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#if they can be arrested peacefully

thethief1996 · 6 months

Text

I can't stop thinking about the news out of Palestine. Israel is sieging al Shifa hospital. Videos of people's limbs being severed off are haunting (graphic video tw). The hospital has ran out of fuel and 39 babies in incubators are fending for their lives by themselves, because Israel has stationed snipers around the hospital and is shooting all medical crew that walks into their sight.

First, the narrative was Israel would never bomb hospitals. Now, the hospitals are Hamas bases. Then, we respect journalists. Now, we have a fucking kill list of journalists because they are Hamas collaborators. First, we are not letting fuel in until the hostages are released. Now, we are not accepting the hostages back because that would stop our ground invasion and let Hamas win. And I could go on about every single lie they're making up. If you look up "Hamas rape" on google, the first link leads to Times of Israel saying Israel has found no forensic evidence of sexual violence, and only one eyewitness testimony out of 3.5k people attending the rave. If you Google "Hamas beheaded babies" the top links say they have no evidence for the claim besides word of mouth from extremist soldiers. Israeli extremists think about the ugliest goriest scene they can make out in their sick heads, tell that to a international journalist and they run away with it like it's gospel.

And children are being killed in the name of these lies. Thousands are being displaced in images that remind me of the pictures of Tantura 75 years ago, with their hands up so the tanks don't shoot them. Amputees are leaving the hospitals in wheelchairs hours after their surgeries because they are being shot at. Elders who survived the Nakba on 48 are having to walk towards Southern Gaza on foot (imagine walking from one end of your city to the other on foot), displaced again. People are cheering for the haunting images of white phosphorus bombs being dropped over Gaza. Gazan workers who were arrested in the West Bank are being thrust back into the bombings wearing numbered labels.

This is not normal. We are seeing the early stages of the settler colonial genocide of an indigenous population. Native leaders who have visited Gaza say its refugee camps look eerily like reservations. We can stop this. For the first time we are able to see wide scale accounts from the hands of the people suffering the genocide, and Israel is so scared of it they have cut all communications in Gaza.

This is our litmus test. I think we have never seen more clearly, with Palestine, Armenia, Congo and Sudan how colonialism has made our world a rotten place to live in.

The South African apartheid collapsed due to boycotts. We have to do everything in our power to stop Israel's hegemony. Even talking to a group of friends about Palestine changes the status quo. There's no world where we can live peacefully if Israel accomplishes their goals.

Keep yourself updated and share Palestinian voices. Muna El-Kurd said every tweet is like a treasure to them, because their voices are repressed on social media and even on this very app. Make it your action item to share something about the Palestinian plight everyday. Here are some resources:

Al Jazeera, Anadolu Agency, Mondoweiss

Boycott Divest Sanction Movement

Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing protests and direct action against weapons factories across the US

Mohammed El-Kurd (twitter / instagram)

Muhammad Shehada (twitter)

Motaz Azaiza (instagram) - reporting directly from Gaza.

Hind Khudary - reporting directly from Gaza. Her husband and daughter moved South to run from the tanks but she stayed behind to record the genocide. The least we can do is not let her calls fall on deaf ears.

You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Don't be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. BDS explicitly targets only a few brands which have bigger impact. You can stop consuming from as many brands as you want, though, and by all means feel free to give a 1 star review to McDonalds, Papa John, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Starbucks. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting the following:

Carrefour, HP, Puma, Sabra, Sodastream, Ahava cosmetics, Israeli fruits and vegetables

Push for a cultural boycott - pressure your favorite artist to speak out on Palestine and cancel any upcoming performances on occupied territory (Lorde cancelled her gig in Israel because of this. It works.)

If you can, participate in direct action or donate.

Palestine Action works to shut down Israeli weapons factories in the UK and USA, and have successfully shut down one of their firms in London.Some of the activists are going on trial and are calling for mobilizing on court.

Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing direct actions to stop the shipping of wars to Israel. Follow them.

Educate yourself. Read into Palestinian history and the occupation. You can't common sense people out of decades of propaganda. If your arguments crumble when a zionist brings up the "disengagement of Gaza", you have to learn more.

Read Decolonize Palestine. They have 15 minute reads that concisely explain the occupation (and its colonial roots) and debunk popular myths, including pinkwashing.

Read on Palestine. Here's an amazing masterpost.

Verso Book Club is giving out free books on Palestine (I personally downloaded Ten Myths about Israel by Ilan Pappe. If you still believe in the two states solution, this book by an Israeli professor debunks it).

Call your representatives. The Labour Party in the UK had an emergency meeting after several councilors threatened to resign if they didn't condemn Israeli war crimes. Calling to show your complaints works, even more if you live in a country that funds genocide.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls, here's a document that autosends emails to your representatives and here's a toolkit by Ceasefire in Gaza NOW!

FOR PEOPLE IN EUROPE: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace targeting the European Parliament and one specific for almost all countries in Europe, including Germany, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Greece, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Austria, Belgium Romania and Ukraine

FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails

FOR PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA: Here's a toolkit by Stand With Palestine

FOR PEOPLE IN CANADA: Here's a toolkit by Indepent Jewish Voices for Canada

Join a protest. Here's a constantly updating list of protests:

Global calendar

Another global calendar (go to the instragram of the organizers to confirm your protest)

USA calendar

Australia calendar

Feel free to add more.

#free palestine #free gaza #save gaza #gaza under attack

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luveline · 8 months

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hi! your stories are so captivating😍 Thank you so much for doing them!

If you feel inspired I would love to see a story of Spencer x badass reader where she physically defends him from an unsub and/or verbally from someone they are working with like a cop or something

tysm! ♡ 1k

Sweat drips into your eye.

It follows a line down your cheek like a teardrop and hits your swat vest with a thud. Quiet has settled with the heat, a blanket encompassing everything, your one drop of sweat enough to give you away. The unsub stills at his computer screen, white light bouncing against his jaw. He looks up like he's looking for rain.

He turns right first. He sees Spencer.

"FBI," Spencer announces steadily.

You point your weapon at his chest. "Put your hands up and stand against the wall."

Cory doesn't look like he's going to surrender so easily. "You have three children upstairs," you say, though it's not true. The children sit outside in foil blankets, and with any luck they'll be taken somewhere safer before the arrest. "Three young children who love you. What do you want them to think of you now? Come peacefully."

Cory's face rippled with rage quickly masked. He sits back from his computer and pauses. Then, slowly, he puts his hands against the wall.

"Reid," Morgan instructs, at your left, his gun similarly trained.

Spencer moves forward to handcuff him. It's not your normal routine but it isn't out of your jurisdiction, quieter arrests often mean you act as cops rather than full-fledged agents. "Cory Harrison, you are under arrest for the homicide of Tara Harrison. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say–"

The handcuffs clink as they're whipped from Spencer's grasp, one cuff open, the other closed around Cory's wrist, the links brought unapologetic to the pale curve of Spencer's throat.

Spencer grabs for his gun. Cory pulls the cuffs tight, forcing Spencer closer to his chest and choking the air from his throat.

You reposition your aim. Another drop of sweat curves past your eyebrow. The basement humidity and your panic threaten to blind you.

"Let him go," Morgan says sharply.

"I'll shoot you if I have to."

Cory scoffs at you. "And shoot through string bean?"

You tense your finger against the trigger of your glock. "I have good aim," you say simply.

You have no intention of firing. Cory has a standard issue pair of handcuffs to his discretion. He isn't big or muscled enough to kill Spencer bare-handed, not quickly, and he's on unsure footing.

You step closer. Cory snarls. "Stay back. I'll kill him, you stupid bitch–"

Men. Cory killed his defenceless wife with rohypnol and a rope and now he thinks he can win a fight against two agents trained extensively (admittedly one more than the other) in defence. He's lucky Spencer's in the way —you would've attempted to push his nose into his brain. As it stands, you hook your leg between his and Spencer's, your teammate more than aware of the manoeuvre you're about to pull. With one hand you pull the cuff links cruelly up against Spencer's neck but away, most importantly, allowing him the room to dive from Cory's grasp, and with the other you tuck your gun out of Cory's reach. His arms up, his stomach open, you pull your leg behind his knee and grate your foot down his calf.

He collapses to the floor. You stomp your foot into his groin.

Morgan saves you the chore of cuffing him a second time. He reads the Miranda Rights by heart as you catch your breath, stepping back into Spencer's open hands.

You relax at his touch. He's alright, he–

"Did I hurt you?" you ask, spinning on your heel.

Spencer pouts at you, irked at being worried after. "Of course you didn't."

"Your neck, I almost choked you like he was," you say, mindful of the agents and specialists flooding the room to secure the crime scene and any evidential material.

Spencer lifts his chin. "Doesn't hurt."

There's a rubbed red line up the column of his throat, but it could be worse. You finally wipe the sweat from your face, exhausted and ecstatic that you got the bad guy.

"Come on," Spencer says.

You follow him outside. In the grass yard waits medical, parked along the entirety of the street stands law enforcement. Hotch nods at you as you return and you take it as a job well done, slouching against the side of a cop car to take a breather.

"You okay?" Spencer asks.

You grab for his hand without looking at him. His fingers are warm, neat as they slot through yours. "Why do they always pick on you?" you ask.

Hotch's voice startles you, but you don't take back your hand. "They underestimate him," he says. "And you. Do you need anything? You're looking…"

"I'm fine." You're tired, too hot, and the short-lived adrenaline of a confrontation is crashing. "Thanks, Hotch."

He trudges away. Spencer draws closer as you bend forward, his hand on your back. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"No, I feel awful. I feel sick," you confess.

He's the only person you'd ever admit it to. You crave his comfort. Spencer must read your mind (or more likely, the twitch of your sore back), his hand landing in the space between your shoulders as he crowds you. "That makes sense. High stress situations make us nauseous because of the fight or flight response. Our body's aren't good at keeping neurotransmitters where they're meant to be. Adrenaline mostly, but cortisol too. It's probably the norepinephrine that's making you feel sick."

"How do I make it calm down?"

"Just take a deep breath," he says, rubbing your back.

You breathe in and out until the sick feeling subsides. Spencer prompts you into standing tall.

"You know everything," you say fondly, touching his elbow. "Thank you."

He nudges you. "Thank you for defending me."

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid oneshot #spencer reid scenario #spencer reid drabble #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds x reader

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dostoyevsky-official · 5 days

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in most cases, as i've written before, what happens on campus is a matter for those on campus, not for the newspapers. but a few days ago, the new president of columbia, after a mccarthyite investigation by congress, during which she was questioned whether or not god damns columbia and stated that she is surveilling faculty, ordered the police to arrest students expressing their right to free speech; suspended a number of others, including ilhan omar's daughter, for which she received republican praise, barring them from their dorms and giving them only 15 minutes to collect their belongings before throwing them out; arrested legal observers at the encampment; and is now making it difficult for professors to access their offices and classrooms by requiring a police escort. this is an unconscionable attack on students doing nothing more than peacefully protesting the war in gaza and the university's financial investments in israel. there is no antisemitism, no harassment, no endangerment—save the endangerment from an unwarranted police presence and the kicking of 20 year olds out to the curb. it has since spiralled beyond campus, bringing together students, adjuncts, and academics from CUNY, NYU, and other city universities; similar encampments have popped up at universities across the country.

courtesy of a law professor:

Second, although President Shafik’s decision to invite the NYPD on campus to arrest students may have been within her formal authority, it breaks with an informal settlement that had been in place for more than a half-century. The last time the university called the cops on student protesters was April 1968;* that episode ended so bitterly and bloodily that it yielded a norm of police noninvolvement. Since 1968, student protesters have repeatedly occupied Low Library, blockaded Hamilton Hall, held sit-ins in administrative offices, waged hunger strikes, staged walkouts, and more. Some of these protests led to disciplinary code charges. None elicited a criminal law enforcement response. This week’s encampment on the South Lawn posed a difficult problem for the university administration, to be sure, but not one that was different in kind, duration, or disruptiveness from scores of post-1968 protests. When the next extended student demonstration occurs, it will be hard to resist pressure to call in the cops again. Third, the most serious charge that President Shafik leveled against the student protesters, that their encampment created a “harassing and intimidating environment,” was made without the benefit of any factfinding process.** “Discriminatory harassment,” defined to include the creation of “an intimidating … environment,” is prohibited by Columbia’s Standards & Discipline policy. But that policy, and the procedural protections that come with it, does not seem to have been applied here. This suggests that the university deemed the protesters’ expressive conduct, as well as their occupation of the lawn, to be in violation of the Rules of University Conduct. Yet while the Rules allow the restriction of “expression that constitutes a genuine threat of harassment,” President Shafik offered no examples of such threats, nor to my knowledge have any been reported. If this finding of harassment is based on the discomfort some feel from the presence or message of the encampment, then the harassment concept—intended to set an objective standard that preserves a wide berth for provocative speech—has become an engine of viewpoint discrimination. Either way, its application to this case indicates that the president’s office now believes it can make such fraught judgments summarily and unilaterally. Other examples of recent ruptures might be added to the list. In the jettisoning of these institutional norms, one throughline is the prioritization of immediate objectives over longer-term considerations of academic autonomy and democratic self-governance—considerations that the norms had developed, however imperfectly, to protect. In the university as in the wider world, crisis has thus led not only to rising repression but also to the consolidation of presidential power.

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blackbirdi · 2 months

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Marauders Incorrect Quotes #2

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius: If the moon is made out of cheese and Saturn is six, how many pancakes can you eat on Mars?

James: Yellow.

Sirius: The correct answer is ‘packing peanuts’.

James: *Eyes eyes widening in realization* Oh, I see. If you carry the two and —

Remus: *Clearly in distress* WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?

———————————

Sirius: *Absolutely ecstatic* DUDE! ALL MY FRIENDS HAVE BIRTHDAYS THIS YEAR!

Remus: *Under his breath* What in the actual fuck!?

———————————

Sirius: Regulus Black … otherwise known as ‘the poor man’s Sirius Black’.

Remus: No one calls him that except you.

———————————

*AU where no one died and Harry goes to muggle school still cause Lily wanted him to experience it.*

Lily: Harry got sent home from school today.

James: Oh? What happened now?

Harry: *Age seven, smiling up at James as he recites* My dad is beauty, my dad is grace, my dad is not afraid to punch you in the face!

Lily:

James: *Trying not to cry*

———————————

Remus: *Peacefully talking to Lily* When I was younger I used to be made fun of a lot.

The rest of the Marauders: *Appear out of butt fuck nowhere and slamming a piece of parchment and quill down in front of Remus* Write their names down and we will make them pay!

Remus:

Lily:

———————————

Sirius: I’m the most chill person I know.

Remus: Yesterday we went to McDonald’s and they accidentally gave you the wrong McFlurry, so you stood on the counter and screamed ‘YOU MCFUCKED UP!’ and then proceeded to throw the McFlurry at them.

Sirius: … And?

———————————

Sirius: Why are you always smiling?

James: Because my whole life is a joke.

———————————

Remus: What colour is James’s shirt?

Sirius: Grey.

Peter: Light grey.

Remus: Go on, tell them what colour you thought it was.

James: … Dark white.

———————————

Lily: *Scolding the Marauders after they get pissed drunk* Alcohol is not the answer!

Sirius: *Quite obviously drunk* But it certainly makes you forget the question.

———————————

James: Why are you looking at us through a fork?

Remus: I’m pretending you guys are in jail.

Sirius: Why?

Remus: It’s spiritual healing.

———————————

Muggle Police Officer: You’re under arrest for carrying three people on this motorcycle!

Sirius, who had been driving: Wait, three?

Muggle Police Officer: *Slightly confused* …Yes…?

James: WHEN DID PETER FALL OFF?

Remus: *Muttering under his breath* I told you guys this was a stupid idea.

#marauders #marauders era #marauders incorrect quotes #incorrect marauders quotes #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #lily evans #regulus black #jily #moony wormtail padfoot and prongs #moony #padfoot

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rwby-encrusted-blog · 3 months

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Penny: HUNTSMAN! You are under arrest for vigilan-

Jaune (The Huntsman): ... Hail ... Fair Maiden? Of Whom I've never met?

Penny: ...

Jaune: Are you well? You stopped speaking suddenly.

Roman: Hey, Tinker Toy! We're kind of in the middle of something!

Jaune: Do not refer to her as that! Metal she may be, But she is more than a mere plaything!

Penny: A-Apologies! I was shocked by your face!

Jaune: Oh ...

Roman: Hah!

Penny: In a positive Fashion! You appear very similar to a friend, and are very handsome!

Jaune: Oh! You are very Beautiful yourself P- Erm, INterloper! But with your assistance The thief Roman Torchwick shall finally meet Justice!

//WARNING! CORE TEMPERATURE RISING//

Penny: Beautiful? Beautiful!?!? *Ahem* You are both under arrest! Please lay your weapons down and come peacefully!

Roman: *Climbing out a window* Sorry Love-Machine! But I got an Airship to catch!

Penny: *Blushing* I do not understand to what you are referring! Halt at Once!

Jaune: *Blushing, beginning to run after him* Yes! Cease your escape!

Penny: You are under arrest as well!

Jaune: He is a Violent thief, and I have stopped his assaults on several occasions! We should work together! *He Holds out his hand* Pray, let us join forces to end his reign of terror!

Penny: ... *Blushes harder, takes his hand* Very well! Let us arrest Roman Torchwick!

~One Epic Chase and Fight scene later~

Roman: *Tied up* I am getting really tired of the teenagers and their dumb superpowers!

Penny: As I have stated, you have the right to remain silent!

Roman: And as I've stated before, I choose to waive that Right! LAAAAAAAA-

Jaune: *Punches Roman*

Roman: Hrk-

Penny: Thank you for making him Quiet. I would have but that would be very disgraceful.

Jaune: Not a problem. He was always a little mouthy beyond the banter.

Penny: And thank you for your assistance in his arrest. You managed to move Civilians out of the way and keep property damage to a minimum. *She takes out restraints* Unfortunately, you are still under arrest. If you come peacefully, and do well in your hearing, I'm certain the Atlas Military would be willing to bring you in, and truly hone them to perfection.

Jaune: *he steps forward* Thank you, but I cannot let that happen. I focus on the common folk, the Downtrodden and Forgotten. If I were to join the military, I would have to abandon them.

Jaune: *Stepping Closer* But I see the brightness sin your soul, the kindness in your words, and the care in your actions.

Jaune: *Face to face with Penny* We are birds of a feather - We have the same hopes and desires, but we are worlds apart. You do your job well, and I do mine. *He cups Penny's chin* And while I can't leave with you, perhaps I can leave you with this. *Jaune closes his eyes*

Penny: ... *Closes her eyes and tilts her head*

*Click*

Penny: *Opens Eyes, sees The Huntsman Sprinting away*

Penny: *Looks at wrist, is restrained*

Roman: HAHAHAH! HAHAHA- HAHAHA! OH MY GODS! THAT WAS HILARIOUS!

Roman: Gods, I remember the first time some shit like that happened to me. I was so pissed-

Penny: *Tears arm from restraint, knocks Roman out* You have the RIGHT to remain SILENT.

#rwby #jaune arc #penny polendina #rwby shitpost #the huntsman #arculus rift #roman torchwick

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purpleberiii · 3 months

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"You belong to me"

☆Prompt: Shalom and Reader has been friends since childhood and Reader has always been in love with Shalom until one day, Reader had to move away and she never saw Shalom again. Shalom hadn't figured out her feelings for Reader but one thing she knows for sure is that Reader belongs to her.

☆Warnings: Possessive Shalom, G!P Reader, nothing too intense, quite an innocent reader, Slight Anne x reader, beef between two of my wives (Anne and Shalom)

Growing up in Syndicate, it was not a good life. You got bullied and beaten every day, made fun of because of the way you looked. When you moved to the East Side, under the care of the Nineth Agency, life became immediately better, and it became the best point in your life when you met Shalom. Together you and Shalom battled the world and every danger it threw at you. One thing you knew for sure was that you were in love with her and when you told her, she replied with this, "Oh? You like me? That's quite unexpected. But I can't give you an answer now. I don't understand how my heart works."

The next day, Shalom disappeared. You knew she wasn't dead, but she just randomly disappeared. You grew up years later, still stuck on that beauty. Even after being appointed Chief, and hundreds of women threw themselves at you, you rejected them, your heart and love was for Shalom. But with recent events, you ended up back in Syndicate, and you met a wonderful doctor, Anne. She was gentle and soft spoken, reminding you of Shalom and slowly your feelings dissolved for Shalom and re-grew for Anne. The two of you started hanging out, it wasn't nothing to serious but you saw potential.

You were peacefully in your office when you got a call from the arrest captain that an unknown Sinner was there. She was accompanied by some members of FAC, meaning that she was VIP. She even requested to meet you specifically and when you entered the room, your heart left your body. "Shalom?" You whispered softly.

Shalom had that gentle smile, one you had grown to love and cherish. "Why isn't it the Chief of MBCC? How have you been, old friend?" She smiled, her smile carrying a familiar warmth in it.

"Cut the crap! Where have you been?! Why did you suddenly disappear like that?!" You approached Shalom and pulled her into a hug. Shalom didn't hug back for a few seconds.

"I've been quite alright. How are you? Did you meet anyone interesting these days?" She smiled, a knowing smile.

Now that you met her again, feelings that you've buried deep down resurfaced back again and you suddenly felt it difficult to speak. "I-uh...I no...yeah...."

"Yes? No? Which one is it? Don't be shy tell me." She chuckled slightly.

"...I can't tell you where I was. But all that matters is that I'm back and yes... I've missed you as well." Shalom returned the hug, and buried her face in your neck, inhaling the scent of your body which made goosebumps arise.

"I've heard what happened these past few months. I didn't know my y/n had the courage to stop two black rings," she sat on the chair as you did on the opposite one.

"It was my duty to interfere."

"Hmm? You've gone cold y/n. Did my absence affect you that much?"

"You-" you gritted your teeth before sighing.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you. Shalom I-"

"Shh~ no need to tell me more. I can clearly see how you feel."

"...what do you mean?" You hadn't realised you were crying until you felt a tear rush down your eyes. Quickly, you wiped it away before returning your gaze to a smiling Shalom.

"Why are you here?"

"I've been sent by the FAC to assist the MBCC on their tasks for the next few months."

"I don't need your help. The MBCC is capable enough to handle our own problems."

"Well... don't tell me... tell the FAC."

Facing the FAC was a big no for you. You already have problems with the Nineth Agency so you don't wanna get under the radar of the even higher ups.

You stood up and motioned for Shalom to follow you. The two of you walked through the MBCC building, showing Shalom around. When you arrived at the nurse's quarters, you were immediately greeted by Anne, who had a bright smile on her face. "Ah Chief, I've wanted to see you," she peeked behind you to see Shalom standing behind you with an expression you couldn't read.

"Who is that?"

"This is Shalom, she'll be assisting us for the next few months. Shalom, this is Anne my um... Nurse."

"Nurse? It's a pleasure to meet you Anne," Shalom smiled bitterly. Anne returned the smile.

"Likewise Shalom." Although no words were spoken after that, you could tell that a battle had started between the two. Anne didn't sense any good vibes from Shalom and Shalom didn't like the fact that Anne was close to you.

"Well uh-we-we-i have to keep showing Shalom around. I'll see you later, babe-um I mean Anne."

Anne looked at you with a raised eyebrow. Why did you change your nickname from babe to Anne. "Are we still on for tonight, Chief? I've bought a beautiful red dress that I'd love to try on for you!"

"Ah, yes yes I-we're still on." You nodded before hurriedly pushing Shalom out. The two of you headed back to your office where you immediately collapsed onto the couch.

"Anne huh? More like babe," she chuckled darkly. You didn't understand why she suddenly changed behaviour but all you understood was that Shalom was jealous and it was radiating off of her like perfume. "Do you think that the higher ups will let this slide, Chief?"

"T-they don't know."

"How long do you think this secret will be hidden? Eventually, they will find out. I advice you to quit your relationship with that nurse of yours." Something in her tone suggested that she was pissed.

"Okay? And why do you care all of a sudden about who I date huh?" Shalom chuckled as she straddled your lap, cupping your face while stroking your cheek.

"Because my dear Chief, you belong to me."

#shalom x reader #path to nowhere shalom #ptn shalom x reader #shalom ptn #ptn shalom #shalom ptn x reader #ptn #path to nowhere #shalom #anne #ptn anne

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wlwinry · 21 hours

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108 students at my college were arrested and brutalized by police while peacefully protesting against the genocide in palestine. theyre claiming that no students were injured, but there is footage of students being thrown to the ground, punched, slammed with riot shields, etc. and several had to be taken to the hospital. there are police officers with the blood of my fellow students on their hands. there are photographs of them with blood literally on their hands.

108 students of a student body of 4k. the administration has been silent. the news is reporting no student injuries despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. there was blood on the stones of the alley where the encampment was set up, scrubbed away by our college's administration and president.

i don't often make posts like this, but if anyone has a dollar to spare, the venmo for the bail fund is @/SheriHK. i've sent what i can, but there's a lot of injured and imprisoned students.

edit for clarification: my school is tagged below and has been since i made the post. links to recent articles regarding the arrests can be found here and here. the money is going to emerson college's sjp organization.

second edit for clarification: i put this in a reblog, too, but all students have been released at the moment and jail support is no longer needed. thank you to everyone who reblogged, shared, or donated.

#tw police brutality #free palestine #emerson college

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bloodyjuls-blog · 5 months

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I was so stupid

Leah Williamson X Reader

⚠️ Warning ⚠️: part 2 of goodbye my lover. If you read it you know what I mean in case of not it's just pure angst. This seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel

Lucy POV

I woke up at 5 in the morning because I had to go to training at 8, I looked at my phone and realized that y/n had called me 3 times. I was quite worried because I was the only person (Ona too, but not at the same level of intensity) who had been with her in those difficult moments such as a divorce and the separation from her son. Little Sage who is such a sweetheart and Y/n too and now because of Leah's stubbornness they’re not together makes me quite angry.

I decide to call y/n back but she sends me to inbox, so weird. Yesterday I spoke to her and she told me that she was going through a bad time and that the pains in her chest had returned. Knowing that I am in Barcelona and she is in London makes me even more nervous because she could suffer a cardiac arrest and not have anyone to help her with it and now even less cause Leah apparently turned everyone against her. I don't understand.

Leah POV

*Beep beep beep*¨

Who in their right mind calls at 5 am on a Friday. “Hello” I said in a rather sleepy tone. Sage hadn't slept well, I felt him agitated. He always sleeps peacefully. “Hi Leah, I'm Lucy,” she tells me in a worried tone. “What's wrong Lucy? looks at the hours” I said calmly. “It's Y/N, I'm worried because she's been calling me in the early morning and I want to know how yesterday's conversation with her went?” she says worriedly. “Well, the talk has gone well, a bit of a farewell tone, but very normal. She also called me this morning too, although she seemed like drunk or drugged, her voice sounded very weird,” she says in a stern voice. “No Leah, how can you think that, she is doing those things that are on TV or in the gossip magazines. She is like this because the divorce and now you have left her without a job. Are you stupid or what?” Lucy says super angry. “Oi, calm down or I'll hang up on you, these are not the hours to argue, girl” I say calmly. “Leah, for God's sake, y/n could have suffered a cardiac arrest and you didn't even realize it, did your new girlfriend whitewash everything you felt for y/n? Have you realized how bad she has had it since she was kicked out of the club because of you and since it wasn't enough for you, you kicked her out of the house without even being able to take a jacket and her wallet, having to listen to her at 3 in the morning heartbroken because she doesn't know what she was going to do without you, you know that she has been living in a seedy hotel for 3 months since you kicked her out of the house? The sad nights when she misses her baby?…" Lucy says very seriously. "I'm sorry Lucy, I didn't know anything about that, I've been very selfish, but it all came down to me anyway, the absence, the times she ignored my presence and focused only on Sage, I've also missed her a lot, Lucy". I say in a worried tone. “Leah, I need you to go to The White Heart Hotel, which is 8 minutes from your house, ask the front desk for room 203 and make sure y/n is okay. Please". She says in a tone that I can't understand. "Okay, I’ll go now I’ll text you later" I say, worried but willing to collaborate.

"God y/n, I hope you're okay, damn it, why I didn’t pay you more attention, if something happens to you, I won't forgive myself" I say to myself.

Once I arrive at the hotel, which looks very seedy.

“Hello,” I ask at the reception, a little agitated. "Hello Miss. How can we help you,” the girl tells me without flinching. “Mmm yes, I'm coming to visit my friend y/n who is staying in room 203” I say nervously. “Miss Leah, I'm afraid that the guest Y/n was taken away by the ambulance a couple of hours ago, due to some cardiac incident, the poor girl was so young and had no one to help her at that time if not for the waiter who heard some noises, it's most likely that right now that girl was dead," the girl says sadly. "Excuse me? But she was fine yesterday when I saw her.” “Miss, I recommend you to go to the hospital where the ambulance took you and ask the corresponding questions there,” she says calmly. “Yes, of course, thank you very much anyway,” I say with a little emotion. “My poor y/n, how is this possible?” I sit in the car and tears come out of my eyes, I feel like the guiltiest person in the world. Instead of listening to her and being with her, the first thing I did is abandon her to her fate and if that's not enough, mess with someone who no matter how good person she is, is not y/n. The mother of my son, the love of my life. How stupid I am for God's sake.

Once at the entrance to the emergency room.

I get out of the car and look in the trunk for a facemask. “Damn, I had a box stored here” I say to myself, exasperated as I search through everything. “Here you are” I say, taking the mask under a pile of documents.

At reception

“Good morning miss, can I help you with something?” The nurse at the reception tells me. “Hey, a couple of hours ago an ambulance brought y/n Y/l/n here and I came to ask how she is” I say nervously. “Are you related to her?” she asks me, looking directly at the computer. “I'm her wife, Leah” I say, already stressed from so many questions. “I understand, at this moment, y/n is undergoing surgery due to a heart failure, if you wish you can wait in the coronary surgery waiting room on the 3rd floor and once the operation is finished a doctor will speak with you directly” she tells me. “Damn, well thanks, in the third one did you say?” I say worried. "Yeah".

It's been three hours since I've been here and the only thing that has changed is that a cardiologist has come to tell me that they are having complications with Y/N, and that her prognosis is reserved, that we have to wait and see how the surgery progresses.

Flashback

“Family of y/n y/l/n” a doctor comes out with a worried look. "Me, doctor, I am her wife, Leah Williamson" I say in a broken tone. “Well, Mrs. Leah, I will be very honest with you, at this moment we are performing a pericardiocentesis on Mrs. Y/n because after the cardiorespiratory arrest she suffered in the early hours of the morning we realized that she had cardiac clog, we have done this procedure several times because the patient keeps coming to a standstill and doesn´t come back. I would like you to notify her other relatives just in case. It should be said that the prognosis is reserved and her evolution will determine if the heart does not clog again, for now I will do everything in my power so that the lady does not die,” he says seriously. While he says that I try to process everything. There are possibilities that my love won’t make it and die, I must tell Lucia.

“Lucy, y/n she is dying, she has suffered several cardiac arrests since this morning and is in surgery she’s not recovering” I say between tears and sadness on the call. “Leah, don't be pessimistic. Ona and I will take the first flight there is to London, we will be with you” she says crying. I'm glad Lucy cares about y/n, they're like sisters from another mother. I settle into the chair and send a WhatsApp to Sophie.

To Sophie

Hey how are you? Sophie, did you leave Sage with my mother?

*Yes, as you told me. All good? *

No, something has happened, but first I must tell you that I can't take this anymore, you are a wonderful girl but I am not in the best place mentally. Sorry Sophie, it's better to leave things here.

*What a coward you are Leah, not telling me in person. Ok, I hope I never see you again*

A few hours later Dr. Flynn himself comes out.

“Leah, y/n she is out of surgery, her prognosis is still guarded but we believe she will make a successful recovery. What worried us most was that being so young and out of nowhere having these moments of trauma and even more so knowing that she has a healthy and fit life” he says less worried. “What exactly does she have? Will she be able to continue playing football? What will the recovery be like?” I said a mile an hour. “Miss, slow down please. Miss y/n will be in the coronary ICU for a while due to the sedation we gave her. What we watched in the echocardiogram, in the blood tests and the chest x-ray is an irregularity in her pericardium hence the surgery, but them also show cardiac arrhythmias which means that she won’t be able to practice any high impact sport, as Upon her recovery, her evolution will be marked by how her heart accepts the changes. Most likely, she will always have to carry oxygen and in the future we can consider the use of a pacemaker to help detect any irregularity. “I understand, can I see it?” I say a little more relaxed. “Of course, come with me here…”

To be continued

#woso #fc barcelona femeni #lionesses #woso x reader #woso imagines #woso imagine #england lionesses #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson imagine #leah williamson

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pokedawriter · 1 month

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winged!reader x Inazuma!Men

Gn!reader

Prompt: You (literally) crash land into Inazuma boys' lives

Itto and Gorou

content warning: asleep for long time/coma, injuries (no vivid descriptions)

Arataki Itto

He's out in the rain looking for the fiercest Onikabuto ("only the strongest beetles will be out during the rain! That's how we know they're the best"). He thinks he's found a good one and is about to grab it when...

*SLAM* You fall out of the sky and crash land onto him

He's thrown onto the ground and he's about to yell at you for "your deal" when he realizes you are completely out and smell a little... smokey?

Damm, you must have been cooking something good (you were zapped by lightning mid-air)

He takes you to Granny Oni and she helps nurse you back to health

When you wake up, Itto is playing with your wings, which earns him a feathered and an actual slap

Granny Oni eventually explains the situation and you apologize, saying you are in their debt

Itto decides to take full advantage of this and drags you to meet with his gang to help them out with "gang stuff" as the newest member of the Arataki Gang (you have been awake for maybe an hour at this point? You have no idea what's going on)

Gang stuff is pretty simple - wander the street playing with the kids, competing for candy

You return to Granny Oni's house that night exhausted from a full day of laughter and fun

Granny Oni invites you to stay for as long as you like and you happily take her up on that offer

Over the next few months, you and Kuki try (and fail) to keep the gang out of trouble (you got arrested once or twice too)

You enjoy your days of eating ramen with the boys, taking odd jobs to earn mora and messing around until sunset

Once you're able to fly again, Itto has you help him find the best Onikabuto and you learn the art of Beetle Battles

You're also a fan-favorite among the kids, as you're great at tag thanks to your birds-eye view

You even take the kids and the gang flying (you don't go very high above the ground, just holding their hands in yours as you glide down a hill)

Several times, Kuki has found the gang nestled under your wings, everyone peacefully sleeping

You can't help but fall in-love with Itto's carefree yet kind nature and you try to flirt with him but he's completely oblivious to it

"I'm looking handsome today? I look handsome everyday! Thanks for noticing. You look great too! Hey, by the way can we reach that Onikabuto up there?"

Kuki eventually takes pity on you and tells Itto straight that you like him romantically

He's never really thought about anyone that way before, but now...

You laughter makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter, your smile makes him blush furiously, and his heart skips a beat when he see your stretch those pretty wings in the morning

Oh, he's got it bad

You've given up at this point (you still love him, but you think he's too oblivious to ever notice), so when he's stumbling over his words while his face his complete red... it's now your turn to be oblivious and confused

Kuki can only smack her forehead with her hand

Eventually, he musters up the courage to get you a bouquet of flowers (wildflowers that he carefully picked) and confesses to you (with the rest of the gang hiding in the bushes near by for moral support)

You, of course, say yes and the gang jumps out of the bushes to celebrate

"It's time to PAR-TAY!!! Let's go get ramen to celebrate!"

Gorou

He's on a patrol with his men when they see something fall from the sky and crash into the shrubbery ahead

They rush over and find you, unconscious with one wing bent at an awkward angle

Gorou and his men carry you back to base carefully, making sure not to run into any specters on the way back, and leave you under the careful care of the medics

Since he found you, Gorou feels responsible for your recovery and well-being, and will check in on your everyday after he's done with his duties or during meals

He'll brush your hair and feathers (he hates it when his fur gets messy, so he bets having nest hair will help you feel more comfortable when you wake up), and he'll always correct the blanket if it has slipped at all

Maybe it's because you're asleep, or maybe its because you're a stranger but he feels like he can tell you anything. He'll chat with you about his day and vent to you about his problems. He knows you're not listening, but it's nice being able to talk with someone

Except... you are listening. You're not able to respond but you can hear him

A couple weeks go by and your eyes flutter open. You have a bit of a headache, but you manage to sit up despite feeling quite week

You look down and Gorou is asleep, sitting next to your bed, hand holding yours

Despite never seeing him before, you recognize him as the voice that spoke to you while you were unconscious (not many people talk about their tails and ears after all)

You gently pat him on the head and he slowly stirs awake

Both of your hearts flutter when you first make eye-contact

He'll shoot upwards and run to get a medic to check on you while he gets you a warm meal

He's a bit too busy (embarrassed) to visit you the rest of the day, but he does check in on you the next day, bringing you your meal

Finally, you're able to chat while you're awake and he's very embarrassed now that you tell him you remember what he said (but he's also very touched that you remember too)

When you're well enough, he'll take you on walks around the camp and introduce you to his soldiers

You even train with him a bit to get your strength back and he helps you come up with a routine to exercise and strengthen your body

You become one of his men and they welcome you whole-heartedly, helping you train (a pack sticks together after all)

When you finally can fly again, the whole camp can hear the joyful yells and hollers of your squad mates celebrating

Though you can't pick most of your team members up, you can carry Gorou on your back, which gives him an amazing birds-eye view of the battlefield

You get the nickname of "the pointy-eared general's wings"

You help him realize that his smaller size can be an asset on the field, since you can pick him up, allowing his men to see him more easily and for him to see the battle better

The more you practice together, the more in-sync and closer you become, the high altitude preventing anyone from possibly hearing your conversations

He loves those flights with you, his tail wagging rapidly (despite his embarrassment and attempts to stop it)

Eventually, you meet Kokomi and she sees the way you look at each other (Gorou's tail will always wag when you come into view)

Gorou will ask her for help coming up with ideas on how to confess to you and they draft up an idea

He takes you mountaineering (he climbs while you fly) and at the top of the mountain peak he pulls out a bouquet of flowers

With a very red face he asks if you will be his partner

You of course say yes and his tail wags uncontrollably

"Thank you for helping me to find the best in me! I promise to take care of you"

#genshin x reader #genshin x you #gorou #gorou x reader #genshin gorou #arataki itto #itto x reader #genshin itto

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adropofhumanity · 4 months

Text

IMPORTANT CRISES THAT ARE BEING IGNORED BY THE WORLD

[ we already are aware about palestine, NOT just gaza so i will refrain from mentioning anything here regarding it ]

these crises will not follow any specific order but i will be numbering them for the sake of proper structure.

i also did my best to find reliable and accurate information. please do not start hating me or questioning my efforts if i have mentioned something wrong or incorrect. instead you can correct me politely. additionally, if there are any crisis that i have missed out on, bring it to my awareness.

i am not going to be including all details but some major highlights so as to be able to keep ourselves updated of atleast the surface level knowledge (so i will try)

reblog and include (or highlight what needs to be excluded) any details that would serve in the best interest of this post.

1. TAMIL EELAM

sri lanka is an island historically inhabited by tamils, sinhalese, muslims, and other communities. the tamil nation is concentrated in the northeast. the muslim community generally speaks tamil. the majority of the country's sinhalese population lives in the southern part of the island and are buddhist.

following independence from britain, the sinhalese ruling class began to build an ethnocratic nation-state that entrenched sinhala-buddhist supremacy. tamil workers' rights were denied in the new nation-state, while tamil students were refused equal access to education. tamil people protested peacefully, but sri lanka responded with arrests and massacres.

in july 1983, the worst anti-tamil pogroms swept the island: tamil people were hunted in the streets, pulled out of their homes, and killed while sri lankan police watched on. In six days, 4000 tamils were killed. government ministers led mobs and targeted tamil homes in areas where tamils and sinhalese both lived, amounting to what the international commission of jurists labelled an act of genocide.

sri lanka booted the UN and international press from the country before relaunching its war against the tamil people in 2006. the state used banned chemical weapons like white phosphorous on civilians. a UN report estimates that 75,000 tamil civilians perished from september 2008-May 2009 alone. ground sources place the number much higher and estimate that over 120,000 people were killed in the final stages of the war.

nothing was spared. hospitals and religious buildings, full of the sick and wounded, were routinely bombed. the armed forces shelled food distribution lines and near International red cross ships picking up wounded civilians from beaches. even the government's own "no-fire zones," packed with thousands of civilians, were indiscriminately attacked from the ground and sky.

for the tamils, the last stages of the war fit into a broader pattern of sri lanka's post-colonial state-building project: a protracted genocide involving massacres, economic embargoes, indiscriminate bombings, discriminatory policies, and the dispossession of tamil lands. tamils fear their political identity, as a distinct group of peoples, a nation, will be dismantled and reduced to a scattered minority across the island.

12 years after the genocide, the sri lankan armed forces maintain complete control through a military occupation of the tamil homeland. five of the seven regional headquarters of the army are entrenched in the tamil homeland, with over 100,000 soldiers maintaining an environment of harassment and surveillance over the tamil people. like kashmir and palestine, the tamil homeland remains one of the most militarized places in the world.

HOW TO HELP

2. ROHINGYA

in august 2017, armed attacks, massive scale violence, and serious human rights violations forced thousands of rohingya to flee their homes in myanmar’s rakhine state. many walked for days through jungles and undertook dangerous sea journeys across the bay of bengal to reach safety in bangladesh. now, more than 960,000 people have found safety in bangladesh with a majority living in the cox bazar’s region - home to the world’s largest refugee camp. the united nations has described the rohingya as “the most persecuted minority in the world.”

the rohingya are a muslim ethnic minority group who have lived for centuries in predominantly buddhist myanmar - formerly known as burma. despite living in myanmar for many generations, the rohingya are not recognized as an official ethnic group and have been denied citizenship since 1982, making them the world’s largest stateless population.

as a stateless population, rohingya families are denied basic rights and protection and are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and abuse.

the rohingya have suffered decades of violence, discrimination and persecution in myanmar. their largest exodus began in august 2017 after a massive wave of violence broke out in myanmar’s rakhine state, forcing more than 742,000 people - half of them children - to seek refuge in bangladesh. entire villages were burned to the ground, thousands of families were killed or separated and massive human rights violations were reported.

more than 1 million rohingya refugees have fled violence in myanmar in successive waves of displacement since the 1990s. now, more than 960,000 rohingya refugees are living in bangladesh with a majority settled in and around kutupalong and nayapara refugee camps in bangladesh’s cox’s bazar region — some of the largest and most densely populated camps in the world.

more than half of all rohingya refugees in bangladesh (52 percent) are children, while 51 percent are comprised of women and girls. the current refugee population accounts for one-third of the total population in the cox’s bazar region, making support to host communities essential for peaceful coexistence.

since 2021, to decongest the 33 camps in cox’s bazar, nearly 30,000 refugees have been relocated to bhasan char island by the government of bangladesh. while protection services and humanitarian assistance have been scaled up on the island, significant gaps remain in service delivery and the sustainability of critical assistance.

rohingya refugees have also sought refuge in other neighboring countries like thailand (92,000) and India (21,000), with smaller numbers settling in indonesia, nepal and other countries across the region.

armed clashes across myanmar have continued to trigger displacement, bringing the total number of internally displaced people (IDP) within the country to more than 1.8 million — including 1.5 million of whom have been internally displaced since february 2021.

as of december 2023, however, a new issue arose. the indonesian navy has pushed back a boat carrying rohingya refugees as it approached the coast of aceh amid resentment among some residents about a sudden increase in boat arrivals. the military said the coastguard first detected the wooden vessel entering indonesian waters on wednesday, before the navy ship KRI bontang-907 located the boat about 63 nautical miles (117km) off aceh on the northwestern tip of the archipelago and drove it out, “ensuring that the boat did not return to indonesian waters,” the navy said in a statement posted in its website.

military spokesperson nugraha gumilar said it was not known how many people were on board. they are suspected to be rohingya, a mostly muslim minority from myanmar who were forced into neighbouring bangladesh by a brutal military crackdown in 2017 that is now the subject of a genocide investigation.

more than 1,500 rohingya refugees have landed in indonesia on barely sea-worthy wooden boats since november, according to data from the united nations refugee agency (UNHCR), and the sudden jump in arrivals has aroused growing hostility among people in aceh.

indonesia has appealed to the international community for help and intensified patrols of its waters, promising to crack down on suspected human traffickers it says are involved in the latest wave of boat arrivals.

on wednesday, a mob of students stormed the basement of a local community hall in banda aceh, the acehnese capital, where about 137 rohingya were taking shelter and called for the group to be deported.

many of the refugees are in poor health after weeks at sea usually with insufficient supplies of food and water.

the UNHCR said it was “deeply disturbed to see a mob attack on a site sheltering vulnerable refugee families”.

indonesia, although not a signatory to the 1951 UN convention on refugees, was once known for providing a safe haven to the rohingya even as neighbouring malaysia and thailand pushed them away.

but the mood has soured this year, especially in aceh, where some residents claim the rohingya behave badly and create a burden on society.

muslims make up nearly 90 percent of indonesia’s 277 million people, and aceh is the only state in the archipelago to follow islamic law.

the growing hostility towards the rohingya has put pressure on president joko widodo’s government to take action.

“this is not an easy issue, this is an issue with enormous challenges,” foreign minister retno marsudi told reporters.

HOW TO HELP

3. MANIPUR

on may 3, members of the kuki and naga tribes, who inhabit manipur's hills and are regarded as scheduled tribes, or india's most disadvantaged groups, launched a protest against the possible extension of their benefits to the dominant meiteis.

meiteis account for half of manipur's population and extending limited affirmative action quotas to them would mean they would get a share in education and government jobs reserved for kukis and nagas.

meiteis have traditionally lived in manipur's more prosperous valley region that makes up 10% of the state's area. they have also had better access to employment and economic opportunities.

nagas and kukis live in the poorly developed hills.

the development imbalance favouring the valley over the hills has been a point of contention and rivalry between the ethnic groups.

the groups coexisted peacefully until unrelated events in recent months exposed old faultlines.

manipur shares a nearly 400-km (250-mile) border with myanmar and the coup there in 2021 pushed thousands of refugees into the indian state.

kukis share ethnic lineage with myanmar’s chin tribe and meiteis feared they would be outnumbered by the arrival of the refugees.

separately, the state government in february launched a drive to evict tribal communities from forests in the hills, saying they had encroached on government land, sparking anger among tribal people that they were being forced out of their homes.

"it has been building up for a long time, in some ways unseen and some ways quite openly, but the government was not paying attention," said pradip phanjoubam, editor of the imphal review of arts and politics.

although the first outburst of violence was put down by mid-may, sporadic reprisal attacks began within days.

both the meiteis and kukis are known to be flush with arms, including automatic weapons either stolen from the state police or sourced from across the border in myanmar.

new delhi has held talks with senior myanmar leaders to help control armed groups that operate from across the border but this is yet to produce results.

kuki and meitei groups also refused to join a peace panel formed by the federal government due to differences over names included in the panel.

the indian army and federal paramilitary forces in the state cannot act independently and are legally bound to work with state police and authorities, who analysts say are also divided along ethnic lines.

also, kukis accuse the bharatiya janata party-ruled state government's chief minister biren singh, a meitei, of complicity and inaction, and have sought his removal. singh denies the accusations.

HOW TO HELP

4. HAWA'II ( MAUI )

maui wildfires of 2023, a series of wildfires that burned parts of the island of maui in the U.S. state of hawaii in august 2023. the fires, which began on august 8, struck hardest the historic resort town of lahaina, on maui’s western peninsula, reducing most of the town to ash and ruins. 98 people were killed in lahaina by the smoke and flames or by drowning, making the wildfire one of the world’s deadliest on record. almost 3,000 structures were reported to have been either damaged or destroyed by the fire. in addition to the fires on maui, a series of less devastating wildfires burned parts of the island of hawaii starting on august 9.

while local and state government officials have hesitated to identify a specific cause of the wildfires (in general, uncontrolled fires in a forest, grassland, brushland, or cropland) as of august 17, some evidence suggests that sparks produced by a downed power line may have touched off at least one of the fires. meteorologists and climate researchers noted that the fires were likely to have been the product of several intersecting factors. the fires occurred at the height of hawaii’s dry season (which lasts from april to october). their severity was exacerbated by the presence of el nino—that is, the development of unusually warm ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean. el niño brings increased rainfall to south america’s west coast but brings drought conditions to the hawaiian islands. indeed, the interval of june to august 2023 was a period of worsening drought on maui and in other parts of hawaii. as the drought increased in severity, it dried vegetation, much of it made up of large tracts of fire-prone invasive shrubs and grasses.

in addition, the pool of warm water in the tropical pacific kept fueling hurricane dora, a powerful tropical cyclone that had formed off the western coast of mexico on august 2. dora passed some 1,100 km (about 700 miles) south of the hawaiian islands during the week of august 8, the day the fires began, which created a substantial difference in atmospheric pressure between the storm and a high-pressure system located north of the islands. that pressure difference drew high winds southward and funneled them into the centre of the tropical cyclone, which helped intensify and spread the wildfires. wind speeds reached as high as 107.8 km (67 miles) per hour on maui and up to 132 km (82 miles) per hour on the island of hawaii.

some researchers have noted that climate change may have played a part in worsening the wildfires’ severity. increases in global and regional surface temperatures due to ongoing global warming are thought to have caused grasses and other vegetation to dry out faster than usual. in addition, studies that considered trends in hawaii’s rainfall indicated that some 90 percent of the state had experienced at least some decline in overall rainfall between 1920 and 2012 and that rainfall amounts at higher elevations had fallen by more than 30 percent between 1990 and 2015 during the state’s wet season (november to march). in addition, the replacement of native vegetation with crops over the last century has affected local climate conditions, primarily in accessible areas in several parts of the state of hawaii, including near sections of coastline and in maui’s central valley—the sites of the island’s wildfires.

the fire near lahaina, a municipality of 12,702 people, began as a small brush fire just beyond the town’s eastern outskirts in the early morning hours of august 8. although local officials considered it to have been contained by mid-morning, the fire flared up during mid-afternoon, forcing officials to close lahaina’s bypass road. driven by the high winds, the fire then moved downslope into the town, and it spread quickly between the parched grassy landscape and the town’s predominantly wooden buildings, generating an immense wall of black smoke. within 15 minutes, the fire had spread to the centre of the town, burning the area between the town’s two primary access roads, which prompted additional road closures that hindered evacuation. the process of alerting residents to the danger was severely hampered by the toppling of several telephone and electric power poles in the area by high winds earlier that day, which had cut power needed for wireless services and telephone lines used for 911 emergency communication. as the fire grew, it became so intense that it melted pipes delivering water to lahaina’s residences, which reduced the town’s overall water pressure and thus inhibited the fire department’s ability to contain the wildfire.

ny 5:30 PM large areas of lahaina, which included tracts of residences and the town’s central business district, were on fire as exploding gasoline tanks in vehicles and filling stations contributed to the conflagration. since emergency services had no way to alert people through their mobile devices, the fire caught many residents by surprise, forcing some to flee in haste while trapping others in their homes. many of those who fled became boxed in by fire, smoke, and road closures; some sheltered in place, whereas others sought refuge in the pacific ocean, clinging to docks, pilings, seawalls, and other infrastructure. by 7:00 PM the fire had reached the harbour, and boats caught fire from the mix of wind-whipped flames and flying embers, causing their fuel tanks to explode. although the fire continued to burn in lahaina throughout the night, U.S. coast guard boats arriving offshore were able to evacuate several people trapped along the coast.

during the morning of august 9 the winds abated enough to allow firefighting crews, helicopters, and other resources to begin to make their way into lahaina, where they found a grayed landscape of ruined buildings and burned-out vehicles. officials reported that the lahaina fire had been 80 percent contained by august 10 and that it had burned nearly 890 hectares (about 2,200 acres) by august 14. maui’s other wildfires, which included the pulehu/kihei fire in maui’s central valley and the upcountry/kula fire along the slopes of the island’s eastern peninsula, were less severe, resulting in far fewer damaged homes and other structures and no reports of serious injuries or deaths. similarly, on the island of hawaii, fires scorched some 600 hectares (about 1,500 acres) of ranchland in the north and south kohala sections of the island, but no injuries were reported.

even as the fires began to spread on maui, government officials started to issue disaster declarations to fund firefighting efforts, rescues, and recovery. hawaii’s lieutenant governor, sylvia luke, issued an emergency declaration during mid-afternoon of august 8, which was followed later that evening by the activation of hawaii’s national guard. the following day, as reports of the unfolding disaster in lahaina reached the outside world, the U.S. federal emergency management agency (FEMA) authorized payments to fire victims, and U.S. pres. joe biden promised that “all available federal assets on the Islands” would assist in relief efforts. such efforts had increased by august 16, aided by state and federal agencies (including the U.S. Army, which provided logistical support and assisted in road clearing) and private charter flights that delivered donations of food and other supplies. In the aftermath of the wildfires, thousands of displaced maui residents were taken to shelters and evacuation centres on the island, which included hotels abandoned by tourists who had been evacuated to other islands or to the U.S. mainland.

HOW TO HELP

5. KURDISTAN

kurds have never achieved nation-state status, making kurdistan a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world. portions of the region are recognized by two countries: iran, where the province of kordestan lies; and northern iraq, site of the autonomous region known as kurdistan regional government (KRG) or iraqi kurdistan.

the turkish government claims to be conducting operations against the kurdistan worker's party (PKK) - a kurdish rebel organization that is outlawed by the state. through the use of airstrikes, the turkish military is hitting targets across the region and pushing deeper into southern kurdistan, launching ground operations from the military bases that it controls in the area.

a consequence of this encroachment into southern kurdistan is that civilians are being hit by turkish drones. those who are being hit are not just fighters but also ordinary kurdish civilian. innocent lives are also being lost when those who are hit succumb to their injuries. turkey justifies such acts under the pretext of fighting the PKK a rationale that it has used repeatedly to justify other military incursions. is this conflict new? absolutely not. what is new is the response to these operations. In previous decades, the turkish state could get away with indiscriminate bombing and military incursions as long as its justification centered on fighting terrorism. this justification was, after all, what other state actors operating in the region would use to rationalize military incursions against those deemed state enemies. no longer are there just people from kurdish diasporas across the world calling out the turkish state for its disregard for international law, but also from non-kurds. even at the administrative level of the united states government, officials are no longer believing the rhetoric that the turkish state uses to justify its military incisions. there will be no peace in kurdistan until turkey withdraws. there will be no peace for victims until turkey is held accountable for its criminal actions now and in the past. and as long as these atrocities are left without a response by international state actors and multilateral organizations such as the united nations and NATO, turkey will continue to commit crimes against kurds, including kurdish civilians.

HOW TO HELP

6. YEMEN

yemen is in the middle of a complex humanitarian crisis driven by a brutal civil war. indiscriminate attacks and chronic shortages of medical staff and supplies have led to the closure of many of yemen's healthcare facilities. more than 4.5 million people have been displaced since the war started in 2014. qith an estimated 21 million currently in need of humanitarian assistance.

collapsed health system- warring factions have extensively damaged public infrastructure, notably health facilities. since the saudi-led coalition (SLC) imposed a blockade in 2015, import restrictions and soaring inflation have severely limited yemenis' access to healthcare and essential services. the blockade has led to the cessation of salaries for many of the 50,000 health workers within the country, compelling them to exit the public health system in search of alternative income sources.

disease- due to the ongoing war, obtaining clean water, waste disposal, and accessing medical care have become even more challenging for the people. coupled with limited access to vaccinations, this heightened vulnerability has left yemenis susceptible to preventable diseases and emerging epidemics. the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly severe, with yemen having one of the lowest vaccination rates globally in 2021. in 2017, a cholera outbreak led to 101,475 patients being admitted to hospital. the same year, cases of diphtheria emerged, a disease largely eradicated in most countries due to systematic childhood vaccinations.

trauma- continual fighting and indiscriminate attacks have affected the ability to provide trauma care, which remains a vital responsibility of hospitals in the area. teams in hospitals near the frontlines routinely react to mass-casualty incidents and continually strive to enhance their capacity year-round to address the frequent arrival of war-wounded and other trauma patients.

malnutrition- yemen is grappling with alarming rates of malnutrition. widespread food insecurity and limited access to essential healthcare services leave many children vulnerable to infectious diseases. Inflation exacerbates the situation, making it progressively challenging for yemeni families to provide nourishment for their children and cover the expenses of transporting them to hospitals.

it has been troubled by civil wars for decades, but the current conflict intensified in march 2015 when a saudi-led coalition intervened on behalf of the internationally recognised government against houthi rebels aligned with the former president ali abdullah saleh. the war is widely regarded as having turned a poor country into a humanitarian catastrophe. riyadh expected its air power, backed by regional coalition including the united arab emirates, could defeat the houthi insurgency in a matter of months. instead some reports suggest nearly 100,000 people have died. others put the death toll much lower, but fighting this year alone has displaced 250,000 people. there are more than 30 active front lines. a total of 80% of the population - more than 24 million people - need assistance and protection, including 10 million who rely on food aid to survive. its roots lie in the arab spring. pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in a bid to force the president, ali abdullah saleh, to end his 33-year rule. he responded with economic concessions but refused to resign. by march 2011, tensions on the streets of the capital city, sana'a, resulted in protesters dying at the hands of the military. following an internationally brokered deal, there was a transfer of power in november to the vice-president, abd rabbu mansour hadi, paving the way for elections in february 2012 - in which he was the only candidate to lead a transitional government. hadi's attempts at constitutional and budget reforms were rejected by houthi rebels from the north. the houthis belong to a small branch of shia muslims known as zaydis. they captured the capital, forcing hadi to flee eventually to riyadh. there is also a strong secessionist movement in the south. arguably too many sides benefit financially from the status quo. united nations officials warned that without more donations, nearly 400 hospitals and health care centers it finances would have to reduce services just as the coronavirus pandemic has surged in yemen. already, food rations have been halved for 8.5 million hungry yemenis, and 10,000 health care workers have lost the united nations payments that for many are their only salary, ms. grande said. since the war began five years ago, pitting the houthis against a government backed by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates, yemenis have endured doomsday after doomsday: relentless airstrikes against hospitals and schools by the saudi-led military coalition using american-made weapons, a severe cholera outbreak, the ever-present threat of famine, a health care system in collapse and now the coronavirus. "yemenis themselves say things are worse today than at any time in their recent history," mr. lowcock said in his appeal to donors, asking "whether the world is prepared to watch yemen fall off the cliff."

HOW TO HELP

7. SYRIA

over 80% of the population in syria is living below the poverty line. that means they make less than $1 a day. more than 11 million people require humanitarian assistance, 5 million of which are children. 93 million people across syria are now food insecure lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. 70% of the population is without regular access to safe drinking water. 6.1 million people have been internally displaced. up to 70% of healthcare professionals have left the country & 50% of hospitals are non-operational. 40% of school infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.

government and allied forces continued to commit war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects. according to the UN, government forces did not approve around half of their requests to carry out humanitarian missions to:

monitor

assess and accompany aid deliveries,

provide security, logistics and

administrative support.

you may ask, how did the "war" start? even before the conflict began, many syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and a lack of political freedom under president bashar al-assad, who succeeded his father, hafez, after he died in 2000. in march 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the southern city of deraa, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring countries against repressive rulers. when the syrian government used deadly force to crush the dissent, protests demanding the president's resignation erupted nationwide.

the unrest spread and the crackdown intensified. opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to rid their areas of security forces. mr assad vowed to crush what he called "foreign-backed terrorism".

the violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. hundreds of rebel groups sprung up and it did not take long for the conflict to become more than a battle between syrians for or against mr assad. foreign powers began to take sides, sending money, weaponry and fighters, and as the chaos worsened extremist jihadist organisations with their own aims, such as the islamic state (IS) group and al-qaeda, became involved. that deepened concern among the international community who saw them as a major threat. syria's jurds, who want the right of self-government but have not fought mr assad's forces, have added another dimension to the conflict.

the united nations human rights office estimated last year that 306,887 civilians - 1.5% of the total pre-war population - were killed between march 2011 and march 2021 due to the conflict. it is said 143,350 civilian deaths were individually documented by various sources with detailed information, and that a further 163,537 deaths were estimated to have occurred using statistical techniques. at least 27,126 of those estimated to have been killed were children. the then-UN commissioner for human rights, michelle bachelet, stressed that the fatalities were the "direct result of war operations", adding: "this does not include the many, many more civilians who died due to the loss of access to healthcare, to food, to clean water and other essential human rights." the syrian observatory for human rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground, had documented the deaths of 503,064 people by march 2023. it said at least 162,390 civilians had been killed, with the syrian government and its allies responsible for 139,609 of those deaths. the group estimated that the actual toll from the war was more than 613,400, with an additional 55,000 civilians believed to have died of torture in government-run prisons. another monitoring group, the violations documentation center, which relies on information from activists across the country, had documented 240,215 battle-related deaths, including 145,765 civilians, as of march 2023.

the government's key supporter has been russia while turkey, western powers and several gulf arab states have backed the opposition to varying degrees during the conflict.

russia - which had military bases in syria before the war - launched an air campaign in support of mr assad in 2015 that has been crucial in turning the tide of the war in the government's favour. the russian military says its strikes only target "terrorists" but activists say they regularly kill mainstream rebels and civilians.

the US, UK and France initially armed what they considered "moderate" rebel groups. but they have prioritised non-lethal assistance since jihadists became the dominant force in the armed opposition.

aUS-led global coalition has also carried out air strikes and deployed special forces in syria since 2014 to help an alliance of kurdish and arab militias called the syrian democratic forces (SDF) capture territory once held by IS militants in the north-east and stop the jihadist group rebuilding.

turkey is a major supporter of the opposition, but its focus has been on using rebel factions to contain the kurdish YPG militia that dominates the SDF, accusing it of being an extension of a banned kurdish rebel group in turkey.

turkish troops and allied rebels have seized stretches of territory along syria's northern border and intervened to stop an all-out assault by government forces on the last opposition stronghold of Idlib.

saudi arabia, which is keen to counter iranian influence, armed and financed the rebels at the start of the war. having refused to engage with president assad for more than a decade, it is now discussing how to facilitate syria's "return to the arab fold".

twelve years of war have inflicted immense suffering on the syrian people. in addition to the bloodshed, more than half of syria's pre-war population of 22 million have had to flee their homes. some 6.8 million are internally displaced, with more than two million living in tented camps with limited access to basic services. another 6 million are refugees or asylum-seekers abroad. neighbouring lebanon, jordan and turkey, which are hosting 5.3 million of them, have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history. at the start of 2023, the UN said 15.3 million people inside syria were in need of some form of humanitarian assistance - an all-time high since the war began - and 12 million did not know where their next meal was coming from. the already dire humanitarian situation in north-western syria - the location of the last opposition stronghold - was made significantly worse by the huge earthquake that struck near the turkish city of gaziantep, about 80km (50 miles) from the syrian border, on 6 February 2023. more than 5,900 people were killed across Syria and another 8.8 million were affected, according to the UN. thousands of homes and critical infrastructure were destroyed, leaving many families without food, water and shelter. deliveries of life-saving aid to opposition-held areas were also delayed for days because of what a UN panel described as "shocking" failures by the warring parties as well as the international community. the disaster happened at a time when the prices of food and fuel in syria were already skyrocketing because of runaway inflation and the collapse of its currency, as well as the global crisis exacerbated by the war in ukraine. syria has also been one of the countries in the middle east worst affected by the covid-19 pandemic - although the true extent is not known because of limited testing - and is now also having to deal with a deadly cholera outbreak that was made worse by the earthquake. access to medical care is severely restricted for the sick and injured because only half of the country's hospitals are fully functional. despite their protected status, 601 attacks on at least 400 separate medical facilities had been documented by physicians for human rights as of february 2022, resulting in the deaths of 942 medical personnel. the vast majority of the attacks were blamed on government and russian forces. entire neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure across the country also remain in ruins. UN satellite analysis suggested that more than 35,000 structures were damaged or destroyed in aleppo city alone before it was recaptured by the government in late 2016. much of syria's rich cultural heritage has likewise been destroyed. all six of the country's unesco world heritage sites have been damaged significantly, with IS militants deliberately blowing up parts of the ancient city of palmyra. a UN commission of inquiry has concluded that the warring parties "have cumulatively committed almost every crime against humanity... and nearly every war crime applicable in a non-international armed conflict".

"syrians," a february 2021 report says, "have suffered vast aerial bombardments of densely populated areas; they have endured chemical weapons attacks and modern day sieges in which perpetrators deliberately starved the population along medieval scripts and indefensible and shameful restrictions on humanitarian aid".

HOW TO HELP

visit the websites [ save the children.org/ syria ] and [ islamic-relief.org /syria crises ]

8. LEBANON

lebanon is currently facing a deep economic crisis as a result of government corruption and financial debt. this is partly a repercussion of the lebanese civil war (1975-1990). during this time, the government piled up huge amounts of debt through corrupt and lavish spending. banks have now become unable to process transactions because the currency (lira) is crashing. this has left many unable to access funds, which are now worth only a fraction of their original value.

in recent years, the situation has only worsened with the pandemic completely shutting down tourism, previously an important source of income in lebanon's economy. this has left a large portion of the lebanese population impoverished and without access to basic necessities. for example, many people in lebanon now rely on private diesel generator operators to have sufficient electricity.

another event that worsened lebanon's current state is the explosion that happened in the port of Beirut in 2020, which killed over 200 people and left many without a home. over a year after the explosion, critics claim that the judicial investigation that should uncover what happened has been continuosly hindered by the country's political leaders. lebanon's current president, michael aoun, hasn't addressed these accusations, but he said no one will have political impunity if found guilty.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ savethechildren.org / lebanon ] and [ irusa.org /lebanon ]

9. AFGHANISTAN

even before the withdrawal of international forces and diplomatic missions and the takeover by the taliban in august 2021, afghanistan was one of the world's largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs). more than two years after the withdrawal, and despite massive amounts of humanitarian assistance poured into the country, enormous humanitarian needs remain.

the 2023 afghanistan humanitarian needs Overview (HNO) says afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis “with a very real risk of systemic collapse and human catastrophe.” while in past years humanitarian needs have been driven mainly by conflict, the key drivers of humanitarian need in 2023 include drought, climate change, protection threats (particularly for women and girls) and the economic crisis.

the UN 9ffice for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) estimated at the beginning of 2023 that a record 28.3 million people will need humanitarian and protection assistance this year, up from 24.4 million in 2022 and 18.4 million in 2021. with 28.3 million people in need, afghanistan is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. the 2023 afghanistan humanitarian response plan (HRP) requests $4.6 billion to reach 23.7 million people.

in addition to the political, social and economic shocks from conflict and the withdrawal of international forces, disaster risk is becoming an increasing driver of underlying need. a national drought was officially declared in june 2021 and is the worst in more than 30 years.

on oct. 7, 2023, two separate 6.3-magnitude earthquakes near herat in afghanistan’s northwest caused significant damage and killed thousands. another earthquake shook herat province on 9ct. 11, resulting in further damage. the herat earthquake response plan from UN and humanitarian partners asks for $93.6 million to support 114,000 earthquake-affected people in herat.

following the devastating June 2022 earthquake that hit eastern afghanistan, CDP hosted a webinar to provide funders with information about the intersection of a natural hazard disaster amid a humanitarian crisis. the insights and recommendations webinar panelists provided remain relevant.

in 2023, 28.3 million people will need life-saving assistance. humanitarian partners have prioritized 23.7 million people to receive multi-sectoral assistance in 2023.

according to WFP, nine out of 10 afghan families lacking adequate food and children and pregnant women are the hardest hit.

each year, the international rescue committee (IRC) releases a list of the 20 humanitarian crises expected to deteriorate the most over the next year. IRC’s 2023 watchlist puts afghanistan in the third spot due to widespread poverty, harsh winter conditions, disaster impacts and violence and exploitation against women and girls.

on average, 200,000 afghans are affected by disasters each year. from jan. 1, 2023 to oct. 5, 2023, 26,014 people were affected by disasters throughout afghanistan. this figure was before the deadly earthquakes on oct. 7 and oct. 11 in herat province, which affected more than 275,000 people. as of nov. 22, humanitarian actors had reached 242,400 affected people with assistance.

in 2022, humanitarian partners reached 25 million people with at least one form of assistance. yet, millions who received one form of assistance will continue to require multiple rounds of support in 2023 to survive.

humanitarian access constraints continue to impact the operational environment. in 2023, there has been a 21% spike in incidents reported by partners compared to the previous year, as of ict. 31.

the taliban’s ban on women working for NGOs and UN agencies in the country means assistance will not reach all targeted women and girls. as UN women survey of humanitarian partners released on feb. 8, 2023 showed that 93% of organizations saw an increased impact on their access to affected women.

decades of conflict and severe drought contributed to afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, but economic shocks are a primary driver of the deteriorating situation.

according to the 2023 afghanistan HNO, “afghanistan’s economic crisis is widespread, with more than half of households experiencing an economic shock in the last six months.”

a study by the United Nations Development Programme in April 2023 found that “afghanistan’s economic output collapsed by 20.7 percent following the taliban takeover in 2021.” the study also says, “the edicts restricting the rights of women and girls, including a directive banning afghan women from working for the UN, directly affect economic productivity and may also impact the level of aid inflows.”

when the taliban assumed power in august 2021, the country faced daunting economic and development challenges, and recent political developments have pushed the country into an economic crisis.

according to the world bank, “rapiid reduction in international grant support, loss of access to offshore assets, and disruption to financial linkages are expected to lead to a major contraction of the economy, increasing poverty, and macroeconomic instability.”

before august 2021, afghanistan’s economy was 75% dependent on foreign assistance. after the taliban assumed power, most international assistance was cut off, which caused a drop in purchasing power. the U.S. renewed the blocking of afghanistan’s central bank’s foreign assets amounting to over $7 billion (Executive Order no. 14064). in april 2022, United Nations (UN) experts called on the U.S. government to unblock foreign assets to ease the humanitarian impact.

in august 2022, 32 afghan and international NGOs called for a clear roadmap to restore the afghan central bank’s essential functions and release afghanistan’s assets frozen abroad. however, western countries have not been ready to lift sanctions until the taliban sets up a more diverse government, permits girls to return to secondary school and allows independent control of the afghan central bank.

a significant development occurred in september 2022 when the U.S. said it will transfer $3.5 billion in afghan central bank assets into a new swiss-based trust fund to be used “for the benefit of the people of afghanistan.” the new trust fund was created after months of talks between the U.S., switzerland, other parties and the taliban. no funds will go to the afghan central bank. the unfreezing of afghan assets has been called for by humanitarians.

however, the mandate of the afghan fund does not include support for humanitarian assistance. in their january 2023 snapshot report of the afghan economy, ACAPS said the key functions of the fund include price and exchange rate stability, payment of world bank arrears, representing the Afghan Central Bank (DAB) in court, payment for some critical imports, assessment of the capacity of the DAB, and support to the third-party monitoring of DAB’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing systems.

more than one million people were estimated to be without work in august 2022. an FAO household survey released in may 2022 found that 26% of respondents lost employment. severe cash shortages continue to limit economic activity within banks and local markets. another alarming statistic is that people's debts have increased both in terms of the number of people taking on debt (82% of all households) and the amount of debt (about 11% higher than the previous year).

in august 2022, dr. ramiz alakbarov, then the UN Deputy Special Representative in afghanistan, who is also the resident and humanitarian coordinator in the country, said, “without functional markets, without (an) operating banking sector, without investments in basic-level jobs, we will not be able to reverse the trends which we are observing now in afghanistan.”

HOW TO HELP

visit [ irusa.org ] and [ savethechildren.org /afghanistan ]

10. VENEZUELA

venezuela is engulfed in a political and economic crisis which has led to more than seven million people leaving the country since 2015.

since 1999, venezuela has been run by two men from the same party. hugo chávez was president from 1999 to his death in 2013 and was succeeded by his right-hand man, nicolás maduro.

their socialist PSUV party has over the past two decades gained control of key institutions, including much of the judiciary, the electoral council and the supreme court.

as a result, the role of the president has become much more powerful and the system of checks and balances has been severely weakened.

not long after mr maduro was elected, global oil prices plummeted and venezuela - which relies almost entirely on oil revenue for its income - went into a seven-year recession.

inflation skyrocketed and shortages of basic goods became widespread.

waves of anti-government protests in 2014 and 2017 fizzled out after a police crackdown.

millions of venezuelans left the country to escape economic hardship and political repression. But despite growing discontent, mr maduro was re-elected in 2018 in a presidential election widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.

with the executive and the judiciary under the control of the PSUV, venezuela's divided opposition in january 2019 united behind the only major institution where they were still influential: the National Assembly and its speaker, juan guaidó.

arguing that mr maduro's re-election was not valid and the presidency was therefore vacant, mr guaidó, with the backing of the National Assembly, declared himself "interim president".

he predicted he would be governing from the presidential palace "within months".

and while more than 50 countries, including the US and the UK, recognised mr guaidó as venezuela's legitimate leader, venezuela's military stayed loyal to mr maduro.

mr maduro, with the continued support of china and russia, remained firmly in charge of the country.

but tightened US sanctions made it harder for the maduro government to sell oil and restricted its access to foreign currency.

wiith the economy in freefall, mr maduro in 2019 relaxed some of the strict foreign currency regulations brought in by chávez.

shortages eased as a result and in 2021, the economy started growing. But extreme poverty remains shockingly high and many of those without access to foreign currency continue to struggle.

disillusioned with the failure of juan guaidó to seize control of anything more than some venezuelan embassies and assets abroad, the majority of opposition parties withdrew their support from him in december 2022 and dissolved his "interim government".

they said that their aim remained to defeat mraduro, but argued that mr guaidó's rival government was no longer the way to go about it.

negotiations between opposition and government representatives - which have stalled on several occasions in the past - resumed in november 2022.

the opposition hopes they will lead to free and fair presidential elections being held in 2024, for which they plan to field a unity candidate to take on mr maduro.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ globalgiving.org / venezuela ] and [ donate.worldvision.org / venezuela relief fund ]

11. HAITI

the country has been in a state of electoral and constitutional turmoil since the assassination of the president, jovenel moïse, in 2021 at the hands of colombian mercenaries with unknown paymasters, but the immediate crisis can be traced back further.

haiti has not held functional elections since 2019 – and the country has been in a fragile state since the 2010 earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people. but moïse’s death in July 2021 – and a new earthquake the following month – sent the situation spiralling out of control.

moïse was replaced by an acting president, ariel henry, who is unelected and widely viewed as illegitimate. in september, the G9 gang coalition blockaded the main port and fuel terminal after henry caused fuel prices to double when he announced a cut to fuel subsidies – a development that brought the crisis to new heights. haiti is now experiencing its worst-ever famine, with 4.7 million people facing acute hunger.

at the same time it is impossible to understand the current situation without acknowledging the dark history of international interventions, including US occupation from 1915-1934, that have blighted haiti. “those interventions have shaped haiti,” smith said. “there’s a chain-link connection.”

long before the litany of recent disasters, he said, “the duvalier dictatorship [the rule of father and son françois, or “papa doc”, and jean-claude, or “baby doc”, duvalier from 1957-1986] destroyed the hopes of a functioning state that serves the nation."

gangs have a longstanding role in political life, and have operated in tandem with political actors since the 1950s to intimidate rivals and deliver votes. there are suggestions of oligarchic figures with ties to the drugs trade pulling the strings – but “many of them are not affiliated to anybody”, smith said.

“the international drug trade is a very important part of it, but that was only the beginning. now gangs have secured their power locally, it is very hard to see that any more powerful actor can control them. the situation has dissolved into the incomprehensible.”

there are almost 100 gangs in port-au-prince, many of them in loose alliances at war with rival groups. gangs control major roads and draw income from customs, water and electricity distribution, and even bus services. membership has become so desirable for some young men that some gangs now have waiting lists for new recruits (pdf).

the country’s army – disbanded in 1995 after years of military interference in politics – has been reestablished but stands at just 500 soldiers, while police also appear impotent.

the ongoing violence has forced the closure of hospitals and has been blamed in part for the re-emergence of cholera, as well as fuel shortages that only worsen the crisis. last month, the UN estimated 155,000 people had fled their homes – almost one in six of the city’s population.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ savethechildren.org/ haiti ]

12. ETHIOPIA

between 2020 and 2022, ethiopia fought a war with militants from its northernmost region of tigray, then under the control of the tigrayan people’s liberation front (TPLF). the conflict was one of the deadliest in recent world history and drew international attention for a preponderance of alleged war crimes, human rights abuses, and ethnic cleansing in tigray. the war formally ended in november 2022; tigray was left in ruins, and its capital was turned over to the federal government.

for decades before the war, the TPLF was a dominant political force in ethiopia. between 1991 and his death in 2012, tigrayan soldier-politician meles zenawi governed ethiopia as an autocracy with the backing of a TPLF-dominated coalition. the zenawi regime oversaw rapid development and increased the international prominence of ethiopia, but his government marginalized ethnic groups, including the oromo and amhara, to solidify government power. additionally, ethiopia was at war with eritrea [PDF] from 1998 to 2000. the war was followed by a nearly twenty-year-long frozen conflict, effectively paralyzing both countries politically and economically.

the TPLF continued to govern ethiopia after zenawi’s passing until 2018, when protests, especially among the oromo population, prompted the government to appoint abiy ahmed ali as the next prime minister. abiy, born in oromia, was heralded by international actors and ethiopians alike as the country’s new hope for peace and ethnic harmony. abiy promised early in his premiership to heal broken trust between the country’s ethnic groups and began to roll back restrictions on certain political freedoms. in 2019, he received the nobel peace prize for negotiating an end to ethiopia’s two-decade standoff with eritrea.

by 2020, ethnic relations within ethiopia once again began to deteriorate. multiple delays of long-promised national elections and the declaration of an extension on abiy ahmed’s first term as prime minister in june 2020 drew indignation from the TPLF. the tigray state council’s choice to hold local elections in defiance of federal orders further inflamed tensions. the elections ultimately solidified the TPLF’s control of the region. on november 4, 2020, abiy accused tigrayan troops of attacking a federal military camp in the tigrayan capital of mekelle and ordered ethiopian national defense Force (ENDF) troops north. this began a military operation known as the mekelle offensive, which escalated quickly as the ENDF pushed further into tigray, and the tigray defense force, or TDF, ramped up their response.

abiy first framed the offensive as a targeted operation against TPLF leadership. a communications blackout implemented at the outset of the conflict shuttered coverage of ground conditions, but media and UN officials began sounding the alarm about improper treatment of civilians, especially ethnic tigrayans, by december 2020. ethiopia’s neighbor and former adversary, eritrea, intervened in the conflict militarily on the side of the ethiopian government. after months of denying their presence, in spring 2021, prime minister abiy ahmed admitted that eritrean troops were fighting in tigray.

in 2021, the United States characterized the war as an ethnic cleansing against tigrayans, and some NGOs raised concerns about the potential of genocide. in march 2021, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights announced a joint probe with the ethiopian human rights commission (EHRC) to investigate alleged abuses and rights violations in tigray, although the impartiality and accuracy of the report [PDF] were called into question following its presentation at the United Nations.

tigrayan forces retook the regional capital of mekelle from the ENDF in june 2021. a month later, addis ababa announced the results of a national parliamentary election—which prime minister abiy ahmed won in a landslide. the TPLF boycotted the election, and opposition leadership in parliament accused the abiy government of banning poll observers in some states. later in the summer of 2021, abiy called on all capable citizens to join the war against tigrayan forces as the conflict began to spill over into the afar and amhara regions, growing closer to addis ababa. in november 2021, tigrayan troops and allied oromo militants marched within eighty-five miles of the capital but were forced back north by ENDF forces.

after a series of failed efforts to negotiate a settlement, the TPLF and the Ethiopian central government signed a cessation of hostilities agreement on november 2, 2022, in pretoria, south africa. followed by implementation negotiations in nairobi, the agreement promised to disarm tigrayan troops, hand control of tigray to the ethiopian government, end the mekelle offensive, and permit full humanitarian access to tigray.

notably, the pretoria agreement does not explicitly mention eritrea, nor were eritrean representatives present at the negotiations. this omission raised international concern that eritrean troops would continue operations within ethiopia in spite of the agreement between the ethiopian government and TPLF. as of january 2023, displaced tigrayans reported that amhara and eritrean soldiers continued to occupy western tigray. the amhara have contested ownership of the area; the displaced population was informed in late 2023 that they would be returned to their land, and the political fate of the territory would be decided in a referendum.

in 2021 alone, 5.1 million ethiopians became internally displaced, a record for the most people internally displaced in any country in any single year at the time. thousands also fled to sudan and other countries in the region. by the time the pretoria agreement took effect, the tigray war and its associated humanitarian disaster had killed approximately 600,000 people. in late 2022, humanitarian groups were permitted to meaningfully operate in tigray for the first time since november 2020.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ savethechildren.org/ethiopia ] and [ irusa.org/ethiopia ]

13. SUDAN

the dramatic evacuation of international residents from sudan has been a top media headline in recent days, as military conflict spreads across the country. violence in and around the capital of khartoum has forced Concern, along with other NGOs, to suspend activities and evacuate non-national staff.

“this conflict couldn’t have come at a worse time for the people of sudan, who were already suffering terribly,” explains dominic macsorley, humanitarian ambassador for concern US. “the country is just facing into the ‘lean’ season — that time when the remainder of last year’s harvest is gone and this year’s crops have not yet matured. the fact that most humanitarian supports have been suspended and conflict is restricting movement leaves many people in a truly horrific situation.”

violence in sudan has been a fact of life for years

many people last followed sudan in the headlines back in 2019, when months of civilian protest led to a transitional government. since then, however, slowed progress on this front has left room for uncertainty and violence. (similar circumstances have fuelled the crisis in neighboring south sudan for more than a decade.) according to UNOCHA, an estimated 300,000 people were displaced by conflict in 2022 — with nearly 33,000 displaced in november alone due to fighting in west kordofan and central darfur.

at the beginning of this year, concern listed sudan as one of the world’s “forgotten” humanitarian crises due to this fragile balance of security and instability. unfortunately, it is once again front-page news due to the crisis escalating out of the spotlight.

one out of every three sudanese requires humanitarian aid

the protracted nature of the situation in sudan has led to dramatic increases in humanitarian aid. as of december 2022, 15.8 million sudanese required humanitarian assistance, approximately one out of every three people in the country. this represents a 10% increase in humanitarian need compared to december 2021.

those numbers are expected to rise dramatically after the last two weeks. as of earlier this week, over 22,000 civilians have fled the country—many to neighboring chad, as well as nearly 3,000 to south sudan. as peter van der auweraert, the south sudan representative for the UN’s international organization for migration, told the new york times earlier this week: “The people that get out first are the people that have the means,” indicating that thousands more will likely be stuck in the country with increasing needs.

this new wave of violence will affect the global refugee crisis in more ways than one

sudan is both one of the largest host countries for refugees (1.11 million as of january 2023), and one of the largest countries of origin for refugees (844,000 as of january 2023). in the first two weeks of fighting, more than 20,000 sudanese have crossed the border into Clchad, with the UNHCR estimating an additional 100,000 could follow in the coming days.

the knock-on effects go beyond sudanese refugees. many of the foreign refugees (especially from ethiopia, syria, and eritrea) currently in sudan are also in areas affected by fighting. with fewer resources than locals, they will face additional challenges in moving around or outside of the country (much in the same way that refugees living in ukraine dealt with additional challenges in moving to safety). these large displacements will also create additional pressure on host communities in countries like chad and south sudan, where resources are already tight. psychological support will also be a key necessity for those who have been forced to flee.

“day and night the fighting went on — to save their lives people moved and left everything behind,” says concern sudan country director, AKM musha, who like many of concern’s in-country staff was advised to leave khartoum for his own safety. “the journey to escape was very difficult…a very frightening and horrible experience.”

for those remaining in sudan, there is a catastrophic combination of challenges beyond violence

as ranked in the 2022 global hunger index, sudan is the 15th hungriest country in the world. food insecurity and malnutrition have run high in the country for decades due to the combined impacts of conflict, drought, locusts, and disease. the conflict in ukraine and COVID-19-related impacts have contributed to inflation rates in excess of 400%. “hospitals are not working, people cannot buy food, water is in short supply — everything has been eroded,” says musha.

carol morgan, concern’s director of international programs, adds that healthcare will be a key issue for the people of sudan. “THere are only enough health personnel to cover about 17% of the population,” she explains. With the added pressures of conflict, this could seriously affect ongoing health concerns in the country, such as diarrhea — an issue responsible for one out of every ten child mortalities.

humanitarian assistance is not guaranteed

while humanitarian organizations both international and local are designed to help in times of crisis, the safety of staff is the number-one priority. the focus of violence in khartoum has led to concern evacuating its 10 non-sudanese staff members from the country. over 150 local staff members are either internally displaced or sheltering at home with challenges like rolling blackouts the rule versus the exception.

this means that not everyone who requires humanitarian assistance at this time will be able to get the help they need. concern had been working with the ministry of health in 73 health facilities and last year treated over 200,000 children for malnutrition. in total, the sudan team had planned to reach over 500,000 people through a variety of humanitarian programs in 2023, vital work which has now been put on hold.

concern has called for an immediate end to hostilities in sudan, as well as for protections to be put in place to allow aid workers to provide essential community support. “we need the fighting to stop and humanitarian access to be restored or else sudan is facing a really disastrous situation,” says musha.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ savethechildren.org/sudan ] and [ irusa.org/sudan ]

14. SOMALIA

during a year that marked the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the somali state, domestic and international attention was focused on plans for the delayed parliamentary and presidential electoral process. political tensions stalled reform efforts key to advancing human rights in the country, while conflict-related abuses, insecurity, and humanitarian and health crises took a heavy toll on civilians.

all parties to the conflict in somalia committed violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting to war crimes. the islamist armed group al-shabab conducted indiscriminate and targeted attacks on civilians and forcibly recruited children. Inter-clan and intra-security force violence killed, injured, and displaced civilians, as did sporadic military operations against al-shabab by somali government forces, troops from the african union mission in somalia (AMISOM), and other foreign forces.

Federal and regional authorities continued to intimidate, attack, arbitrarily arrest, and at times prosecute journalists, including by using the country’s outdated penal code. Somalia continued to rely on military court proceedings that violated international fair trial standards; it did not hand over Al-Shabab cases from military to civilian courts.

key legal and institutional reforms stagnated. the review of the country’s outdated penal code stopped; there was no movement on the passing of federal legislation on sexual offenses or on key child’s rights legislation. the government also failed to establish a national human rights commission; the appointment of commissioners has been pending since 2018.

allegations that somali soldiers were trained in eritrea and deployed in ethiopia’s tigray conflict added to the political tensions. the disappearance of the former intelligence official, ikran Tahlil farah, reportedly missing since late june, led to a standoff between president mohammed abdullahi “farmajo” and prime minister mohamed hussein roble, including over the control of the country’s powerful national intelligence and security agency (NISA).

attacks on civilians

the united nations assistance mission in somalia (UNSOM) recorded at least 899 civilian casualties, including 441 killings, between late november 2020 and late july; a marked increase compared to the same reporting period the previous year. most were killed during targeted and indiscriminate al-shabab attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suicide bombings, and shelling, as well as assassinations.

after the parliament extended the presidential term on april 25 by two years, armed confrontations between security forces linked to different political factions in various districts of mogadishu, the capital, resulted in the displacement of between 60,000 and 100,000 people, according to the United Nations.

federal and regional military courts continued to sentence people to death and carry out executions despite serious due process concerns. puntland executed 21 men convicted by military courts of al-shabab membership and killings on june 27, in three separate locations.

al-shabab fighters killed dozens of individuals it accused of working or spying for the government and foreign forces, often after unfair trials.

the UN attributed six civilian casualties to AMISOM forces between late 2020 and late july. AMISOM established a board of inquiry into an August 10 incident involving ugandan soldiers who were ambushed by al-shabab fighters around golweyn, lower shabelle and responded by killing seven civilians. a ugandan court martial found five soldiers responsible for the killings, sentencing two to death. reports of civilian harm as a result of airstrikes in the gedo region increased.

despite federal and regional investigations into the may 2020 massacre of seven health workers and a pharmacist in the village of gololey in balcad district, the outcome of these investigations remains unknown.

sexual violence

the UN reported an increase in incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, including of girls, which often resulted in the victims being killed.

key legal reforms stalled, notably the passing of progressive sexual violence legislation at the federal level. the somali criminal code classifies sexual violence as an “offense against modesty and sexual honor” rather than a violation of bodily integrity; it also punishes same-sex relations. article 4(1) of the provisional constitution (2012), places sharia law above the constitution and it continues to be applied by courts in criminal cases. consequently, the death penalty for consensual same-sex conduct could be enforced.

in puntland, the first region to pass a sexual offenses law, the UN reported on government interference and blocking of investigations into sexual violence incidents.

abuses against Children

children continue to bear a heavy burden of ongoing insecurity, conflict, and lack of key reforms in the country. all Somali parties to the conflict committed serious abuses against children, including killings, maiming, recruitment and use of child soldiers, and attacks on schools.

somali federal and regional security forces unlawfully detained children, notably for alleged ties with armed groups, undermining government commitments to treat children primarily as victims. the government failed to put in place child rights compliant justice measures.

the previous year, pending legal reforms sought to reduce the age of marriage, including a controversial draft law on sexual-intercourse related crimes—the status of which remained unknown—which would allow a child to marry at puberty regardless of their age.

when the covid-19 pandemic started in early 2020, schools were closed or partially closed for 134 days, including several weeks in march and april 2021, affecting at least 1.2 million children.

freedom of expression and association

federal and regional authorities throughout somalia repeatedly harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and attacked journalists. moments of heightened tensions around the electoral process correlated with an uptick in incidents of harassment toward journalists.

the UN and amnesty international reported an increase during the first quarter of the year in restrictions on journalist in puntland. in march, the military appeals court in puntland sentenced kilwe adan farah, a journalist, to three years in prison under the outdated penal code for his coverage of anti-government protests. earlier, a military court sentenced him to three months, despite the judge reportedly acknowledging a lack of evidence. the journalist received a presidential pardon.

several journalists covering protests in mogadishu were temporarily detained and harassed. on september 5, bashiir mohamud, producer at goobjoog media, was filmed being dragged through the streets by somali police while he covered protests demanding justice for the killing of a former intelligence officer, ikran tahlil farah. he was then held for a few hours at the hodan police station.

al-shabab claimed responsibility for the march 1 killing of journalist jamal farah adan in galkayo.

displacement and access to humanitarian assistance

over 2.6 million somalis are internally displaced, increasingly because of conflict. the UN said over 570,000 people were displaced between january and august 2021. droughts, flooding, and desert locust swarm—increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change—exacerbated communities’ existing vulnerabilities and contributed to displacement. the UN and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported that between january and august, droughts and floods displaced over 90,000 and 49,000 people respectively. tens of thousands of internally displaced people were forcibly evicted, notably in mogadishu.

nearly 3.5 million people were expected to face acute food insecurity and need emergency food aid in the last quarter of the year.

humanitarian agencies continued to face serious access challenges due to conflict, targeted attacks on aid workers, generalized violence, restrictions imposed by parties to the conflict, including arbitrary “taxation” and bureaucratic hurdles, and physical constraints due to extreme weather. al-shabab continued to impose blockades on some government-controlled towns, notably the town of hudur, and occasionally attacked civilians who broke them.

an Amnesty International report documented somalia’s inadequate response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and highlighted the chronic underfunding of the country’s health system.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ rescue.org/ somalia ], [savethechildren.org/somalia ] and [ irusa.org/somalia ]

15. BURKINA FASO

the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian crisis is currently unfolding in burkina faso.

nearly 2 million people need shelter after being forced to flee their homes due to extremist violence.

burkina faso is under threat from extremist attack in the sahel, a belt of semi-arid land south of the sahara desert.

less than ten years ago, burkina faso seemed like a beacon of stability in west africa. in 2015 the country held its first democratic election ever, paving the way to what seemed like a bright future.

but since then burkina faso has seen an increase in violence from jihadist groups, spreading from mali. armed groups quickly started expanding, crossing borders and setting up local groups across the sahel region – including burkina faso, mali and niger.

since 2019, insecurity has reached devastating levels and the number of burkinabe people fleeing violence has skyrocketed.

right now, burkina faso is one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the continent.

according to the UN, more than one in every 20 people are forced to flee the violence.

burkina faso is a landlocked country situated in west africa.

the country is surrounded by mali to the north and west, niger to the northeast, benin to the southeast, and côte d’Ivoire, ghana, and togo to the south.

its capital, ouagadougou, saw a horrific terrorist attack at the beginning of 2016 which left 28 people dead, and 56 people injured.

the central sahel region, which includes the countries of burkina faso, mali and niger, is facing one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world.

yet, it is one of the most forgotten.

it is estimated that over 3 million people have been forced to flee their homes and at least 29 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

the sahel region of africa is a 3,860-kilometre arc-like land mass lying to the immediate south of the sahara desert and stretching from east to west across the breadth of the african continent.

families started fleeing the central sahel region in 2011, after a violence outbreak in northern mali.

increased displacement was reinforced by poverty, food insecurity, unemployment and the presence of armed groups. climate change is also a challenge for families trying to flee.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ savethechildren.org/burkina faso ] or [ friendsofburkinafaso.org ]

16. JAMMU AND KASHMIR

as the sun rises over the picturesque landscape of kashmir, it’s easy to believe that all is well in the region. but beneath the scenic beauty is a harsh and unsettling reality — composed of a military occupation, oppression of the entire population and expression of fear, loathing and anger by the people of kashmir. the picture that the Indian government tries to paint — of normalcy and development in occupied jammu and kashmir — is a myth.

for the last seven decades, kashmir has been the epicenter of a bitter dispute between india and pakistan in which the people in jammu are an integral party. to resolve the conflict, the united nations security council adopted resolution 47 in 1948, and more than a dozen subsequent resolutions, stipulating that the final disposition of the state of jammu and kashmir would be decided by its people through a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the UN. this was accepted by india and pakistan and, in accordance with article 25 of the UN charter, both parties are obligated to implement these resolutions.

but this saturday, aug. 5, marks four years of india’s unilateral actions to consolidate its occupation of illegally indian occupied jammu and kashmir (IIOJK) and imposing what India’s leaders have ominously called a “final solution” for kashmir. to do so, india has resorted to a series of illegal actions, gross and consistent violations of human rights and other crimes that continue to this day.

india increased its military deployment in IIOJK to 900,000 troops right before aug. 5, 2019. this is the densest occupation in recent history — with one soldier for every eight kashmiri men, women and children. this massive force has perpetrated a vicious campaign of repressive actions, including extrajudicial killings of innocent kashmiris in fake encounters; custodial killings and “cordon-and-search” operations; use of pellet guns to kill, maim and blind peaceful protestors; abduction and enforced disappearances; and “collective punishments,” with the destruction and burning of entire villages and urban neighborhoods.

this brutal campaign is driven by the ideology of “hindutva,” which propagates the religious and ethnic supremacy of hindus and hate against muslims. noting this pattern, genocide watch has warned that “the indian government’s actions in kashmir have been an extreme case of persecution and could very well lead to genocide.”

to suppress the voice of the kashmiri people, indian authorities have used censorship and surveillance for decades in the occupied territory. since august 2019, information control has been fully institutionalized. journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and the entire kashmiri political leadership are routinely incarcerated, beaten, humiliated, harassed and even accused of “terrorism” for reporting the human rights violations in IIOJK.

there is only one normality: the normalization of violence. generations have grown up witnessing violence, insecurity and trauma. numerous human rights organizations, international bodies and independent reports have documented use of rape, sexual assault and harassment perpetrated by Indian security forces against kashmiri civilians, particularly women as a weapon of war. emergency laws, such as the 1990-armed forces (special powers), have created an environment of complete impunity for indian security forces.

to extinguish the ethno-religious identity of kashmiris, historical sites have been destroyed and damaged. one of the most troubling aspects of the destruction of cultural heritage is the demolition of religious sites, particularly mosques, which inflicts deep emotional wounds on the muslim population.

in a classic settler-colonial project, india has initiated illegal demographic changes in the occupied territory, grossly violating international law, including the fourth geneva convention. this is central to its plan to convert IIOJK’s muslim majority into a hindu majority territory, to drown out the demand for freedom and self-determination. new “domicile rules” have been introduced, and more than four million fake domicile certificates have been issued to hindus from across india to settle in occupied jammu and kashmir. the land and properties of kashmiris are also being confiscated for military and other official use.

all the measures taken by India in the last four years are blatant violations of international law, including the relevant security council resolutions, specifically resolution 122 (1957). therefore, all the actions taken by India on and after aug. 5, 2019 are not only illegal but, ipso facto, null and void.

to justify its occupation and oppression, india has sought for decades, and particularly since 9/11, to portray the kashmiri freedom struggle as “terrorism.” likewise, to delegitimize the indigenous kashmiri struggle for self-determination, india falsely alleges that it is instigated by pakistan. to expose india’s falsehood, pakistan has proposed expanded patrolling by the UN military observer group in india and pakistan (UNMOGIP) along the line of control in jammu and kashmir. however, india refuses to allow the UN mission to patrol the line of control and to expand it. despite numerous attempts, india continues to deny access to jammu and kashmir to the office of high commissioner for human rights and other UN agencies as well as other human rights and humanitarian organizations and international media.

pakistan desires peaceful relations with all its neighbors, including india. pakistan has responded with responsibility and restraint to india’s repeated provocations. on the other hand, india continues to resort to aggressive rhetoric and repeated threats of the use of force against pakistan, even under the nuclear overhang. the onus is on india to create conditions that are conducive for a meaningful dialogue to resolve the jammu and kashmir dispute. to this end, india must:

• stop all human rights violations in jammu and kashmir

• halt and reverse its illegal demographic changes there

• reverse the illegal and unilateral measures imposed on and after aug. 5, 2019

• grant access to international observers, including human rights mechanisms of the UN and international media, to observe worsening human rights situation on the ground

the international community must play a proactive role obliging india to respect the human rights of the people of kashmir and to work toward a peaceful, inclusive resolution of the conflict. peace in south asia will be possible only when the jammu and kashmir dispute is resolved. the security council and the UN secretary-general must make concerted efforts, as empowered by the UN charter, to promote a peaceful settlement of the jammu and kashmir dispute, according to the relevant UN security council resolutions and wishes of the kashmiri people.

preventive measures to stop abuses in IIOJK and to promote global accountability is both a moral imperative and a collective human rights responsibility. millions of kashmiris have suffered for too long. to end their plight, they demand a peaceful resolution to the conflict. it is time to make peace a new normal.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ pennyappeal.org/ kashmir ] and [ standwithkashmir.org ]

17. UYGHUR CRISIS

the chinese government has reportedly arbitrarily detained more than a million muslims in reeducation camps since 2017. most of the people who have been detained are uyghur, a predominantly turkic-speaking ethnic group primarily in china’s northwestern region of xinjiang. beyond the detentions, yyghurs in the region have been subjected to intense surveillance, forced labor, and involuntary sterilizations, among other rights abuses.

the united states and several other foreign governments have described china’s actions in xinjiang as genocide, while the UN human rights office said that the violations could constitute crimes against humanity. chinese officials have said that they have not infringed on uyghurs’ rights and claimed that they closed the reeducation camps in 2019. however, international journalists and researchers have documented an ongoing system of mass detention throughout the region using satellite images, individual testimonies, and leaked chinese government documents.

when did mass detentions of muslims start?

an estimated eight hundred thousand to two million uyghurs and other muslims, including ethnic kazakhs and uzbeks, have been detained since 2017, according to international researchers and U.S. government officials [PDF]. the chinese government calls the facilities “vocational education and training centers;” the most common terms used by international media organizations and researchers are reeducation camps, internment camps, and detention camps. some activists describe them as concentration camps.

outside of the camps, the eleven million uyghurs living in xinjiang—officially called the xinjiang uyghur autonomous region—have continued to suffer from a decades-long crackdown by chinese authorities.

experts estimate that reeducation efforts started in xinjiang in 2014 and were drastically expanded in 2017. beginning that year, they documented the construction of new reeducation camps and expansion of existing facilities for mass detention. reuters journalists, observing satellite imagery, found that thirty-nine of the camps almost tripled in size between april 2017 and august 2018; they covered a total area roughly the size of 140 soccer fields. similarly, analyzing local and national budgets over the past few years, germany-based xinjiang expert adrian zenz found that construction spending on security-related facilities in xinjiang increased by 20 billion yuan (around $2.96 billion) in 2017.

in late 2019, xinjiang’s governor said that people detained in the reeducation camps had “graduated.” journalists found that several camps were indeed closed. but the following year, researchers at the australian strategic policy institute (ASPI) identified [PDF] more than 380 suspected detention facilities using satellite images. they found that china refashioned some lower-security reeducation camps into formal detention centers or prisons; expanded existing detention centers; and constructed new, high-security detention centers throughout xinjiang. (chinese officials have said that ASPI is an anti-china tool funded by australia and the united states.) instead of detaining people in reeducation camps, authorities have increasingly used the formal justice system to imprison people for years. In 2022, human rights watch reported that half a million people had been prosecuted since 2017, according to xinjiang government figures. the associated press found that in one county, an estimated one in twenty-five people had been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, all of them uyghurs.

what has happened in the reeducation camps?

most people detained in the reeducation camps were never charged with crimes and had no legal avenues to challenge their detentions. the detainees seem to have been targeted for a variety of reasons, according to media reports, including traveling to or contacting people from any of the twenty-six countries china considers sensitive, such as turkey and afghanistan; attending services at mosques; having more than three children; and sending texts containing Quranic verses. often, their only crime is being muslim, human rights groups say, adding that many uyghurs have been labeled as extremists simply for practicing their religion.

information on what happened in the camps remains limited, but many detainees who have since fled china described harsh conditions. the UN human rights office released a report [PDF] in 2022 based on interviews with dozens of people, including twenty-six individuals who were detained, that found “patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” in the camps between 2017 and 2019.

the UN report affirmed previous findings by international journalists, researchers, and rights organizations. various exposés showed that detainees were forced to pledge loyalty to the CCP and renounce Islam, as well as sing praises for communism and learn mandarin. some people reported prison-like conditions, with cameras and microphones monitoring their every move and utterance. others said they were tortured and subjected to sleep deprivation during interrogations. Women have shared stories of sexual abuse, including rape.

some released detainees contemplated suicide or witnessed others kill themselves.

detention also disrupted families. children whose parents were sent to the camps were often forced to stay in state-run orphanages. many uyghur parents living outside of china faced a difficult choice: return home to be with their children and risk detention, or stay abroad, separated from their children and unable to contact them.

what do chinese officials say about the camps?

government officials first denied the camps’ existence. by late 2018, they started acknowledging that there were “vocational education and training centers” in xinjiang. they publicly stated that the camps had two purposes: to teach mandarin, chinese laws, and vocational skills, and to prevent citizens from becoming influenced by extremist ideas, to “nip terrorist activities in the bud,” according to a government report. pointing out that xinjiang has not experienced a terrorist attack since december 2016, officials claimed the camps have prevented violence.

as global condemnation of the abuses has grown, chinese officials and state media have worked to discredit reports on xinjiang using a range of tactics, including disseminating disinformation and harassing activists. they have repeated a narrative that “anti-china forces” in the united states and other western countries are spreading “vicious lies.” beijing tried to prevent the UN human rights office from releasing its report. after its release, chinese officials described it as false information and published a rebuttal describing how foreign governments and organizations “spread numerous rumors and lies” about xinjiang.

why is china targeting uyghurs in xinjiang?

chinese officials are concerned that uyghurs hold extremist and separatist ideas, and they viewed the camps as a way of eliminating threats to china’s territorial integrity, government, and population.

xinjiang has been claimed by china since the chinese communist party (CCP) took power in 1949. some uyghurs living there refer to the region as east turkestan and argue that it ought to be independent from china. xinjiang takes up one-sixth of china’s landmass and borders eight countries, including afghanistan, pakistan, and kazakhstan.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ uhrp.org ] and [ saveuighur.org ]

18. THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO

the democratic republic of congo (DRC) is a country rich in resources, yet fraught with conflict and violence. the country is currently experiencing the largest displacement crisis in africa.

many of its people have not seen peace in more than 20 years.

the democratic republic of congo (DRC) is host to one of the world’s most complex and long-standing humanitarian crises, centered particularly in the east of the country. More than 2.1 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2017 alone — equivalent to an average of 50 families fleeing every hour, every day.

there are currently more than 100 different armed groups vying for territory and control in eastern DRC. this conflict is causing massive displacement and urgent humanitarian needs as families flee their homes for safety.

the armed conflict and insecurity has displaced 4.5 million people within the country. 13.1 million people need humanitarian assistance — 5.6 million more than in 2017. over the last year with intensified fighting, the humanitarian situation has dramatically worsened.

the rise of ebola has made the situation even more dire.

yes, ebola is endemic to DRC. the country is currently battling its tenth ebola outbreak, which has already killed more than 1,500 people. it is now the worst ebola outbreak in DRC’s history. over 50 percent of the total cases have occurred in the past three months.

on july 17, the world health organization declared the ebola outbreak in DRC a "public health emergency of international concern" (PHEIC). previous PHEICs include swine flu in 2009, polio in 2014, ebola in 2014 and the zika virus in 2016.

“We hope that [this] declaration by the WHO will translate into urgent and practical action, including more funding from international donors,” said laura miller, mercy corps’ acting country director in DR Congo. “every day, women, men and children are dying of the ebola virus and it is becoming too easy to forget that the ever-climbing case numbers are people.”

this particular outbreak is happening in the densely populated and conflict-affected provinces of north kivu and ituri, making it more difficult and dangerous to access affected people and areas.

a previous ebola outbreak in 2018 affected 54 people and resulted in 33 deaths.

what is the kivu conflict?

the conflict in north and south kivu began in 1996 in eastern congo in the aftermath of the rwandan genocide. the conflict involves numerous armed actors, including the DRC military, foreign rebel groups such as the democratic forces for the liberation of rwanda and allied defence forces of uganda and more than 100 local armed groups. due to this ongoing fighting, DRC is currently home to the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world, consisting of 21,000 people.

is there still war in DRC?

not technically. but there is still ongoing conflict, insecurity and a lack of effective governance. there are now more than 100 armed groups vying for territory and control in eastern DRC. the current president, joseph kabila, has been in position since 2001 following the assassination of his father, laurent kabila. the presidential election in december 2018 has thrown the country into further turmoil. in its 58 years of independence from belgium, the DRC has never had a peaceful political transition.

how densely populated is the democratic republic of congo?

DRC is the size of western durope and the second-largest country in africa. its population of 80 million people is spread throughout the country, with 40 percent of people living in urban areas. cities in eastern congo, like goma and bukavu, have been experiencing an influx of people fleeing violence from the more rural areas. people are seeking safety and security, and new opportunities to earn an income, as the conflict has forced many of them off their land.

this escalating displacement, coupled with resource mismanagement, is putting increasing pressure on the cities’ services. to respond to these needs, we’ve developed an integrated water initiative to improve access to water for the most vulnerable citizens of goma and bukavu. it also aims to provide equitable access to water for all.

how wealthy is the democratic republic of congo?

the DRC has vast human and natural resources, which could, arguably, make it one of the richest countries in the world. this central african country is home to the world’s largest reserves of coltan, used in mobile phones and electric cars, as well as significant quantities of the world’s cobalt and copper, as well and diamonds, gold and many other minerals.

yet, because of the ongoing conflict, poor governance and a lack of infrastructure, the congolese people are not benefiting from this immense wealth. in fact, in 2019, DRC will become the country with the second highest number of people living below the poverty line.

who is affected by the conflict in DRC?

in the conflict-ridden eastern part of the country, women and children are often most affected by the conflict, as is the case with many crises. more than 2 million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition. one in 10 women and girls experienced sexual violence in 2016. in some cases, women and their children have no choice but to flee the violence and hunger. women often leave their homes with very little but their children and the clothes they were wearing. men too are frightened of being killed or forced to join armed groups.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ savethechildren.org/ democratic republic of congo ] and [ ngocongo.org ]

19. WEST PAPUA

ever since the invasion of west papua over fifty years ago, the Indonesian security forces have committed a never ending catalogue of extreme human rights violations.

over 500,000 civilians have been killed in a genocide against the indigenous population. thousands more have been raped, tortured, imprisoned or ‘disappeared’ after being detained. basic human rights such as freedom of speech are denied and papuans live in a constant state of fear and intimidation.

genocide

almost all papuans will be able to tell you stories of friends or family who have been murdered. a paper prepared by the yale law school for the indonesian human rights campaign in 2004 found “in the available evidence a strong indication that the indonesian government has committed genocide against the west papuans”.

the use of torture by the Indonesian security forces against the indigenous papuan population is widespread.

there is much documented evidence of this endemic behaviour and in recent years video footage (captured as ‘trophy footage’ by indonesian soldiers) has been leaked and broadcast on international news channels such as al jazeera and channel 4 news.

rape

sexual assault and rape has been repeatedly used as a weapon by the indonesian military and police.

in a public report to the U.N. commission on human rights in 1999, the special rapporteur on violence against women concluded that the indonesian security forces used rape “as an instrument of torture and intimidation” in west papua, and “torture of women detained by the indonesian security forces was widespread”.

the robert f. Kennedy memorial centre for human rights prepared a full report on “rape and other human rights abuses by the indonesian military in iran jaya (west papua), indonesia”.

freedom of expression

the basic rights to freedom of expression are almost completely denied in west papua. anyone expressing any criticism of indonesian rule and in particular aspirations for west papuan independence can expect to be persecuted by the police and imprisoned.

recently, leading human rights organizations kontraS papua and the commission for the disappeared and the victims of violence, published a report on the increasing tendency of the indonesian state to charge people peacefully expressing their desire for political independence with treason. they state:

'in 2010, cases with a political dimension have characteristically become ensnared by the charge of makar, the indonesian word for treason or rebellion… altogether in 2010, 32 people were charged or investigated in connection with article 106 on makar.’

political prisoners

yusak pakage, sentenced to 10 years in prison for attending a west papua flag raising ceremony.

there are currently hundreds of west papuan political prisoners being held in west papua and across indonesia. many are serving long prison terms for peacefully protesting against indonesian rule or for being members of organisations calling for west papuan independence.

filep karma is a particular case in point, serving a 15 year jail sentence simply for raising the west papuan national flag. he is an amnesty international prisoner of conscience. conditions in the prisons are often very poor and maltreatment of prisoners is common with many being beaten and tortured while detained. prisoners have often developed severe health problems and been denied access to medical care.

lives lived in fear

papuans return to find their homes in burnt to the ground by the Indonesian army following a ‘sweeping operation’

papuans return to find their homes in burnt to the ground by the indonesian army

many papuans live in a constant state of fear and intimidation. people living in villages across west papua can at any time be subject to military sweeping operations.

under the pretence of looking for insurgents, the military have repeatedly swept through entire rural areas killing arbitrarily and burning whole villages to the ground, destroying subsistence food crops and livestock and forcing people to flee into the forests where they are prone to starvation and disease.

impunity

imdonesian special army force (KOPASSUS) have committed widespread human rights abuses in west papua

despite public statements that the Indonesian government is improving its human rights record, the situation on the ground seems very different. there are often limited or no investigations into human rights abuses and if any discipline is handed out it is normally of little significance to the perpetrators of the abuses. amnesty international states:

“impunity for human rights violations is commonplace. accountability mechanisms to deal with police abuse remain weak, and reports of torture by members of the security forces often go unchecked and unpunished. many victims of past human rights violations in papua are still awaiting justice.”

access to journalists and NGOs

west papua is currently off limits to international journalists. if discovered without permission they are arrested and deported by the Indonesian authorities. some have even been attacked and imprisoned.

it is clear that Indonesian authorities will stop at nothing to keep the ongoing genocide they are directing in west papua out of the international media agenda. west papua has also become impossible to operate in for many NGOs. in 2010 the international red cross were expelled, and in 2012 peace brigades international were forced to leave. International human rights organisations such as amnesty and human rights watch are also denied access to west papua.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ freewestpapua.org ] and [ freepapuamovement.org ]

20. ARMENIA

azerbaijan launched "anti-terrorist activities" in the nagorno-karabakh region on tuesday, saying it wanted to restore constitutional order and drive out what it said were armenian troops, a move that could foreshadow a new war.

armenia and azerbaijan have already fought two wars over karabakh in the three decades since the soviet union they were both members of collapsed.

here is a look at the history of the conflict and the latest developments.

WHAT IS NAGORNO-KARABAKH?

nagorno-karabakh, known as artsakh by armenians, is a mountainous region at the southern end of the karabakh mountain range, within azerbaijan. it is internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic armenians. they have their own government which is close to armenia but not officially recognised by armenia or any other country.

armenians, who are christian, claim a long presence in the area, dating back to several centuries before christ. azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly turkic muslims, also claims deep historical ties to the region, which over the centuries has come under the sway of persians, turks and russians. bloody conflict between the two peoples goes back more than a century.

under the soviet union, nagorno-karabakh became an autonomous region within the republic of azerbaijan.

FIRST KARABAKH WAR

as the soviet union crumbled, the first karabakh war (1988-1994) erupted between armenians and their azeri neighbours. about 30,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced. most of those were azeris driven from their homes when the armenian side ended up in control of nagorno-karabakh itself and swathes of seven surrounding districts.

44-DAY WAR IN 2020

in 2020, after decades of intermittent skirmishes, azerbaijan began a military operation that became the second karabakh war, swiftly breaking through armenian defences. it won a resounding victory in 44 days, taking back the seven districts and about a third of nagorno-karabakh itself.

the use of drones bought from turkey and israel was cited by military analysts as one of the main reasons for azerbaijan's victory. at least 6,500 people were killed.

russia, which has a defence treaty with armenia but also has good relations with azerbaijan, negotiated a ceasefire.

the deal provided for 1,960 russian peacekeepers to guard the territory's lifeline to armenia: the road through the "lachin corridor", which armenian forces no longer controlled.

PEACE TALKS

analysts say successive rounds of talks, mediated variously by the european union, the united states and russia, have brought the two sides closer to a permanent peace treaty than they have been for years, but a final settlement remains elusive. the most sensitive issue is the status of the 120,000 ethnic armenians in karabakh, whose rights and security armenia says must be guaranteed. prime minister nikol pashinyan has said armenia recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of azerbaijan, but baku says it is not certain the assertion was made in good faith and accuses armenia of fuelling separatism.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

in december 2022 azerbaijani civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists began blocking the lachin corridor, and in april 2023 azerbaijan set up an official checkpoint, saying it was preventing weapons smuggling. the flow of people and goods between armenia and nagorno-karabakh was largely cut off. the united states bemoaned the "rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation".

this week, the international committee of the red cross (ICRC) was able to make simultaneous aid deliveries via the lachin corridor and a separate road linking karabakh to the azerbaijani city of aghdam.

despite that, tensions have risen sharply this month, with armenia and azerbaijan accusing each other of building up troops.

HOW TO HELP

visit [ armeniafund.org ]

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eretzyisrael · 22 hours

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María Rivera Maulucci, a professor of Urban Studies at Barnard, spoke out against the arrests.

“The root of word education means to lead out, but how are we leading our students out? In zip ties. Where are we leading students out? To buses? To police stations?” she told the crowd, according to the blog.

Comments such as that — and the general support for the anti-Israel students — left Rory Lancman, the senior counsel of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, lamenting his alma mater.

3Columbia University’s faculty is facing backlash after their decision to back students at the anti-Israel demonstration on campus was denounced as “grotesque” by members of New York’s Jewish community.Getty Images

“It’s grotesque that we have professors who can’t discern the difference between hateful, discriminatory and violent rhetoric that violates the university’s anti-discrimination policies and terrorizes a segment of the university community and reasoned free speech and debate,” said Lancman, whose legal advocacy groups works to battle antisemitism.

“What you’re witnessing at Columbia is the anti-Zionist, antisemitic movement at its core.”

Lancman described the protesters as wannabe “fascists” who were trying to get their way “through harassment, intimidation and violence.”

Several Columbia graduate students, who only gave their first names, also questioned the professors’ support for the student protesters.

“I don’t think it was a smart thing for them to do,” Dana, 34, told the Post.

3Professors appeared on the school’s steps to support the right of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” to take over campus space and denounce the administration’s decision to have protesters arrested.REUTERS

“The professors siding with them, basically that tells me, ‘OK Columbia is not a place of discourse, it is not [a] place where you can peacefully argue. It’s a place that sides with a very specific student body.'”

Ali, 26, a transfer student from Tel Aviv University, said the faculty walkout made it clear that the professors were not just endorsing the protest at Columbia, but were actively taking part as well.

“There was no reason to believe that they weren’t part of the protest. They joined the movement because they came out and joined the protest,” Ali said.

He added that the protesters at Columbia have “made no effort to distance themselves from pro-terrorism positions,” calling the demonstrations “disturbing.”

Omer, another graduate student who was putting up pictures of the remaining hostages kidnapped by Hamas, said he was also troubled by the professors’ walkout.

#columbia university #columbia faculty #protest #gaza solidarity encampment

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golvio · 4 days

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I think The Empty Cup was around when I started to realize that not doing exactly what each Princess wanted wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. While your mutually fatal duel with Razor in The Arms Race was a satisfying conclusion, The Empty Cup left a much stronger impression on me. First, for that visual of you gently holding the Razor’s still-beating heart in the palm of your hand, the only vulnerable and nonviolent part of her. You make no move to crush it in reprisal for all the violence she visited upon your body. You merely let it rest there, still beating, until The Shifting Mound comes to reclaim it, cradling it in an equally tender but even more visually arresting gesture when you speak to her afterwards.

But, also, there is something strangely beautiful in you sticking to your guns in your (possibly unwitting) commitment to pacifism so hard that reality itself bends around you. The Razor’s violence loses its power and smashes ineffectively against your refusal to participate, and her refusal to give up eventually strips her into a form that can no longer hurt you, that you can coexist peacefully in.

The rest of my routes of that run took a certain tone in examining agency: Damsel where you see what giving up yourself to make the other person happy can do to you from the other side, Den where setting an ultimatum does not necessarily doom the relationship to an endless cycle of conflict or a forsaking of humanity, and finally ending upon The Apotheosis where, goddamn it, enough was enough, and rather than being furious at my resistance like she was as The Tower, the goddess was delighted.

I think there’s a parallel to be made between The Empty Cup and if you choose to resist Shifty at the end, in order to reach her heart and truly speak to her, and to open her up to the possibility of a future where you aren’t constantly in conflict despite having been born to be each other’s diametric opposite.

It’s not always a good thing to lose yourself in a relationship and become totally enmeshed, bound to the roles you’ve come to play for each other as a matter of routine and convenience. I felt uncomfortable with The Damsel because I understood what sort of guilt and shame could cause someone to make themselves want to be so small and unobtrusive, but did it really feel any better to the Princess when I did the same thing at other points? Relationships involve compromise and sacrifice, yes, but they’re not one-person affairs by definition. You have to be an active participant instead of a passive extension of your partner. What you want matters, too, particularly if what you want does not involve being stabbed, or eaten, or compelled to allow a terrifying goddess who just exploded out of the earth to end your existence. Sometimes you have to put your foot down and say “no” if you want to reach a resolution that can make both of you happy.

#slay the princess #slay the princess spoilers #stp spoilers #on love

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lowkeyrobin · 2 months

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Mcyt bbut a Karen makes their S/O cry? :0

It's the readers first ever encounter with one in the wild and at first Y/N just,,, tries to ignore the woman/leave but the Karen does the usual of not letting em leave and then Y/N gets overwhelmed and starts crying?-

BAHAHHAAB I LOVE FUCKING WRITINF ABOUT KARENS I CANNOT LMFAOOOOOO ; thank you for the request lol ; I got a random strike of writers block halfway through and its very obvious I'm sorry

MCYT ; wild karen encounter

includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, tubbo, badlinu, nihachu, quackity, & foolish gamers

warnings ; language, iterations of homophobia/transphobia & fatphobia, Karen activity, reader is described as nonbinary

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

you two went different ways while clothes shopping and you were looking at more fem/masc (whichever doesn't conform with your sex) clothing

you felt someone glaring daggers at you so you glanced up and saw some random ass woman staring at you, accompanied by her 13ish year old son

she started making remarks about how you shouldn't be looking at those clothes and it's not "modest" for a little young man/woman like you

like mf you're nonbinary huh

you try to ignore her, meanwhile her son looks SO uncomfortable and wants to very obviously leave

she starts recording you out of no where to call you slurs and the sons just like "mom stop" and of course she doesn't

you end up crying and trying to hide it while you defend yourself but you get quickly overstimulated and flustered

the yelling caught Tommy's attention so he quickly walks over like "woah, woah, woah, what's going on?"

and she starts SCREAMING at poor Tommy about you

he looks at you literally wiping your tears while she's STILL recording it and he just peacefully flames her ass

"it doesn't matter what the hell they wear, clothes don't have gender and I could care less about what my partner buys and wears and how they express themselves. go post that to Facebook and look like a fuckin' idiot."

he pulls you away to the changing rooms so you can talk in private and eventually try on the clothes you were looking for

while he was going that he got a hold of a nearby security officer and told them about the situation since you'd both been illegally recorded on the premises of the store

he didn't wanna press charges for you or anything but at least wanted the woman escorted out to look more like a dumbass, considering the security guard had to call the police because what she did was a crime

couple days later you found the video and bodycam footage of the woman being detained and arrested for resisting arrest and recording someone without consent on private property, which is marked as a felony where you live

live laugh love Tommy bc everyone in the video description was hyping him up and saying how bad they felt for you and even the son 🫶

TUBBO

you were out looking for an outfit for the streamer awards

you were trying on a suit/dress (whichever conforms with your sex) and you spun around in front of him while he was clapping

then some fuckin asshole dude shouts a bunch of slurs at you and tells you you're going to hell??

he instantly turns around and shouts like "can you fucking stop? mind your own business, you dick!"

you were just so in shock and didn't know what to do that you started tearing up a bit in front of him and niki

tubbo sits there and argues with the guy until he's escorted out by staff, informed by niki who quickly went to go get someone and record for proof if the situation escalated

once the man is escorted out, he quickly wraps you in a hug and apologizes for getting loud, thinking he was the one to scare you to tears

compliments you and hypes you up after that and reassures you that the guy was just being a dick to get a reaction out of you

"you look amazing, don't worry, you're absolutely gorgeous in that outfit"

RANBOO

dude you can't even go grocery shopping without people bitching about you guys

you were just trying to pick out some chips and this lady walks past with a scoff

ran quickly turns around like, "Sorry, can we help you?"

she quickly starts yelling about how you gay people are all going to hell and shit

ranboo quickly spits back but you get overstimulated and really take it to heart and you tear up a bit

the lady notices and points it out

she then follows you around the store, yelling at you and shit while they're on the phone dialing the non emergency police line because wtf is wrong w this lady???

before you're questioned and after she's detained, you guys stand alone and try to calm yourself down because you were just getting really stressed about it because wtf do you even do in that situation

gives you a big hug and reassures you that it's okay to cry

he's generally just proud of you in general for being able to hold yourself together for the most part

FREDDIE BADLINU

you two were going out for a little movie date, and dressed in tuxedos to watch Saw X

some dumbass dude was making snarky comments to his wife about you two considering you were holding hands while ordering snacks

Freddie turns around, having heard the guy talking about you thinking he dropped something "can I help you?" He asks in the nicest tone possible

the man and his wife both start making nasty comments about "this generation going to hell" and how you're brainwashing Freddie or something???

you almost immediately start crying because you're trying to ignore it and talk to the girl behind the counter filling your popcorn bucket who doesn't know what to do

she quickly pushes the security button under the counter because she can see your distress and how Freddie was just like stunned as he looked between the couple and you cause like wth

once they're escorted out you're the first in the theater so you guys sit there and talk it all out because you got really overwhelmed

he gives you a hug and reassures you that you did nothing wrong and you're gonna enjoy the movie

the dude had a warrant out for his arrest for not paying child support anyways L

NIKI NIHACHU

you two were out on a walk in a park holding hands and shit and passed this little family down by the creek

the mom just goes full fucking demon mode and starts recording you guys and shouting at you

niki quickly retaliated with a "leave us alone!" before walking off

you were visibly pretty shaken but she reassures you everything is okay and she probably wasn't even recording

she ends up finding the video a few days later

thankfully all the comments were supporting you two and flaming the lady's ass lmao

QUACKITY

you guys were out doing stuff (getting shit at home depot for quackitys new house and peojects) and some Karen was judging your abilities to handy-man basically

"actually, my partner is the best handyman I know! so shut the fuck up"

the Karen immediately goes to the front to get a manager or some shit

meanwhile yall quickly checkout and leave

while leaving you see her getting detained for resisting an officer with violence and threatening an officer 🥰

that becomes a story you tell at every single "family reunion" (meetup with friends)

he still boasts about yelling at someone like that

FOOLISH GAMERS

you guys were out getting snacks for a movie night with friends that were staying over

some Karen made a comment how you needed to go on a diet or some shit since you were the one carrying the basket full of unhealthy snacks

foolish quickly whips around and flames her ass

you just kinda stand there like "wtf"

foolish slings an arm around your shoulders and leads you away since she wouldn't stop blabbering and was threatening to call the cops for some reason

back in the car he reassures you that you do not need to go on a diet and you don't need to listen to the lady whatsoever

movie night was 10/10 you watched Barbie & roasted Saltburn bc that movie wasn't good like at all

#lowkeyrobin #mcyt x reader #mcyt preferences #mcyt oneshot #tommyinnit x reader #quackity x reader #ranboo x reader #badlinu x reader #tubbo x reader #freddie badlinu x reader #niki nihachu x reader #nihachu x reader #foolish gamers x reader #gn reader #gender neutral reader

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peachy-wolfhard · 7 months

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Dating Leo II

a/n: I wanted to add more after I posted part one so here it is Bone Apple Teeth, I love leo sm so its LONG

Let me know if you would like to be on my tmnt taglist!

Warnings: swearing, grandchildren mention (splinter is gonna splinter), illness mention, insomnia, mentions of slapping leos bald head

Word count: 738 -woof

Insomnia gang

This turtle physically cannot sleep

When you don't spend the night he is CONSTANTLY texting you everything that comes to mind

“y/n…why is pizza a circle?” “idk lee can i come over :3” “yeth pls HURRY IM DYING HERE WITHOUT U”

Lying in his bed, cuddling, matching eyemasks ON, fan ON

Even with all of that, nothing works

The nights that the both of you are actually able to sleep he has a grasp on you

Holds you so close to him all the time, you guys are joined at the hip

Everyone besides Mikey and Splinter thinks you guys are gross

“You can't even say their names apart now it's ALWAYS Leo and y/n. You can't separate them they will DIE without each other”

“Calm down Mikey please you're scaring Shelldon”

Splinter is…well Splinter. He stays in your guys' relationship, with how dramatic you guys are he doesn't need his soaps

He loves to show you baby pictures of the boys esp the ones of Leo

((cough cough he definitely mentions grandchildren like the old man he is))

Bites all the time like anytime anywhere

Making breakfast peacefully listening to music- CHOMP

Getting ready for work- CHOMP

Dr. Delicate Touch has to intervene

Play fights with you in slow-motion

(slow motion voice) “yyy/nnn iiiimm goooinggg tooo kick your aaaasssss”

(also slow motion voice) “im gooonnnaaa kick yours firrrst”

HAND! HOLDING!

Initially, it started as a way to keep Leo from running off when exploring places, but then it turned into a regular thing

“My love, light of my life, future spouse eHEM!”

“What Leo”

“WHERE’S YOUR HAND I AM GOING TO DIE WITHOUT YOUR HAND IN MINE!! I ALREADY FEEL WEAK PLEASE I AM SUFFERING”

Absolute drama queen and don't get me started when he’s sick

Picture those old paintings of the sick children in bed, he’s that but dialed up to eleven

All he wants is cuddles and daytime television and don't you DARE come in between him and his Maury

Giving him medicine is surprisingly easy maybe it’s because he’s so out of it or maybe he’s just in love he’d let you do anything to him

But if you’re ever sick he does the exact same for you

If you fight medicine (just like me fr) he’s NOT afraid to use those ninja moves to get you to take your meds

Loves it when you read to him no matter what you are reading

Manga? Sign him up! Horror book? Let's get spooky! Sad book? I'll get the tissues! He just loves to hear your voice especially if you do different voices for the characters but not overly comedic voices, he’s here for the story!

Falls asleep listening to your voice with his head on your lap 99% of the time

Going to the Hidden City for date nights and getting up to absolute mischief

(having to then call Raph to come get you guys because you pissed someone off and just kicked their butt)

Speaking of the Hidden City! During their break in the Hidden City (when everyone gets arrested) you join Leo at the spa

After he gets kicked out he BEGS you to go to the creepy spa across the street with him

“Sorry sweetheart I too am in DIRE need of some relaxation plus it’s not often I’m in an exclusive club”

The moment he shows up with that gorgeous hair you’re suspicious

Texts you a selfie of his new hair with the creepy ass background

“Whatcha think? Even more handsome than normal? ;)” “go back to being bald i miss slapping ur bald head :(“

Anyway when he starts “sleepwalking” your immediate reaction is “Maybe it's the wig” but quickly forget all about it due to relaxation

“Um… yyyy/nnnn could you please help me out with one teeny tiny situation…? Please?”

Now you and Leo are on the case!

“Ooo lala finally some privacy ;)”

“Don't touch me until you’re bald AND we figure this out”

“Pwetty pwease? JUST ONE!”

“Fine, ONE kiss”

After the evil hair reveal and fighting with your boyfriend’s hair he's finally bald again

Leo explains the massage guy’s deal but it falls on deaf ears

“Hey, who’s that guy?” “He'sthe non-member we kicked out earlier!”

“I bet he and that human are the thieves. Call the cops”

After a quick stay in jail, you’re now peacefully back home

#rottmnt x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #tmnt x reader #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles x reader #rise leo #rise leo x reader #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #leo x reader #masterlist

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velidewrites · 4 months

Text

Get In The Water

To bargain with an ancient death-lord, Captain Elain Archeron must acquire the rare, magical scales of a siren. Little does she know her target is no ordinary Mer—but the Prince of the Undersea himself.

Pairing: Elucien

Tags: Pirate!Elain x Merman!Lucien

Notes: For the beautiful talented stunning @areyoudreaminof for the @acotargiftexchange! I wasn't your original Secret Santa, but I tried to include some of your favourites here (this is your official warning for Jurian being a canon-typical little shit). Sending you so many smooches!

Thank you @ablogofsapphicpanic for being my beta<3

Read on AO3

“With all due respect, Captain Archeron, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

Elain’s answering sigh was deep enough to rustle the waves ahead. She tossed them a final look before turning back to her quartermaster. “You know exactly where you can shove your respect, Jurian.”

He bounced off the mast with a grin. “Up my arse, no doubt,” he mused, a large, tanned hand stroking his much overgrown stubble. They’d been out at sea for weeks—for good reason, too, though Elain realised it was a sentiment less and less of her crew continued to share.

Still, she nodded with a smile of her own. “Same as last time.”

“Then I’m sure I don’t have to tell you it would have been wise to dock in Adriata two weeks ago.” He crossed his arms. “We’re not exactly welcome on Day Court waters.”

That was certainly one way to put it. Elain was half-expecting the High Lord’s army, ready at arms and lined up on the shores of Port Denera to arrest her and her crew. It would hardly be the first time.

Elain’s smile only grew wider. “There’s nothing quite like coming home.”

Jurian rolled his eyes, no doubt remembering their latest excursion himself, and leaned over the bulwark. “It’s been a while,” he remarked, his brown gaze drifting off to the azure sea. In the waning hours of the afternoon, the golden sunlight reflected off its surface, shimmering quietly as though unaware of the chaos to come. Where she came from—a little town bordering the Eastern Coast—the fishermen used to say the future was carried in with the waves. Elain was never much a practitioner of such belief—after all, if it were true, her ship would surely be on the verge of utter collapse right now, sinking underwater with the crashing force of the raging sea.

Instead, they continued to peacefully make their way northeast, the sun warming their skin as though in greeting. The irony wasn’t lost on her, but she supposed it was much easier to enjoy the bliss while it lasted. The silver blade strapped to her side flashed at the thought, undeniably in protest—she’d had it dipped in the Cauldron a few decades ago (before her sister, the High Lady herself, had somehow lost the whole damn thing), and since then, the sword had seemed to develop a mind of its own. Elain didn’t mind. It was bloody useful in battle, and she was smarter than to argue with a deadly, magical artifact. Even if it was a real fucking smartass.

The sword flashed again—and a lot brighter this time, too bright to mistake it with a random glimpse of the sunlight.

“Sorry,” Elain muttered.

Jurian—she’d nearly forgotted he was still here—glanced down at her belt. “You need to stop talking to the damn thing.”

She could have sworn she felt something sharp twitch against her hip.

“Would you like to talk to it instead?” she asked sweetly.

Jurian’s eyes narrowed. “No.”

“I thought so.”

“Seriously, Elain,” he sighed, apparently foregoing her usual title. “I would have gone to the ends of the earth with you to get those scales. Hell, I will go to the ends of the earth, and you know I won’t so much as hesitate.”

Elain did know. The stakes were too high—too personal, especially for her second-in-command.

“But the crew needs a break,” Jurian continued. “Adriata was supposed to be our goldmine, and we found nothing—nothing, Elain, not even one of those gods-damned—”

“I know what happened in Adriata, Jurian,” Elain cut in. “I was there.”

“I only mean—”

“I know what you mean. And I agree, even if I do not show it sometimes. Jurian, I…” She closed her eyes, letting the salty mist pearl on her skin, her lashes. “I miss her too. Every day.”

For a moment, there was only silence—silence and the quiet whoosh of the deep blue waves.

“I know you do,” Jurian whispered beside her.

“She’s out there, somewhere—somewhere on the Continent. With that monster to do with her as he likes.” She could practically hear Jurian grit his teeth beside her. “I won’t give up, and we’ve been out here together long enough for me to know you won’t give up, either.”

“The Death God is persistent,” Jurian seethed. “He demands too high a price.”

Indeed he did. Koschei, a being so ancient even the fishermen in her small Day Court village had no legends singing of his name, had been magically bound to his lair on the Continent millennia ago—and, apparently, had been trying to find a way out of his chains ever since. The only thing in the world able to release him, though, was—of course—the Cauldron, the creator of the world itself.

And, up until sixty years ago, Elain would see it in her sister’s dining room every Solstice. It was ridiculous, really, the power the Night Court used to have in its grasp. That wasn’t to say it had not been deserved—the Cauldron had been won in a war full of blood and sacrifice, one her sister and his mate had nearly lost their life in, but…well. Surely they could have found a more secure place to display it than their townhouse in Velaris. A place where it could not have gotten stolen by only the Mother knew whom, or better yet—a place where no one, not even Feyre and Rhysand, could ever find it again.

It was too late for such semantics. Despite an entire Valkyrie region searching the skies for a sign of it, the Cauldron was simply…gone.

Nesta believed it to have been an inside job. After all, there were only a handful of people outside of Velaris aware of the city’s existence at all, let alone the High Lord and Lady’s private residence. But the Head Valkyrie had questioned them all—and found nothing at all.

For the first twenty years, Elain searched for it, too—anything to get out of her village, really, and the ghosts of a life she longed to leave behind. An engagement to a local lord’s son might have been the dream of many females back home, but it was, and never would be, Elain’s

The missing Cauldron had given her the opportunity she’d been searching for, and Elain did not look back when Feyre asked for her help. In her travels, though…she discovered a beauty to the seas, to the vast world they opened up for her taking—and so, after too many hopeless clues and tearful conversations with her sister, Elain had let the waves consume her entirely.

She did not think she would ever have to worry about the Cauldron again. She’d hoped, perhaps foolishly, that it had lost itself to the world just as she wished it would. But then Elain had met Vassa, and then Vassa had been taken by Koschei, and, well…

Her fate belonged to the Cauldron once again.

This time, though, it was hardly a chore, or a favour she was doing her little sister. It was a matter of life or death, of the family she’d found sailing the seas of Prythian. Vassa was a sister, too, a sister she loved dearly enough that when Koschei’s demands began to invade her visions, Elain did not hesitate.

She and Jurian had devised a plan—it wasn’t exactly foolproof, so to say, but she hoped it would be enough. It had to be.

“Do you know how much just one of the Mer scales runs for on the black market, Jurian?” Elain asked, more to prove a point than to get an actual answer. He knew—they’d been chasing them for the past two years. Still, she said, “Ten thousand gold marks. You could buy a manor in Spring for that kind of money.”

“I have allergies,” Jurian murmured.

“I know I didn’t just hear that.”

Jurian sighed. “It just seems…I don’t know, Elain. The Mer people are folktale. If your so-called Undersea were to exist, we would have found it in Adriata.”

“The High Lord’s libraries clearly point to the seas of Day,” Elain pressed.

Jurian snorted. “Are you sure you read that right? We didn’t exactly have a lot of time in that library, you know.”

She cut him a look sharper than the sword at her side. “I’m sure. I got the information we needed with a few minutes to spare.”

“I think your posters are still hanging at the entrance.”

Elain wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like the way my hair looks in those ones.” When it came to painting, the Day Court forces were no Feyre.

“They put quite the bounty on your head, you know,” Jurian added. “If that isn’t flattering, then I don’t know what is.”

Elain grinned. “Well, I stole some really valuable books.”

“I’ll bet.” He looked out to the sea again, that rugged face turning more solemn as he studied the horizon—and the shore stretching far ahead. “How do you know the scales will be enough to get Vassa back?”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I don’t know. But, if we can find the Mer here and get the scales we need…perhaps we can bargain with Koschei to take them instead. Their magic is forgotten, just as he is. He might find them to be enough.”

“That’s a big if, Elain.”

She shrugged. “At the very least, we might be able to use them to trace the Cauldron. I’ve sent a letter to Velaris—Amren volunteered her assistance.”

Jurian shuddered.

“Don’t be a baby,” Elain rolled her eyes. “She’s useful. Ancient.”

“Precisely.”

“I just…” He shook his head, his brown curls catching the sunlight. “Things are weird enough as they are. You Fae are hardly accepting of pirates, let alone humans.”

Elain tucked a loose strand of hair behind an arched ear. “I’m a pirate,” she declared, letting some of the pride she’d buried deep in her chest creep into her tone. “I am happy to share at least half of the burden with you.”

Jurian’s warm hand covered her own. “You’re a good friend, Elain,” he said. “You could have left—could have sailed off after that whole fiasco with Koschei.” He gave her a light squeeze. “But you chose to stay.”

She could not meet his stare—not when the salt in her eyes had begun to burn too much, blurring her own gaze as she turned to face the shallowing water. “I’ve run away before,” she told him quietly. “No more.”

“No more,” Jurian agreed. He had a past of his own—and, when the time was right…he would tell her. And she would embrace it without question.

“I’ll tell you what,” Elain started, her throat suddenly tight. “It’s a big day we’ve got tomorrow. Tell the crew we’ll be dining at the local tavern tonight?”

Slowly, Jurian turned to her—and smiled. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

***

The Pearl was a small ship—small enough not to raise suspicions when they’d docked in Port Denera. The flag—a Mer tail with a pearl resting between its fins—had been carefully folded away prior to their arrival, the sigil of Elain’s crew all but too recognisable in those parts of Prythian.

It wasn’t that Elain had no moral compass whatsoever, but, over the years, she had learned that sometimes, taking her life into her own hands had a tendency to pay off a whole lot more than simply letting it run its course. Had she lived by a different set of rules, she would have long been married to the new Lord Nolan, never having left her hometown and spending her days at the beach, looking out to the sea and wishing for a life never to be.

It could have been a good life, perhaps—but it would never be the life she wanted, the life she craved. Besides, it wasn’t like Elain had ever been given a good example to follow. Feyre, after all, had escaped her own arranged marriage and ran right to the deepest, darkest corners of Night, Nesta following shortly after. It was only fair that Elain followed the family tradition.

Father had been devastated—Elain’s engagement, after all, had been his final, desperate attempt at seeing his daughters well off before his passing. After Feyre and Nesta’s disobedience, as he’d called it, Father had assumed his daughters had simply rebelled because they wished to remain home. Perhaps that was why, after having tried marrying Feyre off to Spring and Nesta to Hybern, he’d settled for seeing Elain with a small, local nobleman.

Elain did not care for riches—well, she hadn’t cared then. Now, having seen all that the world had to offer, she supposed she did enjoy having a few pearls and gold around her neck at times. But it hadn’t been the match itself that bothered her—she was sure Greysen Nolan was perfectly nice and well-mannered—but the fact that Father hadn’t even asked if he was who Elain wanted, if he’d even cared if she could ever love Greysen at all.

As cliché as it sounded, love was exactly what Elain craved so viciously. And now, decades later, she had finally found that love—here, out at sea, with the waves embracing her wholly and eternally. This—the Pearl—was her home.

She sure hoped home wouldn’t mind seeing her stumble back aboard in a few hours, when she was well and thoroughly drunk out of her mind.

Aside from pearls and jewellery, Elain had developed a taste for ale, and it just so happened that the Port Denera tavern was famous for the golden drink. It tasted like liquid gold in her cup, leaving a tinge on her tongue that sent her senses spiralling and flushed her cheeks with bright-pink heat.

The crew seemed to be enjoying themselves, too, and it was only for that reason that she’d allowed her instincts to abandon ship for a moment or two. Well, perhaps three. She hadn’t seen Jurian this happy and relaxed since Vassa had been taken—a sign of how truly tired he must have been these past few weeks, of how badly he needed an evening to forget.

The thought sobered her up just a little, and Elain remembered the true reason she’d allowed this unusual night out in a town where the entire army was on the lookout for Captain Archeron. She did feel slightly guilty for misleading Jurian into thinking it was simply out of the goodness of her own heart—into omitting the one, small ulterior motive that had lately seemed to be driving nearly every decision of hers.

Information.

While the fishermen in the East of the Day Court had no knowledge of the Mer, the folk of Port Denera no doubt sang of the old creatures lurking beneath the sea. She’d already picked up on a few shanties on the way to the tavern, humming the words quietly to herself as she searched the lyrics for anything valuable. The Mer’s magic appeared to be as sharp as their teeth, capable of stirring the waves and calling upon storms. The strongest of them could lure the innocent, hungry wanderers into their traps with a lulling voice and mesmerising eyes, ones that reflected the soul’s deepest desires just as the surface of the sea reflected the sun above. Once captured, they’d sink those teeth into the flesh of their prey, and drag them under—never to be seen again.

Elain hummed the tune again cheerfully, excitement bubbling up in her chest—well, she supposed the bubbles might have had to do with some of the barrels of alcohol she’d consumed. Still, this was promising. All she needed was a name—a lagoon, or a hidden grotto, perhaps, where she could locate a lair. Her Cauldron-blessed sword would do the rest of the job.

Somewhere far beyond her peripheral vision, she heard the silver hum happily, already summoned by the rather bloodthirsty thought.

It was not that Elain wanted to murder the Mer in cold blood. She did not enjoy killing (she could have sworn her blade huffed at the sentiment), but if there was no other way to acquire the scales, she would do it. She loved Vassa enough to do whatever it took—the exiled, Firebird queen would do the exact same for her.

For what had to have been the hundredth time, Elain looked around the tavern, her somewhat blurry gaze scanning the bustling area. It was a lot more crowded than she’d expected—which proved a good thing all the same. It was a lot harder to get spotted in a sea of creatures of all shapes and sizes, and it sure helped that they all seemed piss-drunk, too.

The local shanty found its way onto her lips once more, and she sang it absently, her attention entirely focused on some old wraith somehow downing two bottles of wine at once. Her sharp nails scraped against the glass as she drank, and Elain watched, completely entranced at what she’d never thought could be accomplished before.

In the morning sun so bright, the sailors set to sea,

Their hearts as bold as brass, their spirits ever-free.

But careful, sailor, please, beware the waves that dance and play,

Beneath this sunny surface, a wicked mermaid lay.

“Sounds terrifying.”

Elain jumped.

The ale in her hand fell to the ground with a loud clunk, the sound immediately drowned out by a rumbling laughter of the crows. The golden liquid spilled over her, sticking to the skin of her neck, her collarbones, the curves of her exposed breasts—until finally sinking into the white fabric of her corset. Elain swore under her breath, cursing her choice of garment for tonight, before finally looking up.

“Shit,” she swore again, for the lack of a better word—or, perhaps, because there was no word to describe the male standing before her.

The most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

A pair of shining eyes of molten gold looked her up and down, an auburn eyebrow quirking up in amusement. “Now, don’t tell me you’re disappointed,” he drawled, his voice rich and deep and smoother than the liquid she’d swallowed down her throat. “I spent a lot of time on my hair earlier tonight.”

Elain blinked—then blinked again. “Are you…hitting on me?”

His mouth—full and plush and gods she needed to get it together—twitched. “And here I was, thinking I was all too obvious,” he quipped.

She peeled her gaze off the soft waves of his hair, glistening under the tavern’s candlelight. “Perhaps you’re just not very good at it,” she remarked, thanking the Mother for keeping her tongue sharp when her mind bordered on insanity.

The stranger smiled openly now. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Elain angled her head an inch. “Why?”

Did she really just ask him that?

Perhaps it was time to order some water.

The male seemed entirely unbothered. “It’s not often you meet a beautiful female singing old folktales in the middle of a tavern,” he said, offering a one-shouldered shrug. “I find myself somewhat…intrigued.”

“Intrigued,” Elain repeated blankly.

His smile grew wider. “Quite,” he agreed. “Those are old, you know.”

Elain straightened—straightened and blinked again, her thoughts somehow collecting into one, singular stream as she remembered what, exactly, she had come to this tavern for. “Are they?” she asked, “I’ve just picked up on them an hour ago.”

“An hour?”

She offered a smile of her own. “I have an excellent memory.”

Those golden eyes glistened. “Is that so?” the male asked, his gaze sweeping down her body as though he had all the time in the world. “If I tell you my name, will you sing it for me, too?”

Focus, Elain. He’d mentioned the Mer shanties, did he not? “I doubt anyone will hear it,” she remarked. “I never see Port Denera this busy.”

“You’ve been here before?”

Elain waved a dismissive hand. “Once or twice,”

The male hummed. “Then you know today is an important day,” he said, that strange shade of amusement playing over his features once more. “The High Lord is mourning the loss of his dear wife and son, and we are drinking in a show of, ah…solidarity,” he finished, a passing faun raising his glass at them, as though emphasising his agreement.

Elain waited for him to get out of earshot. “Wife and son?” she questioned, searching the corners of her mind that stored everything she knew about her Court.. “Didn’t that happen three hundred years ago?”

Those eyes narrowed at her slightly, and the stranger tilted his head. “Do you think he should have moved on instead?” he asked, the question so quiet it may as well have been a breath—and yet, she’d heard it perfectly over the bustling crowd.

Elain considered. “I think it must have been a beautiful kind of love, if he’s mourning it so many centuries later.”

His auburn brow arched in surprise. “What did you say your name was, lady…?”

Elain snorted. “Oh, I’m no lady.” She set her glass on a nearby table. “Haven’t been for a while.”

“You certainly look like one,” he remarked, that smile once again creeping back onto his ridiculously handsome features.

She couldn’t resist. “Do I, now?”

He chuckled, the sound low and honeyed. “Oh, absolutely.”

“And are you in the habit of flirting with all the ladies you pick up in a tavern?” Elain teased.

“No, no. I usually let them come to me.” He winked. “I can be a good singer too, you know.”

Elain smiled.

“I’ll take your word for it,” she laughed. “So, you know those shanties, too?”

His eyes glittered.

There it was.

“Some of them,” he agreed.

“Do they hold any truth?” she pressed. Come on, come on, come on…

“Sometimes,” he nodded. “Does it matter?”

You have no idea, Elain thought. “It does. I’m looking for��” she hesitated. “Information.”

“Oh?”

“The books in Day’s library state I might find it here,” she added carefully.

Something like realisation crept onto his features. “You wish to know about the Merpeople,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Elain’s gaze flickered to the movement. “How did you get access to those books?” he asked.

“It’s not important,” she told him, eyeing the golden-brown muscles flexing under the candlelight.

“I disagree,” the male said, “those books are extremely well-guarded.” Was that admiration she’d heard in his tone?

“What was your name, again?” Elain asked him.

The male smiled. “Would you like to come outside with me?”

As if. “I’m not exactly in a hook-up mood right now, sorry,” she told him, though uncertain if the words rang entirely true.

He smiled—as though he knew. “What about information?” She felt her brows flick up. “I thought so. Now, shall we? It’s more quiet out back,” he added, gesturing to the tavern’s back door.

“I like it loud,” Elain countered. The more people drowning their conversation, the better.

“So do I,” he winked. “Another time, baby, I promise.”

Elain rolled her eyes. “Very funny,” she said, then dared a quick glance around the space again. Come to think of it, the couple at the table near where the two of them stood were awfully close—close enough that Elain decided not to risk it. She nodded to the stranger. “Let’s go.”

“Just so that we’re clear,” he started as they made their way through the crowd, “once you get those scales, we’re splitting the profits.”

“We can discuss the money later,” Elain countered. Like hell she was going to share anything with him.

“If that is what you wish,” he nodded, and opened the door.

The fresh air hit her almost unexpectedly, but it was a welcome change from the stuffy tavern in the back. She breathed in the salt carried in by the sea, her thoughts clearing up enough that she could finally focus on the matter at hand without unnecessary…distractions.

The distraction flashed her a smile, the beach behind him illuminated by the dying sunlight. “So, Mer scales, hmm? What do you need those for?”

“That,” Elain said firmly, “is none of your business.”

He chuckled again, the sound different this time—less than that deep, raspy sound she’d heard before, but more…fluid, like tea stirring in a cup. Warm. Inviting. “Oh, you have no idea,” he said quietly—and reached out his hand.

“Come with me,” the stranger told her.

Elain frowned. “I’m already here,” she pointed out. “You wanted to leave the tavern,” she reminded him.

He hummed—and she could have sworn it was like a melody pouring from his chest. “Yes,” he told her, stepping back until his feet—bare, she now noticed—reached the sand. “Let’s go a little further, alright?”

Elain stepped forward. “I…don’t understand,” she said. Still, she moved in closer.

He offered her a gentle smile. “Just one more step for me, gorgeous, please,” he tried again, his hand still outstretched.

“Okay.” She reached the sand now, too—but he had somehow moved back a few steps again, inches away from the waves’ embrace.

“Good girl,” he purred, the water now kissing his skin. Elain stepped in closer. “You’re very beautiful, you know,” he told her, angling his head slightly. She watched as his long hair spilled down his back in waves softer than the very sea—and met his gaze again, only to find it dark. “Almost beautiful enough to hide that rotten soul of yours.”

That gold had tarnished—enough to hide that bright, enticing gleam.

“Yes,” Elain agreed.

“Mmm, I thought so,” he mused. “I just need you to take a few more steps, alright? We’re almost at the shore,” he added, his voice like a lullaby, reassuring.

“Yes, I’ll follow you,” she agreed again.

“You’re doing so well for me,” he praised. “I might even consider making your death painless,” he whispered, watching her closely as she, too, neared the edge of the water. “Though that wasn’t the kind of death you had planned for my kind, was it?” he asked, a certain sharpness to his tone that made her open her mouth. “Oh, no need to answer that, baby,” he interrupted, “but I do appreciate your eagerness.”

Elain nodded. “Whatever you wish.”

He smiled, flashing his teeth. A perfect, pearly set of sharp blades—sharp enough to tear her flesh apart. “That’s a good girl,” he hummed, and she could have sworn she heard her soul sing in answer. “Now, step into the sea.”

Elain stopped inches from the seafoam. “Will you give me your hand?” she asked him shyly.

His features softened—though the sharp, predatory smile remained. “Of course, my rotten, terrible lady,” he purred. “Come with me.”

Elain slid her hand in his—and waited.

His skin, surprisingly, was warm—sun-kissed, as if he hadn’t spent an entire lifetime in the dark depths of the Undersea. He felt smooth, too, with some coarseness here and there that let her know his palm was no stranger to holding a weapon—a trident, perhaps, if the songs of the fishermen had, indeed, held any truth to them.

The leaves behind her rustled—and Elain finally, finally released a breath.

“No,” she told him, her voice still feigning that blissful softness. “No, I don’t think I will.”

The merman blinked. “What?”

Elain gave him a smile that was purely Fae—one that let him know she was a monster, too. “It was a nice try, really,” she said, her free hand reaching back to her belt. “Sorry it didn’t work out.”

A pair of iron cuffs appeared in her grip—and, in a flash of a second, found its way onto the merman’s wrists.

His skin sizzled, and he hissed sharply, those dark eyes wide and not leaving hers for one second—but Elain held on, murmuring the spell she’d memorised under her breath.

She could never come to the land of the Mer unprepared.

“Duck!” Jurian yelled behind her.

She only had a fraction of a moment to see the bow in his hands—to stop him before he released the arrow.

Elain didn’t stop him, though.

She ducked.

***

“I can’t believe you caught one of them,” Jurian said in disbelief. “Good work, really, Elain, but did you have to bring him onto the ship?”

From the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of movement behind the bars. The merman rose to his full height—he seemed taller in the constrained space of the brig, somehow—and met her gaze directly.

“Your name,” he said as though in a daze. “Elain.”

Elain cut her friend a look. “Thank you, Jurian.”

Jurian bounced off the wall. “Sorry,” he shrugged, his tone suggesting he wasn’t sorry at all.

“It didn’t work,” their prisoner said, more to himself now than his jailors.

“What didn’t work?” Jurian asked him sharply.

The merman looked at him—and Elain knew it took everything in her quartermaster not to flinch under his scrutiny. “My spell,” he explained slowly, then turned toward her again. “It didn’t work on you,” he repeated.

“Perhaps you’re not as good as you thought,” Jurian said.

He scoffed, as though the remark pulled him out of whatever fog had clouded his thoughts. “My name is Lucien Spell Cleaver,” he declared, his voice louder now, stronger. “Firstborn son of Helion Spell Cleaver, Prince of the Undersea—and heir to the High Lord of the Day Court.”

Beside her, Jurian went entirely still. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure she was moving at all, either.

She may have been a pirate, but kidnapping a High Lord’s son—nay, his heir—was an act of treason, and Elain really wished to see one hundred before eventually dying a horrible, undoubtedly painful death. Quite common in her profession, really.

“Impossible,” she whispered. “Helion’s son is dead—as is his wife.”

“Clearly not,” Jurian murmured.

The male—Lucien—narrowed his gaze at the two of them. “We have been in hiding for the moment I was born. There was no denying what I was, not until I learned how to glamour myself, and my mother—she took me back to her people to protect me,” he explained.

“Does the High Lord know?” Elain breathed. He was lying. He had to have been.

Still, it was nice to at least know his name. Fake or not, it pleased her, for some reason. Lucien.

“Of course,” he scoffed. “The ‘Summer Estate’ he leaves for six months every year is Undersea.”

The answer was detailed enough that Elain’s heart quickened. “You really are Lucien Spell Cleaver?” she asked.

“And you,” Lucien nodded, “are Elain Archeron. Pirate…and Mer killer, apparently.”

“I haven’t killed anyone,” Elain protested.

“Yet,” he finished for her. “You were going to kill me,” he said, those golden eyes—back to normal now that he was at their mercy—settling on her as he added, “You still are.”

“I haven’t decided yet,” she scrambled. Some pirate she was—some of her rivals back East would have made her walk the plank for her hesitation.

Still, Elain could not bring herself to remember why…

“Why do you want my scales?” Lucien asked, interrupting her trail of thought—completing it, really.

“I told you, that is none of your business,” she told him, though her voice lacked her previous conviction this time.

“It is, if you still want them,” he countered.

“Why on earth would you give us your scales?” Jurian demanded.

“Well, I wouldn’t,” Lucien shrugged, then lifted his iron-bound hands into view. “As you can see, I am not in my Mer form, and will not be until you release me back into the sea,” he argued. “So, why don’t you just let me go, I give you my scales, and everyone wins?”

“Because you’re very obviously lying,” Elain cut in. “And you and your little Undersea army are going to sink my ship the moment it sails.”

The corner of his lip ticked upwards. “Is the word of a Prince not credible enough for you, Elain Archeron?”

“Not particularly,” she replied calmly. Princes, Lords—she’d heard their promises before, and ran to the sea to escape them.

“You are unlike any Mer hunter I’ve ever met before,” Lucien hummed, as though in thought.

Elain frowned. “There are hunters?”

“Of course,” he told her. “My father has disposed of as many of them as he could, but some still emerge every few years, hoping to see if the songs are true.” His expressions sombered. “Our scales are very valuable.”

“So we’ve heard,” Jurian said.

Lucien’s gaze flickered up. “It is money, then,” he said matter-of-factly, though something like anger lingered in the back of his throat.. “You wish to kill my people for a few gold marks?”

Elain swallowed.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, princeling,” Jurian seethed.

Elain placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Take a breath, Jurian,” she told him quietly. “Why don’t you leave us alone for a moment?”

Jurian looked at her—then back at Lucien again. “Let me know if you need help killing him,” he said darkly. Then, “For the record, I don’t care what you are,” he told Lucien. “You’re just annoying the shit out of me.”

And with that, he was gone, the wooden stairs carrying the echo of his steps. Only when they faded did Lucien finally say, “I like him.”

“He shot you,” Elain reminded him.

Lucien shrugged. “It wasn’t an ash arrow, now, was it? We live to forgive. Besides, I’m healed now.” Indeed, the wound in his shoulder had now closed almost entirely. “Well, almost,” he said, pointedly raising his wrists back into the light.

Elain had hoped the iron would work—it was an old superstition the humans thought could harm the Fae, but it had to have stemmed from somewhere. With Day’s libraries proclaiming the Merpeople as millenia older than the Fae, Elain figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Sorry about the iron bars,” she said, nodding to Lucien’s cell. “Precautions.”

“I would have expected nothing less,” Lucien said—then leaned back, letting the back of his head rest against the wood. “So.”

Elain released a breath.

“Alright,” she braced herself. He was her future High Lord, apparently—if she lied, she was already dead. “What do you know of Koschei?”

“Who?”

“Nothing, then,” Elain sighed. “He is a death-lord—a god-like being trapped somewhere deep in the Continent. His magic is even more ancient than yours.”

Lucien’s brows furrowed. “And you seek to…take his magic for yourself?”

“I want nothing to do with his magic,” Elain told him hotly, earning an arched eyebrow in response. “It is revolting. But, it also currently binds my friend’s soul to Koschei himself, and he will not give her up unless we offer him something in exchange.”

“Mer scales?”

“He wants the Cauldron,” she explained. “We are hoping the scales will do for now.” She fought the urge to bury her face in her hands. Was the plan truly that hopeless? Was Vassa going to be trapped…forever?

In her misery, she hardly noticed Lucien had gone strangely quiet.

“Our scales do not even compare to the sheer power of the Cauldron,” he said, the words barely above a whisper.

Elain laughed bitterly. “If this is your way of talking me out of it, you should know I’m pretty desperate,” she told him. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get my friend back.”

At that, Lucien said nothing. He only stared at her in thought, his eyes shimmering despite the darkness she and Jurian had shoved him into.

Then, “I see.” He stepped forward then—and halted an inch from the iron bars. “I was wrong about you.”

That, Elain did not expect.

“I told you, your spells do not work on me.”

“I’m well aware,” Lucien hummed. “I speak the truth. What is your friend’s name?”

Her throat threatening to close up, Elain managed, “Vassa.” She shook her head. “She’s like a sister to me. She’s Jurian’s…”

Understanding dawned on his features.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Lucien said.

“Yes,” Elain whispered. “Yes, I suppose it does.”

Lucien studied her closely. “And do you have a…?”

Elain almost laughed—though she supposed it was better than breaking down in front of the man she’d imprisoned aboard her own ship. “Don’t tell me you’re back to your flirting strategy now,” she told him.

Lucien smiled—a true smile this time, though Elain wasn’t sure how she knew. “Was I truly that obvious?”

“I knew what you were,” she gestured over him as if it was enough of an explanation. “No one else has eyes like that.” Like the morning sun itself.

“Now who’s the shameless flirt, Elain?”

Elain chuckled. “Don’t flatter yourself.” She met his gaze again. “The song summoned you, did it not?” she asked. “You weren’t at the tavern when I arrived.”

Lucien nodded. “I heard it from beneath the waves.”

“I’m not that good a singer.”

“No, you’re not,” he said, his smile fading with the words. She found herself wanting to see it again. “It was for another reason that I heard you. I recognise that now.”

“Recognise what?”

Lucien hesitated. “I need to…” He shook his head. “I—I can’t be sure, it doesn’t…” He locked his eyes with her own again, and she watched him patiently as he searched her gaze. “Elain,” Lucien tried again, and she could have sworn his voice trembled with the word. He loosed a breath. “Come with me.”

Elain looked at his outstretched hand—careful not to let the bars graze his skin. “I told you—”

“I’m not using my magic,” Lucien interrupted. “Just…come with me. Undersea.”

“Like hell I will,” she crossed her arms. “I don’t trust you.”

Lucien just stared at her—started as if some internal battle was playing out deep inside him, one she could almost feel in her own chest.

Then, his hand pulled back, and he laid his palm flat over his chest. His heart, Elain realised, her gaze dipping toward it.

She heard it, then—a quiet, yet powerful sound, like a wave crashing over the shore. The steady beating of his heart.

It couldn’t have been—and yet…

And yet, somehow, Elain heard it. Continued to hear it even now, even stronger as Lucien proclaimed, “With my life,” he began, “I promise to do you no harm.” There was an urgency in his gaze as he pleaded, “Just get in the water with me, and I will be yours.”

Elain paused. “Your scales, you mean,” she corrected, suddenly finding herself entirely out of breath.

“Yes,” Lucien agreed. “That.”

Elain studied the bars keeping him away—then the iron key strapped beside her Cauldron-blessed sword. She swore on the Mother herself she could hear it whisper: Do it.

Perhaps she was simply losing her mind.

“Are you going to make me regret this, Lucien?” she asked him.

He simply stared back. “Are you?”

She supposed the question was reasonable enough. “Don’t tell Jurian I’m doing this,” she warned Lucien. “He’s going to kill me.”

Two minutes later, Lucien was free.

It was a blessing that they’d somehow missed Jurian, really—that she’d guided Lucien through the narrow space upstairs until they arrived at the starboard hand in hand, the sea soft and patient. Waiting.

What the hell was she doing? The only thing Elain knew for certain right now was that she was almost certainly going insane, and that Lucien’s hand in hers was warm and steadying in the buoying ship—and that those steps she was hearing somewhere behind them were, without a shadow of a doubt, Jurian’s.

Whatever Lucien was trying to prove, he had to do it now.

“Do we…jump?” she asked him.

“ELAIN!” Jurian yelled.

“I guess so,” Elain answered for him—and, together, they jumped.

The water, surprisingly, was warm despite the middle of the night. Helion liked to keep his Court warm at all times, but she supposed the sea, at least, would have carried some chill to it. It was then that she realised she’d never swam in those waters before—that she’d spent her lifetime admiring their every corner, but had never actually felt their beauty herself.

Everything happened so quickly.

The moonlight shimmered atop the sea, then sank deep beneath its surface, illuminating the space between them. Illuminating Lucien as his glamour faded and revealed the Prince of the Undersea in his true, unmasked form.

Elain could have drowned there and then.

The scales dotting his body glimmered under the light in a symphony of golds, bronzes and maroons, glowing even underwater as they formed a long, finned tail that floated gently with the current. He was sunlight come to life, the forest on a warm, autumn morning, the golden thread coming to life as it wrapped itself around her ribs, and Elain knew—knew this was the true beauty the sea had meant to show her from the very first moment she’d set sail.

“You…” She struggled for a breath. “You’re so beautiful.”

Lucien smiled, a webbed hand reaching for her own. “So are you, he said, placing her palm over his bare chest—just as he did aboard her ship moments ago. This time, though—this time, Elain could hear as their two heartbeats blended into one, a melody that made her own soul sing as Lucien whispered, “I am yours.”

The thread around her ribs tightened, forever to remain.

“You…” Elain blinked. “Oh.” She covered their joined hands with another, as if to make sure. “Lucien.”

“I needed to make sure,” he breathed, pulling her in. “You are my mate.”

There was reverence in the way he’d spoken the words—like some sacred spell only Elain was privy to hear from his lips.

She wanted to try them too.

“You are mine.”

“Yes,” he assured her.

“And I am yours.”

“Yes,” Lucien whispered again.

“Your scale—”

He squeezed her hands tighter. “Everything I am belongs to you now, Elain,” he interrupted. “But you will not need them.”

Elain blinked once more. “I don’t understand, I—”

Lucien smiled. “We have the Cauldron,” he told her. “My father took it—from Velaris.”

Elain wasn’t sure she was breathing.

“No.”

“Its wards protect us—have been keeping us safe for decades,” Lucien explained. “I think it is time we take our safety into our own hands,” he added, his thumb brushing over her palm.

Did he mean—?

Elain shook her head. “I couldn’t—”

“Where you go, I go,” Lucien said. “I am yours, Elain, and you are mine. Together, we’ll get your family back. And,” he hesitated, “If—if you still wish to have me around then—”

Her mate.

“Kiss me,” Elain demanded.

Lucien stilled. “What—”

“Now, Lucien.”

And he did.

Her eyes fluttered shut as Lucien’s mouth clashed into her own, and the world around then exploded—he tasted of salt and the sun-warmed breeze. He tasted like the rest of her gods-damned life, though she supposed eternity could never be enough to satiate the hunger one kiss had instilled deep inside her. Lucien kissed her as if she was the world, as if she was the light illuminating the sea embracing them, his lips hot and soft and all-consuming.

They had a war to face—but, as long as they faced it together…

Elain pulled back, their hearts pounding as one. She smiled at the sound.

“Let’s do this.”

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