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

“We cannot establish proper, healthy human integration, without first decolonizing the world.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“You cannot end dehumanization while abiding by the narrative established by the dehumanizers, you cannot end a pandemic while playing by the rules of the virus - you cannot heal a war-inflicted planet while studying from the rulebook of colonialism, that planted the germs of most of those wars in the first place.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Colonial history is not heritage, it's a crimescene.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“You cannot heal a war-inflicted planet while studying from the rulebook of colonialism, that planted the germs of most of those wars in the first place.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Dehumanization always comes bearing the badge of religion, and waving the flag of reason.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“The entire colonial terrorist lot not only believed that God was on their side, they also thought they were the voice of reason.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Study colonizers, you'll understand criminology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Study colonizers, you'll understand criminology.
Study politicians, you'll understand wildlife.
Study patriotic citizens, you'll learn horticulture.
Study billionaires, you'll understand virology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Naskaristana 2789

I arrived with a clever brain,
walked among clever apes,
studied history written by winners,
so I could earn some ape respect.

Then I got weary of all the hypocrisy,
idolizing morons as savior of humanity,
mistaking the lens for the landscape,
confusing privilege as social sanity -

frustrated I plunged into fire,
brain, vanity, esteem, the lot,
all reputation burnt to ashes,
what remain is unflinching humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“No colored wants your guilt, just be human and acknowledge.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“You cannot have eyes,
and not see through lies.
You cannot have ears,
and not hear the tears.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“History of the world written by colonizers is no different from map of the world made by flat earthers.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“The vatican, british empire, and uncle sam, these three are the apex predator of planet earth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“The Unholy Trinity (Naskaristana 2533)

History of the world written by colonizers
is no different from map of the world
made by flat earthers -

just like flat earthers flatten the globe
to fit their delusion, colonizers flatten
civilizations into savages,
philosophies into myths,
cosmologies into coincidences,
lived holiness into paganism,

erasure into expansion,
trafficking into trade,
native resistance into terrorism,
and colonial terrorism into civilizing.

The vatican, british empire, and uncle sam,
these three are the apex predator of planet earth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“History of the world written by colonizers is no different from map of the world made by flat earthers - just like flat earthers flatten the globe to fit their delusion, colonizers flatten civilizations into savages, philosophies into myths, cosmologies into coincidences, lived holiness into paganism, erasure into expansion, trafficking into trade, native resistance into terrorism, and colonial terrorism into civilizing.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Vatican, british empire, and uncle sam, the unholy trinity of planet earth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Letter to The Braindead (Naskaristana 2532)

The only reason the west makes such
a song and dance about antisemitism,
is not because it's a human rights issue,
but because it's the only narrative where
the colonizers emerge as the good guys -

but place indigenous populations
at the center of history, and every last
white heroic propaganda collapses in dust.

Think about it for a while, if you're not braindead -
how come french resistance, polish resistance, all
belong to history's mainstream fight against tyranny,
yet you still stutter to call the pilgrims as parasites,
british monarchy as brutes, and the vatican as vultures!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“The only reason the west makes such a song and dance about antisemitism, is not because it's a human rights issue, but because it's the only narrative where the colonizers emerge as the good guys - but place indigenous populations at the center of history, and every last white heroic propaganda collapses in dust.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“How come french resistance, polish resistance, all belong to history's mainstream fight against tyranny, yet you still stutter to call the pilgrims as parasites, british monarchy as brutes, and the vatican as vultures!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“9 Billion Shades of Brown
(Black History Month Sonnet)

Nothing is black and white in this world,
everything is a shade of black,
even white is just a pale shade of black,
or we should say, brown -

nothing is black, nothing is white,
everything is a shade of brown,
everyone is a shade of brown.

Ethnicity is a commodity of fear,
prejudice is a commodity of power -
Mother Africa is the cradle of humanity,
Global South is the cradle of civilization.

Everything that white people have ever written
consists of only 1 percent of the human condition,
yet you confuse it as the entire human condition.

There is no black history month,
the entire human race calendar is black.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“There is no black history month, the entire human race calendar is black.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“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