bioglitches

[bioglitches]

and by the way let’s not forget that almost 400 of the people currently fighting the fires in southern california are inmates, who comprise up to 30% of the state’s wildfire forces and are incentivized to sign up for this perilous job with slightly higher wages (quote from the above link: “when responding to disasters, they may earn $26.90 over a 24-hour shift”); and that a ballot measure to end prison slave labor was defeated during last november’s election.

[bioglitches]

It seems people forget that Gaza is under siege, not just since October 2023 but actually since 2007. I feel like people talk about this acceleration of genocide as if the injured can get airlifted or that people can flee to nearby countries. Gaza has been under a brutal Israeli siege for over 17 years where even things like jam and chocolate were not allowed into the strip. Gaza currently continues to be under the same Israeli siege where not even pain medication or crutches can get in. Israel has always controlled the inflow and outflow of everything, including how much water Gaza receives. This is why Israel was able to completely shut off the water supply of over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, to the point where fires caused by Israeli bombing can't be put out simply because there is no water to do so.

Just keep this in mind as you navigate conversations about Gaza; the fact that what is happening now is an acceleration of what has been happening for years and years and by no means an isolated event.

[bioglitches]

[bioglitches]

[bioglitches]

this will be a bit of a long post but i ask that you please please read the full thing if you want to know more about Sudan- i feel like not enough people ACTUALLY know what's going on in Sudan. a lot of people have a vague idea that a 'war' and genocide is going on, but it's important to know the specifics as well.

there is extremely little coverage of Sudan from non-Sudanese sources, and even those that DO cover it often paint it as a war between two different generals for power over a country- and to a certain extent, without context, that IS what's happening. for those unaware, the two 'warring factions' in Sudan are the official Sudanese military- the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces).

in April 2019, during the Sudanese Revolution, Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed by the SAF in response to a mass wave of revolutionary organizing, protests, and sit-ins. Immediately after, the TMC (Transitionary Military Council) was established, with SAF general inspector Abdel Fattah al-Burhan being appointed as the chairman. for a brief time, protestors engaged in negotiations with Burhan, and many believed that he was being ernest in his promises of a true civilian democratic government- but it soon became clear to protestors that he was not actually taking their demands seriously, so demonstrations once again intensified. on June 3, 2019, it was under Burhan's command that the Khartoum Massacre was committed, killing 118 protestors while they were participating in a sit-in at the military headquarters in Khartoum.

as the next few months went by, agreements came about to dissolve the TMC and form a Transitional Sovereignty Council based on a draft of a constitutional declaration. it was supposed to be that a military official would be the chairman for 21 months, then transitioning to a civilian chairman for the next 18 months- but Burhan staged a coup in October of 2021, and dissolved the council and effectively turned the Sudanese government back into a military junta, which was the cause of further protesting.

i want to emphasize the crimes and horrors of the SAF because they are often forgotten in these discussions due to the absolute atrocities committed by the RSF. there is no good guy here- both the SAF and the RSF are vying for dictatorial power. so let's talk about the RSF.

headed by genocidal war criminal Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known more widely as "Hemedti", the RSF formed around 2014 due to reorginization of the Janjaweed militias- which were the militias that formed across the Darfuri regions of southwestern Sudan to suppress demonstrations against Bashir's oppressive and racist regime which carried out the first genocide of Massalit and other ethnically non-Arab peoples across Darfur in the early 2000s. so to be succinct- the RSF has direct roots in dictatorial suppression of Sudanis protesting against ethnic cleansing, genocide, and oppression.

for around a decade, the RSF and SAF were different factions of the Sudanese military- both have their roots and a pattern of supporting dictatorial violence and anti-Black genocide. and, on April 15, 2023, these two dictatorial Arab-colonialist powers began fighting out of the blue. fighting has been most intense around Khartoum, the central state and capital city of Sudan, where now an estimated 35% of its residents have been forced to flee, with the rest trapped in the middle of an active war zone.

the RSF has been actively continuing the genocide of non-Arab Darfuri Sudanis that its predecessor the Janjaweed committed 20 years prior. they have been consistently launching attacks against Massalit villages in Darfur and El Geneina. Recently, they have completely ethnically cleansed several Massalit villages, killing hundreds in each one of them. in addition, they are committing so many other war crimes, like sexual violence, blocking access to humanitarian aid, occupying civilian homes and kicking the residents out, along with blatant ethnic cleansing campaigns, mass murder, and targeting of civilians.

but don't think that this is a 'civil war' as many are calling it. a civil war is an internal dispute, but this is far from that. both the SAF and the RSF are supported by external powers, namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, who all provide funding to these groups IN EXCHANGE FOR SUDANESE RESOURCES LIKE GOLD AND OIL. this is, ultimately, not just some random war between two different military groups- it is a war funded by and for foreign colonial powers who have a vested interest in colonizing Sudan for its resources. as an example- the UAE's- and especially Dubai's- infamous gold and jewelry industry, is only made possible by the fact that the UAE illegally smuggles 80% of Sudan's gold- they fund this by sending weapons AND SOLDIERS to the RSF. Several of the gold mines in Sudan are owned and operated by the Russian government.

all of this, both the 'internal' AND the external, colonial aspects of this war and genocide, has led to the world's current WORST humanitarian crisis. not only do LOW estimates place the total murdered in the past year at 150,000, but out of Sudan's population of nearly 47 million, over half (25 million) are in severe need of humanitarian aid, and of those 25 million, over half are children. fighting between the RSF and SAF has lead to severe blockage of aid, and the UN's initial proposed budget of $1.5 billion in April of 2023 has not only not increased to accommodate the severe worsening of the crisis, but ALSO has not even been funded 20%.

2.5 MILLION PEOPLE ARE EXPECTED TO STARVE TO DEATH IN SUDAN BY THIS FUCKING SEPTEMBER. THAT IS LESS THAN 2 MONTHS AWAY.

additionally, due to both western colonization and the Sudanese governments' deliberate cutting of internet access across the entirety of Sudan, there is a huge lack of the proper infrastructure for generating awareness and spreading videos and info from on the ground in Sudan. this means that not only are people unable to effectively crowdfund support to leave, but they are also barred from accessing social media to spread awareness, and they're unable to contact loved ones outside of Sudan most of the time.

also, Sudan is HUGE- in order for displaced people to escape fighting, they usually have to walk, on foot, for hundreds of miles, often across literal deserts, with extremely little access to water. there has also been a surge of internally displaced people dying due to illness and scorpion stings in displacement camps. 70% of Sudan's hospitals have stopped functioning entirely. and even if they DO make it to a neighboring country, most of the options there are just as bad, if not worse- Egypt is extremely anti-Black, and doesn't allow work permits to most Black refugees, meaning they are relegated to being houseless and jobless if they go to Egypt- and westward in Chad, there is also crisis with food and resources, so the government of Chad quite literally can not materially support anymore Sudanese refugees. In South Sudan, there is also conflict, war, and crisis, and in Ethiopia, where the genocide is taking place in Tigray, the government is extremely hostile to Sudanese refugees. there are currently more than 6,000 Sudanese refugees stranded in the forests because of the hostilities they faced while in UNHCR camps.

and everyday that we're not doing something, this genocide, war, and humanitarian crisis is getting worse. doing something starts with being educated. i urge y'all to look more into this, don't just take what i'm saying and roll with it- truly learn and listen to Sudanese activists on this. i highly recommend following these accounts on Instagram:

@/red_maat , @/bsonblast , @/sudansolidaritycollective, @/forsudaneseliberation, @/darfurwomenaction, @/liberatesudan, @/zzeirra, @/yousraelbagir, @/modathirzainalabdeen, @/sdn.world, @/nasalsudan, @/sudanuntold, @/kandakamagazine, and @/almigdadhassan0

IF ANYTHING I'VE SAID IS INACCURATE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

i'd like to spread this post for some education. could you reblog this @decolonize-the-left @incorrectmadrigalfamilyquotes @homoidiotic @heritageposts @el-shab-hussein

@fairuzfan @palipunk @silicacid @sissa-arrows @apollos-olives @

@northgazaupdates @our-queer-experience @intersexfairy @genderqueerdykes

[bioglitches]

i can’t stop thinking about how people in the global south, whose currencies are valued less than the euro/usd/pound because they too are exploited by the west, are sacrificing large amounts of money and fundraising for palestinians and sudanese, meanwhile americans are coming up with bullshit excuses for why their $20usd (there’s some people who don’t make that kind of money in an entire year!! that’s a thousand six hundred indian rupees!) won’t matter as much as their vote for the genocider’s right hand woman a few months from now.

if you live in the united states, canada, australia, the european union, the uk, or israel or the uae, god forbid,

it is your RESPONSIBILITY to do as much as you can, to donate as much as you can, so that the palestinians you see every day on your feed may have a shot at living again.

it is our countries that continue to finance these genocides and it is for the promise of our comfort that they continue to produce mass death. i don't care how this motivates you. whether you donate out of guilt over our blood soaked currencies, or out of a desire to appear moral, or because something about that individual gfm resonated with soemthing personal to you, or because you've seen people like me and my friends get angry, what matters most is that you are donating. because you are in the best position to donate, therefore it is what you must do.

it should motivate you.

here are three palestinian and two sudanese gofundmes. the sudanese gofundmes are both older and less successful.

donate to Wafaa to help her family escape genocide

donate to Siraj to help him fight to keep his home

donate to Shahed to help her save her little sisters

donate to Sajida to help her family get to safety

donate to Hassan to help his friend escape war

(these are all verified fundraisers, they can be found on my blog!)

[bioglitches]

[bioglitches]

art by the.gauntlets

gofundme for the family

[bioglitches]

[bioglitches]

it really hurts me to see so many gazans asking us for help, though that's through no fault of their own. they've been forced to use a social media site that they're probably not familiar with (because tumblr has kind of faded out of popular consciousness), to interact with us in a second language, to distinguish themselves from the scammers who are taking advantage of genocide, and to ask strangers for help. i don't think there are any cultures where it's easy to ask for help like this, but i'm intimately familiar with how humiliating it can be in arab culture. please be kind, gracious and helpful to the gazans in your inbox. this is a desperate time for them, and in addition to the physical danger inflicted by "israel", the prices of basic resources in gaza are extremely high due to scarcity, and those that manage to escape to egypt are financially exploited by landlords there and have an extremely difficult time finding work due to their unofficial status as refugees. these families will continue to need our help and i hope we can all continue to provide it to the best of our ability.

[bioglitches]

assortment of Palestinian Stamps

[bioglitches]

💌

[bioglitches]

one particularly annoying effect of culture wars focusing on random minorities is that it routinely leads to the most painfully inane, meaningless discourses in the world being lead with such rabid intensity that you sort of end up being coerced into participating just because the stakes are being raised to such an inappropriate level and because either side knows very well they're actually debating proxy wars for greater social questions. but that doesn't make the actual topic less inane. drag queens for example are probably on average one of the most boring and overhyped cultural exports of the gay lifestyle ever (sorry) but because the people who dislike it can't stop sounding like hitler about it you're constantly forced to defend the practice just on principle of like, basic human rights. awkward poorly written token minorities in gaming et al are somewhat obnoxious and are almost always soulless cash grabs but since a sizeable portion of the criticism comes out as jim crow-style vitriol the counterposition inevitably turns to wholesale endorsement because there's no room left for emotionally proportional behaviour. someone putting their pronouns in their email signature approximately ranks among the most unimportant matters in the world but somehow i'm supposed to pretend not only that it's worth having an opinion on but that this opinion is so vital that our very civilisation is at stake over it. mandatory cultural unclenching now

[bioglitches]

A reminder that HelpGazaChildren is an on the ground grassroots effort to directly help families in Gaza recieve basic necessities like food, water, and clothing! Both in the North and the South! Hussam has even been able to bring toys to the displaced children!!!

Donate today!!

[bioglitches]

i've been living my life in the ways that are normal like working and traveling and seeing friends but im also conscious that for the past eight months i have found an equilibrium to living with a constant sense of anger and grief and that in and of itself has made me angrier and sadder. i haven't been able to celebrate anything properly but neither has the outside world changed in a way that reflects how i have changed internally. we've lived through many awful events in my lifetime but i think the past eight months have restructured me in a way i haven't felt since i was a teenager.

it's not just because every single day i have seen dead and mangled children livestreamed into my phone, although that would be enough. it's because it has also made it impossible to ignore everything that allows it to go on day after day. everything has been thrown into a harsh light: everything wrong with my own country, everything wrong with other countries, everything wrong with people around me, everything wrong with my own choices. the human cost of it all is too loud and too present and too urgent. i thought i had figured out a way to live my life but now it seems like everything is uncertain once again. too many people i know have lost too much (lives, livelihoods, homes, cities, family) within the past year to pretend that things are usual or that the future has not changed. i'm saying it because i know i'm not unique in this feeling, and that it can be comforting for other people to hear it.

this is to say eid mubarak to everyone but especially those who are struggling to celebrate. to those who are living in war, to those who are escaping war, to those who have loved ones in war, to those who are helpless to stop a war, and to those who are struggling to reconcile community and sadness too.

[bioglitches]

“The reality is, is that the military is full of native nomenclature. That’s what we would call it. You’ve got Black Hawk helicopters, Apache Longbow helicopters. You’ve got Tomahawk missiles. The term used when you leave a military base in a foreign country is to go “off the reservation, into Indian Country.” So what is that messaging that is passed on? You know, it is basically the continuation of the wars against indigenous people. Donald Rumsfeld, when he went to Fort Carson, named after the infamous Kit Carson, who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Navajo people and their forced relocation, urged people, you know, in speaking to the troops, that in the global war on terror, U.S. forces from this base have lived up to the legend of Kit Carson, fighting terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan to help secure victory. “And every one of you is like Kit Carson.” The reality is, is that the U.S. military still has individuals dressed—the Seventh Cavalry, that went in in Shock and Awe, is the same cavalry that massacred indigenous people, the Lakota people, at Wounded Knee in 1890. You know, that is the reality of military nomenclature and how the military basically uses native people and native imagery to continue its global war and its global empire practices.”

— Winona Laduke - Native American activist and writer. She lives and works on the White Earth Nation in northern Minnesota. She is the executive director of Honor the Earth. She has just published a new book, The Militarization of Indian Country. (via kenobi-wan-obi)

[bioglitches]

Najwan Darwish, tr. by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, from Exhausted on the Cross; “Our Defeated Banner”

[Text ID: “If I could come back, / I wouldn’t come under any other banner. / I’d still embrace you / with two severed hands. / I don’t want wings in paradise, / I just want your graves by the river. / I want eternity at the breakfast table / with the bread and oil. / I want you— / earth, / my defeated banner.”]