Benjamin Zephaniah on why he turned down receiving a OBE (The "significance" of an OBE or a MBE is that it is rewarded to somebody by the monarchy to recognise how impactful ones work has been. the video and transcript explain why it would be traitorous to receive this when the themes surrounding Zephaniah's work were wholly and completely anti British empire and colonist)
"The OBE means "Officer of the Order of the British Empire", MBE stands for "Member of the British Empire".
I've been fighting against empire all my life. I've been fighting against slavery and colonalism all my life. I've been writing to connect with people, not to impress governments and monarchy. So how could I then go and accept an honour that puts the word empire on to my name? That would be hypocritical"
"No way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire." - A piece Benjamin Zephaniah wrote for the Guardian in regards to his rejection of an OBE.
ANCIENT EGYPT BY TRAIN (2023) — 1.01 Alexandria
"The Roman Amphitheatre in Alexandria in Egypt is a large circular Roman theatre, and the only one of its kind to be found in the country. Though often referred to as an amphitheatre, the site is actually that of a small Roman theatre rather than a larger sporting arena." [x]
so I was watching this documentary about a professional bodybuilder last week. and it diverged into this segment about how she used to make part of her living by making home videos with guys who would pay to get wrestled into submission by muscular women. and I need to let you guys know that in this segment they showed of one of those guy’s home videos (that is seemingly an 80′s era precursor to the Lemon Stealing Whores clip?) and it just absolutely clocked me in the guts.