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I do think you were one of the people who got me interested in anna louise strong

she really did just go all over and wrote lots and lots of useful material about communist/socialist stuff

she really did just go everywhere that people attempted to rise up and forego common journalistic limits. thinking specifically of how she ignored the advice not to go into north korea because it'd be dangerous to her as a usamerican

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400+ people were killed in gaza last night.

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A lot of the talk around "cultural appropriation" is deeply misguided because it neglects the basic fact that a relationship of oppression must exist between the group who is taking cultural elements and the group that is being taken from. In present times this sort of oppression normally follows the lines of Imperialism, but cultural appropriation can very much occur within other social systems as well. A pre-Capitalist example of this is provided by the Kingdom of Bamum, the most powerful centralised state in the grasslands of what is now west Cameroon, which incorporated not only the art but also the artists of conquered peoples in order to enrich their culture, assert their political dominance and culturally integrate new subjects

Even though the Bamum may have possessed artistic capabilities and appropriate technology, the relocation of the artisans was a significant step in establishing Bamum dominance in the visual domain. Appropriating the artists themselves seems to be the logical extension of the tendency of dominant Grassfields states to take over and manipulate the visual symbols of subjugated populations, the regalia and emblems of the elite and of secret societies. Such objects were frequently not only displayed as war trophies but also integrated into the rituals of the victor's secret societies or into court ceremonies, becoming a constant reminder of the victors' superiority. The conquered artists' work for the Bamum court served a similar purpose and also enhanced the court's overall wealth and prestige. The Bamum thus perfected the system of visual conquest by appropriating not only the objects of those they conquered but also the creators of the objects themselves. At the same time, their work for the court must have been a strong integrative factor for the kingdom as a whole

Christraud Geary (1981) Bamum Thrones and Stools, African Arts Volume 14 Issue 4

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any thoughts on left unity? saw the term in the bio of some Solarpunk blog

The most pressing matter to determine in regards to left unity is, in my opinion, what is "left", more than determining what "unity" is. Also, of course you'd see that in a solarpunk blog, they're all about labels that look good and progressive.

Are we talking about just marxists? Include the anarchists? councilists? eurocommunists? social-democrats? DSA types? anyone to the left of free market conservatism? I am aware in most cases, when people call for left unity, they generally mean communists of all stripes, anarchists, and maybe the left-most currents of social-democracy. But this illustrates the first issue with the term, and that's that leftism is not a coherent category and that it's based on vibes and a general undefined notion of "progress".

The left-right axis in politics comes from the first bourgeois democracies, in which there was a "left", free-market, or "progressive" party, and a "right", protectionist, "conservative" party. They represented the two main fractions within the newly in power capitalist classes. When other parties started to emerge, such as the first social-democratic parties (SPD, PSOE...), they kept with the left-right axis and positioned themselves to the left of the main "left" party, they claimed to represent the common man, that sort of thing.

Fast forwarding through a lot of history, these labels and the vast set of beliefs they categorize have stuck to today. But they are still labels based on the "centrist" consensus of the bourgeois parties. So it is both inappropriate and very hazy. To find the rest of the limitations of this "left" category, let's look now at the "unity" part of this slogan.

Which kind of unity and under which pretenses are these leftunitarians calling for, exactly? Are they talking about a united front kind of strategy? That has historically been proven to be ineffective and harmful. Any appeals to a common goal are nonsensical, an examination of the objectives of the currents these people pretend to "unite", reveals fundamental differences not only in end goals, but in the conception of specific tactics and ways to work.

In my offline experience organizing in a "united" way with "leftists", there has been, some times, an unsalvageable conflict in matters of tactics. For example, my marxist-leninist party prioritizes the security of its members, and if a given action is considered too dangerous in relation to the context, it is not done. However, anarchist and trotskyist groups place security on the back burner, displaying an admirable but very dangerous boldness when it comes to placing themselves and others in harm's way, for the sake of achieving the flashiest thing that will look good on twitter. How, exactly, is unity achieved in these situations? We would gladly collaborate if the others agreed to place more importance on security, but I'm sure the others have the same perspective on us placing more importance on their concerns. Experience also shows our approach is reliable in moments of high tension and danger, and theirs isn't, this is not a matter of opinion.

And this is the other and largest issue with the "left" category. There is close to no common characteristics besides opposition to the current system and a hazy agreement that people should be treated better, only the latter condition separates this category from fascism. Opposition to a common enemy does not make a sufficient condition for any kind of substantial cooperation. Actual, practical efforts are materialized through an understanding of what you want the alternative to be, not through an opposition to what's already there. This last sentence in itself is a matter of contention within the "left".

Left unity is a superficial slogan, so superficial that some can find it just as easy to cooperate with fascists, or to side with imperialists and genocidal settler colonies.

This is not to say cooperation in general is impossible. Like I said in the example from my experience, those differences only become unsalvageable in some cases. Especially in countries where the "left" category is characterized by fragmentation, collaboration with other currents is inevitable and necessary. What's at issue here is the elevation of this occasional cooperation to a defining principle of one's activity. Left unity is superficial and dysfunctional, cooperation within the "left" in some contexts is necessary.

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🚨Urgent Appeal

🔹 My name is Siraj from Gaza. I live with my family in an area threatened with evacuation, and we are exposed to extreme danger. The intense artillery shelling feels like the horrors of the Day of Judgment.😥

🔹Additionally, there is a complete lack of food and water, and hunger is ravaging our bodies. Right now, we don't want food.😥

🔹We want to escape death and help with the costs of displacement.😭

📍A small contribution could make a big difference.🙏

✅️Vetted by @nabulsi , my number verified on the list is ( #219).

https://chuffed.org/project/121006-save-sirajs-family-from-the-threat-of-the-gaza-genocide-war

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I am writing to you from Gaza, where my family and I have lost our home, our dreams, and our sense of safety. We now live in a small, cold tent, with hunger and fear as constant companions.

I am not asking for financial help; instead, I simply ask you to share our story. A small gesture—a post, a reblog, or even a mention—could connect us with people who can make a difference.

With your help, we can raise awareness about the difficult circumstances so many families face in Gaza and give us hope for a brighter tomorrow. Together, we can make an impact.

With endless gratitude,

🌹 Aburas Family 🌹

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for anyone unaware, BDS is calling for a boycott of Microsoft Game Pass, Minecraft, and New Xbox Consoles

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3/19/2025

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Caper in the Castro is a legendary video game, not because legions of die-hard fans continue to play it, but because it was thought to be lost forever. Now, what is largely considered to be the first LGBTQ-focused video game (it was released in 1989) is on the Internet Archive for anybody to play.

The game is a noir point-and-click that puts the player in the (gum)shoes of a private detective named Tracker McDyke who is, in case you couldn’t guess by the name, a lesbian. McDyke must unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of Tessy LaFemme, a transgender woman, in San Francisco’s Castro district, an historically gay neighbourhood.

OOOOOHhh!

The game was released as charityware – freely, with a strong request to give a donation an AIDS Charity of their choice. I’d like to push towards still following that and donating, if you’re able.

(And you might also want to donate to the Internet Archive, who is hosting it now, while you’re at it – they’re in the middle of a donation drive, and could use your support.)

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US and British warplanes launched a new round of airstrikes on a residential neighborhood in the Shuaab district of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, late on 15 March, killing at least nine civilians and injuring several more.

"The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children," a resident of the area told Reuters.

The midnight attack marks the first western airstrikes to hit Yemen since the Gaza ceasefire deal took effect in January. It also comes days after Trump added Ansarallah back to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

Earlier this week, the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) announced the reinstatement of a ban on all Israeli vessels passing through designated operational areas in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and Gulf of Aden, following the expiration of the deadline set by Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi for Israel to permit aid into Gaza.

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3/13/25 Some of these have been reached, here are the ones that still need donations:

Help my Family scape the horrors of war in Sudan. (8%)

Help A WAR survivor to Finish His Education (25%)

One Million Sustainable Pads Campaign (26%)

Help ThomaSerena recover from war (50%)

Escaping Hell: A Family's Fight For Survival (65%)

Join the effort to save Jameela and her family! (66%)

Help Abudjana rebuild after war (66%)

Help my family escape Sudan's war (78%)

Help Aalaa's Family Flee Sudan and Her Mother Get Surgery (83%)

Help Randa's Family flee war in Sudan (93%)

Sudanese fundraisers that have yet to reach their goals:

Help Mohamed Evacuate & Finish Education

Sudan War, Help Asmaa's Family

Help Aalaa's Family Escape to Safety

Emergency Fund: Medical, Shelter, & Edu (Sudanese Refugees)

Support Sakina's Family's Journey to Safety

For Sudan: Help support families in Kassab IDP camp

Our home bombarded and destroyed

Evacuate a family from the war

Help Abudjana rebuild after war

One Million Sustainable Pads Campaign

Fight Hunger in Sudan: The Khartoum Kitchen appeal

Help Randa's Family flee war in Sudan

Help my family escape Sudan's war

Sudan Emergency Medical Appeal- Help Children & War Victims

Join the effort to save Jameela and her family!

Help ThomaSerena recover from war

Escaping Hell: A Family's Fight For Survival

CAIRO SUDAN AID

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Tell me a soft memory

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The tragedy of my life is that I keep acquiring and displaying fetish art and having to be corrected by my friends.

Most recently, a friend came over my house and saw my computer background and went, "Wow, um, I didn't know you were into that." To which I look at the picture of the well drawn muscular female minotaur in historically accurate Greek clothing and I start geeking out about how I love the detail the artist did with the clothing and I point out the period appropriate folds and pins, how the artist even inserted the native plant that was used to dye the clothing this particular shade in the background, and even how the belt has technology AND historically accurate weaving patterns on it.

Then I start explaining how I love the muscular choices of the minotaur, that I was so impressed with the artist's anatomically correct depiction of the muscles converging into the neck. That many people get an upright cow's neck wrong because cow's don't have collarbones, so it can be very difficult to merge the upper arms and a chest of a human with a cow's body. I draw her attention to the beautiful way they've merged the pectoralis major so smoothly while also staying true to how muscular they've depicted the rest of the body.

I finish up with my thoughts on the artist's bold choice to depict the minotaur as a female, and despite the underlying themes of a minotaur being violence, child murder, strength, and muscles. I segue into how unlike bulls, cow are perceived as mothers. That they are the major source of milk in human culture, and that idyllic depictions of them in a field usually depict calves frolicking nearby, yet the minotaur kills and eats children.

I finish and there is a long pause.

"Urban, this is fetish art." and she takes me to the artist's twitter and god dammit it's fetish art, not a bold statement on cultural perceptions of women and violence throughout history. I have been tricked again.

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From Mohammad El-Kurd's "perfect victims"

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Gum arabic, a vital ingredient used in everything from Coca-Cola to M&M’s sweets, is increasingly being trafficked from rebel-held areas of war-torn Sudan, traders and industry sources say, complicating Western companies’ efforts to insulate their supply chains from the conflict.

Sudan produces around 80 per cent of the world’s gum arabic, a natural substance harvested from acacia trees that’s used widely to mix, stabilise and thicken ingredients in mass-market products including L’Oreal lipsticks and Nestle pet food.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war since April 2023 with Sudan’s army, seized control late last year of the main gum-harvesting regions of Kordofan and Darfur in western Sudan. Since then the raw product, which can only be marketed by Sudanese traders in return for a fee to the RSF, is making its way to Sudan’s neighbours without proper certification, according to conversations with eight producers and buyers who are directly involved in gum arabic trading or based in Sudan. The gum is also exported through informal border markets, two traders told Reuters.

Asked for comment, an RSF representative said that the militia had protected the gum arabic trade and only collected small fees.[...]

In recent months, traders in countries with lower gum arabic production than Sudan, such as Chad and Senegal, or which barely exported it before the war, like Egypt and South Sudan, have begun to offer the commodity aggressively at cheap prices and without proof that it is conflict-free, two buyers who have been approached by traders told Reuters. While the acacia trees that yield gum arabic grow across Africa’s arid Sahel region — known as the “gum belt” — Sudan has become by far the world’s biggest exporter due to its extensive groves.[...]

Before the Sudanese civil war, the raw gum would be sorted in Khartoum and then trucked to Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, to be shipped via the Suez Canal around the world. Since late last year, however, RSF-affiliated gum arabic started to appear on sale at two informal markets on the border between the Sudanese province of West Kordofan and South Sudan, according to a buyer based in an RSF-controlled area, who declined to be named due to safety concerns.

The buyer, a major trader in the West Kordofan area, said that traders collect gum from Sudanese land owners and sell them to South Sudanese traders in these markets for US dollars.

4 Mar 25