#expression of this identity is still illegal in a bunch of countries

[musical-chick-13]

“A story about gay/bi people can ONLY be good, respectful, and well-written if NONE of the characters EVER suffer from homophobia.”

Please shut up.

[ianxfalcon]

You should not vote for the Sweden Democrats.

The Swedish election is just a little over a week away. I’m pretty sure most people are already decided, and I’m pretty sure that if you have decided you want to vote for the Sweden Democrats, nothing I say is going to change your mind - because after everything they’ve done and said, if you still want them to rule this country, you’re clearly okay with it.

But I’m doing this anyway, because I need to say it. You should not fucking vote for the Sweden Democrats. They are Sweden’s answer to Trump, only there are more of them.

Let’s start with the most concerning question, namely, their idea of “Swedish identity”. Which they, in their manifesto, claim the right to define for you, as well as the right to revoke if you don’t fit into their idea of “Swedish”. (To quote the manifesto: “ På samma sätt som den som är född in i en annan nation senare i livet kan bli en del av den svenska nationen menar vi också att man även som infödd svensk kan upphöra att vara en del av den svenska nationen genom att byta lojalitet, språk, identitet eller kultur.” [In the same way a person born in another nation can later in life be a part of the Swedish nation we also mean that a native Swedish person can cease to be a part of the Swedish nation by changing loyalty, language, identity or culture.]) So if you’re not “loyal” enough to Sweden for them, they want to revoke your right to call yourself Swedish, and presumably your right to be Swedish. Because, yeah, that’s right - they also want to change the Swedish constitution to be allowed to revoke citizenships. If the citizen in question came by the citizenship by illegal means, they say, but with what I mentioned above, what is “criminal” might be easily changed. If they want to change the constitution, what else would they want to change? Oh yeah, they are also against dual citizenships, meaning that if you apply for a Swedish citizenship you will have to give up your earlier one, which in turns mean that if you lose that Swedish citizenship, you are stateless.

And wait! There’s more! They also have a very narrow definiton for who is Swedish to begin with. Sami people and Jewish people, for example, are not Swedish, according to former party secretary Björn Söder. Muslims are also not Swedish in their view, and in fact the Sweden Democrats want to restrict religious freedom for Muslims. Meanwhile, they want the Swedish state to be less secular and not “religiously neutral”, which should be worrying to anyone who isn’t a Christian. Then there’s the whole infamous “inherited essence” thing, which is also in the manifesto. According to Sweden Democrats, all humans have an inherited essence: “Delar av denna essens är gemensam för de flesta människor och annat är unikt för vissa grupper av människor eller för den enskilde individen.” [Parts of this essence is mutual for most people and others are unique for certain groups of people or for the individual.] In another part of the manifesto, they rather blatantly hint that criminality is “culturally” conditioned (”culture” is a less questionable word for “race”). They also want to cut all fundings for any cultural project that is not “Swedish” culture, but can’t define exactly what Swedish culture is other than “Christian”. (This, too, is in the manifesto. If you want to vote SD, you should read their manifesto.) They want to separate Swedish people and “non-Swedish people”. They suggested creating a “B-prison” with lower standards for asylum seekers who commit crimes (this is based on their theory that people come to Sweden only to commit crimes because Swedish prisons are nicer - this is kind of a weird statement to make because most asylum seekers who commit crimes are deported, either before or after the prison sentence). They also want to be able to deport people to countries where they risk the death penalty, which is illegal per the Swedish law. (Oh, yeah, and some representatives have themselves stated a willingness to bring back the death penalty, so there’s that too.) And they want to make it illegal to hide asylum seekers who run the risk of being deported. Now, where have we heard that before...? A lot of their representatives have expressed blatant racism and nazism. Like, a lot. Usually, when one is discovered, they are expelled from the party - but not always, it depends on who the person is. Despite the fact that they expel most of the open racists who are revealed to be open racists, there never seem to be any less of them. Each week, basically, a new one is uncovered. You would think that if it was just a few “bad eggs”, as they claim, there would at some point not be any more of them. And keep in mind that these are only the ones that are discovered. It’s fair to assume that there are a lot more who are smart enough to not say out loud that they want to murder Muslims and shoot migrants with an automatic rifle (yes, someone did say this; her name was Gunilla Schmidt, look it up!). Why does this party attract these people? Hmmmmm. Of course, not that this would change anything for the voters. Back in 2012, it was revealed that three of the party’s head honchos - Kent Ekeroth, Erik Almqvist and Christian Westling - had spent a night in Stokcholm running around drunk, shouting racist and sexist slurs at people, assaulting a woman, and armed themselves with iron pipes. They filmed it all, and that film ended up in the hands of the newspaper Expressen, who naturally posted it on their website. Not only did two of the people involved stay in the party afterwards, this also didn’t seem to affect their numbers in the last election, which was their most successful one so far. Another thing that didn’t affect their numbers? Party leader Jimmie Åkesson being recorded singing a song that celebrated the murder of former prime minister Olof Palme. Yes, this happened in 2009, but still. (Hell, if SD insist on bringing up how the Social Democrats were involved in eugenics in he 40s, then I can bring up how SD’s current leader sang Nazi songs ten years ago.) They are also homophobic and sexist. They are against same-sex couples’ right to adopt (and also single parents), and Björn Söder (yep, him again!) compared homsexuality to bestality once. He’s still in the party, by the way.         They recently demanded a library that is used as a voting station remove all their Pride flags because the flags are “too political”. What else? Oh, yeah. They want to limit abortion rights, and they campaign for the right of healthcare personel to refuse to perform abortions (in Sweden, refusing to perform abortions is reason for discharge). They spread a lot of anti abortion propaganda. On top of that, they want to outlaw burkas, because limiting women’s rights goes hand in hand with racism. And they believe women have different roles in society than men (manifesto again). Oh, and when female representatives within the party report sexual harassment or sexism, they are not only kicked out, but also harassed some more, often with added threats of rape and violence. SD are anti-union. They want to reduce striking rights and believe that labour unions need to reach a “compromise” with the employers. They used to be against privatising and monetary gains for the public sector, like healthcare, but they changed their minds after increased contact with private contractors. Oh, and they don’t want Labour Day to be a holiday anymore, because it’s not religious in nature. They want to control the free press. They have at several points expressed a willingness to shut down press that criticises them, including state-run TV company SVT and, very recently, the radio channel P3 (the latter was because they roasted Jimmie Åkesson on a show specifically aimed at roasting the party leaders). Like, the moment a political party says that they think the press should be controlled, we have a problem, okay? They also don’t believe in global warming; Jimmie Åkesson called it “propaganda” concocted by SMHI (the Swedish meteorological institute). Coincidentally, they’re also the only Swedish party to vote against the Paris agreement. And they want more nuclear power plants in Sweden. They are also dipshits. Like the woman claiming that 400 000 euro equals - hold on to your hats - forty thousand billion Swedish crowns (one euro is worth around 10 Swedish crowns), creating a meme in the process. Or the man who carved a swastika into his own forehead and claimed that he had been assaulted by a bunch of “non-European left wing extremists”, apparently completely unaware that medical professionals can tell when a wound is self-inflicted. Or the local group who copied their budget proposition from another local group and only changed the names, leading to their propositon expressing a lot of concern for the countryside 700 miles south of them and suggesting taking money from a project that did not exist in their county. Or that time a few of them ran around in Stockholm hurling abuse at people and filming themselves and then somehow leaking the video to one of the largest newspapers in the country. Also, apparently nobody ever tells Jimmie Åkesson anything because every time he is questioned about anything, his response is always “I don’t know.” Oh, and since a lot of their representatives have been kicked out (some went on to join the even worse party AfS), they have left a lot of vacant chairs both in parliament and in local councils all over the country, meaning their voters aren’t getting the representation they voted for. Also, many of the still sitting representatives never show up in parliament or in the municipal councils they’ve been elected for. This basically means we pay taxes for them to not do anything. As a follow up to that, in some municipals they couldn’t find any actual representatives willing to sit in the council, meaning their voters don’t get the representation they voted for at all, just vacant spots that the tax payers fund.  And actual Nazis have taken advantage of that by getting themselves voted into council on an SD mandate, and then leaving the party – or never being a member in the first place, since SD allowed voters to write any name on their ballots – so they can impel their own politics. Of course, since a lot of SD representatives have been seen hanging with actual Nazis, this probably doesn’t bother them, but it should bother you. Because fucking Nazis.

SD were openly Nazis when they started out in the 80′s. A lot of the people who were members back then are still there. Don’t you ever forget that.

In short: don’t vote for SD. Also, don’t vote for the Moderate Party, because they have said they are willing to work with SD. And don’t vote for the Christian Democrats, because they are like SD, only more religious and slightly less racist.

[colasins]

Street artist unique to this era: Banksy

Blog 8

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the fundamental economic systems of capitalist countries led to a wide disparity between the rich and the poor in the standard of living in American society. Such a social situation will provoke some dissatisfaction and rebellion, and graffiti art was born at this time. Graffita in Italian means (scribble), while Graffiti (plural form) refers to scribbled images or paintings on the wall. Basically, Graffiti is a behavior that is close to writing. The proportion of text is very large. The symbols or signs and graphics of the image are also common content. Describe the picture. However, in the later graffiti art, pictures, symbols, and signs in turn overwhelmed the text and became the dominant in graffiti art. Compared with pictures, words can better reflect what the author wants to express and the dominant ideas of his works. However, the most famous of them is Banksy, because no one knows who he is yet, and has a distinctive personal style, challenging authority and law again and again. The spirit of rebellion has always been the main force for promoting cultural progress. Just as in the Renaissance, ordinary people were painted on canvases, which had previously served religious beliefs. However, it was this kind of rebellion that opened the door to the art world.

Banksy is the "most mysterious artist," or rather the artist who least wants to be known, because no one ever knows who he is. Every time a mysterious outfit appears in a corner of England, paint it and go. His works like to be displayed on the wall, so some people say he is the godfather of graffiti. The British government didn't like it, though, and in the early morning it called Banksy: the terrorist of the art world. But, to quote Picasso, the desire to destroy is also the desire to create. He is used to choosing the most accessible places, and he never USES his graffiti for profit, so it should not be hard to see how he can fight back when someone USES his work for profit. His graffiti on the wall is not just a bunch of random colors, his style is full of political satire, but also expressed by the method of graffiti, the rebellious youth. Why paint walls? A wall is a big weapon, Banksy says. It's one of the dirtiest weapons you can use to hit or touch someone. There have been many inhumane and bloody incidents in the history of the "separation wall" in Europe. Today there are 14 such walls in the world, such as the Berlin wall, the peace wall in Belfast, the Kashmir wall in India, and the Jordan river/Israel separation wall. But such bloodshed taught few lessons, and people today continue this barbaric method of building walls to separate human communication. Israel began building the barrier along its border with the palestinians in June 2002.

Due to the illegal nature of graffiti activities, banksy was not only called "terrorist art" by the British media in the early years, but also his "art" activities were often attacked and tracked by the police, and his life and "safety" were not guaranteed. The 45-year-old, who has self-published three collections and enjoys a reputation in the "graffiti world", still lives a "guerilla" life - almost never commenting on his work, giving few interviews and rarely being seen for what he is. His true identity has never been officially revealed.

Graffiti world: street art from five continentsT Manco - 2004

Taking the train: How graffiti art became an urban crisis in New York CityJ Austin, CH Hobbs - 2001 - Columbia University Pres

https://www.douban.com/note/707551610/

https://baike.baidu.com/item/班克西/10442213?fromtitle=Banksy&fromid=9859774&fr=aladdin

New York! Banks is coming! Banksy Does New York (2014) director: Chris Moukarbel type: documentaryRelease date: October 11, 2014 running time: 75 mins

[cameiotmagazine-blog]

a look at the the Confucius Institute

Ah, the Confucius Institute. Known through American colleges as,

"Oh boy, we don't gotta work with paying. We don't gotta work at paying to educate people in the Chinese language or culture. We can just let some other people do that,"

has been quietly popular in US universities for years, but has recently begun to receive some criticism, which seems unfortunate, but, you know, I'm an honest and forthright reporter who likes to do my own research, so I signed up. Really, I actually did. This is a real thing I did and not a fake thing that I'm just making up as I'm going along, because, what do you think? The magazine that told nothing but fake news stories? Are you saying that in some way I might be exaggerating purposefully?

Purposely for humorous effect to make fun of things? That's crazy. You're a crazy person who's crazy all the time. Anyway, I totally enrolled in some classes and the Chinese government funded institutes that are teaching Chinese culture and language across the world. I don't think Chinese government has ever been known to be underhanded and like to censor things to make themselves look better. That's simply not true, and I got these fun textbooks and stuff, so I thought I'd share a few choice passages. Okay.

This one's about human rights defenders. They don't call them that in this one. They call them cultural malcontents who are trying to destroy our national identity. When I asked the teacher about it, he simply said that that's crazy. What am I talking about? Everybody loves being in China and anybody who doesn't is a liar and a filthy one at that and they deserved whatever happened to them, and then one student was like ... Also they were creating disturbances and disturbing the social order.

Then there was a thing about I don't know. That seems pretty convincing to me. Then I asked Then another student asked, " What about Meng Han and Zeng Feiyang  human  rights activists Meng Han and Zeng Feiyang “ ? One of the students asked, and I was like,

"Boy, you seem to know specific a lot about humans rights violations in recent years in China,"

and the student was like, "Stop staring at me. Say something."

I was like,

"What?" I guess I didn't say anything to them, but the teacher was like,

"I don't know who you're talking about. They were just ... I don't know what you were talking about. They were just gathering crowds to disturb public order."

The student, whose name was, I think, Sally, was like, "Wasn't that like the definition of a protest?"

The teacher was like, "I don't even know what you're saying. Why would anybody want to protest?" Then the teacher went on to say, "Well, they used funding from abroad."

Then Sally was like, "Well, were you gonna help to fund them to stay to protest? Was the Chinese government ever gonna help them to stay to protest?"

They were like, "No, why would we do that?"

 So, you know, whatever. I don't know, I wasn't totally convinced. I think it's pretty fair. They didn't call him whatevers, like bad words or nothing. They just said that they deserve to be in prison and beaten. They didn't say that part, but he kept hitting his fist into the palm of his hand really hard, so I'm pretty sure that's what that meant.

Also, apropos of nothing, he mentioned that executions were totally down. They were like, "Okay." Then they went on to There was also the section in his book talking about the freedom of expression, and then he said that there hasn't been any problems with freedom of expression. Everybody gets to freely express whatever they damn well feel like, but because China's just so gosh darned wonderful and full of hope and light and everybody God damn loves it so fucking much, that there wasn't any issues. Then he said the thing of Lee Yang's dad ain't really that big of a problem because some people ... Because they totally film shit now, like the police, when they arrest crap.

So, problem solved. No, you can't see it. Stop asking for it. It's only some of the time. Not all of the time. It's only some of the time though. Not all of the time. That's crazy. Why would we want to see the police officers doing everything? You're a crazy person. Stop being so fucking crazy. Crazy. Everybody's flipped down to the loyalty. That's crazy. That's crazy. All the major media outlets in the country pledged absolute loyalty. Anyways, stop fucking asking questions, you big fucking idiot. Look how fucking stupid you are. You're a fucking moron. Never did text message so many curse words.

I like the edginess of it all. It made me feel like I was watching a fun TV show where I was yelled at for not doing things right, but like really yelled at. It also reminded me of browsing internet, which I think everybody can totally do in China, said the next part of the sentence. The cyberspace administration only forces ads to keep user logs for 60 days to reduce the spread of illegal information. Legal information like xi jinping is not a honey loving bear that wears a red shirt and no pants. It's totally okay. You're also free to say that xi jinping, if he was a bear at any type, would be a strong, sexy, confident bear who looks good in slacks and he can even pull off shorts which many men can't. Many men of his age can't.

The only reason they shut down Sohu, Sina, Netease, and Ifeng. in July was because they weren't radical enough. Stop fucking asking questions. What are you, some sort of fucking idiot? Have you never taken improv? Don't you know that you're not really supposed to ask any questions? So, that pretty much convinced me that they're doing pretty good. When the class got to Hong Kong, I thought, "Boy, it'd be fun to learn about Hong Kong," and they say Hong Kong is totally still ... has 100 percent autonomy in everything, and they said, "Don't you worry about the Causeway Bay bookstore," and then I asked, "What's the Causeway Bay bookstore?" The teacher was like, "Nothing, stop thinking about the Causeway bookstore

Lee Poe, who are from Sweden was all disappeared from Thailand because he didn't. He's just on a very long fishing trip, and Lee Poe, who's British, you know, disappeared from totally autonomous country Hong Kong. I said, "I mean, he didn't disappear. I mean, he did because he was kidnapped by ... he didn't disappear. He was, you know, he's on a high stake gambling tour of various nations. Yeah, that's what he's doing right now. I don't even know why you're bringing all this stuff up, man.

I was like, "I didn't bring it up, man." The teacher was like, "Oh, okay. That's cool. Anyways, let's move on to how you say "water" in Mandarin Chinese, which is the only language that will ever be spoken in China. What about racial harmony in China? Let's just say racial harmony is beautiful in China. Everybody gets along and it doesn't matter what those fucking Tibetans said. This started the very interesting chapter on China's relationship with Tibet. It went on to say that Tibet is super fucking happy and that China totally has a rightful claim over Tibet. Also, just because the Tibetans can't, you know, like move or go outside the country or practice religion, it's all a fucking lie by fucking assholes. They're a bunch of fucking morons who are fucking worthless.

Also they're crybabies and snowflakes and cucks and you're a strong alpha male, which then goes on to women's rights, which I guess leads us to the discussion in class we had about women's rights. Sally, once again, asked a question about it. They said it threatens civil society. Boy, Chinese civilization seems to be in constant flux. Seems so ready to just fall over at any second. You know, and then Sally then really pushed and the teacher was getting sick of it, so mad, and he said, "Listen, you don't know what you're talking about. Let me explain to you what women's rights is."

Then he went on to explain how it's great, all the shit that women have been doing, but come on. You don't gotta be so Come on. Don't you think it's gone a little too far? I mean, look at Just recently the court gave a woman who sued two companies for discriminating against her in practices like a whole hell of a lot of money. Like 300 dollars. What's so bad about that? Anyways, back to my book, which then talked about freedom of religion. Since everybody's free to practice any religion they want, except the ... You know, but then again, don't disrupt civil authority because you can't disrupt civil authority. Maybe all those people you had believe shit ain't real.

You know who's really a cool dude? xi jinping What if we said it was less like President or make him more of a king. A God king almost, you could say. God king who's also really powerful, who's strong, sexy bear who could totally crush people like crazy. I also said to the ... They said, "No guys, like pay attention because legitimately LG rights have improved somewhat," which was like, "Good," but also China was like, "Hey, you know what's also really cool? China's totally reviving the Silk Road," and then once again Sally spoke up and it was like, "Well hasn't that been a large failure on many levels and it's actually in massive debt?" The teacher was like, "Shut up, Sally."

I was like, "I guess." Then of course then I was like,

"You know what? I'm gonna contribute to the conversation," and I asked the teacher,

"What about the Tienanmen Square protest?" He was like,

"That's not real. That didn't happen." I was like,

"Really?" He said,

"Yeah. You're crazy, that never happened. I mean, it's crazy." I was like,

"There's a famous picture." The teacher was like,

"Oh, you mean the cool poster for the hit new Chinese film? The adventures of tank and cool, obedient, bag holding guy?"

I was like, "Okay," so all in all, I say there's no way that the Confucian Institute is sponsored by the Chinese government whatsoever. It's a totally cool place, and that they gave me ice cream also at the end of every class and I loved it. Anyways, out.

 via politico

via human right watch                

via the guardian            

via the time of india