Can we please stop white-washing the Standing Rock struggle as JUST “environmental activism”?
This IS about water, and this IS about the sanctity of nature, but above all this is also about the autonomy and dignity of the First Nations’ people.
This is first and foremost about settler colonialism.
Bollywood gets away with so much: anti-blackness, sinophobia, homophobia, colourism, anti-blackness, sexism, transphobia, anti-Sikh and anti-Muslim sentiments...
...and to add to this list of BS, cultural appropriation.
Bollywood couple Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt were featured in a cover in Vogue India, and look what they came out with:
I just don’t even know what to say.
Today is National Aboriginal Day. As BCers, we face the reality that a vast majority of this province falls on Unceded Territories of the various nations indigenous to these lands. As a settler on Coast Salish Territories, I invite you to acknowledge our presence as settlers on this land, and what it means to live on Unceded Territories and how we can knowingly and unknowingly contribute to the viscous cycle of settle colonialism. My solidarity is with First Nations brothers and sisters- especially the sisters, as they continue their fight for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women. ✊
Kay tumblr-verse. Let me tell you what went down this week in BC.
Sooo Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia, announced that June 21 would BC would be observing “International Day of Yoga,” and to celebrate they would shut down an entire bridge (with tax payer’s mobey) that leads to the heart of downtown Vancouver. Why? So people can do yoga on it...
So this is messy on so many levels:
So first off, the day was perpetuating the appropriation and secularization of yoga, a religious practice that holds deep meaning to the Hindu faith. Not only was this event divorcing yoga from its meaning, but it was turning the phrase “Om,” which holds a deep sacred and important meaning in many dharmic faiths, into a funny pun. If someone from a Hindu background does this, I mean sure, go ahead, but as a non-Hindu person, she had no right to do so.
Another huge issue was that the event was BLOCKING AN AMBULANCE ROUTE, meaning that ambulances that would have tried to go to St. Paul’s Hospital could no longer use the Burrard Street Bridge, and would have to take a detour, which would waste more time, and cause irreversible damage and even death to people needing immediate hospitalization. Smart move Christy...
And last, but certainly NOT in the very least, in fact the most important point, is that June 21 is National First Nations Day in Canada. So not only did Christy co-opt a sacred practice from a religion for herself, but she ignored the indigenous communities in the province, and decided to IGNORE National First Nations Day, and hold an event catered to settle colonialism on the Unceded Territories of BC First Nations.
So naturally, people were pissed off, and wrote letters, made statements, and outwardly opposed her. So what does she do? To justify her day of cultural appropriation she responds with....
MORE CULTURAL APPROPRIATION!!! YAYYY!!!!!!
So seeing the mess that is Christy Clark, the sponsors for the event- LuLuLemon and YYoga- pulled their support, and hours later the frazzled Christy announced that “Om the Bridge” was no more and the event is now cancelled.
But seriously....why do you do this Christy? Whyyy???
