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decolonize-the-left · 2 months

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Sound familiar?

"After the First World War, the map of Europe was re-drawn and several new countries were formed. As a result of this, three million Germans found themselves now living in part of Czechoslovakia.

When Adolf Hitler came to power, he wanted to unite all Germans into one nation.

In September 1938 he turned his attention to the three million Germans living in part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. Sudeten Germans began protests and provoked violence from the Czech police. Hitler claimed that 300 Sudeten Germans had been killed. This was not actually the case, but Hitler used it as an excuse to place German troops along the Czech border.

Things that happened in September 1938:

Sept 7. On instructions from Hitler, Konrad Henlein broke off negotiations with the Czech government. Allegations of Czech police brutality at Moravská Ostrava were used as an excuse

Sept 7. A famously controversial editorial appeared in The Times which recommended giving Hitler what he wanted because "the advantages to Czechoslovakia of becoming a homogenous State might conceivably outweigh the obvious disadvantages of losing the Sudeten German districts of the borderland."

Sept 13. French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier asked Neville Chamberlain (leader of Czechoslovakia) to make the best deal he could with Hitler.

Sept 20. The Czechoslovak government rejected the Anglo-French proposal in a note explaining that acceptance would mean that Czechoslovakia would be put "sooner or later under the complete domination of Germany."

Sept 20. Hitler met with the Polish ambassador Józef Lipski and told him that Germany would support Poland in a conflict with Czechoslovakia over Teschen. Hitler also said he was considering shipping Europe's Jews to a colony (Israel, a colony for Europe's displaced Jewish population would be established in 1948) and expressed hope that Poland would cooperate with such a plan. Lipski replied that if Hitler could solve the Jewish question, the Poles would build a monument to him in Warsaw

September 26. In the Berlin Sportpalast, Hitler made a speech threatening Czechoslovakia with war. "My patience is exhausted", Hitler declared. "If Beneš does not want peace we will have to take matters into our own hands.

Sept 27th. The French government announced that France would not enter a war purely over Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain gave a radio address saying, "However much we may sympathize with a small nation confronted by a big and powerful neighbor, we cannot in all circumstances undertake to involve the whole British Empire in a war simply on her account. If we have to fight it must be on larger issues than that

Sept 27. President Franklin Roosevelt writes to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler regarding the threat of war in Europe. The German chancellor had been threatening to invade the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and, in the letter, his second to Hitler in as many days, Roosevelt reiterated the need to find a peaceful resolution to the issue.

Sept 29. German Führer Adolf Hitler, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier and Italian Duce Benito Mussolini met in Munich to settle the Sudetenland crisis. Czechoslovakia was not invited, neither was the Soviet Union.

Sept 30. Munich Agreement: At 1 a.m., the four powers at Munich agreed that Czechoslovakia would cede the Sudetenland to Germany by October 10. The territorial integrity of the rest of Czechoslovakia was guaranteed by all signatories. Neville Chamberlain flew back to Britain and declared "peace for our time"

I think we all deeply need to reconsider what we were taught about WW2. The allies who "saved" everyone from Hitler's camps are also the Same People who allowed him to get so much power in the first place.

Closer looks at these histories show they had their own motives for allowing it just like Biden does today. FDR & Biden are actually mirroring each other really well considering they're separated by time and death. FDR was pleading and asking Hitler to please stop doing war until Pearl Harbor cuz they had a good relationship like that :) Yeah, so all he really did up to that point was play arms dealer for France and Britain because he didn't wanna jeopardize his relationship with Germany by Directly getting involved.

Yeah.

See what I said about it sounding familiar?

And can I remind y'all that Hitler didn't start by saying he hated Jewish people. No.

You know what his plan was at first? A "Greater Germany" that would unify Germans across the territories that Germany was forced to concede after WW1.

.....Y'all remember this image?

Fascists and dictators and warmongers come in all shapes, sizes and belief systems, but you can always recognize a Fascist Supremacist by the thinly veiled expansion genocide being done in the name of their people. And the guys who help them are always trying to gaslight you about how things are "It's not that bad"

All this to say: get the fuck up and make sure history doesn't keep repeating itself because it's starting to

Y'all are sitting there asking how the Holocaust could happen and Palestinians are asking why nobody is fucking doing anything.

These are related questions.

Get up and do something. Yeah it is crazy that you're going to work when a genocide is happening...so don't!!! So many people are scared of losing their comfort because of what MIGHT happen if it's for nothing, but I'm BEGGING y'all to ask yourselves what headlines you'd rather read about the 1930's-40's and make those real.

"Mob storms parliament, stops the Munich Agreement," "Citizens of (anywhere) create Organization to protect Jewish, Black, and Homosexual peers in opposition to state sponsored violence. Quote: These are my neighbors and Nazis can't have them." "Meet the University Students who chased Nazis off campus." "'We Couldn't Do Nothing' say arrested group of women who beat a Gestapo officer with a clothing iron." "'If they can't afford us, they can't afford war': How global strikes and the lack of scabs are changing the the future of war" "'I'm afraid to Sleep' American Nazis restless after serial arsonist publishes their addresses in the paper"

Germans literally tried to assassinate Hitler. Like several times. We need to step it up.

There are SO MANY things we can do if we can just agree that none of us will be doing them alone! You are NOT powerless to stop this war just because you aren't in Palestine!!!

#i just keep looking at back then and now and everything that led up to ww2 snd Hitler's ideologieies and its like... O H f u c k #ww2 #world history #world war #Nazis #decolstw #palestine #gaza #germany #czechoslovakia #colonization #settler colonialism #leftist #neo colonialism #direct action #biden #capitalism #free palestine

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matan4il · 6 months

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Hi. I'm Polish and I want to educate myself. Last week I went to The Polish Jews Museum Polin in Warsaw, Poland.

I also read a lot of online leftist stuff.

Cam you tell me what were 2019 Gaza protests about? Why are you calling them "protests"? I thought they were largely peaceful.

Hi! Sorry it took me a moment to reply. You might have noticed that I'm getting a lot of asks, and I do try to research some things before replying. I'm glad you're trying to educate yourself, I hope you do so by more than just reading whatever anti-Israeli blogs are posting here, posts which de-humanize Israelis and Jews, and justify the violence and murder of our people.

Here's a few pics from the events you're asking me about, organized by the terrorist organization Hamas. In the first pic, please note that each "peaceful protester" is holding a weapon, including an axe (you mentioned the Holocaust... ever since I guided at our museum a Holocaust survivor from Libya, who was attacked by axe-wielding local Arabs half a year after the end of WWII, forever scarring his head and his hands, I never look at an axe in the same way):

And here's some of those "peaceful protesters" with cutters that would allow them to try and breach the fence on Israel's border:

If there's any doubt what would these Hamas terrorists have done if they had succeeded back then in crossing into Israel, we got the answer during the massacre of Oct 7.

On the surface, these "protests" were about Palestinian liberation. But on Apr 9, 2018 Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, admitted that he was staging these riots to divert attention away from the failure of the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah to reconcile. An internal Palestinian matter erupted as violence targeting Israel, allowing Hamas to depict itself as THE leader in Palestinian society.

Anyone telling you that these border riots were peaceful is trying to sell you something. Beyond selling you hatred for Israel, the biggest Jewish community in the world today, it's also meant to sell you an alibi. According to this, Hamas' terrorists supposedly had to use violence, 'coz they tried protesting peacefully, and that failed. But these were not actually peaceful protests. Hamas has never tried peace, and has never wanted to, since it's an antisemitic organization committed to the murder of all Jews. It's the same people who murdered over 1,400 people in Israel on Oct 7, who brutally raped, beheaded, tortured, cut off limbs, cut off intimate parts, burned people alive, and all in the name of an ideology that strives to kill every Jew in the world.

Does it sound like "protests" organized by this entity along the border of the Jewish state could have ever been peaceful?

The riots lasted continuously for almost two years, from Mar 30, 2018 to Dec 27, 2019. Since then, there were more riots by the fence, but they had been sporadic. So most of the time, people refer to that period when the riots were a constant. Here's a report on the violence taking place during the riots, released on Mar 27, 2019 (almost a year after they started. Click the pic for better quality):

Again, since you mentioned educating yourself on the Holocaust, I'll point out the swastika that these Hamas terrorists drew on that arson kite that you can see in the above screenshot. I can give you many more examples of how they use the swastika, for now I'll just include one more:

I found another report for you, from an intelligence and terrorism research center. It's from a much earlier point during the riots, posted on May 28, 2018. It mentions the violent nature of the riots, but it also identifies most of those killed when trying to breach Israel's fence up until that point. They're overwhelmingly members of terrorist organizations (not just Hamas). A report from Jan 21, 2019 had similar findings.

Something else to take note of is that Hamas actually paid people to join these violent riots. How much would people get paid depended on how bad their fate would be. Think about how cruel Hamas is being to its own Palestinian people... Hamas is estimated to be one of the richest terrorist organizations in the world (with most of the money going to Hamas' leaders). Here's a reminder that Hamas spent A LOT of money on the Oct 7 massacre, which it could have spent on the Gazans. A little over half of the Gaza population is kept in a state of poverty (the rest are Hamas members or affiliated with it, such as the wives and kids of Hamas terrorists). So, this terrorist organization intentionally keeps the people in Gaza poor, then offers to pay them if they go try to breach the border, and get injured or killed. That gives people motivation not just to participate, but to be violent, in the hope of attracting gunfire from the IDF. Hamas actively encouraged the Palestinians in Gaza to be violent, and to die.

Another piece of evidence that the riots were violent is that there were eight Israelis killed and over 380 injured during these "peaceful protests." If they had been peaceful events, and had been kept to the Gazan side of the border, there should have been no casualties on the Israeli side. This is Barel Chadaria Shmueli (on the right), who was killed by a Palestinian that got close enough to an IDF post along the fence to shoot him point blank:

There are also lots of vids showing the violent nature of the riots, here are two that I can embed, and one I can only link you to, and which reports on over 100 explosive devices thrown at IDF soldiers during that one day alone...

youtube

One last, but crucial thing that I'm going to add here... How do you think Hamas managed to breach the Israeli border fence on Oct 7? Hamas used the "peaceful protests" to study the fence and the soldiers guarding it, figure out where there were weaknesses and blind spots, and use that information to infiltrate Israel and massacre over 1,000 innocent civilians here (and over 340 soldiers trying to protect them). Without these "peaceful protests," all of those people would have been alive. In fact, according to one report, some of the explosive devices along the fence that were blown up by Hamas on the day of the massacre might have been planted there secretly during one of the more recent riots along the border.

I hope I managed to answer your question? Let me know if anything wasn't clear!

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

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zvaigzdelasas · 3 months

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Romanian farmers block border crossing with Ukraine, Kyiv says - Reuters

Farmers and hauliers have been blocking highways and slowing traffic with convoys of tractors and trucks in protest against the high cost of diesel, insurance rates, European Union measures to protect the environment and pressures on the domestic market from imported Ukrainian agricultural goods.

The protesters want a moratorium on loan repayments, faster subsidy payments and separate lines at border crossings and the Black Sea port of Constanta for EU lorries and trucks from outside the bloc, including Ukraine.[...]

Until a deal was reached this week, Polish hauliers had also been blockading some Ukrainian border crossings in protest at what they said was unfair competition from their Ukrainian counterparts. The protests pressed demands that the EU reinstate a system in which Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.

18 Jan 24

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la-noche-cae · 3 months

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I think it's Extremely Relevant right now to talk about Skylanders' military propaganda [Edit].

I will not be graphic. But your further research on this... most likely will be, at least in a descriptive way.

A. Skylanders was created by Activision, the same company that made Call of Duty. Call of Duty (among others) is a game used to reel in youth for army recruitment. Just to picture what's the typical order of business for leaders at the company.

B. The whole idea of the Academy, ranks, "Us vs Them" mentality. "Light and order" vs "Darkness and anarchy". Regardless of your opinions on Anarchy as a system, darkness often equaling Kaos' workers such as trolls (and even gyps*es), and for Skylanders meaning dark skinned creatures, is pretty clear sign of their idea of evil.

[Edit: Light=Good and Darkness=Evil is not a universal experience. Multiple cultures consider it just as sacred, an equal, instead of an opposite to Light. Symbolically and Philosophically, there's more to it, beyond the typical eurocentric imaginary.

Speaking of eurocentric imaginary: to an uncritical consumer, this could potentially reinforce their ideas of good and evil. There is little wiggle room for these ideals to be challenged. They are exceptions of Skylanders' norm.]

C. Just in Superchargers, there are references to a Border being kept between Skylands and Outlands, High Volt being this "elite guard" that protects the border. Notice he looks like a riot police, in colors and gear- one of which is a riot shield. Protesting is a right, and in these parts of the world, it is often met with unhinged police violence. Regardless of your opinions on borders, the way such a thing is enforced in the USA is extremely violent. Even here in Puerto Rico, we have border patrol and constant surveillance (mostly aimed at keeping out our Dominican neighbors).

Do not get me started on the long history of Puertorrican oppression inflicted by USA Imperialism. (Agent Orange, Forced Sterilization, Vieques Occupation).

[Edit: Just... Copaganda in My video game? No, thank you. For ME, If I portray High Volt, I'd redesign and reinterpret him. He's like, a lightbulb. Perhaps he is part of a watch tower, but for other purposes].

D. Sorry, Nightfall here goes another problematic thing about you: Nightfall is dressed like a type of Navy admiral: A long coat with yellow buttons and yellow cord epaulets. She also has a vehicle called the Sea Shadow, referencing a real-life military ship designed for surveillance.

[Edit: Not every country has a military. And those who do have the biggest budget for it are typically using it as an imperial, colonial force. This is important, more so because Skylanders' target audience is the young eurocentric USAmerican. The parent company is Activision Blizzard, stationed in USA. The way other Skylanders talk about the Superchargers is like the Air Force are talked about by others in the army- they are the more "prestigious" ones with shiny new vehicles lmao].

E. The idea is that one can be a hero through this hard, thankless fighting... in another's land, "Securing" that land from the "evil ones". Sounds like Occupation and / or a Coup to me. Goes hand in hand with the point about Borders and Light vs Darkness.

[Edit: People. I am talking about this above with Manifest Destiny in mind. I am not claiming all the Skylanders are colonizers, lol! I'm saying there's way too many references to USA military propaganda to ignore. I ask you to use your own discernment / research to make your conclusions. There are things I didn't pick up.

I simply did Not appreciate Buzz telling Stormblade to do Psychological Warfare, or calling Glumshanks an "apple-polishing troll" when the guy just wanted to help. To me, this is not funny haha. It's funny like weird!]

___

These are the things on top of my head I've wanted to talk about for a while, but now more than ever is pressing to bring it up and discuss with intent to move forward. Don't go "You're overreacting" Please don't tell me I don't know anything about something I experience every day. Also, don't put words in my mouth, thanks. You can visit this post if you have questions.

If you can help it, don't give Activision any more of your money, for example, buying their newer games. Buy second hand.

Avoid spending at companies like Airbnb (which not just supports settlers but directly worsens my country's housing crisis), Apple, Hp, Motorola, McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Mars chocolate, Nestle are a few others that dont have a clean track record. Get familiar with modern-day imperialist interest around you on your own, or with friends.

👋[If your knee-jerk reaction to this is to hate me perhaps inspect why that is? I'm not a big influential blog. Why you threatened? I can't force you or bully you to do anything, I'm just making my opinions known].

#skylanders #skylanders superchargers #skylanders roh #skylanders ring of heroes #skylanders nightfall #skylanders high volt #Activision #Toys to life #Text post #contains gif #gif

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rvps2001 · 3 months

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Russia-Ukraine Daily Briefing

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Wednesday Briefing:

- EU Parliament to vote on stripping Hungary of EU voting rights - Ukraine says Polish protesters lift border blockade - Canada names 100 🇨🇳 🇷🇺 🇮🇷 research orgs it says pose a threat to national security - Belarus hints at new doctrine for using nuclear weapons - Ukraine to receive ‘thousands’ of drones as Latvia coaxes allies - Zelensky says 'predator' Putin won't accept frozen conflict - EU states face Brussels' audit of their arms supplies to Ukraine - Estonia arrests Russian professor suspected of spying for Moscow - Russia now ‘dependent’ on China, EU chief says - China banks tighten curbs on Russia after US sanctions order

----------------------------- 📨 Daily newsletter: https://russia-ukraine-newsletter.beehiiv.com/

💬 TG: https://t.me/russiaukrainedaily Socials: https://linktr.ee/rvps2001

#russia ukraine war #ukraine russia war #ukraine war #russian army #russian war crimes #news #newsletter #russia #ukraine

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godsweakestsoldier · 5 months

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“one scene” 🥺🥺 🤝 one fear 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

if you listen really carefully you can hear me shaking like a tiny beetle with a sword facing down a lawnmower 🥺🪲🗡️😭😭😭

Oh my sweet friend, do not be afraid, it's just a *checks word count* 1.2 k little scene. But, you are so brave in the face of the one fear. I hope you enjoy whatever this is. It's got your favorites, love you.

“Bea,” Shannon starts. It’s the first time she’s spoken since she settled next to Beatrice. Knee bumping into her shoulder as she adjusts. A whisper breaking the silence that had been filled with hushed supplications.

Beatrice’s fingers ache as rosary beads work themselves through pinched fingers. They’re cool beneath skin, solid beneath callouses, heavy as they drag with each Hail Mary. Lips wrapped around words, praise that she couldn’t remember learning yet mutters all the same. There will be bruises, and she knows that. Blossoming across her knees from where she kneels and knuckles where she clutches the rosary. She doesn’t care.

Polished oak creaks as Shannon shifts her weight. Heat growing prominent from the movement, a constant rolling heat that Beatrice had begun to associate with her from their first moments. A fire capable of consuming.

“Bea,” there’s steel in her voice now, not harsh nor chastising, but it’s there. Her hand warm as it wraps around Beatrice’s clasped hands, “Beatrice, that’s enough.”

It’s the formality that causes her to stop, not the words. The sudden shock of her name, of vocal chords dipped in steel. Shannon’s fingers twitch where they rest against blood-soaked hands. A few flecks of dried blood breaking free, floating to the wood beneath them, disappearing into the darkness. Dried blood cracks as Beatrice finally opens her eyes. Their hands are cascaded in the soft yellow lights, darkening the maroon blood coating her fingers. Deep blue beads catch the soft glow of artificial candlelight.

“I’m sorry,” Shannon whispers, barely audible over the sound of the heater buzzing above them.

“No.”

There’s a sigh of resignation that emerges from her chest, and Beatrice watches her shadow become distorted—passing over pews, stopping just before the steps to the small altar. Feels the weight of Shannon sliding onto the kneeler, air escaping in protest. Watches as she removes her hand, makes the sign of the cross with her precision, and there’s silence.

Familiarity seeps in and sinks beneath cutaneous tissue and tendons and sinew. Settles against her bones, filters into marrow to be circulated through her body again. Kneeling, fingers held high with bowed head. Beatrice couldn’t count the amount of she had done this, with her parents, the bordering school. It had been months since she had stepped foot in a church, taken communion, confessed. Her communion, her refugee, currently lay sprawled out in a hospital bed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Shan, please,” Beatrice breathes, gentle and heavy, and it sits strangely in her mouth. It’s wrong. Wrong to consciously speak after relying on muscle memory, on scriptures and prayers cemented in her head.

Her eyes flicker up, meeting the clock held aloft by a long-forgotten string. 2100, just over two hours.

“Beatrice,” it’s a plea and a command wrapped into one, “look at me.”

Reluctantly, Beatrice turns her attention towards the woman beside her. Takes in the black sweatshirt emblazoned with a small halo in the right corner, the way it sags around the shoulders, clearly made to accommodate border shoulders. Trapezius and deltoids, she reminds herself. It’s Mary’s, of course, it’s Mary’s. The smaller hairs that had escaped her braid framing her head. There’s desperation in her eyes underneath dark circles; it is nothing like the Shannon that Beatrice knows.

“Shan-.”

Shannon’s hands unfold from where they rest against the back of a pew, one gripping onto wood, the other closing the gap between them. Her fingers resting over bone and cartilage.

“No, you don’t get to Shan me, not right now,” Shannon says, the steel sneaking back into her voice, “you only get to listen to me and that’s it, do you understand?”

Beatrice nods, because she is nothing but obedient, and it’s Shannon who sits next to her. Her fingers start to unlace hers, gently unwrapping taunt fingers. Allowing the beads to drop, dangle and reflect golden light across the curve of Shannon’s jaw.

“We didn’t know where you went, didn’t know if you were alive or not. You could’ve been dead or bleeding out somewhere,” she pauses, gently lifting the rosary from Beatrice’s hand. “And, when we found you, you blatantly ignored me,” Shannon’s fingers land on the curve of her jaw, her thumb brushing back one of the fallen strands. “Beatrice, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

“I know,” Beatrice replies, and it’s smaller than she’d like.

“No, I don’t think you do because if you did, you would’ve stayed with us or at least told one of us where you’d go,” there’s a softness to her voice, a slight uptick of her lips, “you’re lucky I’m patient.”

“Lily?” a silent, desperate prayer manifested finally into words. Beatrice can feel tears well, the sting as one slips across broken skin, shame reaching out across her chest cavity.

“Will be okay,” Shannon answers, gently brushing the pad of her thumb across the curve of a cheekbone. Her eyes soften slightly, a glimpse of gentleness hidden in their depth. “I promise you I would never lie to you,” she mutters, lips warm against Beatrice’s brow.

“Is she awake?”

“No, not yet.”

Something deep within Beatrice cracks, some edifice crumbling underneath the confirmation. The tendrils of shame gradually retreat in the light of relief. Warm fingers move across taunt muscles, sternocleidomastoid, and tuck underneath strands of hair. Shannon’s here and present; she can smell the slight acidity of coffee. She’s not alone anymore. They, Shannon and her, kneeling with foreheads pressed together, remind her of that fact.

“The others?” Beatrice whispers, her eyes fluttering shut.

“Are okay, although I think Cam may have walked a rut into the waiting room’s carpet.”

She smiles then, for the first time in hours since the fight. It’s small, barely noticeable, except for the slight upturn of her lip and dimple, “That sounds about right.”

Shannon chuckles and the sound chases away the shame entirely, at least for now. There’s an easiness to being around her, something Beatrice revels in, “Yeah it does. I love you, you know that right?”

Beatrice hums in acknowledgment.

“I love you, but you look like shit,” Shannon continues, her hand leaving its resting place at the nap of Beatrice’s neck. Warmth fleeting as she moves away. Cartilage cracks as Beatrice hears her stand, opening her eyes. Blue refracting from the rosary dangling from her fingers, coating the kneeling woman in light. “Do you promise not to start praying again if I give you your rosary back?”

“I promise.”

It’s offered then by two fingers held aloft between the two women. A golden crucifix dangling before her face, Beatrice takes it with her right hand.

“If Mary asks, I gave you this,” Shannon says, her hands coming to the collar of the sweatshirt. Beatrice watches her pull the sweatshirt over her head, and traces the plane of abdominal muscles as her shirt rides up, corded muscles flexing with the movement. Until she stands there in a grey tank top, coated in shadow, St. Christopher medallion glinting, her sweatshirt held out in silent offer.

“Shannon,” Beatrice starts.

“Just put it on. I’m not about to be seen escorting a blood-soaked woman through a hospital.”

Beatrice reaches out, taking the slightly worn fabric in her hand. It smells faintly of incense, myrrh and frankincense, and distantly of gunpowder. Sacredness in both senses of the word. It’s surprisingly soft as she pulls it over her head, avoiding the fresh clot on her cheekbone. Lose around the shoulders and waist, yet comforting.

“Come on,” Shannon says, offering her hand at last, which Beatrice takes and is pulled to her feet. Hands come up, placing the hood over her head, “Let’s get you back where you belong, yeah?”

#technically boxing au but wherever you want to put it #this has been a very cathartic piece #because I have always considered bea and shannon to be em #and yeah #did I cry at certain points of this? absolutely #I hope it's good #a personal thank you to the cathedral singers and their album of catholic chants #been my soundtrack writing this #particularly o sons and daughters and litany of the saints #if you know you know #love you #shannon masters #sister beatrice #warrior nun #boxing au #mywn #anais's work

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geminipdf · 8 months

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almost 100 people on hunger strike in a refugee detention center in przemyśl, poland. it's the biggest detention center hunger strike yet.

"Foreigners stay in guarded centres for long months. They have reported poor treatment and violation of their rights. The protesters in the centre in Przemyśl demand that the Border Guards stop using psychological and physical violence against them. In information provided to Grupa Granica (Border Group), they speak of beatings and intimidation.

The men are also asking for Polish language and integration classes. They are also demanding access to medical care, including psychological and psychiatric care, and to be able to contact their relatives through social media. Another of the demands is to improve the quality and quantity of food.

"The protest was started by individuals who were being forced to eat [by the guards]. Now there are too many of us for them to force us to do anything, so they don't do anything (…). Today only three people came for breakfast. Anyway, the food itself in the centre is terrible. We get very small portions, like for a 2-3 year old child" - say the protesters.

(...)

"People are kept here for months. My friend has already been denied international protection twice, he has been in detention for ten months and does not know what to do next. That's almost a year out of his life," said the man from the centre in Przemyśl. He argued that he himself cannot return to his country since he is threatened with arrest because of the protests he took part in.

The Association for Legal Intervention reports that in the first six months of 2023, 1,008 persons, including 56 minors and 17 unaccompanied minors, were referred to Guarded Centres for Foreigners. The maximum period for which a foreigner can be detained in a GCF is 24 months."

#sorry for being such a downer but like. i cannot stop talking about things connected to my job ever lol #anyway

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opanas-opanasovych-opanasenko · 1 month

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The Polish farmers are now resorting to blocking roads all over Poland. I presume they think their message wasn't loud enough, but that is not the case, it's just that their cause is misinformed and their acts objectively evil.

#poland #poland protests #polish border blockade #polish border protests #polska #protests #polish farmers

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beardedmrbean · 1 month

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A Polish police spokeperson said farmers in Poland blocked two crossings on the German border in protest Monday.

The farmers parked their tractors on the A2 highway, blocking traffic in both directions at the Swiecko and Gubinek crossings, both western towns in Poland. The demo first began on Sunday.

Marcin Maludy, a spokesperson for the police in Gorzow Wielkopolski said: "Traffic in Swiecko and Gubinek is blocked, you cannot travel in either direction," and the protest "will continue until Wednesday evening."

Why are Polish farmers demonstrating?

Polish farmers staged the protest against farm imports from outside the European Union and the bloc's environmental red tape.

The demonstrators have been blocking checkpoints with Ukraine, complaining that imports from the neighboring war-torn country undercut their profits. They have now expanded the protest to Poland's western border.

Two weeks ago, tens of thousands of farmers held mass protests in Warsaw, Poland's capital city, for the closure of the border with Ukraine and the abolition of the EU green deal.

Polish farmers also blocked the A2 highway to Germany last month in anger over EU regulations.

EU duties for imports from Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion, a requirement to leave a certain amount of farmland fallow and the 2020 European Green Deal have angered farmers not only in Poland but across Europe.

How is the EU responding to the farmers' discontent?

The EU offered concessions Friday to revamp the bloc's subsidy program, known as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), in a bid to assuage the farmers across the continent.

The proposed changes to the CAP still need to be negotiated between EU member states and the European Parliament.

One of the changes is meant to exempt small farms under 10 hectares (25 acres) from checks and penalties tied to CAP conditions, while another would free farmers of the obligation to keep part of their land fallow, though they would still be incentivized to do so.

It's unclear, however, whether the concessions will end the protests across European countries.

#nunyas news

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naminethewriter · 2 months

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Extra Service

Chapter Two: The Brother

Masterpost | Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 | Ao3

Hello everyone! I'm finally returning to this story and hopefully the third chapter won't take me as long as this one has 😅 Please be mindful of the content warnings, if you would rather skip this chapter, there is a summary of it at then end of the Ao3 link.

Story Summary: Remus hadn't expected to work as a housekeeper at a hotel managed by his best friend but he wasn't complaining. Especially if it gives him the opportunity to keep a (very attractive) guest from overworking himself.

Content Warnings: Past Roman/Virgil, Discussion of Past Self Neglect, bordering on self harm, but not from the person themselves

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Soon Logan had showered and the salad had arrived. Remus used the time in between to roughly vacuum the room and use some air refreshener so he could finally close the windows. He also pushed the books and papers around to make space on the tabledesk for the salad. Thankfully nothing fell to the floor (though some of the stacks were very wobbly and Remus couldn’t help but imagine what it would look like if one crashed into the salad and food and plate shards would fly everywhere. His brain tried to get him to topple it, but he managed to resist. Barely.)

Logan emerged from the bathroom in shirt and sweatpants (since Remus had refused to let him take another suit), a towel around his shoulder and still trying to dry his hair. Remus grinned at him and stood behind the chair as if he were a gentleman offering a seat to his lady. He could be courteous if he wanted to be!

“Is this really necessary?” Logan asked, eyeing him skeptically.

“No,” Remus grinned but didn’t move. The other sighed and sat down without another word. Remus pushed his chair closer to the tabledesk with a giggle before sitting down himself and resting his elbows on the polished wood, watching Logan intently. The other raised an eyebrow at him.

“Do you intent to watch me eat?”

“Yeah!”

“Why?”

“To make sure you finish! Also thought this is a good opportunity to tell you why I’m doing this! You said you wanted to know and it’s gonna take a while, so…”

Logan sighed again but picked up the fork Remus had placed in its proper place next to the plate, motioning for him to continue.

“Very well. Do explain yourself.”

“Chance to ramble? I will take it!” Remus grinned at Logan, who looked a bit more reprehensive but didn’t protest. Instead, he started eating his salad, though his eyes remained on Remus for the most part. Before starting his explanation, Remus took a moment to appreciate how Logan’s lips closed around his fork. He really hoped he’d get an opportunity to taste those lips for himself. Only with consent, of course.

‘Focus on the issue now, fantasize about the hot nerd later!’ he reminded himself.

“You see, I have a brother, a twin, actually,” Remus began, leaning back in his seat. “He’s a bit of a dumbass but has a good heart, y’know? We’re both the creative types, though I mostly work with sculptures, art, and pottery – I teach a late-night class actually! Doesn’t pay well, but it’s fun for the most part – while he’s more of a writer. He’s also a perfectionist, which I am most definitely not, I let my hands wander and see where they get me!” Remus winked at Logan but either the other didn’t understand his innuendo or had a great poker face. ‘Uhhh, you should invite him to play strip poker with you! That’d be fun!’ He tabledesked that idea for later, he should probably ask him on a more normal date first and see where that’ll lead him.

“Aaaaaaanyway,” Remus continued, “my brother decided he wanted to write a play and then perform it in our local theater where he works. His boss basically green-lit the whole thing after Ro-bro gave him the pitch but had some guidelines. Nothing major, but enough that my brother felt the pressure.”

Remus could see Logan watching him intently – those deep green eyes were so hot – while he slowly chewed his food. He seemed the observant type, but even if he wasn’t, it was hard to miss the shift in tone. Remus couldn’t tell this story without being somber, it was a time he didn’t like revisiting.

“Roman threw himself into his work. It was fun at first, see him talk about it so passionately, what his plans for the characters were, the twists and turns and how he could see it performed on stage already. His boyfriend at the time was also super supportive, the both of us rubber ducking him constantly.” A wry smile played on Remus’ lips. He took a deep breath before continuing.

“But writing’s fucking hard if you didn’t know. The words can be perfectly aligned in your head but once you put them to paper they look mangled, like rotting corpses you clumsily stitched together and suddenly the eyes aren’t on the same height and one arm’s longer than the other and you forgot a nipple and maybe even a spleen, so how are you supposed to create a functioning monster?!”

“I understand your point, Remus,” Logan cut in before he could get even more lost in the rather gruesome picture he was figuratively painting. “I assume your brother struggled with the writing process once he got started.”

“Yeah, he did. Like a lot. And when he can’t get what’s in his head on the page the way he wants it to be, he gets frustrated and that leads to him struggling with the words even more and it’s a vicious circle. He started spending more and more time at his desk. When he wasn’t working, he was writing. Or attempting to write. He started losing sleep. I often had to drag him to meals. He cancelled plans or didn’t show up at all because he forgot all about them. It was really worrying.

“And it really put his boyfriend on edge. Like the dude’s been a friend of mine before he got together with my brother and anxiety is like half of his personality. So having plans cancelled on him constantly and his boyfriend not taking care of himself properly led to some problems.”

Remus’ had to make a conscious effort to relax his hands after they curled into fists. To be honest, he still hadn’t entirely forgiven Roman for how he treated Virgil during the last legs of their relationship. It hadn’t been fair to the Emo and while his brother had admitted to his faults, Remus just couldn’t get Virgil’s red-rimmed eyes out of his mind. ‘You should revisit that idea about dunking his head in the toilet bowl’ his head suggested and Remus waved the idea off. Roman would wiggle too much.

“It came to a head eventually and the guy broke up with him. Which sucked because I liked him, but because of his anxiety he needed a clean break, so he asked me not to contact him either for a while. Which turned out to be never, but that was more my fault than his I guess.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. (Remus wondered how often he worked on those; they were immaculately symmetrical.)

“What do you mean by more your fault?” he asked.

“Well, like I said, I was friends with the guy so I knew that he would have trouble reaching out to me first. I should’ve contacted him after the situation settled somewhat, but I didn’t.”

“Why?”

Remus chuckled but it was a dry and sad sound.

“I… always had the feeling that he was kinda afraid of me. I know I come on strong, and I have intrusive thoughts and keeping them in my head is hard, so I usually blurt them out or use them for my art and he… well, it often triggered his anxiety. I didn’t really want to contact him and have him feel like he needed to talk to me again.”

Virgil had been a good sport about it most of the time but even before he started dating Roman, he had visited Remus in his art studio less and less. He took great care to censor his words in front of him, too, but it sucked that he couldn’t discuss things with Virgil freely anymore. It was like he had to be constantly on guard around the man and it only got worse during Roman’s breakdown.

Remus missed Virgil, but he figured he was better off without him in his life. At least Janus still contacted him once in a while, so he knew he was doing well enough. It was a small comfort.

Logan had put his fork aside and was watching Remus with his piercing green eyes. He felt like a bug underneath a microscope and that shouldn’t have had him as hot and bothered as it did. Well, not literally bothered – don’t get him wrong, the dude was hot and being examined by him so intently was a nice bonus, but Remus needed more than that to actually get physically excited.

It would lead to new fantasies however; he was sure of that.

“I get the impression that that conclusion is based on a cognitive distortion,” Logan commented eventually. Remus just blinked at him. “In other words, I think you are jumping to a conclusion. If that man was your friend for as long as you are implying, then I am sure he would appreciate you contacting him again.”

“You stopped eating,” Remus said instead of answering and after a few moments of simply staring at each other (‘Staring contest! Staring contest! How long would it take for their eyes to dry out?), Logan relented with a sigh and picked his fork back up.

“Very well, I will not meddle in your personal affairs. Unlike other people, I respect such boundaries.”

Remus cackled at the obvious jab at his intrusion and as he calmed down, he could see a small smile on Logan’s lips, though he tried to hide it behind the next bite of his meal.

“Well, back to the story: my brother got dumped. Which I had hoped would be a wake-up call for him to quit the bullshit and realize how bad he’s gotten. But instead he doubled down. Every waking minute he had that wasn’t spend at work, he was writing the script – or more accurately, he tried writing it. More and more often I would hear him shouting at his laptop about how nothing was going like he wanted it to, how it needed to be perfect, how he would show everyone that he could do it.

“I tried to get him to eat and sleep, but it would only end up in yelling matches. We both don’t have great tempers and more than once I stormed off and didn’t return until like a day later. I don’t think he left his desk in those days…”

Remus sighed, remembering the sorry state of his brother, hunched over his laptop with bags under his eyes that reminded him so much of Virgil that Remus was almost glad that Roman was hardly going to the bathroom so he wouldn’t catch his own reflection in the mirror.

It had been an absolute trainwreck.

“Eventually, my brother collapsed during one of our fights. Passed out on the spot. I barely managed to catch him before he would’ve hit his head on the ground. He woke up only moments after and tried to convince me that it was just a dizzy-spell and that it wasn’t anything to worry about, but I had enough. I carried him off to the hospital right then and there.”

Roman had fought him the entire way, cursing at him and demanding to be brought back home. He almost fainted again in the car since he worked himself up so much. Remus had thought about pulling into the oncoming traffic and putting them both out of their misery – the stress had made his intrusive thoughts so much worse.

“I got him to cooperate by saying that if nothing was wrong, the doctor would just let him go home and I’d leave him alone afterwards if that was the case. He still complained though. Then he was diagnosed with severe malnutrition and anemia. He had to stay there for a few days.”

“And did he do so without complaint?”

Remus had almost forgotten Logan was there. Almost. He looked back at the other – after he had apparently just stared at the wall for the last few minutes – to see that he had finished his plate.

Good.

“Yeah. I’m not entirely sure what happened since I wasn’t allowed to be there when they took his vitals and shit but apparently one of the nurses laid into him about proper self-care and that he could’ve killed himself. I think only then he truly registered how bad it’s gotten.”

“I see…” Logan looked thoughtfully at his empty plate and Remus just watched him until he spoke up again. “And what happened after? Did your brother finish the play?”

“He did. Took a long break from it though. Went to therapy. He’s doing well now, has a sleep and eating schedule and goes to the gym on the regular. It’s kind of annoying how toned he’s getting. Jan sure appreciates it though.” Remus wiggled his eyebrows, but once again Logan doesn’t react to his implications.

“What about the performance?”

“What performance?”

“Of the play. You said that your brother was ensured that he could perform the play at his place of employment.”

“Oh! He didn’t go through with it.”

Logan blinked at him, surprised.

“What do you mean ‘he didn’t go through with it’? Doesn’t that make the entire ordeal worthless?”

“It wasn’t worthless,” Remus said softly, feeling like this might be the point where he can get through to Logan. “Roman learned a lot from it. So did I, to be honest. The entire thing helped my brother to grow as a person. Yeah, he finished the play, but he had to rewrite around half of it since what he wrote during his mania was either awful, extremely personal, and or sometimes even harmful. And even after all that editing, he still found it too close to his heart to publish. He says that maybe sometime down the line, when he’s healed more, then he'd put it on, but not right now.”

“I… think I understand. Still, I cannot shake the belief that it means his struggles were for naught.”

“I know where you’re coming from, but productivity isn’t all we live for. Learning from our struggles and teaching that to those who come after us is what I think we’re supposed to do.”

“That is quite the profound way to see the world.”

Remus shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

“Maybe. It’s at least what led to me coming in through that door and forcing you to take care of yourself. Which reminds me, you should be going to bed.” He got up and pulled at Logan’s arm.

“Sleep?! It’s the middle of the day!” the other protested, but Remus remained insistent and led him over to the freshly made, plush bed.

“Yeah, but that hardly matters when you’ve been up for who knows how many hours. Your eyebags make you look like a raccoon. Oh, maybe I should’ve gotten you your dinner out of the garbage bins outside!”

Finally, he managed to push Logan onto the bed who looked at him with trepidation.

“I cannot go to sleep, I need to finish my work,” he insisted.

“Pish-posh, I bet you can barely remember what you’ve been writing for the past few hours anyway. Get some rest and then look over what you wrote again, I’m sure you’ll want to make some changes. Sleep-deprived brains rarely put out the work in a quality you want.” Remus pushed at his shoulders until Logan was lying down and then covered him with a blanket.

“Fine,” the other sighed. “But I need to set an alarm. I have a deadline.”

“How about I’m gonna come by when my shift ends in—” Remus glanced at his wristwatch— “about four hours? I’ll help you sort through those books, too, since I kinda just put them together willy-nilly.”

“I guess that’s acceptable.”

It seemed that lying down had a quick effect on Logan as he let out a long yawn and snuggled deeper into the comforting warmth. Remus smiled, proud to see him follow his advice and relax.

“Then see you in a few, Lolo! Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite!”

“If they do, I’ll sue you.”

Remus grinned as he listened to Logan’s half-asleep mumble before he gathered up his used dishes and silently tiptoed out of the room.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

#namiswriting #my writing #Extra Service #Chapter 2: The Brother #platonic intrulogical #past prinxiety #ts logan #logan sanders #ts remus #remus sanders #human!au #discussion of past self neglect #multichapter fic #sanders sides #fanfiction #reblogs are appreciated

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collapsedsquid · 3 months

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Polish farmers are set to launch a general strike on February 9, planning to block the border with Ukraine as a protest against European agricultural policies, as reported by the organizers from the “Solidarity” trade union.

If only the Soviet Union had done more agricultural protectionism/subsidies they could still exist and dominate the Warsaw Pact today.

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head-post · 2 months

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Polish farmers block rail links with Ukraine

On 18 February, Polish farmers completely blocked the movement of trucks in both directions at the international checkpoint Dorohusk-Jahodyn and disrupted railway communication with Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported.

Since 9:00 Kyiv time, Polish farmers have been completely blocking the movement of lorries in both directions at the Dorohusk-Jahodyn international checkpoint. The farmers are holding a large-scale protest on the access roads to the village of Dorohusk.

Despite the protesters’ promises to let perishable, dangerous or humanitarian goods through, not a single heavy vehicle has crossed the border since then. The State Customs Service of Ukraine noted that shuttle buses passed through normally without queues.

As of 16 February, Polish farmers blocked six checkpoints on the border with Ukraine.