#how to be a model in south africa

[probablyasocialecologist]

As I watched people online debate the models of anti-colonial struggle, raising comparisons to Algeria and North America and South Africa, I found myself returning to the foundational Jewish liberation myth: the Exodus. It was hard not to think about the moment in the Passover seder when we lessen the wine in our full cups with our pinkies as we recite the plagues. This ritual has materialized as an indispensable touchstone, insisting that to hold onto our humanity we must grieve all violence, even against the oppressor.

But I also thought of the plagues themselves, particularly the final one, the slaying of the first born—children, adults, the elderly. It seems that hiding in our liberation myth is a recognition that violence will visit the oppressor society indiscriminately. I know that I have many friends, and that Currents has many readers, who are asking themselves how they can be part of a left that seems to treat Israeli deaths as a necessary, if not desirable, part of Palestinian liberation. But what Exodus reminds us is that the dehumanization that is required to oppress and occupy another people always dehumanizes the oppressor in turn. For people who feel like their pain is being devalued, it’s because it is; and that devaluation is itself a hallmark of the cycle of the diminishing value of human life. As the abolitionist geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore has said, “Where life is precious, life is precious.” We are seeing the ways that Jews as the agents of apartheid will not be spared—even those of us who have devoted our lives to the work of ending it. (I am thinking of Hayim Katsman, zichrono l’vracha, killed by Hamas, an activist against the expulsion of the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, and Vivian Silver, a hostage in Gaza, who is known to many of its residents as the person they meet at the Erez Crossing who advocates for and facilitates their transfers to Israeli hospitals for treatment.)

[...]

On the left, I hope we do not mistake the inevitability of the violence for an inescapable limit on our work or the quality of our thought. Even if our dreams for better have failed, they must accompany us through this moment to the other side. 

[steveyockey]

As I watched people online debate the models of anti-colonial struggle, raising comparisons to Algeria and North America and South Africa, I found myself returning to the foundational Jewish liberation myth: the Exodus. It was hard not to think about the moment in the Passover seder when we lessen the wine in our full cups with our pinkies as we recite the plagues. This ritual has materialized as an indispensable touchstone, insisting that to hold onto our humanity we must grieve all violence, even against the oppressor.

But I also thought of the plagues themselves, particularly the final one, the slaying of the first born—children, adults, the elderly. It seems that hiding in our liberation myth is a recognition that violence will visit the oppressor society indiscriminately. I know that I have many friends, and that Currents has many readers, who are asking themselves how they can be part of a left that seems to treat Israeli deaths as a necessary, if not desirable, part of Palestinian liberation. But what Exodus reminds us is that the dehumanization that is required to oppress and occupy another people always dehumanizes the oppressor in turn. For people who feel like their pain is being devalued, it’s because it is; and that devaluation is itself a hallmark of the cycle of the diminishing value of human life. As the abolitionist geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore has said, “Where life is precious, life is precious.” We are seeing the ways that Jews as the agents of apartheid will not be spared—even those of us who have devoted our lives to the work of ending it. (I am thinking of Hayim Katsman, zichrono l’vracha, killed by Hamas, an activist against the expulsion of the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, and Vivian Silver, a hostage in Gaza, who is known to many of its residents as the person they meet at the Erez Crossing who advocates for and facilitates their transfers to Israeli hospitals for treatment.)

That question of how we recuperate this humanity is ultimately an organizing question. People have repeated over and over again over the last few days that you “cannot tell Palestinians how to resist.” To me, it seems there is a very literal dimension to this axiom: They are not asking. Part of what has made the experience of this event feel so different from the status quo—and so different to Palestinians and Jews—comes from the fact that Palestinians were undeniably the actors, for once, not the acted upon. The protagonists of the story. I consider it an enormous failure of our movements that we have not been able to build a vehicle for that kind of reversal in any other way thus far. Our Jewish movements for Palestine were not powerful enough to stop other Jews from gunning down Palestinians in peaceful marches at the Gazan border fence, or to keep Palestinians from being fired, harassed, and sued for speaking the truth about their experience or—God forbid—advocating the nonviolent tactic of boycott. And now, we do not have a shared struggle able to credibly respond to these massacres of Israelis and Palestinians. With all of the work that many Jews and Palestinians have done to reach toward each other over the years, I believe at heart it is this failure that is now driving us apart. There is no formidable political formation that I know of that can hold the political subjectivity of both Jews and Palestinians in this moment without simply attempting to assimilate one into the other. No place where Jews and Palestinians who agree on the basics of Palestinian liberation—right of return, equality, and reparations—are poised to turn the synthesis of these two subjectivities into a coherent strategy.

One of the most terrible things about this event is the sense of its inevitability. The violence of apartheid and colonialism begets more violence. Many people have struggled with the straightjacket of this inevitability, straining to articulate that its recognition does not mean its embrace. I am reminding myself that it was from Palestinians, many of them writing and speaking in these pages, that I learned to think of Palestine as a site of possibility—a place where the very idea of the nation-state, which has so harmed both peoples, could be remade or destroyed entirely. And it was Palestinians who opened my thinking to multiple visions of sharing the land. On the left, I hope we do not mistake the inevitability of the violence for an inescapable limit on our work or the quality of our thought. Even if our dreams for better have failed, they must accompany us through this moment to the other side. We need to imagine a movement for liberation better even than the Exodus—an exodus where neither people has to leave. Where people stay to pick up the pieces, rearranging themselves not just as Jews or Palestinians but as antifascists and workers and artists. I want what Puerto Rican Jewish poet and activist Aurora Levins Morales describes in her poem “Red Sea”:

We cannot cross until we carry each other,

all of us refugees, all of us prophets.

No more taking turns on history’s wheel,

trying to collect old debts no-one can pay.

The sea will not open that way.

This time that country

is what we promise each other,

our rage pressed cheek to cheek

until tears flood the space between,

until there are no enemies left,

because this time no one will be left to drown

and all of us must be chosen.

This time it’s all of us or none.

Arielle Angel, “‘We Cannot Cross Until We Carry Each Other’,” Jewish Currents, October 12, 2023.

[memecucker]

The family tree of humanity is much more interconnected than we tend to think. “We’re culturally bound and psychologically conditioned to not think about ancestry in very broad terms,” Rutherford says. Genealogists can only focus on one branch of a family tree at a time, making it easy to forget how many forebears each of us has.

Imagine counting all your ancestors as you trace your family tree back in time. In the nth generation before the present, your family tree has 2n slots: two for parents, four for grandparents, eight for great-grandparents, and so on. The number of slots grows exponentially. By the 33rd generation—about 800 to 1,000 years ago—you have more than eight billion of them. That is more than the number of people alive today, and it is certainly a much larger figure than the world population a millennium ago.

This seeming paradox has a simple resolution: “Branches of your family tree don’t consistently diverge,” Rutherford says. Instead “they begin to loop back into each other.” As a result, many of your ancestors occupy multiple slots in your family tree. For example, “your great-great-great-great-great-grandmother might have also been your great-great-great-great-aunt,” he explains.

The consequence of humanity being “incredibly inbred” is that we are all related much more closely than our intuition suggests, Rutherford says. Take, for instance, the last person from whom everyone on the planet today is descended. In 2004 mathematical modeling and computer simulations by a group of statisticians led by Douglas Rohde, then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, indicated that our most recent common ancestor probably lived no earlier than 1400 B.C. and possibly as recently as A.D. 55. In the time of Egypt’s Queen Nefertiti, someone from whom we are all descended was likely alive somewhere in the world.

Go back a bit further, and you reach a date when our family trees share not just one ancestor in common but every ancestor in common. At this date, called the genetic isopoint, the family trees of any two people on the earth now, no matter how distantly related they seem, trace back to the same set of individuals. “If you were alive at the genetic isopoint, then you are the ancestor of either everyone alive today or no one alive today,” Rutherford says. Humans left Africa and began dispersing throughout the world at least 120,000 years ago, but the genetic isopoint occurred much more recently—somewhere between 5300 and 2200 B.C., according to Rohde’s calculations.

At first glance, these dates may seem much too recent to account for long-isolated Indigenous communities in South America and elsewhere. But “genetic information spreads rapidly through generational time,” Rutherford explains. Beginning in 1492, “you begin to see the European genes flowing in every direction until our estimates are that there are no people in South America today who don’t have European ancestry.”

In fact, even more recent than the global genetic isopoint is the one for people with recent European ancestry. Researchers using genomic data place the latter date around A.D. 1000. So Christopher Lee’s royal lineage is unexceptional: because Charlemagne lived before the isopoint and has living descendants, everyone with European ancestry is directly descended from him. In a similar vein, nearly everyone with Jewish ancestry, whether Ashkenazic or Sephardic, has ancestors who were expelled from Spain beginning in 1492. “It’s a very nice example of a small world but looking to the past,” says Susanna Manrubia, a theoretical evolutionary biologist at the Spanish National Center for Biotechnology.

Not everyone of European ancestry carries genes passed down by Charlemagne, however. Nor does every Jew carry genes from their Sephardic ancestors expelled from Spain. People are more closely related genealogically than genetically for a simple mathematical reason: a given gene is passed down to a child by only one parent, not both. In a simple statistical model, Manrubia and her colleagues showed that the average number of generations separating two random present-day individuals from a common genealogical ancestor depends on the logarithm of the relevant population’s size. For large populations, this number is much smaller than the population size itself because the number of possible genealogical connections between individuals doubles with each preceding generation. By contrast, the average number of generations separating two random present-day individuals from a common genetic ancestor is linearly proportional to the population size because each gene can be traced through only one line of a person’s family tree. Although Manrubia’s model unrealistically assumed the population size did not change with time, the results still apply in the real world, she says.

Because of the random reshuffling of genes in each successive generation, some of your ancestors contribute disproportionately to your genome, while others contribute nothing at all. According to calculations by geneticist Graham Coop of the University of California, Davis, you carry genes from fewer than half of your forebears from 11 generations back. Still, all the genes present in today’s human population can be traced to the people alive at the genetic isopoint. “If you are interested in what your ancestors have contributed to the present time, you have to look at the population of all the people that coexist with you,” Manrubia says. “All of them carry the genes of your ancestors because we share the [same] ancestors.”

And because the genetic isopoint occurred so recently, Rutherford says, “in relation to race, it absolutely, categorically demolishes the idea of lineage purity.” No person has forebears from just one ethnic background or region of the world. And your genealogical connections to the entire globe mean that not too long ago your ancestors were involved in every event in world history.

[yourqueerauntiescrisis]

Transcript for our HoH friends!:

So this might be the single most unhinged headline I have seen in a minute.

"Dear BLM Activists, We Israelis Also Can't Breathe."

I saw that article this morning, read through it, and discovered that there is so many angles to tackle this. I just want to go through all of them.

For starters, really bold for Israelis to weaponize BLM uh... When Israel was giving birth control to Ethiopian Jewish settlers without their consent for a period of time.

Also, this is the same Israel that was one of the primary exporters of arms to the apartied South African government up until its collapse. Almost going so far as to sell the apartied South African government nuclear weapons. Although, notably, Israel and apartied South Africa had a long history of joint-nuclear weapons development between their two programs. The South Africans offering, often times the resources and capital and the Israelis offering up the technical expertise. That really deserves an entire video that end of itself, though.

But because they invoked BLM, the one that I really want to settle on is the "Deadly Exchange."" For those of you that don't know, um hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country, especially since 2001, have been actively trained and sometimes have traded tech and tactics with Israeli occupational forces.

There's a lot of examples to this that I can go into, the one that I really want to touch on is that American police officers visited Jerusalem and saw the 400 cameras that were blanketing the Old City in an effort to surveil Palestinians. In following visits to Israel by the Atlanta Police Department, their department created a Video Interrogation Center, collecting and monitoring footage from the city's thousands public and private 24-hour surveillance cameras. The Atlanta Police Department reported that the center is modeled after the command and control center in the Old City of Jerusalem and mimics Israeli methods to proactively monitor crime.

And Atlanta is far from the only city, uh if you're in a major city in the United States, there is a very good likelihood that your local police department has at some point been trained, advised, or you know, traded tech and tactics with Israeli Occupational Forces.

Which makes this headline, just fucking crazy contextually. Like, how are you, as an Israeli, as a settler in a settler-colonial project that is maintaining actively apartied structures, comparing your situation to that of Black Americans facing police brutality? That is fucking insane. Also, the whole "We Can't Breathe Either" line rings really hollow when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are actively being bombed with white phosphorus. Which, if you didn't know, makes it kinda hard to fucking breathe.

Like, Zionists are fucking desperate, man. I... Wow. Uh, but, yeah. Something to think on. As always, free Palestine and have a great day.

[trans-girl-nausicaa]

i wonder if the liberal zionists (assuming the more “hardline” zionists would just universally justify all of the israeli state’s actions) who describe israel as a “non-racist” “land back project” for the benefit of “indigenous jews” know about israel’s arms sales to apartheid south africa in 1975? and to the genocidal serb army during the Bosnian civil war 1992-1995? (Or was that one OK because they mostly killed Muslims?) how does that fit into their theoretical model of the zionist project?

What do they think of Israel’s historical record of arms sales?

In 1994, Israeli-made bullets, rifles and grenades were allegedly used in Rwanda’s genocide which killed at least 800,000 people. Israel supplied weapons to the Serbian army that waged war against Bosnia from 1992-1995.

Despite the Israeli government’s own statement in 2018 declaring it had ceased sales to Myanmar, the Haaretz newspaper reported last year that weapons manufacturers continued supplying the military government until 2022, in violation of the 2017 international arms embargo against the country.

And, in September [2023], Israel supplied UAVs, missiles and mortars to Azerbaijan for its campaign to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, during which 100,000 ethnic Armenians were displaced.

what do they think about israel offering to send nuclear weapons to an apartheid state?

and you can’t say “it was a different time” or say “it was bad but it was like necessary realpolitik” in good faith because the whole zionist argument is that israel as a project was a moral and necessary project the entire time. 1975 and 1995 really are not that long ago in geopolitical terms.

Israel has remained an international arms dealer to this day, selling arms to an estimated 130 countries.

i mean the zionists are the same people who equivocate and/or “softly” justify the 1948 Nakba which was a brazen genocide.

The accusations of holding israel to a “double standard” are also totally empty rhetoric.

1. Do you actually think that within the critics of israel there is a preponderance of people that are OK with apartheid and genocide in any case apart from when israel did it?

2. Putting that aside, if you are considering the question of moral “double standards,” what is YOUR universal moral standard? Are YOU OK with apartheid and genocide when committed by countries and actors other than israel, against predominantly non-jewish demographics? (Often using Israel-supplied weapons, of course.)

And when all is said and done, if you liberal zionists recognize the immorality of the israeli arms industry, how do you possibly plan to stop israel from continuing this abhorrent practice? short of the dissolution of the state of israel of course. Or is your ethnonationalism so strong that any sin is permissible so long as it profits the zionist project? what is your moral red line? what sin could israel possibly commit that you would consider the moral necessity of dissolving the israeli state?

to any jewish person reading, at what point does the supposed moral imperative of the sanctity of life outweigh the supposed moral imperative of a “jewish state?”

as a supposed inheritor of American nationality and Jewish ethnicity, under predominant ideological models there exists this supposed connection between me and America and between me and Zionism and between me and Israel. If i was born in Israel or if i moved there (perhaps to an illegal settlement in the west bank) i would immediately have a directly oppressive relationship to palestinians. (In a similar yet different way to the status i have as a white american...)

In my childhood I was educated about religion, about American history, (including the ugly parts of slavery and genocide and segregation, etc) about racism, about the holocaust, about israel, (including the ugliness of the nakba and the border walls and the checkpoints, etc). The pervasiveness of moral vacuousness and hipocrisy in this country have, for my entire adult life, made me feel alienated from other americans and, yes, from many American Jewish communities. Later in life I met other anti-zionist jews but i felt like there was no way to undo my foundation of irreligiosity, atheism, lack of feeling any strong ethnic, racial, religious, or national identity. (This was contributed to by the fact that one of my parents is an immigrant. a sense of between-ness made me feel an outsider to both my paternal and maternal heritages, and the entire idea of ethnicity and nationality felt somewhat constructed even from early childhood.)

Zionism is the state ideology of Israel and, it seems, the United States as well, partially so. (American Empire has to be propped up through ideology to manufacture consent.) Though, notably, the overwhelming majority of avowed Zionists in the US are, in fact, Evangelical Christians. But that’s something I don’t even want to get into right now.

One of the only things that DOESN’T make me feel alienated is internationalism. I feel a kinship with the distant Palestinian who is bombarded and shot with American-supplied weapons, and with the nearby American who is bludgeoned and shot by Israeli-trained police officers.

(Free Palestine, Death to the American Empire.)

[youthnighttarot]

What if you were a Celebrity? (Pick-a-card) 🏆🎭🎬🎤🩰🎹

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Pile 1

Tarot Cards: 3oWrv, 8oCrv, QoS, Strength, High Priestessrv, 10oWrv, 2oCrv, 4oPrv

Fans: Your fans would be tough critics on you. You may leave your fans disappointed in you and, the outcome for your career. Or they may be disappointed with where you are in your career. You and your fans may be into luxury items.

Celebrity Friends: They will be a bit judgmental of others or of you. They may view you as lacking confidence/having low self worth. They see you as not being truly happy just being yourself. You may feel used…like you can’t say no. Or you’re having a hard time adjusting to fame.

Career Path: Artist/Painter…something where you use your intuition and problem solve. -> Architect, Lawyer, Public Speaker, Judge, Therapist, Comedian, Tech Industry (mogul), Journalist

How GP Views you: The GP sees you as having a quiet inner strength. They see you as brave and an unwavering truth teller/exposer. They see you as having overcome a variety of obstacles.

How will you become famous: You determination alone will be the main reason. The vitriol you have for lack of truth. You will become famous for airing out someone who wronged you and/or you fell out with. You will speak about how you doubted yourself because of them. This may be a family member, friend, lover, business partner, etc…someone close, you thought you could trust withholding secrets, lies, and money. This being why you fight for honesty and truth.

Love Life: There will be many, many, many ups and downs as well as turmoil in your relationships. Due to public perception I heard. You will find yourself with many suitors who you’re incompatible with. There may even be a divorce or break up that happens in the public. You may have suffered abuse.

Where you will be famous: Santa Domingo, Places often known for the damp dryness. Places where the people have suffered many betrayals. South Africa, London(UK), Angola, U.S.A, Gambia, Central South America

Awards/Achievements: Many of the Awards you receive center around your giving nature…helping out people financially….humanitarian awards ( This was a mistake my bad 🤧)

How you feel: You will fell stable and grounded financially. You will wish for more tact and diplomacy within your profession…especially when it comes to authority. You will be reclaiming the power stolen from you.

Pile 2

Tarot Cards: The Foolrv, KnoPrv, 3oP, The Emperor, 5oP, 8oC, AoCrv, 4oP, 9oP

Fans: Your fans may viewed as reckless and careless where it concerns you. Especially when you or them comes under attack. They’re viewed as irrational. Your fans may view you as having distractions in your life. They view you as hopeful.

Celebrity Friends: A lot of your celebrity friends will be financially well off, stable, rich, or wealthy. They will help you in your career. They are quite generous; They have power/control but use it for good. They see that you love what you do and, they look forward to working with you.

Career Path: Doctor(Obstetricia), you may deal with negligence with other people in your chosen path…Model Agency, Actor, Performer, Singer, Dancer. You may deal with unskilled people who you out-perform yet play second fiddle to. Try not to overwork yourself when you don’t have to. Fashion Industry(Designer) & Police officer. Which ever it is you WILL SUCCEED!!

How GP views you: They feel like your aggravating but, they don’t really know you. This is just how you come off. They may see you as aggravated all the time. They see you as independent and extremely wealthy. You may have a pregnancy(To those who can) or the birth of a business which has brought you great success. They see you as having a high standing within your industry as well. You could be everywhere Billboards, commercials, TV, movies. That may be where the annoyance is coming from.

How will you become Famous: Through apprenticeship, or studying under someone, or at an institution. Your hard work and skill will be notice by someone important in your industry or by and agency. Your level of commitment shows within you work and your ability to show up. You may team up or collab with a group of people and that project will shoot you to stardom. Immediately!! You’re extremely determine but will have the help of others.

Love Life: There may be minor hiccups with some relationships you have. A lot of your partners may be un-empathetic to you and your life. They could view you like forbidden fruit, 1 bite and there done for. For a time many suitors may be invested with you only for sex or your body. They may be selfish only interested in what they can get out of you or from you. Some may see you as an unattainable beauty they want to conquer. However pile 2 you will meet the one for you and you will feel worshipped and adored by them. You may have to call off a few (oop) engagements before you find your one. (This may happen publicly) You could be constantly in the media for your relationships. You will be forced to look deep within yourself and find love son you may be loved. (This was way too long 😭)

Where will you be famous: places that have had many financial losses but used this to cultivate art. Where beauty and femininity are the focal point. (For masculines your masculinity) Places where people felt left in the cold. U.S.A, Brazil, Columbia, Senegal, Korea, Japan, Europe, Scotland, Montreal, Canada, Baltic States, Bolivia

How you will feel: You may feel this is a blank slate to start over. You will feel you need to work through past traumas and hurt. You will want to forgive and move on from your past in light of your new future.

Pile 3

Tarot Cards: The Hermitrv, AoP, PoW, Temperancerv, 9oSrv, Strengthrv

Fans: Their gonna be rooting for you success for sure. They will be pretty chill and laidback. A lot of them will be attractive? ✨💋 Or they will find you attractive. They feel like you heart in no longer in it or you feel discontent with your work…or within your field. They see you as stagnant. Their rooting for you to make a comeback.

Celebrity Friends: They see you as being the master manifestor. They could use you for your clout or recognition. They see you as stable within you career/finances…to the point where they feel you can take bold chances and not be held back. They may feel like your constantly trying to reinvent yourself. Some may steal your swag or ideas from you but fail to replicate. (You cannot compete where you don’t compare) Most will be fake towards…you will see this and cut them off ASAP! You will have few celebrity friends because of this. Those that are real friends of yours will actually help you even financially if you need it. They may want to invest in you. For some of you…you may even have an affair with one of them.

Career Path: Your career path will be a part of your destiny. For some of you, this is how you meet your soulmate. Aesthetician, Fashion Blogger, Beauty Guru, MUA, Stylist, Museum Curator, Art Auctioneer, Agent, Manager, Business Owner, Model, Actress (Feminines), YouTuber,Magazine Editor. A place where your allowed to be a free thinker, playful and confident. You may be the youngest there for some of you.

How GP Views you: They see you as a hard worker, the kinda “pull yourself up by the boot strap” mentality. They believe you worked for everything you own. They see you as a role model for kids and adults alike. They feel at times you a bit immature because of your playful nature…like you don’t take things seriously often. They see you as lacking balance, you often get into arguments because of your one-sided beliefs or because your beliefs are so out of the ordinary. Some of your actions are seen as reckless and stupid. They feel you should do better because of you being viewed as a role model.

How you become famous: Viral Video…overnight success. By being vulnerable about self doubt you’ve experienced. This may be after a huge scandal that shot you to fame. But you used it as a stepping stool. (Some of you may resonate with pile 2) This was at a time where you were letting go and beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Love Life: “Through the darkness I saw you”. You will go through a lot of nostalgic connections. Where you are the center of your suitor’s attention. A lot of your relationships you’ll want to keep low key (For obvious reasons) but that never ends up happening. A lot of ur lover’s emotions run deep with you. Some may not be able to handle the spotlight or you having the spotlight. Your like a dream for many of them…gone as soon as you came. You may cook or they may cook for you. There is a lot of empathy for your feelings and passions.

Where will you be famous: Norwegian, Iceland, New York, Bronx, Chicago, Mexico, Russia, Yugoslavia, Prussia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Australia, Phoenix, California, Gambia, Mozambique, Madagascar, France. A lot of colder areas or places with higher levels of heat.

How will you feel: You may feel like everyone’s always trying to find out/know tea about you. Due to this you’re careful about who you give your energy to. You are quick to energetically block someone. You don’t change for others you just walk away from them

Call me beep me if you wanna reach me…💃🏾🎤🎹📱📞☎️🤳🏾

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[cognitivejustice]

With solar power, urban farms, and radical grassroots democracy, eKhenana provides an impressive model for a sustainable low-carbon future community

At eKhenana, there are 109 families on two hectares of land, one of which is dedicated to farming. Each family has a small plot on which a shack is built with recycled materials, with emphasis on open spaces, walkways and even parking spaces. Credit: Nomfundo Xolo.

In recent years, the question of what this sustainable low-emissions future could look like has animated both climate scientists and creatives. They have imagined a myriad of possibilities, some more fantastical than others.

For the residents of eKhenana commune, however, the future is already here. In this settlement in Durban, South Africa, low-consumption lifestyles, shared living in urban villages, and self-sufficient small-scale agriculture are not utopian visions but daily reality.

Former chairperson of eKhenana commune, Lindokuhle Mnguni, was dedicated to creating a “land of milk and honey” and a socialist way of life where everyone is given an equal opportunity. He, and his partner Sindisiwe Ngcobo, were attacked on 20 August 2022 in the early hours by unknown gunmen. Mnguni was killed instantly from multiple wounds to the head. Credit: Nomfundo Xolo.

eKhenana was first established in 2018 when a group of people decided to occupy some neglected municipal land in Durban. They began by building their homes, shacks, before adding schools, shops, and community spaces. The commune are members of Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), the South African social movement of the poor that fights for land, housing, and human dignity.

Today, eKhenana is made of up 109 families and the community is a model of democratic, ground-up, climate-friendly self-sufficiency. As South Africa faces rolling blackouts, the commune enjoys reliable solar power that it uses to boil water, charge phones, and keep the lights on. Through its food sovereignty garden and cooperative farming projects, it feeds itself with nutritious and cheap locally grown produce.

The watchword in building locally self-sustaining communes is sovereignty. Communities, they agree, need to be able to take control of their food and ownership of their needs without relying on the government.

To say eKhenana has managed to thrive in the absence of the state wouldn’t be quite right. The commune’s self-sufficiency has, in fact, been hard-won against a backdrop of state-sanctioned violence. Like most land occupations in South Africa, the community in eKhenana have had to repeatedly rebuild their homes after countless eviction attempts. These often-violent operations, enforced by the government and private militias, have led to the deaths of at least eight residents.

This harassment has continued even since the community at eKhenana won the right to legally occupy the land in 2019. The government and police, says AbM’s General Secretary Thapelo Mohapi, “treat Abahlali like a criminal organisation”.

The politics conducted within eKhenana couldn’t look more different to the formal state’s elite and exclusionary approach. In the commune, all decisions are reached by consensus at community meetings through radical democratic participation. Residents regularly gather at Thuli Ndlovu Hall – named after one of their assassinated comrades – where everyone is given a chance to discuss all communal decisions, from where spinach is planted to how resources like the community-owned sewing machine are shared. This agency is coupled with responsibility; all members are expected to be active in, and aware of, eKhenana’s various projects and challenges.

“Our discussion must have one answer, reached communally,” explains Mazwi. “No one can tell us what to do, not even our [former] chairperson, comrade Mnguni, may he rest in peace, because we make our decisions for ourselves.”

Like all AbM branches, eKhenana practices Ubuhlalism, their interpretation of the philosophy of Ubuntu. In stark contrast to neoliberal individualism, a driving force behind the climate crisis, this way of thinking advocates for a communal worldview that prioritises wellbeing over profit.

“Ubuhlalism teaches us how to share with other people, how to treat each other, how to build yourself,” says Mazwi. “Ubuhlalism is something you can’t touch, you can’t see, but something that you practice. It’s something inside you.”

Source

[feetpiclovers]

Join us as we explore the fascinating foot modeling world across different cultures. Discover how feet are celebrated in various regions and how you can showcase your foot beauty on FeetFinder.

🦵 Foot care rituals in Japan and South Korea 🦵🏿 Adorned feet with jewelry and tattoos in Africa 🦵🏻 Extravagant designer shoes and accessories in Europe 🦵🏼 Celebrating the beauty of dancing feet in Latin America 💡 How to register and build your collection on FeetFinder

Subscribe and watch more videos on our channel to stay updated on foot modeling trends and selling feet pics online❗

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Scraping to train machine-learning models is good, actually.

The Human Rights Data Analysis Group is a crucial player in the fight to hold war-criminals to account. As the leading nonprofit providing statistical analysis of crimes against humanities, HRDAG has participated in tribunals, truth and reconciliation proceedings, and trials from Serbia to East Timor, South Africa to the USA, and, most recently, Colombia.

Colombia’s long civil war — funded and supported by US agencies from the CIA and DEA to the US military —went on for decades, killing hundreds of thousands of people, mostly very poor, very marginalized people.

Many of these killings were carried out by child soldiers, who were recruited at gunpoint by both CIA-backed right-wing militias whose actions were directed by the richest, most powerful people in the country, and by the leftist FARC guerrillas.

HRDAG, working in partnership with the Colombian human rights group Dejusticia, merged over 100 databases in order to build a rigorous statistical picture of the war’s casualties; the likelihood that each death could be attributed to the government, right-wing militias, or FARC forces; as well as which groups were primarily responsible for kidnapping children and forcing them to be soldiers.

The resulting report builds on the largest human rights data-set ever collected. The report — which makes an irrefutable case that right-wing militias committed the majority of killings and child-soldier recruitment, and that their wealthy backers knew and supported these actions — have been key to Colombia’s truth and reconciliation proceedings.

-How To Think About Scraping: In privacy and labor fights, copyright is a clumsy tool at best

Image: syvwlch (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Print_Scraper_(5856642549).jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[andmaybegayer]

My parents have installed an 8kWh battery backup because frankly it sucks not to have power 4-8 hours a day. Pretty much everyone in South Africa who can afford one is installing one! But it's really stupendously expensive and it makes me think about how ridiculous the people suggesting that grid scale storage is viable are.

Look. I don't think we will never be able to do grid scale storage. There's lots of promising new battery and capacitor technologies. I give it decent odds that in the next century someone will develop a battery that rivals kerosene for cost per kWh of storage. But whenever we talk about tools for solving climate change I feel like a lot of people forget that it's a pretty imminent problem!

If I told you "hey, I know you're looking at that Toyota Corolla so you can drive to work. Well, I'm working on a flying car. It's going to be so much faster, and it'll cost the same amount as a Toyota Corolla, and I'll have it ready in a few months. Look, I've got this tiny scale model to show you that it's on the way, please give me the money you were going to spend on the Toyota Corolla and I'll give you a flying car when it's ready." you would laugh at me. Every single engineering project comes in over budget and over time, if it's finished at all. Scale models are nothing when you need to solve big problems. Everyone understands this with bridges, why do they not get it with gridscale storage.

Every day some guy says "hey look we built a sodium battery pack it took our lab six months to build 100kWh worth but we totally promise that we'll have mass production down by 2025 please don't think about whether you are designing a future grid heavily dependent on fossil fuel baseloads we'll have huge batteries by then look there's the one in Australia it stores literally seconds worth of grid capacity." and I feel like I'm going insane.

This is not a technology that is "ready to go" this is the shit we make fun of when a university PR department claims they've cured cancer (in mouse cells (in a culture ( with additional marker proteins (and killed the healthy cells too whoops))))

All the current climate change targets are aiming for things in 2050 and it feels like gridscale storage gets used as an easy excuse for politicians who don't want to explain why they're making a grid that happens to be completely reliant on fossil fuels. They just go "oh we're investing in renewable technologies ;)" while sheepishly standing in front of the gas pipelines.

They might not even be industry shills! Some of them are but I think some of them are genuinely taken in by the renewables grift. They see the endless fields of wind farms when they visit the German countryside or whatever and think wow :) renewables really work :) we're going to fix climate change :) and have never understood an eqCO2/kWh value in their life.

People reporting on SMR and renewables say things like "Nuclear is too expensive and impractical compared to wind and solar which is why we're not investing in it" but that's only true if you believe you can run a grid on wind and solar alone! Otherwise you have to say the quiet "and hundreds of gas turbines with fuel storage on standby" part out loud.

[probablyasocialecologist]

South Africa’s Bantustans, areas where black residents lived without autonomy, inspired many in the Israeli elite as a viable model for Palestine. This was the desire to isolate “undesirable” Palestinians in noncontiguous enclaves, Bantustans cut off from the rest of the country—in other words, like today’s West Bank, where 165 Palestinians “enclaves” are strangulated by Israeli colonies, the IDF, and violent settlers. During the apartheid South African era, Israeli diplomats were instructed around the world to tell the media that the Jewish state didn’t recognize the Bantustans. This was a lie, as a telegram by the deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Natan Meron, on November 23, 1983, proved: “It is no secret that Israeli political figures and public figures are involved in one way or another, directly or indirectly, in economic activity in the Bantustans.”

Antony Loewenstein, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World

[lwh-writing]

Girl Genius Reaction #2

Hi, hey, been a hot second since I've done one of these but here we go!

I love that the Heterodyne boys have been elevated to this almost folklore-like state where everyone's got a story about them that ranges from "mostly true" to "entirely made up"

Also, Gil's Dad was adventure buddies with the Heterodynes???? I know Theo said he made the story up, but considering it was shown to us like a flashback, I assume there is at least a few kernels of truth to it all

I think I clocked the possible Von Pinn connection. As all the students claim Von Pinn is modeled off of and/or secretly Lucrezia Mongfish (whoever the hell that is), and Lucrezia was name-dropped in Theo's story/flashback and on the receiving end of one of the Heterodyne's love confessions, I'm assuming Von Pinn is thus modeled off of and/or secretly Agatha's mother or aunt. I wonder if that'll ever come up later. Either way, it's nice to know I'm not crazy for thinking Von Pinn and Agatha looked way too similar

Also, I know Agatha probably took the chance to change out of the pants and into a more comfortable skirt while Theo had everyone distracted, but I kind of like the idea that she can just randomly and inexpensively modify her clothes at will with no one noticing

The Baron being concerned about the hive engine being "eighteen years old or brand new?" really caught my attention. Larger scope villain entering the chat? 👀

Theo & co. running into Gil and there's an obvious disconnect about whom hasn't kept in touch with whom, re: Gil saying they'd only ever come to him if they need something vs. Theo saying Gil hasn't answered any of their letters. Betting money that the Baron has been withholding Gil's mail and trying to isolate him for whatever reason.

Whomst is Othar Tryggvassen? Hello? Random man just suspended over the void, every limb chained, giant green globe on his head? WTF???

I do love Agatha's reaction though. "Is it right to leave a fellow sentient strung up like this?" "Well, that depends upon the nature of the experiment..." I love this mad scientist so much

I'm also really loving the Jaegers (Jaegerkin? Jaegermonsters?). They're all so full of personality. And the tension with the Lackya is very delicious

Love the Jaegerkin generals inviting Agatha to supper, saying "It's good, no bugs!" only for another general to say in the most dejected voice "...no bugs?" 🥺

Also, it looks like the Jaegers are officially figuring out that Agatha's a Heterodyne! Gil may believe/know Agatha is a Spark (has the Spark?), but the Jaegers are the only ones connecting the dots to the Heterodyne question. Wonder if they'll tell someone or keep it to themselves.

Also, Jaegers playing matchmaker? "What do you think of the young master?" "What kind of question is that?" "Well it would make things really simple if--" What's their angle there? Hm....

Speaking of ships, I am sending Andre the Jaegermonster to horny jail. I'm with Agatha; Von Pinn doesn't sound interested

Flashback with Uncle Barry was very cute. He obviously didn't want to repress Agatha's powers, but it was probably a matter of safety

Agatha sleep-inventing is very cool, but why's her little sentient robot(s) hiding from her?

Von Zinzer is giving some insight on the larger world. Apparently, there's a series of wars going on? I know the Baron is a ruler and is keeping the school kids as hostages, but I didn't know it's a continuous conquest of what seems to be Europe.

Also, side note, do we ever see the rest of the world? Africa, Asia, Australia, North & South America? I know deep in my bones that this world's version of China would fuck severely.

Dr. Dim and his bears are also very cute. Loved the moment between him and Agatha

The fight between Von Zinzer & Agatha was very fun. As was Gil hiring Agatha on the spot. The friendship is growing!

And finally, the talking cat! My oh my, how will this go from here? It's very obviously sentient, and based on the website's banner, a main character to boot. But what is it? A chimera? A rogue experiment? Someone trapped in a cat's body? Guess I'll find out

Overall: Still really liking the story! It's got me hooked so far and it's building really well on the premise. The story is still obviously finding its footing, but it's still good!

Continued 7.5/10

[geoledgy]

Hi I have a geology question?

So I just saw this picture:

And I assume it's accurate (as accurate as a distant projection can be anyway) since it is from natgeo (I checked), but it makes no sense to me at all? I remember from my hs geology class that the atlantic ocean is expanding because of the mid-ocean ridge diverging fault, and that the pacific ocean is shrinking because the pacific plate is subducting under most of its neighboring plates. But this picture shows that the exact opposite has happened and I am bewildered. What am I missing????

Hi! Awesome, I had an obsession with tectonics and supercontinent cycles back in my undergrad this is gonna be fun.

So for context, this is an image of "Pangaea Proxima" which is one of the four different suggestions for how the next supercontinent could look like, including: Amasia, Novopangaea, and Aurica. It's not that this isn't an accurate image, but it's a scientific model of a proposed supercontinent that could happen. Some key points of each model is:

Pangaea Proxima - prediction that Mid-Atlantic Ridge becomes a subduction zone, first between South America and Africa, leading to closing of Atlantic Ocean. Based on knowledge of previous continent formation and break-up cycles rather than current modern day mechanisms.

Amasia - prediction that Pacific Ocean closes while Mid-Atlantic Ridge pushes the Americas westward, following the current subduction trends we see today. Asia and North America would collide first in this model, at the North Pole.

Novopangaea - another prediction that the Pacific Ocean closes due to movement from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Based on current tectonic and subduction trends. The configuration is pretty similar to the Amasia model but this one involves collision of East Africa and Australia (since East Africa is actively rifting).

Aurica - most recent proposed prediction. A very dynamic model that proposes the Pacific AND Atlantic Oceans will close at some point, and a new ocean replaces them. Eurasia is split into halves due to a proposed rift zone forming from the arctic to India. The Americas are then bodied on both sides from the 2 rifted halves.

In geology, "the present is the key to the past", but the future can be a bit more uncertain because tectonics are proven to be unpredictable. There is research that states the tectonic cycle is full of unexpected shifts, and so Pangaea Proxima (the one you shared) accounts for that unexpected possibility either the Mid-Atlantic Ridge turning into a subduction zone or just failing/ceasing to continue rifting. There are many failed rifts, one that I distinctly remember is the North America Midcontinent Rift (near where the midwest/Great Lakes are).

Hope that answers your question!

[noirgasmweetheart]

Just watched "Rope of Sand," and I got a new favorite Peter Lorre character.

First off: Boo Berry is clearly based on Toady.

Boo's outfit is allegedly modeled after Toady's. But it seems like more than just the outfit to me.

Toady repeatedly appears out of nowhere, floating in from around a pillar or just abruptly appearing right there next to the other characters, like a ghostly marshmallow, and then vanishes as quickly as he came. His white suit shines against his dark surroundings. I am convinced that this character specifically inspired someone to make a Peter Lorre ghost.

His body shape is also the same as Boo's here. And on that note, I love how the movie works with the weight gain that was outside of Lorre's control to find new ways for him to be otherworldly. He probably couldn't slink between other characters and slither agilely through doors like he had in "Casablanca;" so instead, he rolls around from behind a pillar, or just suddenly appears next to someone, mooching of their cigarette match. He is an ethereal little cloud.

Second, Toady is totally Ugarte.

He is the exact same character, except for a chill wisdom that could come from surviving a rough life, and a traumatic capture.

We only have Strasser and Renault's word that Ugarte is dead, they wouldn't kill him before extracting the location of the visas from him, and they'd have every reason to lie to Laszlo about his death. How Ugarte escaped Casablanca and made it to a better life in South Africa is a story I want to hear. And knowing "Toady," one he'd love to tell.

I can't as ready explain why Martingale and Vogel look and sound identical to Renault and Laszlo, but there are various explanations. Could be relatives, or just a coincidences. Or Martingale could be Renault living under an new identity after he defected; the idea of him and Ugarte now being close friends is a cute one. Vogel obviously isn't Laszlo, but maybe Laszlo had some relatives who weren't as noble as him.

Ugarte becoming Toady is just...exactly what I need to patch the pain of his departure in "Casablanca." He's like a timid, defensive stray cat, feeding off scraps he can manipulate out of those around him, until the powers that be decide to chase him down and haul him off to the pound; then miraculously, years later, he's a chill, plump house cat, catching treats in the air.

[weirdowithaquill]

Random Trains I Found Part 1:

So, I've put off writing my myriad of WIPs for a bit to spend some time just... looking at trains. Reconnecting with them. Hunting out ideas for the future and being amazed by the past. And here's a few of my absolute favourite random, insane trains I've found so far:

NGR Class D1:

This right here was the first 4-8-2 ever built - and it's an absolutely massive tank engine from South Africa. It was built to the 3ft 6in Cape Gauge and it began running in 1888. Take a moment for that to settle in - 1888. The USA didn't run a 4-8-2 on it's network until 1911, a good 20+ years later!

Russian Class Kh:

It's a 2-8-0 class built in the USA for Russia that had examples sold to Japan with the last example preserved in China. I personally like these engines because they really do tell us so much about how much the world changed - they began life in 1895, and somehow (I would love to know how if anyone has any information) one ended up in a river in Jilin Province, China. It was probably WWII, but all the same, these engines went places!

Prussian P8 Class:

These engines started life in 1908 and weren't retired until 1981 in Poland at the latest - and if that isn't an opening to an epic class of locomotive, I don't know what is! Roughly 3900 of these machines were built, making it potentially the single largest class of passenger engine in the world and they ended up just about everywhere in Europe, from France to Norway to Romania, where a number (200) were built under license. And the reason they lived so long? They were simple, strong machines.

GWR 2600 'Aberdare' Class:

Honestly, I just like these because they look so odd. Like, these are GWR 2-6-0s that look like a City or a Bulldog class. They have the double frames and the coupling rods of a 4-4-0 - and that's because they were introduced in 1900. They did manage to make it to 1949 hauling coal trains, but the GWR had already been withdrawing them in the 1930s, as they did with their older stock. I wish one had been preserved, they'd be so cool to look at!

NGR Class C:

Last but certainly not least, these behemoths of South Africa once again prove that somehow, the former Cape Colony was at the forefront of wheel arrangement innovation. It's a 4-10-2T. It was built in 1899, alongside the GWR Bulldog class! These things were massive... and eventually rebuilt to 4-8-2T locomotives. But there were 137 of them built, making them the most numerous of the 4-10-2 type locomotive ever constructed.

I want all of these engines. I would love to know more about them, I would love to own one (in model form) and I am going to love continuing my journey through railway history to find more random, interesting locomotives to share.

And as usual, all images belong to their respective owners.

[cock-holliday]

Hi Mr cock sir, I am wondering what you think would be a reasonable solution to the I/P conflict?

Obviously the genocide must end, Gaza must have full access to all goods and services, Israeli military occupation has to stop, Palestinians must have full rights to land ownership/employment/movement/education/etc, and Palestinians need full proportionate representation & participation in whatever state governs them.

But like….how do you think that could reasonably be organized? The Israeli government and military should stand judgement for war crimes, but also i think the internet leftist takes of “lol every Israeli should just die/relocate somewhere else” are not only stupid but kind of disturbing.

While there are several proposed models, most suggestions include three fundamental principles:

1. The decolonised and de-racialised state will no longer be defined as exclusively Israeli/Jewish, and will also not come to be defined as exclusively Palestinian.

2. The new state will grant equal citizenship to all the inhabitants of the land regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or religion.

3. All Palestinian refugees will have the right to return to their homeland as full citizens.

This is the only scenario that can prevent Israel from achieving its dream of establishing a single apartheid state in historic Palestine and allow all inhabitants of these lands to live their lives freely, peacefully, and with dignity.

——

There is always the fear that releasing the stranglehold on your subjugated people will result in them being as savage back to you as you were to them—or worse.

That does not mean that it is not the answer. Many Israelis even agree with this proposal. Shitty leftists looking for an excuse to be shitty would do it without this discussion and should be combatted. Any attempts to dehumanize and to shift the gears of oppression onto the oppressor should be fought against.

This principle, essentially:

Decolonization is a struggle connecting many many fights, not just in Israel. The US should also fight for decolonization. As should Canada, Australia—hell, across Europe. The global south is still struggling to break free of colonial empires, and the peoples who remain in the global north that survived extinction are still fighting this same fight.

There is a reason Ireland is so vocal in support of Palestinian liberation—they are fighting for liberation too! If you support Land Back in the US, there is no reason to not support Palestinian sovereignty.

The French have been turning out in the streets for Palestine, many of them fresh from a battle with cops over the murder of a child that is the result of France’s continued colonization of Africa.

The question of displacement is difficult, no doubt Israelis will get displaced on some level, and it would come down to a localized effort to figure out where to draw the line. There are plenty of Israelis who were born under occupation and have lived in their same house always and relatively avoided conflict.

Just as frequently, settlers participated in the hands-on action of stealing property. Aided by the IOF, settlers would forcibly remove or kill the homeowners and squat in these homes to claim them. Would settlers who stood to benefit tremendously also flee the country to avoid facing any backlash or relinquishing of privileges? Absolutely. I fully expect decolonization would result in enough migration ranging from reluctant to effective expulsion.

The reality is that decolonization would not be the beginning of expulsion or displacement. 42% of Palestinians who still remain have been displaced since Oct 7th. There have been countless displacements since the Nakba. I do not think the question is no displacement or displacement, but rather relentless displacement vs trying to limit displacement while allowing Palestinians to return.

In the immediate aftermath of the brutal American Civil War, white people were not purged from the South. However, plantation owners sure did lose their houses, an entire industry collapsed, and many people were ‘displaced.’ The question remains, when you build a mansion on the bones of the people you killed, is it ‘fair’ for you to stay there?

The fear that all Israelis will be displaced to make room for Palestinians also makes the assumption that all Israelis are against Palestine and want Palestinian subjugation. That Israelis haven’t fought against the IDF, that all Jewish Israelis side with the government, that no anarchist or leftist or liberationist Israelis exist, and that Israeli means “Jewish.” Palestinians do not want to purge Israelis—actual decolonization should not and would not be an excuse for mass displacement.

The other issue is that Israel wants Palestinian destruction (and so does the US) and will not and has not responded well to liberation efforts—in short, decolonization is not possible without violent struggle. But to not resist is to die from Israeli brutality anyway. Resistence is not the beginning of the violence, but perhaps also an end to a lot of it.

I do not think any solution will result in rainbows and peace on earth. One solution is the difficult, grim, and violent struggle for freedom and decolonization, the other is annihilation of Palestinians. But like with all struggles for freedom, another world is possible and the fight for liberation is always worth it.

So I support decolonization.