#immigrants and the countries that allowed them in...?? how could that happen ha ha

[0ystercatcher]

mass venezuelan immigration into the rest of latam is causing so much havoc lol

[gremlingottoosilly]

in if you need to be mean, would the reader ever try to escape? and if she did, how would konig react? thinking about like, she planned for a few months how would she escape him, and she feels very conflicted bc she loves him, but she wants freedom and thats the only thing konig would never give her. so when hes away she takes the car and just goes. i dont know where, but shes so desperate te be free again to do whatever she likes without him hovering and always by her side trying to control what she does! would he feel sad? would he be devastated? would he go after her? i know that theres like a 1% chance of it happening but im so curious about how he would react and how it would change their relationship.

anyway, love your fanfics gremlin you're a genius!!! 🫶

Konig made everything in his power to prevent her from escaping without locking her up and breaking her legs, but it doesn't mean he won't do it.

He refuses to let her study German because he moved her to this foreign country without her knowing the language, and he specifically chose a distant tiny town in the middle of the Austrian woods, where not a lot of people know English and therefore, it would be hard for her to communicate. She doesn't have his car keys or a driver's license, he didn't leave her a lot of cash, so she forced to use his cards with updates of withdrawal and spending sent to his account, and she also just has a dependant visa that wouldn't allow her to do independent anyway. Her only way would be speaking to the police and hoping that they would start the investigation. It would be really hard because, well, Austria doesn't really care about immigrant's problems unless it's an international scandal, and Konig would know anyway - because he has cameras in the house, which he doesn't even hide, and if the investigation would die down, or his girl wouldn't go to the police, he wouldn't really break the contract and run to her immediately. He has quite a few friends around, especially if Krueger or Klaus are around and not on deployment with him, so he could ask them to go and visit his...wife. She is scared and a bit hysterical because of the foreign country, so she can tell weird things about kidnapping and escaping, they shouldn't listen to her! Konig won't be so nice when he returns. He really wanted to play this fantasy of having cute little housewife, nice house and a girl that is absolutely in love with him. He knows that you like him, at least, that you didn't want to escape, you're just silly! He infantilised you before, mostly because of the age difference, but it would be even harsher now. You are not allowed to leave the house, he often simply locks you in the bedroom so you won't have anything to do besides waiting for him to return with groceries and fuck you into the mattress. He didn't want to break you leg, but if you keep resisting, he might kinda push you a bit further. He would assign you a no-nonsense older caretaker so you would have company and help while your leg is broken! She also thinks that you have some sort of weird mental illness that made you paranoid and afraid of your husband, so you can't even get help from her. You can forget about going out while he is on deployment either. And he is very reluctant to let you out, even with him, the first few months after your attempted escape. The world is too dangerous for you anyway,

[jewreallythinkthat]

How can Israel be allowed to exist after citizens literally rioted over the fact that IDF soldiers might be punished for raping a prisoner? And after government officials defended that rape? Not to mention those who repeatedly blocked aid going into Gaza with no punishment.

Hi Nonnie.

Firstly, thanks for actually posing this as a question rather than just hurling abuse at me.

So, having extremists in a country - both civilians and in government - does not mean that a country has no right to exist. We literally have had fascist riots in the UK (caused by the English Defence League) the past few days based around misinformation which have targeted mosques and these are horrific but do not mean the UK should be dissolved. Expecting a country which does things that are bad, or has horrific fascists in government to be dissolved as punishment is not only nonsensical but also never going to happen. It's an ideological purity position which does nothing to help anyone.

Additionally, you never see anyone saying Iran should be dissolved for torturing women to death for wearing the hijab incorrectly, or hanging people who say things the regime doesn't like; you don't see people say the USA should be dissolved because lawmakers tried to stop aid going to Ukraine and ICE were putting children in cages and tormenting asylum seekers and immigrants. You cannot hold Israel to a higher standard than other countries.

In terms of what I've seen about the rape of prisoners, it's fucking horrific. It's unconscionable and must be condemned unequivocally - no ifs, no buts. This is a especially important topic to me personally as a man who has been sexually assaulted. The government ministers protecting them are far right extremists. They are awful people and I hope one day, soon, they will face severe consequences for their actions. The same goes for the civilians who tried to protect the perpetrators.

Those blocking aid should be punished for it. The aid situation is actually really quite complicated despite what a lot of online sources they to portray it as. The Standing Together food convoys being blocked was pretty much a manufactured issue by ST refusing to comply with rules about declaring and clearing aid so it could be sent in. They knew it would be blocked and they did it anyway. (There is a post about this from an ex member of ST which is around somewhere and I'll link back here if I find it).

The nationalist extremist citizens blocking aid are despicable however if they are saying "no aid in until our hostages come out" do you understand why they might take that viewpoint? I do not agree with it but I certainly can see why people might get to that position. I appreciate the whole of Gaza is in crisis however I can understand why people may see this as their only way to protest and try and force Hamas to release hostages (unfortunately it seems like Hamas cares even less about the lives of the average Palestinian than they do about the average Israeli.)

The fact that Hamas also steels aid, there are literal videos of this happening and Hamas attacking starving Gazans trying to get the food, and this goes ignored by so many people does not help. Now I would say that if 90% of the aid is stolen by Hamas, at least 10% gets through and that's better than nothing in my opinion but at the same time, if no one is condemning the aid being stolen and in some cases sold back to Gazans at huge prices to make more money for Hamas, then whats the point in trying to have a civil conversation.

If someone refuses to see that there are Terrible People on both sides, people who really showcase how low humanity can sink, then how can sustainable peace ever be achieved for Israelis and Palestinians.

[gryficowa]

I'm going crazy, they want to strengthen this wall on the Polish-Belarusian border, they seriously want to kill everyone trapped on the border

I'm fed up with this country, it will destroy itself with its reborn fascism, it's clear that Donald Trump has played too hard on Polish politicians and I hate it

Why has bullying Muslims become so fucking fashionable?

Poland, USA, UK and Israel, and there's probably more and it pisses me off, but I'm powerless because I have ASD and social phobia, which means I can't even rebel like others, I'm not Greta, I'm someone who is terrified of crowds and I would die on the spot if I had to go on strike with other people in the real world

But I can't pretend that nothing bad is happening here, I'm not silent about the border, Poles, Palestine and other important things, just because I can't physically fight doesn't mean I can't show my frustration in another way

Why are all my attempts to publicize what is happening at the border abroad not working? Are these Muslims less important than the Palestinians and Sudanese?

People were deceived by Lukashenko that he would help them, they were imprisoned, the border guards from both countries abuse them, they do not allow help and they destroyed their phones so that they could not communicate, it is terrible, and the worst is that many right-wingers are supports (And the pro-life wanted to shoot these people)

I remember there was a post (or rather a tweet) about a woman with a cat who was trapped at the border, people laughed like today Israelis laugh at children dying from their bombs, it's terrible that we live in these times, although other leftists talked about the returning fascism and people laughed at them and it hurts

I saw how people attacked them and when they fled from the Taliban they took their children with them because it was irresponsible (Yes, you heard right, people are terrible)

I see the same thing with Israelis (specifically with Zionist views), laughing or attacking families because their child is not at home, or is at home because the Israeli army kidnapped him, people have lost the trait of empathy and it hurts

How many times have I heard that I am under leftist propaganda, or just stupid, because they treat "Bad illegal immigrants" as people + They spread propaganda that these people force you to cry, yes, they are so disgusting

If it turns out that these bastards supporting the border guard suddenly turn out to support Palestine, I will be disgusted by the hypocrisy of these people, I'm sorry, but I hate two-faced people and I say that straight

Yes, I'm fed up with this world, I'm fed up with people in my country using gashlighing to tell me that I'm wrong, that what's happening is wrong and shouldn't be considered normal, my country has been imprisoning people since 2021 borderline and I hate it

If not about Muslims, then about LGBT+ people, because they are not people, but an ideology, so they need to be expelled, I hate it all, this country, which was a victim, has a problem like Israel, and this says something about what is happening, being a leftist in a nationalist country is a challenge because everyone looks at you like you're stupid and laughs at you, although what you say is true, it is the worst in this world, fascism is back and it will be almost impossible to eradicate it, and probably in many decades it will resurface again and find new victims

Poles are like Zionists, they don't listen to anyone because they consider themselves victims, so you have to respect them (And then they go with a billboard saying "Poland for Poles" or other racist shit), it's depressing that a country that survived the holocaust does this the same as the Third Reich, and then he has the nerve to criticize countries for the same shit as himself, it's disgusting and shows how fascism has been reborn, being a fascist has become fashionable and is considered "your own opinion" and the worst thing is that we are powerless because no one listens to us and we are ridiculed for telling the truth, seriously, in such times we live in

The very fact that we are repeating the same history, even though we were supposed not to, shows that we, humans, want extinction, which is terrifying because we should strive for change, but instead we want to go full circle and then it will probably happen again that we should not repeat it X events and repeat them as Y

We are selfish, we play with human life and then pretend that we care about it, we destroy the planet and exterminate endangered species, because after all, "Humans are better than animals", when animals rarely kill for entertainment

Poles and Israelis, you fucking deserve each other

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jay Kuo at The Big Picture:

In 2020, Trump launched his Big Lie about a stolen U.S. election. Through a conspiracy among Democrats, foreign countries, and nefarious, shadowy bad actors including innocent voting machine and voting software companies, so the theory went, Joe Biden had managed to switch millions of votes and win his election illegally, making him an illegitimate president. It was such an audacious, almost laughable lie that historians and political scientists dubbed it Trump’s “Big Lie”—one so outrageous and so stunning in its implications that it somehow has to be true, at least in the minds of his followers. Now, in 2024, Trump is back at it again. On top of his original Big Lie, Trump is now pushing a 2024 version for the upcoming election: that illegal immigrants will be voting in numbers by the millions, rendering any result other than a Trump victory yet another fraud upon the American people.

Undocumented migrants aren’t allowed to vote in this country, and there are already laws on the books covering that. And there have been very few documented cases of non-citizens voting, certainly not enough to change the outcome of a national election. Nevertheless, recently House Speaker Mike Johnson made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to stand beside Donald Trump and proclaim that they were united in their resolve to pass a new law to prevent non-citizens from voting, never mind that there’s already such a law on the books and that such fraud rarely ever happens. Their actions are of course performative, meant to plant dangerous seeds that could grow into even more dangerous lies. In today’s piece, I’ll explore this newest attack and how Trump is hoping to spin it into The Big Lie 2024 style.

Existing law already outlaws non-citizen voting

Last week, when Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to Mar-a-Lago to seek Trump’s support, it felt eerily familiar. It’s become a rite of passage for GOP House Speakers to make the journey to bend the knee to Trump. We all remember the photo of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy standing supportively by Trump just months after the deadly attack on the Capitol that Trump helped incite. Like McCarthy, Johnson’s speakership hangs by a thread these days, with the far right ready to decapitate yet another GOP leader for having failed to toe the line, this time for Russia by denying critical aid to Ukraine. Trump’s support of Johnson came with a price, of course, because Trump is always transactional in his dealings. In this case, it was a pledge by Johnson to support a bill to clamp down on the alleged crisis in non-citizen voting. [...]

What the right claims about “illegal” immigrant voting

The idea that millions of undocumented migrants will cast ballots in 2024 and help steal the election for Biden is objectively far-fetched. But it taps into far deeper fears of brown- and black-skinned people taking over America in something broadly known as the Great Replacement Theory. The Great Replacement Theory is a racist ideology that falsely warns that migrants who don’t speak our language and don’t share our values are deliberately being let into the U.S. so that Jews and other Democrats can turn them into millions of future voters. This process will allegedly displace “white” Americans politically and economically. Right-wing amplifiers of this include Tucker Carlson (formerly of Fox News) and Elon Musk, owner of the X platform. This is by no means a recent theory. Waves of immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe sparked the same unfounded fears and conspiracies in the 19th and 20th centuries with respect to the “replacement” of more established “Northern European” Americans. But recent conspiracies around migrants have shortened the timeline of the Great Replacement and are warning that the hordes of desperate asylum seekers crossing into America now will be deployed this November to unlawfully tip the election to Biden. 

[...]

It’s crucial to call this out and push back

When Trump began attacking mail-in voting in 2020, claiming falsely and without evidence that mailed ballots were vulnerable, easily tampered with, and unreliable, it should have clued us in that he would reject the results of the 2020 election if they were unfavorable to him. We also should have known that Trump would exploit the “red mirage” created when Election Day ballots, which would favor the GOP, were counted before the mailed ballots, which would favor the Democrats. Trump would go on to demand that the vote counting stop while he was still ahead, even though millions of mailed ballots remained to be counted. We now already know that a main attack by Trump and the MAGA GOP will be upon the ballot counts, particularly in battleground states with high numbers of migrants whom he will claim voted illegally by the millions. This necessitates preemptive action.

Donald Trump, GOP politicians, and right-wing media commentators are pushing the lie that noncitizen voters will get Joe Biden re-elected, never mind the fact that noncitizens aren’t allowed to vote in federal elections. This is part of the right-wing’s white nationalist “great replacement” theory shtick.

See Also:

MMFA: Right-wing media figures are citing a Spanish-language flyer of dubious origin as evidence that Democrats are importing new voters to “rig” elections

[dragoneyes618]

There’s a popular slogan in Israel that appears on car stickers, jewelry and suchlike: Ein Li Eretz Acheret, “I have no other country.” The phrase comes from the title of an iconic and extremely moving song written by Ehud Manor, with music composed by Corinne Allal, and originally recorded in 1986 by Gali Atari; we will mention those names again later. Its opening lines and chorus are Ain li eretz acharet, gam im admati bo’eret, “I have no other country, even if my land is burning.”

A neighbor of mine, who was experiencing considerable war anxiety about the land burning, told me that he didn’t relate to it at all. He said, “But I do have another country. I can go back to Teaneck!” And he said that if things got worse, he would seriously consider doing so.

At the beginning of the war, I was wondering the same thing. I do have another country – two, actually. I have UK citizenship and my wife has U.S. citizenship, and our children have both. Maybe we should go back to live somewhere safer? One of the commentators on the previous post was talking about Lakewood as being a safe and excellent place to live with a rich Jewish life.

Now I could continue by talking about how special and beneficial it is to live in Israel, about how it’s both the Promised Land and our historic homeland, about how it’s the only country with Jewish sovereignty. Which would all be true. But there’s a different point that I want to discuss in this post.

Yes, I do have another country that I could go to (though it wouldn’t be at all straightforward, especially for my children). So do lots of people in Ramat Beit Shemesh and the rest of Israel.

But there’s also lots and lots and lots of people who don’t.

There are millions of Jews in Israel who just don’t have anywhere else to go. There are those who simply don’t have the money for it and would find it too difficult to find employment in a country where they don’t even speak the language. There are those who are too old or ill or who have young children that would suffer from a move. There are those who have crucial responsibilities here. There are those who are just too deeply embedded here.

Even more to the point, there are also millions of Jews who literally don’t have any passport other than their Israeli one. What other country will let them in? The Jews who came from Iran and Egypt and Syria and Yemen are certainly not able to go back to those countries! Nor are Russia and many European countries a safe place for Jews. And even countries which are relatively safe and allow some immigration are not going to accept millions of Jews (and if they did, those countries would likely quickly become not very safe for Jews).

In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why Israel came to exist in the first place. As antisemitism grew in Europe, many Jews realized that they needed to get out, but simply had nowhere to go. Twenty years before the Holocaust, at least 100,000 Jews were massacred in pogroms in the Ukraine, which also created 600,000 Jewish international refugees and millions more who were displaced and threatened.

At this point, many people realized that an even greater catastrophe might happen. But the countries to which the largest numbers of Jewish refugees were fleeing all revised their immigration policies to prevent further Jewish immigration. This included not only Poland and Germany (which obviously wouldn’t have been a good long-term solution anyway), but also the United States, Argentina, and British Palestine. In the U.S., Henry Ford’s newspaper published pamphlets about the Jewish problem, claiming that the national debt was Jewish-inspired to enslave Americans and other such hateful slurs to keep Jews out.

Then things got even worse in Europe, with the rise of Hitler. Some people managed to get out. The parents of Ehud Manor, writer of Ain Li Eretz Acheret, fled Belarus and managed to get into Palestine.

Yet still no country was willing to take in millions of Jews. The U.S. convened the Évian conference, bringing together 32 countries to find a home for Jewish refugees. But aside from the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, no country, including the U.S., was willing to accept Jewish refugees in any remotely significant number. Consequently, millions of Jews were killed in Europe.

And even after the horrors of the Holocaust, many Jewish survivors still had nowhere to go! Some of them went back to their home towns in Poland and were killed in a pogrom. Others languished in Displaced Persons camps for years, some of which were actually in concentration camps. My late mother-in-law spent the first years of her life in a DP camp; her parents were lucky enough to have a relative in the U.S. who eventually managed to bring them over, but most Jews did not have such an option.

Many Jews, very understandably, realized that a Jewish homeland was needed. It wasn’t about it necessarily being the safest place for a Jew to live. Everyone always knew that Palestine was in a hostile and dangerous part of the world, and that there would be a challenge with the resident Arabs (though it was generally assumed that some sort of compromise would be worked out; there was no broad plan to drive them out). And on the eve of the War of Independence, it was assessed that there was only a 50-50 chance of survival!

Israel has not yet been, and still is not, the safest place in the world for Jews. But not everyone has the option to live in the safest place in the world – many people just need somewhere that is safer than where they currently live. And in any case, having a homeland is not about attaining the greatest safety – it is about having a home, a place that Jews historically belong, a place that Jews can always come to when they fear persecution or experience discrimination, where we can take responsibility for our own safety, and where we can put being Jewish into action and expression.

While Israel won the War of Independence – at a cost of 1% of its population – this created a crisis for nearly a million Jews in Muslim countries, who were persecuted and had to make immediate use of Israel as a refuge. The parents of Gali Atari, singer of Ain Li Eretz Acheret, fled Yemen for Israel, while composer Corinne Allal’s family fled from Tunisia. But it should be born in mind that even if Israel had not come into existence, the existence of Jews in Muslim lands was difficult and very precarious.

And so we reach the situation that we are in today. Israel is home to over seven million Jews. Most of them do not have another country to go to, even if they wanted to (which they don’t). Ain lahem eretz acheret.

(As Haviv Rettig Gur notes, this is the fundamental mistake made by many Palestinians and their supporters, who believe that they can rid of the Jews with violence just as the Algerians successfully used violence to get the French colonialists to go back to France. They don’t grasp that most Jews just don’t have a country to go back to, and thus violence won’t achieve anything and will even be counter–productive.)

Now, there are some Jews who only look at things in terms of their own personal interests. “Where is a safe place for me to live? What is a spiritually safe environment for my children?” And if, as a result, others are less safe physically and spiritually and have to take on an even larger cost to their families and jobs and religious life, then that’s just too bad.

But others feel a sense of responsibility to the rest of our people. It’s not “me” and “them” – it’s us. The correct formulation is not ain li eretz acharet or ain lahem eretz acharet. It’s ain lanu eretz acheret.

Millions of Jews need Israel. And Israel needs a strong army and a strong economy to finance it and a flourishing national Jewish life. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to help with that.

[torc87]

About "Go back to where you came from" and "Ashkenazi Jews are European" ideology

So, I am a Russian born Jew who lived in the US since I was a child. Let me ask you a question.

If tomorrow I move to Ireland and have children born there (w another Russian born Jew to be clear), would those children be able to claim Irish heritage?

Mind, they would be raised in Ireland, go to Irish schools, but they wouldn't celebrate St.Patricks day or Christmas, or Easter or speak Gaelic or believe in fairies or have a personal familial connection to the years of Irish famine, which is a Big trauma I'm Irish history.

So, if they claimed their heritage to be Irish, would they be? Would they feel Irish? Would you consider them to be telling the truth if they claimed to have a connection to Ireland and so they could use Celtic myths and speak w authority about issues like Britain/Ireland? No?

Ok. What about their children? ( Provided they also married into the same community of Russian born Jews? ) When would they be indigenous to Ireland?

Keep in mind, the amount of cultural mixing happening currently is way more than 80 yrs ago when Jews went to separate schools, had separate jobs, had separate religious ergo social institutions. There was far more of a cultural difference in the past bc Jews were not majorly assimilated as now.

So how many generations would it take now for my descendants to be considered of Irish heritage? W a claim to Irish land? Able to call themselves the Irish People?

So I know the answer for my great grandparents. Despite being born in Belarus and Ukraine they were not considered those peoples. How do I know? Their birth certificates said Jew. In contrast w those that said Ukrainian. Or Belorussian. So did my grandparents - born in Ukraine or Moscow. So did mine, for all that at least four generations on both sides were born in Soviet Union countries, and me in Moscow, my birth certificate in the 80s said Jew as my nationality.

I can't really trace back much further than my great grandparents' parents but I think before that we must have come from Germany - the last names all sound German - and we weren't Germans there either bc German children got to go to school. Jewish children did not, which was why there was a migration to Russia.

I know my family wasn't considered German by Russia bc at the time all immigrants lived in enclaves of their own peoples. Germans lived together - Russian rules. My family did not live in a German enclave. They lived in the part of the land where Jews were allowed to live.

So for the past 4-5 generations my family wasn't considered Russian. They weren't considered German.

They had no heritage or claim to being from those lands.

If they weren't from those lands, then were were they from?

Where were they native to?

How is it that despite the past five generations of my family not being considered European ( West European) I am suddenly expected to think of myself as such?

Despite them not being accepted or treated like Europeans, despite them being othered, despite them having no native ties to the archaeology or myths or beliefs of the peoples living in that land, I am suddenly to think of myself as a European?

My mother lived 30 years in Russia before we got refugee status in the US. She has never, in her life, thought of herself as Russian. No religious connection or much knowledge of Judaism ( soviet union forbade religion so she never prayed, barely believes in a god, doesn't know the rituals) She speaks of us and of them. Of us not being welcome there. Of the difference in mentality. And if I went to a Russian now and said I was Russian and then said, Russian Jewish, there would be a distinction. I wouldn't be Really Russian. My identity would not be considered Russian.

And despite all that, we are to think of ourselves as European?

After leaving western Europe as refugees? After being unwelcome there? Other there? After it being made clear to us that there is a difference btwn us and them?

And don't forget, we tried to fit in. We celebrate New Year's like any Russian, we didn't go to synagogue, or pray, we went on political communist marches like everyone else. We dressed and ate like everyone else - if I suggest not eating bacon my family will laugh me out of the house.

But we weren't Russian. Not in their eyes. And not in ours.

I think what a lot of people screaming that Ahkenazi Jews are European fail to understand is that Europe is not America.

I am an immigrant. I feel American. My passport says American. My sister was born here - she will think of herself as an American from birth and what celebrations or foods or dress she has won't matter bc America accepts cultural diversity without delegitimizing the claim to American culture. Bc everyone except for Native Americans is an immigrant and there are so Many cultures that the main identity stays American. Bc there is no concept of American heritage bc there are So many immigrants, no indigenous claim to the land unless you are Native, it works differently than in Europe.

Here, everyone is different so the differences don't matter as much.

Europe? Majority share a culture and a heritage in most countries. Not just a language, that can be learned, but a past. And those who do not share that past will not fit in. Will not be fully accepted if they act on those differences at all.

Think of the protests in France bc the Muslims are not assimilating. Are following their own traditions. Are they considered fully French? Or is half of France terrified they will defile the true French culture?

Being of a country is more than being born there. It's feeling a connection to the land, feeling like it's past is shared. Feeling like you can claim that identity and the heritage is yours for good or ill.

Ashkenazi Jews can't claim that for the countries their families came from. Weren't ALLOWED to be a part of those countries.

So don't try to change the past now. Ideas of who is European and who can claim that may have changed - there's more movement and immigration now, more acceptance of it, but it's too little too late.

A people who were kicked out or ran from Europe cannot and will not be considered the same as the peoples who forced them to leave ...or die.

I am not Russian. I am not Western European. Not while my birth certificate says my race is Jewish. Which ...it's going to say that for my entire life. So no, I won't accept suddenly being forced to accept a heritage denied to me before just bc it's more convenient to your ideology to think of me that way.

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

The rescent riots in the UK are despicable (but sadly not surprising).

Yes, what happened to those little girls is a tradgey, but the person who was responsible wasn't an asylum seeker, and even if he was, that would NOT excuse the racism displayed these past few weeks.

The people taking part clearly don't care about the safety of children as they're, scaring other people's & indoctrinationating their own into perpetuating racist acts.

Seven years is a lot, though! Then don't fucking join a hate group.

But the non white people are being violent too! Yeah, well, that tends to happen when you attack people. I'm not going to hate on people for standing up for themselves.

They're taking our jobs! Why do you believe that those jobs are YOURS? Are you actually qualified & able to make a good impression on bosses, or do you think just being white should be enough.

They don't work! Well Asylum seekers litrually aren't allowed to until their case gose through but plenty of other POC have jobs (I know you've seen them though it must be hard to make them out through that fog of hatred) & I've met plenty of white people who don't want to (no hate to those who can't because of disability or mental health issues) or loose jobs because they're just overall terrible employees (some of the shit I've seen middle aged white people do at their jobs is crazy).

They're all criminals! Well, that's just not true now is it plus it's been proven multiple times that the biggest factor in crime is poverty, NOT race & again I've encountered plenty of white people who've broken the law yet most didn't seem to get more than a slap on the wrist (if that). Strange, that isn't it?

Well, "those kinds" of men hate women! Ahh, yes, because there's never been white rapists, woman killers, stalkers or harrasers. Its been proven that hating women is a problem in all races & and sadly, the biggest threat to us is usually our own partners or family, not some random aylsum seeker (who if they do hurt women tend to go after the ones from their own community).

They're not from here! Ok, so I don't know if anyone told you, but you can actually be born here without being white and you can't ban people from a country just because of the colour of their skin. Also, neither was half my family, yet we never get told to go back to our own country. Hmm, I wonder if our white skin could possibly have anything to do with that.

They can't speak English! A lot of them are multilingual, actually (& you make fun of their accents) & for the ones who can't well you seem to hate them getting anything (such as English lessons) for free. Also, how many Brits go abroad despite refusing to learn absolutely anything about other countries (there's a reason we're known as disrespectful, violent, sex obsessed, drunks by most of the world).

Also sooner or later we are going to have to accept that a lot of the issues that make immigrants flee their home countries are caused (or at least made worse) by ours & other Western governments.

This country definitely has problems, but we should be taking them up with politicians & their rich mates. Who are the ones actually hording wealth made from the exploitation of the poor, not random people of colour who are just trying to live their lives.

[ivettel]

RARELY DOES WANDERING ON TWITTER send me into a more reflective mood. but, you know, with all the people saying one needs to be part of a certain country to be angry about racism against the people of that country (and wow, that's a mouthful), together with some thoughts already swirling in my head from reading r.f. kuang's yellowface, i'm thinking: in such a globalized world where asian people can lead completely different cultural lives, who gets to be the representative voices to other people?

gets to, mind--not has the right, or deserves. i think there's a very important distinction between all the terms you could possibly use. some of them imply an inherent possession, like a kind of exclusive club that one can be a member of just by being born the right (or wrong) way. some imply a forceful taking of power, a (re)claiming of sorts, with almost a tyrannical nature to the words.

-

MY CANADIAN-ASIAN FRIENDS AND I are a mix of first and second gen immigrants from east asia, south-east asia, india, etc. we frequently find ourselves talking about diversity and the like, real nerd ass shit (quote unquote) you get from mashing people in the media literacy publication together to talk about media literacy and publications. think socratic seminar, except peppered in with gen-z cringe and (un?)ironic r/im14andthisisdeep.

but for the last four or so years, a more serious thread of convo has always been picked up, that being: are we even allowed to position ourselves as voices of authority on racial matters? are we allowed to, when our particular lived experiences in this country of privilege mean we've lost touch with part of the homeland? after all, points out a vietnamese friend, i never had to live in fear for my life on a boat. then, being a conversation we've rehashed time and time again, we talk in circles.

of course you have a right to speak on the lived vietnamese experience. sure you do, you just don't have an all-encompassing viewpoint. don't act like you know everything, which you're already doing.

and it's so easy among immigrants like us to say shit like that. to say, yeah, i'm from here, but my family's from there. to say, no, i don't speak my people's tongue and be met with understanding. it's like asian-canadianness is its own culture, further alienating us from the cultures back overseas. and that's not necessarily a bad thing: it means it's okay to leave a conversation among us at that intersection of nuance, where yeah, you have an experience, and it might not be The Experience, but it's still something valuable.

when it comes to other people, however, things get messy. they always want to box you in beyond the boxes you sit yourself in.

-

"I'M SO SORRY FOR EVERYTHING my country has done to yours," says a son of parents from mainland china who didn't immigrate over, but instead sent their child to canada in the hopes that he could obtain a special-looking, foreign degree, and come back home.

he's a doe-eyed, earnest looking guy, well-meaning in his tone and the way he wrings his hands, like he's really very sorry. he's all but accosted me at a film event i'm hosting for the union. i'm decked out in CUPE colours, trying to handle talking to two other people at once, feeling frazzled and more machine than human, the way i'm running this event tightly, no wiggle room for big errors.

he's happened to overhear me offhandedly telling someone that my mom is from hong kong, and he looks like he's two seconds away from crying unless i tell him on the spot that i forgive him.

i don't forgive him. i don't know how. i don't know if i'm allowed to.

it's an incredibly strange feeling, to be looked at like you could be somebody's salvation. not even anyone in my string of exes ever looked at me like that, like if i said, don't worry about it, he could go home to china and say, the hongkongers understand. like anybody outside could understand the magnitude of violence that shook hong kong in 2019 and 2020.

i tell him, "i don't blame the people, i blame the government and greed." because it's true, i don't think the everyday working man in shanghai wanted to bring hong kong to its knees. i don't think the high schooler in beijing trying to make it past their big national exams wanted to make it rain blood over tsim sha tsui. i tell him, "besides, my dad is from taiwan, so i'm not even fully hongkonger."

which is the wrong move, because he goes ashen, and shoves his stupid doe-eyes in my face again, and insists: i'm so, so sorry.

i can't forgive him. i can't not.

what has he ever done except understand that the mainland holds my two home countries at bombpoint?

what have i ever done except grow up white?

-

MAYBE IT'S ONLY SPRING, BUT it feels like summer, and a family friend from hong kong is sitting across from me in a restaurant with her eyes downcast while she picks at the hem of her thick hoodie.

i haven't seen her in ages. i've only barely kept up with her through social media. her mom and my mom were in nursing school together, roommates and best friends. her mom was the kind of girl to get all the guys, to date all the time and fool around and be the top of the class, while my mom studied her ass off and stayed average. (and mom always says that she never resented her best friend, but i know. oh, i know.)

it's her first time out of hong kong for the last six or seven years. she's changed so drastically, i think i only recognize her face.

put yourself in my sixteen year-old shoes for a second. when i was in high school, she was one of the coolest people i knew: a female percussionist fresh out of some prestigious music conservatory in england, a basketball lover, a confident and self-assured kind of woman, worlds away from the people in my little home city of halifax.

now, when i look at her, her body language is distinctly withdrawn and uncomfortable, and her eyes keep flicking over at the myriad of pretty white people around us, who unnerve the rest of our table as well. i want to say, girl, you chose this restaurant. we could be eating good food right now. i keep my mouth shut. the only thing she does with determination is order a steak and some trendy cocktail. she doesn't ask me about my life. she doesn't open up about anything. it feels like an interview more than a conversation.

we're not even fifteen minutes into seeing each other when the revolution is brought up, and her whole demeanour changes. her mom's whole demeanour changes too. i know secondhand that they've lost almost everything in the ensuing fallout, that they've had to scrape by to find menial work they're far too outqualified for. the country should still be fine for tourists if you ever want to visit, she offers. lots of sightseeing.

i pretend not to read into it too much, but i know exactly what she's saying, and so does my mom, if the look i get is any indication.

you're not really one of us.

-

"CAN I ASK YOUR OPINION," says my mom, interrupting me while i'm slurping away at my udon like a fucking pro. this is possibly the cleanest i've ever consumed the noodles, barely spilling a drop of broth. (probably because i'm not blogging with one hand while i blindly grab at everything with my chopsticks in the other, but whatever.) beside me, my sister is scrolling through some webtoon, her bowl empty.

i bear the interruption and make a sound, something like an inelegant, "ah?"

mom has her eyes closed, her head bowed like she's seriously thinking. at this point, i'm pretty sure she's going to ask me about some social etiquette faux pas she thinks she's in the right about, again, and god, sometimes, she's so pretentious, it makes me want to give her attitude like i'm the teenager in the room.

but she surprises me and asks: "do you look down on mainland china?"

i'm half joking when i say, "fobs or real mainlanders?"

fresh off the boat, if you're not aware of the slang. refers to new immigrants from the mainland. usually sweating money, can be found noisily revving their custom sports cars, or walking around in groups like some pantomime of an italian mafia, outwardly radiating regina george mean girls vibes like they're paid to do it.

at least, that's how they're usually thought of. i've always seen them more as schools of fish trying to navigate together, almost as though they're establishing a bit of connection in a place that seems to abhor it.

i don't begrudge them for the things they do. white people are fucking terrifying, especially when you don't speak english very well, and they treat you like you're subhuman. the way they're visibly stifling an eye-roll, the way their voices get that particular edge to it, like you're testing their patience, like you're wasting their time. like they're thinking, just learn the goddamn language we use, it's not that hard. like people learning english aren't already trying.

luckily, mom is still deep in contemplation. her best friend, she explains, looks down on the mainlanders. thinks they're filthy pigs for being china chinese, thinks that knowing mandarin means you're not sticking it to the man, that everybody there is a mindless drone, and it's just not true.

(and never mind that taiwanese people speak mandarin. it's really frustrating that taiwan is always just another pawn in a larger chess game, a convenient argument to use or put away as necessary, by china or by the usa or by our own allies in hong kong.)

"it's not true," my mom repeats. "a new immigrant works in my lab, and she's very open-minded."

i don't bother pointing out that there's probably some sampling bias going on.

the real truth is, i get it: when your identity has been taken away from you, when there's a conflict between who you are and what people assign to you, you'll do anything to establish some sort of authority, change the story for yourself.

china used to be a partner. now it's an oppressor. (it's always been an oppressor for people like my dad, my grandparents, my uncle and aunt and extended family who fled with the gmd and never turned back.) chinese used to be an ethnicity thing. now it's a dirty word.

-

I'M GETTING ON THE PLANE back to nova scotia, and the white, middle-aged lady in the middle seat of my row looks nervously at me.

"will you be sitting here?" she gestures timidly at the window seat. i don't think i'm particularly scary, but maybe the mercedes jacket adds a bit of drama to my otherwise basic outfit.

everybody around me is white too, as per. c'mon, it's nova fucking scotia. they're also looking at me, because i'm holding up the last bit of the line, and what else is there to do while you wait for people to get settled.

i pitch my voice up, lean into my inner white girl private school character real fucking good as i move and smile and explain that no, sorry! i'm in the aisle seat, so i s'pose we'll just plant ourselves here until whoever sitting there comes along.

and it's like there's a collective, invisible release of tension from the people around me, but especially from my seatmate, who immediately brightens. i strike up some bullshit convo about the weather, typical complaints about the airport, y'know. window seat arrives and gets settled. we don't speak for the rest of the flight. thankfully, in front of me is a karen kind of woman with a kid around my sister's age. she's a talkative one, and it's her voice and gerard way's that keep me from being bored for the next couple hours.

when we land, it's immediate emergency alerts, and the entire plane blares to life with shocking, disjointed alarm sounds. chatter erupts after, people discussing their ties to the place in the alert with their neighbourly strangers. i've always kind of loved how wholesome nova scotians can be, or the energy they can bring to non nova scotians--everybody knows everybody by a maximum of 4 degrees of separation around these parts.

middle seat is here for a business conference, so she doesn't actually know anything about the province when we all turn to talk. window seat and karen and i make suggestions on places to visit. karen teasingly calls me a haligonian.

i walk around the city i grew up in and make note of all the changes. i break my own heart, when i can't remember what buildings stood in the place of new condos, or pits of construction. i take photos of places i used to frequent and pray that they'll still be standing when i come back again. i'm starting to think i'm not haligonian anymore, either.

-

MARTIN BESTIE BRUNDLE SAYS AN ethnic slur on live television for one of the most popular sports in the world, in front of millions and millions of viewers.

i am not one of those millions, but it doesn't matter, because the news reaches me anyway. and i scroll and i scroll and by god, i've gotta go soon, but all i can think about is hong kong, and taiwan, and china, and of course, old white people have to step in and further complicate things.

it's not that i'm not chinese. i'm chinese like i was born with a cunt like i came into this world screaming despair in the early hours of veterans day, because the universe has a twisted sense of humour and said to me, just as i left the womb: baby, war is going to define the rest of your life.

but i'm not china chinese, and honestly, i don't know what i am. my experiences are enough to give me permission to be hurt. i don't know if they're enough to give me a voice.

despite this, i have a soapbox, and i use it anyway, and i use it liberally. i get to be mad on here. whether i'm deserving of this self-righteousness, whether i'm deserving of this voice that i've borrowed, is a different matter altogether.

[kitkatt0430]

So I'm finally watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and... I'm not sure how I feel about it thus far.

I do like Sam & Bucky's dynamic. Bucky being offended that Sam gave up the shield makes sense because Bucky misses Steve and is projecting things on to Sam. It's not fair, because Sam is his own person and deserves the chance to find himself first, but it's very human of Bucky to behave that way. Especially while he's struggling to make apologies to the people he hurt as the Winter Soldier, probably because he feels it's selfish to seek this catharsis for himself when it means dragging this pain up for them instead.

In turn Sam is also kinda projecting his feelings about Steve onto Bucky. Steve left Sam with a legacy he feels unsuited for, or at least unready for. Bucky is Sam's connection to Steve and he doesn't need Bucky piling on, making him feel guilty about giving up the shield when he already feels bad about it himself. At the same time he really wants to have a good working relationship with Bucky and be there for him in the way he can no longer be for Steve.

Their staring contest therapy is hysterical.

That said, their reaction to John Walker as the new Captain America was a major over reaction and kinda shitty. I get it. They feel like the only person who should be picking up the mantle of Captain America is one chosen by Steve Rogers or at least similar to him in some way. All John really has going for him is he has a very impressive military record. He's a good soldier, but he's not really the kind of person who Steve would have picked and he's got very little in common with Steve, though there are some things they do have in common that stick out.

John is very much suffering from gov officials making promises they didn't intend to keep. Sam gave up the shield with the promise it would be retired and instead the government chose a new Captain America to wield it. Which isn't a great look for the gov where the Avengers are concerned, but it's not exactly unexpected. Despite what Steve clearly believed, Captain America isn't a personal title for Steve Rogers alone... it's an honorary military title. (The fact that they didn't name a new Captain America while Steve was on the run still surprises me, tbh.) And the military is going to use everything at it's disposal to make itself look good which means passing on the mantle one way or another. Sam would've made good optics if he'd accepted and John makes for good optics for completely different reasons.

John was absolutely the wrong choice to be Captain America - honestly he kinda comes off as being in over his head after being picked for being a white guy who bears a superficial resemblance to Steve and has never been accused of terrorism... unlike Steve... which allowed for rehabilitating the Captain America 'brand' for the military. He probably could have made it with support but he gets none and I know from spoilers that Lemar is going to die, sending John over the edge not unlike how Steve reacted when he thought Bucky was in danger. So, you know... superficial resemblance but not entirely superficial.

Honestly, the next Captain America needed to be better than Steve and I could see Sam having that potential. John really just doesn't have it. But that doesn't make him a bad person - he really does seem to me that he's a good person trying his best and it's unfortunate his best isn't enough in this situation.

Anyway, Zemo and Sharon have shown up and I'm enjoying how these two are playing Sam and Bucky to varying degrees. Seriously boys, get your acts together.

So while I'm enjoying a lot of the character interactions overall... this is very much a case of strawman bad guys. Their goals are ultimately good - putting an end to border fanaticism and making immigration between all countries easier is something that very genuinely needs to happen - but their bad methods are used to pretend that increased, selfish nationalism is the right way to go. Someone has to be Captain America. And anything that 'threatens' the borders of America must automatically be bad, including the idea of a world without borders.

There's a lot of rah-rah-USA in the MCU and I knew that going into this show, but it still really sucks a lot of the enjoyment out of watching this for me. When your antagonists are acting in ways inherently anti-thetical to their own stated goals for the sole purpose of making them more villainous/justifiable to treat badly, it makes them less interesting villains overall and it does feel like that's what's going on with the Flag Smashers. It's one thing when bad guys act counter to their cause for a purpose, but when it's solely for drama...

[redlibra14-2]

My theory on the upcoming paradox DLC legendaries for Scarlet and Violet

So, if you’re reading this, that means you may or may not have seen what 2 of the 3 upcoming paradox pokemon look like. They both look like the fusions of both of their respective trios. A trio from Johto and a trio from Unova. But who could possibly be this 3rd pokemon that we haven’t seen yet? 

On the surface, it’s easy to say that it is the 3rd legendary representing present time, since Koraidon and Miraidon represent the past and future respectively. A lot might say that it’s Cyclizar but that has already been debunked by the developers saying that it isn’t a pre-evolution to either. Plus, it’s WAY too common to be a legendary considering we see them running around in the wild and we also see NPCs use them to get to places. But it could be another pokemon resembling Cyclizar but doesn’t evolve from it (or maybe it will, who knows?). I mean it’s not the first time that a legendary is related to a common pokemon, look at Diancie and Carbink. Despite their similarities, Carbink doesn’t evolve into Diancie. How Diancie got the way she is is because of a Carbink undergoing a mutation according to the lore. Maybe the same will happen with Cyclizar. 

But I propose an alternate possibility. Remember how I briefly touched upon how one of the paradox pokemon looks like a fusion of a trio from Unova? Well, what if I told you that they aren’t the only possible trio to fuse? 

Does anyone remember the Great Dragon from Gen 5? Because if you don’t, then allow me to refresh your memory. The Great Dragon is said to be what the Tao Trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem) used to be. They only split apart because of the beliefs of the two princes of Unova believed their country SHOULD be: Truth or Ideals. Reshiram and Zekrom fought while the empty husk that remained became Kyurem. 

So basically, what I’m trying to get at is that The Great Dragon is a paradox pokemon. And I have some evidence to back this up. 

Evidence: 

-We never got an actual name for this pokemon, what this pokemon’s real name is. 

-’The Great Dragon’ sounds like a name for a paradox pokemon. All of the paradox pokemon have names, with the exception of Koraidon and Miraidon, that are just pronouns in front of nouns. (For example, GREAT Tusk, SCREAM Tail, IRON Treads, etc.) 

-And to top it all off, we have never seen what this pokemon looks like. The closest we’ve ever got were Kyurem’s two forms: Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. So the name would probably be Gray Kyurem, but that can just be applied to how Kyurem looks normally.

-To add onto the previous point, it is possible for a paradox pokemon to be a fusion of 2 or more pokemon. Look at Iron Valiant, who I jokingly referred to as what a possible hermaphroditical fusion for the Ralts line would look like in my previous post. 

-Plus the Great Dragon would probably represent balance, as the Yin and Yang symbol (which is what the Tao Trio are partially based on), not just in black and white, but I guess in time itself as well.

But if any of this turns out to be true, as cool as it would seem, it probably wouldn’t make much sense lorewise. Such as if the Great Dragon is this 3rd edition, then that would imply that Koraidon and Miraidon have ties to Unova, which they don’t based on both names and design. And I’m pretty sure New York and the Iberian peninsula have little to nothing to do with each other, aside from immigrants moving there and there’s bits of spanish culture in there too. Also, if the paradox fusion the resembles the swords of justice is indeed a fusion, then why did the games never say that the swords used to be a single entity? Come to think of it, the same principle can apply to the paradox fusion resembling the legendary beasts. 

The legendary beasts were already said to have been created by Ho-Oh, when it resurrected 3 dead pokemon in a fire in the brass tower. Origins Generations already debunked the theory that it’s the first 3 eeveelutions. Maybe that story was just a cover up for what really happened and maybe it’s got something to do with this paradox pokemon. Just like with the Great Dragon’s name and design, these pokemon’s identities were never confirmed either. 

To answer this is that maybe pokemon will retcon some things. I mean, it’s not the first time this has happened, look at pokemon types in general. There were 15 originally in the games, 16 if you count ‘???’. But after gens 2 and 6, there’s 18 and we never got an in-universe explanation as to where Steel, Dark, and Fairy come from. We are just led to believe that they simply, exist. And other example is that Pokemon used to have references to countries, cities, and other areas in the real world. Indian elephants are mentioned in some dex enteries, there was a dog, no not a dog pokemon, an actual pup in one of the posters, and then theres the Tunguska/Tiksi branches of Silph Co in FireRed and LeafGreen being references to Russia, among other examples. Heck, some of this was the backbone for the “Ash is in a coma” theory. 

Heck, Kyurem’s origin was retconned as well. Originally believed to have come from an icy comet, but then it was changed to it have been the empty remains of what used to be the Great Dragon. But the whole story about an icy comet could be referring to how the dragon split and not how Kyurem got there by itself.

But there is one thing that I know that possibly might tie the Tao Trio to the Paradox duo and it’s the fact that dinosaurs and reptiles are part of their inspiration. Though for Miraidon, it’s only in name because of the suffix being Greek for tooth. Also, contrary to popular belief but lizards did NOT evolve from dinosaurs, they just happened to have the same common ancestor. Pretty much the same as how we didn’t evolve from chimps, we just share the same ancestor. Also, both Koraidon and Reshiram look feathery, whereas Zekrom and Miraidon aren’t.

And like I said, despite how it may seem contradictory, retcons happen just to try and make it make sense. And yeah, in terms of stories, it’s difficult to fit something new into what’s already been established without it having to break the rules. But that’s just how it is with storytelling. Plus, Pokemon is confirmed to be a multiverse, so everything both does and doesn’t make sense. And plus, it wouldn’t be the first time Unova predicted something. Look at how Iron Thorns looks like the Mecha Tyranitar from Pokestar Studios in BW2.

So, what do you think? Was there something I missed? If so, put it in the comments and I hope you enjoyed. 

Edit: I mistakeningly put Origins instead of Generations. Generations showed us what happened in the brass tower, not Origins. Origins is based on Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, and some bits of the Let’s Go games are in there. And by “bits”, I mean mega evolution. Sorry about that. 

[ingolds]

LANGUAGE

     primary. theo learned latin as a toddler, as that was the language spoken by ancient romans. he is fully fluent, but since it’s a dead language and is limited by its scope, they don’t make a habit of speaking it. they may do so as a party trick, or to converse with someone who has studied it and wants to try it out. because werewolves age slowly, the window to learn languages is a lot wider than it is for humans - which gave theo the ability to learn italian and spanish in tandem when they branched from latin in the 14th century and the 13th century, respectively. the languages were first used in the arts, and by authors, and theo took the time to learn them from what they could get their hands on. their aptitude for war was valued more highly than their interest in learning and experience, but that didn’t stop them from utilizing their breaks to seek out knowledge.

     secondary. they didn’t learn english until much later in life, in the 19th century. this was after they emerged from hiding in the forests of europe and took their chances overseas. they joined the millions of other immigrants completing the journey, and picking up another means to communicate seemed the smartest option. therefore, they chose english, with roots in german and latin. the differences gave them some trouble, but they’ve had 200 years to work on perfecting their linguistic abilities.

     today. their english is accented, though their latin, italian, and spanish are not, given how similar those languages are to each other. unless someone happened to study linguistics or has an idea of what spoken latin sounds like ( which, in reality, nobody does ), they would have an extremely difficult time identifying theo’s first language / where they’re from. more than likely, they would somewhat correctly assume he’s from italy - since he was born there. it just happened to be ~1900 years before the country developed into what it is today. if they wanted, they could work on training the latin inflection out of their voice - but it is the one sentimentality he allows himself, since he’s worked to separate himself from essentially every other reminder of who he is and where he’s from.

[flexible-student-accommodation]

Is Manchester better than other UK cities for international students?

Manchester, a lively metropolis in the heart of the northwest of England, has become an increasingly favored destination for students from all over the globe. Having said that, could it be considered the best city in the UK? Let us look at the reasons that impel Manchester to be the choice for students from around the world.

Academic Excellence

Manchester has what one may call the world's most prestigious universities, such as the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. The University of Manchester, in particular, is the 27th in the Global QS World University Rankings 2024 and performs better than many institutions from other cities in the UK.

• 4 universities in Manchester

• About 100,000 students, with 40,000+ of them from other countries

• 25 Nobel Prize winners associated with the University of Manchester

Cultural Diversity

International students are integrated into society much easier in a multicultural city like Manchester, which is why it is one of the famous cultural centers at the international level too.

• More than 200 languages are spoken in the city

• Diverse ethnic groups, including the cultivation of cultural relations

• Annual cultural festivals and events reactivity on world cultures and holidays

Cost of Living

As opposed to London and some other of the leading UK cities, Manchester offers more affordable living costs but still with a focus on quality of life.

• The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center is £758 (which is £1,752 in London)

• Monthly public transport pass: £68 (compared to £167 in London)

• The general cost of living is 35% lower than in London

Career Opportunities

With demand for job positions for local people and immigrants and media, digital, and creative industries in the city at an all-time high the city is a hub for a lot of international and UK-based companies. Considering these, we are setting up the Business Cluster and the Artificial Intelligence Center.

Manchester, with its abundant job market and the fact that it is a key hub for high achievements allows for a perfect stepping stone for higher viable walkability and urban transport connections provide the students with a friendly environment to get around by.

• Over 2,000 overseas companies have stationed themselves there.

• How is it fared by the visitors so far?

City Infra

The very simple and direct instructions will help the students find their way and they will take it. Manchester is an easy city for students to study in as it is a small city and it has a very good public transportation system that makes it easy for pupils to move around.

• Buses and trams cover the entire city.

• Manchester Airport: for as low as £ 20, you can get a direct flight to more than 200 destinations, both domestic and abroad.

• The downtown core is very close to a majority of shops and restaurants

Entertainment and Nightlife

The city offers a mix of excellence and fun by having the right blend of scholarly education and social activities for people of different backgrounds. The city is well equipped to cater to the varied needs of those who are attracted to different venues and instances, and the places in which they operate have been supplied with licenses.

• The city that has the entertainment license has more than 500 bars and other venues that are usually party spots.

• A cultural activity such as the museum-themed pub crawl can happen in Birmingham.

• The city site itself is a labyrinth of museums, galleries, and concert halls.

Green Spaces

Still, with the continent surrounded by plantations and the rural West Side once covered by gardens, the area guarantees opportunities for those who love nature. However, in the city, the outdoor space diversity is limited to impressive parks and the Peak District.

• 150 parks and green areas within the city.

• The city is located on the outskirts of a huge piece of land, it may be extended

Educational institutions, that is to say, are taking a proactive approach instigating various security measures targeted at safeguarding the lives of students from overseas.

Universities usually pay attention to the security issues that might be faced by international students with many colleges having 24/7 security patrols and support that is related to campus safety.

Support for International Students

Global students feel the care of the universities and social services are extended to them as well when they visit the university and local communities. Giving a detailed description of how international students are taken care of at the universities, Manchester is the best place you could choose. Universities in the city offer a complete and encompassing array of support services that have been designed specifically for the international student population.

There exists in each university a special office for the problems of international students such as accommodations, health, legal matters, etc as well as language proficiency help centers.

Research Opportunities

With the city's continuous upsurge in technology and scientific knowledge, students have fundamental and unsaturated scientific research facilities that Manchester gets from the city's innovation drive and marks it out for the many positive aspects. The expression "Golden Triangle" often heard in association with Manchester research, refers to one of the top places where research is conducted. The money was made use of for the establishment of research infrastructure facilities and this includes developing technology and implementing research related to several global industries.

City investment in technology and innovation is the key reason why the research prospects for students are unique in Manchester.

• Turnover ratio of 60-70%

• Feedback from students regarding their experience at LNTUC

Comparison with Other UK Cities

No doubt, all these cities have some features that attract individuals, however, the former one is blessed with all the best features.

On the one hand, London provides activities, travel possibilities, and education to students who have more than enough money to pay for the high living standards of London; on the other hand, they can undertake the same activities here in other U.K. cities, like the vibrant northern city of Manchester, for less money. A perfect blend of urban amenities and access to nature

Student Accommodation: Uninist

Uninist is simply one of the best housing providers in Manchester that are ideal for international students and are set up in a manner that allows them to live and study safely and comfortably. They assure the students that every apartment building they manage is of modern design with the best amenities and all are located within easy reach of the majority of universities. Uninist is near universities and is equipped with extensive amenities for the students to have fun. The intention is to make the journey of the students from home to Manchester and make the way they live in the city as good as possible. No matter the school, each property is a good part of the home.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Bier for The UnPopulist:

In a free society, markets incentivize people to contribute to the welfare of others through their work, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Thanks to freedom, America isn’t a fixed pie—it’s a growing pie. It is exactly for these reasons that so many people from around the world come to the United States, and it is exactly for those same reasons that we should let them come legally.

Immigrants Can Save America from Demographic Decline

The United States desperately needs more workers. Currently, the U.S. population is growing slower than at any point in its history. From 2020 to 2023, international migration was responsible for 73% of the meager 1% population growth during those three years. Without immigration, the U.S. population will start to decline by the 2030s. Already, about 40% of the counties in the United States saw declining populations in 2023. People are necessary to maintain buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, and businesses because population decline erodes property values and forces business and school closures. This population death spiral has afflicted both urban and rural counties. In fact, over the last decade, rural America lost population for the first time in U.S. history. By 2030, population aging or decline will reduce tax revenue per capita in nearly every state. The country has already seen how population decline will manifest in the future. Major cities saw significant out-migration in the 1960s and 1970s before they stabilized and rebounded in the 1990s and 2000s, in major part thanks to new immigrants. The out-migration led to housing vacancies and job losses, which contributed to increased crime, and the subsequent in-migration went hand in hand with lower crime and more business creation.

Immigrants Can Save America from Labor Force Decline

Along with slower population growth, labor force growth in the United States has also declined for decades, falling by 65% from the levels observed in the 1960s—a period when the immigrant share of the U.S. population bottomed out—to the most recent decade. This decline in labor force growth was even more pronounced among individuals without a college degree. These declines happened despite immigration. From 1995 to 2022, immigrants and their children accounted for 70% of labor force growth. There are jobs available for immigrants to fill. Currently, U.S. nonfarm employers have about 8.5 million open jobs. Every single month after January 2021 had more job openings than any month before it, back to the start of the job openings data series in the year 2000. Filling these open jobs could have increased U.S. Gross Domestic Product by over $2.5 trillion. Going forward, these unfilled job openings will cost the U.S. economy over half a trillion dollars per year. These jobs will not be filled without immigrants, as the U.S. prime-age employment rate is at a near-record high. With more Americans retiring than entering the labor force, immigrants have accounted for 100% of U.S. labor force growth since December 2019. Without immigrants, the working-age population will fall by about 6 million over the next two decades. We should not be concerned that immigrants will arrive and choose not to work, either. Immigrants will work if the government allows them to. Despite numerous legal obstacles to finding jobs in the United States, immigrants are more likely to work than U.S.-born workers overall and at every education level—a difference that grows significantly among the least skilled. Immigrant adults without high school degrees are about 20 percentage points more likely to work than comparable U.S.-born adults. Furthermore, nearly 97% of immigrants who looked for jobs in 2022 found them.

[...]

Immigration Can Help Prolong the Life of Social Security

Since the 1960s, the ratio of workers to retirees has plummeted, and the Social Security Trustees now estimate that Social Security will be short nearly 35 million workers to fund the system in the 2030s. It will have to cut benefits by at least 23% in 2034, if not earlier, or raise taxes to cover the shortfall. The situation will not improve in the future, with benefit cuts reaching 30% and the shortfall in workers hitting 80 million by 2080. According to the Social Security Administration Trustees 2022 report, increasing net immigration from 829,000 to nearly 1.7 million per year would reduce the annual burden of Social Security in 2097 by 1.5% of taxable payroll (the equivalent of $137 billion in 2022). This immigration range is based on what Social Security Trustees think might be possible given the current law, but 1.7 million immigrants per year are not significant as a percentage of the U.S. population compared to the level of immigration in many other countries. If immigrants, their children, and their grandchildren added the necessary 80 million additional workers by 2080, the savings would amount to $455 billion per year in 2080.

[...]

America’s Ill-Conceived Immigration System

The United States is benefiting from immigration despite its outdated and dysfunctional immigration system. Congress has not updated this system in over three decades. The main permanent immigration options available for immigrants abroad are:

The Refugee Program: The global population of displaced people reached 114 million in 2023, and the United States accepted barely 60,000 through its refugee program—a mere 0.05%.

Family‐​Sponsored Immigration: The capped family‐​sponsored system currently has a backlog of over 8.3 million, and alarmingly, 1.6 million of these applicants currently waiting will likely be dead before they can receive a green card.

Employer‐​Sponsored Immigration: Annually capped at just 140,000 green cards, this category currently has a backlog of over 1.8 million. The country‐​based caps mean that wait times for Indian workers with a master’s degree will be longer than the average person’s lifespan. Employer-sponsored green cards are close to impossible to obtain for those without very high wage offers and a work visa, and the main work visa—the H1B—is capped at 25% of demand. For those coming temporarily, the H2B seasonal worker program for nonagricultural jobs is the only path for most U.S. seasonal low‐​skilled jobs, and it has an annual cap of 66,000. Although Congress temporarily doubled this cap this year, that level was only about half the level required to meet the number of positions requested.

The Diversity Lottery: The diversity green card lottery is available to immigrants only if they are not from legal immigrants’ main origin countries and have a high-school degree or experience in a skilled job, and it offers entrants just a 0.2% chance of receiving a green card.

In 2023, about 34 million people entered a legal process to try to obtain a green card, yet barely more than 1 million will succeed and receive legal permanent residence—just 3% of applicants.

David Bier wrote in The UnPopulist that America will be in great harm if it doesn’t permit more legal immigration.

[nasty-creeps]

On the rise of right-wing ideation, it's consequences, and how we got here.

(Specifically why more and more people are starting to rally to leave the EU and similar unions and vote against their own good)

Right wing politicians are usually privileged, rich, white ppl. And poor (and middle class which is almost non existent anymore tho) folks that have some kind of right wing ideation still believe in the "American dream" even outside the US. "If you work hard enough, you can make a fortune." They probably won't. But because they think they could be rich one day they don't protest tax cuts for rich people for example. On the other hand, the rich know that they have to appeal to the lower classes because they would be completely outnumbered otherwise.

The easiest way to do that is to

1. Find a scapegoat, usually immigrants (or religious groups) or other minorities

2. Propagate that not only individuals from other countries are the problem, but the system that allows them to come into the country.

Which in our case is the EU. For this example, they tried to divide the number of refugees, countries would have to take in by percentage of I think population and space/area or something. I don't remember exactly. So politicians first scared people of refugees as individuals (they are terrorists, their religion is too different from ours, they steal your job, they are criminals) and then directed their fear and anger at the EU who 'forced" them to take them in (asyl is a human right so either way you can't really say no even if they try).

They say that this union with others is against the people's interests and they have to hold together as a nation which increases nationalism and individualism. "America first!" as an example.

Once people isolate themselves it's easier to radicalise them and feed them fake news because they either don't really talk about it with anyone, feel attacked and shut down if someone has a different opinion or rant with others that got the same fyp as them.

Now that they have them nice and isolated, they can give them more varied topics that might be loosely related and it all becomes a web of lies. But they are so entangled in it so they can't see things rationally anymore. You can show them articles about what's happening in the UK but they'll say it's left wing propaganda.

The rich profit off of it because the mob is so busy with being angry about the left, the media, immigrants, vegans....

They pass their bills that hurt the lower classes getting rid of workers protections or limits on rent increases or mortgages and so on and so forth.

They don't care for the people who vote for them.

And this mentality and these strategies are copy and pasted in basically every country. That's why we see this phenomenon worldwide. And depending on how good or bad the life in a country is, the quicker/slower the narrative gains supporters.

A German politician of the Afd (far right political party) said: the worse the state of the country, the better it is for the afd. They don't even try to hide their intentions. They are openly quoting Hitler and Goebbels, they are using the same talking points as the Nazis in WW II but their supporters still don't question themselves, if that's really what they want the future to be like. They have the audacity to call themselves the "alternative for Germany" while just recycling what it was 80 years ago.

We had so many major catastrophes over the last 2-3 decades - wars, terrorist attacks, natural catastrophes... - and apparently humanity has decided to take the first steps in the direction to become more and more divided. If people worldwide don't change the way they think and act, we won't stop the spread of right wing ideation.

[garudabluffs]

In Jeff Sharlet’s new book, a heartbreaking narrative of the disintegration of the US through frontline reportage on far-right extremism.

READ REVIEW https://www.4columns.org/dery-mark/the-undertow

“Trump Is the Nominee. Fascism Is on the Ballot.” Author Jeff Sharlet on New Hampshire & Beyond January 24, 2024

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s play a clip of Jamie Dimon. Last week, at the World Economic Forum, the JPMorgan CEO talked about how Trump has been right on many issues. This is Dimon on CNBC.

JAMIE DIMON: I don’t think they’re voting for Trump because of his family values. But if you look at — just take a step back, be honest. He was kind of right about NATO, kind of right about immigration. He grew the economy quite well.

JOE KERNEN: China virus.

JAMIE DIMON: Tax reform worked.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you respond, Jeff Sharlet? It’s not only Jamie Dimon, that consensus at Davos that Trump’s going to win.

JEFF SHARLET: Yeah. I’m so glad you played that clip. I think that was really important, because we see — if we look back at the history of how fascist movements grow — and I want to emphasize it’s a fascist movement. It’s not yet a fascist government. There is a chance to stop it. But we see a period of adaptation. And that was what you saw at Davos, those folks playing the odds and saying, “Hmm, could I get together? Could I work in a coalition with people” — I mean, he’s no leftist, he’s no liberal, but — “Could I work in a coalition with people to stop this fascism, or could I find a way to prosper in it?” And the vote at Davos was prosper within fascism. So, whe we look at the coalition that we need to build to stop it, we’re going have to think other places — not that anyone thought that Davos was a place to start building coalitions. But it does need to be brought."

+ AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to Donald Trump addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit in October. And this goes to the number one issue in New Hampshire, which was immigration.

DONALD TRUMP: Because they want to destroy our country. They want to destroy our country. Under Biden, we have not one, but two immigration disasters. We have one on the border, and we have one in the Biden State Department, which is admitting colossal amounts of jihadists into our communities and campuses and our refugee programs. That’s why you see all of these big demonstrations in New York, in Chicago. Nobody can believe what’s taking place. They’re letting them in at levels that nobody’s ever seen before. We cannot allow that to happen. And we don’t want to be like Europe, with jihads on every corner. That’s what happens. I mean, we’re going to have — we’re going to be like Europe. You take a look at London. You take a look at Paris. You take a look at what’s going on over there. We want to be the United States of America, and we want to make our country great again. Right now we don’t have a great country. We have a laughingstock.

As president, I will end, once and for all, the mass importation of antisemitism into the United States. And just as I did before, we will keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. We’re going to keep them out of our country. We were keeping them out. We were keeping them out."

LISTEN READ MORE https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/24/trump_fascism_2024