#Or not as means of allyship or liberation or something

[rotzaprachim]

many people on here would lose it if they really realized the extent of land dispossession and state violence carried out by many “post colonial” states across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe & Latin America against ethnic minorities and indigenous people. This is not to state that it’s ok when the state of Israel does it- far from it. The state of Israel’s violence is inhumane and grotesque and I want nothing more than for it to be dismantled. What I do mean is the need many people - including white people, including people of color in diaspora, people everywhere- to linearly sort the world into categories of the “oppressed” (who are not white, by American standards) and who are “white” (by American standards ) has really come into sharp focus this last week over I/p, which millions of outsiders decided to apply a U.S. racial framework on to. If you need to understand Israelis as “white” in order for them to be oppressors you are going to have a very hard time unpacking how state violence actually runs in many modern nations, and if the idea that Jews can in a specific regional instance be a disproportionately privileged majority that has regional power at the same time they are internationally an often culturally oppressed minority, that a people can be in a complicated way both the oppressors and the oppressed even while many members of this group do not have the privilege of whiteness - if these nuances are too much you are going to have great difficulty with the modern nature of mass state violence and Neo colonialism

[the-alarm-system]

SYSTEMPUNK

Systempunk: A term or Subculture surrounding the liberation of plurals and the critique of psychiatry. We're outspoken on how the psych community mistreats us and how we will force the breaking of the chains that continuously fakeclaim or harm us whenever we do something singlets/psychiatrist do not like. We have been silenced and told that if we are open, it is a sign of us lying. We have been forced to follow the strict guidelines of the dsm5 in order to avoid being told that our experiences are false. We have been forced into psychiatric wards and abused because we are not singlet. We have been the face of the liars for too long, plural liberation is something we must push. The future is plural.

ANTI ENDOS AND RADQUEERS DO NOT TOUCH.

Meaning of the flag:

Brown and Black: The POC-bodied systems who are put down by both the community and the society around them. POC-bodied systems who have had their diagnosis's rejected due to their race. POC-bodied systems who have a cultural origin or connection and are hurt because of it. POC-bodied systems who are appropriated by other systems and are not listened to. POC-bodied systems who are hurt by the white dominated psychiatric system. POC-bodied systems who deserve to be heard and understood.

Purple stripe: Endogenic Solidarity, allyship, love, liberation. Endogenic systems are continuously harmed by antis who remain uncritical of psychiatry, are against the liberation of plurals, and deny a plural future in order to push singlethood onto others. Endogenic systems are also used in a lot of fakeclaiming content made by singlets and psychiatrist despite the research that supports their existence. It's because singlet society hates plurals and hates any form of existence we have. Love your endogenic siblings. They are the diverse experiences of plurality, they have helped us through so much.

Yellow Stripe: Disordered and traumagenic system solidarity and liberation. Disordered systems are horribly abused by the psych system, we make up most of those hospitalized and we are put down as too crazy to make our own decisions. Even if our existence is from trauma or a disorder, we shouldn't be forced into a singlet cure, we deserve autonomy.

Pink stripe: Abolition of psychiatric wards used to abuse us, hide us away, and silence us. Our autonomy is stolen from them, we deserve resources that help us instead of force us into a place that fucking hates us.

White stripe: Psych-critical beliefs or Anti-psych beliefs, despite their differences we still stand together against the harms of the psychiatric system. ACAB included in this.

Barbed wire: Anti-fakeclaim culture, systems deserve to be believed. Pro-plural protection. Protect another no matter your beliefs, cops and psych wards fucking hate us and want us dead, protect those you love. protect the closeted, protect all systems.

Fangs: Fight for your existence, be loud about it, write essays, make art, do whatever you can. Force plural liberation down the throats of singlets. Force the future to be plural.

Ampersand: PLURAL PRIDE, PLURAL ACCEPTANCE, PLURAL LIBERATION, PLURAL HISTORY, PLURAL FUTURE

[thewoodbine]

Zionism doesn't mean what you think it means and you need to stop using it as a slur

I think this article excerpt I've included below sent by a friend does a great job of explaining why it is antisemitic, harmful, and misinformed to continue to use "Zionist" as an evil label.

If you're someone who values listening to minorities and educating yourself before you say something ignorant and hateful- this is an important thing to read and share in allyship with Jews everywhere.

If nothing else, at least consider that maybe learning what the word Zionist means from cultural Christians or people who generally have never engaged with Judaism isn't the best idea and try instead listening to Jews.

And before you start- this is in no way a comparison to Palestinian suffering or delegitimization of their need for respect and dignity. No need to comment "what about"ism It's just, believe it or not, possible to advocate for Palestinian's without hate criming local Jews to do so.

" The crux of the problem is whether Zionism must be treated as a dirty word. Because what most Jews mean by Zionism, and what anti-Zionists mean by Zionism, are not the same thing.

Most people are unaware, for example, that among the varieties of Zionism, one branch—the one advocated by people like Martin Buber, the famous philosopher, and Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah—did not even believe there should be a Jewish state, but rather a binational state, founded on absolute equality between Jews and Palestinians.

Even the founder of the most right-wing branch of Zionism, Jabotinsky, believed that in the Jewish state, “in every cabinet where the prime minister is a Jew, the vice-premiership shall be offered to an Arab and vice versa.” In other words, the actual state of Israel is a very far cry from the vision of most of its founders.

But that kind of Zionism — the idea that a state where Jews would be safe and thrive could also be a state where Palestinians would be safe and thrive — is what liberal and progressive Jews, your friends and neighbors, are thinking about when they identify as Zionist.

People who see themselves as anti-Zionist are right to point out that from its very beginning, the nascent state of Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing, driving some Palestinian populations out of their homes during the 1948 war and not letting others return to their homes after the war, contrary to all of these aspirations. That's why cities like Khan Yunis are called refugee camps.

But Zionism, for people who identify with that word, is about the aspiration for safety and self-determination in the Holy Land, not an aspiration to oppress. "

(Citation can be provided upon request, I do not want to flood a poor local newspaper with random online hate mail)

[tododeku-or-bust]

You've probably said this before, but it's infuriating to see people talk about shit policy and just accept it. Like, if all the bad things are going to happen if you lose don't make you plan for that whats the point? "If we win we're fucked" you're not going to help us? You're not gonna help Black people or immigrants or trans people if there are laws targeting them? You're just going to wait for 4 years?

Pretty much. It reveals the weak, ineffective allyship and is so damaging for causes bc those kinds of people will accept anything and stand for nothing. How do you move forward in your cause when people are willing to accept absolutely nothing as long as its packaged in pretty platitudes? Useless, fr.

There was an entire civil war because southern congressmen and aristocrats were told "no, you can't keep your slaves"; that shit wasn't solved with a "well you need to accept the current President's in office now" 🤣 what I really wish people would understand, at least about racism in America, is that there's always a backlash. The presence of a Blue Person in office does not protect the average American of color from the wrath of racist white citizens who don't get their way.

I remember under Obama, it was "be on the lookout because white racists are mad he won and will kill you because they can and you're Black". Then under Trump it was "be on the lookout because white racists are happy he won and will kill you because they can and you're Black". The expectation that I'd die because of the whims of white people didn't change 😅 the actual meaning of "stay woke".

It's going to come down to community, regardless of the outcome of this election. It was always going to be us taking care of us. Us protecting us. That was a big part of the Black Panthers idea when they created what would eventually form WIC, as well as learning about laws and the right to bear arms. And I think that's something a lot of liberals, especially white liberals, don't understand- community. We can't afford to wait on some Christ-like figure to take office and "fix everything". Sure it's nice to have someone who listens- which is another conversation altogether- but we can't just depend on that for "things to be better".

[vulpinesaint]

the hogwarts legacy conversation really highlights something that i think usually stays hidden under the polite facade of liberalism. in the past days, weeks, months, it has become increasingly more apparent that there are SHOCKINGLY few trans allies in spaces which pride themselves on inclusivity and acceptance. as liberal people whose allyship so far has been limited to offering pronouns in their bio and maybe putting an infographic on their insta story once in a while are pressed to make choices to actively support trans people, it becomes increasingly clear that what they offered was never allyship at all. it becomes increasingly clear that their 'allyship' was contingent on all trans people being nice and unobtrusive and separate from other issues. people are dropping their illusions of supporting trans people shockingly quickly when confronted with the choice to actively harm people or not play a video game. as pat loller described it, they are presented with a trolley problem with trans people on one side and jk rowling/the (already paid) game devs on the other. one side will not be damaged. the train will take them on to their next destination, in fact, with very little fanfare. the train will crush the trans people. you have to actively pull the lever to crush the trans people. so-called allies are actively pulling the lever and then getting upset when trans people get upset about being DIRECTLY HARMED. how dare we speak up about the issues we face. how dare we be upset about the direct disregard and harm that people who claimed to support us are now foisting upon us. how dare we be messy about that. we are being actively legislated out of existence, and people who said they were our allies are abandoning us in droves for their much larger problem of... not being able to play a game. it's honestly fucking comedic. your allyship means nothing if it comes with conditions. your allyship means nothing if you are not willing to take action for the sake of your allies. your allyship means nothing if you are not willing to LITERALLY SIT STILL AND NOT DO A SINGLE ACTION for the sake of your allies. the trans community asks people NOT TO PLAY THE GAME. and people look us in the eyes and tell us that a few hours of antisemitic gameplay is worth more than our lives. fine. whatever. we see how it is. glad that they're finally being honest, at least. if you play hogwarts legacy or engage with harry potter i hope you die.

[dkettchen]

✨ Men's day PSA ✨

by your friendly neighborhood transmasc men's lib activist ⁓

To the women, male feminists, gays, nonbinaries and transmascs who haven't gotten with the program yet:

If you want the rest of us (incl all trans & otherwise genderqueer ppl) to be free, cishet men need to be freed, because misandry and gender roles affect all of us, but they're the ones defining society's mainstream conception of what it is to be a Man™.

And cishet men can't do that by themselves, so they need your allyship!

Here's my old video on men's issues if you need a general intro to men's lib. Feel free to also check out my videos on men's studies and matriarchy, as well as the various things linked in their descriptions.

Here's some simple things you can do for the men in your life:

question your misandry & anti-men/-masculinity biases

ex. do you think it's fine to make fun of/be mean to men? how do you feel about your own masculine qualities? would you do/think the same thing to/about them if they were a woman/queer person? etc

meet men with kindness & give them the benefit of the doubt

men, like anyone else, are people and not a monolith, the vast majority of them are perfectly lovely and safe to interact with and don't deserve your prejudice, they deserve to be treated as well as anyone else & are usually used to being treated significantly worse

include them in stuff & teach them skills they traditionally don't get to participate in

there are plenty of matriarchal skills that are hecking useful & not available to a lot of cishet men the way they are to women and queer people, ex. make-up, hair/nails/skin care, fashion, sewing/knitting/crafting, or even just like base social skills/presentability

value them

ex. show that you want for them to be alive, healthy, and happy; compliment them/their looks; (where applicable) express your attraction to them incl what abt them you're attracted to; etc

support them in their own self-liberation efforts

ex. emotions/mental health/self-worth, fashion/self-care, parenting/home-making, etc

respect their current limits & comfort zone

ex. if they're not/not yet comfy w something more extremely out of their comfort zone, don't push it, as it might discourage them; understand that certain things don't come to them as easily (yet) as they do to you

remember intersectionality as with all things

ex. don't forget that plenty of men have marginalised identities (mental health, disability, class, race, queerness, etc) and therefore are not the Image of Privilege you may make Men™ out to be; don't invalidate/erase transmascs' & queer men's claim to female gender role things/femininity in order to validate their manhood/masculinity; be mindful of different issues & stereotypes affecting men of different ethnicities; etc

[plantsarepeopletoo]

Be My Favorite Name meanings. And a bonus connecting of some shaky dots Spoilers for ep 5&6.

I am not Thai, I am just learning Thai. So please correct me if I get anything wrong.

ปีแสง Pisaeng - lightyear(s) (ปี year, แสว light ray)

บทกวี BotKawi - Poetry, Poem (Song, Ballad), กวี Kawi poet

แพรไหม Pearmai silk (both แพร Pear and ไหม Mai can mean silk)

น็อต Knot - English loanword for Nut or Knot

แม็กซ์ Max - English given name

ทวี Thawi (Kawi’s dad) - to multiply, increase, double

พงษธร Phongsathorn (Pearmai’s dad) - means heir? Maybe? Isn't obviously a common word like the kids'

ตรีดาว Treedao (Pisaeng’s mom)- (ตรี- Sanskrit loanword for 3, ดาว is star) So it's something like Three Stars, Third star, Tristar

บทกวีของปีแสง (Name of the show in Thai) -Poetry of Lightyears, Lightyear’s Poetry, Could also be Song of Lightyears.

And now, In this essay I will connect my obsession with a book I can't read, capitalists, and Max.

Let's start with the book Max is reading here.

"โฉมหน้าศักดินาไทย" "True Face of Thai Feudalism" by Jit Poumisak, who wrote under different pen names including Kawi Kanmuang (Political Poet) and Kawi Srisayam (Siamese Poet) (source: wiki) It is a different take on Thai history, looking at it through a Marxist lens. Here is a TLDR, but only part 1. The whole thing is a great read, I just wish it was the whole thing with more details.

If you don’t want to read that whole thing here is an excerpt. (And a tldr after if this is also too much)

The division of the peasantry into separated plots of land meant it was difficult to develop solidarity and organise to protect their class interests. The dominant Saktina class also developed ideological doctrines that repressed the wills of the peasantry. This caused the peasant class to only rise up in intermittent disorganised rebellions that were easily crushed. As a result, the peasants turned to other classes for leadership. Their closest point of contact with the Saktina system was their landlord, who at the beginning of the Saktina period, could harness the formless and seemingly directionless anger of the peasantry as a means to their own ends to further their own interests. The peasantry also later turned to the emergent middle class for allyship as they both shared grievances with the Saktina class, but the emergent middle class’ antagonism with the Saktina class was more economic than existential, hence they were willing to collaborate to develop an economic structure that prioritised a ‘liberal trade-and-industry’ system (capitalism), while maintaining the caste characteristics of Saktina.

TLDR-the peasants couldn’t trust the newly emerging capitalists to help them fight against their common enemy, because capitalism.

My thinnest connection is Kawi's name being the same as the pen name. But that might just be because Kawi is a poet/songwriter.

Now on to Max and Pisaeng's conversation. First thing that happens is Max saying "I can't go out tonight, I don't have as much money as you to party every night"

Pisaeng goes on to talk about how Pear and Kawi are busy, and Not's group sucks.

Max puts out a warning shot, Oh, are we friends? At this moment I Max knows he's with a rich boy who is very much caught up in his own mind, but he doesn't know how Pisaeng really is and is being cautious.

"Max, Can I ask you something?" Then we get the saddest Max face.

So what does Max do? He stops scrolling and pulls out this video, talking about how Treedao is a capitalist in a lot of different businesses, and probably getting into more.

So she's still looking to make more, and now looking to get into politics. And before she actually start talking about policy, Max askes Pisaeng.

He asks if Pisaeng knows Treedao since they share a last name. Last names in Thailand are pretty unique, so if you share a last name you probably are related. Max already knew of Treedao's policies.This was Max testing Pisaeng to see how he feels about his capitalist-turning-politician mom(relative). The woman who seems to be saying all the right things, while Pisaeng's is feeling isolated.

I don’t think Max trusts Treedao.

[lupuslikethewolf]

it really does piss me off when people call the war against the others 'the north's war' or 'the stark's war' or 'jon's/sansa's war' and claim that daenerys was helping because she just wanted to or something along those lines

as if the north/night's watch/the stark's/common sense wasn't saying the entire time "if these guys manage to defeat us they will come and kill all of you too, and have an army of millions of soldiers that cannot die to do so."

dany deciding to fight in the war in seasons 7/8 was not simply an act of compassion or allyship or whatnot, it was an act of self-preservation and (kinda) proactivity, considering that the war against the others is everyone's war. not just the north's, not just the stark's, and not just the night's watch.

the show and the books have been telling us the entire time that, when people get too caught up in politics and playing the "game of thrones", they end up ignoring, if not helping, the actual threat.

in fact, her fighting in the war is beneficial to her if she wishes to establish a reputation as the hero, and the liberator, coming first to conquer or reclaim, but then deciding that stopping the apocalypse is actually more important than ambition for the throne. whether or not i agree with that statement is a bit iffy, considering she needed the north to help in the fight as much as they needed her, but it is good PR.

no-one is indebted to dany because she decided to fight against the long night alongside everyone else, who had been doing it/preparing for it for far longer than she had. if the north/house stark had not sent word to dany, she would have been caught completely unawares and likely suffered a far worse fate at the hands of the others.

they helped each other, as just because dany had dragons and an army, she had no way of knowing what would kill the others or the wights, or what the legends surrounding them were, or even that it was a threat to be addressed until it would have been too late.

now this isn't me saying that i at all agree with the directions of seasons 6/7/8, or with how D+D handled the aftermath of the war with others, or jon, or dany, or any of the show in the later seasons really. dany (among others) absolutely deserved much better treatment, and so many characters were absolutely assassinated for no reason (*coughjoncough*). but, working with the material we have, dany made the only intelligent choice in those circumstances. the north are not supposed to worship for acknowledging what they have been saying and preparing for since the beginning: 'winter is coming'.

they helped each other: just because dany arrived at the war with the westerosi equivalent of nukes does not mean that everything else that was done by the north was useless compared to that. it was their land, and funds, and food stores, and shelter that was providing for dany's army and dany's dragons. "what do dragon's eat, anyway?" is a legitimate concern when you are trying to feed an entire nation of people during winter. "whatever they want" is not helpful here, babes, even if it is a badass line. my girl was just trying to figure out how to feed your kids without starving everyone else.

what happened after the long night is a different story entirely, but when it comes down to the actual war, there was never any question of what dany should do/should have done. had she ignored the others, and instead focused on "conquering" westeros, in the end, there would have been no westeros for her to conquer and rule.

tl:dr: the north is not to blame for what happened to dany during the long night, as if she had chosen to simply ignore the problem, it would have been so much worse for her in the end. nor are they indebted to her, as the problem would have become hers anyway, except on a much larger scale with much worse consequences. they helped each other, because it was never the north vs the others, it was humanity vs the others. life vs death.

[blackautmedia]

I'm seeing some people raise the possibility that "col1ardgreens" is not a real person, but whether the claim is legitimate or not, the Anti-Blackness and violent hostility toward Black people is real and has been for some time. I'll post as I'm aware of any new details but damn I hate social media sometimes.

You can easily look up the replies to that post taking that as a legitimate Black person, racial slurs and everything. I know all of my countless Black mutuals, friends and family right now who are being called psyops and feds by supposed ally "leftists" who feel so violently angry at being told something by Black people.

Right now most of my mutuals especially on twitter are being called slurs, being harassed both by leftists, liberals and conservatives alike.

Nothing brings people together on an issue quite like Anti-Blackness.

It's also really apparent how many people aren't familiar with organizing spaces or the time or effort it takes to build up organizing efforts, especially with the technological developments of the last few decades and the complications of social media.

When you can submit someone's tweets as evidence in a court of law, when the internet becomes a space to radicalize and give information to people from the age they can start looking at a screen, when we have a visual connection that allows us to see past a nation's propaganda attempts, it's no longer just twitter drama.

These things all have very tangible effects on Black lives, but it's clear it's just a game to too many people. It's why so many Black people reject the term "BIPOC" in how it links our issues to people who also perpetuate Anti-Blackness.

Anything Black people do as an organization tool and to bring focus and attention to specific people in Black communities, which is what phrases like "rest in power" and "say their name" were modified to do is then dismissed as frivolous twitter nonsense by non-Black people (and frankly some Black people who like to align with them) and it's tiring.

A friend of mine from a few years back, one of the most brilliant women I've ever met is a digital organizer. She would seize up thread titles and names in order to prevent white supremacists from easily being able to organize. I find it completely asinine how people play off being online and in digital spaces as some fictionalized world that means nothing when it is one of the largest and easiest sources of propagandizing people available.

Social media and online spaces also are a fantastic way to stay in community with and listen to the needs of Black disabled people and the day to day struggles they go through. But just a few weeks ago, the same people were also subjected to harassment and casual eugenics over the same refusal to listen and engage.

I've seen so many people dismiss a tool used by Black people on digital platforms that has seen use and origin passed down in Black communities orally (so miss me with that poorly cited Wikipedia article because you spent five minutes googling a gotcha) that don't get captured or acknowledged by white scholars. "Rest in Power" was not some 2000s thing. "Say their name" is for Black victims, especially for cis Black women as well as trans and all queer Black people across the gender spectrum.

We have living ancestors we can easily contact to verify. Several of my family members were Black panthers, they were journalists and worked in the Black press, and they were there to know firsthand that it's not some new thing like those poorly researched community notes are.

But Black oral traditions are not recognized by white scholars and then nobody wants to have the conversation about appropriation. Because that's what "rest in power" is a conversation about.

And me being triply marginalized in that I'm Black, queer and also disabled, I learned a long time ago not to trust anyone or ever trust in allyship because truly nobody will have your back. I don't even expect most Black people to show any concern let alone non-Black people.

That doesn't mean I will ever withdraw my support for other genocides or for the plights of other oppressed groups because you really can't understand Palestinian genocide without addressing or understanding Anti-Blackness, but I also know that Black bodies are just seen as commodities to extract from and these last few weeks have made that especially apparent.

[freetowns0unds]

I was thirteen years old when Freetown Sound first came out. I had only been thirteen for a little over a month. According to my Spotify history, I listened to my first Blood Orange song at age thirteen. There it is, “You’re Not Good Enough” by Blood Orange (off his sophomore album Cupid Deluxe, but I found it through the Palo Alto movie soundtrack) added to my Spotify likes on exactly June 26, 2016. Freetown Sound would come out two days later; and me, I wouldn’t listen to the album in its entirety until August 21, 2017. Nine months into Trump’s presidency, the blossoming into my teenage years were defined by fear and anxiety. In the span between Summer 2016 and the end of Summer 2017, darkness arose and embraced a fourteen-year-old Black girl from the suburbs whose loss of innocence was marked by the televising of black deaths.

Freetown Sound situates itself perfectly in the landscape of when Kendrick Lamar released To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and Beyonce dropped Lemonade (2016). It was birthed during the time of Kendrick rapping, “We hate the po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho’” on late-night talk shows and Beyonce fashioned in an outfit reminiscent of the Black Panthers in her “Formation” live performances. However, Freetown Sound introduces something different in the realm of Black protest music in mainstream culture. I don’t want to follow the line of thought that validates Blood Orange by referring to Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar as “performative.” I’m not even going to follow the argument that Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar lack radical potential in the ways in which they only offer a type of protest palpable to white liberalism. Although tempting, I cannot fully deny that Freetown Sound or Blood Orange aren’t without critiques in those areas either. What set Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound apart from the other albums was the glimmers of hope offered in discussions of pain and trauma. 

The album gave me a new way to understand grief and loss without physical displays (or sounds) of brutalization and violence. I came of age during a time when the brutality placed upon black bodies, their screams and blood, played out on my phone screen for me to watch over and over again, without even meaning to. What impact does it have on a young black girl to see her white peers reposting the murder and assault of black lives as some representation of their allyship and empathy; to see them type out, “We see you. We hear you. We stand with you,” as they attempt to reproduce the terrors of my community. 

One of Freetown Sound’s most devastating songs would have to be “Hands Up.” That being said that song is also a striking continuation of Blood Orange’s pop influences. He sings with a nasality on top of lush synths and a catchy beat. The sound, both vocally and instrumentally, is reminiscent of the female pop stars he typically produces for (Kylie Minogue, Sky Ferririra, early Solange Knowles, and almost Britney Spears in 2013). For me, there is a nostalgia to the vocal styling of “Hands Up,” that is eerily reminiscent of Britney Spears’ “Oops!...I Did It Again.” Both have verses sung in a whimpering and pleading manner, hinting at a type of innocence; the singers’ augmentation in the heaven-like, ethereal-sounding pre-choruses, stress innocence as they stretch out the melody of each line. Then, the innocence breaks, and falls apart, to the reveal of a hard-hitting chorus that inspires sensuous dancing.

The pop production and vocality of “Hands Up” diverge from the song’s theme of police brutality. It almost sounds more like a coming-of-age anthem, carrying the a similar tone to Britney Spears when she sings about how “She’s not that innocent.” The song can almost be placed within the score Blood Orange did for the teen drama film Palo Alto (that I watched when I was 13). The song’s composition is romantic and full of yearning, tension, and sudden change. Even listening to the lyrics, “You were just another loudmouth, cute-faced girl,” makes me nostalgic, struck with hope. In this sense, the artist defamiliarizes the performance of black pain “in which terror can hardly be discerned,” similar to how Fred Moten does when he declares, “Defamilarizing the familiar, I hope to illuminate the terror of the mundane and quotidian rather than exploit the shocking spectacle” (Moten 3). In his song, Blood Orange places terror and brutalization against the backdrop of coming-of-age and innocence. It drew parallels to my own fragmented experience with pain as a Black teenage girl. The daily pain was inscribed into my daily life as I went to school, scrolled through Instagram, fought with friends, had crushes, rebelled against parents, felt my youth fleeting.

One can argue that the style of the song distracts from the lyrics, “Keep your hood off when you’re walking ‘cause they (Hands up)” and denies the pain of recounting a phrase and scenario that holds so much weight in the black community. What does it mean for Blood Orange to not reproduce the darkness and grief through sound but still write lyrics that intentionally emphasize it? In Blood Orange’s denial of producing pain through musical composition, he situates listeners in a different space. Pain manifests itself in Blood Orange’s pop sounds of pleasure, and so I look to when Moten writes about  “The possibility of pain and pleasure mixing in the scene and in its originary and subsequent recountings” (Moten 4). Saidiya Hartman would argue that this mixing represses the encounter of suffering. The layering of pop sounds, nostalgia, and romance in “Hands Up” erases the grief tied to the actual event of police brutality. However, for Moten, the song’s composition and tone holds the ability to resist “formations of identity and interpretations” through the challenge it brings through its divergence and fragmentation.

“Hands Up” ends with a recording from a Black Lives Matter protest, but then gets interrupted by a clipping from Time magazine’s 2015 interview with rapper Vince Staples. The song’s conclusion encapsulates how Blood Orange never attempted to fully capture the devastation of police brutality. The abrupt cut between protest and performance demonstrates the potential of unresovilability. Each time I listen to “Hands Up,” as well as Freetown Sound in its entirety, there is always an openness waiting for me. Blood Orange unsettles black identity rather than arriving at an understanding of it. He allows for contradictions and jarring transitions to emerge so that his music turns back in on itself. The beauty lies in his ability to not necessarily move listeners forward, but instead, around the untraceable landscape of blackness. Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound is a record of fear and celebration. It's also the tension between Black joy and trauma that remains inexplicable through language, but natural to feel. 

[intergalacticgoose]

Hot take, but I’m beginning to not trust anyone who calls themself an “ally.”

I’ll elaborate. I’m queer and autistic. I’ve worked in nonprofits, and I can tell you that some of the worst treatment I’ve received, or have seen others receive (ESPECIALLY people of color) has been at the hands of people who proclaim themselves “allies.”

I’ve seen misgendering, micro-aggressions, bullying, and dismissal of legitimate concerns from members of marginalized groups, all from people who slap “ALLY” stickers on their water bottles and cars, and run buzzword-laden “allyship” seminars.

And I think it’s because when decides to call themselves an “ally,” they make “ally” part of their personal identity. They like the social clout that comes with aligning themselves with social justice causes. They want the *goodness*, they want to be good, and to be an ally is to *be good.*

But the thing is allyship is hard. The project of liberation isn’t assimilating everyone into the white supremacist, cishet status quo, it’s dismantling the systems altogether. True allyship, if you are not a member of a marginalized group, means being uncomfortable. It demands that you interrogate your own biases. It means taking the Ls, because you most likely will, accepting them, and learning from them. It means risking opportunities, jobs, and relationships, and acting not because being an ally is “being good,” but because joining the project of liberation is the right thing to do.

And I’ve noticed a lot of self-proclaimed allies aren’t willing to sacrifice the privilege of their position within the status quo. They see allyship as a testament to their goodness, so when they’re called in, even by members of the groups they claim to be allies with, they take it as an attack on their Goodness, and lash out.

In my experience, these are the same people that, when pressed, don’t want kink at pride. They’ll give a land acknowledgment, but they won’t give the land back. They make excuses for cops. They criticize protests. They ice out autistic people. They don’t wear masks. They judge the fuck out of homeless people, and coo over their marginalized friends like they’re collectibles in their office. And isn’t that just a more palatable dehumanization?

Actions speak louder than words. I’ll pay attention to a watermelon. Or a pronoun pin. Or an explicitly leftist signal, maybe using words like “abortion” or “genocide,” Now, if someone calls themself an accomplice, that I may be able to trust. That means you’re willing to fight alongside us, hopefully. I will even say I’m practicing allyship, because I am, and when I frame it as a practice, that feels like something that continuously grows, evolves, and changes. But I hesitate to truly call myself an “ally,” because as far as I’m concerned, that isn’t a destination. The work of being an accomplice never ends.

But if I hear another cishet, middle income white person introduce themselves as an “ally,” I’m sorry, but you’d best believe I’ll be treading lightly until I’m given evidence to the contrary.

[boof-chamber]

too many leftists are of the mind that oppression of people with disabilities is not “real” oppression, that it’s not a huge problem in our society, and even if they agree that it is, they argue that not enough people care about disability issues for it to be worth their effort.

And that’s because their activism is strictly performative - if there is no audience to applaud their efforts, why bother?

I get that people are not always totally aware of this tendency in themselves, and oftentimes people don’t know what else to do - seems like everyone is focused on language policing, that must mean it is important, right? If you google “ableism,” the results will be almost entirely about which naughty no-no words you aren’t allowed to say. So many of our comrades make their unwavering zero tolerance stance against any use of the r-word the center of their anti-ableism.

But here’s the truth about that, and here’s why i see this particular position as a massive red flag - for one thing, it is frequently used against disabled people referring to themselves, which I see as predatory in that the targets often seem to be selected based on perceived lack of social capital.

I couldn’t even say how many times I have been scolded - both on the internet and in person - for not referring to myself in person first language. As if our entire problem all along was that we failed to recognize that we are people first - certainly nothing to do with any sort of deeply rooted systemic ableism that literally deprives us of our autonomy, our agency, our credibility, our basic humanity - to such an extent that something as horrific as psychiatric incarceration is seen as normal and benevolent and helpful. Our feelings on the matter are not considered. We cannot possibly know what is best for us. What is a violation of most people’s rights is somehow “therapeutic” for us.

And you can be assured that the majority of these heroic defenders of people with disabilities are totally cool with psychiatric incarceration - if they’ve even thought about it at all. They’ll argue with ppl with medical and psych trauma about why forced treatment, police welfare checks, institutionalization, forced sterilization, denial of medical treatment due to some doctor deciding our “quality of life” isn’t good enough to be worth the effort in saving our lives - are all very good policies that are very good for disabled people. We are always assumed to be a burden on someone else. There can never be any joy in a relationship with us - our insistence on continuing to exist is so selfish. In Canada, disabled people are so compassionately offered the “choice” to be euthanized. Endless sympathy - hearts go out to parents who kill their disabled kids.

Enforced poverty, criminalized homelessness, where in the fuck is someone who is paid $800 a month and not allowed to have more than $2000 to their name supposed to exist?

These problems are real, they’re terrifying, and they are unequivocally unjust - so how is it helpful in any way for our “allies” to hyper focus on problematic language as a means of indulging their power/control urges while still upholding, supporting, and even being complicit in violent ableist oppression?

And still worse, these allies are so convinced of their own benevolence that they will not listen to criticism. They insist that they cannot possibly be ableist, that they do not have an ableist bone in their body, that they are 100% free from any ableist attitudes because they blocked that person who said the R-word on Facebook.

If you haven’t given a second thought to the liberation of people with intellectual, developmental, cognitive, and psychiatric disabilities, then you haven’t bothered putting in even the most basic effort towards genuine allyship and if you want to do better, please stfu and listen to us for a change.

[vulpinesaint]

am I allowed to ask about the blood libel game discourse because although I suport the boycott it seems that some have started attacking trans people and jewish people for engaging with it, which seems kinda strange

sure! ask away (i'm going to assume the question of this ask is just. 'what is happening'??? so if there's anything specific you're confused on just ask for clarification)

i'll assume you probably know the basics? antisemitic blood libel premise (the assigned-less-than-human jewish stereotypes are trying to stage an uprising that threatens the core of 'wizard' society and need to. kidnap a child. to do so) of the game fucking sucks and it could generally be understood that it's not great media to consume in general, much less pay for. with that basis! even if you are a part of the group that your actions (buying/playing/giving attention to this game) are harming, it doesn't stop the fact that you are still... doing harm. it's the chick fil a conversation all over again. just because gay people went there does not mean it wasn't bad that their money was going to support conversion therapy (although chick fil a said they've stopped doing that which i don't really believe but whatever conversation for another time haha)

the point is! even if you are a part of the marginalized group that something harmful attacks, you are still crossing a picket line when you go to support that thing, and you are still contributing to the harm that it does. it's not my place as a gentile to speak on the jewish community, but as a trans person, i will absolutely condemn trans people for buying this game. your identity does not make you exempt from moral culpability. choosing to become part of the horde that's putting money into this game is actively funneling money toward jk rowling and support toward continuation of her shitty franchise and again. you literally don't have to play the blood libel game. all we're asking for is inaction.

so. yeah. if you're trans buying/playing this game, fuck you. it's very obvious that some people do not care about issues outside of themselves, and at this point, with all the legislation that is actively being leveled against trans people in both the us and uk, it is extremely fucking important to take what steps you can to work against that. and Not Supporting The Game That Sends Money To Anti-Trans Legislation is in fact Not Even A Step that you have to take. we just need you to sit still and stop sending money (OR attention. don't pirate this fucking game either) toward this shit. and AGAIN. there is no fucking reason to play a game with such heavy and blatant antisemitism written into the core of it.

liberal allyship is falling to fucking shambles over this video game because mean scary trans people have the audacity to get mad at cis people for sending money directly to their oppressors, and it is equally as bad to do something unarguably harmful when you're Not cis. so. hopefully that clears some stuff up <3

[ilovejoyjessie]

Hidden Figures #3 (Wandering Rocks by Tony Smith) || II.

No place is perfect; that's to be expected...though you never know exactly how that imperfection will appear. But what I hadn't expected were the amount of times I'd find myself in the novel situation where I could watch my melaninated skin leap from my body and morph into an elephant in the room. And as it took shape, I would watch its appearance cause a certain amount of self-awareness, from the others in the room, transpire along with it. And as we'd stand there - my manifested Black elephant and I - we'd soon be joined by the awkward denials of its existence by those others in the room: Denial that it was there, denial they felt any awkwardness about it, denial of the idea that perhaps their thoughts and actions - in that moment - challenged the liberal acceptance banner they waved, lived under, and identified with. And as they'd fervently do their best to ignore the elephant summoned into the room, their efforts to do so would give their real feelings away, despite their attempts to hide them behind "good thoughts" and "good intentions".

It's not that I expected residents of a city known for its liberal views to never have a misstep, never say something they could've thought about a second longer. Everyone's been in a situation where they might have put a wild foot in their mouth - myself included. But in the same way I've seen how Seattleite defensiveness can arise when an outsider perspective clashes with their niche culture, so can it arise when certains of them are informed that their assumed, projected allyship needs a little more work.

.

If called out on a wild foot moment, I - and most reasonable people - swallow the foot of pride and keep the correction in mind for later (or if we're not sure if the thought is wild - and we don't want to ask - we just keep the potentially wild-foot thought to ourselves). But it's been interesting to me to see the ways in which some Seattlites respond to their own Foot-In-Mouth moments - particularly the ones who see themselves as steadfast supports in whatever ally community they hold most dear. Sure, the defensive response isn't native to Seattle. But I've observed the response here the most out of my various dwellings - and here, the most fervently:

.

It's here that I seen the intensity with which such self-justification could be delivered by someone who sees themself as a beacon of allyship - so much so it's become integral to their personality: Validating their belonging in the area and the circles they run in. They assume they lead their Ally platoon, fighting the good fight alongside their chosen wards, walking in lockstep with those they take up for. But in reality, the marching stomps they take are so loud that when they're presented with opportunity to truly walk that walk by taking in notes or observations that could help them be better soldiers for the cause - from the people they purport to be allies to - they cannot hear those notes and observations. Instead, they march even louder, choosing to fight to defend their footwork by rallying against the idea that they are, in fact, out of step.

.

I know this because I've received it as a Black person existing in the area. These kinds of "crusaders" don't take the most allied approach to being informed that they're, in fact, expressing a microagression they didn't read about on a White-run Social Justice Instagram post; or that their attempts to "relate" to the Black people they meet are actually furthering internalized social expectations of Black people. Instead of the note being suggested as something for them to consider or work on - something to help them be more of what they say they are - the suggestion that they may have exhibited a misstep is more of a personal attack: They are already enlightened - how dare it be asserted that they aren't as enlightened as they see themselves to be.

.

Because they "don't think that way" or didn't "mean it like that" - because that "wasn't their intention" - the actions or words they exhibited in the direction of a POC, in my direction, in the moment are negligible; it's almost a buzzkill, a non sequitur to inform them otherwise. Because it's the intention, not the words, actions, or their charged natures that matter: They are a BIPOC ally; they've heard of "Hood Feminism"; they feel comfortable around people that look differently from them and are around them "all the time". Their words, actions and perceptions can't be problematic - as if those "checked ally boxes" preclude them from possibly saying something that might be - in fact - problematic, as if they assume where they live is the only place safe from the Color Seeing Flu.

.

"All I was saying was..."

.

But denying that it's possible that you still have some work to do when it comes to being a better BIPOC ally doesn't change the fact that you could be. And as you deny that possibility, you also run the risk of invalidating the way BIPOCs feel and express experiencing those instances - a core contradiction to being a good ally: Ignoring that it's possible that we live in a world where I am seen as less beautiful or talented than dancers or creators that look differently than me. Or oppositely - where I'm a vital addition to a cast to fill a diversity quota, not because I'm worthy of being there on my own creative or personal merit - but because you "love having Black people around" (and it makes you look good to do so). That's not allyship.

.

Or denying my expression that I feel I've been responded to as an "aggressive Black woman" - recognized by its familiar tone of defensiveness and judgement - in favor of saying "Seattlietes just aren't comfortable with confrontation'"....running away from my assertion that someone is engaging in the sins of White Feminism (see: Hood Feminism) and swatting away the idea that my color has "nothing to do with" that womxn's response - denying that any of those instances are possible because they feel uncomfortable to process isn't allyship.

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Attempting to "connect" with a Black person by painting conversation with broad strokes about "Urban" culture (that we can quickly discover to be attempts to seem "plugged into" what we're "into" once we really get into the topic with you, only to receive parroted talking points or blank yet enthusiastic stares in return)....uncharacteristically code switching while conversing with a Black person while delivering a wink and a nudge that we could be comfortable with - in the right context - but in the wrong one, we absolutely aren't...isn't allyship. Liking rap music and saying you "date womxn of all colors" isn't allyship.

.

And assuming that you're liberal enough or you and the people around you live liberally enough that your actions are always aligned with allyship isn't enough. Engaging in these behaviors doesn't preclude anyone from learning how to be better, from being better. They're the minimum - and in my experiences in Seattle, the minimum seems to go a long way for people when it comes to proving their Black allyship. But when we're already familiar with getting the bare minimum, we aren't as impressed to receive it, despite the intentions behind it - a sentiment I feel a lot in Seattle as a transplant, actually...

[skrimply]

most ppl that vehemently defend the usage of queer for everyone regardless of consent are ppl who can't and should not actually reclaim the word in the first place. they know it would mean that they're just using a slur, not reclaiming it, and hurting others as long as they're not seen as morally "bad" is far more important to these kinds of people than being an ally is. many are so desperate to escape any form of the work that goes into allyship that this is their safety net to never feel responsible

REAL

my bf was just talking about how most people who insist you have to reclaim it with them are people living in liberal cities who have never experienced the word as a weapon, hence also insisiting its not a slur in the first place. the point of reclamation is the shock factor of identifying with something the oppressor has called you, not just defanging the word and sticking it on shirts at target. they use it because its popular now, without knowing the history of it and not caring about people who have trauma with it or simply (god forbid) don't want to be called a slur

"they know it would mean they're just using a slur, not reclaiming it" thank you 🙌

[alishafoster]

ENVIR 491 Capstone with Defend Lumad Struggles Campaign

Hi, this is Alisha! For my capstone project, I am working with Defend Lumad Struggles, a national grassroots org dedicated to amplifying the voices of the Lumad, the collective identity of Indigenous peoples in the southern Philippines. The Lumad are on the frontline defending their ancestral land from foreign-backed logging, mining, and agribusiness. Their defense of their land has been met with brutal repression from the US-backed Philippine military. Though they and their "Lumad Schools" -- community education centers that taught culturally relevant skills to strengthen their sovereignty -- have been criminalized and attacked until there are none left, the students of those schools continue to fight for their liberation.

Defend Lumad Struggles is a campaign in the US, rooted in contact with those on the ground and then waged primarily by Filipino diaspora groups. This year we want to focus our campaign on broadening our allyship with Indigenous and Indigenous-focused groups, as well as environmental and educational groups, in the US. We want to bring to light the connecting threads between these struggles, to inspire active solidarity.

My role is identifying points of unity between the Defend Lumad Struggles campaign and the mainstream environmental and environmental justice struggles in the US, as well as finding ways to communicate those unities outward in a way that motivates concrete action.

A challenge I’ve encountered in doing this work is the level of coordination it takes to keep a national campaign moving. I’ve been working with people from many different states and time zones, most of whom work full-time jobs given that the Defend Lumad Struggles campaign is entirely grassroots and volunteer-based. Scheduling a meeting with more than 5 people can get near impossible. With the extra time I have on my hands in comparison to the others, I have sometimes taken on the role of scheduling and updating the chats for various working groups. A similar challenge occurs when it comes to scheduling meetings with other groups, potential partners in the campaign – it takes a while to find their contact information, learn enough about the group to understand what kind of perspective or collaboration they can bring, and reach an agreement on next steps.

In the lulls between collaboration with DLS members or outside organizations, I apply my communication responsibilities to the day-to-day situations I find myself in. I talk to my friends and family about the Lumad struggle and the context behind it, and take notice of how they respond, what resonates with them. I critically read the environmental messaging that surrounds me in PoE, in Seattle, and online, and take note of what issues or language it brings to the front. I have also gotten used to taking some solo initiative and reaching out to groups as the opportunity presents itself.

Something I’ve been reflecting a lot on through the work of this internship is the huge range between different groups’ conceptions of “environmental activists” or “environmental issues”. In white, wealthy, suburban pockets of the US, the image of an environmental activist might be someone who recycles and has solar panels, or pushes for a law about clean energy. In the Black and brown communities where polluting facilities are disproportionately sited, environmental issues are recognized as intertwined with racist public policy and the financial gains of corporations from these policies. And in the countryside of the Philippines, where the military that forces you off your ancestral land is armed with drones and missiles made from the very minerals your land contains, where the motive and means of your oppression is one and the same, there is no ‘environmentalism’ that isn’t also international, and deeply political, and dangerous.

My task of identifying how to communicate the Lumad struggle to people who have only been exposed to a much more simplistic or individual version of environmentalism, has helped me look back on my own environmental and ideological development and piece together the intermediate steps that have led me to work with Defend Lumad Struggles. Recognizing that “humans vs nature” is a false binary; realizing the extent to which pollution and resource extraction are driven by political and economic power sharply skewed within and between nations; analyzing which climate solutions are dismissed as “unrealistic” and why… tracing my own path has helped me better understand where others are coming from, and remember how far I still have to go.

Quotes of a Lumad student in a @defendlumadstruggles post I helped make, a post to mark the 1-year anniversary of the massacre of 5 activists involved with the Lumad schools.

Questions:

How does the group you are working with for your internship describe or portray “environmental issues” or “environmental activism”? What or whom do they identify as the source of the issues? Do the issues cross US borders, and if so, is this mentioned?

Have you had to describe your group’s work to someone with not much prior knowledge of the issue, or a misconception of it? If so, how did you find points of unity? If not, what do you think would be a benefit or drawback to doing so?

Have you heard of similar cases to the Lumad? What are those similarities?

#envir491

Blaze