THE RESENTMENT OF BORDERS IS A GUIDED EXPLORATION OF THE MORAL CLARITY THAT SELF-DETERMINATION REQUIRES. A CLOSED-LOOP PROTOTYPE OF SUBALTERN OPEN-ACCESS EDUCATION - the snake eats its own tail & we have always been here & prophecy means telling the truth.

“..like planes, trains and automobiles, the same technological vehicles of hormones and surgeries take people on different journeys in their lives—depending on whether their oppression/s is/are based on sex/es, self/gender expressions, sexualities, nationalities, immigration status, health and/or dis/abilities, and economic exploitation of their "labour.”

- Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg,

I’ve been an unmitigated admirer of Sinthujan Varatharajah for years, so it was an incredible honour to finally get to talk to & learn from them in this episode. Their confident voice and lyrical turn of phrase make this a quiet & intense yet listenable episode. Sinthujan's refusal to be pinned down or boxed in & their relentless intellectual courage (coupled with such kindness) is essential. We spoke about the complexities of family, the limits of solidarity, how liberation’s most central aspect is mobility & the doors to freedom that heterogeneity opens.

My secret is that I’m very good at school and like political science. I’m an obnoxious dialectical materialist & kind of the worst person to have in your tutorial. I’ve been thinking a lot about my university degree. I believe that what it afforded me (more than information or skills) was a deep understanding of learning, critical thinking & argumentation. So, EP 8 is also formatted how I speak - it drives my mother nuts because I tend to give a little thesis statement & then elaborate instead of the other way around. Hugely frustrating in regular conversations but great for teaching & facilitating.

It’s been a whole year since my last CBS episode (although this one has been in the works for almost two years. I’ve been adding readings, music, and sounds & removing them too. Informed by my foundation in political theory, Ambedkar’s Pakistan or Partition of India & a lot of poetry, it's been my perpetual stew. These are terrifying times but also of flux, the abyss yawning & the ground shifting under our feet. I think most people, regardless of identity & social privilege & political affiliation, are scared of freedom. Holding fast to group identity, nationalist pride & erroneous ideas of solidarity. Here's a hint - loyalty never looks like cowardice or moral policing or surveillance. Babasaheb was unique, apart from his prolific work & achievements, but because of how he stood. Singular. Uncompromising. Unafraid to question, transgress & committed to articulating his politic of wholeness. That's what integrity means.

The late Marxist writer & public intellectual Leslie Feinberg is of Ambedkar's ilk. In a film I quoted, he said, "I don't see myself when I look in the mirror. I see parts of myself. I see a combination of how the world sees me and how I see myself. And I'm always fighting to define my own reflection." In the mire of communal malaise (clinging, stagnant, consuming in its homogeneity), self-determination in pursuit of self-respect & wholeness (angry, resentful, hungry, clear-sighted) is the only way through. What could be more Ambedkarite than that?

CREDITS

Expert: Sinthujan Varatharajah

"Leslie Feinberg on Discovering Transgender History" from Alisa Lebow's 1994 film Outlaw

Leslie Feinberg brings Rainbow Flags to ' FREE MUMIA! – Workers World

Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender | Big Think

Twitter [FREE Download] Royalty-Free Beat

parai beat non-copyright | kuthu beat free download

I SHALL NOT WHOLLY DIE

It's Christmas 2022, and the persecution of Christians in this country is getting worse and worse; even as the terror rises, the apathy also seems to loom and grow. It seems obscene and inappropriate to be hopeful. I can't say I've experienced the worst of this hatred and bigotry, but where else can I locate my experiences and identity? Where else do I belong? Where else do I focus my anger than on behalf of those "among whom I was born?"

It's the end of a long hard, confusing year. Looking to the future, looking to the result of the Supreme Court case on the expansion of SC status, even looking to the upcoming general elections - all of it seems too large to comprehend. Too big to face head-on. But I'm feeling a wind blow through that I haven't felt for years. I can stand up with my head held high because of Babasaheb, but that doesn't mean I want to convert to Buddhism. I'm a good Christian kid; we're taught that we only bow before God.

My favourite Biblical character is Gideon. The image of this least of sons, from the smallest of Judaic tribes, being charged with freeing his people from foreign oppression by an Angel, then doubting God’s hiring process, is so funny. So human. Of course, the minute he gets the all-clear, he takes on the righteous sword of God. Through divinely sanctioned deceit, he chases away the encroaching armies and then goes on a rampage, tearing down idols. The narrative of Gideon’s wholesale destruction of false gods was used during the Protestant Reformation as a comparison to the removal of effigies of Catholic saints from the midst of churches.

I still believe that God's promises are starkly simple compared to back-alley deals made to a pantheon of thousands. I think he loves me exactly as I am, hard and hating, bitter and angry. And in Isaiah 53:1, my favourite tragic prophet asks, "Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?"

This coming year, I want to smash some idols.

CREDITS
This bonus CBS S1: Experiencing Ambedkar episode is the result of a collaboration with the best in the game, the Mavelinadu Collective.

Parai drums: Parai Instrument Sound Effect (Royalty free)

A crowd of Hindus burnt down a church - https://freesound.org/s/541014/ - This work is licensed under the Noncommercial 4.0 License.

Aime Cesaire- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkTDayrLZq4

But I’m Talking About Faith - https://freesound.org/s/634813/ - This work is licensed under the Noncommercial 4.0 License.

Peter the rash: Gregorian Chants Vs. Modern Trap/Rap Beats [prod. Ryz]

I made the episode art; big up to the Commons, praise be!