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ELENA GOROLOVA // ACTIVIST

“She is a Czech human rights defender. She works as a social worker in Ostrava and is of Roma origins. At the age of 21, she was forcibly sterilized in hospital after giving birth to her second son. She had hoped to have another child and had not given her informed consent to the procedure. In the year 2005 Elena was one of the 87 Czech women complaining of being forcibly sterilized. Since then, she has campaigned against forced sterilization and discrimination against Roma women in Czechia and advocating for redress and awareness of forced sterilizations. She is the spokesperson for the Group of Women Harmed by Forced Sterilization and a member of Czech organization Vzájemné soužití (Life Together).”

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ATTENTION ALL GIRLS AND LADIES: if you walk from home, school, office or anywhere and you are alone and you come across a little boy crying holding a piece of paper with an address on it, DO NOT TAKE HIM THERE! take him straight to the police station for this is the new 'gang' way of rape. The incident is getting worse. Warn your families. Reblog this so this message can get accross to everyone.

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Hello can you kinda explain the whole JK rolling thing and why people hate on her a lot cuz i seen ppl do nothing but hate on her and call her transphobic and i'm so confused on it as to why

Hi! Sorry I let this ask go ignored for a little while, it's a big topic so I wanted to answer it once I have some free time; I went looking for a post that could summarize the situation but, Tumblr being what it is, I couldn't find any. So here is a quick timeline, as I remember it, as someone who was a TRA on Twitter while most of it unfolded:

in 2019, Jo followed Magdalen Berns on Twitter (I also believe she liked one of her tweets and that's how Twitter users found out she was following her). Berns was a gender critical lesbian and YouTuber who was one of the first critic of TRA misogyny.

At the time, Jo was much, much more liked than she is now, obviously. This event caused some drama, it trended for a while, but it was quickly brushed aside and things went on. In my spheres (TRA Twitter), it was seen as kind of a bad look to follow Jo on Twitter following this, but you still could get away with it.

Jo has since explained that she uses the 'like' feature on Twitter to archive things she finds interesting and wants to have a closer look at. Many believe that she probably got interested in Berns' content while writing one of the Cormoran Strike novels, a crime novel series that often explores the themes of male violence and misogyny.

in december of 2019, Jo made a tweet in support of Maya Forstater, who lost her job after misgendering a non binary colleague.

After this tweet, it became forbidden to follow her on Twitter if you were a TRA. Things got worse in June of 2020, when Jo reacted to an article talking about period poverty while referring to women as 'people who menstruate':

Right afterwards, she made a thread going more in details about how transactivism harms women and LGB people:

(I'm pretty sure there was another, longer thread but I can't find it)

After this, former HP actors like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson accused her of transphobia, while other actors (namely Evanna Lynch and Robbie Coltrane) defended her. She got thousands and thousands of death and rape threats, was called sexist slurs, and was threatened with doxing.

A few weeks later, she published an essay on her website, explaining her views. It is a very well-written and insightful essay that I recommend to read:

And that's pretty much it. As you can see, her position is pretty tamed. She has never been rude to anyone, she just defended sex-based rights, lesbians' right not to sleep with men, and using language accordingly. She helped thousands of poor women with her charity work, funded a rape crisis center, uplifted Iranian women, supported LGB activists and helped a hundred Afghan women escape the Talibans, but because of a few Twitter threads she made, her entire political activism has been misconstructed and boiled down to "she is a fascist who hates trans people"

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I find it so funny that Olsen’s stans are so unbelievably determined to prove that Wanda in the comics just *HAS* to look like a white person because of this one singular panel

as if this series written by a British white gadjo who seemed to have only googled a few phrases in romanes, and didn’t put any actual effort to portraying Wanda as Romani beyond that (and it REALLY shows in the writing, lots of gadjekane nonsense in this book), is somehow the pinnacle of representing Wanda,

and is the end all be all of how to represent her as a Roma

like this is the series that had made Wanda’s family “a magical bloodline” (instead of simply just making her & Pietro the children of Django + Marya again, which would avoid exacerbation of the “magical witch” stereotype with Wanda).  Overall this series had a weird general association of Romani with witches. I want to stress that having characters associated with stereotypes isn’t inherently a bad thing, so long as you have someone who is from the group the character is to either write or act as a sensitivity reader to keep away from harmful stereotypes.  This series did not, and yes, it clearly shows IMO.

This is the series with a really clumsy grasp on chib I understand Robinson’s intent in how he wanted to use the words, but it’s very obvious he’s not super familiar with romanes nor Romani concepts such as mahrime or mule.  Sometimes in the comics he did decent with the chib, but other times (such as pictured below) it’s quite clear that the writer doesn’t speak the language.  C- for the effort but not so great execution.

I would like to specifically note that the only results I can find when I search for the specific spelling of “chuvihani”, as it was very strange and unfamiliar to me, and I have found that aside from this comic series is, this spelling seems to originate from is a book called Buckland’s Book of Gypsy Magic: Travelers’ Stories, Spells, and Healings. 

Raymond Buckland, the author of the book, claims to be half Romanichal, but he is also someone who I’ve seen accused of greatly exaggerating his heritage in order to sell books on “gypsy mysticism & witchcraft”.  Do with that what you will.

and finally, 

THIS IS THE FUCKING SERIES THAT CLAIMS THAT US ROMANI DON’T LIKE RED

THIS IS THE MOST PAINFULLY OBVIOUS INDICATION THAT ROBINSON PUT IN NO ACTUAL RESEARCH TO PORTRAYING WANDA AS CULTURALLY ROMANI, BECAUSE IF HE DID, HE WOULD KNOW IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE HAD WRITTEN, AND THAT WE FUCKING LOVE THE COLOUR RED

I can’t even include all the photos I have of Romani in red because we fucking *LOVE* the colour red  and if I DID include all my examples, we would be here all day

So with all of this said, I really hope that we have learnt today that if Robinson couldn’t get basic facts about Romani culture correct + used chib weirdly + the whole nonsense of “magical witch bloodline”, and the fact that he himself isn’t Rom, that *maybe* we shouldn’t be holding up that singular panel as “proof” that Wanda just *HAS* to be white/whitepassing

I *BEG* people to stop treating this series’ portrayal of Wanda as anything other than a limp gestured attempt at showcasing Wanda as a romni, and recognize that is is EXTREMELY OBVIOUSLY written by a clueless gadjo

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On September 13-14 36 year old Anush Apetyan and Armenian woman who wanted to fight for her country she was captured near Jermuk by Azerbaijanis and they tortured her to death and did so many inhuman things to her body she was the mother of 3 children who now lost their mother her name was Anush Apetyan she needs to be remember and have Justice

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Autobiographies by Romani women

Ceija Stojka’s bibliography

Ceija Stojka (1933-2013) was an Austrian romani writer, painter, activist and musician. She published three autobiographies: We Live in Seclusion (1988), Travelers on This World (1992) and I Dream That I am Alive - Liberated From Bergen-Belsen (2005), in which she describes the persecution of Austrian Roma by the Nazis and the time she spent in Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen, from her perspective as a romani girl.

“A Gypsy Dreaming in Jerusalem,” Amoun Sleem

Amoun Sleem is a Palestinian Domari* woman living in Jerusalem. At 16 years old, she founded the first and only Domari rights organization in the Middle East, which aims to support the Dom people, and especially Domari women. The Dom have been facing intense racism and persecution from the Israeli State for decades.

“I write this book to show the difficulties of being Gypsy, but also to show the creativity and beauty in the Gypsy culture. I write it to thank the people who were placed in my life as helpers and encouragers. Many of them have passed away. I hope the readers will enjoy my story as I have enjoyed living it. I give thanks to God for what He has given me in these years.” (x)

“A False Dawn: My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia”, Elena Lacková

“The book recounts Lacková’s life story from her childhood in the Romani settlement until her retirement in 1980 told through the lens of an extraordinarily gifted and strong-minded Romani woman against the background of developments in the second half of the twentieth century in the former Czechoslovakia. Lacková´s fate is testimony to the fate of the Roma as a group in that country.

The text describes the frictions between, on the one hand, Lacková´s position as a Communist and a civil servant taking part in the implementation of state policies towards Roma as citizens of socialist Czechoslovakia and, on the other hand, her approach to life, her attitudes and her way of thinking, which reflect her immersion in Romani tradition and values as well as the hierarchies of rural Slovakia. Also reflected is her determination to help improve the situation of local Romani communities, which had suffered war-time persecution and isolation, and from the ignorance of the post-war local authorities. The book describes her motivation and willingness to take part in the Romani emancipation movement.” (x)

“American Gypsy,” Oksana Marafioti

Oksana Marafioti is a Russian Romani and Armenian writer, naturalized American citizen. “Marafioti’s book, American Gypsy: A Memoir, published this month, is a humorously honest story of growing up Gypsy, touring Europe with her family of performers, dealing with racism in Russia, then adapting to the U.S., where she was caught between the old world and new amid teenage angst, high school and her musician father’s psychic/exorcism business.” (x)

“Zwischen Liebe und Haß”, Philomena Franz (only in German)

Philomena Franz is a Sinti Auschwitz survivor. Her “autobiographical narrative, Zwischen Liebe und Haß: ein Zigeunerleben (1985), is significant as the first survivor account of the atrocities that were inflicted on Roma during the Second World War. For the past forty years, Franz has been active as a speaker at schools, universities, and community meetings, emphasizing the importance of remembering the Holocaust and its victims.“ (x)

“Never Enough Time in the Day: Memoir of a proud Romani woman”, Olga Fečová (only in Czech)

Olga Fečová (1942-2022) was a respected member of the Czech romani community. In her book, she “captures the idiosyncratic inhabitants of a disappeared world, one of Romani settlements where life was lived traditionally, of tenement houses with balcony hallways in the Old Town of Prague, of “colonies” housing the working class, and sincerely shares her life experience and opinions about it all” (x)

“Our Settlement”, Irena Eliášová (only in Slovak)

“Irena Eliášová was born on 3 May 1953 in the Roma settlement of Novésa (Nová Dedina u Levic) in Slovakia. Her father made a living as a musician. In the 1960s the family went to seek work in Czechia. They stayed at numerous places both in Southern and Northern Bohemia. She only finished elementary school because following her father becoming ill she had to take a job and help provide for the family as a seamstress. After getting to know her future husband the couple moved to Liberec. When her three children grew up, she finally became fully invested in her beloved writing. In 2008, she published the first book of memories called “Our Settlement”.” (x)

“Zigenerska,” Katarina Taikon (only in Swedish)

Katarina Taikon was a famous Swedish Romani rights activist, nicknamed “the Martin Luther King of Sweden.” In her autobiography, she criticizes the living conditions Roma are forced to live under in Sweden. Her book had a tremendous impact in Sweden and in the lives of Swedish Roma, as it drew attention to the poverty and the racism they face from the larger society, leading to the first social mobilizations aiming at improving the lives of Roma in Swedish society.

“Sur ces chemins où nos pas se sont effacés,” Pisla Helmstetter (only in French)

Pisla Helmstetter (1926-2013) was an Alsacian Sinti (romani) woman. In her autobiography, she reminisces about her childhood, spent travelling among French landscapes, in the 1930s, and about her teenage years, during which her family was persecuted by the Nazis, who ethnically cleansed Alsace of all its Roma, deporting them to concentration camps or forcing them to internment camps.

* whether or not the Dom should be considered Romani is debated, but since we share a common ancestry, language and history, and since the Dom identify with Romani cultural elements (like our flag) or with the term “Gypsy”, I’m including them in this post

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Opening up Tumblr be like

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Mahabad, iran November-2022

The terrorist Islamic Regime in iran has cut off electricity in most areas of the city.

They’re executing Iranians with machine guns.

This is happening right now

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Mahabad, iran November-2022

The terrorist Islamic Regime in iran has cut off electricity in most areas of the city.

They’re executing Iranians with machine guns.

This is happening right now

[milkysaintsworld]

On September 13-14 36 year old Anush Apetyan and Armenian woman who wanted to fight for her country she was captured near Jermuk by Azerbaijanis and they tortured her to death and did so many inhuman things to her body she was the mother of 3 children who now lost their mother her name was Anush Apetyan she needs to be remember and have Justice

[milkysaintsworld]

On September 13-14 36 year old Anush Apetyan and Armenian woman who wanted to fight for her country she was captured near Jermuk by Azerbaijanis and they tortured her to death and did so many inhuman things to her body she was the mother of 3 children who now lost their mother her name was Anush Apetyan she needs to be remember and have Justice