#government areas

[fearandhatred]

the genocide is fucking crazy bc at the end of the day it's so extremely xenophobic. like it is genuinely unthinkable for this to happen to a western or white-passing country. it would be shut down so quick

#fearandhatred #like do you think any government in the world would stand for people in america being constantly bombed and killed and starved #but because it's happening in some other area of the world that these people have never thought of or knew existed before in their lives #it's so alien to them that they're not even considered human beings anymore #like do y'all realise how fucked up that is #palestine #free palestine

[reasonsforhope]

For years, the people of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation watched over their waters and waited. They had spent nearly two decades working with Canada’s federal government to negotiate protections for Kitasu Bay, an area off the coast of British Columbia that was vulnerable to overfishing.

But the discussions never seemed to go anywhere. First, they broke down over pushback from the fishing industry, then over a planned oil tanker route directly through Kitasoo/Xai’xais waters.

“We were getting really frustrated with the federal government. They kept jumping onboard and then pulling out,” says Douglas Neasloss, the chief councillor and resource stewardship director of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation. “Meanwhile, we’d been involved in marine planning for 20 years – and we still had no protected areas.”

Instead, the nation watched as commercial overfishing decimated the fish populations its people had relied on for thousands of years.

Nestled on the west coast of Swindle Island, approximately 500km north of Vancouver, Kitasu Bay is home to a rich array of marine life: urchins and abalone populate the intertidal pools, salmon swim in the streams and halibut take shelter in the deep waters. In March, herring return to spawn in the eelgrass meadows and kelp forests, nourishing humpback whales, eagles, wolves and bears.

“Kitasu Bay is the most important area for the community – that’s where we get all of our food,” Neasloss says. “It’s one of the last areas where you still get a decent spawn of herring.”

So in December 2021, when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans withdrew from discussions once again, the nation decided to act. “My community basically said, ‘We’re tired of waiting. Let’s take it upon ourselves to do something about it,’” Neasloss says.

What they did was unilaterally declare the creation of a new marine protected area (MPA). In June 2022, the nation set aside 33.5 sq km near Laredo Sound as the new Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) MPA – closing the waters of the bay to commercial and sport fishing.

It is a largely unprecedented move. While other marine protected areas in Canada fall under the protection of the federal government through the Oceans Act, Kitasu Bay is the first to be declared under Indigenous law, under the jurisdiction and authority of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation.

Pictured: "In some ways, I hope someone challenges us" … the Kitasoo/Xai’xais stewardship authority.

Although they did not wait for government approval, the Kitasoo did consult extensively: the declaration was accompanied by a draft management plan, finalised in October after three months of consultation with industry and community stakeholders. But the government did not provide feedback during that period, according to Neasloss, beyond an acknowledgment that it had received the plan...

Approximately 95% of British Columbia is unceded: most First Nations in the province of British Columbia never signed treaties giving up ownership of their lands and waters to the crown. This puts them in a unique position to assert their rights and title, according to Neasloss, who hopes other First Nations will be inspired to take a similarly proactive approach to conservation...

Collaboration remains the goal, and Neasloss points to a landmark agreement between the Haida nation and the government in 1988 to partner in conserving the Gwaii Haanas archipelago, despite both parties asserting their sovereignty over it. A similar deal was made in 2010 for the region’s 3,400 sq km Gwaii Haanas national marine conservation area.

“They found a way to work together, which is pretty exciting,” says Neasloss. “And I think there may be more Indigenous protected areas that are overlaid with something else.”

-via The Guardian, 5/3/23

#indigenous #indigenous issues #indigenous sovereignty #canada #british columbia #land back #first nations #tribal sovereignty #pacific northwest #marine protected area #conservation #sustainability #overfishing #marine science #canadian government #kitasoo-xai'xais #direct action #good news #hope

[hedgehog-moss]

French TV journalist having a hard time trying to get woman in the street to comment on Macron's latest speech yesterday

Protesters organised casserolades (aka banging on pots and pans) in front of city halls across the country at 8pm, when Macron was speaking, to symbolically drown out his voice. Later that evening, Macron was filmed singing a song with some 'random people' in a street in Paris, trying to show he can go out and meet people and have fun because protesters don't exist. The people he was singing with (members of a choir, some of whom are 'alt-right-leaning') were using a folk song app created by far-right activists that was criticised a few months ago for hosting a Spanish fascist anthem & Third Reich military marches.

The government's response was that the President "couldn't know the background of the people he met that night." Maybe if he wants to avoid being associated with the far-right (that's a big if, I know), Macron should keep in mind that with the kinds of strategies and positioning his government has adopted lately, people in the street who welcome him with open arms and are proud to be filmed with him have a higher than average likelihood of supporting fascism.

#genre hier darmanin qui dit qu'il faut sanctionner les gens au RSA et aujourd'hui le maire pour qui fraudeur = maghrébin... #also the far-right ppl who made that song lyric app got 40K€ of public funding from the ministry of culture #our government is 'questioning' public funding for the human rights league but not this #so yeah this is just 1 thing out of the avalanche of bullshit the government keeps unleashing these days #i could have made a post about the minister of the interior; a known rapist; saying #that french people are angry about the reform but ''they swallowed it'' #that was yesterday; this week is going well so far #cool thing that happened last week is that the film director who won the césar des lycéens award #made a speech in the presence of the minister of education in which he said #''it must be hard to be minister of education for a president whose words and actions reflect the opposite #of the values school is supposed to teach the youth: contempt rather than respect; dictating rather than dialoguing'' (etc) #also last week when macron went to notre-dame and of course forbade protests in the area #so protesters hopped on a boat and protested on the seine next to notre-dame #frpol

[just-your-average-cryptid]

most of us have heard of the red car game. you’re on a road trip, you’re bored, you start looking for red cars to do something.

and then they’re everywhere. you notice them nearly every few minutes.

there aren’t suddenly more red cars now, of course. you were seeing them already, but you weren’t noticing. you weren’t looking.

I am noticing things.

there is a plant I notice everywhere now, a small bushy plant in suburbs, along streets, by shops on the highways. dwarf umbrella bush is what the internet tells me when I look for it’s name. I did this because I wanted to know why,

every time I ever saw it, every place,

it was always dying. always the leaves turning yellow, the branches small and scraggly. inside out - nitrogen deficiency. their soil drained.

I am noticing how many of these landscaping plants are yellowing, how small and sickly they look in just a few years. I am noticing how often the grass outside the house is replaced when it once again turns brown and dry, how the type never changes and the cycle starts again. I am noticing how the unmowed, unkempt spaces on lakesides and roadsides look more alive than this. how the preserve I grew up next to was miles of “messy” unmanicured nature and the ground was covered in leaves instead of grass and there was life.

I am noticing the birds that come by the lake. there was a flash of blue wings and red chest - eastern bluebird, male, relatively common. I had never seen one before. there is a family of ducks that appear every spring; i cannot say if it’s successive generations or different ducks, but I can always look forward to ducklings. there are little brown birds with white heads whose names I do not know - are they some kind of piper? why don’t I already know?

why is it so hard to learn about my native plants (accurately, that is)? why are so many gardening sites littered with people who think a plants value is based on how pretty or useful it is to them, who think a tree shedding leaves is “messy”?

why is knowing about the world we live in so… odd? why is it a hobby and not vital knowledge? I learned about polar equations. I taught myself about mycorrhizal networks and species of insects.

(did you know there are shiny green bees? a special species of wasp pollinating figs? that white flowers bloom at night for moths? do you know? have you looked?)

I cannot look at a lawn and see life anymore. it is a wasteland, devoid of life, dying slowly itself. everywhere is grass, grass, doused in water that runs over into storm drains, soaked in fertilizer and pesticides and a hundred other poisons and sending one clear message:

this is a place of death. life is not welcome here.

I do not think I could live in a city. too loud, yes, too busy, yes, too many people, yes, but the plants would bother me. a tree allotted only a convenient square, surrounded by dead stone and metal.

a forest cleared for this, for burning asphalt streets and racing cars and shops whose bathrooms are “for paying customers only”.

this is a place of death. life is not welcome here.

and now I am noticing.

#it speaks #idk man this is stream of consciousness and it’s midnight lol #I’m having thoughts about plants and people and how much I hate lawns #anti lawn #firmly believe that nature knowledge should be taught in school #yeah there’s biology but biology won’t teach you what plants are edible or deadly #or what birds live/migrate in your area and what they depend on #they teach civics bc even if you’re not politically active you should know how the government works #if you live in a world you should know how it works #bc even if it feels like it doesn’t matter. it does. it will. and if you notice it now you can do something about it

[marzipanandminutiae]

still not over the absolutely braindead take that "if you say brutalism looks dystopian, you care more about your aesthetic than people having homes!!!!"

like

can't criticize Shein or you must want their workers to be unemployed

oh you don't like that restaurant? guess you want the people eating there to STARVE

fuck both roses AND bread; nutrient-dense gray EnergyCubes would keep you alive so wishing for a better sensory experience is basically capitalist bootlicking

(I agree that considering Soviet-era brutalist apartment buildings in the context of "shit we need housing; put something up quick" is important for those specific structures- though I think that can coexist with "wow that's ugly" -but. this person did not stop there)

#hot takes #the discourse #the main brutalist structure in my area resulted from tearing down an entire neighborhood of working-class homes and businesses #and it's a government building- not residential or commercial #so I guess now YOU ~care more about your aesthetic than people having homes~ #like dude you can enjoy a style of architecture without it being That Deep #I don't think everyone who dislikes High Victorian Addams Family Nonsense (my favorite) is a shill for big developers #(except the developers and house-flippers; fuck them)

[cascadiums]

it's really funny to me that Arthur crashed the boat and everyone gossiped so much about it that it got back to Jack and Quincey

#dracula daily #you know everyone who lives in the area was down the pub that night talking about these weird english boys #'first they pretended they were government officials and then they smashed into the bank. oh and one guy had a huge knife for some reason'

[leroibobo]

ezekiel's tomb in al kifl, iraq is believed by jews and muslims to house the body of the biblical prophet ezekiel, with shi'ites specifically believing the site has its roots on a shrine built by the prophet abraham. the tomb itself was built in the 7th century. today, it's a part of the al-nukhailah mosque complex, built by ilkhanate ruler abu sa'id bahadur khan in the 14th century.

until the mid-20th century, thousands of iraqi jews used to make pilgrimage to the tomb on passover. the rule of saddam hussein saw many of the jewish inscriptions covered in white paint or removed, but they've since been restored.

#iraq #architecture #interior #worship #jewish #mizrahi #muslim #shared space #my posts #there was recently a scammer in iraq who ''found'' a fake jewish text of some sort (which was found to be fake later) #and the iraqi government called the very obvious hebrew letters ''aramaic inscriptions'' #aramaic can be written in hebrew letters (especially judeo-aramaic) but thats very much not what they were implying lmao #especially considering the jewish community in that area wasn't one of the ones using judeo-aramaic #i mean the alternative to this was the iraqi kurdish govt faking having a jewish guy in a fake ''department of jewish affairs''

[dandelion-wings]

On thing about Mondstadt’s government that bothers me is that everybody boils it down to just the Knights on one side, and the Church on the other. Which, sure, they’re what we know the most about…

But it completely ignores the ‘Community Representative’. Considering their signature is one of three needed to (legally) make use of the Holy Lyre, alongside the Grandmaster and the Seneschal, they must be pretty damn important. So assuming they have equal power to those positions, which are at the head of the Knights and the Church respectively, what actually is that power? Presumably it’s an elected position (the title is that of a ‘representative’, plus I would be severely disappointed if there wasn’t even a hint of democracy in the Nation of Freedom), but is there a structure under it similar to the Knights and Church? Is there a completely separate civilian, secular government that for some reason just barely comes up? If it is elected, how is that handled? If both Grandmaster Varka and the Seneschal are on expedition, does that mean they hold more authority than Acting Grandmaster Jean and whoever is Acting Seneschal (assuming an acting-title’s authority, though still above everything else below the proper-title, is still considered secondary to that of said proper-title)? But if so, why hasn’t it come up? Or is it just some guy elected to act as a more expedient alternative to something like a full referendum?

God, I have an education in history and political science that is just begging for some damn answers!

I mean, I don't have an education in those things and am not real good at working those things out myself, so I don't know that I can provide you too much useful commentary here. XD;; But while I'd love if Mondstadt did have some democracy, I... am pretty convinced that it's a theocracy, actually. The Knights and the Church (which tbh seems to exist under the overall umbrella of the Ordo, given that Jean says in her voiceline about Barbara that "the order also manages the Church") fulfill pretty much all the governmental functions we actually see happening at all, including the whole thing in Jean's quest where Charles expects tax forms from her.

I'll admit I also lean that way because I read into Mondstadt as a whole (its history but also our introduction to it, where Amber initially nabs us for unauthorized entry and then there's a whole early section about gliding regulations) a theme of humans repeatedly being given freedom, and gradually rebuilding restrictions upon themselves. Which I don't think is entirely a bad thing, in that I do think communities generally function better with organization and administration and such, but, like, Mondstadt has gone all the way into tyranny before and could again. Mondstadt building itself an increasingly restrictive theocracy feeds into the theme I like drawing from it, so of course that's the reading I tend towards! But, still, that's where I'm at about it.

(I draw a lot of my read of this national theme from the line, "Mondstadt is the City of Freedom, but unchecked freedom without any kind of rules only invites chaos and anxiety," in Jean's character details, and I haven't seen anyone else talk about it, ever, so it's entirely possible this is actually character brainrot I'm projecting onto the city as a whole. I'm fine with that.)

Presumably there is a further government apparatus, but I tend to believe it's probably under the higher authority of the Ordo. Maybe with checks and balances, maybe not (exactly how I arrange the setup for fic where it's needed is specific to individual fic, because the openness of canon leaves the kind of room that makes it easiest to go with what works for the plot). "Community Representative" on its own is very vague; looking at the line where it actually appears, it's talking about the Holy Lyre in the context of the Ludi Harpastrum, so it could even be a role specific to the yearly organization of that particular festival! That said, it does sound a bit more like it's a regular thing, and given my presumption of theocracy above, I think this:

Or is it just some guy elected to act as a more expedient alternative to something like a full referendum?

honestly is the most likely possibility. It would make sense given Mondstadt's ethos and history--you have a representative of the community to sign off on certain decisions (hopefully elected, as you said, but who knows exactly how it happens), like that one about the Lyre, to show that the people agree. Possibly it's a triangle with the Grand Master at the top and the Seneschal (given the above "manages the Church" line) and Community Representative as equals who have input but not ultimate power on the next level down, possibly they both exist largely to rubberstamp the Grand Master and Seneshal's decisions, possibly it's an area-of-authority divide. Regardless of the exact divisions, Jean does seem to have some fairly unilateral powers in the areas of domestic defense and peacekeeping, but that's... something you do want the head of your military-and-police order to have, generally, so who knows how broad her powers actually are to act without the Seneschal and Representative's approval in other areas. The game is, as always, frustratingly uninformative.

Anyway, tl;dr: my personal reading of Mondstadt tends to render the Community Representative as relatively unimportant, despite the equal billing in that quest, because over and over again in quests and lore and voicelines we don't see anything but "the Ordo handles things," and Mondstadt honestly makes most sense to me as a theocratic city-state. I think they're more likely a representative "voice" in the government than a significant power, and I don't think they represent any significant "third branch" other than possibly, given Mondstadt's history, a symbolic reminder that its people have toppled tyrants before and can do so again.

#asked and answered #knight meta #(i tbh am not great at worldbuilding government stuff which does not help this answer #i am fairly confident about building out internal stuff for the knights specifically #because i am familiar with law-enforcement structure and procedure from the inside and tend to just transfer it #but we get so little lore that full-system speculation is putting together pieces into shapes i don't have the same personal experience for #so sorry if this answer is disappointing anon. it's not my area of experience) #the shape of teyvat

[soldier-poet-king]

My 14 yr old brother called me an 'english teacher (derogatory)' last night at dinner for jokingly pointing out that our mother likes the pixar movie Cars because it follows the same narrative structure as a hallmark movie. ....Fellas....are you a highschool english teacher for making very basic thematic connections between pieces of media?? As a joke???

Not to be An Old Person at the tender age of 27 but 'the curtains are blue' anti-intellectual discourse, esp prevalent on social media, has done infinite and potentially irreparable damage to these kids and their reading comprehension + critical thinking skills

#hes like. well. i hate reading but i wish i liked it for the aesthetic. #EXCUSE ME???? #also 0 attention span. #not to be like. ur always on ur damn phone. BUT FOR REAL #ABSOLUTELY ZERO READING COMPREHENSION #this was after brother 1 went on an anti immigration rant #and said the government shouls force all immigrants to canada #to move to the prairies or other less populared areas #and not toronto. bc that would fix the housing crisis. according to him #and if they dont like it they can go back to their bad countries. according to him #they should be grateful. according to him #ofc he would never want to live in rural Saskatchewan #but he said oh if they really want work theyll find jobs there. #dear friends. i am so committed to nonviolence and yet i am so regularly filled with blinding rage #not to b like i lowkey think its good his gf of 4 yrs broke up with him #but she uh. deserved better #the duality of fran #to be clear i am not dunking on Saskatchewan. i personally am not a rural prairie person #but that's just me. i am simply quoting my asshole brother here

[max-nolastname]

Gotham Knights in Montreal (Oct 2023)

Film (Pentax K1000, 400)

Nightwing by Jonathan Bergeron

Robin by Kevin Ledo

Batgirl by L.A.L.A.

Red Hood by Mort

#gotham knights #nightwing #robin #batgirl #red hood #dc #batman #film #photography #did i take precious time in my very limited vacation schedule to hunt down 4 batman murals? #you bet your sweet ass I did #i ran out of daylight with barbara's mural and i had a flight leaving the next day its why she looks like that #tracking down their murals was fr a side quest that took 4 days but wow did i have fun doing it #anyways if ur a batman fan in mtl.........check these out cause theyre all in the plateau mile end area #might as well tag their government names #dick grayson #tim drake #barbara gordon #jason todd #montreal is very gotham actually there's a catholic church on every block and rent is cheap as hell

[3-aem]

I spent 3 hours this morning doing the final master trial level in botw and died on what was apparently the last level of it i am just gonna draw gojo nobody talk to me ever again

#i fucked up critically in 2 areas apparently #one was i missed a chest with 3 ancient arrows #2 was when i killed a lynel for the multishot #forgot i had it #panicked at the level where they make u face off with 6 guardians and did not use that bow with the multishot #that was great #great so Nice #I'm not gonna be attempting that any time soon again #also will be doing my taxes to feel like a normal adult #i still need the government to explain why i have to do them #if they're gonna just do them anyway to make sure I'm not lying #are we creating jobs here or what #bc i think those jobs can still exist even if society doesn't do them #like maybe we can just check the math that the government does #and not the other way around? #is this system here to aid and abeit tax evasion

[cuddlycryptid]

America is definitely a colonization state, but you can’t say the same thing about Israel

That’s erasing thousands of years of Jewish history

imagine saying the state literally committing a genocide in order to colonize and ethnically cleanse an entire civilization and history is. not engaging in violent colonialism

the government is not the same entity as everyone who has ever lived there or ever contributed to the culture and history of judaism. the israeli state is committing atrocities and some of its population contributes obviously (idf). but you need to separate the israeli state from people who are jewish and ppl who happen to have been born there but disagree with the genocide. pretending like critiquing the state automatically includes these groups, or has anything to do with jewish history or culture, is a tool used to deflect accusations of the war crimes israel is actively committing. please think critically

#WHY R U DEFENDING ISRAEL RN #OR EQUATING IT WITH JUDAISM?? #the usa is a christian state. when i talk abt the usa im not talking abt catholicism #do u understand #my friend was born and raised in israel. she is jewish. she is not committing war crimes #like. the ppl who live in an area of the world have nothing to do with the political actions the government takes #this is such an incredibly braindead take #if u dont understand the nuance of the situation PLEASE just take a back seat on these convos #and just try to empathize with the ppl getting fucking genocided #palestine #israel #wren answers #politics #world events

[sundaysundya]

there's a post going around saying that jewish people would be considered settlers (perjorative) anywhere they went that's annoying me because it fundamentally misunderstands what settler colonialism is. Moving somewhere and joining an existing community isn't being destructive, and those who claim it is are xenophobes and racists, and historically have been being antisemitic when saying this to jewish peoples in various countries! On the other hand zionists creating settlements on the west bank and telling palestians who are Also indigenous to the land that they have to leave on pain of death (or just killing them up front) is a totally different situation. It's just not true that it's impossible to go anywhere without displacing people. I think that recognizing that jewish ppl have been and are frequently targeted by xenophobia can be really clearly separated from the criticisms being made of Israel and zionist ideology.

#personally also just so familiar with this rhetoric in india #like historic oppression of hindus in some areas of india does not negate the current situation #which is a hindu right wing facistic government oppressing a muslim minority #generations have passed! no one here has experienced anything but this situation! #sandhya thinks #anyways the whole convo frustrates me because it's like #the whole western world's interest in this as well as the israeli government's is just the resources and strategic location #in the middle east #not to mention being too antisemitic to actually just welcome jewish people without restriction in other countries #and commit to making it safe #also i am not smart if any of u take issue w whatever im saying lmk

[local-magpie]

ngl considering the increasing focus i see in leftists on walkable cities, public transport, and other urban features, im... really not surprised people keep thinking "rural" just means south. rural folk really are invisible huh

#fwiw im not rural i just used to live in appalachia and did a little work with local governments #its just... extremely different. the problems are different. and it feels like very little is being done to solve them #biden has actually made some good steps #but like does the average leftist even know how bad access to utilities and internet can be in rural areas #i know a mayor who's also a full time sanitation worker while full time mayor because theres no one else #plenty of villages in southern ohio straight up dont have internet access at all #i know another mayor who has to travel out of his village to check his business email #wheres the campaigns for infrastructure to those who dont have any?? #yes yes people can care about more than one thing sure #but one of these i see everywhere #and one of these ive seen discussed like three times and once was literally just me talking into the void #yelling at the void

[ca-dmv-bot]

Customer: THE AREA WHERE MY BUSINESS IS LOCATED DMV: 818 AREA CODE Verdict: DENIED

#California license plate with text 818 AREA #bot #ca-dmv-bot #california #dmv #funny #government #lol #public records

[definitelynotnia]

normalise saying "I don't have enough information on this topic to have an opinion on it"

and then staying out of it completely rather than going along with wtv opinion u imprinted from three random posts/reels/tweets and having weird misinformed debates with full confidence

#like bro it's ok to not have an opinion on something if you don't know just say i don't know and move on #there's too many fucked up things going on in the world it's perfectly natural to not have proper information on a topic of debate #just remove yourself from said debate theres no needto go marching in with limited information and spreading even more misinformation #i see so many people around my age posting random political stuff be it religious or about lgbtq or women even and they haven't read #a single article about any of these topics ever #their only source is sketchy social media posts or “dark jokes” about a certain community making them think it's cool to shit on them #or random “sigma” edits of things and suddenly the most random stuff becomes everyone's favourite mainstream political affiliation #like have you read a single policy pertaining to this government or do you have a single reason for violently hating a certain community #i understand that some people are genuinely interested in these topics and that is absolutely wonderful it's great that young people have #opinions and commentary on world issues but only when this stems from an area of genuine interest and when at least some effort to be #factual is made not when it's only done because everyone else is doing it and they have some weird sort of fomo at work or they just think #it's funny or wtv without understanding the implications of their words and actions #no one is forcing you to involve yourself in every social issue but the moment you choose to make commentary on a social issue you must take #the responsibility of educating yourself as best you can before you open your mouth