RE: Let's avoid making a fool of ourselves and/or ridiculing others / Evitemos caer en ridículo y/o ridiculizar a otros (eng-esp)
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Dear Abelarte,
How interesting to come across such a... thorough analysis of our call for submissions for Babujal #7. It must have taken you a great deal of valuable time to copy, paste, and dissect each metaphor with such zeal. I am truly touched.
Allow me to clarify a few points, with the subtlety such a complex topic deserves:
On "ridicule" and "carnivalization": It's curious. For six issues, contributors from various nations (the kind that perhaps don't figure in everyone's mental maps) found no mockery whatsoever, but rather a space for creative freedom. They, who continue to trust this project, seem to understand something fundamental: literature is also for fun, for playing with the limits of the possible, and for imagining worlds where the marginalized hold power, literally. That it sounds like a carnival to you says more about the listener than the music.
On "envy": Oh, I would never use such a direct word. But it is hilarious how a call to celebrate the diverse, the Afrofuturist, and the dissident can be read as a "spectacle" or a "search for profit." Babujal is, and always will be, a fanzine made for the love of art, literally. That you perceive "exploitation" where there is celebration is... a very particular interpretation. Perhaps the true "carnivalization" lies in turning an invitation to dream into a drama of oppression.
On "preparation and study": Here, I partly agree with you. Indeed, one must study a great deal. For example, study Afrofuturism (it's not just "science fiction with Black people"), Queer Theory (it's not just "LGBT people"), and Caribbean literature (where the Orishas and the batá drum are not decoration, but a worldview). Our call is not a whim; it is the product of reading Octavia Butler, Rivers Solomon, Nalo Hopkinson. It is an invitation to play with those tools. A pity you only read the "mockery."
On "doing with my magazine as I please": Absolutely! And I will continue to do so. While some dedicate themselves to criticizing from the comfort of the established, we will continue to publish stories where a genderfluid witch exorcizes interdimensional patriarchal parasites, because it is our game, our party, and our vision. And, apparently, more than a few people in the world enjoy playing with us. The six previous issues, filled with spontaneous and generous collaborations, are proof.
In summary, I thank you deeply for your time and the visibility. Nothing is better for an independent project than the well-intentioned scandal of those who fail to understand it. I assure you that each of your rhetorical questions ("what does a witch's gender identity have to do with her power?") is precisely the engine for the best science fiction we are seeking.
While you sound the alarm, we continue creating. With respect, with study, and with a pinch of that black and surreal humor that seems to disturb you so much.
With authentic sarcasm (and a touch of vibration to the rhythm of the batá drum),
Sincerely,
The editor of that fanzine you analyzed so much.