#free any and all countries going through genocide

[timesicle]

This pink party pony wants you to protest, boycott, and speak up against genocide for all the countries that are going throught it. There are plenty other countries that aren't drawn here, I encourage you to reblog and tag the tags!!!

#from the river to the sea palestine will be free #free palestine #free gaza #free lebanon #free ukraine #free sudan #free congo #free yemen #free Georgia #free armenia #free any and all countries going through genocide #mlp fandom #mlp g4 #mlp #mlp fanart #mlp fim #pinkie pie #mlp pinkie pie #pinkie pie fanart #ceasefire now

[slyandthefamilybook]

they're not dismissed because they live in "the bad country" they're dismissed because any solution they might pose, for the vast majority of them at least, will fundamentally involve preserving the state apparatus of israel, which is an inherently oppressive force. the two state solution is not justice. don't twist this into a call for the murder of the israeli population. that is explicitly not the goal. it is a demand to dismantle the fucking government system of a settler state that has spent 75 years committing genocide. if your leftism was worth anything you would believe that israel should be abolished. if you don't, your allyship is shallow and will only lead to electing people who will still do genocide, but with better pr so you can go back to ignoring it. if you really give a shit, genuinely ask yourself if the solution you have in mind would actually stop the genocide of Palestinian people, or if it would just slow it down a little, and answer the question honestly. if you can't do that, fuck off

HA

I predicted this. I saved this to my drafts 3 days ago

here's that response

there are a lot of people who seem to think that peace would be bad because it would involve Palestinians cooperating with the Israeli government. They believe the government should be spurned at every moment. Any action taken by the Israeli government is inherently one-sided and therefore it's categorically impossible to reach an agreement that's mutually beneficial and respects the dignity and autonomy of Palestinians

I hear this a lot in discussion of the UN Partition Plans. "Oh, so you want victims of violence to just roll over for their oppressors? You can't just steal someone's land and then offer it back to them!" To which my response is always "this is better?". Can you honestly look me in the eye and say that whatever lopsided colonial apartheid agreement you're imagining would've been made in 1948 would've been worse than the situation we have now?

It displays a really limited understanding of how geopolitics works. Countries aren't just a government and a set of borders. A country is also a people and a mechanism through which that people can interact with other peoples. You can't just point at a country and say "they're doing bad things, we should get rid of them". That's how America has functioned for the past 150 years and I thought we all decided that was bad. Dismantling a country doesn't solve your problems, it just creates new ones. "Burn it all down and start over" won't bring back the dead. It won't honor their deaths or make them any more worthwhile

Every time Hamas attacks Israel, Israel gets stronger. The right thrives off of conflict. It's why they don't want to give people free healthcare. When people suffer, it strengthens their positions. Every time Israel is attacked it generates more support for the military, in the people and in the Knesset. The IDF gets more soldiers, more rifles, more tanks. It drives the Overton Window further to the right. The Israeli government starts borrowing more money from the US, starts getting sent more foreign aid, further entrenching their economic dependency. The only reason Netanyahu has stayed in power for so long is because Israel keeps getting attacked. Israel gets hundreds of millions in military aid from the US, a country that has made killing people a science. You're not going to defeat them in open battle. People have been trying for 75 years with no success

I dislike the Israeli state as much as I dislike every state (which is a not-insignificant amount). But I also understand that states are massive webs of economy, policy, international trade, and agreements and treaties. If every member of the Israeli government stepped down tomorrow with no plan, the country would be thrown into chaos and millions would die. You can't say you want to destroy the apparatus of a country that is currently at war, while also claiming you want its citizens to be safe. That's not how that works. You claim that the majority of Israeli leftists want a two-state solution (something I don't believe I've ever said I support), but if that the case you don't have to throw your weight behind those people! There are also leftists who want anarchism, and a no-state solution. There's a vast diversity of thought and pretending that there isn't doesn't help anyone

I notice that in your decrial of people who are actually trying to help, you don't offer an alternative solution. You say you want to dismantle the Israeli state, but how do you plan to do that? I assume from your tone that you're not yourself Israeli, so how do you plan to affect change? You can pressure whoever is the leader of your country to stop sending aid to Israel, but Israel has a domestic economy as well. The worst you'll do is send them into a depression. And if you are somehow successful in cutting of Israel at the windpipe, what will you do when people begin to starve? When people are kicked to the curb because they lost their job? Will you be proud of yourself for sending 9.5 million people into a humanitarian crisis? Does your plan to end suffering involve making other people suffer instead?

We live in a statist world. As much as you or I dislike it, that's the reality we have. You can aspire to a better system, you can set your sights on a world in which there are no states, no governments, no militaries, and no borders. But you can't work within that framework before it's applicable. You can't eat raw cookie dough because you want it to eventually become a cookie. Liberalism won't save us, but it might stop the bleeding

#ask #anonymous #also I never said anything about Palestinian liberation being a call for Israeli genocide? people just love to make up a guy to get mad at

[callimara]

Ok, I have a lot of things to say. Am I am the only one who is getting so fucking tired to see white queers and right-winger politicians weaponize queer identities to justify the whole genocid3 everytime someone who is queer/leftist/i-dont-fucking-know demands a ceasefire?

I can't truly understand and believe it. Yes, I know that an amount of extremist Muslims would despise me because of me being a bisexual and trans man, but for the love of god, does that justifies the assassination of newborns, children, teenagers, woman and etc? Sorry for worrying about the innocent ones who are going through all this unnecessary suffering, I guess.

Sorry for the long ask and the venting, seeing latinamerican right-winger dudes talking about this + queer people makes me so angry. Hope you're alright!

Thanks so much for bringing this up because pinkwashing is a very real thing and is part of Israeli propaganda. It's meant to dehumanize and paint Palestinians as backwards, bigoted monsters that don't deserve sympathy.

For anyone who doesn't know what pinkwashing is, here is the definition:

"Pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing, is the strategy of promoting LGBT rights protections as evidence of liberalism and democracy, especially to distract from or legitimize violence against other countries or communities."

And tbh, it's such an outlandish argument that if you apply it to any other situation, it would be completely unacceptable.

For example, if it's the USA that's being indiscriminately bombarded and having civilians massacred on a large scale on the daily without any aid or access to basic needs, and you said that it's completely okay and that they deserved to be bombed and massacred because of the existence of the conservative south who are notoriously homophobic, you'd sound like a genocidal maniac.

But because it's Muslims and the Middle East, it's so far away and stigmatized that people in the west are more willing to go along with it.

"But there are lots of LGBTQ people living in the US!" Yea, well, LGBTQ Palestinians exist too. Do they not matter?

No matter how you slice it, it's Free Palestine.

#free palestine #from the river to the sea #pinkwashing #debunking propaganda

[fairuzfan]

It's the zionist concern anon again. I will say for now that with what you said about prioritizing Palestinians I do agree. The people going through a genocide are a bigger priority than people who are not going through a genocide. I just fear that due to the fact I am neither Palestinian or Jewish that I may end up embracing stances that I do not actually understand and that innocent people may suffer because of it. I do not want to be irresponsible. I am also someone who lives in a country built on stolen land, so that does to some sort of extent influence my feelings on Isreal as I imagine many people in Isreal share my thoughts on the fact we have lived our entire lives on stolen land. As I said before, I also do not know any Palestinians personally so I find it hard to know who I can ask about the history, Hamas, technical details of politics, etc without risking being taught the wrong things. On a much more selfish note, I also struggle with debilitating mental health issues that make it very difficult to navigate moral issues especially if the moral issues do not impact me on a personal level. So if I am being honest, my questions are not entirely selfless as I have very self-centered fears on if I am actually a horrible person. I thank you again for being so understanding, but I figure the right thing to do here is admit I am likely not as pure intentioned in my questions as I should be when a large factor to why I worked up the courage to ask is in hope I am worrying too much about my quality of moral character from a selfish perspective. Again, I thank you for being so understanding and willing to answer these asks instead of just brushing me off as a horrible zionist.

I don't think you're a horrible person at all I just think everyone has underlying zionist biases because it's a product of the society we live in.

And I do understand where you're coming from, honestly. Something that always helps me is remembering something that my parents taught me as a kid: always stand on the side of the oppressed. Now as I grew up I realized you have to define what oppression means and I think exploring that will also help you get a better understanding of how to combat other forms of racism/antisemitism/transphobia/etc.

If you do want to learn about hamas tho, I would suggest taking a look at Tareq Baconi, he has a lot of writings about the history of Hamas and he's Palestinian. There are also Palestinian podcasts and social media accounts. I understand that not knowing a palestinian personally to help you guide yourself through these things is daunting, but there are plenty of resources to help! It's why I'm here on this blog honestly, I don't mind you reaching out to me for questions or anything.

A good principle to remind ourselves with is "how can I ensure that justice can be had?" And to find the answer to that you need to look into multiple types of antizionist thought. Some blogs I like to check out for a diverse antizionist opinion are @el-shab-hussein and @bringmemyrocks as a couple of examples. Plus I'd look to Black American thinkers on antiracism (like Angela Davis and James Baldwin and Kwame Ture) because they do a good job of showing you how to examine your internal biases which we are all subject to.

I don't think this selfish to want to be a good person. I have the same worries. I actually do get worried that sometimes I'm *actually* a bad person secretly without me realizing and I reach out to friends and family to talk it out. Something that helps me through this is realizing that you have to forgive yourself for previous beliefs you've had and promise yourself to do better because at the end of the day youre human and you make mistakes.

But really my biggest advice is to read and listen to a variety of schools of thought and if you can, interact with local communities dedicated to antiracism. Even if theyre digital communities! That will help a lot with identifying any problem points.

Again, feel free to reach out with any questions. I don't think you're a zionist at all! Please don't worry and thanks for reaching out :)

[yourblackhearts]

So You Want To Learn More About Palestine

Yes, the news is scary. Yes, there is a lot going on. Yes it can be very overwhelming. But we live in the information age and knowing what the heck is going on always helps when dealing with misinformation. "I don't know enough about what's going on to say anything about Palestine" is a fair response to have - but not a reason to stop there. So! Here's a short list of reading resources to get you started 💜

Edward W. Said was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic and political activist who has written countless books on the subject. Any of his works would be a good place to start, but I recommend The Question of Palestine (1992) along with his memoir, Out of Place (1999)

2. Rashid Khalidi is another Palestinian-American academic and historian with MANY books on Palestine and its struggles. For him I recommend Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1998) and The Hundred Years' War on Palestine (2020)

3. On a more personal note - and as a recommendation for someone who may not be super big on dense non-fiction, I recommend Joe Sacco's graphic novel Palestine (2001) where he writes about his experiences in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in December 1991 and January 1992. I read this for my Rhetoric of Human Rights class and really enjoyed it, and it's easy to help you get your foot in the door.

4. Ilan Pappé is an expatriate Israeli historian and political scientist who has also written a few books on the subject. I recommend The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006) and A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (2003)

5. This last one is less Palestine-centric and more about the global struggle against violence and oppression. Angela Davis' Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement (2016)

Do you want to dive deeper? Find more resources? Deconstruct a few myths you may or may not have heard through social media and otherwise? May I kindly direct you to decolonizepalestine - which is where I found a good number of these book recommendations myself!

"But Gaby, I don't wanna buy all these books!" Dude I'm not asking you to. I will, however ask you to:

Get a library card and check your local library

Take a look at academic databases like JSTOR if you're in college

Check archive.org for some of the older books

Try

I don't want there to be any mistake: Palestinians are victims of settler-colonialism. What they're facing right now is a genocide, with a long-standing history behind it enabled by some of the most powerful countries in the world. Learn about it. Speak about it.

It's still Free Palestine.

#Long Post #Palestine #Free Palestine #Reading Recommendations #I posted this as a thread on Twitter and it's getting suppressed to hell and back but #I'll be damned if I don't get this info out there #Some things are worth yelling about

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

As an American I feel incredibly ashamed and disgusted with how the government and administration has acted throughout this genocide. I feel at a loss, like nothing I'm doing will have a direct impact. What can Americans do to help aside from sharing the truth, donating, and speaking out? I am speaking about the truth to anyone who will listen, but if feels almost useless on the scale of things to talk about these atrocities and do nothing directly to stop them. Is there anything we can do to directly help Palestenians during this time?

Thank you for this.

First of all I'd like to explain that a main part of the genocide here is media coverage. Israel pays millions of dollars to push the propaganda and send people on social media specifically to gain people's sympathy via lies and false news. And that's why we encourage everybody to keep posting about gaza and Palestine, because that's all we have. It's the 24th day of genocide on gaza but we must not get bored or stop talking. Without media coverage a huge part of people outside the middle east would've never found out about what's going on in Palestine and how Israel kills thousands of people without any consequence.

I know the feeling of helplessness all too well. But let me tell you that what you're doing in spreading the truth is really beneficial and makes a difference. Think about it, if your voice doesn't matter, why would they go through such lengths to silence you and remove posts and suspend accounts?

As of what other things you can do to help. Especially that you're america, you can protest. By protesting, you show the world that we know the truth and we stand by it, and you also pressure your government into demanding a ceasefire since the US is the only country who refused this decision which led to it being out of question. Keep protesting if you're safe or able to. There is also boycotting. Boycott brands that are exclusively Israeli and all money go to fund Israel. For example, McDonald's offers free meals for Israeli soldiers while they bomb and kill Palestinians in gaza. This Website helps you, you can just write the brand's name in the search bar and it will show you if it funds the Israel army or not.

You can also call your representatives everyday, and tell people around you to as well. It makes a difference I promise, and it will make you feel as though you helped. You can also not vote for biden again, i know the choices are narrow. But you should never vote for a genocidal guy who uses all your tax money to buy bombs and weaponize a nuclear power against a country with no army.

By supporting Palestine and speaking against genocide, you're already helping. Never stop talking about Palestine and gaza, keep calling israel out on their crimes.

#palestine #gaza #israel #usa #how to help #current events #asks

[gallifreyriver]

Update to this post because a year later they're still trying it.

They vote again tomorrow, March 13th, to try and ban TikTok- only this time they're doing all they can to claim it's not a TikTik ban.

They claim it's to "protect Americans from 'Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications'" despite singling out ByteDance/TikTok specifically, and mentioning TikTok in literally the first sentence.

They also claim it's not a "ban," they're just giving TikTok the "opportunity" to divest from ByteDance and sell it's company, algorithms and source code to a non-communist county (the US) within 180 days or the US will take action and make the app inaccessible to USA Americans, which make up 150 million of TikTok's user base, the largest TikTok audience by country so far.

One could call this a shakedown, that effectively the US is trying to steal a popular and profitable company. "That's a nice company you got there, be a shame if you... I don't know... lost 150 million users- Wouldn't it?"

[Edit: Forgot to add that even though the US has 150 million TikTok users, that's still only like 8%-ish of TikTiks total userbase- making this "shakedown" an example of how Congress is embarrassingly USA-centric. TikTok will not sell just to avoid losing just 7%-8% of it's userbase, and Congress must know that- if not, that just proves the point even more. This bill is for all intents and purposes a BAN, regardless how they try to spin it, and they're being very USA-centric and Xenophobic about it]

Anyway-

This is the second vote. A House committee voted unanimously on Mar. 7th to advance the bill, and it will be voted on again by a Republican controlled House.

Please call or email your representatives and tell them to vote "No" on bill H.R. 7521.

This isn't about just losing an app. TikTok is unique in that it is currently the easiest place to organize and spread information that otherwise doesn't get as much coverage. It allows for real time coverage and updates by those living through major events going on around the word, and has allowed for increased awareness for such events that we likely wouldn't hear about otherwise. (i.e: the genocide in Palestine, Cop City, any of the bills trying to take trans rights/abortion rights away, etc)

If you don't know your representatives, just google "who are my representatives" and the first results should be links that will help you find them based on your zip code

And if you don't know what to write I can help you there too.

You can write something as simple as just:

Vote "No" on bill H.R. 7521.

Seriously, that's all you need.

Or, if you want something a little more in depth, here's a script that you can either copy and paste or reword to your liking. I just re-worded the script from the ACLU link above to fit more specifically about the current bill (Though let's be honest, for all intents and purposes Congress is pulling the same shit in a different hat)

Dear Representative, I’m writing today to strongly urge you to protect our constitutional rights to free expression and to receive information, and to vote no on any bill that would give the federal government the power to ban entire social media platforms. Bill H.R. 7521 is designed to allow the government to ban TikTok in the US and would likely result in bans of other businesses and applications as well. Given what we know about TikTok, it’s clear that a ban would violate the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who use the app to communicate and express themselves daily. Should these bills move to a vote, I urge you to vote “No.” In a purported attempt to protect the data of US persons from the Chinese government, these bills will instead block Americans from engaging in political discussions, artistic expression, and the free exchange of ideas. We have a First Amendment right to use TikTok and other platforms to exchange our thoughts, ideas, and opinions with people around the country and around the world. Please oppose any bill designed to limit our right to express ourselves — both online and off. Thank you.

Reminder, they vote tomorrow, Wednesday March 13th.

So please reblog this to spread the word and contact your representatives to tell them to vote "No" on this bill.

Do not be mistaken in thinking your opinion doesn't matter- it does matter so much. Do not let yourself be silenced!

#stop tiktok ban #tiktok #tiktok ban #internet censorship #important #urgent #sos #bad internet bills #internet freedom #congress #house of representatives #help

[baeddelations]

Nazi germany is "uniquely evil" in the sense that western nationalist mythology needs it to be the most evil thing it can think of. It is an important spectre in tge western psyche as so unlike the nation state that they exist in. While blatantly ignoring the apocalypse level genocides that made it into what it is today. I think alot of this is yes the erasure and white washing of these histories, and the need for enemy that constitues nationalism, but also is about the way we frame these massacres.

This history allows for willfull ignorance. Obfuscation of the humanity of the other through exaggerated difference, (Savages, heathens, barbarians) but in the example of Nazis we often focus in on the antisemitism of their machinations. Anti-semitism is a such a central pillar to this ideology bc in a lot of ways, then and now, they had been thorughly integrated into the vague hegemonic social structure that we often refer to as whiteness. This is important for conspiracy theories bc you need a part of the conspiracy to have wealth and power. It was important to the nazis for similar reasons with different ends: nationalizing those resources into the war machine.

Narratively for the rest of the world this is important for the reason jewish folks could be framed as citizens(not savages, heathens, barbarians) this is the uproar and this is why it is so focused on the jewish genocide when we talk about the holocaust, and often allow for the genocide of queer ppl, disabled ppl, itinerant ppl, mad ppl, romani ppl, black ppl, various eastern europeans, free masons, and religious minorities to go undiscussed. There were far more jews in the country at the time than any of these other groups individually but more total of these groups killed than total jewish ppl killed. Obviously all of these deaths are atrocious but it is uniquely atrocious bc ppl deemed citzens in the psyche of the western world were killed.

So much of the atrocities happening in nazi germany were being perpetrated by the rest of the western world just not to citizens. The holocaust spurred this assimilation and the large scale support of the 9th crusade(israel). So yes it is "unique". it needs to be so that we can exceptionalize it, to excuse the rest of us.

[jayflrt]

bc of a stoners guide to starbucks im so obsessed w getting an email to rate my uni starbucks 😭😭i just realized i finally got a survey but missed the deadline bc it’s been 11 days

omg im so glad you’re enjoying a stoner’s guide to starbucks !! :’) although that is a sweet sentiment i DO have something i would like to address on that note

i’ve been meaning to say something about this for a while actually due to the very obvious setting of my smau, but i’d greatly appreciate if we can separate the fictional starbucks in my social media au from starbucks as a real life corporation ! anon btw i hope you don’t see this as a jab at you at all, i just want to put this out there in general for everyone who’s reading !!

if you don’t know already, more than 8000 palestinians in gaza have been killed by israel just this month. israel is a settler colony, which is a form of colonization that aims to replace the native population of the land they’re colonizing with their settlers. so palestine has been oppressed by israel for decades with the support of nations like the united states and the united kingdom

why im bringing this up is because three targeted boycotts are happening: starbucks (suing its union for posts about supporting palestine), mcdonald’s (donated free meals to israeli army), and disney+ (pledged $2m support for israel). so i please ask that you don’t support starbucks by buying food/drink from them or giving them high ratings ! the starbucks worker union itself is asking us to boycott starbucks and their stocks have been plummeting rn btw

also PLEASE do not harass people who work at starbucks or mcdonald’s. most people don’t support genocide but don’t have the financial capabilities to quit their current jobs, especially with the state the job market is at right now in america. plus the main reason why people are being asked to boycott starbucks is because starbucks union workers themselves were fired for standing with palestine

if you have any questions or would like further resources then lmk or look for informational threads online !! be careful about certain news outlets because there’s a LOT of pro israel propaganda going around

there is a lot going on in our world right now—several active genocides. it’s important we educate ourselves as the ones who have the privilege to not experience the fear and trauma that millions of palestinians are going through and have to live with. if you think that sharing posts and speaking up about it on social media is fruitless then do remember that israel has cut off palestine’s internet for a REASON so please use your privilege and your voice to speak up about palestine!

note that this post is specific to palestine, but there are genocides happening in several countries as we speak and NO big news outlets are covering the horrors. free palestine, free sudan, free congo, free armenia, free tigray

#💌 : love notes #anon #series: a stoner’s guide to starbucks #important #free palestine

[hoezier]

Thoughts on that ceasefire statement?

So I have several people asking me about this. I do have some thoughts, but you'll have to forgive me, I am only able to engage with this passingly.

I want to make a few things clear: I'm originally from Iraq. I do live in the U.S. now, but I grew up in Iraq. And like most Arabs, the Free Palestine movement is unquestionable for me. I have been an uneqovical supporter of Palestine my whole life. Which means the past couple of weeks have been excruciatingly painful. And the horrifying circumstances of it have taken over almost my every waking moment. That, coupled with my own childhood of living through a war which the past two weeks have been triggered again and again, have really tanked my mental health. I mention this to make clear that I will speak to this question just this once, to articulate some of my thoughts around it. In order for me to do the work for Palestine sustainably which I fully plan on doing, I need space to step away from it. I'm choosing this website with the pretty images to be said online space. So I will not engage in any further discourse after this. Even now, I will engage only as far as my mental capacity will allow. As I'm sure you can understand, I am utterly exhausted, and what little energy I have left is better expended elsewhere. I thank you for your understanding.

I want to start by pointing out something that I unquestionably liked about his statement, because I think it's important and a lot of people won't read this whole thing: His mention of the West Bank. The media attention has focused a lot on Gaza, and rightly so. But Palestinians in the West Bank have been suffering gravely for the past two weeks under the tyrannical rule of the settler colonial Israeli government. You should all go read about this and learn more. Palestinians are getting arrested, kicked out of their homes, being brutalised, harrassed, and murdered. It's starting to get *some* coverage now, but still not enough. This would also be my time to remind you that the West Bank is not at all controlled by H*m*s so like, bitch what's your excuse now?

the gist of my thoughts: Is Hozier a Palestinian freedom rebel? No, absolutely not. Is he a hateful supporter of genocide? Also, no, absolutely not. I think Hozier is a well-intentioned celebrity with passing knowledge of what's happening, a publicity team that curtails his words for better or worse, and who has a lot to lose if he missteps in any direction. Whatever we may think of his actual politics that we can glean from his music is not quite the same as coming out with a very clear statement that could put him, and a lot of the people around him at risk. And I mean that both physical safety and otherwise. I think saying something very overtly pro-Palestine could very well put a target not just on him and his team, but possibly on fans attending his concerts in droves right now, especially since he's in the U.S. right now which is a) not his country and b) the country that's primarily funding this war so like fuck me the pro-zionist sentiments here are still STRONG (I just got egged yesterday at a protest and wearing the keffiyah has genuinely made me fear for my life for the past couple of weeks). This may be disappointing (it is), but I frankly have very little energy left to truly feel disappointed. More than anyone, I would have loved for him to come out, blazing fires in his eyes, carrying the Palestinian flag. But alas, I knew that wouldn't happen except in my wildest dreams. I understand that people want to hold him accountable. But it does feel to me like expending this level of energy on a celebrity whose statement was frankly more nuanced than what even media outlets have said is just not where I'm at. I understand if that's where you're at. But it's not something that I can currently engage with.

This is the extent to which I am able to speak to this at the moment. I am sorry if it's not good enough or extensive enough. There's so much that you can pick at, the framing of it, the specific wording that he used. Again, for better or worse, but I just do not think this conversation is where my currently very limited supply of energy should go to. It is up to you whether this is where you'd like your energy to go <3

I hope you're all well. Sending you all so much love.

#anon #answered #sahar stfu about hozier #so much love to you all #hozier

[mewlabu]

Some angry couch warrior posting unconfirmed claim about Israel/Palestine: *10,897 reblogs*

Images and videos of daily attacks and destruction of Ukrainian cities and people: *60 reposts and mostly from Ukrainians*

I am honestly so disheartened by this world and so angry at every western leftist, and the flood of Palestinian or Israeli flags when there is no much silence now about Ukraine.

You told us we had enough support that's why you needed to focus elsewhere, so when do enough if us die for you to think us worthy of attention again?

I don't mean this to be an what about. This is just an expression of personal hurt and disappointment at the so called progressives.

And at the so called allies who defend the skies of one ally, finger wagging at them at most over what they do with their offensive weapons they give them while Ukraine begs and pleads for help, told not to hit the enemy here or there, told to watch itself or be left alone and even as Ukraine did everything it was asked for, fighting this war with hands tied and blindfolded, while it was dragged through every possible mud imaginable, belittled, and told to know it's place, it is now left alone anyway, while allies can't even manage sanctions worth a damn, while allies show concern over their oil prices, while allies debate and hand wring about Ukraine isn't NATO and escalation, another ally of theirs erases entire cities and with their weapons.

When so called progressives and allies of the oppressed spent years telling Ukrainians why the mere presence of bad elements in their country, and any mistake among any of their people in history means they should all be left to a hungry empire, don't deserve to live free, now call a terrorist organization who kidnap, rape, murder and oppress "freedom" fighters. The same people who dehumanized Ukrainians for years, called Ukraine a puppet, a proxy, a nation without a will of its own, now do the same to Palestinians, ignoring internal voices and needs. The same people told Ukraine over and over to accept its fate and give up, not to drag the world down with it, to take what they get and be fucking grateful, now demand the most useless and outlandishly impossible, uncompromising victory, who cry genocide at any suggestion of giving up, who have refused to see what life is like for Ukrainians under occupation, are now eagle eyed about why Palestinians or Israel's can't give in based on a history of abuses.

When every tragedy and massive loss of life by Ukraine was called into question, was doubted, lied about, debates, and turned over on every side to diminish the suffering, every report of every tragedy and accusations in I/P conflict is treated as gospel by thousands and then these same people turn around and mock Ukrainians for being so privileged, even as Ukraine stands increasingly alone apart from words and promises.

The hypocrisy is so blatant, so painful. Funny even when these same people point out petty instances of "bias" and "hypocrisy" of this state or that or the media.

This is not a special or unique anger and despair. This must be how many feel as the western "activists" move on to their next hip cause, presiding over tremendous suffering and deciding which one actually matters, completely blind to their own arrogance, and the colonialism of that thinking.

Then the dare, dare to use Ukraine to claim and compare to illustrate the bigger scope of the tragedy as if the losses aren't ongoing, as if soldiers aren't people, as if entire generation isn't being wiped out defending their country, as if lives can be weighted like grain. It does a disservice to all of the people involved and is moreover unnecessary. No one who doesn't yet support your cause is going to be convinced by these comparisons. It serves no benefit to raise support for one, merely feeds the self righteousness of current supporters. It only paints the other as less worthy of attention, as less important. It is a cruel and self serving act by people with no teeth in either game.

And I'm so angry.

I have no trust.

#war in ukraine #russian invasion of ukraine #stand with ukraine #russian imperialism #russia is a terrorist state

[qweerhet]

the thing about project 2025 and associated fear tactics on social media right now is that... project 2025 itself does not need trump to work.

like, it's very obviously built around a coalition base that supports trump, and the ideology that has arisen from that coalition--but like, 1) the heritage foundation literally cannot legally promote any presidential candidates, which means that 2) the plan they have outline & the structures they are building to support said plan can work with, well, literally any candidate who wants to participate in them.

this isn't a one-and-done "this election is the most important one of our lives, gotta vote blue and then we can move on!" thing, project 2025 is a massively funded endeavor that involves building infrastructure and will be relevant again, every presidential election the republicans are involved in, until either they carry it out, they get bored and try a different tack, or some secret third option where it gets derailed through whatever new batshit political upheaval of the year comes up. like, trump can get convicted of federal crimes and removed from every ballot in the country, and project 2025 would still be of concern.

personally i think it'd be ridiculous to say we have to actively support any democratic candidate, no matter who they are, no matter how conservative they are, no matter what horrific regressive policies they platform, because of project 2025. but like, that's essentially what you're saying if you argue that the voter base has to platform biden and actively support his run this election cycle on the basis of preventing 2025; it's not going to just go away after the year 2025. the nonprofits will still exist, the funding will still exist, the people will still exist, and the infrastructure will still exist.

(i will not be responding to derailments along the lines of "what are the other options, it would be worse if trump won," etc--i am not laying out a plan to simultaneously abolish project 2025 and end the palestinian genocide in this post. i am pointing out that this proposed plan does not work; project 2025 is not dependent on trump specifically, and it will not improve matters domestically nor overseas to write a blank "votes" check for the democrats in perpetuity so long as the ideology behind project 2025 persists and is materially relevant. you are free to posit other ways to address the issue, but "aggressively support any and all democratic candidates, regardless of what their policies actually are" is not a good solution. it will not address the problem.)

[i-eat-nail-polish]

Hey I’m gonna probably post more serious stuff because I need to have discussions with people about Palestine. For one I live in an area and am surrounded by people who aren’t pro Palestinian. They don’t take anything surround boycotts or information in general about the genocide serious at all because it doesnt effect them. It’s starting to wear on me because there’s no one to cope (idk if that’s the right word) with what I see online on a daily basis. Ever since mid October or so? (When the tik tok algorithm caught up with the time) I’ve seen countless atrocities that I’ve only ever seen in video games or movies played out in real life against real people. I learned what real bombs sound like both far away and up close because of these videos. Lately I’ve also started to dream about being trapped in Gaza with that feeling of death looming. It sounds dramatic but it’s true. Every day I’m thankful that I’m constantly shown information about Palestine and surrounding Arab countries and I’m also in shock. I’m in shock for a few reasons. 1: I’ve watched for months now, a country, a land and it’s people go through something worse than hell and nobody around feels the same sadness and basic human empathy. No one cares to take in that there’s a massive loss of life and culture and future for whatever reason. It’s gut renching to think about it. 2: I can’t help beyond witnessing and documenting. It seems stupid and corny to think that we’re privileged to have phones but documenting this horrible event through a phone camera is so incredible for history. It just feels almost insulting that that’s all I can do as a poor college student in America. Yes, I can call my representatives which thankfully where I live do support a free and liberated Palestine, but others won’t even do much as think about their constituents. It’s hard because it feels like we’re trying to move a volcano with plastic beach shovels. So all we can do is sit and save videos before social media giants take them down. 3: coming to terms that nobody looks out for each other on a large scale. Because I follow now many journalists from various sectors ranging from on the ground in Gaza to political scientists giving me lessons on the United Nations history, I’m shocked at how all of it is fake. Nothing makes sense anymore. You’re telling me because 2 countries won’t vote on a ceasefire but 98% do we can’t move on with it? Why does the US get privileges that to my limited knowledge no one else has the same power leverage as. How has nobody else stepped in when MANY war crimes are being committed. Why do they even exist if countries are never seriously prosecuted? Why even have rules if you can’t follow them? It’s disheartening to watch but I can’t give up hope. I’m not giving up hope because that’s all we have. I may not have direct ties to Palestine but as if needless suffering is enough for me to care, I care especially for the queer family in Gaza. They are as much apart of the queer family as my roommates are. I don’t know if and when we lose LGBTQ+ people in Gaza but I know it’s happening so I cry for the loss of our family. I need to see an end to this. I need to. I don’t know how to process any of what I’ve witnessed or feel right now or even what else I can do to help stop a genocide. I need to talk to people so please may you strike up conversation. Correct me in any place, tell me about the latest boycotts, show me protests. Please converse we have to keep hope alive.

#palestine #free palestine #free gaza #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #pro palestine #🍉 #activism #coping #long post #alhamdulillah #inshallah #palestine will be free #free palestine until its backwards #gaza #gaza genocide #genuinely asking #please help #boycott divest sanction

[maya-the-skaven]

Much Ado About Rats: A Skaven Story

Greetings everyone and welcome to the very first of my series of posts that will follow as I write my fanfiction about Skaven in the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar setting. While my fanfiction is something rather private and will probably go through a long and thorough process of writing, editing, proofreading and even rewriting before I am comfortable publishing it, I would still like to talk about its worldbuilding, its characters and my personal headcanon on all matters Skaven.

It's easy to consider Skaven as just cannon fodder for the good guys of the setting, nothing but a mass of hungry and inherently if not comically evil vermin that exist only to multiply, destroy and die, not too dissimilar from the Tyranids of the 40k setting. They represent all the worst traits both on individual and societal level and, more importantly, they're not human and kind of ugly and monstrous, you'd get weird looks if you told anyone you empathise with them, similar to reactions you'd get from the common audience if you said you feel nothing but pity for the orcs of the Lord of the Rings setting.

However, to me the Skaven are much like the Imperium of the 40k - they are independent individuals trapped in and molded by from their very birth to their rather short death by a highly institutionalized and hierarchical society with ruthless inner politics, warlordism and a merciless system of economics and labour. The Skaven who are not ready to do everything in their power to survive and chase the power are either destined for death or slavery. They fanatically worship a god that doesn't care that much for his children if not bestows constant malice onto them, but any deviation from that worship is tightly controlled by a tyranical sect of wizard-priests. The Skaven either conquer, ruthlessly exploiting their surroundings until their utter desolation, or stagnate forced to literally cannibalize each other to survive. They are essentially trapped in a vicious circle where the society forms natural selection where the most power-hungry, cruel and vicious individuals win and these individuals, in turn, do all in their power so that this society stays that way, with them in power and their subordinates in various forms of slavery. I don't know about you, but most of the above doesn't sound to me that different from average life of an Imperial citizen in a Hive World. Moreover, isn't that also what happened in real world many times? How the ultra-rich of today stay in power, how Nazis brainwashed the entirety of Germany into genocide and complete ruin, how medieval tyrants and their aristocrat countries held entire countries in serfdom, how USSR bureaucrats reproduced their own power by what amounted to negative selection?

The main difference between Imperium and the Skaven is that, while the Imperium also exists in a constant flux of decay, misery, exploitation and treachery, it still gets many stories about individuals that manage to represent better aspects of being human, in spite of their culture, their upbringing, their status. Skaven, however, are for some reason excluded from humanity and human stories, despite having the same sapience and free will as humans do, they almost never get any stories that center them and everywhere else they are just there to do something horrible (and sometimes funny) and then be defeated by the heroes of the story. Despite this, we got more intricate glimpses of Skaven in the Queek Headtaker novel, it turns out they can be loyal, they can have a conscience, they can be brave, they can reflect on the poor state of their species, they can actually care for each other for other reasons than power, however rare that is and however corrupted and abusive that care might be.

Skaven also make me reflect a lot about our own world. In a way they are kind of like Ferengi from Star Trek series, their culture on one hand seems completely alien from ours, but on the other hand it has direct connection to our culture because it is a huge exaggeration of it. We exist, function and prop up systems that cause suffering, we compete even if that means that someone else will go hungry, we punch down our most marginalised and miserable, we entrap people into economic system where the line must go always up propped by extremely underpaid labour or everyone will be scrounging for food, we exploit and destroy our environment without care for neither other living creatures nor even other humans, our current cultural mindset is thoroughly hierarchical and power-seeking with even those critical our the current state of things rarely escaping from it. It's easy to sneer at the Skaven as the utterly evil "monster" species of the setting, but they are only doing what we are doing, but dispensing with our dislike of grotesque, with our flimsy morals and with our ever so cautious self-preservation instinct. But in our world we have many stories of people prevailing despite tyranny, misery, poverty, people going to great lengths to help each other, people protesting and fighting injustice, even if their mind was still polluted by bigotry, cruelty or selfishness. If Rom from DS9 can unionize in spite of his entire species and culture, why not give a chance at better characterisation and characters for Skaven that doesn't revolve around being comically evil? Something akin to Queek's bravery and care for Ska, even if completely insane and abusive by our standards, Ska's unquestioning loyalty, Gnawdwell's refined composure and genuine pride for Queek, Sharpwit's recognition of Skaven being doomed to be trapped in their vicious cycle and never learning from any mistakes.

Source: https://twitter.com/nan_ivel/status/1460612547887910914

My motivation for writing a fanfic about Skaven is thus motivated by this unfair treatment of simultaneously portraying the Skaven as sapient and free willed individuals completely capable of forming a society woes many traits and woes of our own and other similar societies in fiction, while they are always treated as non-persons, never get any kind of diversity despite numbering trillions and stories about them that delve deeper into their psyche are practically non-existent. My story will be focused on a band of Skaven finding their own ways and detaching their personalities from the society that made them what they are, it's an escape story, a story of change, a story of experiencing and feelings things you could never put a name to. This is not necessarily a story about redemption, bad guys becoming good, the Skaven being goodie-two-shoes, it's much more about a seed of hope that exists even for cruelest and vilest of beings to change in whatever way, it's humanising Skaven in a way how our own evil is deeply human and it's about negating the idea of evil being ontological and immutable for sapient persons of free will.

The fact that there are trillions of Skaven and tens of thousands of clans should be, on the contrary, taken as a reason for the fans and creators to experiment with imagining diverse environments, individuals, sub-cultures of the Skaven society, sprawling like a tumour, growing in every which way. Similarly the fact that there is not really a lot of actual established lore about the Skaven and either very old bits that can be easily considered not even close to canon, short paragraphs that describe the trope of Skaven, but rarely go into any nuance or expand on them or things that could be very easily supplemented by additional lore, rather than be contradicted.

For example, what is the true nature of Great Horned Rat, is he even a real god of Chaos, as his aspects, domains and character seems to change all the time? Or maybe he is the truest of them, since even his nature changes chaotically, usually following the constant dynamic flux Skaven as a whole find themselves in? What is the relationship of Skaven with gender? Are breeders just an irrelevant lore tidbit that could be disregarded, or maybe it could be expanded, for example, how clans that don't have the means to purchase Moulder monstrocities operate? What of cloned Skaven? How is Skaven biology influenced by their constant misuse of warpstone, permanent overexertion, starvation and lack of sleep? Are we to believe Black Hunger isn't a psychological reaction that a half-starved sleepless human couldn't experience? A lore purist could disregard all these questions, but they'll end up without a backbone to their faction and barely anything interesting to write or ponder, apart from them being just mindless characterless beasts of ruin.

Next posts will answer these questions and go more into detail about some of my personal headcanon that informs my fic, such as diversity and function of Skaven society, their biology and its relationship with warpstone and exertion, their reproductive cycle, basic details of Blight City are the protagonists come from and what Great Horned Rat represents in essence. But, of course, that’s just my interpretation.

#skaven #warhammer fantasy #age of sigmar #fanfiction #warhammer

[intersectionalpraxis]

Hello! I hope this isn't an annoying question (I promise I'm not about to say something horrible or bigoted - I'm just shy and therfore anonymous), but I'd like to have your advice on how to go about informing people about the genocide in Palestine.

Most people that I know in-person have (quite literally) zero information about any of it, and I have no idea where to even start when informing them. It's hard to summarize everything that's been going on without overloading them with tons of information - or even boring them because I explained it poorly. Many of them have that mindset of "oh, this is bad, but there's nothing we can do," and I'd like to inform them as well as motivate them to advocate for Palestine themselves.

Sorry, this was kind of long! Thank you in advance!

Hello! It's definitely not annoying at all, thank you for your questions/inquiry.

subhi is on of the creators I always recommend following on tiktok and on instagram (if you aren't already) -their posts are both educational-based and they cover current events (for other creators on tiktok/all their platforms I'd recommend James Ray, A'isha, Dr. Nahla, fakegyllenhalal, Nuha, as well as anat_international -to name a few).

subhi created a free online crash course on Palestine that you can find here:

you can also find their page here: @/palestine.academy on Instagram:

Lets Talk Palestine on Instagram has a plethora of educational resources, too (I have followed them for years and they have helped me learn A LOT -their content has many 'beginners guides to' on their Instagram page. I also always recommend following them -here is their link tree:

Palipunk also created a Masterlist here, which they pinned on their profile, as well as fairuzfan -they have a list of helpful resources in this post that cover some of what you were worried about/how you can best address people who may not be as receptive or with whom don't know much about what is going on -I will attach it here:

These are great sources here for you to reference and/or share with the people you know in-person who would like to learn more about Palestine, from past to current, but also as a reference for you to feel more confident/comfortable talking about topics that you know about/have learned about. This is by no means extensive, but it is something I can share to give you a starting point.

I can't say I have the perfect response, but letting them know, first and foremost, you don't have to be an expert to understand that what is happening to Palestinian people is mass ethnic cleansing, and that the Israeli Occupational Forces (the IOF) are committing war crimes. If this was happening to any western/European country there would be a global outrage -like even recently Biden referred to what Putin was/is doing to Ukraine was genocide, but the systematic killing of nearly 30,000 Palestinian people is not?

And to emphasize -if they feel like nothing can be done or even after they understand/have acknowledged what is happening, you can encourage them to look into boycotting (as many Palestinian activists and allies have said -it's the least we can do), because it has been working in varying different capacities. Here is a helpful resource to look into and share with them directly if you are taking your time to go through some of the link I directed you to:

I am also nowhere near an expert on these topics, and there are plenty of Palestinian creators here and elsewhere that I follow that make content talking about Palestine that you also can look at as well (some of them are included here).

I hope this offers some more clarity, and I know there may be tough conversations ahead -and it may depend on context, but whenever I'm addressing global issues with people who don't know about what I'm talking about I usually start with "did you know about..." and if they're not receptive to something I say "do you realize what you said can come across as 'x'" and that 'x' being either insensitive, racist, sexist, xenophobic/whatever they said that is problematic. Turning the onus on them to answer for their bigotry of ignorance, and then being able to educate/inform them.

It's also never the responsibility of Palestinian people, or any person/community being oppressed by a settler/imperial/colonial force both* (fixed a typo!) currently and having a history of such to 'explain' their oppression -so please if they do look outside of the recommendations I've made, please tell them no person who has/experiences marginalization/systematic oppression has to educate them about their suffering (there are some exceptions, but my bottom line is if you don't know then do your own research). It's inappropriate and can be traumatizing/re-traumatizing to many. I'm not saying that's the case for you, but learning/unlearning is something we're all doing, and unless we attend a conference/watch a documentary/are engaging with content they create, then please be mindful of this.

Wishing you the best!

And as always, free Palestine.

#feminist #social justice #free palestine #palestine #free gaza #settler violence #freepalastine🇵🇸 #current events #current news #western imperialism #history #learning #education #unlearning #tiktok #instagram #letstalkpalestine #boycotting #boycott #bdsmovement #palestinian history #palestinian liberation #asked #colonial violence #imperialism #colonialism

[kittyprincessofcats]

Okay, let's talk about Germany

because seriously, wtf is happening to my country?

So, a few weeks ago Germany outlawed Hamas and Samidoun. And with that, our interior minister Nancy Faeser also explicitly outlawed the phrase "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free", with the reasoning that it's linked to Hamas / implies genocide against Jewish Israelis. You can now be fined or go to jail for using this phrase.

I was at a demonstration a few weeks ago that was an absolute nightmare. So, usually at the beginning, the rules for the demonstration (what is or isn't allowed to do/say) get layed out. At pro-Palestine demonstrations, there's always A LOT of police and they sometimes check protest signs in advance, too.

At this demonstation (which was organised by several Jewish organisations btw), one of the things we were chanting was "Stop the Genocide" - also a lot of other chants involving the word genocide in some way. At first, this was allowed. Then, halfway through the demonstration, the police suddenly decided that using the word "genocide" is forbidden now. Halfway through, after they were okay with it at first!

Then they arrested a Jewish Israeli woman (who they'd already wrongfully arrested once before) because her protest sign said "Stop the genocide in Gaza". Then they also arrested another person because their sign said "From the River to the Sea, we demand equality". THAT LITERALLY ISN'T EVEN THE PHRASE YOU BANNED! If you're going to ban FtRttS because it "could imply genocide against Jewish Israelis", then this changed version which makes explicitly clear what's actually meant should be fine! But nah, doesn't make a difference to them. If it starts with "From the River", you're gonna get arrested.

What shocks me the most is the arbitariness of it all. How can you just randomly decide in the middle of a demonstration, that something that was fine at first is now forbidden and then arrest people for it? I've been to demonstrations later where the word "genocide" was used again and it was fine. They literally just made up random reasons to arrest people. There's no logic behind any of it.

I've heard from other demonstrations in Germany that they apparently also arrested people for signs like "From the River we do see, nothing like equality" and "Bombing children is not self-defense" (what?). Also apparently they arrested one person for drawing the famous raised fist icon onto their poster because it "implies violence".

I don't want to live in this country anymore. What is going on? When has Germany become... this? I mean, I never thought we were super great, but I didn't think we were this.

And before anyone says that it's overcompensation for Holocaust guilt: That might play into it, but I don't think it's the real or only reason. Because the thing is, Germany didn't use to be like this. Israel-Palestine isn't exactly a new conflict and I remember that when I was younger, people from both sides were allowed to talk in talkshows etc. There's a clip on Youtube of a talkshow from 14 years ago where a CDU(!!! - big conservative/center-right party) politician talks about his trip to Palestine and the humiliations the Palestinians suffer every day and how no people would just let themselves be treated like this - nowadays you'll only hear something like this from the very left of the political spectrum and never on TV because anyone who speaks up for Palestine won't even get invited to the talkshow.

So like... what happened? Germany didn't USE to be like this. Why is EVERY party, even the Greens, suddenly talking like a copy of the AfD (extreme right-wing party, basically Nazis) and trying to paint Mulims as evil? And why are we at a point where anyone who speaks up for Palestine gets arrested and charged with "antisemitism" while actual Nazis are allowed to protest and get protected? We Germans are always so quick to call out other countries for lack of freedom of speech, so what is... THIS? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

#Germany #Palestine #racism #Free palestine #free speech #I wanna move away for real #and I'm not joking when I say I'm seriously considering it right now #only where's left? seems like the whole world is moving right-wing #long post #current events #Holocaust mention