#platform viability

[joncronshawauthor]

🧟‍♂️ Story Progress & Reflecting on Platforms | Author Diary - July 26, 2024 🎉✨

📝 Progress on “Punks Versus Zombies”:This week has been productive with the completion of three new episodes of “Punks Versus Zombies.” I am now approaching the final act of the series, a phase filled with anticipation and excitement as I aim to wrap up the story in a satisfying manner. It’s thrilling to see the end in sight, and I’m eager to bring a compelling conclusion to the fans of the…

[yuwuta]

dealing with reposters is so ANNOYING esp on wattpad bc they want your whole government name and address as “proof” that your original content was stolen you can’t just flag it or report it normally jfc

[transfaguette]

always sucks when one of the biggest companies in a space is also The Worst

Unity, which for a long time the majority of indie games and several AAA titles have been developed in, recently announced a new “Runtime Fee” that would charge developers $0.20 per install of their game, starting January 2024. Retroactively!!!! Yes you heard that right. Got a new computer and want to reinstall your favorite game you bought 3 years ago? That’ll cost the dev $0.20, when they themselves make no additional money. A bad actor could, in theory, install a game hundreds of times just to hurt a developers bottom line. But even just in benign scenarios, its enough to threaten the viability of small indie studios. Even if devs wanted to jump ship now, number one they’d have to port all their games to a new engine, a monumental task on its own, and they’d have to learn a new engine and new workflow, new pipeline, etc. This is catastrophic to the indie scene.

And this isn’t handled through the platforms they sell their games on like steam or itch.io, it’s woven into the backend of the engine itself. Unity claims they have systems to detect piracy (but they’re proprietary and secret!) and developers won’t be charged for illegitimate installs. But none of us can be actually sure of that. They are literally making “piracy costs the devs money” a real actual legitimate argument.

And to top it all off, their ghoul of a CEO dumped his shares right before the announcement. They Knew this would be hated and they’re trying to get away with it anyway.

Do note, this only applies to games that already meet the threshold for profit sharing. If you are a hobbyist or making a project for school etc, this won’t affect you.

What can you do? Keep in touch with your favorite developers and indie publishers on social media. Hopefully with enough backlash and support for indie developers, they will retract.

[bossymarmalade]

The JKR thing has been odd for me because (first off I'm not cis let's establish that) I've always believed in the validity of transformative works even for -- especially for? -- source material that's sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. So that's the angle I've been viewing this from, is that giving JKR no further monetary support is the best practice, and fannish stuff to yourself in your own personal space is fine since it's not really going anywhere and could be politically critical of JKR and her works anyhow.

But seeing how JKR is able to effect real-world detrimental change has made me re-evaluate. Because there's so many racist creators who've enjoyed a lot of influence over the years and I wish, I wish that fandom at large had condemned them the same way -- but also, social media platforms and their reach were not to the extent that exists now. Fannish stuff doesn't exist in the shadow corners for just us weirdos anymore. It's weaponized to prove commercial viability and potential for profit, and that equals social and political capital like it hasn't, before.

It's "don't feed the trolls" on a much more massive scale. If she can see into our spaces and view even critical engagement as a positive thing for herself, that changes those older paradigms of fannish behaviour. And responsibility. Cutting all of her work dead is absolutely the way to go.

Anyhow I hesitated in making this post but I figured I might as well, for anybody like me who's old guard (from back when HP fandom was in its heyday) and might find something of value in it.

[ali3nboyfriend]

prefacing this with "i'm not trying to justify these kinds of scummy practices" but like. on the one hand amazon dangling the release of Iron Lung over markiplier's head and asking him to promote their platform without allowing any actual promotion before the release date of the show (which was after the. actual shadow release date that no one was informed of prior.) is incredibly scummy and cynical. on the other hand, given the outcomes of projects done by shane dawson, the paul brothers, etc, and how awful those people apparently are to work with, i can kinda see why from a business perspective a company like amazon might want some sort of leverage like this and proof of viability since the higher ups at larger studios don't really see the difference between creators like that and creators like mark and blindly trusting youtubers to pull numbers and thus revenue has burned larger companies in the industry in the past.

the actual execution of this plan makes little to no fucking sense logistically because it makes it feel like they wanted him to fail at this little test instead of getting a fair shake, and i think there really ought to be some work put towards, i don't know, maybe creator co-ops or other organizations to elevate independent film and television to the point where it can compete without corporate dollars? so people don't have to be beholden to shit like that?

but looking at this Like A Corporation (which makes me feel deranged btw) i'm like. i can see why they'd want the assurance that this isn't another shane dawson.

[ineffable-opinions]

BL “Censorship” & Commercialization

Content: 1. ubiquitous censorship - special focus on Japanese BL 2. commercial viability of live action BL & generalizations 3. solutions - special focus on state support of Thai BL 4. [update state-supported production of Love in the Big City series]

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Censorship is a sensitive topic. I have tried my best. Please feel free to comment and critique.

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History of Korean BL is one of censorship and commercialization and Korean fu-people has struggled against both. There have been different victors at different points in time. Aljosa Puzar’s "BL"(Boy Love), "GL"(Girl Love) and Female Communities of Practice and Affect in South Korea chronicles that struggle. (Highly recommended.)

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I have tried to problematize BL commercialization before. But that was in the context of fu-culture and the commodity fetishism associated with the consumption of BL, particularly in live action form which is probably its most capitalist rendition for many many reasons.

Here I would like to look at it from another angle: censorship. This is a continuation of my earlier post (Why so many shonen ai live-action?) motivated by the live action adaptation of ‘조폭인 내가 고등학생이 되었습니다’ (I, A Gangster, Became a High School Student) by 호롤 (Ho Rol).

The live action has jumped genres switching from BL to 판타스틱 휴먼 드라마 (lit. fantasy human drama). This switch got it tagged as ‘Censored Adaptation of Same-sex Original Work’ on My Drama List. I personally don’t like that tag. Almost all BL adaptation is a censored adaptation, with notable exceptions like Sei no Gekiyaku. But no one uses that tag for, say, 25 Ji, Akasaka de (2024) which censored all sexual content, especially from the volume 1 of the manga which was critical to the story and the couple’s development in the original manga series’ and its multiple adaptations’ popularity. Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (2024) went as far as removing the more sexual second couple from the live action adaptation all together, yet it does not get a "censored" tag.

An interesting question that the controversy surrounding High School Return of a Gangster (2024) has sparked is that of BL media’s commercial viability, especially in live action form. Here’s what producers told the Korean newspaper, Hankook Ilbo, about the genre-jumping:

"BL 장르는 제작비 투자나 리쿱(제작비 회수)에 한계가 있는 게 사실이다. 그러다 보니 처음부터 이 작품은 브로맨스로 해보고 싶었다"

“The BL genre is limited in terms of investment in production costs and recoup (recovery of production costs). So, from the beginning, we planned it as a bromance (beulomaenseu).”

The author of this article cites examples of works that enjoyed success on OTT platforms, namely Watcha’s Semantic Error and TVing's Unintentional Love Story (2023). However, the article also highlights the fact that BL continues to be a niche genre and live action adaptations don’t guarantee success.

이성택 (Lee Seong Taek), the director of High School Return of a Gangster, previously directed the BL Love Class (2022). The producer 넘버쓰리픽쳐스 (Number Three Pictures Co., Ltd.) have BL works like Unintentional Love Story under its belt.

'Unintentional Love Story' Director Jang Eui-soon (장의순) | source

If the producer of one of the two most popular live action BL is admitting to it, then it is not easy to dismiss the issue of commercial viability of live action BL.

Very famous BL publishing houses (starting with JUNE) and hosting platforms with relatively lower expenses have struggled. Some of them are no more. It is also difficult for authors to survive merely on earnings from publishing houses and hosting platforms, especially when those platforms are not very rich. So, it is not difficult to imagine that live action production houses also struggle to survive.

Take GMMTV for example. They are probably one of the most successful BL producers. According to their managing director, BL content (series) is not a profitable business in itself. They rely on khujin (branded pairs) of actors to bring in advertisement revenue, merchandize sales, and pull crowds to concerts and fan-meets. It is not enough for actors to just act. They are expected to sing, dance and perform. Meanwhile, GMMTV is forced to keep working with these actor pairs and stick to templates that suit them. While it works for now, it remains to be seen how long the business model can last.

Now there is also investment from Mainland China that has migrated to other BL producers following dangai ban. But those who invest already burned themselves pretty bad with all the money they poured in during the short-lived but explosive dangai boom. It is sunk cost at this point. Another crack down could be the death knell for Chinese investments in BL. 

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More generally, it is likely that commercial viability of a live action BL project hinges on the following:

#1 Target demographic

Like all other BL content, live action too is primarily targeted at fu-people (BL audience) – both queer and non-queer. The target demography is further sub-divided based on the type of BL and purchasing power.

Sweeter ones are supposed to appeal to all ages and that’s the area Thailand and GMMTV in particular are focused on. Most of Japanese BL series are sweet. Korea too produces sweet BL. However, they are unlikely to bring in explosive success the way odo BL (those following royal road narrative progression – wherein characters face significant challenges, interpersonal or otherwise, to reach happy ending).

Older and, perhaps more hard-core fans, are likely to support jado works (BL that follow the evil path where neither happy ending nor resolution to challenges are guaranteed) with surprising frequency. This might be partly due to the erotic content in jado works.

Purchasing power of BL fans vary widely. There are those who are

“sending gifts to their actors in Thailand, sending food trucks to their shooting locations, putting up billboard advertisements and doing charity events [as well as] ordering merchandise in bulk.”

They also travel to BL producing nations [on fan pilgrimages] and attend fan meetings, concerts and other events regularly.

(Source: The Print)

The other group of BL fans who are probably younger and/or can’t afford to show support in the above-mentioned ways. BL commercially benefits from being appealing to those with higher purchasing power.

#2 Popularity of original work in case of adaptation  

Popular BL novels, manhwa, etc. bring in a set of fans who are interested in the live action. Longer and more-acclaimed works are likely to ensure success of the live action given decent making and reasonable changes during adaptation. Semantic Error is a case in point. However, missteps during adaptation can have the opposite effect.

#3 Cost of production

It is difficult to get investment in the first place, especially with how niche the genre is. Moreover, higher cost of production sets the bar for success higher too.

On the other hand, high production quality and better cast and crew (likely more expensive too) makes the viewing more pleasurable and increases the likelihood of success.

There are other factors which influence the success of BL producers. The most popular BL live action from China, Addicted, was produced by the author, Chai JiDan, with a tiny budget. Its dangai family drama remake, Stay with Me, also has an interesting producer.

Source | Mame with her Japanese fans

Orawan Vichayawannakul’s MeMindY is another BL author led production company that has enjoyed considerable success.

OP Pictures’ entry into BL genre has also been successful.

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Solutions

#1 Let’s start with the worst

BL as money laundering vehicle. It is probably the most obvious, sort of win-win until it isn’t. Sustainability depends how much skin the ruling class have in the game.

#2 State sponsorship

(or better yet, tax payer supported BL production)

State sponsorship is what Thailand has perfected.

source | 2023 seminar on "Beyond Borders: Exploring the Global Appeal and Diversity of Thailand's Boys' Love Contents" by 9 companies from Thailand organized by Department of International Trade Promotion under Thailand’s Ministry of Trade.

The eleven speakers, including an official from the Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy in Japan, vigorously pitched partnerships with Japanese content companies [at the above-mentioned seminar.]

Also, several of the companies pitching at the seminar, such as Star Hunter Entertainment […] were plumping for BL not as a niche product but rather a core element of their corporate strategy.

Halo Productions representative Tewarat Supunnium [trumpeted] the vertical integration of his company, from talent representation to contents distribution.

source

Thai BL has been big hits in China, South Korea, Japan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and beyond, which has motivated Thailand’s government to ‘deploy Boys Love as its latest soft power weapon to promote the country on the global stage’. In an article published in The Nation, BL director, Bundit Sintanaparadee, explains how that affects production.

He pointed out that the international popularity of Thai shows can boost tourism and generate interest in the featured locations – a vital aspect of soft power. The government can facilitate this process by providing support and streamlining the bureaucratic obstacles to filming in attractive locations like Bangkok’s Chinatown district of Yaowarat.

Filming in iconic places such as Yaowarat can be costly and complicated due to the need to coordinate with multiple government agencies and pay location fees. Bundit said the government could simplify the process to benefit not just filmmakers but also tourist revenue in the locations.

Bundit also cautioned against a top-down approach to soft power, where the government dictates what represents Thailand on the world stage. He emphasises the need for industry professionals to have their say.

source

In a 2022 article, Bangkok Post explores the impact of BL on Thailand’s economy ‘as export products that can draw lucrative revenue streams and foster business opportunities in other areas, including tourism.’

[According to government estimates from 2021,] Thailand's Y content market was worth more than 1 billion baht... In June that year, the Department of International Trade Promotion held an online Y content business matching event to boost the industry, with the participation of 10 Thai content creators. More than 360 million baht was generated from the purchase of the Thai content, with the top three buyers coming from Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon, GMMTV's senior director of content production, said [that the] business ecosystem linked to Y Series in Thailand shows a growth of 30-40% per year. [He also said that] Y Series can also be a boon for other businesses, such as films, artist management and merchandise. [He mentioned] Y Series from Thailand [getting] translated into several languages [and one of their Y Series having received theatrical adaptation in South Korea.]

[According to] Kanokporn Prachayaset, chief commercial officer and country manager of WeTV Thailand, … Y Series from Thailand is one of the most popular content genres on its platform. [Half of all the BL content on the platform was Thai.] WeTV [was] sourcing Y Series from Asia as well as having its own WeTV original shows by working with various local production houses, such as GMMTV, TV Thunder, Dee Hup House, M Choice Studio and All This Entertainment. [She also highlighted the contribution of the fan base, which is] active in organising activities and campaigns for their idols.

Seksan Sripraiwan, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) Tokyo office, said the TAT and the Royal Thai Embassy have actively promoted the country by using Thai entertainment [and that] Thai BL content is considered one of the most popular recent cultural exports to Japan. Japan's market for Thai BL is around 1 million viewers, of which 20,000-30,000 are heavily active on social media sites for renowned BL actors, led by Bright-Win and Krist-Singto. He said Japanese tour operators already offered tailor-made tour packages which contain elements related to BL TV series, such as shooting locations like universities, cafes, Wat Arun or the Amphawa floating market.

Kanokkittika Kritwutikon, director of the TAT Chengdu office, said Thai BL TV shows have gained popularity in China, such as the coming-of-age series "I Told Sunset About You", which helped drive tourists to Phuket, the main location of the story.

"Most Chinese BL fans are millennial females who can offer long-term support for their favourite actors," Mrs Kanokkittika said. [Recognizing the 3 million strong queer population of Chongqing,] she said the LGBT segment could be categorised as luxury travellers as they are high-income earners, live in key cities, and want to spend more for travel experiences.

source

Earlier this year Ministry of Commerce have partnered with Be On Cloud and Idol Factory to promote ‘Thai products, services, tourism, and culture by incorporating them seamlessly into’ their new series “Shine” and “Pin Phak” aka “The Loyal Pin” respectively.

“This will help create around 2 billion in value for Thailand’s economy,” said Commerce Minister Phumtham.

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and two actresses, Becky and Freen, witness the signing ceremony between the Ministry of Commerce and Idol Factory Co., Ltd. on February 28, 2024....

According to the Department of International Trade Promotion, the Thai movie and series sector and related industries will generate 8,000 million baht in exports by 2023. In 2024, it will likely reach 10,000 million baht, particularly in the Y-movie and Y-series, which are expected to expand in value from 1,000 million baht to 2,000 million baht as a result of the Ministry of Commerce’s proactive cooperation with the private sector.

source

The Thai government’s efforts are paying off.

Oramon Sapthaweetham, director-general of the Department of Business Development, revealed that the Boys’ Love series had helped revitalise the film production industry, generating substantial profits and extending economic benefits to allied sectors, such as advertising, leveraging actors as influencers, event organisation, and tourism. 

"Over the past 10 years, Thailand has produced over 177 Boys’ Love [series], continuously gaining popularity and expanding its customer base, eventually leading to exports to international markets," Oramon added.

The film production industry in Thailand is witnessing substantial growth. In the first four months of 2024, 56 new businesses were registered, marking a 12% increase from 2023. The total registered capital also saw a significant rise of 146.44% to 195.18 million baht. In 2023, the industry grew by 20% with 137 businesses and a capital of 258 million baht. The total revenue in 2022 was 12.895 billion baht, indicating a continuous growth trend.

source

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#3 Diversification

Ok, so this is based on my limited knowledge and imagination. Feel free to skip.

There are two production companies that I have ever been interested in - Bhavana Studios and Mammootty Kampany. Both of them have produced experimental Malayalam movies while managing to remain commercially successful. While is partially attributable to these companies being brands, I think their overall strategy of diversification have worked in their favour.

Mammootty Kampany could produce art-house movie Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam for award circuits and with no expectation of commercial performance by banking on their other production Kannur Squad which was action entertainer sure to bring in the big bucks. Their queer family drama Kaathal – The Core and neo-noir psychological thriller Rorschach did exceptionally well in the box office as well as garnered critical acclaim. Bhavana Studios has similar track record of their commercially successful projects kind of cross subsidizing their experimental and unique projects and lifting the heat off in case of flops.

Having production companies which are aspirational in their approach to BL while having the economics sorted out help where government support is not forth coming.

Censorship as No-thing

When sometime is truly censored, we wouldn’t know. Unless we ask. Here’s what Jooyin Saejang learned from asking.

Conclusion

I have a strong preference for live action adaptations that are willing to go the last mile in terms of sexual content, social critiques and addressing real-life issues. That’s the reason why the header image for this BL side blog is from Moothon (2019).

But realistically this isn’t always possible. And I prefer having more production companies offering variety. I don’t want them to sink under the weight of BL that didn’t do well commercially and me being left at the mercy of media conglomerates with seemingly bottomless funds and monopsony over BL authors, original works and the culture that creates them.

Also, there is queer content from Korean that is neither mainstream nor from fu-culture. Support those. Unfortunately, Cheers by Cheers 짠!하면 알 수 있어 has been removed from their YouTube channel which is now called Cheer Up. While the series is gone, there are interviews with English subtitles.

Love in the Big City

Love in the Big City, the series and the movie are based on Park Sang-young's novel of the same name that was published in 2019. In Korea, it sold over 100,000 copies. Ever since, it has been translated into 15 languages, including English. The English translation by Anton Hur was published in 2021. The book has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022 and the Dublin Literary Award in 2023.

The movie secured an investor early on. The film was produced by Showbox and Tale Farming (고래와유기농). Michigan Venture Capital, a key investor, was responsible for 2 billion won out of the net production cost of about 6 billion won. Plus M Entertainment, a subsidiary of the JoongAng Group took care of its distribution. (source)

State-sponsorship for Korean BL !

The series, on the other hand, faced difficulty attracting investment as well as had trouble finding OTT platforms willing to air the show. It was co-produced by MerryChristmas, a subsidiary of WYSIWYG Studio' a KOSDAQ-listed company, along with Big Stone Studio. Mbrella Films provided production services in Thailand. They have received the state-support through Korea Creative Content Agency under Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism amounting to 3 billion won as production costs support aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of K-content through OTT.

Finally, TVING, a platform that has aired multiple BL projects previously (such as Unintentional Love Story, Jazz for Two, To My Star 2, The Eighth Sense and High School Return of a Gangster), aired the series in South Korea and the streaming platform Rakuten Viki promoted it as a BL.

An iconic scene from bonus chapter 2 of The New Employee aka The New Recruit manhwa adaptation (web novel written by Moscareto and illustrated by Zec) ahead that didn't make it into the live action adaptation.

Gong comes home to find su in a sexy position at the doorway, fingering himself according to gong's instructions over phone.

[lets-talk-gundam]

The MS-07B Gouf

In preparation for the invasion of Earth, Zeon forces modified a number of MS-06 Zaku-II F-types for use under the effects of the planet's gravity. The new "J-type" Zaku-IIs featured a number of internal hardware and software changes to enhance their viability on the ground.

The Zaku-II J-Type would be used as a testbed for new developments with the goal of creating a new mass-production mobile suit for use on the ground. And where the Zaku was intended for anti-ship and anti-aerospace combat, this new platform would be built to fight other mobile suits.

Zimmad and Zeonic would both begin working on this new project, directly competing with one another, but eventually coming up with very similar designs. Zeonic moved forward with the YMS-07A Prototype Gouf, and Zimmad presented the YMS-08A High Mobility Test Type.

While Zimmad's design failed to show a significant increase in performance from the Zaku-II J-Type, Zeonic's "Gouf" showed immense promise. The prototype would be picked up and would see a limited production run as the MS-07A Gouf.

The MS-07A was a pre-production model intended for data gathering. The final mass-production model would feature several additional weapon systems, such as an in-built 75mm machine gun in the left manipulator, and a retractable "Heat Rod" on the left forearm.

The Gouf was used to great effect by Zeon captain Ramba Ral, who went toe-to-toe with the Earth Federation's infamous RX-78-2 Gundam.

Among the Ace pilots who used the Gouf as their personal units, Viche Donahue, Silas Locke, and Norris Packard were among the most well-known. All three of these aces would become battlefield legends, with Packard's MS-07B-3 Gouf Custom becoming especially infamous. The machine's equipment proved so effective that it became a common alternate loadout for many Gouf pilots.

The MS-07 would be customized for a variety of roles and theaters, with many of these variants seeing further developments of their own.

Notable among these was the MS-07W Gouf Combined Test Type, which featured a miniaturized Dopp fighter serving as its cockpit. The development of the machine was heavily influenced by data gathered from the Federation's RX-series of mobile suits. Namely, their "Core Block" system.

The Gouf would also see another fork, being developed into the MS-07H Gouf Flight Type. While both prototypes made use of thermonuclear rocket engines, the final version used thermonuclear jet engines, allowing for greater efficiency in atmospheric flight.

The MS-07B saw further refinement into the MS-07C. While not much is known about its specifications, there are at least three known variants. A number of Goufs were acquired by Zimmad and used as testbeds for systems to be incorporated into the MS-09 Dom series of mobile suits. These Goufs were MS-07Cs.

And finally, in UC 120, nearly 50 years from the initial deployment of the original machine, Mars Zeon would develop and deploy the OMS-07RF RF Gouf. While externally resembling the MS-07B, the OMS-07-RF was a completely new machine which could also operate in space, unlike its predecessors.

The MS-07B Gouf was originally designed by Kunio Okawara for the 1979 Anime "Mobile Suit Gundam".

This article was a request! Requests are always welcome!

I am so terribly sorry for the delay in getting this post out! It's been a very hectic few months, but I'm hoping to get back in the flow of things!

[neyafromfrance95]

u know how it is good for our fandom if we interact with haladriel edits, posts, hype across the social medias to give haladriel-related stuff some visibility, right?

and while i know that tumblr isn't exactly a normie platform, it would still be great if y'all reblogged haladriel gifsets more. bc gifsets are the type of content that just inspires the rest of fandom across the different platforms, yk? we see a beautiful set and want to discuss the scene it depicts, want to make video edits, ect.

haladriel nation is so lucky with our gifmakers! all of them are so talented and their sets all have such distinct looks! and it saddens me that their wonderful work gets no more than 300 notes.

viability on tumblr is entirely dependent on the reblogs, just hearting does nothing. so if u guys want to appreciate the hard work that our gifmakers do to give us beautiful sets, please reblog their work!

[bunniemi]

BTS Paved The Way for other K-artists worldwide.

By Camila Campos Vargas.

In the records of music history, few acts have single-handedly reshaped a genre's global trajectory quite like BTS. Before their meteoric rise, K-pop, while boasting a fervent fanbase, largely remained a niche phenomenon outside of Asia. However, through a potent blend of strategic innovation, authentic artistry, and unprecedented fan engagement, BTS didn't just break through Western barriers; they obliterated them, forging a wide-open path for K-pop to become the worldwide cultural powerhouse it is today.

Paving the Way

BTS's groundbreaking approach to social media was arguably their most revolutionary tactic. Avoiding traditional media gatekeepers, they cultivated a direct, intimate relationship with their burgeoning fanbase, ARMY, across platforms like Twitter, YouTube, V-app, Fancafe and Weverse. This direct communication fostered unparalleled fan loyalty and mobilization, allowing them to amass a global following organically and bypass conventional routes to exposure.

Their music itself was equally transformative. Addressing universal themes of mental health, self-love, and societal pressures, their lyrics resonated deeply with young audiences worldwide, transcending language barriers through raw emotion and relatable experiences.

This authentic storytelling, combined with consistently high-quality musical and visual content, showcased the profound artistic depth and production value inherent in K-pop. Crucially, BTS achieved significant milestones in Western markets that were unprecedented for a Korean act. They were the first to top the Billboard Hot 100, secure a Grammy nomination, and address the United Nations General Assembly. These achievements didn't just elevate BTS; they validated K-pop as a whole, proving that music sung predominantly in Korean could not only compete but dominate on a global scale without compromising its identity.

Ultimately, BTS's impact extends far beyond their own monumental success. By demonstrating K-pop's immense commercial viability and cultural resonance to a global audience, they effectively opened the floodgates for countless other K-pop groups to follow in their footsteps. Their strategic use of digital platforms, universal lyrical themes, and barrier-breaking achievements didn't just popularize K-pop; they globalized it, forever changing the landscape of the international music industry.

[mariacallous]

Abortion is a top issue in the 2024 election, with a “growing share of voters in swing states now say[ing] abortion is central to their decision this fall,” according to Times/Siena College polls published in August. It is the “single most important issue” for women under 45.

On September 3, Vice President Kamala Harris began a “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour in Florida, a state the Democratic Party has lost in the last two presidential elections, but which has abortion on the ballot this year. On November 5, citizens of Florida will be able to vote on an amendment that would restore legal access to abortion “before viability or when necessary to protect a patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” Florida currently has a six-week abortion ban, a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in the wake of Dobbs.

The Harris bus tour began about a twenty-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago, the home of the former president who has declared responsibility for the fall of Roe under the Dobbs decision. The decision spawned multiple state abortion bans with severe repercussions upon a woman’s ability in ban states to receive critical or life-saving health care that may necessarily involve an abortion. At the September 10 presidential debate, Harris directly spoke to the post-Roe experiences of women suffering miscarriages and bleeding out in hospital parking lots because they couldn’t get treatment from doctors who were afraid of being prosecuted.

The other presidential candidate, former president Donald Trump, has bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade as a personal achievement of consummate importance. Public opinion polling shows, however, that the majority of Americans support legalized abortion. Moreover, the pro-reproductive rights position has won on abortion-related ballot measures following the Dobbs decision in conservative states like Ohio, Kansas, and Kentucky, and abortion measures are on the ballot this November in key states like Florida, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. Trump is now trying to downplay his involvement because the issue of abortion has become an albatross around the neck of the Trump campaign and the Republican Party itself. No wonder, then, in recent comments Trump has stated that abortion policy should be left to the states, and he has been publicly unwilling to endorse a nationwide abortion ban. At the debate, however, he repeatedly refused to answer whether he would veto legislation containing such a ban if it were presented to him as president, rejecting the question as an unlikely hypothetical while claiming he did the country “a great service” by helping overturn Roe.

In the wake of threats to in vitro fertilization (IVF) spurred by the Alabama Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are children and the corresponding religious view held by some in the anti-abortion movement that a fertilized egg is a full-fledged person, Trump said both that he would mandate insurance companies cover IVF and the federal government would cover it for all Americans in need.

Attempting to persuade women who want their reproductive rights back, he suggested that Florida’s six-week abortion ban is “too short,” stating that he will be “voting that we need more than six weeks.” Later, however, his campaign walked this statement back, indicating that he “has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida.” Trump attempted to rehabilitate his position on abortion further for his far right, evangelical base by spreading the disinformation that some states allow the legal execution of babies after birth. At the debate, he repeated this false statement, and one of the debate moderators fact-checked him on that. These are just a few examples of the ducking, bobbing, and weaving on abortion that Trump has been doing over the past few weeks. 

But Trump’s attempts to obfuscate the abortion policy of his party and his future administration are laid bare by what is stated in the 2024 Republican Party platform and in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project (also known as Project 2025), a detailed blueprint for overhauling the executive branch, published by the Heritage Foundation, which involves at least 140 people who worked in the last Trump administration.

The word “abortion” only appears once in the 28-page Republican Party platform with the statement “[w]e will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF.” But that statement must be understood in the context of the sentence that immediately precedes it: “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights.” By invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in the context of abortion, the platform projects consistency with a religious belief that fertilized eggs, or so-called “unborn children” are full-fledged people deserving all of the rights and protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution. Neither abortion nor IVF, where some embryos may be discarded, is consistent with this “personhood” view. The limited and coded treatment of abortion in the platform is, however, consistent with Trump’s stated belief that the issue is harming the Republican Party and his candidacy with women.

But the Republican Party platform’s concise treatment of abortion should not be separated from Project 2025—a 922-page document replete with instances of the word abortion, along with detailed plans for how a Republican administration should promote “pro-life” policies and, in doing so, further curtail reproductive rights and access to reproductive healthcare.

Project 2025’s explicit anti-abortion positions and goals are summarized in the forward section of the document, which proclaims that “conservatives should gratefully celebrate the greatest pro-family win in a generation: overturning Roe v. Wade, a decision that for five decades made a mockery of our Constitution and facilitated the deaths of tens of millions of unborn children. But the Dobbs decision is just the beginning.”

A national abortion ban emerges as a prominent goal, as the document instructs that “[c]onservatives in the states and in Washington, including in the next conservative Administration, should push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America. In particular, the next conservative President should work with Congress to enact the most robust protections for the unborn that Congress will support . . . .”

Some of the most noteworthy ideas and policies construed to achieve these outcomes presented in the rest of the document include:

A series of actions focused on preventing access to medication abortion nationwide. It is important to recognize that medication abortion accounted for 63% of all abortions in 2023—and that number does not account for pills that were mailed to people in states with an abortion ban, so the overall percentage is likely higher. It can be a particularly useful way to circumvent abortion bans. From the perspective of Project 2025, “[a]bortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world.” Accordingly, Project 2025 recommends, among other things, that the FDA “reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs,” and “stop promoting or approving mail-order abortions.” It also recommends that the DOJ “enforce the Comstock Act,” a law passed in 1873 that would, if read literally, make the mailing of any kind of abortifacient unlawful, effectively resulting in a nationwide ban on medication abortion.

Preventing both HHS and the CDC from treating or promoting abortion as health care. Consistent with this goal, and in furtherance of a “Life Agenda,” Project 2025 states that HHS should be known as the “Department of Life” through “explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.” Accordingly, Project 2025 recommends that the next Secretary of HHS eliminate the current HHS Reproductive Access Task Force and replace it with “a pro-life task force to ensure that all of the department’s divisions seek to use their authority to promote the life and health of women and their unborn children.” With respect to the CDC, Project 2025 recommends that it “should eliminate programs and projects that do not respect human life and conscious rights and that undermine family formation.” This would include the types of research it chooses to fund.

Preventing any kind of federal funding from supporting abortion care, including helping women travel out of state to receive an abortion. Project 2025 would also prohibit Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider from receiving Medicaid funds. Two steps recommended in furtherance of this goal are having HHS “[i]ssue guidance reemphasizing that states are free to defund Planned Parenthood in their state Medicaid plans” and “[p]ropose rulemaking to interpret the Medicaid statute to disqualify providers of elective abortion from the Medicaid program.”

In stark contrast, the Democratic Party platform, written when President Biden was still the Democratic candidate for president, has its own section on “Reproductive Freedom” that embraces the idea that abortion is health care. It begins by acknowledging that since the fall of Roe, “more than 20 states have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans—many of which include no exception even for rape or incest—that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide.”

The platform looks to the range of actions taken during the Biden-Harris administration as a foundation for continuing efforts to protect reproductive rights and health care. Some of the most notable actions mentioned, which are opposite of the policies promoted by Project 2025, include enabling pharmacies to dispense medication abortion and defending FDA approval of medication abortion in court, expanding reproductive health care for service members and veterans, defending access to emergency abortion care, challenging threats by a Republican attorney general to prosecute those who assist women traveling out of state for abortion care, and assisting states in expanding access under Medicaid for people who travel from states where they are denied access to abortion care.

Going forward, the platform states that Democrats will, among other things, work to restore abortion rights through legislation (assuming a Congress with sufficient Democratic control), protect the right to access IVF, strengthen access to contraception, and continue to support access to medication abortion. The platform also indicates that Democrats will work to repeal the Hyde amendment, which “restricts federally funded abortions under major federal health care programs.”

The contrast between the parties’ platforms and policies is clear. Simply put, the Democratic Party platform explicitly states that “President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are committed to restoring the reproductive rights Trump ripped away.” As the presidential candidate who has proudly claimed responsibility for the fall of Roe, Trump’s rhetoric resembles the defensive moves of a boxer ducking, bobbing, and weaving to slip an opponent’s punches: he has tried to disavow Project 2025, tried to obfuscate Republican Party positions and plans, and backtracked on some of his positions in an attempt to portray his future administration as “great for women and their reproductive rights.”

[alicepao13]

At least they can’t block or prevent people from emailing… maybe they can tag some as directly to spam / junk, but idk if that how it works.

But they sure seem hell bent to prevent everything from being viewed on public platforms

I think they could set up a spam filter, or even IP blocking. Another reason to use any e-mail that you have so that you'll make it seem like it's more people too. Even that action, though, would be them admitting that they have a problem.

Of course they'll want to prevent everything from being viewed on public platforms. That's why we have to spread out. Shaftesbury, CityTV, Rogers, Beta Film. And keep in mind that all these have different social media handlers, so by the time they figure out that they have a problem on their hands, we'll have informed more people. And hopefully they'll take us more seriously then, instead of trying to squash us, and even more, it will lead to some interesting conversations behind the scenes about the viability of their current project (which we won't be privy to but it's okay).

Some topics to comment on: Obviously, that we want John Reardon back, Hudson and Rex being ruined by decisions made at a time where the actor was unavailable, and the shitty treatment of fans by the Hudson and Rex account.

And at the point we're at, because they have a hand in it, you can also tag https://www.instagram.com/6of1digital/ which is the marketing agency of the Hudson and Rex social media. They want to deploy silencing tactics? Let them know that we know who they are at least.

[sudaca-swag]

https://www.tumblr.com/sudaca-swag/767116058622590976/seeing-small-countries-that-have-never-done-damage?source=share

i don't necessarily disagree but...north korea are helping funding russia's invasion and war on ukraine, where they are killing civilians and taking their land? And how do these europeans countrys you mention main income come from weapon...i'm swedish and i did not realize that was our main income nor that we are colonizing any country.

If you think for one second that north Korea is at the scale of economical and political power to be able to single handedly supply Russia like say the US does with Israel you're wrong, in any case at most they would be an outsourced factory to jump around international regulations for the Russian government, and if you think that Europe and the US arent benefitting immensely from the weapon economy regarding the Ukraine-Russia conflict you're very wrong, they're in no hurry to close that gold mine. So let's better talk about what actually moves the wheel which are the billions and billions of US dollars and European riches going into funding wars and genocides across the world directly from the hand of western politicians.

And as for the Sweden comment, here's an article from last may from Le Monde, Sweden is the 13th largest arm export country and is unfortunately looking to climb up the ladder faster no matter how green they pretend to go amongst their citizens for votes, I suggest you read it because it says some very interesting things about those in power in your country and their ties to said war industries, and how war around the globe is the joint group effort of rich countries coming together for even more profit. I'll put some of the article down here since it's locked past the first paragraphs, but if you Google "Sweden arm industry" you will be surprised at the huge amount of articles like this written about this, you should check them out they're quite short: "Certain Nordic nations have emerged as significant suppliers of security technologies and weapon systems internationally. Simultaneously, these countries are widely perceived and labelled as the ‘do-gooders’ in global affairs. This perception is supported by many characterisations of the Nordics as ‘agents of a world common good’ and ‘moral superpowers’ ".

And here's some more data from 2022: In 2014, it was the third largest weapons exporter per capita at $53.1 per capita, behind only Israel at $97.7 and Russia at $57.7. From 2009 to 2019, it was the world’s ninth largest arms exporter in U.S. dollars with a cumulative value of $14.3 billion. In the same time period, it ranked eighth in arms as a percentage of total exports. Swedish factories produce not just small arms, but advanced systems like fighter aircraft, missiles, tanks, submarines, corvettes, and air-defense platforms.

"While Western countries nominally define themselves by individualism and meritocracy, Sweden highlights the viability of dynastic, family-oriented elites in creating and maintaining powerful industrial societies. Sweden is in fact an exemplar of a unique European model of governance and political economy, but one that cleverly and counterintuitively wraps elite-led industrial strength intended to support military capacity in an egalitarian and pacifist packaging"

"Saab's share price has soared, more than tripling since February 2022. Orders have exploded. The Swedish manufacturer invested €150 million in its production capacity. Nothing like this had happened since the group began manufacturing Carl Gustafs in 1948, according to Michael Höglund, head of the Land Combat division. Several factories will be built in Sweden and abroad, notably in India. The aim is to quadruple deliveries of anti-tank weapons and ammunition by 2025, from 100,000 to 400,000 units a year.

Johansson said the war in Ukraine was a formidable "showcase" for Saab. In 2023, the group's orders, already up in 2022, climbed by 23%, as did its sales, which reached 51.6 billion Swedish krona (€4.5 billion), while its profit grew by 51%, ending at 3.4 billion krona.

Over the past year, the manufacturer, which employs over 21,000 people worldwide, including 16,000 in Sweden, has increased its workforce by almost 2,500 and is continuing to recruit. And it's not the only one. The entire Swedish arms industry is abuzz – a sector that brings together around 200 companies, some 60 of which are foreign-owned. In 2022, these companies, with sales of 48.5 billion krona, employed over 28,000 people. "We don't yet have the result for 2023, but it should be much higher," said Robert Limmergard, director of the Swedish Security and Defense Industry Association.

Demand is largely fuelled by Sweden, whose military spending is set to reach 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2024. Finally integrated into NATO on March 7, the kingdom is pulling out all the stops to replenish its armaments stocks, after decades of disengagement. "We have placed orders for equipment, both in Sweden and abroad, for 19 billion krona in 2021, 36 billion in 2022 and 52 billion in 2023," said Göran Martensson, director of the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV). Exports have also risen by 18% in 2023, placing Sweden 13th in the world.

Saab was founded in 1937. "The company was formed on a handshake between the chairman of our board of directors at the time, Marcus Wallenberg [grandfather of the current president, whose family is still the group's majority shareholder], and the prime minister," said CEO Johansson.

SOFF director Limmergard: "Companies don't like me to say it, but in the late 1980s we had an Ikea-style arms industry. We had to produce high volumes, easy-to-understand and easy-to-use weapons that had to be functional and cheap. It was this tradition that enabled us to gain international market share and maintain a large industry, with companies that have since succeeded in specializing in niche markets, sometimes with the help of foreign investment."

The main bottleneck is the production line. It's impossible to increase deliveries of weapons and ammunition if suppliers don't keep up. For the Carl Gustafs, there are around 200 suppliers, some of whom have several customers, all of whom have increased their orders. This is the case, for example, with Norway's Nammo, one of Europe's largest ammunition manufacturers, with whom Saab has just signed an agreement. "We have jointly decided to develop our own warhead molding capacity. Meanwhile, they will be refocusing on artillery ammunition, which will give us greater production capacity together," said Höglund."

[foxhogblogs]

Foxhog Venture Rejects 450+ Startup Applications in India: A Bold Stand for Transparency and Ethical Investing

Foxhog Ventures, a US-based venture capital firm, has recently stirred the Indian startup ecosystem by rejecting over 450 startup funding applications. This bold move reflects the firm’s deep rooted commitment to transparency, ethical investing, and stringent due diligence practices in the evolving landscape of venture capital in India.

Many of the rejected applications fell short due to incomplete documentation, inconsistencies in financial disclosures, and non-compliance with essential legal standards. Some cases involved the submission of falsified data, which not only led to the rejection of those proposals but also resulted in the blacklisting of the startups and the initiation of legal proceedings.

Despite the firm stance, Foxhog continues to express its confidence in the Indian market, especially in its untapped potential. The firm remains focused on funding purpose driven startups, particularly those emerging from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. With a sharp eye on high impact sectors like agriculture, dairy, retail, and fintech, Foxhog is building a funding ecosystem rooted in real-world outcomes and long-term viability. Its flagship initiative, Venture Capital for Villages, is a prime example- an ambitious program aimed at enabling rural entrepreneurship and promoting grassroots economic development.

In response to defamatory narratives and fraudulent applications, the firm has taken legal measures, including filing police complaints and issuing formal legal notices. These steps are not about deterring startups, they’re about protecting the credibility of foreign investment and ensuring that serious founders have access to fair, trusted platforms. The firm believes such accountability reinforces the startup environment rather than weakens it.

Internally, the mass rejections have led Foxhog Ventures to double down on its due diligence protocols. Acknowledging that some past decisions lacked the rigor they demand today, the firm is now setting higher standards for risk assessment and transparency. This recalibration is part of the broader vision to redefine venture capital in India for 2025 and beyond, making it smarter, cleaner, and more impact focused. https://www.youtube.com/@foxhog/videos

For Indian startups looking to work with Foxhog or any other global investor, the message is clear: come prepared. Transparency is non-negotiable. Founders are encouraged to maintain accurate financials, be honest about profitability and losses, clearly communicate burn rates and revenue models and above all, uphold integrity in all investor conversations. In an age where funding is increasingly tied to purpose and accountability, the future belongs to startups that are built on honesty and resilience.

[canmom]

Any thoughts on gacha games ? Any rec on gacha games, especially if its not live action ? Thanks !

hmmmm

i used to be into NieR Reincarnation but they shut that one down lol

in general gacha is home of all the most obscene dark pattern monetisation models in gaming, so it tends to be designed for maximum timesink potential. even though there are many many great stories and gorgeous art styles in gacha, I tend to avoid playing them.

if anything the timesink aspect is a bigger problem for me than the money sink - it's easy enough to stay f2p when the prices are all calibrated to whales with a lot of money to burn, but there's an endless parade of daily tasks and small progress bars to fill so hours can fly by without anything really happening. which would be fine if the moment-to-moment gameplay was engaging, but so much of the time it's just inventory management and waiting for shit with no real challenge, and that ain't it. (instead I can spend my time on fulfilling activities like writing long tumblr posts... shit)

there are understandable reasons for some of this...

phone input is in general imprecise and largely limited to swiping and tapping on things. since pulling gacha is the thing that makes the game money, you can see how the easy, obvious way to incentivise it is to make progress broadly a function of your character's stats. that, and the long grinds in most of these games, means that 'skill' in a gacha game is mostly a matter of efficiency.

it's also an infamous problem that gacha development is on razor-thin margins and pretty much all or nothing: either it becomes a cultural juggernaut or it fails to make enough to sustain development. the vast majority of gacha games shut down, and while other unsuccessful games can at least stick around, the only way you can hope for an offline/custom-server version of gacha to survive is if dedicated, technically minded fans go to the effort of reverse engineering it. it is a painfully ephemeral art form even by videogame standards.

basically the problem is that nobody is willing to spend money on mobile games (I don't mean this as some kind of ridiculous guilt trip, that's just how it is), so the only routes to viability are ads and microtransactions, which come with all sorts of perverse design incentives. as a dev on a neighbouring platform, I look at mobile games with a degree of horror - I want to make a game that rewards the time players spend with it, not homeopathically dilute the good parts with brutal casino sandtrap shit because that's the only way the company can make enough money to pay my salary. (frankly if I had to do the level of exploitative shit that is completely standard in gacha I'd have to find another line of work, I couldn't live with it).

that said...

there is something interesting in how gacha design aesthetics push the sort of otaku 'database' concept to its absolute limit. every character needs to be dripping with appeal, and they need to hit as many different types of moe as possible across the cast. much like a fighting game, it means you have less of a hierarchy - everyone has a sort of 'main character' look. and much like, say, a Kamen Rider show, you need to be constantly introducing new props and outfits, which means it's just a huge field to experiment with character design. one of the big things that kept me coming back to NieRRein was the gorgeous character artwork - and with all the gacha out there, you've a good chance one hits your buttons.

gacha also seems to be, for whatever reason, a major platform for serial illustrated storytelling in the current age. a lot of gacha is essentially a serialised visual novel with gameplay speedbumps. like any long-running serial, that often means the plot will sooner or later take some intriguingly weird turns - and it gives you a lot of time to become attached to characters. I like narrative games, and gacha games tend to accumulate a lot of narrative - just severely diluted.

as far as recs...

besides the now-dead NieRRein and SINoALICE, which i played for the obvious Yoko Taro reasons, I also played a bit of Sdorica some years back, which I recall having an appealing art style and decent story - tho I quit fairly early because it was kind of eating my life.

I think you could also make an argument that Warframe is at least a fellow traveller to gacha games, and I have put so many hours into that that I don't want to think about it. god tier art direction, its story is ridiculous but now and then has some real moments of emotional impact, and its parkour system is really sick, but unfortunately it is an unrelenting grindfest and it takes literally thousands of hours to unlock most of its shit. Warframe is sorta the ultimate example of the adage that 'given the opportunity, players will optimise the fun out of a game', let's leave it at that.

other than that, everything else I only know about second hand: I watched the Arknights anime and it was fun, the techwear furries are endearing and the plot is quite strikingly odd. I have also enjoyed seeing some of the animation coming out of Zenless Zone Zero - they're trying something new and I respect it. (plus I think that one's like, an actual action game? though, not played.) I don't recall the name of the game, but someone sitting next to me at Scotland Loves Anime was playing a gacha rhythm game, and that seems like a genre fusion that could work well.

other than that, I would very likely have given Limbus Company a shot sooner or later, but I was severely put off the company after the MRA firing incident. I hear it's a good game though.

sorry I can't help more, but I know some friends who are into gacha so maybe they'll drop some recs in the comments!!

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Dion J. Pierre

These organizations have maintained both influential and radical friends, NGO Monitor explained in its new report released on Thursday, noting that JVP — a fringe anti-Israel group that has often joined forces to coordinate events with SJP — has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Other donors to JVP include the Open Society Policy Center and the Kaphan Foundation, among others.

As for SJP, one of its founders, Hatem Bazian, is also a co-founder of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), an advocacy group that, according to a landmark report last year by the National Association of Scholars (NAS), “retains ties to terrorist groups operating in the Palestinian Territories.” AMP is a growing power player in the US Democratic Party and has led several legislative initiatives aimed at eroding Democratic support for Israel.

NGO Monitor also named in its report Within Our Lifetime, a New York City-based group headed by a former City University of New York (CUNY) student who once threatened to set a Jewish student’s Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sweater on fire while he wore it. Since Oct. 7, WOL has openly cheered Hamas’ atrocities as the “right to resist zionist [sic] settle violence” and “Resistance in all its forms. By any means necessary” — an apparent endorsement of Hamas’ abductions and sexual violence against Israeli women. The group’s funding is a source of mystery; the public cannot freely donate to it because a link to its donation platform, “Donorbox,” is broken, but it is widely believed that the Westchester Peace Action Committee (WESPAC), a nonprofit based in New York, is WOL’s principal funder.

Another group named in the new report, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), supports a network of allied groups, including AMP, JVP, and WESPAC. USCPR has received immense financial support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which has awarded it at least $355,000 since 2018.

Many of the same groups backing the ongoing protests have also been integral in the growth of the BDS movement. Indeed, a growing alignment of large philanthropic organizations with BDS has been fueling the movement’s growth on American college campuses, as was revealed in the NAS report from last year.

According to NAS’s findings, JVP as of last year had received $480,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, whose endowment was valued at $1.27 billion, since 2017, and the Tides Research Fund, a sponsor of Black Lives Matter, has given the group at least $75,000 since 2019. Between 2014 and 2015 alone, JVP brought in over half a million dollars in grants. Additionally, Palestine Legal, a lawfare group founded in 2012 to support campus BDS groups like SJP, is the beneficiary of generous funding from Tides Foundation, a pioneer of activist investment that has given over $1.5 million to anti-Israel initiatives, according to figures included in the report.

“Saturation of anti-Israel, pro-BDS sentiment on college campuses is a long term danger to US support for Israel by its simple normalization of demonizing the Jewish state,” NAS said at the time. “Beyond the problem of antsemitism, the importance of academia to the BDS movement’s growth and viability demonstrates the steady erosion of its political neutrality that has taken place over the past two decades.”

[racefortheironthrone]

In Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht took some of her political friends out of the left-wing "Die Linke" to create her own party "Buendnis Sahra Wagenknecht". It seems to represent a weird quadrant of the political spectrum: mostly left on economics, but pronouncedly right-wing / "populist" regarding LBGTQIA+ and migration. First polls indicate 5-10 % of votes going for this party. What would your strategy be towards them, as a social democrat / progressive? Thanks for your perspective, Steven!

Red-to-Brown is not an unknown phenomenon, and it’s not unusual for radical-right parties outside of that specific movement (think Front-National or Fidesz or Law and Justice) to emphasize expanded social benefits and state economic intervention as long as they exclude immigrants, minorities, and emphasize natalist gender roles and family structures.

While I think Wagenknecht’s move is morally evil, I think it reflects an accurate strategic assessment that a lot of economically-left, socially-right voters in eastern Germany would be willing to bolt Die Linke and would probably prefer a Red-to-Brown party over AfD’s radical-right-but-also-neoliberal platform. The real question is going to be whether they cannibalize more from the left or the right. Obviously the best case scenario is that BSW and AfD end up evenly splitting the vote and failing below viability, but any amount of resources eaten up in attacking each other rather than winning over working-class voters who care more about economics than social issues would be helpful.

As a social democrat, my instinct is to say shift left on economics and fight it out on that ground, because you’re not going to match them on social issues but I think you can on economics, especially since your only hope of victory is with the support of the Greens and the remaining Dei Linke (which will be more cohesive and hopefully more amenable on both economic and social policy now that their cultural right flank has bolted and what remains is the more middle class ex-SPD faction). That being said, it’s not good news for social democracy, and will probably end up with another Grand Coalition to keep out the right at best.