UNDERWORLD is an ode to queerness; to the achievements and creativity of a people united in their struggle for liberation, not assimilation. We are the weeds that grow through the pavements; the unwieldy roots that push back against a concrete lid thrust upon us, cracking its almighty crust in search of warmth and of sustenance. We persist in spite of the challenges we face, we blossom from the neglect and maltreatment at the hands of the powers that be.

We recognise the decades of resistance from our queer elders and revolutionaries. Their strides in breaking the chains which bind us cannot be forgotten. Our fight for liberation did not end with same sex marriage! Until all of our siblings, be they trans, of colour, or working class are free, we are none of us free. Through assimilation we lose ourselves. You say to us that to be tolerated we must be palatable to the cisnormative hierarchy? To that we say, get fucked!

Many may oft confuse our queerness for weakness. Our wrists may be limp, but our fists are firm! Our fire burns on and nothing or no one can extinguish it. May this zine be a platform to uplift, champion and celebrate the voices of the unheard and absurd, the censored and the strident, arming the queers of the land, both in the metropole and in the mire, with a pen and paper, keyboard and finger, or simply just a voice so we may create for ourselves a world beside their own, an UNDERWORLD unified in the struggle for salvation.

FROM THE UNDERWORLD, TO ALL WORLDS!