#Insert paragraph to specific position

[isekyaaa]

With the amount I want to give writing advice sometimes one would think that I am an amazing writer lmao.

[miniaturefirefan]

Template & Script

As promised, I've drafted the script for calling your senator or rep, in addition to a template that you can insert information into (your name, and the name and address of your elected representative) concerning the USAID shutdown.

I'm also linking this webpage where you can look up your congressfolk's names and contact addresses, and this page where you can send free faxes to the senate.

I cannot say this enough - FLOOD THEM WITH MESSAGES. Emails, faxes, snail mail, phone calls, messages through contact portals. As many different methods as you're comfortable using, use them. Send the same message several times. Do not let them forget that we care about this.

January 1, 2025

Honorific, Senator/Representative Name Street Address City, State, ZIP code

RE: Dissolution of the USAID

Dear Senator/Representative [NAME]:

I am writing to express my extreme concern over the current administration’s actions regarding the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). I urge you to speak against the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to dissolve or control the agency, as I and many of my colleagues are deeply invested in both the reality and the reputation of our nation’s humanitarian ethos, and believe that the effort to dissolve an independent agency is illegal on several fronts.

I do not believe that the United States can call itself a “defender of freedom” if we choose to openly place our own capitalist interests above the physical wellbeing of civilians, especially those put at risk through our actions. Our consistent support of Israel throughout this conflict and many before it have directly impacted the ability of civilians in Gaza and the surrounding areas to live in peace and safety, and we should take responsibility for that.

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to seeing what solutions you and your colleagues propose.

In Hope,

[NAME] Pronouns Profession

---

Phone Script for speaking to a Congressperson about the dissolution of the USAID

Note: You will very likely be speaking to an aide or secretary, not directly to the elected official in question. This is acceptable and is not cause for concern.

Hello, this is [name] and I live in [city]. I’m calling with some concerns about the recent events around USAID. Who am I speaking with?

You may want to write down the name and position of the person to whom you are speaking. Then when you follow up via email or contact portal, you can say specifically whom you spoke with and on what subject.

I would like to express some very serious concerns about the current administration’s attempts to dissolve USAID and cease its humanitarian efforts. It seems to me that such actions are illegal according to the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, in addition to being unconstitutional. What actions will [Senator/Representative Name] be taking to speak against this?

If the response is unsatisfactory, vague, or negative, you may skip the following paragraph and proceed to the next.

I’d like to suggest that it would be seen positively by the voting public if [Senator/Rep Name] were to make a public statement concerning the issue. I understand that there are active legal challenges already in place, and that waiting for those to move through the courts will take time, but public support for those challenges and open criticism of the administration’s flagrant disrespect for due process would inspire a bit more trust from constituents.

It's a scary and uncertain time. We don’t know what’s going to happen and we don’t know who to trust. But a firm stance and public statements of support for respecting the law and what it stands for – that will go a long way toward addressing people’s fear. I look forward to hearing [Senator/Rep Name]’s stance on this issue in the coming days.

Thank you for your time.

You will be asked for your full name, address, and phone number, so be prepared to give those. Be as calm and polite as possible, but make note of any rudeness or push-back you may encounter during the call and include that in your follow-up email.

Note: Your follow-up email can be the above script (with the italicized notes removed) and a short paragraph about who you talked to and whether or not their response was encouraging. It doesn't have to be long or involved or take a lot of your time. It's just another way to let them know - I'm invested in this and I will not let you sweep me under the rug.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Especifismo: Anarchist Organisation, Historical Perspectives and Influences

The lack of visible organisation, normal and accepted by each one of its members makes possible the establishment of arbitrary, less libertarian organisations. Luigi Fabbri

Since the term ‘especifismo’ arrived in Brazil in the mid-1990s there has been a series of polemics or even confusions around it. There were, and unfortunately still are people who say that especifismo is not anarchism; they accuse especifista organisations of being political parties, among other absurdities. When we identify the FARJ as a specific anarchist organisation we are seeking, more than anything else, to locate within the discussion about anarchist organisation what the positions that we espouse are.

The term especifismo was created by the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (Federación Anarquista Uruguaya - FAU) and, by it, we refer to a conception of anarchist organisation that has two fundamental axes: organisation and social work/insertion. These two axes are based on the classical concepts of differentiated actuation of anarchism in the social and political levels (Bakuninist concept) and specific anarchist organisation (Malatestan concept). Therefore, the term especifismo, besides having been recently conceived, refers to anarchist organisational practices that have existed since the nineteenth century. In addition to these two axes, there is a series of other organisational questions that are defined within especifismo and that we seek to develop next. Therefore, the two main classical references of especifismo are Bakunin and Malatesta. This does not mean that we disregard other important theorists such as Proudhon and Kropotkin – we have used many of their theoretical references in this text – but we believe that, for the discussion on anarchist organisation, Bakunin and Malatesta have proposals more suitable for our work.

In the following paragraphs we intend to briefly resume some discussions that we’ve had throughout this text, and especially this last chapter, and locate them and compare them with other positions that exist within anarchism. We believe that more than affirming the positions we advocate – what we’ve done so far – it is fitting to realise a few fraternal critiques of other conceptions of organisation (or disorganisation) present within anarchism and, based on a few selected points, to compare our conceptions with others.

Perhaps the best contrast with the especifista model of organisation would be what we call the synthesis model, or synthesism. This model was theoretically formalised in two homonymous documents called ‘The Anarchist Synthesis’, one by Sebastièn Faure and the other by Volin. Historically and globally it was the Platform of Dielo Trouda that established this contrast. We intend to resume part of this debate about anarchist organisation although, in our view, especifismo is broader that Platformism – even though it [the latter] possesses a significant influence.

Synthesis advocates a model of anarchist organisation in which are all the anarchists (anarcho-communists, anarcho-syndicalists, anarcho-individualists etc.) and, therefore, it presents many of the characteristics that we criticise below. We know that some of these characteristics are not necessarily linked to the synthesist model of organisation. However, it is undeniable that many of them are reproduced in organisations of this type, primarily through the influence of individualism, but not only this. We recognise that within synthesist organisations there are also serious militants committed to social anarchism and, therefore, we do not want the criticisms to seem generalised. Although we never question whether these organisations are anarchist (for us, they all are), they do not, in most cases, converge with our way of conceiving anarchist organisation.

First of all, when dealing in this text with the “specific anarchist organisation” from this particular perspective, we are not speaking about any anarchist organisation. There are diverse anarchist organisations that are not especifista. Therefore, especifismo implies much more than to advocate anarchist organisation.

The first difference is in the way of understanding anarchism itself. As we noted at the beginning of this text we understand anarchism as an ideology, that is, a “set of ideas, motivations, aspirations, values, a structure or system of concepts that have a direct connection with action – that which we call political practice”. In this case we seek to differentiate this understanding of anarchism from another, purely abstract and theoretical, which only encourages free thinking, without necessarily conceiving a model of social transformation. Anarchism, thought of only from this model of critical observation of life, offers an aesthetic freedom and endless possibilities. However, if so conceived, it does not offer real possibilities of social transformation, since it is not put into practice, into action. It does not have the political practice that seeks the final objectives.

Especifismo advocates an anarchism that, as an ideology, seeks to conceive a model of performance that transforms the society of today into libertarian socialism by means of the social revolution. This process necessarily involves the organisation of the exploited classes into a popular organisation and demands the use of violence, understood primarily as a response to the violence of the current system. Other anarchist currents are against violence and believe that social transformation can take place in other ways.

Another difference is around the very question of organisation. For us, organisation is an absolutely central question when dealing with anarchism. Without it, we believe it to be impossible to conceive any serious political project which has the objective of arriving at the social revolution and libertarian socialism.

There are anarchist currents that support “anti-organisational” or even spontaneist positions, and believe that any form of organisation is authoritarian or averse to anarchism. For these currents, the formation of a desk to co-ordinate an assembly is authoritarian. Anyway, for these anarchists the struggle must take place spontaneously. The gains, if they come, must come spontaneously. The connection between struggles must be spontaneous and even capitalism and the state, if overthrown, would be done so by a spontaneous mobilisation. Perhaps, even after an eventual social revolution, things will evolve on their own, falling into place effortlessly. These anarchists believe that prior organisation is not necessary, others think that it is not even desirable.

Some anarchist individuals that defend these points of view and who are willing to do social work cannot deal with the authoritarian forces and, without the proper organisation, end up being labourers and “sleeves” for authoritarian projects or they leave frustrated because they cannot obtain spaces in social movements.

We noted earlier that we conceive of the specific anarchist organisation as an organisation of active minority. Thus, it is an organisation of anarchists that group themselves together at the political and ideological level and that carry out their main activity at the social level, which is broader, aiming to be the ferment of struggle. In the especifista model there is necessarily this differentiation between the political and social levels of activity.

Differently, there are anarchists who conceive of the anarchist organisation as a broad grouping that federates all those who call themselves anarchists, serving as a convergence space for the realisation of actions with complete autonomy. In anarchism, broadly speaking, this division between the social and political levels is also not accepted by all the currents, which understand the anarchist organisation in a diffuse manner, it being able to be a social movement, an organisation, an affinity group, a study group, a community, a co-operative etc.

Even the concept of anarcho-syndicalism, at various times, sought to suppress this difference between levels of activity, blending anarchist ideology with trade unionism. These and other attempts to ideologise social movements, in our understanding, weaken both the social movements – which no longer operate around concrete issues like land, housing, employment etc. – as well as anarchism itself, since it does not allow for the deepening of ideological struggles, which occur in the midst of the social movement. It also weakens, since the goal of these anarchists to turn all the militants of the social movements into anarchists is impossible, unless they significantly reduce and weaken the movements. In this way, or even on seeing that it is natural to find people of different ideologies in social movements that will never be anarchists, these anarchists get frustrated, and often shy away from struggles. As a consequence of this anarchism is often confined to itself.

The anarchist organisation of active minority is often understood, by other anarchist currents, as similar to the authoritarian vanguard organisation. As we have made sure to point out, when we conceive this separation between the social and political level we do not mean to say by this that we wish to be in front of the social movements, nor that the political level has any hierarchy or domination in relation to the social level.

There is also a difference in relation to the preferred space for the practice of anarchism. We especifistas believe that this space is the class struggle. Primarily because we consider that we live not only in a society, but in a class society. Regardless of how we think of the differences of these classes, it seems impossible to us to deny that domination and exploitation take place at different levels in our society and that the economic factor has a lot of influence on this. For us, anarchism was born among the people and that’s where it should be, taking a clear position in favour of the exploited classes that are in permanent conflict in the class struggle. Therefore, when we talk about “where to sow the seeds of anarchism”, for us it is clear that it has to be within the class struggle; in the spaces in which the contradictions of capitalism are most evident.

There are anarchists that do not support this class struggle bias of anarchism and, what is worse, there are those that accuse it of being assistencialist,{3} or of wanting “to apologise for the poor”. Denying the class struggle, most of these anarchists believe that as the classic definition of bourgeois and proletarian classes does not take today’s society into account, then one could say that classes no longer exist; or that this would be an anachronistic concept. We fundamentally disagree with these positions and believe that, regardless of how we define classes – whether we put more or less emphasis on the economic character etc. – it is undeniable that there are contexts and circumstances in which people suffer more from the effects of capitalism. And it is in these contexts and these circumstances that we want to prioritise our work.

When we seek to apply anarchism to the class struggle we assert what we call social work, and which we defined earlier as “the activity that the anarchist organisation performs in the midst of the class struggle, causing anarchism to interact with the exploited classes”. As we also said, for us, this should be the main activity of the specific anarchist organisation. We argue that, through social work, the anarchist organisation should seek social insertion, “the process of influencing social movements through anarchist practice”.

There are anarchists who do not defend this work with a view to social insertion. Part do not believe that it is a priority, and the other part, which is more complicated, believe that it is authoritarian. For anarchists who think that social work/ insertion is not a priority, it seems that other activities would be more effective in the development of anarchism – however it is often not stated. Besides, at least apparently, not having a strategic formulation what happens in practice is that these anarchists seek to work with propaganda, very restricted to publications, events and culture. As we have already emphasised, this propaganda is also central for us, but it is not enough if done without the backing of social work and insertion. With this support propaganda is much more effective. Therefore, propaganda, in especifismo, should be performed with these two biases: educational/ cultural and struggle with social movements.

Anarchists who do not believe that social work/ insertion are, nor should be a priority prefer to work in other mediums, far away from the class struggle, from social movements, from people of different ideologies. Some say that as members of society they already have social insertion. Often, they become sectarian, managing to get along only with their peers, and “ghettoising” anarchism. This explains the sectarianism of some anarchists, which occurs in much smaller proportion with specific organisations.

Much more complicated than the above position is the position advocated by anarchists that are against social work and insertion. These anarchists believe that as they are often not poor, as they are often not in social movements (they are not landless, for example) it is authoritarian to work with a poor community or even with social movements, since “they are from outside this reality”. For them it is authoritarian for a person who has somewhere to live to support the struggle of the homeless; it is authoritarian to frequent a community movement without being from the community; it is authoritarian to support the waste-pickers’ struggle if you are not one of them. For these anarchists there is only legitimacy in working with popular movements if you are a “popular”, and if you are part of the reality of the movement. As these anarchists are generally not in these conditions, they do not approximate themselves to social movements nor to the class struggle. They end up making of their anarchism a “movement in itself”, which is characterised by being essentially of the middle class and intellectuals, by not seeking contact with social and popular struggles, by not being in contact with people of different ideology. Indeed, this anarchism of the intellectual and middle class, when not seeking social work and insertion necessarily ends up in one of two ways. Either it abandon the proposal for social transformation, or constitute itself into a group that fights for the people, not with the people – assuming the position of vanguard and not of active minority.

Social work, for these militants, is often compared to the “entryism” of the authoritarian left – people that enter into social movements to make them work in their favour. In most cases they advocate spontaneity since “to come from outside”, “to put anarchism within social movements” is authoritarian. According to them ideas should arise spontaneously. They denounce discussion, persuasion, convincing, exchange, influence as external to social movements and, therefore, authoritarian.

We especifistas also radically disagree with this position against social work and insertion. As we explained, for us anarchism should not be confined to itself, nor shy away from social movements and people of different ideologies. It should serve as a tool, like yeast, as the engine of the struggle of our time. For this, anarchism, instead of hiding, should confront reality and seek to transform it. For this transformation it is useless “to preach to the converted”; we have, necessarily, to interact with non-anarchists.

Since we understand that class is not defined by origin but by the position that you advocate in the struggle, we believe that to support social movements, to assist mobilisations and organisations different to the reality in which you are included is an ethical obligation for any militant committed to the end of class society. Finally, we believe that social work brings necessary practice to anarchism, which has an immense contribution in the development of the theoretical and ideological line of the organisation. This activity is for us extremely important in our theoretical development, since it means that we theorise while having knowledge of reality and the practical application of anarchism in struggles. Groups and organisations that do not have social work tend to radicalise a discourse that does not have support in practice. When this happens, the tendency is for an ultra-radical and revolutionary discourse to exist – often accusing others of being reformists etc. – but that does not go beyond theory.

As we have seen, in especifismo there is ideological and theoretical unity, an alignment in relation to the theoretical and ideological aspects of anarchism. This political line is collectively constructed and everyone in the organisation is obliged to follow it. Because we consider anarchism something very broad, with very different or even contradictory positions, it appears necessary to us that, between all these positions, we must extract an ideological and theoretical line to be advocated and developed by the organisation. As we have emphasised this line must, necessarily, be linked to practice since we believe that “to theorise effectively it is essential to act”.

For anarchists that do not advocate this unity the anarchist organisation could work with different ideological and theoretical lines. Each anarchist or group of anarchists may have their interpretation of anarchism and their own theory. This is motive for various conflicts and splits in organisations with this conception. As their is no agreement on initial questions the fights are frequent, as some think that anarchist should do work with social movements, others find this authoritarian and a “Marxist thing”; some think that the function of anarchism is to enhance the ego of individuals, others are radically against this, and so on. For us, there is no way to have an effective practice or even constitute an organisation without agreeing on some “initial questions”. In organisations that do not work with ideological and theoretical unity there is no development in this direction, since with so many problems on the simplest questions, the most complex don’t even come to be discussed. Bakunin was right when we said, “who embraces much, tightens little” [185]. It is important

to understand that the division that exists between anarchists on this point is much deeper than is commonly believed, and that it equally implies an irreconcilable theoretical disagreement. I say this to respond to my good friends, who favouring an agreement at any price, claim: “We should not create problems of method! The idea is one alone and the goal is the same; we therefore remain united without being torn apart by a small disagreement over tactics”. I, on the contrary, realised long ago that we are torn apart precisely because we’re very close, because we are artificially close. Under the apparent veneer of the community of three or four ideas – abolition of the state, abolition of private property, revolution, anti-parliamentarianism – there is an enormous difference in the conception of each one of these theoretical statements. The difference is so great that it prevents us from taking the same path without prosecuting us and without reciprocally neutralising our work or, if we wanted to, remaining in peace without renouncing what we believe to be true. I repeat: there is not only a difference of method, but a big difference of ideas. [186]

Besides ideological and theoretical unity, especifistas advocate strategic and tactical unity. To act with strategy, as we have seen, implies taking into account a plan of all the practical actions performed by the organisation, seeking to verify where you are, where you want to go and how. Anarchism that works with strategic and tactical unity makes of planning and its alignment in practical application a strong organisational pillar. This because we believe that lack of strategy disperses efforts, causing many of them to be lost. We advocate a model in which a way forward is collectively discussed, and together with this path, we have established priorities and responsibilities assigned to militants. The priorities and responsibilities mean that everyone is not going to be able to do what passes through their head, whenever they want. Each one will have an obligation to the organisation to accomplish that which they undertook and that which was defined as a priority. Obviously we seek to reconcile the activities that each one likes to do with the priorities set by the organisation, but we don’t always have to do only what we like to do. An especifista model implies that we have to do things that we don’t like very much or to cease doing some things that we like a lot. This is to ensure that the organisation proceeds with strategy, with everyone rowing the boat in the same direction.

We criticise with emphasis organisations that do not work with strategy. For us it is not possible to work in an organisation in which each militant or group does what they think best, or simply that which they like to do, believing themselves to be contributing to a common whole. Generally, when anarchists of all types are grouped in an organisation, without having strategic affinities, there is no agreement on how to act. That is, it is not possible to establish a way of proceeding, and there is only one agreement: that things must keep going.

How do you conceive an organisation in which you seek to reconcile a group that believes it should act as a specific organisation in a social movement with a group that thinks that the priority should be social interaction among friends, group therapy or even the exaltation of the individual, considering work with social movements as authoritarian (or even Marxist or assistencialist)? There are two ways of managing these differences: either you discuss the issues, and live between fights and stress which consume a large part of the time; or you simply do not touch on the issues. Most organisations of this type opt for the second form.

In order to establish a degree of co-ordination in action, necessary co-ordination, I believe, among people who tend toward the same goal, certain conditions are imposed: a number of rules linking each one to all, certain frequently revised pacts and agreements – if missing all this, if each one works as they please, the more serious people will find themselves in a situation where the efforts of some will be neutralised by those of others. From this will result disharmony and not the harmony and serene confidence to which we tend. [187]

Ideological and theoretical unity and strategic and tactical unity are attained through the collective decision-making process adopted by specific organisations, which is an attempt at consensus and, if this is not possible, the vote – the majority winning. As we have also emphasised, in this case the whole organisation adopts the winning decision. Differently, there are organisations that only work with consensus, often allowing one or other person to have an exacerbated influence on a decision-making process that involves a much larger number of people. Seeking consensus at any cost, and afraid of splitting, these organisations allow for one or another person to have a disproportionate weight in decisions, only in order to achieve consensus. Other times, they spend hours on discussions of little importance only to seek consensus. We have in mind that the decision-making process is a means and not an end in itself.

The obligation of everyone to follow the same path – which is a rule in especifismo – is a commitment that the organisation has to its strategy, because, if every time a decision taken does not please some of the militants, and this party refuses to perform the work, it will be impossible for the organisation to move forward. In the case of voting it is important to bear in mind that, at one time, some will win the vote and work on their proposal; at another time they will lose and work on the proposal of other comrades. With this form of decision-making it gives more importance to collective deliberations than to individual points of view.

There is a difference, even, on the central points that favour the specific organisation: the commitment, responsibility and self-discipline of militants within the organisation. In the especifista model there is a high level of this militant commitment. Thus, it is essential that the militants assume commitments before the organisation and implement them. Militant commitment imprints a link between militant and organisation, which is a mutual relationship in which the organisation is responsible for the militant, as well as the militant being responsible for the organisation. As well as the organisation owing satisfaction to the militant, the militant owes satisfaction to the organisation.

Lack of commitment, responsibility and self-discipline constitutes a major problem in many anarchist groups and organisations. It is very common for people to come together and to more-or-less participate in activities, doing only that which interests them, often participating in decisions, assuming commitments and not fulfilling them or, simply, not assuming commitments. There are lots of organisations that are compliant with this lack of militant commitment. It is undeniable that, for this reason, these organisations are “cooler” to be part of, however, they are not very effective from a militant point of view. As militancy, for us, is something necessary in the struggle for a free and egalitarian society we do not believe that it will always be “cool”. If we had to choose between a more effective model of militancy and another more “cool”, we would have to opt for effectiveness.

For work with militant commitment especifismo maintains an organisation with levels of commitment. As we have explained, we advocate the logic of concentric circles in which all militants have a well-defined space in the organisation, a space which is determined by the level of commitment that the militant wants to assume. The more they want to commit themselves, the more inside the organisation they will be and the greater will be their deliberating power. Therefore, both at the political level as well as the social level there are well-defined entrance criteria, from the instances of supporter or groupings of tendency to the specific anarchist organisation. Only militants with ideological affinity with the organisation are inside the specific anarchist organisation.

Contrary to the especifista model, there are other organisations whose only criteria for the entrance of militants is their definition as anarchists, regardless of what conception of anarchism they have. Some people participate a bit in the organisation, others are more committed; some assume more responsibilities than others and all have the same power of deliberation. Thus, many deliberate on activities that they are not going to perform, that is, they determine what others will do. When an organisation allows for someone to deliberate something and not assume responsibilities, or that they assume responsibilities and do not meet them it allows for an authoritarianism of those who deliberate and put work on the backs of other comrades. Finally, in this other model, each one involves themselves in the way they perceive best, appearing when they think they should, and there is little emphasis on the question of militant commitment. Many, when they are questioned, claim themselves victims of authoritarianism. As we have explained, for us this model of organisation, besides overloading the more responsible militants, ends up by allowing this discrepancy of people who do not deliberate and work in the same proportion.

Therefore, we do not want to be this great “umbrella” that covers all types of anarchists. These broad (in)definitions apparently group more anarchists in the organisation, however, we believe that we should not opt for the criterion of quantity, but the quality of militants.

There is no doubt that if we avoid properly specifying our true character the number of our adherents could become greater. [...] It is evident, on the other hand, that if we proclaim loudly our principles the number of our adherents will be less, but at least they will be serious adherents on whom we can count. [188]

A relevant difference also occurs around the issue of anarchist individualism. Especifismo means a complete and absolute rejection of anarchist individualism. For this reason it differs from other organisations that are willing to work with individualists. For us, there are two types of individualists in anarchism. One type, which was more common in the past, of people that prefer to work alone, but that have in mind the same project as us. In these people we only have to criticise the fact that, being disorganised, they cannot potentialise the results of their work. Another type, more in evidence today, renounces the socialist project. Based on the anarchist critique of the state they have little critique of capitalism, and no activity in the direction of socially transforming the reality in which we live. Putting themselves in the condition of simple critical observers of society, they construct an anarchism from secondary thinkers and references, simply around criticism. They don’t have any societal project, much less coherent action that points towards this new society. We might ask:

what then remains for us of anarchist individualism? The denial of class struggle, the denial of the principle of an anarchist organisation, whose purpose is the free society of equal workers: and even more, empty quackery encouraging workers unhappy with their existence to take part by resorting to personal solutions, supposedly open to them as liberated individuals. [189]

Thus they exacerbate the role of individual freedom, which, removed from collective freedom becomes merely an egotistical pleasure for the delight of a few who can, through their privileges within capitalism, afford it. In reality, individual freedom can only exist in collective freedom, for the slavery of others limits the freedom of each, and full individual freedom can only be realised at the moment in which, collectively, all are free. We agree with Bakunin when he said:

I can only consider and feel myself free in the presence and in relation to other men. [...] I am only truly free when all human beings around me, men and women, are equally free. The other’s freedom, far from being a limitation or denial of my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary condition and confirmation. Only the freedom of others makes me truly free, in such a way that, the more numerous are the free men that surround me, and the more extensive and broad their freedom, the greater and deeper will become my freedom. [...] My personal freedom thus confirmed by the freedom of all extends to infinity. [190]

For us it is impossible to seek individual freedom in a society like ours, in which millions do not have access to the most basic necessities of a human being. One cannot think of a purely individual anarchism as a way of positioning yourself in the world, of having a different lifestyle. For individualists, in most cases, to be an anarchist means to be an artist, a bohemian, to promote the sexual freedom of having open relationships or with more than one partner, to wear different clothes, to have a radical haircut, to behave extravagantly, to eat different foods, to define yourself personally, to fulfill yourself personally, to be against revolution (?!), to be against socialism (?!), to have a discourse without rhyme or reason – enjoying the freedom of aesthetics – in short, becoming apolitical. We disagree fundamentally with this position and believe that the influences in this direction are disastrous to anarchism, deterring serious and committed militants. Finally, we agree with Malatesta when he stressed:

It is true we would like, all of us, to be in agreement and to unite into a single, powerful beam all the forces of anarchism. But we do not believe in the soundness of organisations made by the force of concessions and restrictions, where there is no real sympathy and agreement among members. It is better to be disunited than badly united. [191]

For us choosing the most appropriate model of anarchist organisation is crucial so that we have the most appropriate means, consistent with the ends we seek to achieve. If we advocate especifismo, which is a form of anarchist organisation, it is because we believe that it is today more suitable for the work we intend to perform. We understand that there are anarchists who do not agree with especifismo, and we do not think that they are less anarchist because of it. We only demand respect for our choice, such as we respect those who have made other choices.

★★★

We now turn, briefly, to especifismo's historical perspective and influences. As we have seen the term especifismo was developed by the FAU and only arrived in Brazil in the late twentieth century. Nevertheless, this term, more than creating a new conception of anarchist organisation sought to group a series of already existing anarchist organisational conceptions, which took shape starting from the nineteenth century. The especifismo of the FAU asserts the influence of Bakunin and Malatesta, of the class struggle of anarcho-syndicalism, of expropriator anarchism; all this within a Latin American context. We will attempt to explain in the following paragraphs, from our own conception, how we understand the historic experience of especifismo: the main past experiences, in terms of anarchist organisation, which influence us today.

Especifismo's first historic reference is Bakunin, from the organisational conceptions that constituted the activity of the libertarians within the International Workers’ Association (IWA), and which gave body to anarchism.

The IWA was articulated from the visits of the representatives of the French workers’ associations to England, where they contacted English and exiled German union leaders – amongst the latter, Karl Marx. Politically, the composition of the IWA appeared heterogeneous: Marxists, Blanquists, republicans, trade unionists and Proudhonian federalists. The Marxists ended up by forming a majority in decision-making in the Central Committee, aligning themselves with members of other currents and taking control of that body. This situation persisted even after the substitution of the Central Committee by the General Council in the 1866 Geneva Congress. There one saw that the anarchists, be they inspired by Proudhon or followers of Bakunin, did not have any force in the central executive of the association. They were more influential through the grassroots, showing this in the congresses.

Two tendencies developed within the IWA: one centralist and one federalist. Among the authoritarian centralists stood out the communists, theoretically and politically guided by Marx, who counted on the IWA as an instrument to bring the proletariat into political power. They sought to constitute a workers’ state apparatus for the transformation of capitalist society into communism through an intermediate period of re-organisation, necessarily to be undertaken under a dictatorship. Among the libertarian federalists were the anarchists, who advocated social revolution with the immediate abolition of all bodies of authority and the formation of a new society based on the free and federative organisation of workers, according to their occupations, problems and interests.

This basic divergence had been present from the beginning and was already clearly visible at the Geneva Congress, the first plenary meeting of the International. Against the authoritarians were the Proudhonian mutualists, who led the debate supported by collectivists that already belonged to the IWA before Bakunin had affiliated himself to it. In the Lausanne (1867) and Brussels (1868) Congresses collectivism had rapidly come to gain ground in relation to mutualism, and in Basel (1869) the collectivist attendance was in strong predominance among those averse to authority, and strengthened by the presence of Bakunin. In the competing camp Marx, while avoiding to make a personal commitment in the congresses, made his interventions through programmes, reports, newsletters and proposals of the Council. In Basel, Bakunin presented a proposal against the right of inheritance. Marx opposed him, but the proposal was approved.

Still in the context of the IWA Bakunin, together with other anarchist militants, formed the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, which would be accepted as a section of the IWA in 1869. We understand the Alliance as a specific anarchist organisation (political level) that operated within the IWA (social level). The Alliance was an organisation of active minority composed of the “most secure, most dedicated, most intelligent and most energetic members, in a word, by the closest” [192]. It was formed to act secretly in order to address the issues that one could not publicly address and to act as a catalyst in the labour movement. The Alliance defined the relation between the social and political levels:

The Alliance is the necessary complement of the International... – But the International and the Alliance, while tending towards the same final objective, pursue different goals at the same time. One has as its mission to unite the labouring masses, the millions of workers, across the differences of nations and of countries, across the borders of all states, into one immense and compact body; the other, the Alliance, has as its mission to give to the masses a truly revolutionary direction. The programmes of the one and the other, without being opposites at all, are different by the degree of their respective development. That of the International, if we take it seriously, is also in germ, but only in germ, the whole programme of the Alliance. The programme of the Alliance is the ultimate explanation of the programme of the International. [193]

The practice of the Alliance within the IWA caused the authoritarian tendency to seek to isolate and discredit the practice of the libertarians. After the Basel Congress attacks on the collectivist group intensified. In 1870 Marx directed two private communications of the General Council to the IWA sections, with severe criticisms of the Bakuninist positions. With this he prepared the climate for the London Conference of the following year, during which the Marxist group attempted to impose the doctrine of the conquest of state power, and for the Hague Congress of 1872. In this plenary, he urged for the expulsion of Bakunin from the IWA, which he obtained. By 1874 the International was defunct.

The second historical reference of especifismo is Malatesta, a militant who came to join the Bakuninist Alliance and who was a representative of the organisationalist current of anarchist communism. Following the collectivist tradition of the anarchism of Bakunin’s time – which advocated, in the future society, distribution to each according to their work – was born the anarchist communist current – which has since then advocated distribution to each according to their needs. Malatesta was characterised by defending, within this current, positions against evolutionism and scientism present in a large part of the socialist movement. For Malatesta, the future would not be necessarily determined and could only be modified by will, by a voluntarist intervention in events in order to provide the desired social transformation.

Outspoken critic of individualism, Malatesta advocated an anarchism based completely on organisation, an anarchism that we could call “organisationalist”, and that, like the anarchism of Bakunin, maintained a distinct role at the social and political level. At the political level, Malatesta developed his conception of the specific anarchist organisation, which he called the anarchist party [194]: “by anarchist party we understand all those who want to contribute to achieving anarchy, and that, consequently, they need to set an objective to be achieved and a road to travel”[195]. This organisation should act in the so-called “mass movements” of the time and influence them as much as possible, and the unions were the preferred terrain chosen for anarchist activity. Malatesta clearly pointed out the differences between the political level of anarchism and the social level, the space of insertion which was constituted, at the time, by syndicalism:

In my opinion, the labour movement is no more than a means – though there is no doubt that it is the best means we have. But I refuse to accept this means as an end [...]. Syndicalists, on the other hand, have a certain propensity to transform the means into ends and consider the parts as a whole. And, in this way, for some of us syndicalism begins to be transformed into a new doctrine that threatens the very existence of anarchism. [...] I lamented, in the past, that comrades isolated themselves from the labour movement. I lament today that, at the other extreme, many of us allow ourselves to be swallowed by the same movement. Once again, the organisation of the working class, the strike, direct action, boycott, sabotage and armed insurrection itself are only the means; anarchy is the end. [196]

Advocating an anarchism that seeks social transformation from will, Malatesta believed, as we believe today, that the specific anarchist organisation should act within the class struggle, in the midst of the social movements and, with them, reach the social revolution and libertarian socialism – which he called anarchy. For this Malatesta sought to create both specific anarchist organisations, as in the case of the Italian Anarchist Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Italian Anarchist Union; as well as organisations that acted at the social level, as in the cases of the Italian Syndical Union (USI), the Labour Alliance, and the unions in Argentina. The positions of Malatesta were widely disseminated by Luigi Fabbri, another Italian anarchist communist, who also made significant contribution to especifismo.

An important experience for especifismo, in our conception, was also that of Magonismo in the radical phase of the Mexican Liberal Party (PLM). Ricardo Flores Magón, its most active militant, joined the PLM in 1901 – it having been founded a year earlier. During the Porfírio Diaz dictatorship both the PLM and the journal Regeneración were major opponents of the regime. From the second half of the 1900s the PLM radicalised, taking a more combative discourse and creating an internal tension within the party, which removed the less radical elements. The PLM did not compete in elections and served only as a space for the political and horizontal articulation of the libertarian revolutionaries of the time – without objectives of taking the state and establishing a dictatorship – to put an end to the Diaz government, establishing libertarian communism in turn. The PLM became clandestine and organised more than 40 armed resistance groups throughout Mexico and also had indigenous members, known for their struggle for community rights and against capitalist property. After the radicalisation, Francisco Madero disagreed that peaceful means to take Diaz’s power would be exhausted.

The electoral fraud of 1910 led by Diaz would initiate the explosion of the Mexican Revolution. With the arrest of Madero his opponent in the elections managed to get himself re-elected. Exiled in San Antonio, Texas, Madero drew up the San Luis Plan, calling for an armed uprising, besides declaring null the 1910 elections, rejecting the election of Diaz and instituting himself as provisional president. Many rebels responded to the revolutionary call; among them Emiliano Zapata, who played an important role in the organisation of the indigenous people of the Morelos region, and Pancho Villa, a former cattle thief and bank robber, long recognised by the humble of the Durango and Chihuahua regions. They were united in an anti-re-electionist front, which gave each group a relative degree of autonomy and independence. In 1911, in the midst of the revolution and with the support of the North American Industrial Worker of the World (IWW) union the anarchists, with Magón at the fore, occupied the region of Baja California, taking important cities like Mexicali. At the end of January they constituted the Socialist Republic of Baja California, the first socialist republic in the world. The Magonistas also had victories in cities such as Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Sonora, Guadalupe and Casas Grandes; spaces that would be lost after the repression occasioned by the Madero government.

The revolts organised by Zapata in Morelos and the Ayala Plan constituted themselves as instruments of the peasants’ struggle for the revolution, always inspired by the slogan, “Land and Freedom”, first sung by Praxédis Guerrero and spread by the Magonistas. Fruit of this important relationship between Zapatistas and Magonistas was Zapata’s invitation for Magón to bring Regeneración to Morelos.

After that Mexico sank into a period of civil war and tried to establish a Convention at the end of 1914. The events that took place in sequence, like the attempted taking of Mexico City by Villa and Zapata, the convening of the Constituent Assembly by Carranza, who would later be elected president and then be assassinated; and the conflicts that followed in the country eventually ended up forming the backdrop of the decline of the revolutionary period in the country.

Another important historic reference to especifismo is the anarchist participation in the Russian Revolution. In early 1917 several regiments mutinied in St. Petersburg, a provisional government arose acclaimed by parliament and the soviets of 1905 were reborn. The slogan, “all power to the soviets” was evident. In the field, in southern Ukraine the peasants of Gulyai-Polye, a village that since the 1905 revolution had had strong anarchist organisation, founded the Peasants Union; which decided to fight for the social revolution independent of the government, seeking self-management of the means of production. In Petrograd it claimed workers’ control in the factories and Kronstadt sailors, carrying red and black flags, marched on the city with the goal of instituting a soviet and self-managed republic. In October anarchist and Bolshevik soldiers acting in concert were able to take the Winter Palace, then came a divide between the authoritarian and libertarian revolutionary elements. The former were for seizing the state apparatus and moving towards the dictatorship of the (Bolshevik) Party, directed by an all-powerful central committee; the latter for libertarian and self-managed communism in the form of councils of soviets of workers, peasants and the people in arms.

Progressively, the Bolsheviks began to deny, suppress, impede and, finally, prohibit the spread of libertarian ideas and practices. As early as 1918 the Bolsheviks positioned themselves against the workers’ control of factories, encouraging the blind discipline of workers to the party, and were gradually consolidating the prohibition of opposition to the party. They militarised labour, expelled elected leaders from the soviets, forced these [the soviets] to submit to the central power of the party and prohibited strikes.

In the struggle against the White Army the insurrectionary army of Makhno in the Ukraine allied with the Bolsheviks more than once. On defeating the White threat the Makhnovist army was attacked and persecuted by the Red Army, forcing the survivors to take refuge in other countries. It was the end of the process of self-managed socialisation in the Ukraine, repressively reversed by the Bolsheviks in favour of statist and totalitarian forms of organisation and social control under a new ruling class. The Kronstadt sailors – who demanded that the delegates to the soviets go back to being chosen by election; freedom for anarchists and other leftist groups; that unions and peasant organisations return to being united; the release of political prisoners; the abolition of political officers; and the same food for all – were killed by the Bolsheviks.

Despite this proletarian and libertarian revolution having been usurped and dominated by the Bolsheviks, as from their seizure of the state apparatus, the anarchists sinned by omission on the matter of organisation. This reflection was formalised years later by Russian immigrants who were in Europe, in a document called the Organisational Platform of Libertarian Communists. Makhno, Arshinov and others formalised in this document their considerations on anarchist organisation, informed by the experiences of the Russian Revolution. This document brought forward important insights about the importance of the involvement of anarchists in the class struggle, the need for a violent social revolution that overthrows capitalism and the state and that establishes libertarian communism. There is also an important contribution on the question of the transition from capitalism to libertarian communism and on the defence of the revolution. The Platform advocates an anarchist organisation, at the political level, that acts in the midst of social movements, a social level, and emphasises the role of active minority of the anarchist organisation. Moreover, it makes important contributions on the model of organisation of the political level of the anarchists. For these reasons, it is an important document and has considerable influence in especifismo.

However, we do not believe that especifismo is the same thing as Platformism. As we have been trying to show throughout this text, for us, especifismo is much broader than Platformism and has its theoretical basis in the organisational conceptions of Bakunin and Malatesta. For us, the Platform both draws from these authors and brings new contributions and should therefore be considered as a contribution to especifismo, but not the most important contribution. Another factor to be taken into account is that the Platform was written about an experience of the military action of anarchists in the midst of a revolutionary process, and should not be removed from this context. We understand that this form of organisation, as expressed in the Platform, should not be applied in all its details in non-revolutionary situations. It is more a contribution to the discussion of anarchist military action than a document to discuss anarchist organisation in all different contexts.

As with the Russian Revolution, we also consider the Spanish Revolution of 1936 a reference. During those years a social revolution was effectively carried out. A revolution under fire that wanted to reach all sectors, from unjust economic structures to the daily life of the population; from the decrepit notions of hierarchy to the historic inequalities between men and women. And all this was the work of the anarchists.

The influences of anarchism were brought to Spain by Giuseppe Fanelli, alliancist and militant very close to Bakunin. Founded in 1910, the National Confederation of Labour (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo - CNT) was the greatest expression of anarcho-syndicalism in Spain and lived, until the 1920s, between moments of ebb and flow with constant repression, of which it was victim. Founded in 1927, the Iberian Anarchist Federation (Federación Anarquista Ibérica - FAI) was a clandestine organisation dedicated to revolutionary activity which, among its objectives, sought to oppose the reformist currents in the CNT. The action achieved success, and the revolutionary anarchists obtained hegemony in the CNT.

In 1936 the Popular Front (bringing together the parties of the left) was able to win at the polls. The anarchists of the CNT ended up tactically supporting the Front because this would mean the release of imprisoned comrades. With the endorsement of the CNT the victory of the Popular Front was made possible. However, the fascists did not accept the defeat. On July 18,1936, the Phalangist coup movement breaks out, among which Francisco Franco stood out. Thus began the revolutionary explosion that would throw the country into three years of civil war. In the first phase (July 1936 to early 1937) the anarchists are among the most prominent groups. The action of militants in areas such as Catalonia was exemplary. The republican structures turned into popular organisations in an intense and successful process of collectivisation. Factories were occupied and immediate social measures put into practice, such as: equal pay between men and women, free medical service, permanent salary in case of sickness, reduced working hours and increased pay. Metallurgical, timber industry, transport, food, health, media and entertainment services and rural properties were collectivised. In order to combat the fascist forces they set up militias that advanced on some fronts, especially the column headed by Buenaventura Durruti.

In the second phase (1937 to 1939) the progress of the counter-revolution was devastating. The Phalangists had massive support from Hitler and Mussolini. The resistance was poorly armed and outnumbered. The International Brigades, formed to halt the Nazi-Fascist advance, had few fighters. Furthermore there was no help from the liberal nations (France and England), which once again washed their hands. The “support” from the USSR proved to be a true “Trojan Horse”. Within the struggle against fascism a parallel hunt – promoted by the Stalinists – for the anarchists and unorthodox Labour Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) was taking place. The advances made by the CNT/FAI were destroyed by those who sought to re-establish the foundations of the state (moderate sectors of the Republic, Communists and Socialists). The Communists began to gain key positions in the government. The anarchists had to give in once more to unfavourable circumstances: some members of the CNT ended up participating in the government.

In Brazil we can say that, since the especifista current was not in fact realised in its fullness, our ideological references relate to some initiatives of the past and others we think signatories of the same current in the country’s more recent history. We understand that from the earliest years of the twentieth century anarchists linked to “organisationalism”, in particular followers of Malatesta, struggled to organise a possible number of comrades with a view to forming an organisation with common strategies and tactics, based on tactical agreements and clear group understanding.

It was these who were responsible for conducting the First Congress of Brazilian Workers in 1906, through the initiatives of the most breathtaking of the national anarchism. These anarchists prepared the conditions that allowed for the full insertion of anarchists in the unions and in social life, with the formation of schools and theatre groups, besides a reasonable written production. It was also, to a large extent, the “organisationalist” current that eventually helped in the preparation of the Anarchist Insurrection of 1918, the creation of the Anarchist Alliance of Rio de Janeiro, in the formation of the Brazilian Communist Party, libertarian in feature, and in the events that distinguished the anarchists from the Bolsheviks in the 1920s.

In this first phase the names of Neno Vasco, José Oiticica, Domingos Passos, Juan Peres Bouzas, Astrojildo Pereira (until 1920) and Fábio Luz stand out. Later, after social anarchism had been in slumber for almost two decades, part of the organisationalist tradition resurfaced in the journal Ação Direta (Direct Action) and then, with the consummation of the 1964 military coup we again lose our main force in this camp, represented by Ideal Peres and the students of the Libertarian Student Movement (Movimento Estudantil Libertário - MEL).

Finally, another Latin influence on especifismo that we advocate is the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (Federación Anarquista Uruguyaya - FAU), formed in 1956 of class struggle and anarcho-syndicalist influences, of the organisational models of Bakunin and Malatesta, and of the expropriator anarchism from the Plate River region. Seeking to develop an anarchism that confronts Latino problems the FAU has, since its creation, performed work in various fronts. It participated in the trade union activities of the National Convention of Workers (CNT), which had a non-bureaucratic model with internal democracy and class struggle tendencies. Direct action associations were established within the so-called Combative Tendency. With its illegality being enacted in 1967 the FAU went underground.

Even during this period of clandestinity, with a lot of repression and the arrest of militants, the FAU managed to maintain their union activity in the CNT, in the student movement and in the struggle against the collaborationism of the Communist Party (CP). It circulated its publication Cartas de la FAU (Letters from the FAU). In 1968 Workers-Student Resistance (ROE) was founded, a mass organisation body which adopted a confrontational strategy, with factory occupations with student participation and trade unionists in student demonstrations. At the end of the 1960s, parallel to the mass organisation, the FAU developed the organisation of its “armed wing”, the People’s Revolutionary Organisation - 33 (Organización Popular Revolucionaria - 33, OPR-33), which realised a series of sabotage actions, economic expropriations, kidnappings of politicians and/ or bosses particularly hated by the people, armed support for strikes and workplace occupations etc. The FAU abandoned focalism as a paradigm of armed struggle, avoiding militarisation while possessing social insertion in the population. With the dictatorship of 1973 the FAU directed its efforts towards a general strike that paralysed the country for nearly a month. It carried out clandestine work and had several militants arrested, tortured and killed. With the political opening it re-articulated itself and developed its work on the especifista model which we advocate today, with three fronts of insertion: union, student, and community.

In short, our conception of the historical references of especifismo is not dogmatic. We have broad ideas that start with the ideas of Bakunin and the alliancists in the IWA, go through the conceptions of Malatesta and his practical experiences at the social and political levels, as well as the experiences of Magón and the PLM in the Mexican Revolution. We are also influenced by the experiences of the anarchists in the Russian Revolution, with emphasis on the Makhnovists in the Ukraine and the organisational reflections made by the Russians in exile, as well as the experiences of the anarchists in the Spanish Revolution around the CNT-FAI. In Brazil, we have influences from anarchist “organisationalism”, highlighting the experiences of the 1918 Anarchist Alliance of Rio de Janeiro and the 1919 (libertarian) Communist Party. Finally, the influences of the FAU, both in their struggle against the dictatorship, as in their activity in fronts with unions, community and student movements. This whole set of conceptions and experiences contributes today to our conception of especifismo. Currently, especifismo is advocated by various Latin American organisations and developed in practice, even if not by this name, in other parts of the world.

[azems-familiar]

🥤🐇🦷🍅 for the writer ask? :O

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

i'll do ffxiv for this since that's the fandom we share. this is a pretty popular emetraha fic but i'm obsessed with how it's written. i also have to, obviously, highlight @thewitchofelpis for their DELIGHTFUL hythazemet and hythwolemet!

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 

i know reader inserts are all the rage for some people (and i respect that) but i hate reading them and i will never write them, lol. ocs on the other hand....sometimes i wish the oc printer in my brain would turn off. what am i supposed to do with all these guys. they're not even paying rent.

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

so this isn't a trick i use anymore, because i've mostly outgrown the need for it, but when i was a new writer doing nanowrimo for the first time (an event which focuses on word count/quantity over quality/get the novel written so you can edit it later) (as a side note i no longer endorse them given everything that's happened but the event was an important part of my life for multiple years so there's that), something i really struggled with was constantly writing and erasing things. some advice i was given was if i found a sentence or a paragraph or a scene or whatever didn't work, instead of deleting it, turn the text red (or another color), leave it there, and move on. you could probably also cut it out and stick it on another doc, if you preferred doing that. but that let me write without fear of deleting everything, or fear of fucking it up, because i had that stress-free option, and sometimes i could come back to those bits and pieces and use them for something else. even if i didn't, those were still words i wrote to be proud of and worth keeping around because i wrote them!

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

i'm not going to answer this one, and here's why: i struggle deeply with self-image and one of my worst issues that i'm constantly working on is my own tendency to consider everything i write bad, to not see the positive elements in it, and to need to be talked out of erasing whole swathes of story when i'm not happy with them. (you see why the above tip was helpful for me when i was younger.) while concrit is an incredibly useful thing, it's something i only personally engage in in specific mindsets, and the constant critical urge is something i'm attempting to train out of myself - and so since i already read my own writing through a heavily critical lens, this is something i'm not going to encourage in myself further!

[dkniade]

Not gonna lie, I voted for the platonic option in the poll. My reasoning is that I'd really just like to hang out with some of these characters and get to know them. Character analysis has always been my thing and I'd like to see other's takes on them. I'm hardly one to write it out for myself as much as putting them in situations, but the ones I find are quite nice.

Context: types of reader inserts

Yeah, it’d be interesting to hang out with the characters and see what they’d do. I likewise enjoy how others interpret the characters and how it comes across in their writing. It seems to allow for more diverse scenarios too, which is refreshing to see.

Also, speaking of getting to know characters—

(I ended up talking about the development in Kaeya’s & Albedo’s character story so it got a lot longer than I had expected. Also has some reader inserts I like at the end)

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It seems fan fiction—at least the ones I’ve come across—is written with the assumption that the reader knows about the overall setting/background of the source media. E.g. if someone’s looking for canon-compliant Kaeya-and-Diluc-centric angst/hurt-comfort fic, then it’s generally assumed that the reader knows about the two’s strained past relationship to some degree. So for short reader insert stories (one shots), exposition for the (non-reader) character’s backstory isn’t usually the focus (in my experience)—

(Occasionally I find some where the reader insert’s backstory is just forced straight into the first few paragraphs in a tell-don’t-show fashion like “Your parents were always busy so you always had to take care of yourself but ever since you met [character] your life began to change.” That feels rather dry to read. It’s more fun (and difficult) to scatter bits and pieces of info across the story to imply the reader insert’s backstory.)

—But I think a little exposition for a character background works, so that the story can kind of stand on its own even as fan fiction. Making the context specific when it comes to a scene about why a character is acting a certain way helps set the scene too. Maybe I do it for my stories in general so I don’t forget why I’m writing a character in a way. I tend to forget about character motivation a lot in the middle of writing…

When I say specific context that helps one to know the character… Let’s compare and contrast Kaeya and Albedo’s character stories as examples.

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KAEYA’s Character Details gives basic info on his position in the Knights of Favonius. “目前他担任西风骑士团的骑兵队长，是一位可靠的行动派、深得琴信任的人物。” -> “Currently he’s the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius. He’s a reliable person who gets things done, a figure who Jean trusts immensely.”

(Official English version: “Kaeya currently serves as the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, and is trusted by Jean.”)

*行动派 describes someone who prefers to do things instead of thinking/talking about them. Man of action is closest the equivalent I could find in English… But someone who gets things done works too.

Story 1 is about his reputation(s) in Mondstadt, his love for alcohol and his ability to manipulate his words and get information (there should be a better way to word this…). “It's hard to imagine someone as mischievous, amiable, and wine-loving as Kaeya being the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius. Hunters and bandits alike are often among Kaeya's drinking buddies. As wary of him as they may initially be, all are ultimately disarmed by his smooth talking, and end up telling him everything he wants to know.”

Story 2 tells us Kaeya’s view on justice and his unconventional/somewhat sadistic choice of methods in getting things done (e.g. triggering a Ruin Guard and putting both his foes and allies in danger, relishing his allies’ momentary hesitation & his enemies’ fear in a life-or-death situation). The ruin guard part is a nice & specific little snapshot that highlights that part of him. I like how it’s told.

Story 3 is another snapshot but it’s rather subtle (so I’m not quite sure how to interpret it). “Kaeya battles against this threat to Mondstadt not only with his sword, but also with his smarts and his wit.” “When Death After Noon is out of season due to lack of supply, the number of reported incidents inside and outside the city show a drastic decrease, and this remains the case until Death After Noon returns to the market...” Given the previous stories that keep on emphasizing Kaeya’s connection to alcohol, one can interpret it as Kaeya dealing with the enemies a lot more when he’s not drinking/at a tavern… Or that it shows how Kaeya uses information given to him to his advantage, hence “his smarts and wit”… We learn a bit more about him.

And then, Stories 4-5 are about his past, but we’re given details of two specific events that impacted him, one for each story. Instead of saying “Kaeya’s relationship with his birth father and Crepus was like this”, it showed bits of dialogue, thoughts, weather conditions… Other characters’ reactions… Story 4 tells us his abandonment at the Dawn Winery, teases his Khaenri’ahn lineage, and how Crepus took him in. This is about his relationship with his birth father, and Crepus. Story 5 tells us his partnership with Diluc and their past reputations as knights. And then, we get Crepus’ death, another major event for him. “It was the first and only time that Kaeya failed in his duty.” We’re finally given background on why Kaeya is seen as reliable in the knights (character details), and why he’s trusted by Jean. And of course through these two scenes we get to learn about his past relationship with his birth father, Crepus, and Diluc.

And then, because contrast is important in having impact storytelling, we get to learn about an inconspicuous list, a break from the intense tragedies of the previous stories. It’s the object that gets highlighted before the Vision story (usually GI character stories have an item that’s discussed before the Vision section it seems). Lovely. Interestingly, it’s also in second person point of view… It’s got a similar nature as story 3. Motifs… First a report by a young knight (story 3), now a list that “meticulously records the details of bandits in the city and further afield, as well as mercenaries and mid-to-senior-level Treasure Hoarder members, listing for each entry a name, position, area of activity, and personal profile.” And then, “Your gut feeling is that Kaeya purposely let you see this list, but you have no way of proving it.” This feels strangely specific. (In Hidden Strife we also get an epistolary storytelling style…) Piecing the context together like this is fun.

And then we get the Vision story, and more details regarding his inner turmoil and an explanation for him concealing the truth (to Varka in Story 4 for example). Basically, it’s a long-winded way of saying, I like how the separate scenes show off different sides of Kaeya, each with a different context.

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ALBEDO’s Character Stories, in comparison, seem to have roughly the same tone all the way through. His Character Details introduce his prowess at alchemy (“This young man displayed the true prowess of alchemy to all, bringing with him a massive corpus of wisdom that even the Sumeru Akademiya did not possess”) and his theme of birth., which he demonstrates.

Like Kaeya’s, Albedo’s Character Story 1 shows his social reputation, but glosses it over in a bunch of surface descriptions of he feels this, he feels that, he is this. (“Albedo's tendency to avoid social interactions does not make him a cold-hearted person. He is sincere and contented when instructing his assistants, Timaeus and Sucrose. He finds pleasure in giving his sketches to the citizens of Mondstadt.”)

His information about Alice, and his past with Rhinedottir and Khaenri’ah, is revealed in a very matter-of-fact and emotionally detached manner throughout Character Stories 2-5 and Albedo’s Artwork– But as I’m writing this, I wonder if it’s a third-person limited narrator? If it’s Albedo himself telling the tale, then it all makes sense as to why it’s told this way, since he—at least a part of him—is methodical…

The Vision section felt underwhelming when I first read it. (I had expected every Vision story to be of Kaeya’s calibre but I’m, of course, wrong, haha)(Saying this now, I wonder how Albedo’s Character Stories would be if Durin/Festering Desire and the Primordial Human Project are included in there too?)

But my point is, I don’t feel there’s a particular emotional climax in the progression of Albedo’s character story. In Story 4, he was abandoned by Rhinedottir—and he genuinely believed every one of her threats to abandon him if he couldn’t finish the assignments.

(��In the past, Albedo's assignments had always been very difficult. He had always believed wholeheartedly that his master would make good on her threat to leave him, should he fail. But this assignment she had left to him was far too hard, far beyond the limit of his abilities. Did this mean, then, that he was fated to never complete it, and thus never see his master again?”)

That should’ve been the climax of his character story, yet where’s the tension? Did it impact Albedo emotionally, and if so, I wonder, couldn’t the story show that a bit more? If it didn’t impact Albedo emotionally, maybe because of Alice’s care, I wonder if they could’ve told us about his views towards Alice some more in his story? The Albedo of the past and the Albedo of the (character story’s) present feels roughly the same, meanwhile the Kaeya of the past went through a lot to become the Kaeya of the (character story’s) present.

-

…Back to reader inserts and specific details in showing emotion.

Compared to Kaeya’s character story, maybe how a story unfolds feels different in a one-shot reader insert, which would likely be only one scene (unless it has multiple super condensed scenes). Over the years I’ve learned (from experience and from taking some writing courses) that—

1. Contrast makes emotions hit harder (e.g. we’re repeatedly told how popular, friendly, and mischievous Kaeya is, so perhaps it’s a surprise that his backstory is actually quite dark)

2. How much time elapses between various scenes is important (e.g. Kaeya’s stories 1-3 seem like they could happen across a few days or months, while story 4 suddenly pulls us back to a decade ago, and then some years after in Story 5, and from that point towards we’re slowly experiencing the afternoon of Diluc’s 18th birthday across Stories 5 and Vision. We get a more varied range of experiences this way.)

-

I suppose by now I could mention a few reader inserts that I enjoy. (Last one’s NSFW and the line I mention is suggestive)

by wipcore

changing seasons (Kazuha x reader)

This one I like for the Inazuma textile store assistant reader’s implied backstory and how Kazuha subtly changes them as their paths cross. It’s a specific character setting I didn’t encounter before.

only fools are satisfied (Kaeya x reader)

This one I like for the Sumeru scholar reader and Kaeya’s witty dynamic and for how it opens up the conflict and how Kaeya feels straight from the beginning. Again, it’s a unique character setting I rarely see.

by gold-rhine

NSFW First time sub afab! Kaeya x GN Dom! Reader

(It includes Diluc, Ayato, Gorou, and Kaeya separately but I specifically mean the Kaeya section because, let me just quote a line—)

“an intoxicating feverish thrill from how hungrily you rake your eyes over him mixing with both his own arousal and nervousness into a heady, daring mix.”

The alcohol metaphor, the similar feeling you get when reading the line in Kaeya’s friendship Lv 4 Companion Voiceline, “I have to say, though, that chatting with you is quite intoxicating... Actually, in much the same way that drinking is. So, I suppose... I'm just greedy and want to enjoy both of these pleasures at the same time.”

Yet, gold-rhine’s line works in that context while having it be undoubtedly Kaeya. That, is intoxicating.

And yet, it’s not just smut. There’s character development too, and Kaeya’s layers reveal themselves through the progression of the story in a similar way to how his character story progresses except with enough time that one set of emotions (including his trust issues and self-hatred and desire to please) is wonderfully explored.

…

Inevitably I ended up talking about storytelling again. Anyway, thank you for the comment on reader inserts. I think it’s interesting too, how between the line of character analysis and storytelling, in the hands and scenarios of different fic writers, a character can act differently, yet still retain that part of them that makes them them.

[cheersdroplucy]

How to Write Product Descriptions That Actually Convert

In the fast-paced world of dropshipping, your product descriptions can make or break a sale. They’re more than just words on a page — they’re your chance to connect with customers, highlight the value of your trending products, and inspire people to hit that “buy” button. But writing descriptions that truly convert isn’t about listing features or sounding like a sales pitch. It’s about telling a story that resonates, building trust, and subtly guiding shoppers through their decision-making process.

Understanding your audience is the first step. Every product speaks to a certain kind of buyer, and your descriptions should feel like they’re written just for them. Instead of a generic list of specifications, think about the problems your product solves or the feelings it evokes. For example, if you’re selling a trending eco-friendly water bottle, don’t just mention its BPA-free material — paint a picture of a health-conscious, active lifestyle that customers aspire to.

One dropshipping tip to keep in mind is that benefits always outweigh features. Features tell customers what a product is; benefits show them why it matters. If a feature is that the water bottle keeps drinks cold for 24 hours, the benefit might be how it keeps your morning coffee fresh during a busy day or your workout hydration chilled. This subtle shift helps customers envision how the product fits into their lives.

Using clear, concise language is also key. Today’s shoppers often skim descriptions, especially on mobile devices. Break up your text with bullet points, short paragraphs, and headers that highlight important points. This formatting helps buyers quickly absorb the essentials without feeling overwhelmed.

Sensory and emotional language can elevate your descriptions beyond dry facts. Instead of saying a yoga mat is “non-slip,” describe how it “anchors your practice with a firm, cushioned grip that supports every stretch and pose.” By engaging the senses, you invite customers to imagine the experience of using the product — not just owning it.

Another effective marketing strategy is incorporating social proof right into your descriptions. Genuine customer reviews, star ratings, or quick testimonials add trust and credibility. When shoppers see that others have had positive experiences with your trending products, it reduces hesitation and increases confidence.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is important but should never compromise the natural flow of your writing. Use relevant keywords thoughtfully — insert them where they fit naturally without stuffing or awkward phrasing. This ensures your product pages are discoverable by people actively searching for what you offer while still sounding authentic and engaging.

Calls to action (CTAs) within descriptions don’t need to be pushy. Instead of “Buy Now,” try inviting language like “Discover your perfect companion for every adventure” or “Make hydration effortless today.” These soft prompts align with the overall tone and gently encourage customers to take the next step.

Personalization is another dropshipping tip that’s gaining traction. If you know your audience segments well, tailor descriptions accordingly. For instance, the way you describe a fitness tracker might differ for a tech-savvy millennial versus a busy parent looking for practical health tools. Dynamic content or targeted product pages can help deliver the right message to the right people.

Multimedia elements like high-quality images and videos complement written descriptions beautifully. A short video showing the product in use or a 360-degree image can answer questions a paragraph might not cover and build trust through transparency. When combined with strong copy, multimedia turns browsers into buyers.

Testing and refining your product descriptions based on performance data is a practice often overlooked but essential. Small changes — whether tweaking headlines, adjusting length, or shifting tone — can have a significant impact on conversion rates. A/B testing different versions helps you understand what resonates best with your audience.

It’s also important to stay honest and avoid exaggerated claims. Authenticity builds loyalty and reduces returns or complaints. If your product has limitations or specific care instructions, including those clearly shows respect for customers and sets proper expectations.

Leveraging psychological triggers in subtle ways can boost conversions as well. Scarcity (“Only a few left in stock”), social proof, authority (expert endorsements), and reciprocity (free shipping or gifts) work best when they feel genuine rather than manipulative.

Considering that many customers shop on mobile, product descriptions should be optimized for smaller screens. Keep paragraphs short, use readable fonts, and ensure fast page loading speeds to provide a seamless browsing experience.

Collaborating closely with designers or photographers enhances the impact of your descriptions. The right visuals support the story you’re telling, making the product more desirable without relying on hard selling.

Ultimately, writing product descriptions that convert is about blending art and science. It’s knowing your trending products and your audience well, using dropshipping tips like focusing on benefits and personalization, and applying marketing strategies that prioritize trust and connection over aggressive sales.

When you get it right, your descriptions become silent salespeople — working 24/7 to build interest, address doubts, and inspire purchases, all without sounding like an ad. That’s the kind of writing that not only drives sales but helps your brand grow sustainably in the competitive dropshipping landscape of 2025 and beyond.

[elementramarketing]

How to Create SEO Content That Truly Connects and Ranks

Unlock the art of crafting content that speaks to both readers and search engines.

Creating SEO content might sound like a technical chore filled with keywords and algorithms, but at its heart, it’s a deeply human craft. It’s about telling stories that people want to read, while also making sure those stories reach them through search engines like Google. If you’ve ever wondered how to create SEO content that not only ranks but genuinely engages your audience, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive into this journey together.

Understanding the Purpose of SEO Content

Before you start writing, it’s important to understand what SEO content really means. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization — essentially, the process of making your content easy for search engines to find and recommend. But SEO content isn’t just about stuffing keywords on a page. It’s about creating value for the reader in a way that search engines recognize as authoritative and relevant.

Imagine you’re a traveler looking for tips on how to pack efficiently for a weekend trip. You want content that is clear, helpful, and easy to find. SEO content is what helps you find that blog or article quickly, while also ensuring that the writer’s advice resonates with your needs.

The Foundation: Knowing Your Audience and Keywords

The first step in creating SEO content is understanding who you are writing for. What problems do they face? What questions are they asking? Once you get a clear picture of your audience, keyword research becomes your map. Long-tail keywords — those more specific, longer phrases — often reveal exactly what people are searching for, like "how to create SEO content for beginners" or "best SEO content writing tips 2025."

These keywords are your guideposts. But the trick is to weave them naturally into your writing, so your content reads smoothly and doesn’t feel like a list of forced phrases. When you write with your audience in mind, keywords fall into place as part of the conversation, not as awkward insertions.

Crafting Content That Engages and Informs

Creating SEO content isn’t just about getting clicks. It’s about keeping readers on your page, answering their questions, and encouraging them to return. This is where storytelling becomes a powerful tool. Instead of writing dry facts, try to bring your content to life with relatable examples, personal insights, or even a touch of humor.

For instance, if you’re explaining how to optimize blog posts, you might share a story about a blog you once wrote that initially struggled to get traffic until you applied certain SEO techniques. Stories like this make your content more memorable and trustworthy.

Your tone should be conversational but professional, like a helpful guide sharing secrets with a friend. This balance helps build a connection and makes even complex topics easy to digest.

Structuring Your Content for Readability and SEO

How you organize your content matters as much as what you write. Search engines look for clear structure to understand your page, and readers appreciate it because it helps them find the information they want quickly.

Use headings and subheadings (H1, H2, H3) to break your content into sections. Each heading acts like a signpost, guiding the reader through your story. For example, an H1 heading might be "How to Create SEO Content," followed by H2 sections like "Understanding Keywords," "Writing for Your Audience," and "Improving Content Readability."

Within each section, keep your paragraphs focused and concise. Long walls of text can be overwhelming. When you write with clarity, your readers stay engaged longer — and that’s a positive signal for SEO.

The Role of Originality and Quality

Search engines have become smarter at detecting quality content. They favor originality and penalize copied or low-effort writing. When you create SEO content, originality is your secret weapon.

This means going beyond simply rehashing what others have said. Offer your unique perspective or combine ideas in new ways. Quality also means accuracy, proper grammar, and well-researched information. The more authoritative your content feels, the more likely it will earn backlinks, shares, and trust from both users and search engines.

Optimizing Content Without Overdoing It

While keywords are essential, overusing them can hurt your content’s readability and ranking. Keyword stuffing — putting in too many keywords unnaturally — makes your writing awkward and can trigger penalties from search engines.

Instead, focus on natural language. Use variations of your main keywords and related terms. For example, if your main keyword is "SEO content," also include phrases like "search engine optimization writing," "creating SEO-friendly articles," or "writing content for better rankings."

Additionally, pay attention to meta descriptions, title tags, and URLs. These elements are often the first things users see on search engine results pages, so making them clear and enticing can boost your click-through rates.

The Importance of Visuals and Multimedia

SEO content doesn’t have to be all text. Adding images, infographics, or videos can make your content more engaging and help explain complex ideas. Visuals also offer SEO benefits — with proper alt text, they provide additional context for search engines.

Imagine a blog about SEO writing that includes a simple infographic showing the step-by-step process. It not only breaks up the text but also gives readers a quick reference, enhancing their experience.

Updating and Improving Your SEO Content Over Time

SEO is not a one-and-done deal. The digital landscape changes, and so do search algorithms and audience preferences. Revisiting and updating your content regularly keeps it fresh and relevant. This might mean adding new insights, refreshing keywords, or improving readability based on user feedback.

By treating your content as a living asset rather than a static page, you improve your chances of maintaining and increasing your rankings over time.

Building Trust and Encouraging Interaction

Finally, SEO content thrives on trust. When readers feel your content is honest, helpful, and easy to understand, they’re more likely to engage, share, and return. Encouraging comments or questions invites interaction and signals to search engines that your content is valuable and dynamic.

Imagine your blog as a conversation starter — where you share knowledge, and your readers respond or ask more questions. This ongoing dialogue helps build a loyal community around your content.

Creating SEO content that ranks well and truly connects with readers is both an art and a science. It’s about knowing your audience, using keywords thoughtfully, telling engaging stories, and structuring your writing for clarity. With patience and care, you can craft content that not only attracts search traffic but also builds lasting relationships with your readers.

So next time you sit down to write, remember: SEO content is about people first — and search engines second. When you keep that balance, success naturally follows.

Click Here.

[phpcertificationcourse]

Difference Between HTML and CSS

In the realm of web development, two foundational technologies form the backbone of nearly every website: HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). While they often work closely together to build and style web pages, they serve fundamentally different purposes. Understanding the differences between HTML and CSS is essential for anyone interested in web design or development.

Introduction to HTML

What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and it is the standard language used to create the structure of web pages. Developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991, HTML has evolved into a robust language that helps define the layout and content of a website.

Purpose of HTML

HTML is primarily used to:

Define the structure of web documents

Insert and format text

Add images, videos, and other multimedia

Create hyperlinks

Form interactive elements such as buttons and forms

HTML Tags and Elements

HTML uses "tags" enclosed in angle brackets (< >). Each tag has a specific function. For example:

<h1>This is a heading</h1>

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

<a href="https://www.example.com">Visit Example</a>

In this code:

defines a main heading

defines a paragraph

defines a hyperlink

HTML follows a nested structure. Tags are often paired with closing tags (</tag>) to wrap content.

Introduction to CSS

What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, a language used for describing the presentation and design of HTML documents. Introduced in 1996 by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), CSS allows developers to apply styles like colors, fonts, spacing, and layouts to HTML elements.

Purpose of CSS

CSS is used to:

Style text (color, font, size)

Manage layout (grid, flexbox, margins, padding)

Control visibility and positioning

Apply responsive design

Animate HTML elements

CSS Syntax and Example

CSS rules are usually written in a separate file (e.g., style.css) or within a <style> tag. A CSS rule consists of a selector and declaration block:

p {

  color: blue;

  font-size: 16px;

}

This rule selects all <p> elements and applies a blue font color and a font size of 16 pixels.

Key Differences Between HTML and CSS

Feature

HTML

CSS

Purpose

Structure of a webpage

Styling of a webpage

Language Type

Markup language

Style sheet language

File Extension

.html or .htm

.css

Usage

Adds elements like text, images, forms

Adds color, layout, fonts, and visual effects

Integration

Must be present for any webpage

Optional, but improves user experience

Position in Web Development

Backbone/structure

Design layer/presentation

Role in Web Development

HTML’s Role

Without HTML, there would be no content to style. HTML:

Provides the blueprint for web pages

Organizes content in a logical structure

Serves as a framework for CSS and JavaScript to enhance

HTML is essential for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), accessibility, and content hierarchy.

CSS’s Role

CSS enhances the user experience by:

Making content visually appealing

Ensuring the layout adapts to different screen sizes (responsive design)

Keeping style rules separate from structure, promoting clean code and reusability

Working Together: HTML + CSS

HTML and CSS are complementary. HTML provides the "what," and CSS provides the "how it looks." Here's an example of them working together:

HTML File (index.html):

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">

</head>

<body>

  <h1>Welcome to My Website</h1>

  <p>This is a simple paragraph.</p>

</body>

</html>

CSS File (styles.css):

h1 {

  color: darkgreen;

  font-family: Arial, sans-serif;

}

p {

  font-size: 18px;

  color: gray;

}

In this example:

HTML sets the content: a heading and a paragraph

CSS styles the content: changing colors and fonts

Inline, Internal, and External CSS

CSS can be included in three ways:

Inline CSS: Defined within an HTML tag using the style attribute. <p style="color: red;">This is red text.</p>

Internal CSS: Written within a <style> tag in the <head> section of the HTML. <style>

  p { color: blue; }

</style>

External CSS: Linked via a separate .css file. <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">

External CSS is the most scalable and recommended method for larger websites.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of HTML

Easy to learn and use

Supported by all browsers

Crucial for webpage structure

SEO-friendly

Disadvantages of HTML

Limited to content and structure

Requires CSS for styling

Not dynamic on its own (needs JavaScript for interaction)

Advantages of CSS

Separates design from content

Enables responsive design

Allows for consistent styling across pages

Reduces redundancy and improves maintainability

Disadvantages of CSS

Can become complex for large projects

Browser compatibility issues may arise

Changes in structure can require rework in styles

Best Practices for Using HTML and CSS

Use semantic HTML (e.g., , , ) to improve accessibility and SEO

Keep structure and style separate by using external CSS

Use classes and IDs effectively for targeted styling

Test your pages on multiple browsers and devices

Keep your code clean, readable, and well-commented

Real-World Analogy

Think of building a website like constructing a house:

HTML is the framework — the walls, roof, and foundation.

CSS is the interior design — the paint, furniture, and layout.

Without HTML, there’s no house. Without CSS, the house is plain and undecorated.

Conclusion

In summary, HTML and CSS are two essential technologies for creating and designing web pages. HTML defines the structure and content, while CSS is responsible for the visual style and layout. They operate in tandem to deliver functional, attractive, and user-friendly websites.

Understanding the differences between HTML and CSS is the first step toward mastering web development. While HTML answers "What is on the page?", CSS answers "How does it look?" Together, they empower developers to build rich, engaging digital experiences.

[wamatechblog]

An SEO Guide for Your Accounting Firm

An SEO Guide for Your Accounting Firm

Boost Your Accounting Firm’s Online Visibility

Today, clients turn to search engines to find accounting services. If your firm doesn’t show up, you’re missing business. SEO helps your website rank higher, attract traffic, and convert visitors into clients.

Start With Keyword Research

Every successful SEO strategy begins with keywords. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or SEMrush. Focus on terms like “accountants near me,” “tax advisors in [city],” or “small business accounting services.” Long-tail keywords attract highly targeted traffic.

Optimize On-Page Elements

Your web pages must speak the language of search engines.

Include your primary keyword in the title tag.

Use headings (H1, H2, H3) to structure content clearly.

Insert the keyword naturally in the first 100 words.

Add internal links to related blog posts or service pages.

Use short paragraphs with bullet points to enhance readability.

Always write for users first—Google rewards quality content.

Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Local SEO is vital for accountants. Make sure your Google Business Profile is claimed, verified, and optimized. Add:

Correct business name, address, and phone number.

A detailed description with keywords.

Service areas and business hours.

High-quality images.

Collect and respond to reviews.

This boosts your chances of appearing in the local 3-pack.

Create High-Quality, Helpful Content

Content is the backbone of SEO. Write informative blog posts that address your audience’s needs. Some ideas:

“Top 10 Tax Tips for Small Businesses”

“How to Choose the Right Accountant”

“VAT Returns: A Complete Guide for UK Businesses”

Use a consistent posting schedule. Add FAQs to boost voice search visibility.

Ensure Mobile-Friendliness and Fast Load Speed

Most users browse on mobile. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, Google will penalize your rankings. Use responsive design. Compress images. Minimize CSS and JavaScript. A site that loads in under 3 seconds increases user retention.

Build High-Quality Backlinks

Authority matters. Get listed in local business directories and industry-specific platforms. Collaborate with financial bloggers and offer guest posts. Join local chambers or business groups. Each backlink improves trust and ranking.

Track Your SEO Performance

Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor progress. Track metrics like:

Organic traffic

Bounce rate

Top landing pages

Keyword rankings

Review data monthly and tweak strategies as needed. SEO is not a one-time effort—it’s ongoing.

Use Schema Markup for Better Search Results

Schema markup adds context to your content. Use it to highlight services, reviews, FAQs, and contact info. Rich snippets help your listing stand out in the SERPs and improve click-through rates.

Encourage Client Reviews and Testimonials

Positive reviews boost trust and local SEO. Ask happy clients to leave reviews on Google, Facebook, or Yelp. Showcase testimonials on your website. Authentic feedback increases conversions and strengthens your online presence.

Final Thoughts

Your accounting firm needs SEO to compete in the digital era. Start with the basics—keywords, content, speed, and local visibility. Invest time, stay consistent, and results will follow. SEO is your silent sales engine working 24/7.

[phonenumnerlist]

5 Best Practices for Successful Calls to Action

Calls to action are fundamental elements in digital marketing, because they allow visitors to interact with the company website and receive more information about the products or services offered, if interested.

To increase conversions and accompany prospects along the sales funnel, it is essential to optimize CTAs by making them clear, visible and attractive. Let’s see how to do it, in today’s article!

Creating effective calls to action: tips

Your business website gets a lot of visitors, but lead conversions are pretty low?

Is the number of new customers and closed contracts not increasing?

The problem could be poorly optimized or poorly placed calls to action .

Below are the topics we will cover in this article. You can click the link to read the paragraph you are interested in.

Quick Links What are Calls to Action and Why Optimize Them Creating the right context Design and positioning on the page Write relevant and attractive texts Why Run A/B Tests

What are Calls to Action and Why Optimize Them A CTA is a button that can be strategically placed within a website page or an email. The goal is to encourage visitors to perform a specific action (subscribe to the blog newsletter, download content, purchase a product, share on social media, etc.).

An effective call to action must:

be persuasive and easy to understand Capture users’ attention with engaging graphics allow visitors to perform the action for which they came to the site Several elements must be taken into consideration when optimizing a call to action , such as size, colors, images, words to use and the context in which it must be inserted.

Define the appropriate context Before you start reviewing design and optimization , you need to think about the context in which the CTA will be placed: how do visitors get to the page?

What do they get after clicking the call to action?

How does it help improve the experience and guide the user towards the purchasing decision ?

To increase your chances of conversions and clicks, it can be helpful to have multiple CTAs that target different types of prospects .

It is therefore important to first identify the buyer persona , their interests and expectations, understand how to attract their attention, and then create calls to action accordingly.

Design and positioning on the page

The purpose of a CTA is to get it clicked. For this to happen, it must be visible on the page and entice the user to take action .

It is often said that the best position is at the top, in the section of the page that is visible without having to scroll . However, it is not that simple.

A user who already knows the company will be more likely to click on the CTA placed at the top of the page; on the other hand, someone who is not familiar with the company will need more information before clicking and is likely to scroll down the page to search for it.

[tur11ngery]

okkk i edited globalization because i was thinking abt them... i heart gabv2el. also im making a masterpost bc i repost... so many things honestly im sorry

heres the link yet again: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60825715

i didnt change much but i added some new paragraphs:

"what he didn't expect was that gabriel would keep touching his wing. indeed, his hand kept at it, instead easing to the base of the blade and then retreating to the pack to gently scratch an itch V2 didn't know he had. V2 leaned against it when gabriel's thumb ran along the ridges and valleys rimming his fuel tank, trying to adjust to a spot that shouldn't have existed in the first place— a spot of not only total tranquility, but of ecstasy. of a satisfaction so deep that he didn't know he had it before but now knew he could never go without it again. he was broken, maybe. it was an attempt at getting the pressure sensors in his plating to calibrate properly after the foreign object had been inserted. somehow, even though he hadn't done anything to warrant it, gabriel's nails and finger pads on his wingpack gave him an absurd amount of positive feedback— likely old mechanisms unearthing themselves to reward him for following instructions, recognizing the gestures would normally be used by humans being affectionate with one another. the scratches on his back, though small, were from warm hands. warm hands giving him this strange heady feeling. coating his internals with warm, fresh blood. seeing a civilian run off after proper intervention and detaining of a criminal.

his entire body shuddered at gabriel running his hand between the blades. V2 barely understood why— only that he could not categorize this gesture, as it was specific only to them. only to gabriel. was it some strange angel behavior or custom he had not observed? he'd have to add it to his database, then. knowing (or, pretending to know) what it was didn't prevent his back inching to meet gabriel's hand."

[english-proficiency-learning]

Duolingo English Test: Interactive Practice Quiz with Answers

Introduction

Are you preparing for the Duolingo English Test and looking for an effective way to practice? Look no further! This interactive practice quiz is designed to help you get familiar with the test format, improve your skills, and boost your confidence. With instant feedback and detailed answers, you’ll be well on your way to acing the Duolingo English Test.

Why Take the Duolingo English Test?

The Duolingo English Test is a popular choice for students and professionals worldwide due to its convenience and affordability. It's accepted by numerous universities and institutions, offering a flexible alternative to traditional English proficiency exams like IELTS and TOEFL. The test assesses your abilities in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, providing a comprehensive evaluation of your English skills.

Benefits of Interactive Practice Quizzes

Realistic Test Experience: Interactive quizzes simulate the actual test environment, helping you get comfortable with the format and timing.

Immediate Feedback: Instant answers and explanations help you understand your mistakes and learn from them.

Targeted Practice: Focus on specific areas where you need improvement, ensuring efficient and effective preparation.

Engaging Learning: Interactive elements make studying more enjoyable and motivating.

Duolingo English Test: Interactive Practice Quiz

Ready to test your skills? Try the practice quiz below! Each question is designed to reflect the types of tasks you'll encounter on the Duolingo English Test.

Question 1: Vocabulary

Choose the word that best completes the sentence: "The scientist was awarded a prize for her _____ discovery."

A) Innovation

B) Misunderstanding

C) Criticism

D) Confusion

Answer: A) Innovation

Explanation: "Innovation" fits the context of a positive discovery deserving of a prize.

Question 2: Grammar

Identify the incorrect part of the sentence: "She enjoy to read books, especially during the weekends."

A) enjoy

B) to read

C) especially

D) during the weekends

Answer: A) enjoy

Explanation: The correct form is "enjoys" to match the third-person singular subject "She."

Question 3: Reading Comprehension

Read the passage and answer the question: "Jane Austen’s novels often explore the themes of love and social class. Her characters frequently face challenges related to societal expectations."

What themes are commonly found in Jane Austen’s novels?

A) Adventure and mystery

B) Love and social class

C) Science and technology

D) War and peace

Answer: B) Love and social class

Explanation: The passage states that Jane Austen’s novels explore the themes of love and social class.

Question 4: Listening

[Insert audio clip here]

What is the main idea of the audio clip?

A) The benefits of exercise

B) How to cook pasta

C) The history of computers

D) Traveling tips

Answer: A) The benefits of exercise

Explanation: The audio clip discusses various benefits associated with regular exercise.

Question 5: Writing

Write a short paragraph (50-100 words) on the following topic: "Describe your favorite hobby and why you enjoy it."

Sample Answer: My favorite hobby is painting. I enjoy it because it allows me to express my creativity and relax after a long day. The vibrant colors and the act of creating something beautiful bring me immense joy and satisfaction.

How to Use the Practice Quiz Effectively

Set Aside Time: Dedicate specific time slots for practicing with the quiz to ensure consistent progress.

Review Answers: Carefully review the explanations for each question to understand your mistakes.

Focus on Weak Areas: Identify the sections where you struggle the most and spend extra time practicing those skills.

Repeat Regularly: Regular practice will help reinforce your learning and improve your test performance.

Conclusion

Preparing for the Duolingo English Test can be a rewarding experience with the right tools and strategies. This interactive practice quiz offers a fun and effective way to enhance your skills and build confidence. Remember, consistent practice and reviewing your mistakes are key to success. Good luck with your test preparation!

[bllsbailey]

Biden’s Disastrous Affirmative Action Administration Has Been an Unparalleled Failure

This past weekend, an assassin’s bullet came just centimeters from taking out the leading candidate for president, quite possibly plunging an already divided nation into chaos.

On Tuesday, the Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, offered up a variety of excuses as to why her agency incompetently allowed the shooter to get off multiple shots that struck Donald Trump and killed one of his supporters.

Her explanations for the worst security breach in decades, happening under her purview, showed a staggering level of ignorance. Her actions leading up to it were equally bungling.

Trump’s security team was understaffed and under-resourced.

Despite the roof of the building where the shooter camped out being an obvious point of attack, the team opted to protect the building from the inside.

The reason she didn’t put anybody on the roof, Cheatle claims, is that it was sloped and created a safety hazard. This, despite the fact that snipers were positioned on another building with a roof sloped at a greater rate.

Law enforcement spotted the shooter nearly 30 minutes before the attack, and multiple bystanders pointed out his presence on the roof. And still, they failed to stop him.

Incompetence. Ignorance. Whether willful or not. All under Cheatle’s watch.

Will she resign? Of course not. Nobody resigns, is fired, or is otherwise held accountable under the nation's first affirmative action administration.

Make no mistake, Cheatle, as with nearly all of President Biden’s top administrative-level figureheads, was chosen to direct the Secret Service because she is a woman.

In typical fashion, Biden announced her appointment and was quick – in the first paragraph – to point out she is a woman. As if gender is a necessary attribute to competently run the agency.

When you’re a “diversity hire,” as Rep. Tim Burchett (R-KY) has described Cheatle, you tend to operate under a similar non-merit-based premise.

The Daily Mail, therefore, has described her as a “diversity-obsessed boss” whose hiring was pushed for by Dr. Jill Biden. There is a section dedicated to the department’s commitment to diversity on its website.

“Cheatle talks more about reaching 30 percent female agents by 2030 than she does about protecting those under her agency's tender care,” the Mail writes.

What else would you expect from a president whose administration consistently eschews the "qualifications" section of resumes in favor of key phrases such as “first woman,” “first (insert race here),” or “first gay” person at the highest levels of government?

The affirmative action presidency has been an unmitigated disaster, no matter how you look at it. When you seek to hire based on gender, skin color, and sexuality – an illegal act, by the way – you end up with a badly failed experiment.

The Biden affirmative action administration is just that – a badly failed experiment. An island of diverse but deficient misfit toys. 

Let’s take a look …

Also contributing to the assassination disaster is DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who reportedly ignored “repeated requests” for stronger secret service protection for Trump.

Upon his confirmation back in 2022, Mayorkas was heralded first and foremost for being “the first Latino and immigrant” to serve in the role.

Despite the word "security" being in his department name and title, Mayorkas promptly made the southern border of the United States the most insecure in this nation’s history.

Under his watch, over 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the country, including 1.8 million known “gotaways” who slipped past Border Patrol and into the country. Not to mention the single military-aged males that have streamed into the country and those with specific tangible ties to terror organizations.

Then there is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. You all know him mainly because he checks off the Biden affirmative action checklist by being “the first openly gay member of a presidential Cabinet.”

When this “historic” figure isn’t taking off two months for paternity leave in the middle of a supply chain crisis, he’s overseeing nearly weekly train derailments, causing chaos at airports, and surveying decaying airplanes with parts that fly off midflight.

Don’t worry, though, he’s investing in female crash dummies to fight gender inequality and heroically addressing racist highways while simultaneously fixing racism on construction sites … or something.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is the pièce de resistance when it comes to Biden’s diversity hires. She checks off several boxes being female, black, and a lesbian.

Unlike the others, Jean-Pierre’s inability to do a passable job is on display nearly daily as she tries unsuccessfully to convey to the American people just how accomplished this administration is.

She is an idiot savant, minus the savant part.

KJP spent years telling the American people how competent and fit President Biden is – even suggesting he runs circles around her physically and mentally — until that House of Cards fell at the presidential debate.

Biden’s first affirmative action hire, Vice President Kamala Harris, was chosen for her role because of the optics she provides. She continues to provide material that would be absolutely hilarious if it weren’t so sad, including a weird fascination with school buses and Venn diagrams.

Her first job was being tapped as Biden’s border czar. You know how that’s going (see Mayorkas above).

Buttigieg, Harris, Mayorkas, and Jean-Pierre are all borderline incompetent when it comes to handling their jobs. Now Cheatle joins that list.

Each of them was chosen exclusively based on certain characteristics. And they are all failures. None of them would currently be employed based on their track records if they worked at the local Dairy Queen, let alone in the White House.

The affirmative action presidency, the experiment in diversity over competence and capability, has been an undeniable failure. Perhaps the most detrimental All-Star cast of aimlessly wandering dolts this nation has ever endured.

It almost cost former President Trump his life and kicked off a civil war in this country. It actually did cost one man his life.

The experiment must end in November.

[afasystemsinc01]

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[taperwolf]

I am overthinking sending an ask to a webcomic artist, inquiring as to their awareness or opinion of a Love Live character.

See, one of their characters had a storyline in which she toyed with the affectation, modeled after the Elcor from Mass Effect, of providing explanatory statements as to mood and tone in her speech. Since this artist is known to watch anime as well, It's not a far jump from there to me wondering, hey, what do they think about Love Live's Rina Tennouji, who compensates for not having facial expressions by drawing faces representing her moods to use as masks (or uses a computerized mask to depict pixel-art versions of the same)? Are they aware of her? Do they have an opinion?

Part of the overthinking is just the parasocial aspect of it all; I don't know them, and there's no established relationship beyond my passive enjoyment of their output, so it feels weird inserting my question. But part is wondering: just what do I think I'm getting out of asking this question?

I mean, probably my desired outcome is one where they say "no, but this is fascinating, tell me more" and I get them to watch S1E06: "The Shape of Smiles (〃＞▽＜〃)" and they love it and become a huge fan of Love Live and Rina especially and they draw fanart and we become besties because I showed them this.

Which is all patently ridiculous.

The more likely desired response is either "Oh, yes, she's awesome" or "No, thank you for telling me about her, she's awesome". But it's probably much more likely to be "Oh, I guess I've seen her before" or "I don't really pay attention to idol anime" or even "I specifically hate Love Live because of X/Y/Z" or "Really she annoys/offends me", and what am I supposed to do with any of those? And probably the most likely response is no response at all, and then in thinking about all that, I start to feel bad, like I'm pressuring them into giving a positive opinion.

And so then I'm feeling compelled to include a paragraph in the ask about how they don't have to respond positively, or at all, and how I won't be offended by either. But then I'm all, how presumptuous is it to feel like I have to say that? Like the default of dropping something into somebody's Ask inbox is demanding a prompt answer, and look at how magnanimous I'm being in not doing that.

And then I'm writing this post out instead of asking at all.

[niki-phoria]

i would love to see a heeseung x m!reader fic that have an academic rivals to lovers trope when they're both fighting for the valedictorian spot and both realizes their feelings for each other🥰🥰

he's so AKNENSKLNS sir pls have mercy i beg of you

pairing: student!heeseung x student!male!reader (he/him pronouns) genre: fluff word count: 1.4k

warnings: mentions of internalized homophobia

includes: reader being bad at math (specifically calculus), heeseung being good at math (specifically calculus), pls notice how i tried to reference the beginning at the end of the fic lmao i hope the self insertness of this one isn't too obvious

got a ton of inspo from this prompt list by @urfriendlywriter !!

a/n: thank you for requesting !! i really like the rivals to lovers trope but this is mostly pining oops this idea is really cute :)) i hope you like it <33

requests open !! read my rules first

lee heeseung.

you’ve been competing with him for the acclaimed position as valedictorian since he first arrived at your high school with big brown doe eyes three years ago. despite never really interacting with him, an unspoken rivalry had formed between you over the years. his presence alone seemed to drive you into wanting to be better than him. 

which is exactly why your current situation was less than ideal. 

“i’m sorry, y/n,” mina sighs. she had been your seatmate for the past month. you almost envied her ability to master any subject without studying nearly as much as you did. “i don’t really understand it either.” you can barely hide your disappointment at yet another failed attempt to find a study partner for your upcoming calculus test. math was never your best subject. “maybe you can ask heeseung. i’ve heard he’s really good at it. and he does tutoring on the side!” 

“yeah, maybe.” you glance over your shoulder at said boy. he’s sitting at his desk, flipping through a textbook as you wait for the bell to ring and officially release you from the class. 

you glance down at the set of problems you need to learn before sighing once again. they’re too complex for you to learn in time for your final exam and you can’t risk losing top spot. not when you’re so close to graduation. 

the shrill ring of the bell confirms your decision for you. you quickly shove the textbook into your bag before walking over to heeseung. “hey,” you say. 

he startles, looking up at you with wide eyes. they mirror the nervousness you had first seen in him on the first day of school when he awkwardly stumbled through the various hallways in search of his classes. “hi.” his voice is sweet as he greets you. 

“i’m really sorry to ask but i could use some help on the latest unit,” your hands anxiously play with your backpack straps. “mina said you tutor people on the side and i wasn’t sure who else to ask.” 

“i’d love to help,” to your surprise, heeseung agrees immediately. he smiles at you as he stands up. “when are you free? we can meet up at a coffee shop or something.” 

“i have some time tonight. i’ll meet you by the south doors?” 

“sounds good. i’ll see you there.” 

“great!” you watch as heeseung slips away into the crowd, making his way to his next class among the sea of students. you’re quick to follow his lead, clutching your bag a little tighter as you walk across the school to your own classroom - history. 

after a short introduction, your teacher writes down a group of pages in your textbook to take notes from. as you scan through the various different paragraphs to search for any relevant information to write down your mind drifts. 

your building anxiety about your math final is soon overtaken by heeseung. you’ve always found him handsome - ever since you first saw him when he was accidentally late to your science class because he had gotten lost in the school’s corridors. you had drowned yourself in your studies in a poor attempt to forget about him, soon replacing any concerns about making friends or potential romantic relationships with hours of meticulous notetaking and practice quizzes. 

heeseung had gotten taller over the years you had spent in school together. he had grown his hair out from a blunt bowl cut. the strands framed his face perfectly; even when disheveled after a rough gym class or a long night of studying. his voice had gotten deeper, too. you had slowly watched his interests evolve in the form of rotating keychains hanging off of his backpack. 

despite all of the changes you had noticed, some things remained the same. heeseung had kept the same friend group throughout the years - six other boys you often found yourself jealous of, though you were never fully sure why. he had taken choir and music theory every year. sometimes you passed by him playing basketball while you were walking home. during your brief interactions, he had remained the same quiet, kind, studious boy you shared a few classes with. 

your thoughts are interrupted by the final ring of the bell. you make a mental note to finish taking your notes once you get home as you quickly shove your things into your backpack before making your way to the south entrance. 

heeseung is already standing there by the time you arrive. he shoves his phone into his pocket, greeting you with another sweet smile. “ready to go?” 

“yeah.” you walk side by side in silence as heeseung leads you to a small local coffee shop you hadn’t noticed before. vines crawl along the walls, creating a calming atmosphere as you sit down at a table in the corner. quiet ambient noise plays from unseen speakers. 

heeseung slides a cup over to you before sitting down across from you. you take a small sip from it, pleasantly surprised at the taste. “it’s good,” you say. “thank you.” 

“i’m glad,” he smiles, pulling his own textbook out of his bag. “so, which concept do you want to start with?” 

you quickly find yourself falling into a routine with heeseung. every tuesday and thursday you meet him by the south entrance of school before walking to the same coffee shop and working through a new concept until you’ve mastered it. 

over time, your meetings had become less about studying and slowly turned into time you spending time laughing and joking around with each other. you had memorized his coffee order after your second meeting. by the fourth you had moved to sit next to him. 

you were increasingly aware of your upcoming math exam as the weeks went by. though you’re grateful for the help, a part of you was disappointed at potentially not seeing heeseung as much as you do currently. it had been nearly two months since you had first begun meeting up. 

your hands accidentally brush against each other, causing a spark of electricity to pass through your body. in the corner of your eye you can see a growing flush spread across heeseung’s cheeks. his reaction makes you smile a little. maybe he also gets nervous around you.

“sorry,” he whispers. 

you shake your head. “don’t be.” 

heeseung turns to face you, staring until you turn to look at him as well. he doesn’t look away as you make eye contact. instead, he shifts slightly so he’s a little closer to you. 

something about him makes you nervous. at some point during your meetings your pristine perfect student persona slipped away, exposing you. the real you -. a teenage boy desperate to be the best, even when your social life suffered and after you lost count of the countless amount of nights you had spent staying up far too late to study. 

heeseung’s eyes just barely flicker from yours down to your lips. the flush on his ears deepens when you unconsciously lick them. he leans in a little closer; almost as if he’s testing the limits of your relationship. you don’t pull away. instead, you reciprocate heeseung’s actions, further minimizing the small space between you. 

“heeseung,” you whisper. 

his eyes shift back up to yours for a second. “y/n,” he raises a hand to cup your cheek. “can i kiss you?” 

you don’t trust your mouth to say any of the words running through your mind. your feelings make sense now. the jealousy over heeseung’s friends, why you’re so nervous around him, the sparks when you touch him. 

years of denial and repressed feelings are ignored as you refocus on heeseung’s lips. they’re tinted a light pink. you desperately want to know what it would feel like to love him. to be loved by him. 

finally, you nod, letting your eyes flutter shut as heeseung slowly leans forwards to pull you into a sweet kiss. his lips feel soft as they gently press against your own. the small sparks of electricity you got from touching his hand are amplified. happiness courses through you. it’s a feeling stronger than you ever thought was possible before. 

you’re nearly panting when he finally pulls away, staring at you with a small smile. you can’t help the way your lips quirk upwards into one of your own. “i love you,” he whispers. 

your response comes in the form of another sweet kiss. you’re both smiling into it, though neither of you mind. suddenly it feels like everything makes sense. love. 

you’re in love with lee heeseung.