#🌌when the stars align ; reigns rambles����

[mogai-sunflowers]

this will be a bit of a long post but i ask that you please please read the full thing if you want to know more about Sudan- i feel like not enough people ACTUALLY know what's going on in Sudan. a lot of people have a vague idea that a 'war' and genocide is going on, but it's important to know the specifics as well.

there is extremely little coverage of Sudan from non-Sudanese sources, and even those that DO cover it often paint it as a war between two different generals for power over a country- and to a certain extent, without context, that IS what's happening. for those unaware, the two 'warring factions' in Sudan are the official Sudanese military- the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces).

in April 2019, during the Sudanese Revolution, Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed by the SAF in response to a mass wave of revolutionary organizing, protests, and sit-ins. Immediately after, the TMC (Transitionary Military Council) was established, with SAF general inspector Abdel Fattah al-Burhan being appointed as the chairman. for a brief time, protestors engaged in negotiations with Burhan, and many believed that he was being ernest in his promises of a true civilian democratic government- but it soon became clear to protestors that he was not actually taking their demands seriously, so demonstrations once again intensified. on June 3, 2019, it was under Burhan's command that the Khartoum Massacre was committed, killing 118 protestors while they were participating in a sit-in at the military headquarters in Khartoum.

as the next few months went by, agreements came about to dissolve the TMC and form a Transitional Sovereignty Council based on a draft of a constitutional declaration. it was supposed to be that a military official would be the chairman for 21 months, then transitioning to a civilian chairman for the next 18 months- but Burhan staged a coup in October of 2021, and dissolved the council and effectively turned the Sudanese government back into a military junta, which was the cause of further protesting.

i want to emphasize the crimes and horrors of the SAF because they are often forgotten in these discussions due to the absolute atrocities committed by the RSF. there is no good guy here- both the SAF and the RSF are vying for dictatorial power. so let's talk about the RSF.

headed by genocidal war criminal Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known more widely as "Hemedti", the RSF formed around 2014 due to reorginization of the Janjaweed militias- which were the militias that formed across the Darfuri regions of southwestern Sudan to suppress demonstrations against Bashir's oppressive and racist regime which carried out the first genocide of Massalit and other ethnically non-Arab peoples across Darfur in the early 2000s. so to be succinct- the RSF has direct roots in dictatorial suppression of Sudanis protesting against ethnic cleansing, genocide, and oppression.

for around a decade, the RSF and SAF were different factions of the Sudanese military- both have their roots and a pattern of supporting dictatorial violence and anti-Black genocide. and, on April 15, 2023, these two dictatorial Arab-colonialist powers began fighting out of the blue. fighting has been most intense around Khartoum, the central state and capital city of Sudan, where now an estimated 35% of its residents have been forced to flee, with the rest trapped in the middle of an active war zone.

the RSF has been actively continuing the genocide of non-Arab Darfuri Sudanis that its predecessor the Janjaweed committed 20 years prior. they have been consistently launching attacks against Massalit villages in Darfur and El Geneina. Recently, they have completely ethnically cleansed several Massalit villages, killing hundreds in each one of them. in addition, they are committing so many other war crimes, like sexual violence, blocking access to humanitarian aid, occupying civilian homes and kicking the residents out, along with blatant ethnic cleansing campaigns, mass murder, and targeting of civilians.

but don't think that this is a 'civil war' as many are calling it. a civil war is an internal dispute, but this is far from that. both the SAF and the RSF are supported by external powers, namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, who all provide funding to these groups IN EXCHANGE FOR SUDANESE RESOURCES LIKE GOLD AND OIL. this is, ultimately, not just some random war between two different military groups- it is a war funded by and for foreign colonial powers who have a vested interest in colonizing Sudan for its resources. as an example- the UAE's- and especially Dubai's- infamous gold and jewelry industry, is only made possible by the fact that the UAE illegally smuggles 80% of Sudan's gold- they fund this by sending weapons AND SOLDIERS to the RSF. Several of the gold mines in Sudan are owned and operated by the Russian government.

all of this, both the 'internal' AND the external, colonial aspects of this war and genocide, has led to the world's current WORST humanitarian crisis. not only do LOW estimates place the total murdered in the past year at 150,000, but out of Sudan's population of nearly 47 million, over half (25 million) are in severe need of humanitarian aid, and of those 25 million, over half are children. fighting between the RSF and SAF has lead to severe blockage of aid, and the UN's initial proposed budget of $1.5 billion in April of 2023 has not only not increased to accommodate the severe worsening of the crisis, but ALSO has not even been funded 20%.

2.5 MILLION PEOPLE ARE EXPECTED TO STARVE TO DEATH IN SUDAN BY THIS FUCKING SEPTEMBER. THAT IS LESS THAN 2 MONTHS AWAY.

additionally, due to both western colonization and the Sudanese governments' deliberate cutting of internet access across the entirety of Sudan, there is a huge lack of the proper infrastructure for generating awareness and spreading videos and info from on the ground in Sudan. this means that not only are people unable to effectively crowdfund support to leave, but they are also barred from accessing social media to spread awareness, and they're unable to contact loved ones outside of Sudan most of the time.

also, Sudan is HUGE- in order for displaced people to escape fighting, they usually have to walk, on foot, for hundreds of miles, often across literal deserts, with extremely little access to water. there has also been a surge of internally displaced people dying due to illness and scorpion stings in displacement camps. 70% of Sudan's hospitals have stopped functioning entirely. and even if they DO make it to a neighboring country, most of the options there are just as bad, if not worse- Egypt is extremely anti-Black, and doesn't allow work permits to most Black refugees, meaning they are relegated to being houseless and jobless if they go to Egypt- and westward in Chad, there is also crisis with food and resources, so the government of Chad quite literally can not materially support anymore Sudanese refugees. In South Sudan, there is also conflict, war, and crisis, and in Ethiopia, where the genocide is taking place in Tigray, the government is extremely hostile to Sudanese refugees. there are currently more than 6,000 Sudanese refugees stranded in the forests because of the hostilities they faced while in UNHCR camps.

and everyday that we're not doing something, this genocide, war, and humanitarian crisis is getting worse. doing something starts with being educated. i urge y'all to look more into this, don't just take what i'm saying and roll with it- truly learn and listen to Sudanese activists on this. i highly recommend following these accounts on Instagram:

@/red_maat , @/bsonblast , @/sudansolidaritycollective, @/forsudaneseliberation, @/darfurwomenaction, @/liberatesudan, @/zzeirra, @/yousraelbagir, @/modathirzainalabdeen, @/sdn.world, @/nasalsudan, @/sudanuntold, @/kandakamagazine, and @/almigdadhassan0

IF ANYTHING I'VE SAID IS INACCURATE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

i'd like to spread this post for some education. could you reblog this @decolonize-the-left @incorrectmadrigalfamilyquotes @homoidiotic @heritageposts @el-shab-hussein

@fairuzfan @palipunk @silicacid @sissa-arrows @apollos-olives @

@northgazaupdates @our-queer-experience @intersexfairy @genderqueerdykes

[mogai-sunflowers]

femme lesbians who use he/him pronouns are literally so fucking cool like. people always try to explain he/him lesbians by saying “well it’s like butches cuz they’re masculine” and don’t get me wrong: he/him butch lesbians have my heart but he/him femme lesbians are literally just as real and valid and if you truly want to learn to believe that pronouns truly do not equal gender, then you’re going to have to stop thinking that “he/him lesbian = butch lesbian” because then you’re just trying to say that lesbians can use he/him if they’re masc enough but im here to tell you: literally any lesbian can use he/him pronouns. you can be the femmest of femmes and still use exclusively he/him pronouns and literally none of that invalidates anything about you.

so long story short: he/him femmes, especially femmes who exclusively use he/him, are literally to die for. i fucking love you <333

[mogai-sunflowers]

pls ppl I’m begging you. Draw fat trans people. Just saw an artist post 10 drawings, each of a different transmasc person, and they were all suuuuuuper thin, I love seeing transmasc art but please it’s such a gut punch to be already struggling so much with your transition due to your weight, and then see stuff like that that just reinforces my fears that I’ll never be able to transition because I’m not skinny enough. pls learn how to draw fat people and fat trans people. draw fat people draw poc draw disabled people please please please please

[mogai-sunflowers]

i just saw a post that was well-intentioned, and it was about how trans people can give themselves self-examinations for their breasts for breast cancer, and while I applaud the effort that was put into it, it fell into a very dangerously common ignorance that many medical diagrams fall into- it only showed the symptoms and what to look for on pale skin. Symptoms such as reddening and rashes look different on different skin tones, and if you only teach about looking for them on pale skin, you will miss it in other people.

i am not a medical expert, so this post isn’t about medical advice, though I will link a resource for trans poc who are interested but i digress: to other white trans people who know more about the medical sides of transitioning, if you’re going to make a post about it that includes medical diagrams and symptoms, please PLEASE make sure you have done your research about how symptoms present on ALL skin tones, because it’s vital.

now this isn’t trans-specific and it is a medical guide so may be a bit more difficult to go through, but it is called ‘Mind The Gap’ and it was written by a Black medical student named Malone Mukwende a few years ago and it shows how to diagnose and discover different symptoms across different skin tones. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/this-med-student-wrote-the-book-on-diagnosing-disease-on-darker-skin

tagging @metalheadsforblacklivesmatter @transgenderteensurvivalguide @genderkoolaid @doberbutts

[mogai-sunflowers]

🇵🇸 Free Palestine- A guide for getting involved (Somewhat USA-focused)! 🇵🇸

This post is going to get very long, so I'm trying my best to break it up into manageable sections! Some parts of this post are applicable to people outside America, but at this time, I'm only knowledgeable enough about the movement in America to make a post about it!

Find Out About Local Organizations To Get Involved With

The best place to start is to find out what's already happening locally! If you live in a large/larger town/city, chances are something's already happening nearby!

For Americans: Look here to find out about the closest PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) chapter to where you live! They are involved in direct activism all across the US!

Find out if there's a PYM (Palestinian Youth Movement) chapter near you! They are extremely active

For college students in the US: Find out if there's an SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) chapter on your campus! If there isn't, try founding your own! Look at their website here to learn more!

Also for college students in the US: Find out if there's a YDSA (Young Democratic Socialists of America) chapter on your campus!

Participate in BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions)

Find out how to get involved here

Hold Local News Outlets Accountable

Find out about the local news outlets in your area

Keep up-to-date with their publications

If it's a digital source, search it for any and all publications related to Palestine and Israel- if this search yields results, are the articles supportive of Palestine and its supporters?

If you encounter an article/multiple articles that lean towards or outright try to justify Israel's actions or spread propaganda, then you can do a few things-

1) If the article is digital, make a public comment correcting any misinformation in the article. Try to keep your comment straight to the point and factual.

2) Find out who wrote the article and reach out to them personally to discuss said article and the issues you have with it. Share your point of view and discuss misinformation and harmful language contained within the article.

3) Find out the editor of the article, and write a 'letter to the editor'. Such letters may have a word limit varying between different news outlets, so keep your letter brief yet powerful and deconstruct your issues with the article

4) Reach out to the owner of said publication and ask if you can try your hand at writing an opinion piece for them. Sometimes, it can take awhile to get one of your opinion pieces accepted, but if it's something you're passionate about, keep trying!

If a particular news outlet has a repeated pattern of dehumanizing and villifying the Palestinian freedom cause in their publications, try getting in touch with local activist groups! They can help- from organizing letter campaigns to actual protests outside the news headquarters!

Urge Your Town/City to Pass A Ceasefire Resolution-

First, check and see if there's already an organized movement in your town or city to pass a ceasefire resolution (via pressuring your local town/city council)- NOTE: If you live in a very small town, the chances are smaller that there is already an organized movement- but that doesn't mean you can't help to start one

If there is already a movement, find out when the public comment sessions for your town's/city's council are, and find out how you can sign up to speak- if you do so, you can also try and connect with the organizers of your local movement for advice on writing a statement in support of a ceasefire resolution

An addendum to the previous point: if you sign up to speak, find out if you can also provide a visual presentation for your statement- these are often especially powerful

If there isn't an organized movement yet, that doesn't at all mean that one can't be started. I recommend reaching out to the nearest town/city you know of that has an organized movement for a ceasefire resolution

Send emails and letters, and call, to all your town/city council members to consistently urge them to pass a ceasefire resolution

Pressure Your Representatives to Vote against Aid to Israel-

This is not US-specific- if you have representatives of your local area on the national level, you can pressure them through calls, emails, letters, setting up meetings, and direct action, to not sign off on aid proposals for Israel

Setting up meetings is particularly impactful- you have a chance to speak with them or their reps one-on-one with your point of view

Call/email EVERY DAY! Pressure only works if it is consistent, and ask your friends and family members to join you in contacting them to build even more pressure

Donate To-

These fundraisers to help various families leave Gaza

Your local/closest Palestinian Children's Relief Fund's chapter

1 or more of the Global Rahmah Foundation's projects for Gaza

ANERA

HEAL Palestine

Local drives for the World Food Pantry and other local fundraisers are also super important!

This is not an all-inclusive list of ways to support Palestine, it's just intended to be a guide for getting involved for people who want to get involved but aren't sure where to start. Please suggest or correct anything for this post, and please spread it around! @fairuzfan @palipunk @tamarrud @el-shab-hussein @apollos-olives @metalheadsforblacklivesmatter @bfpnola

[mogai-sunflowers]

when it comes to protests, politicians have a lot of training to be all calm and "professional" in public- but behind closed doors, they aren't calm. even fucking netanyahoo admitted privately that he was extremely worried by the amount of protests for Palestine- so if you think all our organizing and protesting is doing nothing, think again- that's what they want you to think. don't let their stoic facade fool you- they're scared, and we will continue to make them scared.

[mogai-sunflowers]

unfriendly reminder that using things like low IQ and difficulty with reading comprehension as insults isn’t the gotcha you think it is. using low IQ as an insult just shows how you equate ID with moral failing/human failing, similarly with those “reading comprehension on this website sucks” jokes.

i assure you, the troll you’re trying to epically own won’t care if you make fun of their IQ or reading skills, but the person with ID or another mental disability who happens to see your “joke” is now reminded that people see them as a laughingstock and not as a real person with real feelings.

i understand that many people who make these jokes have no ill intent and aren’t really thinking about the implications of their words, so im not trying to say you’re a bad person if you make these jokes, but i am saying you should reconsider your words and how they could actually affect someone else because ableism is ingrained in everything and it takes work to root out casual ableism in your everyday actions.

[mogai-sunflowers]

again. irl queer people don’t care. I’m in a room today with like 6 other queers and we all have known each other for like a few days and just start talking about how labels are personal and just be yourself and they all know I’m a bi lesbian and a couple others said they relate to me and use queer because of it and like. gahhhhhh. exclusionists are missing out on this kind of connection and that saddens me. but you are not alone. and they are just the confidently incorrect minority.

[mogai-sunflowers]

there is a local organization in my area started by a few friends of mine. They run a school in a displacement camp in Khan Younis, which currently has around 1200 students. today, two of the team members on the ground (not revealing their names for privacy reasons), but who have worked tirelessly in Gaza over the past 10 months to bring aid, build tents and camps for displaced Palestinians, were martyred today. I’m struggling to put my thoughts into words because my heart is just breaking for them. they put their entire hearts and souls into the work they did. they helped build an entire displacement camp that helped shelter over 300 families. they are heroes and I have nothing else to say really, just that I hope that as they’re resting, they know we who are still here will NEVER rest until all of Palestine is free from the river to the sea. I will call them by their first initials. M and Z: thank you. Rest well. We will continue your work in your memory and we will free Palestine in our lifetime. I just wish you two could be here to see it.

@decolonize-solidarity @silicacid @northgazaupdates @el-shab-hussein @tamarrud @sissa-arrows

[mogai-sunflowers]

aphobes won't like this one but being aro is the queerest thing about me. yes, i'm genderqueer. yes, i'm a bipan lesbian. and i am infinitely proud of those things. but being aro is the biggest part of my queerness. being aro is the part of me that stares me in the face everyday because it's so prevalent in my day-to-day life. being aro is the thing that has challenged my view on relationships, love, and society- and on the queer community itself. when i just identified as bi/pan, but didnt know what aro even was, i was happy, but i still thought the whole point of the queer community was that romantic love was the goal. being bi is beautiful and radical, but for me, it wasn't what made me rethink society and the actual structures of romance. only when i learned i was aro did i start to learn about the concept of amatonormativity and how to truly fight for queer acceptance, not queer acceptance under the guise of "romance is the goal but queer people shouldn't be excluded from it". so yeah. you can take my lesbianism, hell you can even take my genderqueerness, but you can pry my aro pride from my cold dead hands. not gay as in happy but aro as in fuck you <2

[mogai-sunflowers]

idk man like. as an aro who loves using the word ‘love’ and relates a crap ton to non-romantic love in a very deep sense... i don’t get what the whole problem with loveless aros is like??? it’s an emotion for some people. i feel like no other emotion is used by others to define humanity and it’s so weird. like i get that it’s very normalized for people to compare love to caring about other people on any level so if that’s your upbringing then seeing “lovelessness” can be a shock to the system if you don’t get what it actually means but when people just double down and refuse to even learn then that’s annoying. being loveless doesn’t mean you’re some big bad horrible person who doesn’t care about basic human rights or compassion it’s just a relationship to an emotion like what is the big problem???????

[mogai-sunflowers]

if you see "Zionist" and think "Jewish", that's a problem.

if you see "anti-Zioinist" and think "antisemitic", that's a problem.

i know semantics doesn't seem like the most important thing to be talking about right now, but believe me, it matters.

politicians are trying to officially make anti-zionism fall under antisemitism. this whole "semantics debate" is not just semantics and it's not just a debate. people in power are actively using the misinterpretation of anti-zionism, to ruthlessly suppress pro-Palestinian activists, INCLUDING Jewish pro-Palestine activists. in fact, many of the largest demonstrations in support of Palestine have been held by Jewish people. by defining zionism as equivalent to being Jewish, politicians are deliberately silencing the millions of Jewish people who stand up for Palestine.

in Israel itself, the IOF has repeatedly raided synagogues that had an openly anti-zionist stance and horrifically beaten the people inside, including literal rabbis- because they don't fucking care: to them, Jewish anti-zionists are just as much the enemy as gentile anti-zionists.

this isn't a meaningless online discourse about words or semantics, these words have meanings and knowing them can mean the difference between propaganda and allyship.

[mogai-sunflowers]

okay maybe a hot take but even though I’m as ACAB as they come, I don’t. uh. Love those jokes about how cops are pigs because they eat donuts like crazy. Because I see people MUCH more willing to call cops pigs if they’re fat. I only ever see the “donut” jokes about fat cops. and believe me, fat people see those jokes. I hate cops more than pretty much anything but if you are so willing to make fun of them for being fat or “donut eaters” because of their body type then maybe don’t because there are much better things to criticize pigs for. People act like “pig” is a synonym for “fat ugly cop who just sits around eating donuts” but it’s not. All cops are bastards, all cops are pigs. Fat cops are not pigs because they’re fat, they’re pigs because they’re fascists. Stop throwing fat people under the bus in your righteous anger at cops.

not to mention that being ACAB is about fighting anti-Blackness and other forms of bigotry, but fatphobia is intrinsically rooted in racism, anti-Blackness, misogyny, and queerphobia, so defending fatphobia is not very ACAB of you in the first place.

anyways fuck ALL cops.

[mogai-sunflowers]

happy indigenous peoples day!

[mogai-sunflowers]

the more I get involved in community activism, the more I’m realizing that being aromantic is not going to sentence me to loneliness.

when I’m surrounded by hundreds of people wearing keffiyehs just like me, I’m not alone. When I’m giving a speech in front of a crowd of people who are waving Palestinian flags, I’m not alone. When I’m texting my Palestine gc giving them tips to stay safe at a national march, I’m not alone. when i am completely by myself, I am still not alone because I have community and solidarity.

queerness challenges the idea that traditional family and romance are the only ways for connection. last year, I was surrounded by friends dating and forgetting me once they started dating, and I was miserable because I thought I’d always be alone. Now I realize I never was

so for me, activism and community work are not just my passion, they are my social outlet and they are the absence of my loneliness. just aro anarchosocialist things <222

anyways free Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, the Congo, and all occupied people!

[mogai-sunflowers]

bro the Zionists at my school are legit insane. Girlies thought they could just try to get me expelled on an entirely false accusation that they admitted they had no proof for, and when that failed they went after the whole SJP like bitch don’t you have homework????