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

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