#FUCK THE REGIME

[caitlinjohns77]

The hijab is not a choice.

[badolmen]

They don’t even attempt to assassinate US politicians anymore. You notice that? Not since the anthrax scare back for… who was it, Barack? And even that… pathetic. This new generation has no respect for an honest hitman. I’m not sure this new generation has any honest hitman - you see that shit with Boeing? Sloppy, fucking disgraceful - you kill the whistleblowers before they get halfway to a lawsuit. What kind of fucking amateur is doing faked suicides the night before testimony? Goddamn greenhorns. Back in my day someone tried to shoot Ronald Reagan in broad daylight. There used to be bomb threats to Congress. I took out a few union leaders in the utilities sector myself. Today’s generation? Won’t even threaten to throw a punch - not even over on that - what’s it now, ‘X’? They got no guts. None! And they don’t even have poor impulse control to boot! Too much of that - that panopticon anxiety bullshit. “Oh what if I get a called out post???” People used to send the president letters full of bioweapons. In the mail! Today’s generation? Not a chance. All because of woke.

[cringefail-clown]

[taliabhattwrites]

This is the fourth time I've seen someone say that not having to lie to your doctor about your gender to get HRT is a privilege

Leaving the inadequacy of the 'privilege' framework aside

Folks

Folx

We're all lying to our doctors

The foundational work of transfeminism, Sandy Stone's Empire Strikes Back, talks extensively about the proud history of trans women swapping answer sheets and tips from the Harry Benjamin guidelines

Folx doctors hate us and don't want us to have care and trying to extract anything more than The Turing Treatment from them is like pulling teeth

Folx a lot of us aren't getting our HRT from doctors because they wouldn't give it to us

Folks stop having the most naive view of transition possible and engage with reality folx I AM BEGGING

[moss-lovingtransmasc]

REBLOG THIS PLEASE!! AND HASHTAG!!!!

Could I ask you guys to do a favour for me? I don't know if you've heard it or not but there is some news going on that our protests have succeeded and morality police has been shut down. This is a half truth. And half-truths are worse than lies. Let me explain.

While it's true that it has been "shut down" (at least in theory) it's nothing to celebrate about. As it's just a strategy to calm the people (the gullible ones at least) and show themselves as good people to the outside world. As soon as they feel the protests are dying down they will bring it back tenfold.

Hijab is still a law in the constitution. You will still not be serviced anywhere if you're not a hijabi. there are still polices and extremists who will crackdown and arrest women who are not wearing their hijab. So just because the morality police is disbanded doesn't mean that there is a freedom to choose at all.

Furthermore, simply the shutdown of the morality police is NOT the Iranian people's goal In these protests. We don't just want the morality police gone. We want THE ENTIRE REGIME gone.

So I want you guys to once again be our voices and let everyone know that this war is still not done, and ask them to not turn their attention away from us. I will now copy and paste the text you will need to tweet (or you can use your own words) and the organizations you need to tag. Remember the hashtag #mahsa amini as well.

*Some international news sites are talking about the Iranian people winning the revolution because the morality police has stopped working. The work of morality police has not been stopped and only its name has been changed*

*This is a PR move by the regime to quiet the upcoming nationwide protests. After 3 months of violence, rape, imprisonment & murder of protesters, it’s too little too late. This uprising is no longer just about draconian dress codes. The Iranian people want democracy.*

#MahsaAmini

@wolfblitzer @ABaerbock @CNNPolitics @CNN @cnnbrk @CNBC @Europarl_EN

@tedcruz

@SecBlinken

@realDonaldTrump

@POTUS

@FoxNews

@NewYorker

@NewYorkTimesCIS

@washingtonpost

@guardian

@FRANCE24

@euronews

Please do not turn your attention away from us. Do not allow them to slaughter us in silence.

[johnbitchsociety]

I feel like both internet liberals and leftists have a tendency to reverse-Great Man Theory Ronald Reagan at the expense of any insight into the history of his policies or the conservative movement that led up to him.

[justacynicalromantic]

People be like "Russia is not imperialistic"🤡 - and then the most famous Ukrainian chef cannot open a restaurant of the most famous Ukrainian cultural food in Japan, because Japanese widely consider borscht a Russian dish and so would avoid the restaurant thinking it to be Russian🫤🫤🫤🤯🤯🤯

[softpinkpomegranate]

Remember these are the “leftists,” who “protested” for Misha Amani after she was brutally murdered and raped by a fascist government.

Fuck the Islamic Regime. If you are endorsing any of what Iran is doing you are standing with hatful, antisemitic, bigoted, and misogynistic people.

[loneranger0369]

So... This happened about 2 weeks ago.

I'm just reblogging it to share the Brutality of Events....

She... probably passed away by now....

[ot3]

there are no amount of domestic policy gains you can cite that will make people change their mind about voting for biden. it's not like the people refusing to vote for him are too uninformed to understand that biden has provided significantly more domestic protections for LGBT people than trump will, but some people are simply willing to risk their own political standing to avoid legitimizing genocidal regime. i dont think anyone in the world is operating the impression that trump would provide less funding and arms to israel but i also don't think it's a stretch to say that there are huge swathes of center-lib shitfucks who will suddenly change their mind about carpet bombing civilians when it's The Friggen Cheeto Man doing it instead of their favorite blue ghoul.

[fairuzfan]

[r0entgen]

"Why won't Venezuelans just address the blockade?"

If you're wondering why, read below.

Let me start by saying that I wrote this after I finished work, with less than three hours of sleep and a single meal in my body, so if you find any grammar mistakes, my apologies.

This is the comment that kickstarted this post. I believe I've mentioned this before, but when you're living in a country that weaponizes propaganda and hijacks every single media outlet, you have to master the fine arts of fact checking and cross-referencing. Which is exactly what we're going to do right now, addressing the claim that 40,000 Venezuelans have been killed by the US sanctions, and why We Won't Engage with You In This Particular Argument.

*Note: click the underlined text for links and sources.

In the paper Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela by Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs (who will be referred to as WS in this post), WS mention that between the years of 2017-2019, the economic sanctions caused a 31% increase in the general mortality rate in Venezuela, a number that they calculate may be of about 40,000 deaths. While they cite ENCOVI and a UN report from 2019 as the sources of this statistic, they clarify the following in the footnotes:

The ENCOVI 2018 survey has not been made public, the mortality statistic cited here is from the UN Report (2019).

As of this date, WS has not made public the data source for this estimate, and the UN report used as a source (Venezuela: Overview of Priority Humanitarian Needs, March 2019) is not publicly available.

So let's take a look at some sources that ARE publicly available.

The World Bank Group World Development Indicators registers at least a 30% increase in the infant mortality rate in Venezuela from the dates of 2013 to 2016. Similar numbers are reported in this paper, seeing a 40% increase in the infant mortality rate in Venezuela between the dates on 2008-2016. Here's an excerpt from the paper Impact of the 2017 Sanctions on Venezuela:

While different than other overall mortality rates, increases in infant mortality rates are generally interpretable as a preventable consequence of inadequate pre- and post-natal care for otherwise healthy but vulnerable infants. Thus, infant mortality is often recognized as a good proxy measure of the quality on overall public health provision.

What this tells us is that THERE HAS BEEN an increase in general mortality rate - one that started long before the 2017 sanctions.

However, this doesn't mean that in the periods of 2017-2019 there wasn't a high death toll. Let's look at another publicly available source.

The National Hospital Survey (2019) found that between November 2018 and February 2019, 1557 people died owing to the lack of supplies in hospitals [...]. 40 patients died as a result of the power outages in March 2019.

We see the first mention of a number in the 2019 Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Something interesting this report mentions is that 40 deaths were caused by the blackout in March 2019. A blackout that lasted 7 days and affected our 23 states.

The energy crisis which caused this nationwide blackout started in 2010. The Wikipedia article is a good summary, if a bit simple, of the events that led to and took place during and after the energy crisis (which affects us Venezuelans living in the country to this day)

Back to the UN Report. Something else this report indicates is the following:

In 2018, the Government registered 5,287 such killings, while the non-governmental organization Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia reported at least 7,523 killings under this category. Between 1 January and 19 May 2019, the Government reported 1,569 killings for resistance to authority. The Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia reported at least 2,124 such killings between January and May 2019. Information analysed by OHCHR suggests many of these killings may constitute extrajudicial executions.

[...] Six young men executed by the Special Action Forces (SEBIN) in reprisal for their role in anti-government protests in 2019.

This means that between the dates of 2018-2019, there have been approximately 9,647 deaths in the context of security operations - which includes Venezuelans that took part of the protests in 2019. Very similar to what we have been reporting since after the elections in July 28.

2017 to 2019 was one of the most difficult periods in Venezuelan history, marked by the sanctions imposed by Trump which affected oil export, access to diesel, and food and medicine imports. Some people argue that the economic recession in Venezuela was caused by the sanctions - failing to notice the negative trends in the years prior to these.

Bahar, Bustos, Morales and Santos (who will be referred to as BBMS in this post) conclude in their paper, Impact of the 2017 Sanctions on Venezuela, that while the sanctions had a negative effect in the oil production, "it is quite impossible to attribute the fall [...] to one single event (i.e., the sanctions), when many other confounding events were happening at the same time."

Oil production: Oil prices dropped during 2015, and oil production decreased as a result of lack of maintenance and investment.

Energy crisis: By 2009, when the energy crisis was first declared, the electrical grid had already been suffering from the lack of maintenance and investment since 1998. The Chávez administration distributed million dollar contracts [...] that enriched high officials of his government and the works were never built. [1] [2] [3]

Economic decline and hyper-inflation: Actions taken by the Chávez administration such as expropriation and price control, as well as the PDVSA purge in 2002 led the country to depend almost entirely on its already declining oil industry, causing shortages and price rises in common goods, food, medical supplies and so on. By 2015, 60% of the Venezuelan population was living in poverty. [1] [2] [3] [4]

From only these three points, we can establish a negative trend starting way before the first US Sanctions. Thus, we can conclude that by the time the devastating 2017-2019 sanctions took place, Venezuela was already deep in a state of generalized crisis.

WS conclude in their paper:

[...] One of the most important impacts of the sanctions is to lock Venezuela into a downward economic spiral. [...] An economic recovery could have already begun in the absence of economic sanctions.

While Bahar, Bustos, Morales and Santos declare:

[...] Our analysis finds insufficient evidence to conclude that they [sanctions] were responsible for the worsening of the socio-economic crisis. [...] The weight of evidence seems to indicate that, rather than being a result of US-imposed sanctions, much of the suffering and devastation in Venezuela has been, in line with most accounts, inflicted by those in power.

In conclusion - both papers seem to agree that the crisis in Venezuela started before 2017, but where WS claim that it worsened due to US sanctions, BBMS place a higher blame on the deterioration caused by the Venezuelan government.

Now, you may keep whichever analysis you prefer, but one thing we know for sure: the 40,000 Venezuelans that WS claimed died due to the sanctions cannot be found in any public report, while the death toll of protests and extrajudicial killings has been extensively reported.

Why is this relevant?

Contrary to what some people on this site would say, Venezuelans generally agree on the negative impacts of US-imposed sanctions (note: this poll accounts only for Venezuelans in Florida, as polls aren't often published inside Venezuela). However, the general consensus is that US-sanctions only added up to a crisis that had been building up since Chávez rose to power, and rather than the cause, it was yet another symptom.

Yes, the US is the Big Bad, but placing the blame solely on the sanctions only takes the responsibility away from the government and diverts the attention from the poor governance, rampaging corruption, violent repression and denialism that we've grown used to in the last 25 years.

So if you ask "why don't you address the blockade?", my response is: why don't you address the 9,647 extrajudicial killings, the 40 deaths caused by the energy crisis, the energy crisis itself, the economic decline, the lack of maintenance in the infrastructure, the violent repression, the forceful abductions and the censoring?

What we want you to understand is that when you center the US as the cause of the crisis, you are actively participating in our state-funded propaganda and knowingly turning a blind eye on the suffering of all Venezuelans. You are no better than imperialists - you ARE participating in imperialism.

Remember:

Last, but not least - be careful with your sources. This Venezuelanalysis article was written by Andreína Chávez, former editor-in-chief of TeleSUR, a government-funded news channel known for spreading Maduro propaganda. One of their most recent claims: dead Venezuelans are shown as having voted in the ballots shown in resultadosconvenezuela.com. Needless to say, this is false. This news portal is what some people would call, BIASED.

For more information, please read the amazing analysis written by @systhemes HERE.

A more direct response by @achillesmonochrome HERE.

For other sources, check HERE.

*Fellow Venezuelans, feel free to include anything I might have missed.

[internetskiff]

It is very likely that the Penrose was the only environment where Ariane could paint. Not only was she free of the judgement of Rotfront's community, she was even provided all the tools she would require to paint the way she wants. I doubt it's a skill she managed to learn way beforehand. It doesn't seem like her mother's radio station would have had many art supplies, save maybe for a pen and paper. I believe it's a skill she developed over the 4 years or so that she spent on the ship at the time.

Rotfront would've been an environment that would actively stifle her creative spirit - I very much doubt her aunt would support the pursuit of art, her letters very much give off the impression that she's quite "orthodox" when it comes to the way a child should be brought up within the Eusan nation.

Safe to say neither her teachers nor most of her peers would approve either, hell, it'd probably only make them see her in an even worser light. I feel like even if she had drawn beforehand, she certainly didn't during her time in Rotfront. We never really see that many people get what they want within Eusan's system, the only real example I can think of being Replikas and the objects they practically require to keep their neural patterns in check. Only on the Penrose program do you actually seem to get what you want. They only really treat you as a person when you're flying toward a slow and isolating death.

[chaiaurchaandni]

it is imp to remember that this is not about religion and the ethnic cleansing of artsakh proves this. all oppressive regimes are connected regardless of religion and that is why azerbaijan and israel have good relations. another example is saudi arabia having good relations with america and israel while also killing other muslims in yemen.

interestingly, like israel, saudi also uses religion to gain credibility (recently got holy mosque imam to give statement condemning boycotts and encouraging muslims to not be involved in the situation in palestine) and recruit muslim supporters from all over the world, while simultaneously killing/imprisoning muslim critics of the kingdom.

similarly, israel sells itself as a safe haven for jews and convinces jews around the world to migrate to israel while also simultaneously criminalizing antizionist jews all over the world, even suggesting that theyre not 'real jews' (reminiscent of takfirism which is a core part of saudi wahabi ideology) [ fun fact: the house of saud came into power in arabia with help from the british, just like the zionists in palestine! ]

oppressive regimes are directly connected and mirror each other in several ways. this is why liberation and resistance movements need to unite and work together across the world

[loneranger0369]

This.... is not human....

This is not even Monstrous....

It is something much much worse.

It is as they describe 'The Job of Satan'.

I am Atheist. But now I believe that Khamenei is Satan and his Followers/Supporters are other Demons in this Hell that they have turned Iran into....

WHERE THE FUCK IS UN?????

More like PUN.

PUSSY UNHUMAN NATIONS!!!!

UNICEF? BASTARDS DON'T DESERVE A SINGLE PENNY!!!! ALLOWING KIDS TO GET BEATEN AND RAPED TO DEATH!!!

Poor Girls....

Is there no Justice......?

Khamenei.

You deserve the worst of all Hells! Nothing you say can make ANY OF THIS remotely close to being acceptable.

I wish the Civilians of Iran get a Miracle as Help as soon as possible...

[junglejim4322]

0 posts about the Jewish lives taken by Hamas, you really went mask off fucking nazi pajeet.

Calling me a nazi next to a racial slur is wild