#Colonization

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-fi prompt from @becauseforoncethisisme:

I don’t understand how importing and exporting works and I’m trying to write a story that doesn’t have colonialism but does have chocolate and vanilla and coffee available to everyone and it’s set in fantasy Spain so I can’t grow them locally. If that fantasy Spain is trading with the people who produce chocolate and vanilla and coffee as equal partners, then how do they import enough stuff to make it readily available, and could they export things like olive oil and wine in exchange or would that not work?

Honestly, my first reaction was 'this is a very Western perspective on international trade.'

We have a few questions to ask here:

What do we mean by "readily available?"

What are the barriers in place that prevent domestic production in a fantasy setting?

What are the logistical barriers to trade that impede international trade in a fantasy setting?

What are the labor and production conditions in these countries that are uncolonized?

What are substitutes that could feasibly be present?

Readily Available

There are varying degrees of availability that one may consider here. A rough spectrum would be:

Unavailable -> Expensive Luxury -> Affordable Luxury -> Generic/Staple -> Cheap Junk

We are very used to, at least in the US and similarly wealthy nations, having some of these available as Cheap Junk. Vanilla is an affordable luxury, Coffee ranges from cheap to affordable luxury but tends to sit at Generic in the public conscious, and chocolate is a Cheap Junk item that can enter Affordable Luxury, but by god do we have it at the dollar store if you're willing to put up with immense amounts of sugar and saturated fats as a filler.

Vanilla is, actually, unlikely to change much, but that's due to the fact that it's an expensive flavor already. It might move from Affordable to Expensive, but in the real world, vanilla beans are incredibly limited in agriculture, as they are difficult to grow outside of Madagascar or Mexico due to the pollinator requirements. This is also the main focus of question five, as it's the one most likely to be substituted for with a cheaper substitute; synthetic vanillin can be derived from clove oil.

The other two, you could expect to move up at least one tier into Generic or Affordable Lux, but possibly to Expensive Lux dependent on the next factors and how quality the items are; it's very easy to stretch chocolate if you're willing to cut corners. The products would be more expensive, but not unavailable... kind of like when I go looking for imported foods from Eastern Europe.

Domestic Production Barriers

This is a fantasy setting, which means there must be a cause for not being able to grow something domestically. For vanilla, a tropical plant, the primary barrier IRL is pollinator requirements. In its native Mexico, it is pollinated by a specific bee, and outside of Mexico, it must be pollinated by hand, which is what they do in Madagascar. Since Madagascar is one of the few countries where that labor is affordable...

Then again, maybe fantasy Spain has the magic to make that work without immense amounts of underpaid labor.

Coffee and cocoa are less specific in practice, but still require tropical climates that make farming in other zones difficult at scale. You can have a greenhouse at that temperature, but it's not really viable, financially.

It's also plausible that, without colonization, the origin countries have refused to allow live seeds to exit the country, in order to maintain control over production. Can't grow your own cocoa trees if you never get a live seed to plant, right?

Logistic Trade Barriers

What is international travel like for your setting? How long does it take to get from point A to point B? What are the options for transport at scale? Do you have cargo ships, cargo planes, long-haul trucking? Is teleportation a thing? Does the transport require some kind of fuel and, if so, what is the cost of that fuel? How many humans are needed to man the transport, or is it largely automated?

Are there domestic industries that feel threatened, like spice companies that import cinnamon from SE Asia and would like to avoid the cocoa coming out of South American farms? Would they lobby the government to institute barriers, or act as a guild?

Are there political barriers, like tariffs? Wars that are liable to disrupt supply chains? Black markets that spring up to avoid customs?

Production Conditions

So. A country does not need to be a victim of colonization to be built on cheap, underpaid, labor, or even slavery.

The Aztec Empire had slaves before Europe arrived. China was never actually colonized by Western powers; at most, they ceded small amounts of territory for a temporary period. You could argue they were colonized by Huns and Mongols, but those assimilated in. Nepal, Japan, and Thailand have never been taken over by another power, though they occasionally lost territory or were forced into trade.

It is entirely possible, even likely, that the countries Fantasy Spain trades with are abusing their own people for cheap labor. If there is any degree of a class system where nobility and peasantry exist, especially if there's slavery, then you will have cheap products being exported for the upper classes. China was never taken over by the West, but the silk and spice trades were booming in part because of cheap labor under Imperial rule, and then again under communism. The Aztecs were running farms on slave labor before Spain got there. Nepal is still incredibly poor compared to the West, which is why the Mt. Everest tourism trade is one that doesn't run out of employees.

Once you know what the labor conditions are like, you can decide what the cost of goods is. If there's been a peasant revolt, trade diminishes and prices go up. Good labor conditions mean lowered rates of production, and then prices are higher because of basic laws of supply and demand.

Substitutes

Vanillin is magical.

[thoughtportal]

The US Military in Hawaii

[words-and-coffee]

Alice Te Punga Somerville, Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised - Kupu rere kē

[ID: A poem titled: Kupu rere kē. [in italics] My friend was advised to italicise all the foreign words in her poems. This advice came from a well-meaning woman with NZ poetry on her business card and an English accent in her mouth. I have been thinking about this advice. The convention of italicising words from other languages clarifies that some words are imported: it ensures readers can tell the difference between a foreign language and the language of home. I have been thinking about this advice. Marking the foreign words is also a kindness: every potential reader is reassured that although you're expected to understand the rest of the text, it's fine to consult a dictionary or native speaker for help with the italics. I have been thinking about this advice. Because I am a contrary person, at first I was outraged — but after a while I could see she had a point: when the foreign words are camouflaged in plain type you can forget how they came to be there, out of place, in the first place. I have been thinking about this advice and I have decided to follow it. Now all of my readers will be able to remember which words truly belong in -[end italics]- Aotearoa -[italics]- and which do not.

Next image is the futurama meme: to shreds you say...]

(Image ID by @bisexualshakespeare)

[palestinegenocide]

GLOBAL STRIKE ON APRIL 15

"The terrorist Israeli occupation, after half a year, is still insisting on entering Rafah, which is the last city that still contains most of the population of the Gaza Strip.

80% of the Gaza Strip is destroyed and suffers from continuous military invasions, the movement of the Israeli army, besieging hospitals, commit massacres, destroy and blow up residential neighborhoods. And besieging the population and starving them.

The terrorist occupation is committing these crimes in front of the world, and is trying to have more time to destroy the hopes of the displaced to return and kill them with hunger and disease, and make the world get used to what is happening in Gaza and reduce media coverage and solidarity with Palestine, in addition to causing more destruction and strengthening the presence of the Israeli terrorists in Gaza in preparation for stealing the land.

Be smarter than them, and do not leave us to be killed and forgotten. *April 15 is a day of global strike*.. No schools, no movement, no work, no electronic payment, no gas stations. Make more noise and disturb the peace of terrorist politicians in America and IsraHell.

In the picture, me after half a year of documenting the genocide and surviving it daily without being sure of surviving the next day, and I will not stop until this genocide ends and I sit in the middle of my city feeling safe while I help my people rebuild Gaza."

Here's what to do:

Don't go to school or work (if you can)

Protest (if you can)

Do not shop anywhere

Do not use your credit card or use any money

Wear green, red, white and black clothes to show solidarity. Wear a badge, a keffiyeh, or anything that signifies your solidarity

Boost posts about Palestine, flood the media

Boycott!

[cavalierzee]

All Colonized People

All Colonized People

See Themselves

In Palestine.

They See Same Aspect Of What Was Done To Them In Palestine.

All Colonizers

See Themselves

In Israel.

[mysharona1987]

US literally is a teaching guide for war crimes.

[troythecatfish]

[nimrochan]

A BRIEF LESSON IN COLONIALISM

SINCE IT IS SUDDENLY A TOPIC OF GREAT INTEREST.

BRITISH COLONIALISM;

SPANISH COLONIALISM;

PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM;

ITALIAN COLONIALISM;

FRENCH COLONIALISM;

JAPANESE COLONIALISM;

ARABIC COLONIALISM;

AMERICAN COLONIALISM;

ISRAEL;

WOW. SUCH COLONY. VERY SETTLE.

WORDS HAVE MEANINGS. CAN WE STOP PRETENDING THIS WAS EVER ABOUT COLONIALISM?

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK.

[thescarlettbitchh]

[soxiyy]

From Levantine_gay on insta

[magnetothemagnificent]

Thinking about how the menorah and all the other sacred treasures looted from the Beit HaMikdash were probably melted down at some point in history. How the very foundations of the Western world are literally funded by the colonization and subjugation of Jews. Their cities are built by our labour, banks run on the backs of our marginalization, the precious metals of our Temple melted into their coins and crowns and extravagant crucifixes.

[blackstarlineage]

[archaardvarkarchive]

I honestly wonder what sort of white hot content is gonna get churned out when indigenous people get hold of the means and realize they can make animated series about real-life modern experiences or history.

The next logical step for the online indie animation boom, tbh.

[mysharona1987]

[afriblaq]