alleytownstrays

[alleytownstrays]

what is very annoying about the vast majority of batfam fans is the very surface level approach they take towards calling out racism in dc canon and fandom. yes, you want damian to be brown in the comics but do you care about how his mother’s character was butchered due to post 9/11 anti-arab racism? yes, you want cass and duke to be featured more prominently in comics but would you be okay with them displacing your own faves in order to do so? do you even read the comics they ARE featured in, or are you content with just reblogging their one panel cameos from your fave’s solos, extolling how much you “love” them (so long as they are second fiddle, that is)? you want jason or dick (whichever you prefer) to co-parent lian, all the while sidelining jade - you are content relegating jade and talia and shado and shiva to a joking “assassin moms” punchline when you talk about their kids while not realising the implications of their race and how it plays into their portrayal by dc.

you can’t just reblog a vague post about colouring damian correctly and wanting representation and then uncritically reblog another post about how evil his mother is - you’re playing into the exact same racism you claim to denounce, while feeling like you’re being so very progressive while doing it. it’s not like i’m expressing a particularly novel sentiment either, and i’m aware i probably sound like a broken record right now but it’s just so irritating

[alleytownstrays]

[alleytownstrays]

“Martyrs” volunteer and go to their death willingly for a cause they believe in. You are not a martyr if your house gets bombed by enemy shelling and you die. You are a casualty of war. Children cannot be martyrs. They cannot consent. Non-combatants caught in the crossfire cannot be martyrs. They are simply innocent victims of someone else’s violence. Do not conflate martyrs and innocents. In no scripture are they considered the same. Their fates are different. It is wrong to call one a martyr when they are an innocent. One is a choice, the other is not.

I know that

[alleytownstrays]

the men and boys are innocent too.

we cry "the innocent women and children" to appeal to the masses, to try and force their sympathy, but the men and boys are innocent too.

I have seen sons crying out for their mothers, their fathers, their siblings. I have seen them break down at the loss of their families. I have seen them cling to their dead and grieve.

I have seen fathers cradle their dead children, seen them kiss their faces and hold their little hands. I have seen them faint with grief when asked to identify the dead. I have seen them carry their sons and daughters. I have seen them fasting to provide what little they can for their families.

I have seen men and boys digging through the rubble with just their bare hands, I have seen them comforting strangers, playing with children, rocking them, hushing them, even if the face of such imminent danger. I have seen them cry, seen them grieve, seen them break down into each other's arms, seen them be selfless, beyond selfless, becoming something I don't have a word for.

I have seen the men who are doctors refuse to leave their patients, even when they have no medicine or supplies to give them, even when they're threatened with bombings. I have seen fathers who have lost all their children pick orphans up into their arms and proclaim them their child so they are not alone. I have seen men and boys digging pets out of the rubble.

the men are innocent too. the men and boys are being hurt and killed too. the men and boys are grieving too. the men and boys are scared too. the men and boys are fighting to save their people too. the men and boys deserve to be fought for too.

[alleytownstrays]

guys i actually beg of you to not let palestine become an unpleasant flashback, a transient tumblr trend, a hasbeen subject that just faded away. as an arab—and specifically iraqi—girl, i know what it feels like to have family displaced all over the world as a result of western imperialism. i know what it feels like to not be able to step foot into your homeland because it’s no longer safe. as an american iraqi, raised in the us and insulated from my roots, it wasn’t until last summer that i was able to visit iraq for the first time, and even then my family was worried for my safety—in my own blood country. although nothing like what palestinians are experiencing right now, it might be the tiniest semblance of what it feels like to watch your country disintegrate in front of you.

and this is a universal arab experience. i volunteer weekly at a refugee center that serves middle eastern refugees, and every day i see the longing in their eyes when they speak of where they hail from. it’s safe to say that we will be getting a wave of palestinian refugees very soon: just another generation of arabs who can’t inhabit their own country.

arab culture is so rich, so profound, so beautiful. i am tired of being told by the world—through literal genocide—that it doesn’t mean anything. please never let this be forgotten. free palestine. free palestine. free palestine.

[alleytownstrays]

Fucking boohoo maybe stop giving the iof food then

[alleytownstrays]

Noor Harazeen you are the world's hero. You're completely correct, this is not normal. This is evil and no human needs to make these decisions.

[alleytownstrays]

US and UK bombing Yemen, a country with a famine that stopped some Israeli ships out of solidarity with Palestine. This world is losing its sanity

[alleytownstrays]

I’d just like to acknowledge that South Africa wouldn’t have such a strong case without the work of the journalists, both alive and martyred, on the ground in Gaza supplying the world with firsthand information about the genocide and that they deserve thanks for it.

[alleytownstrays]

seeing a few people from within Gaza report complete shutdown of communications again. this had happened multiple times since October and it usually precedes intense bombardment. don't be distracted by the icj proceedings and forget that the genocide is in fact actively ongoing. today alone (jan 12) Gaza witnessed 13 massacres that killed over 150 Palestinians according to the ministry of health in Gaza.

[alleytownstrays]

We expected the Israeli defence to be full of shit, but this is insane

[alleytownstrays]

[alleytownstrays]

Palestinians are starving!!!!

[alleytownstrays]

[alleytownstrays]

Overall, Israel’s killings in Gaza are not given proportionate coverage in either scope or emotional weight as the deaths of Israelis on October 7. These killings are mostly presented as arbitrarily high, abstract figures. Nor are the killings described using emotive language like “massacre,” “slaughter,” or “horrific.” Hamas’s killings of Israeli civilians are consistently portrayed as part of the group’s strategy, whereas Palestinian civilian killings are covered almost as if they were a series of one-off mistakes, made thousands of times, despite numerousOpens in a new tab pointsOpens in a new tab of evidenceOpens in a new tab indicating Israel’s intent to harm civilians and civilian infrastructure. The result is that the three major papers rarely gave Palestinians humanizing coverage. Despite this asymmetry, polls show shifting sympathy toward Palestinians and away from Israel among DemocratsOpens in a new tab, with massive generational splits driven, in part, by a stark difference in news sources. By and large, young people are being informedOpens in a new tab of the conflict from TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, and older Americans are getting their news from print media and cable news.  Biased coverage in major newspapers and mainstream television news is impacting general perceptions of the war and directing viewers toward a warped view of the conflict. This has led to pro-Israel punditsOpens in a new tab andOpens in a new tab politiciansOpens in a new tab blaming pro-Palestinian views on social media “misinformation.”  Analysis of both print media and cable news, however, make it clear that, if any cohort of media consumers is getting a slanted picture, it’s those who get their news from established mass media in the U.S.  

[alleytownstrays]

Over 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or more limbs amputated due to trauma since October 7th and most of them were done without anesthetic or painkillers

[alleytownstrays]

This is human trafficking