#2024 is an experience

[songofwizardry]

Ok I'm out of the UK and meant to be on an organising break so I don't even know the worst of it, because I'm off all my usual networks and chats, but here's a long post, because I'm angry: in the last few days, across the country, there have been (halal and Muslim owned) businesses burnt down and attacked including cafes (1 and 2) and a supermarket in Belfast; a Muslim cemetery was vandalised; multiple hotels housing asylum seekers or said to be housing asylum seekers were set on fire sometimes with people inside. And that's just what's on the news. The stuff coming out anecdotally, from the people I'm talking to, is even worse. And again, I'm not hearing the worst of it right now.

The rhetoric is blatant and obvious: the leaked list of targets for Wednesday evening that's going around explicitly says they won't stop coming until we make them. It explicitly targets immigration support, immigration lawyers, and asylum seeker and refugee support centres; and just because you think you live in a diverse area does not mean it’s not a target and that numbers aren’t needed. By virtue of it targeting immigration support (and by design!!!) they’re targeting areas with large Brown, Black and immigrant populations. Particularly Muslim populations.

I don’t want to fear monger, bc where communities have been showing up, the fash are being driven out. But like. I will not lie. It is terrifying to see blatant far-right, Islamophobic, explicitly anti-immigrant and anti-asylum rhetoric so openly on our streets, days on end. It makes me incandescent with rage to hear about mosques across the country issuing warnings and shutting down events, and to hear about my friends outside London whose families haven’t been able to leave their homes in days, to hear from my friends who are or support asylum seekers about how terrified they are. It infuriates me to see, even at this point, the language and reporting, because to make the news we have to step out of a mosque being targeted and offer the fash food and a tour of the mosque; because they're still talking about how much we "contribute" to this country and that's why you shouldn't target us; becaus there's still people pointing out super "reasonably" that this is a natural response of the white working class to unchecked immigration or our terrible crimes or the violence of Muslims or those fucking savages or because there's too many goddamn people crossing the channel or. Whatever new bullshit. Genuinely, this is still turning up in the reporting, and on socials, go look on twitter and you will be utterly horrified at the shit that's being said. I'm seeing it on tumblr too.

It makes me so fucking angry and yet I am unsurprised, because Nigel Farage is an MP and can still say that this is a “response to unchecked immigration”, because the shadow Welsh secretary can say there is “political justification” for the far-right action on our streets, because my friends who are asylum seekers have seen years upon years of being blamed for every ill and failure of the social safety net that the government has been responsible for. This is where we end up after years of talking about “no-go zones” in Muslim areas of cities, after “Stop the boats” (full of terrified people who are escaping unimaginably bad circumstances) becomes a reasonable political chant, after we had a prime minister whose blatant islamophobic comments were just… ignored for years, after years of newspaper front pages demonising us.

This isn’t just about the stabbings. (Tommy Robinson was in London leading a fash march before these stabbings. This has been a long time coming.) This is the result of years of this shit. So yeah, we are scared, and concerned, but also angry (maybe that’s just me; I am always angry). Look out for your friends. Check in on people, particularly if you know PoC and people targeted by Islamophobia (misplaced or otherwise, our Sikh friends get a lot of this shit as well), immigrants, and asylum seekers and refugees.

Numbers have been key to keeping the fash down. Counterprotests are happening everywhere—if you can get to one SAFELY (being the key word here—if you’re visibly going to be a target, there is no shame in staying home and staying safe) please do, don’t go alone under any circumstances, take the GBC number, don’t split off from the group, etc. Repeatedly, we have been the ones keeping each other safe. Counter-protests are being called by Stand Up To Racism (which is a SWP front), but particularly within London, BLMUK and LAFA (the London Anti-Fascist Assembly) are also coordinating responses—you can see stuff on the BLMUK instagram. Do what you can to help, but if you’re going out there, do it as a group and do it safely.

And please please push back against the anti-immigrant rhetoric, against these prevalent ideas (even) amongst “polite” middle class white liberals about Muslims who refuse to assimilate, about the “state” of “those” areas of Birmingham and Manchester and London, against the good immigrant narratives and the blame we get for everything from inflation to overcrowded classrooms to NHS underfunding, against the fucking vile way people talk about asylum seekers and people crossing the channel.

I am tired and sick to my core of the myth of “polite” British racism. I am tired of being told that things like that don’t happen here, of the shock I get anytime I describe the Islamophobia and racism that people (that I) experience. I’m actually very very tired full stop, and I don’t know how to end this paragraph.

Fuck the fash. We keep ourselves and each other safe. We need each other to keep our communities safe. Organise. And for the love of god, listen to us.

[kevinsdsy]

oh to be standing in front of the statue of nike, goddess of victory, as an olympian..

[thethoriumreactor]

The colorblind Alastor headcanon is so fun to think about I made an entire comic page about it pls be proud of me guys

He chose the more vibrant one lol (if image quality is bad pls click on it)

Bonus doods (Alastor admitted the truth):

[maddybthorne]

I want a BBC Merlin fanfic where Hunith visits Camelot as a surprise. Merlin doesn't know she's coming, only Gaius knows that she plans to visit. This is set in a time period where all the knights are alive (I'm looking at you Lancelot.) and Arthur is Prince, but running the Kingdom as Uther is unwell.

Hunith pulls up to Camelot and is walking towards the Castle through the citadel, burdened by her bags, when a cheerful voice rings out. "Do you need any help, miss?" It's one of the many Castle servants.

Hunith explains that she is heading to the Castle to visit her son who works there, the servant then offers to carry her bags.

"Oh I don't want to be a bother." Hunith replies

"It's no bother at all! Really, I was heading that way already." The servant insists and they both make their way to the castle, "What's your son's name by the way, I might know him if he works here."

"His name is Merlin." Hunith responds with a smile. The servant stops walking and looks at her. It's not only him that stops at this announcement.

"Y-you're Merlin's Mother?!?" A nearby servant who had been close enough to hear the conversation says in awe.

The courtyard that they're walking through gradually fills with hushed whispers as the news spreads. Everyone knows of Merlin. The Prince's manservant who had managed to not quit in the first week of serving him. Merlin, who changed the Prince from a spoiled brat into a good man whom the Kingdom was proud of and eagerly awaited the day he would be crowned King. Merlin, who had followed the Prince into battle time and time again to save Camelot.

I want a fanfiction where The Entire Of Camelot loves Merlin and is thankful for his role in making Arthur a good person. Where not only the Knights, but the Castle staff meet his mother and collectively decide that she is That Woman and treat her with Respect. Where they treat her like Royalty.

Ofc Gwaine loves her. That's his best friend's mom. Hunith looks at all the knights and adopts them on the Spot.

And Merlin is either really confused by this behavior or knows and just lets it happen.

Arthur has no idea what's going on or why but he treats her with reverence and love because that's his future Mother in Law and he's very much starved for parental affection which she gives him (and the knights) in spades.

But yes, I just want a fic of people meeting Hunith and being like "Thank you for giving birth to your son. I'd die for you both" and her being like "...please don't."

(Bonus if Leon meets her and is just like. "How did you survive being around that little shit (Merlin) for so long?" And she just laughs and gives him advice, which makes him cry because he's just so tired. #LetLeonRest2024 I will push this agenda till I die)

[blueskittlesart]

Linktober day 7: Noble

was stumped for inspiration on this one until i remembered that link and zelda are over 21 now. Someday I'm going to make one of those noble pursuit cocktails for myself I swear. textless version under readmore!

[babydolllblogger]

Victoria's Secret, 2024 FS ⊹ ࣪ ୨ৎ˙⋆.˚

[mausirot]

@doublestandardnyc sur instagram ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ྀི₊ ˚. ⊹

[mangozic]

My part for this year’s @invisobang !

A short comic for chapter 7 of @mercury-lurks ‘s incredible fic To Remember Death, Remember Life !

[chrissy-kaos]

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[not-another-side-blog]

Death, taxes, Sebastian Vettel showing up once a year like a pre school teacher with matching shirts, letting 20 grown men color bee hotels, and inviting them for a ride in his giant garbage helmet.

[songofwizardry]

happy election eve, uk folks!

going to give a shoutout to https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/—their quiz is a super useful summary of the largest parties’ stances on various policies (you can pick the topics that matter to you and do a little quiz where it removes their names so you vote unbiased, and then it gives you your results), and even if you end up voting tactically, it is *extremely* useful and interesting to get a succinct summary of what the various policies are in different fields (spoilers: reform are extremely easy to spot and utterly terrible, and there’s… lots of transphobic policies.)

also bit of a shoutout to https://tactical.vote/ which is just ‘get the tories out’, and will probably tell you to vote Labour in most constituencies in England which yknow you may not want to do bc *gestures at Labour*, BUT it is a handy place to see both the 2019 results and recent polling for your constituency. do with that what you will.

see you at the polls tomorrow, and don’t forget ID! we ARE getting the tories out tomorrow, and we keep building after that bc the world and activism and change does not start or end at westminster and electoral politics will only take us so far! replacing the tories (particularly with Labour) will not fix all our problems (we will retain many of the same problems, have you seen those policies?) and we have to keep actually… doing shit, taking action, getting out there, not letting the name of the party sway us.

also, not going to tell anyone how to vote – make the decision that makes sense for you and your constituency, tho I feel like my stance is pretty clear here – but tomorrow I’m wearing green, yknow? 🌱

[countingstars-17]

Charles Leclerc walks in the Paddock during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 24, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

[killaura]

we’ve never been more back

[crtastrophe]

My piece for an absolutely MASSIVE, 14-month game of art telephone hosted by @bowelfly!

I was artist 42 out of 72 — check out the rest [here]! this thing is WILD

[mikimeiko]

Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998)

[martynsimp69]

Dogwarts - A Horror-Themed Minecraft Map

Ever since the beheading, paranoia has taken hold of the Red King.

Dogwarts is a short Minecraft map full of secrets, made for AUFest 2024's Reverse Big Bang. You can find more information on it here, including the world download, content warnings, how-to-play guide, and a video showcase for anyone who can't or doesn't want to play through it themselves.

As part of the event I had the honor of working with two INCREDIBLE writers, Sparrow @erstwhilesparrow and Writer @capriciouswriter207!! Both of them did a masterful job bringing this story to life in a new medium, and I'm delighted that I got to have them on my team <3 Check out their fics:

branches, but softer by sesquidpedalian

The things Martyn carries with him have dwindled to almost nothing. One bucket that he doesn’t dare abandon to the capricious shadows, a handful of glass bottles. A scrap of banner that he keeps in his pocket, that he wipes his sweat on but never without feeling a little bad. If it’s the tunnels themselves that are responsible for all his misfortune, they never make a sound to suggest so. If this place is haunted, it’s not haunted by any ghosts but his own.

What happens below (none will ever know) by Writer207

The enchanter must be protected at all costs. Away from prying eyes, deep below the ground, nobody but Ren will ever lay their eyes on it again. A labyrinth of dirt and stone must be dug to further protect it. The process weighs heavily on Martyn, and the tunnels themselves seem to suffocate him. It's all worth it, though. The enchanter must be safe.

Thank you, and enjoy <3