The socialist movements which catapulted women next to men to build anti colonial struggles and forge new societies are our feminist identities in the Global South. 

That is the history the women in the Global South connect to.  Not white suffragists who said , I'd rather cut off a limb than give the vote to black men. 

Women's freedoms and conditions have regressed since we kicked out the Europeans because of geopolitics, new imperialist wars since independence, wars with our neighbours, crony capitalism, and so on. Conditions to create and install socialist societies where women will have better working conditions, child care, and role to play in society have are always under attack. It's in this context, women struggle. 

To be born as a woman is a life long struggle to situate oneself in one's family, community and think of oneself in the world, in history, in society. I'm a woman from the Global South. It's a cliché but yes, we are part of our bodies, we aren't abstract ideas without bodies. We find ourselves in our bodies, from the first menstrual blood to the birth of our children, from the first objectification of our bodies to the mental liberation we achieve, from the first menstrual blood to the last one, from the first menstrual blood to the painful birth of our children, from the first blocks our very own put in front of us to the creation and sustaining of sisterhood and the list goes on. We are women because we push back against the objectification of our bodies, the illusion of capitalist choices as feminism,  and, relentless beauty industry. We are women because we are born women. We find ourselves in our bodies and then develop our consciousness, our social, political identities. Just as men do. We have our sacred struggles. We still stay in our bodies and we celebrate our bodies as we develop, change, and aim to age gracefully. 

Just how we do not make a mockery of hard and fast realities, the science of vaccines, the science of natural calamities, the science of climate change, the demand of trained doctors to take care of us versus pseudo science and witch doctors and black magic, the demand to safely deliver our babies, the demand to believe when our bodies are violated, we cannot make a mockery of our biology and our bodies. 

I've been trying to make sense of the Western Trans Movement and, how much its language has seeped into even our Trans Activists in the Global South, particularly in South Asia. The female body no longer matters but a hyper cosmetised , heavily made up, hyper sexualised feminine aesthetic is embodied by South Asian Trans Activists and Trans personalities. I've heard that in interviews the demand that  a Trans Woman should be treated just like a Woman. This is not acceptable. A man who now wants to appear like a woman (the same image of a hyper cosmetised sexualised image, the overly made up woman) is not the same as a woman. It's almost a caricature of a caricature of a caricature of a woman.  

The sacred struggle of being a woman includes the rejection of frivolous, artificial , capitalist, made up appearance for the gaze of men and , competition between women. But now, we have a Trans Woman doing exactly. And, all this is apparently a spectrum, an unbelievable new ideology that calls itself Gender Identity.  

I refuse this equalisation.  You may find yourself a new grouping but you are not a woman. You weren't born a woman. I understand there is Intersex. I understand the existence of Third Gender and precolonial Transgender communities. As these identities and communities assert themselves and, call for their rights, it cannot be by saying that a Transgender Woman = Woman. 

Liberal Western Womanhood is erasing biological women and, justifies Genocide of people in the Global South. It upholds Western Imperialism. Don't think this isn't interlinked. 

In this sense, it is critical to now expand feminism as women and children. We cannot breathe about the rights of women without talking about the thousands of children who have been massacred by Israel with American and European bombs. It's mothers who lost their children. It's children who have been orphaned and, lost their mothers. We cannot dare talk about the plight of 26 million children out of school in Pakistan without talking about their mothers. If 26 million children are out of school, there are 26 million mothers who are poor and hungry and, being ignored by the State. 

We cannot talk about children without talking about the plights of their mothers. Feminism has to talk about children. It has to talk about children and their suffering. 

When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump, one of the commentaries I heard on one of the Youtube channels I tune in to, said something like this: the juxtaposition of Palestinian women's rights to safely deliver their babies v. the right of American women to abortion. It is a collective plight v individual women's rights for abortion. Both are very basic plights , both linked to bodies. But the Liberal Feminist narrative promotes what it promotes to serve the Empire. 

PS. I can't believe women have actually sign off She/Her in e-mails , official correspondence, on their E-mail Signatures. Like you need to prove it. Shoot me if I ever have to do it. 

Sudan 's link with Gaza

Israel wants to dump the Palestinians in South Sudan. We can expand our geopolitical sense. We can connect dots. We can talk more clearly about Sudan. 

By the way, watch this: David Hundeyin| | US Secret War in Sudan: The Hidden Truth Revealed. I was excited to see this interview on Jamarl Thomas's channel. 

Once again, laying the charge that you are talking about Gaza but not about Sudan or DRC or Haiti and this shows you don't value black lives is not a sound political statement. Again, can you prove folks don't care for black lives? Who are you directing this outrage to? For what purpose? Can you goad someone to say something for the sake of saying it? 

At the end of it, online activism by individuals is for their own: their own rage, their own stances, their own sense of activism. Online activism by political movements is local and, addresses local issues first and then makes the global connections. So, directing allegations of racism against individuals is random and, really useless. 

If you direct your critique at major well known personalities, public figures, celebrities, political figures and, attack them for their silence, you have the right to do so. But, attacking individuals for not talking about this while they are talking about something else has little or no use. 

Also, using the "you don't care about black people" is a veiled threat , allegation of racism , which of course can't be proven because individuals are not institutions that perpetuate structural racism, the latter which need to be dismantled. Can you dismantle an individual? Or is it more about cancelling them in the online digital world? 

This hyper frenzied sentiment of attacking folks for their alleged racism is a little on the lines of the allegations of anti Semitism. Anyone protesting Israeli crimes is now an anti Semite, is racist towards Jews. Anyone who doesn't support trans is a TERF and subject to attacks, subject to allegations of not being woke enough, for not caring for trans people, especially black or brown trans persons. 

And, if you are saying something about Gaza online but haven't said anything about Sudan, means you are a racist. 

Also, if you know someone has racist attitudes , why do you want them to advocate for Sudan, anyway ? 

Craft your arguments so they actually make sense and are, useful. Direct your rage against the silence of organisations, leaders, celebrities, public figures, politicians, and hypocritical individuals if you must. For individuals, be prepared to have proof they are indeed racist and, knowingly are silent. 

Otherwise, this is infinite hyper righteous policing with no end. 

If you think about, can you prove someone is racist because they are talking more about one issue online than another

I want to have a thought exercise here regarding how we engage with each other in online spaces while performing political activism: 

- we write our opinions (I do a lot of that)
- we re-tweet/re-post others' opinions
- we re-tweet/re-post articles, headlines , memes we agree with 

The online spaces are as critical as political organising by political actors whether they are bonafide political parties or movements or individual activists. 

I often feel I am either expressing myself in an echo chamber (on X/Twitter) or being ignored on Facebook. 

There is an imperative online to express outrage that no one else is expressing it. (Me included) 

Ultimately, it's a self righteous sentiment and, I don't think you can goad anyone to express rage online by online performative activism. I know it! I have expressed enough outrage about how deafening a silence it has been since the Genocide started. Nothing really happens. Instead, it seems to invite anger at having their silence pointed out. 

Many of us feel angry, helpless and, are full of rage. Online spaces are where we go and express these sentiments. Is it meaningless? No, I don't think so because, as least for me, I want to express loud and clear which side of history I stand on. 

Still, it does feel meaningless and accepting it is better than thinking I've done something great by merely stringing a few words together. 

In this small selection of people who are expressing their political views, there is a charge of hypocrisy and selective rage. It's this what I want to focus on. 

The imperative to say something like for example "If you talk about Gaza but can't talk about Sudan, then your activism is limited" and "There is a Genocide in Gaza and there is also a Genocide in Sudan."  

This sentiment will go so far as to insinuate that those who protest for Gaza but not for Sudan are ultimately racist because black lives are less important for them. And, in fact, there's also a Genocide going on in Sudan. That those of us who are not talking enough about Sudan are ignoring it simply don't care for African lives has really been rubbing me the wrong way. I've been mulling over it and these are a few points: 

- how can you prove that someone doesn't care about one people 

- the Genocide unfolding in Gaza has been documented , recorded by Palestinians themselves and, we are all witness to it

- I don't think the Genocide in Gaza and the civil war (yes, there are proxies and there are Imperial and Gulf State interests, funding) in Sudan are the same. I understand that the regime in pre partitioned Sudan may have committed ethnic cleansing in Darfur but these claims have to be substantiated. 

- we can't equate the horror that is Gaza which is in full view being documented by dying Palestinians themselves with the civil war in Sudan because they are different wars , for the ignorant who can't tell the difference, but for us who have a little bit more knowledge, we should make the differentiations because each part of the formerly colonised world has different dynamics, histories and we can't lump everything together for the sake of a stupid Tweet

- Gaza and Sudan are historically different , both legacies of colonialism but this Genocide is so horrific not only because Palestinians are documenting it in real time their own horrifying suffering but because of all the ways, the West is literally criminalising anyone who dares to speak against Israel 

- This Genocide has been a horror show in full view, it shows us in real time, what happened in the Americas, this Genocide is happening in a literal concentration camp, it started with bombing of hospitals journalists schools , the bombing has been relentless and Gaza has been reduced to rubble, more bombs were dropped here than even in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Americans and Europeans are literally aiding the Israelis with arms, money, tech support, they have created the largest number of children amputees, they have bombed churches, mosques, and, deliberately massacred entire families, children, journalists, buried them, shot them, burned them alive, anyone protesting against Israel in the West is being shot at, arrested and thrown out,  and now Palestinians are being starved, emaciated children are begging for food, those come to get aid are being shot at, and again, the best part is that the Palestinians are filming themselves as they die

- Sudan is suffering , a large humanitarian crisis has been created (this is the language one would see), UAE and US and others are behind the warring factions, in fact, it is a Genocide,  it is a country with colonial legacies of divide and rule on ethnic/linguistic lines, they tore up the country in half, they let this happen, but it's still a different hellscape than Gaza and the evil that is Israel and the collective West , should we just lump them together in a lame Tweet? 

- Many of us are more conversant, knowledgeable in the Palestinian struggle since childhoods, since university days, and are much more familiar with the geopolitics than with Sudan , it's not a crime that we are more familiar , not knowing doesn't mean we are racist or care less, I was against existence of Israel for as long as I can remember 

- Caring less , or being less angry aren't quantifiable, not tweeting and talking about Sudan is a useless charge and, unless it is directed at political movements , political leaders who are well versed in global politics these charges are literally useless

- I don't know any political leader from the Left who will not know the legacy of slavery and colonialism in Africa, everyone invokes the great African leaders and knows their work

- literal racist attitudes are different to not talking enough about a particular crisis 

- outcry over what's happening in another part of the world but ignoring oppression in your own home country is lame and ignorant , too 

- political consciousness is built over time and, it also evolves and changes, my own ideas have changed so much over time, I've gone from saying dumb things like China is a a colonial power to being in awe of the accomplishments of Chinese Communism, I've gone from having fairly liberal sense of feminism to being more grounded, I've started to understand geopolitics way more, I've realigned my ideas on Iran, and so on 

- my seething, boiling rage comes from having worked in the International Development sector, with having worked with Westerners, and, their paternalistic pro Imperial world view, and, their stupidity, their complicity, from having an idea that Western consciousness and sense of self is still so racist, colonial, their whole culture, academia, leadership has been exposed as a psychopathic, savage civilisation 

- I don't separate myself from anyone in the Global South, and would always try to point out imperial hands in DRC, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, we are learning and living and, there's so much we still don't know and are learning

- Gaza is amplified and, everywhere because of the horror that we are witnessing, and, the people in the West , students, unions, activists are protesting , there is nothing hidden , there is no ambiguity about who is committing the Genocide and who is helping them 

- It's only now that UAE's hands are being identified in Sudan and, with all the time I've spent on X , Facebook , I really don't see strong clear voices coming out of Sudan to help us , guide us , it's really simple as that 

- You can't accuse someone of not doing something about something they don't know about 

- I've spent time in Liberia and, are Liberians talking about Sudan? No! Liberian Facebook is lame, it's pathetic, they can't even talk about the Sahel, things happening in West Africa, forget about Sudan or DRC, the Liberian liberals and prominent voices just know United States, they know Trump or Clinton, I've seen proud posts of the homeless being removed in DC, it's all lame, and there's hardly any in fact, zero Leftist voices 

- I would never post or write about something for the sake of , I like to understand, read and, then share what I think  

I looked up 'Sudan' on X and these are a few posts I found and wow; please note there's not enough or a lot about Sudan on X from a random search: 

Israel signed the Genocide Convention in 1950

Israel signed the Genocide Convention in 1950.

Israel ratified the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1991.

And, others which Israel has and has not signed: https://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/ratification-israel.html

Not ALL men.

 

If you think about it, Israel is an American white supermacist project while it is OK for Biden to call Afghanistan a Godforsaken place

I've been thinking about how much time media devotes to the American electoral cycle, the American democracy machine. In recent times, one feels there is a battle going on between good and evil, the Good Democrats fighting for women's abortion rights, for immigrant rights, for the environment, for public funding for schools and healthcare while the Evil Republicans are eroding a progressive, inherently good American society. We are meant to cheer the successful election of a person of colour to local or Federal level or of a white politicians standing up for the right thing. 

Good Democrats like Biden and Obama are trotted out at voting time to save democracy. 

But then the same media will report that President Biden has said something as racist and offensive like "Pakistan is the most dangerous country there is" and, "Afghanistan is such a Godforsaken place." 

Anyone care to connect these dots? Why are we invested in following the integration of people of colour into the American State and, at the same time being insulted by American heads of state? 

I was pretty livid at Biden's statements and, still am. They personally stung me and the timing could not have been worse. two  thirds of Pakistan was submerged under water when Biden called it a dangerous state. I know he was attacking the military state but how democratic to not even bother to differentiate between people and the state. 

His comments on Afghanistan maddened me with rage. I was livid with rage. How dare he continue to belittle , hurt and offend people of our region? I realised he speaks with arrogance only an imperial lord can. He may not necessarily dictate hatred to his public but reserves racism and bigotry for people his country conquers. His remarks immediately sent me off in blinding rage, thinking of the 80s, the invasion and carpet bombing of Afghanistan after 9/11, of Obama and his drones and how he traumatised children of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the trillion dollars they supposedly spent to help the country, the cowardly withdrawal, and how Afghan girls are now literally fighting the Taliban for their  rights. 

I realised that only a racist imperial power tired of bombing, invading and abandoning a land can speak like this. 

I also thought about my American friends who demonstrate their Democratic credentials online as they cheer Hillary or Obama and condemn Trump. But not one peep against any American war. I think about their tears as Republicans shred this so-called veneer. But not a peep against any imperial destruction.  I also think about the artificiality of international friendships where my concerns are irrelevant but somehow my deep knowledge, general interest and ability to follow and comment on heir society is taken for granted. 

In my adult life I've met most Americans through the aid and international development complex. I've also met many Europeans like this. Are they passionate about international aid because of its neo colonial nature, its apolitical hollow nature of work? As a consolation prize for imperial wars? How do Westerners see their jobs and careers in countries directly ravaged by American occupation? And all her countries suffering long term colonial legacy? Capitalist extraction? Debt incurred by borrowing from Western institutions? 

I suppose looking for accountability and empathy from individuals is a big ask. Privileged sections of society benefit from a system and, they are selective in critique of power. 

Nevertheless I'm profoundly disturbed. 

Enough to finally realise what defines the core of American support of Israel. If we take a long view of history as Americans inheriting the vast British Empire, we can see why they supported such a violent  settler colonial take over of Palestine by European Jews. It was not only to create friendly state amongst a dying Muslim Ottoman Empire and, play the region. American support for Israel is a a profoundly white supermacist project. White Christian America believes Israel has the right to exist and occupy and destroy Palestinians. Every American President furthers this cause. Even the lone black one has to follow suit. 

Israel is a white imperial project. 

Zelensky congratulated Netanyahu and, said his country shares values with Israel. What an amazing loop. Biden gives billions to Netanyahu for fighting Russians who in turn call Ukranians Nazis. And, round and round we go. 

American Presidents will never speak against Israel. But they can shit over rest of us. 

If you think about it, politics of representation are not measures of progress

India elects first president from tribal community is the headline. Moreover, the new President is a female. 

As I continue to think about the politics of representation in capitalist liberal democracies, the same disingenuous machinations are at play in India. Here we have the mighty ultra right wing BJP propping up a tribal woman as President. Through this, they are able to show case a so-called nod to diversity all the while indirectly and indirectly promoting erosion of Muslim rights, both in the present and the past by demonising Muslim citizens, demonising Mughal history and civilisation as colonial invaders, all the while promoting cow vigilantism, denigrating women, jailing activists, demolishing their homes, imprisoning Kashmiris, you name it. 

But this gesture , creates a diversion. BJP state and supporters have this to use if anyone accuses them of anything. 

Similarly,  right wing regimes in capitalist democracies in the West recruit black and brown woman and men to their structures. They claim they are inherently plural because they have representations in their parties, in their state and society. They can create confusion and doubt: "Of course, they are not racist." Even if policies are inherently racist, rooted in the system, the public is misled to believe right wing groups are not racist. Further, the recruited black and brown woman and and man has internalised enough racism and capitalist ideology and, continues to perform the work of an inherently violent system. 

The so-called left parties in the United States , New Zealand , Canada, what have you, play representational politics - not to rock the bottom but to the game of tokenism, to appear diverse. They will never call for reparations, real historical justice. They will merely celebrate "first Indigenous member of Cabinet", "first black President, " etc. Moreover, those who are recruited to their structures, to the state are also fully internalised, obedient men and women who will perform in inherently white systems. 

Have you noticed they never say 43'rd White Man elected as President of the United States? Kamala was somehow the first black female VP but the headline that Mike Pence was 44th white VP was never made. 

I remember being utterly non plussed when some headlines were made with Jacina Arden's rule as New Zealand's Prime Minister: that she had the most diverse cabinet ever and had the first Indigenous Foreign Minister. Headlines never say "first Indigenous minister after 40 white ones." 

Absorbing indigenous and non-white representers at this glacial speed into inherently racist, colonial, violent and white systems is unimpressive to say the least. At this rate, it will take another 1000 years to see more diversity but how long will it take to get justice, reparations? It will take never. 

Is the objective to just get a colourful display? This is not the way to measure progress. 

Just look at how -  as I literally type this - Shireen Abu Akleh's family is pleading with the United States state and society to get some justice. They are holding a press conference in full view of the mighty apparatus of American democracy , demanding justice as American citizens, demanding an investigation. It's painful to see them, respectfully demanding justice, careful not to unleash what must only be rage and pain, careful to remind everyone they love the United States, lecturing about the value of journalism to a democracy. It's painful to see the motions they have to go through. It's painful to see them begging for justice from a state which calls itself as the greatest beacon of freedom and democracy. 

It's a tragic example of how little value and worth Palestinians are to the American Democracy Machine. Shireen was not recruited for representational politics and has no value either to Democrats or Republicans: she didn't perform any useful role for the system. Justice for her death is not a priority or even a concern! 

What is a concern? Nancy Pelosi 's ass wants to go to Taiwan to uphold democracy and stick it to the Chinese. 

If you really think about it, isn't Priti Patel merely a mirror to British society?

Everyone seems to agree that Priti Patel is a horrendous , rabid right-wing politician who particularly is offensive because she is an Indian Ugandan who betrays her very identity as she chases away brown and black peoples from Great Britain's borders. Her name has cropped up a lot in various conversations here in London. 

If you really think about it , Priti Patel's crazy racism can't be understood without context. How does she even get away it? Isn't there a whole racist structure, a state, that she is part of? Has the state held her hand? No. Why ? Because she is merely a mirror to this rabid, racist and violent society. Also, it is not as if right wing ideas and atmosphere are only limited to the West. It is not as if the West has not promoted dictators, despots and neoliberalism abroad. It is not as if progressive ideas were not allowed to flourish and take root. Must brown and black people immigrants be card-carrying communists? 

Should Priti Patel be held to account? Of course. She has agency. But, let's never lose sight of the system and its machinery. 

More generally, if you let your mind wander a bit and think about various conversations you've had with the brown diaspora in the UK or US, you will realise how much racism and political conservatism has been internalised by your cousins and friends. They will talk about being good immigrants, hard work and how certain people manipulate the welfare system. 

I've been thinking about the process of becoming American or British or French for some time. In recent times, the conversations around Islamophobia have illuminated and helped me understand the limits of so-called 'integration' in the West. The French are the worst in hiding their racism as they openly say that Islam is simply not compatible with French secular values. The Americans and British celebrate multiculturalism and human rights but their policies, especially foreign policies, betray their so-called rainbow paradise. 

The French position outrightly states that religion has no place in their society. So, people from their former colonies have no space to express their religion , through dress, through places of worship and so on. This doesn't leave them with any space to begin with and, it seems their lives are about negotiating their identities and identities. How does one prove one is secular? 

The British have multiculturalism and, it seems everyone can be their authentic self as long as you are good. These days of post Brexit what does it mean to be good? It means you have to be a Priti Patel. White British friends express shock at her rhetoric but miss the point that Priti holds a mirror to their society, that many immigrants internalise right-wing ideas and, most importantly that the price of integration and success is to do perform the work of an inherently racist and colonial state.  

Remember that Pakistani American family that Trump started picking on in his war against Muslims?  This is the family that the Democrats brought out as examples of good Muslim Americans who sacrificed a son in the "Iraq War" which Americans still call a war instead of an invasion, instead of one of the greatest American crimes? 

If you remember the Pakistani Americans could appear as Pakistanis, dressing in shalwar kameez, showing their Pakistani roots and all. In fact, all cultural aspects are celebrated, enjoyed, commodified in Western capitalist states. You can enjoy the best cuisine from all over the world where I'm sure many decades ago, food, clothes, and language were looked down upon along with the black and brown human. 

So, what does it take to become an American and what is negotiation that takes place? Can you truly ever become an American? British? What does it mean to be American or British, even? Is it being a good Asian ? Good African? Allowed to dress and eat as you like as long you are not violent? Or too religious? As long as you believe in a violent capitalist war machine? 

What is an American? Believer of human rights? Believer of democracy? Which type of rights and what type of democracy? Is being an American an honest look at how that country was created and, reparations to peoples whose blood and lands were taken? Is being British truly an acknowledgement of its imperial past? 

Of course, very few modern states address any contradiction and, myth making is part of the indoctrination of being a citizen. Many tools from Western toolkits are frequently used by our states to deny citizenship rights: the plight of Muslims today in India; plight of minorities in Pakistan; plight of workers from neighbouring states in South Africa, etc. Who gets to be us? 

Looking at it from another angle - whiteness - Western imperial states put on a show of 'becoming more black and brown and Indigenous.' 

Justin Trudeau came with a cabinet of so many Asians and women. America elected a black President, a black Vice President, appointed the first ever black female judge to the Supreme Court, awarded the first Oscar to an Asian, and so on. The British elected son of Pakistani bus driver as mayor of London. All these gestures are meant to show us that space has been ceded to non white people and things are becoming more equal. 

As with feminism, things will simply not become better if you appoint a female CEO or Prime Minister if the system remains the same. Equality is a distraction. It is a betrayal of women who will be crushed by the same system. Likewise, putting a nonwhite person into a place power or giving them an Oscar doesn't mean the system has been overhauled. 

In fact, it seems that the work of system is simply outsourced to black and brown people. Priti Patel is doing the work of white supremacy while white people express shock at her racism. 

In America, did white people express shock that Barack Obama dropped all those bombs on non white people? Or that Hilary Clinton is an unbearable war monger? No, in America the Democrats, the liberals still haven't made a connection between imperialism, capitalism and rights at home. 

Representation and equality are seductive but misleading ideas. Do we want to be represented in inherently racist and violent systems? Do we want equality within those systems  and structures? 

Liberation is the word is never used by these power structures. They will never say, we liberated black people from legacy of slavery and racism by electing a black VP. They will never cede space to Indigenous peoples in the state to return lands, make reparations. 

Can you become truly British or American? What is it anyway ? America is a white settler colony and the state and its machinations reflect that. Is whiteness the true definition of being American or British? Can you become white? And, if you cannot, do you perform the function of a white colonial settler colony? The function of a former Empire? If you are not white, is obedience the prerequisite to citizenship to white capitalist imperial states? 

If you think about it : what are so-called Western clothes?

If you really think about it, Western clothes are not cultural clothing representing any specific ethnicity or nationality. If you really think about it, what we refer to as Western clothes such as pants, shirts, skirts, T-shirts, jeans, are really mass - produced capitalist products. When we rail against Western clothes in order to attack Western culture or apparent lack of values and ethics despite that there is no single Western culture, we are blindly railing against mass-produced clothing. If you really think about it, before factories came along and tailors and fabric shops were chucked out, clothing was hand made. Of course, if you were wealthy, you could afford silks and satins to make ornate gowns by high-end tailors and, if you were poor, you were making your own clothes as per the cultural traditions of your land. But advent of capitalism must have pushed out hand made clothing and, mass produced clothing became the norm and, now, the fashion industry now is apparently the 2nd or 3rd biggest pollutant. 

In Pakistan, we have started consuming fast fashion like nobody's business. It's everywhere and, so-called sales have started producing frenzied shoppers. Of course, tailoring is still in demand and, everyone still gets clothes tailored for both everyday and Eid and weddings. So, guardians of patriarchy should not be worried that Pakistani women aren't covering themselves in so-called traditional garb. 

In Monrovia, too, tailors are busy busy. Women and men love getting traditional outfits tailored. Lappa material though isn't cheap and, it is obvious only those who can really afford it, can wear beautifully made traditional elegant clothes which beat so-called Western attire any day. It is the public , the street sellers, the dangerous unemployed Liberian youth quote unquote, which is wearing used American clothing. 

I noticed the same thing in Ethiopia during my 2018 trip. During various conversations , I learned that people can't really afford to wear traditional clothing and, what's more, imported clothing was also very expensive. 

I remember seeing women wear polyester saris in Mumbai during my 2019 visit. It showed me that ordinary people simply can't afford good quality traditional fabric. They are far removed from good quality, hand-made fabric in today's modern world. And, they are working in factories making fast fashion for high streets in Europe or their own urban centres which sometimes burn down. 

Patriarchy in the Global South rails against Western clothes for no other reason than to control what women wear.