NIGHTHAWKS (1978)
dir. Ron Peck
Jim, a London teacher by day, spends his evenings cruising bars and discos meeting men from different backgrounds and places, constantly on the lookout for any kind of connection. He tries to keep his personal life separate from his professional one, compartmentalizing his 'Gay encounters' and his 'friendships with school colleagues' in different boxes, but this status quo can't remain forever.
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Anyone who doesn’t meet the European beauty standards represented by Sydney Sweeney isn’t “beautiful,” and if YOU identify as a woman but don’t look like this particular thin young blonde white woman, then you are not beautiful. That is the argument of transphobes who happen to be (surprise) disproportionately white and who are, more often than not, conservative + racist + classist + misogynistic.
Leave it to bigoted white conservatives to completely bastardize the original meaning of wokeness into meaning something negative that represents a threat to whiteness. But then again, racism and transphobia tend to hang out at the same parties.
Decades ago, white people hated disco music largely because it was a Black music genre that was welcoming to Black people and the LGBTQ community. Similarly, reduced down to its most basic essence, being “anti-woke” is yet another iteration of transphobia, homophobia and anti-Blackness.
Photos of lesbians taken between 1983-1985 by Czech photographer Libuse Jarcovjakova in T-Club, a gay bar in Prague. Link to her website - http://www.jarcovjakova.com/albums/t-club-1983-1985/
Y'all have gotta stop going into your transition with eurocentric expectations. If you are not white, you are not going to look like a white guy when you transition and that's okay.
Democratic Socialism is tough to actually establish because it requires constant participation from both unions and voters. The EU elections showed us what happens when disillusioned leftists choose not to vote for puritanical reasons. The right wins every time. Biden may be an old sex offender who is supporting a genocide, but Trump is that and more. So please, if you're American and trans, gay, an LGBTQ ally, a union member, an avid protester, a woman, or anyone at all, PLEASE VOTE in November. If Trump wins, the Supreme Court will get even more conservative, the alt right will feel more empowered to commit hate crimes, the genocide in Gaza could get worse, unions and protesters will be stripped of what little power they have left, and we'll have someone who attempted a literal coup back in the White House.
CARAVAGGIO (1986)
dir. Derek Jarman
As influential Italian artist Caravaggio dies in exile in 1610, he recalls his short life, from his childhood to his initial artistic failures to his later triumphs as he catches the eye of a sympathetic cardinal to his destructive relationship with a dashing gambler.
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These are ideas for what you can do in the short-term or with some
preparation. Start with:
Ask you government to call on the European Commission to withdraw the chat control proposal. Point them to a joint letter that was recently sent by children’s rights and digital rights groups from across Europe. Click here to find the letter and more information.
Check your government’s position (see above) and, if they voted in favour or abstained, ask them to explain why. Tell them that as a citizen you want them to reject the proposal, that chat control is widely criticised by experts and that none of the proposals tabled in the Council of the EU so far are acceptable. Ask them to protect the privacy of your communication and your IT security.
Share this call to action online.
When reaching out to your government, the ministries of the interior (in the lead) of justice and of digitisation/telecommunications/economy are your best bet. You can additionally contact the permanent representation of your country with the EU.
It can also be useful to reach out to Members of your national Parliament who can determine your country’s vote. Talk to your political representatives. Whether it is the newly elected MEPs of the European Parliament or local groups of the political parties: make sure everyone is aware of what chat control is about and that you expect politicians to defend your fundamental rights against the proposal!
When contacting politicians, writing a real letter, calling in or attending a local party event or visiting a local office to have a conversation will have a stronger impact than writing an e-mail. You can find contact details on their websites. Just remember that while you should be determined in your position, remain polite, as they will otherwise disregard what you have to say. Here is useful argumentation on chat control. And here is argumentation for why the minor modifications so far envisioned by EU governments fail to address the dangers of chat control: by us, by EDRi, by CDT.
As we continue the fight against against chat control, we need to expand the resistance:
Explain to your friends why this is an important topic. This short video, translated to all European languages, is a good start – feel free to use and share it. Also available on PeerTube (EN) and YouTube (DE).
Taking action works better and is more motivating when you work together. So try to find allies and form alliances. Whether it is in a local hackspace or in a sports club: your local action group against chat control can start anywhere. Then you can get creative and decide which type of action suits you best.
Take action now. We are the resistance against chat control!
Tonight, I'd just recently found this picture of Dutch PM Mark Rutte and 44th U.S. President Barack Obama kissing in the sky. Also, there's Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi at the beach in it, holding hands and looking at them up in a sky kissing.
This picture I found is originally from Bestweter.
Picture of Rutte and Obama kissing and Putin and Berlusconi holding hands and looking up in the sky at the beach from Bestweter - 4th September 2016