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#total liberation
0liver-hope · 1 year
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if you love books, save a library!
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I hear people on Tumblr talk a lot about the importance of libraries; now’s your chance to help save one!
At Vermont State University is a newly merging Uni in so-called North America, pushing together three previously separate universities: Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College.
Just last week, the new VTSU administration sent out an email to faculty, staff and students announcing that all the libraries at each of the 5 campuses contained within these universities would be moving to an ‘all-digital’ model. Librarians will lose their jobs if this plan goes ahead; in fact, librarians were only informed of this change 11 minutes before the email was sent out.
We have come to understand that this means that all physical material will be removed from the library. They seem to want to do other things with the space, such as set up ‘a coffee or smoothie bar’ and determine ‘what students want’ to do with the space. This plan would go into effect on July 1st, 2023.
The fact is, students want to keep the library as it is. Quiet, and full of stacks and stacks of physical books. The administration cannot claim they are listening to students when we have demonstrated, via hundreds of emails and impassioned testimonies in front of the administration at a forum last week, that we hate this plan and oppose it vehemently. And the faculty and staff are with us, and they too have been speaking out. Not only that, the communities that surround these colleges greatly value having access to a research library, particularly in rural Vermont, and are opposing the plan as well, because, as far as I know, they will completely lose access to these resources if everything goes digital.
The image of the books above are what I just checked out today. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed browsing the stacks, in one case (not pictured above) finding a tiny book of Milton’s poetry inscribed with a reader’s name and the year 1865. So many important and precious books like that one are to be found in our library. Each book I checked out hasn’t been checked out for at least 10 years, and that’s one of the administration’s excuses for taking all our books away: that circulation is down, and that, somehow, it costs money to let books sit on a shelf. As many people have rebutted, though, just because books aren’t being checked out doesn’t mean they aren’t being read within the library and, most importantly, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have value.
Below I will post some links to various local news article on this subject as well as one radio broadcast that will probably be able to articulate this situation better than I can.
I’m just so angry and upset about this. I’ve seen students and faculty alike crying about this situation, and an old lady braver than me telling the administration that maybe they should consider lowering their own salaries before taking away our books. I think everyone here feels powerless, because the administration isn’t backing down, despite all our protests, because ultimately their goal is profit and to make sure that this new ‘equitable’ University makes as much money as possible.
At the Castleton forum, the president of the University said he was ‘deeply humiliated’, by the outrage, by the heckling, the ‘throwing of verbal tomatoes’ as I have taken to calling it, by having his and his fellow’s bullshit exposed and questioned.
Please, please, if you care about books, about libraries, about the problems with big tech and the way it continues to invade all our lives, replacing physical experiences with their more hollow, less engaging counterparts; if you care about the interests of the people triumphing over the interests of capital, about students, about education, then please -- help save our books by spreading the word however and wherever you can, by flooding the inboxes of the capitalists below; tell them how you feel about this decision and its larger implications for books and libraries in general! Not so much to convince them that they’re wrong (they already know that and don’t care), but to make going forward with this plan more of a nuisance and a PR nightmare than cancelling it would be.
I don’t know if anyone will read or see this post, but please if you do and you care, reblog, educate yourself on what’s going on, and take action if you can.
A few disclaimers:
Any specifics I mention pertain primarily to what I, as a student at Castleton University, have either heard via word of mouth or seen with my own eyes. I am not officially speaking on behalf of anyone but myself.
The only exception to all the physical materials being removed from the libraries seem to be the books deemed ‘most used’ and some valuable historical collections. This was not clear from the beginning and not yet fully clear in any further specificity.
please try not to use violent rhetoric - as much as I’m not into policing people’s speech and anger, I don’t want this to backfire and I don’t want them to crackdown harder on us or make a big stink about it if they receive those kinds of messages
Email addresses of administration officials responsible for this decision:
VTSU President Grewal: [email protected]
VTSU Provost Atkins: [email protected]
VSC Chancellor Zdatny [email protected]
VSC Board of Trustees Chair: Eileen “Lynn” Dickinson [email protected]
News articles + broadcast:
https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont-edition/2023-02-10/vermont-state-university-president-on-move-to-all-digital-libraries-changes-in-athletic-programs
https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/castleton-community-protests-vtsu-library-cuts/article_100d9539-c6ca-569e-a9b9-ecd6b3cef0ad.html
https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/08/vermont-state-university-to-close-libraries-downgrade-sports-programs/
http://www.castletonspartan.com/2023/02/12/vtsu-library-plan-sparks-outrage-and-emotion/
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katelouisepowell · 1 year
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a small drawing of hope and gentleness 🐔🐑 [prints]
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veganpropaganda · 1 year
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‘There is no ethical consumption under capitalism’. This is sometimes invoked to dismiss the vegan ‘lifestyle’ as futile. What are your thoughts?
Ah, the rallying cry of people who don’t want to think critically about their own participation in a violent system. This is rhetorical violence at its finest. We exist within capitalism as both victimizer and victim. And we have to make choices every single day about the extent to which we perpetuate violence to one another.
Do you personally have the tools to eat a plant-based diet at all times? Maybe, maybe not. But do you believe in animal liberation, or do you mock it? Can you adjust your attitude to be inclusive of vegans/ism where you are able? Those are the real questions. Because I’m guessing by most people’s relentless, vicious antagonism toward animals and vegans, the answer is secretly that we hate other animals. But if that’s the case, own it. Own the fact that liberation is not your goal, but a better position on the hierarchy. And own the fact that you don’t want to deconstruct white supremacy and systemic oppression. You want it to work better for you and yours.
About media theory, tokenism and total liberation. Interview with Christopher Sebastian by Trudi Bruges of CripHumAnimal
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dipperdesperado · 1 year
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harm reduction is solarpunk
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and writing about solarpunk actions and ideas that might not be normally considered solarpunk. One of those ideas that I’ve been really interested in recently is harm reduction.
Harm reduction is a way of thinking about harmful things that people do and their repercussions. As it sounds like, it’s meant to reduce the harm that these things cause. It’s an answer to targeted responses to situations that don’t holistically address the root causes. It also thinks about ways to support people that are stigmatized for the ways they cope with these root causes. Instead of asking people to change their individual responses to systemic issues, there is a focus on how to make those responses as safe as possible.
This aligns with the systems-focus and strategically holistic approach to social change that is paramount to solarpunk. While certain things, like drug abuse, should not be a thing, we can’t respond to that issue without having an understanding of the social factors that lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms, and destigmatize existing in those social situations. This is not to say that we endorse drug abuse, but creating safe spaces for drug use and treatment, while also building toward responding to wider issues can be very powerful. This thinking allows solarpunks to have the empathy and restorative justice orientation important to bringing the futures they want to see to life.
Harm reduction also allows people to build self-sufficiency. In the context of drug use, programs like needle exchanges and overdose prevention sites allow people to engage in safer practices in self-managed ways. Giving people the tools and resources to lower risks and improve their health is super solarpunk. Instead of giving them the care, or just providing access to the care, the community can dynamically organize to do both when necessary.
Solarpunk can be enhanced by the ideas of harm reduction to usher in futures that aren’t just renewable and participatory but are compassionate, empowering, and empathetic at their roots.
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rootbeer-robot · 10 months
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Animals protect other animals
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[ID: The therian symbol, theta-delta, with the vegan symbol, a green leaf and circle, combined into one. The leaf overlaps with the theta delta. The first one is transparent, the second has a white background. End ID.]
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candycoatedghoul · 1 year
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me and the squad on our way to terrorize the local bank clerk
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direct-actions · 4 months
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Liberate the Internet -- Levels of Control
I've been thinking a lot about the way the internet has shrunk to just a few major platforms that can boost or silence us at a moment's notice.
I wanted to make a post talking about different types of platforms and the ways that they control what we see or say.
(disclaimer: I'm not an expert on this and am trying to start a conversation, so if you have more information or corrections please reblog and add / put in the comments / message me)
I'm not saying everyone needs to become experts on self-hosting (I don't know too much about it myself). There are options for people at all levels. So let's take a look.
Algorithms and Rules
This is your TikToks and your Facebooks. Here, all it takes is the algorithm being tweaked to suppress keywords or accounts and suddenly your content isn't being seen.
The pros here of course is that when you're not actively being suppressed, you have a much higher chance at reaching new people vs other options.
Moderated Spaces
Today, these platforms are generally separated into individual communities (think, MightyNetworks/Circle, Discord, forums, etc.). Reach is limited and niche, and content moderation is generally done by human beings instead of algorithms (with some exceptions).
The pros in these spaces are that you have stronger connections to people who will see your content, but your reach is narrower. As a community you get to decide what happens inside your group, but with the platform itself still in control, they could easily shut down an entire community if they wanted to.
Website Builders / Hosting
This is your Wordpress blogs, Blogger, and even Neocities, etc. Here, the website is mostly yours. You get to decide what's on it. Your content isn't being directly moderated or censored. But you're still part of a larger platform that helps connect / promote your site to others.
Pros here are of course you have MUCH more leeway in what you can post / share. Cons are that there is a lot less chance compared to some others for your website content to reach people. Also, your blog / site can in theory be disabled by the host platform if they decided to.
There's also using something like GoDaddy or IONOS or some other website hosting thing. There's a lot of variety and crossover in this area but basically the website belongs to you more than say a Wordpress Blog would. In theory the web host could decide to drop you but I think that's pretty rare.
Self-Hosting
This is now territory I'm not very familiar with but you could in theory fully host your own stuff making it harder for anyone to shut you down. There's even creating your own internet networks but that's way beyond me. (Really cool tho, I'd love to learn.)
Email Lists
This one is very different but I think really important. Email lists / mailing lists are not just for businesses wanting to promote their latest sale or latest online course. This is one of the most DIRECT ways you can have access to your followers if they're interested in what you have to say. No matter what happens to any platform, if you have their emails you will likely retain the ability to contact them (unless email is somehow destroyed but at that point I think we'll be having very different conversations)
(This could even be physical addresses or an old-school mailing list)
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I bring this up because I'm really interested in moving toward a more autonomous and networked internet, and I think it's going to be necessary in the years to come.
Look up digital gardens for an example.
And if you're hoping to create / share anything online, consider diversifying the kinds of platforms you use, and pushing followers to places where you have more control over what you can share, and getting their emails.
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Anonymous, Total Liberation
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ponku-po · 7 months
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thatveganwhiterose · 4 months
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kickstarter
Check out “UNCAGE”, a Kickstarter link for an animal rights and liberation game!!!
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varii-corvid · 3 days
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I honestly think we need to shift the conversation about environmentalism and focus on how interconnected we are. the modernistic framework of separating the affairs of humans and nature denies the mass atrocities that are being committed in both first and second nature spaces (first nature being the domain of the non constructed primordial worlds we neglect to steward, second nature being the domain of the constructed artifice of mechanistic control). it's time we built a third nature: a new ecosystem where technology and ecology aren't at constant odds with each other and the bloodshed for survival between animals is finally ended. third nature should share the knowledge we have with the natural world. open the borders entirely. I believe it should be a moral imperative to scientifically advance the quality and capabilities of self determination, cognitive freedom, morphological freedom and self expression for all beings. not as an act of paternalism, but of equalizing solidarity. human supremacy no more. universal egalitarianism for all beings. this is the solarpunk world I desire to create. no more bloodshed over predation or disease or starvation. no more endless wars built off of mass suffering. an end to all tyranny, from nature or otherwise. when we start dismissing evils as natural, injustice is excused. we are stuck in trauma cycle realism that we must break out of that. this pain will end some day and we will all heal. it's time for humans and animals to break the status quo. we cannot sustain a world built on suffering. period.
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diogenes-syndrome · 22 days
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im gonna redo this on cardboard when i can
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One day I might get round to explaining my reasoning behind the idea that non-human animal liberation and the concept of eating non-human animals are not mutually exclusive but today is not that day so instead I'm just gonna drop the idea here and hope for the best.
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"Nobody can deny the profound identity crisis faced by the working class. Only a few decades ago, the factory was seen as the centre of everything, with workers offering the vital component in the functioning of society as a whole. Work was once a way of life, not so much in terms of the amount of time it took up, but instead because of the clear sense of existential grounding it offered. For generations, there had been a strong link between work and professionalism, with most workers committing to a single craft for the entirety of their lives. Career paths were passed down from father to son, who often remained in the same company; the families of different workers also maintained close ties with one another. Nowadays, however, everything has changed: employment is immensely uncertain, the relentless fluidity of the post-industrial economy forcing most to get by on a roster of precarious, low-skilled jobs. Far fewer people take pride in their work, especially given that employment only rarely has a convincing subtext of doing something socially important. Trade unions have also vanished as a historical force, having been defeated in the key battles of the ‘80s, their membership levels imploding in lock-step with the advance of neoliberalism. A residue of the old world still exists, but it continues to dissipate further every day, never to return. In the Global South, too, things are inevitably moving in the same direction. These developments cast serious doubt on the validity of Marxist and anarcho-syndicalist strategies for revolution. It’s becoming increasingly meaningless to speak of “the workers” in reference to a cohesive entity. It isn’t as if the disintegration of the working class implies the absence of poverty, nor of the excluded – in no sense whatsoever. What it does mean is the end of the working class as a subject. One that was, as Marx put it, “disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself” (Capital, 1867). Over the last decades, the working class has been dismembered and demoralised by the very same mechanism: just as the mass application of steam and machinery into the productive process created the industrial proletariat two centuries ago, the invention of new, automated technologies has led to its dissolution. There’s no single project around which to unite the working class any more; it follows, as with identity politics, that gains in the workplace will almost always be limited to improving capitalism rather than destroying it. The Industrial Revolution has been superseded by the Digital Revolution, yet the revolutionary optimism of workerism remains ideologically trapped in a bygone era, fumbling for relevance in a century that won’t have it. Although, to be honest, this is hardly news: already for some time now, the nostalgic language of workerism has come across as stale and outdated to most, even if academics often struggle to keep up."
-Total Liberation
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dipperdesperado · 11 months
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direct action gets the goods!
One of the most liberating ideas that I’ve come across in my political journey is direct action. It is so exciting precisely because it exemplifies the ways we need to take action in order to achieve autonomy and abolition.
Direct action is a strategy that aims to tackle an issue in the most effective way possible, with those most affected by the issue taking the lead in finding a solution. In my view, it should always be the first thing that comes to mind when confronting problems. It involves cutting out the middleman and taking control of the situation ourselves.
Direct action follows a format similar to that of any project. First, we identify the issue at hand and understand how it impacts us and others. Then, we brainstorm potential responses and strategies. Next, we execute our plan and take action to address the issue. Finally, we reflect on our efforts and assess the outcome.
What sets direct action apart from other approaches is its focus on immediacy and tactile impact. It seeks to find ways to act quickly and effectively, within our means, in order to achieve our goals. Examples of direct action include blockading an unhoused encampment to protect it from being dismantled, directly obstructing the passage of a harmful bill, or staging a sit-in protest. Direct action is typically seen as a last resort, after all other options have been exhausted, but it is an incredibly powerful tool for social change.
Direct action is a great way to challenge oppressive power structures and fight against injustice. We can make a real difference in the world by working together in a grassroots movement toward liberation and collective action. The #StopCopCity movement is a prime example of how direct action can affect change and promote social justice.
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macymacymac · 2 years
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Also yall the handmaids tale as a book sucks, read Ursula K Leguins works instead
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