#Global Issues To Consider In 2023

[finchandthebard]

The "tiktok ban" should scare you and here's why.

Rant made by an autistic, history-loving, chronically online American tiktok cosplayer. Please let me know if I've gotten anything wrong and I will edit the post.

Reblog to spread awareness!

This is not just about Tiktok, and it's not about national security. The Tiktok ban is wrapped up in the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" which has the ability to ban any foreign website or app that the United States government sees as a threat to their "democracy." Not only that, but if the gov't didn't want China to gather data, then they would ban things like Shein and Temu (the latter which they advertised during the Super Bowl), which collect similar data that Tiktok does. If they wanted to prevent our data being stolen in general, they would ban companies like Meta, which monetarily supports the Tiktok ban and had to change their name because "Facebook" was associated with the largest data leak in history.

The documentations of the Tiktok court interrogations prove how incompetent our government is. Repeatedly asking the TikTok CEO Mr. Chew if he's Chinese while he repeatedly assures them he's Singaporean. The officials being concerned that they can't find Singapore on a map. The officials then being confused why the app would be able to have access to their wifi because it needs wifi to load.

The possibility of the US buying Tiktok exposes a greater issue in America: monopolies. The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890 that restricted the activities of large companies known as monopolies, which started out as small companies and would either buy other companies or buy the factories which produced all their materials. This eliminated competition in the market and gave the monopolies almost full control of quality and prices of items, and it was considered very anti-American at the time. Since the US already has multiple major social medias, including Facebook (Meta), Instagram (Meta), Threads (Meta), X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, and Reddit, adding Tiktok would mean that nobody could compete with the US in the social media market. This makes them a monopoly, and it's incredibly dangerous.

Banning Tiktok breaks several American trademarks. A) the Republicans banning Tiktok are very concerned about their second amendment right to own guns, but they seem to not care about the first amendment right to freedom of speech and press, which Tiktok delivers. Of course there are app guidelines, but for the most part you have fairly uncensored political and ethical commentary like no other social media. B) the only other countries that have banned Tiktok are either heavily demonized by America or are direct targets for American propaganda (ex. China), which really doesn't make the ban look good. C) banning a social media for the purpose of censorship is a trademark of communism, which Americans are INCREDIBLY wary of.

Your country may follow in suit. Because of America's influence as a global superpower and an ally to many other major powers, America banning Tiktok would likely lead to a domino effect in other countries.

The rich get richer. There is a concept called social darwinism, in which it is the rich's beliefs that the poor must fend for themselves without the help of the government in order to make a living - "survival of the fittest." Tiktok contributed around $14.7 billion USD in 2023 and $24.2 billion in 2024, and it supports around 224,000 jobs [source]. The actual Tiktok website says in 2023, they contributed $15 billion USD in revenue and supported 7 million US businesses [source]. Without these jobs, there could be in increase in homelessness, debt, and sickness due to withdrawals (if you're incredibly addicted to Tiktok) and lack of quick dopamine hits (due to the rapidfire nature of the algorithm).

Remember that the president is not your friend !! Many of the political figures rallying to support Tiktok right now, such as President Biden, initially voted for the ban. President Biden is likely supporting now so that Trump won't get credit for it, and future President Trump is likely doing it for brownie points among younger generations.

The Xiaohongshu migration exposed the American government and its lies. The stories from American 'Tiktok refugees' about the questions from native Chinese on the Xiaohongshu / Rednote / Redbook app (considered the Chinese mixed of Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook) posed a lot of conspiracies and realizations about the American government. The Chinese actually own their homes, they have lower food prices than we do, and they have a slim homelessness rate. Whether this is true or not, it has greatly influenced how we see ourselves in the grand scheme of the American oligarchy, and that is not something that can be suppressed with an app being banned.

Tiktok is not totally Chinese! The CEO is Singaporean, as I've already stated, and there are multiple headquarters in the US, with the main one being in Los Angeles.

In conclusion...

Whether Tiktok is banned or not, whether permanently or not, no matter who saves it or rallies against it, remember that it is harder to scare and control someone when they are in a group. And if you think this was interesting, I'd love it if you could reblog to show some support and inform your friends as well. <3

THIS IS NOT RIGHT VS LEFT❗️IT'S UP VS DOWN❗️

[heritageposts]

[...] The Zionist Left in Israel is in a limbo. On the one hand, it is ostracized by Jewish society as, at best, being naïve and, at worst, as being accused of betrayal. This is in reaction to their support for the two-state solution and the call to end the occupation. This alienation, of course, is now more acute after the events of October 7. On the other hand, they are not considered, and rightly so, genuine allies of the Palestinian liberation struggle. The Israeli Left’s biggest hope was that the Global Left, as they call it, would share the same language and attitude regarding the October 7 operation by Hamas; namely to be unconditionally behind Israel. The Israeli Left was outraged that, in the eyes of the Global Left, the Hamas operation did not absolve Israel from its past criminal policies nor did it provide Israel with a green light for its genocidal policies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. To their great surprise, the Global Left in its entirety was galvanized behind the call to “Stop the War” and “Free Palestine”, rather than echoing their government’s repeated response of “We support Israel’s right to defend itself”. What is most illuminating – in the dialogue the liberal Zionists have with themselves on the pages of Haaretz – is their vicious attack on any one associating colonialism with Israel. For some reason, they chose Judith Butler as the main culprit, which would leave many of us disappointed, as we devoted our careers to frame Zionism as settler colonialism, probably going back to the 1960s. In fact, today, the framing of Zionism and Israel as a settler-colonial project is a consensual issue among all the leading scholars on the Middle East, and it is rejected as an accurate paradigm only among mainstream Israeli academia. The Global Left is guilty of two ‘sins’, in the eyes of the liberal Zionists: one, it refers to Israel as a settler-colonial state and two, it provides a context for the Hamas attack on October 7.

. . . continues at Palestine Chronicles (16 Nov., 2023)

[we-are-not-a-number]

Tdlr; Rates of violence and homocides against older women (notable grandmothers) rising, a dual issue of children of and partners being domestically abusive, most notably sons. Mothers are less likely to call authorities on their own children for domestic violence or threats, which impacts this grizzly development. Warned "matricide of older women" and lack of awareness. Article from Australia but this issue is stated to be global.

Fourteen women over the age of 55 were allegedly killed in domestic violence-related homicides last year, according to a tally kept by the online feminist group Destroy the Joint. When the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases its data for the year, this number could well increase.

In 2023, according to ABS data, there were 28 women over the age of 55 allegedly killed in domestic violence related homicides, roughly a third of all such alleged homicides. Experts have called it a “silent crisis”: older women who are killed by family violence but whose deaths rarely get as much attention as those of younger women, and whose experiences do not figure sufficiently in government responses to violence against women. “There’s a matricide of older women [and] people aren’t even noticing, there’s no outcry. There’s silence,” says Catherine Barrett, director of Celebrate Ageing. “It’s just being missed.”

A Guardian analysis of government data has found that in the 10 years to 2023, nearly 200 women over the age of 55 were allegedly killed in family violence related homicides, suggesting older women could be at dual risk – from partners and from their children, especially their sons.

The rate of alleged domestic homicides in Australia has more than halved in the past 30 years, from 0.71 deaths per 100,000 in 1992-93, to 0.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2022-23. However, the rate at which older women are allegedly killed in domestic homicides has not fallen consistently. In the past 10 years, the rate of women aged over 55 killed in family violence homicides has reached 0.7 deaths per 100,000 (the same rate for all women 30 years ago) three times – in 2017, 2018 and 2023.

The problem is a global one. In England and Wales, the number of women killed by sons has risen since 2016, after remaining stable for decades. There was also a rise in the number of grandmothers killed by their grandsons, according to the Femicide Census, co-founded by Clarrie O’Callaghan and Karen Ingala Smith.

Lee says that while every family violence homicide is a tragedy, some deaths are given more attention than others, with the media and general public often focusing on the deaths of younger, attractive white women, while the deaths of “women who are marginalised … don’t get highlighted”. “The invisibility and the marginalisation of First Nations women [and] older women means that they remain invisible even when they’re killed.”

One of the main factors, Lee says, is that domestic violence is often considered primarily a problem for younger women so services are often geared towards them. That means older women may not see a family violence service as one that can help them.

“When we talk about violence against women, it’s always a younger woman fleeing with two little kids hanging around her knees. You rarely see any commentary about all the women who grow old with violence, who live with, maybe, sons who are violent. They are really invisible.”

Barrett says sometimes, after a violent relationship breaks down between a man and his partner, the man will move back in with his parents – particularly if he has mental health or addiction problems – and continue to perpetrate violence there. The problem has only increased, she says, in light of the cost-of-living crisis.

“The mothers are not reporting their sons … because this is their son, and it’s shame on the family, and they’re worried about his mental health. “We’ve got this perfect storm, which is: a cost-of-living crisis, a mental health crisis, sons moving in with their mothers, and no one’s talking to mum, or she doesn’t see a service that could actually help.” What’s needed, say both Lee and Barrett, is a life stages approach that addresses the different ways family violence can affect older women.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Michael Rubin

Hamas paraded three Israeli hostages before cameras prior to turning them over to the Red Cross on Feb. 8. The three were emaciated like concentration camp survivors. They may have been the lucky ones. Hamas meanwhile delays the release of a dual Russian-Israeli citizen due to his health. The hostages did not learn about the deaths of their loved ones on Oct. 7, 2023, until their release. Nor was the starvation of prisoners the only Holocaust parallel. Just as the Nazis did, Hamas executed special needs children and babies it had seized during its invasion of Israel.

Biden’s team recognized but would not lift a finger to rectify the ICRC’s Jewish exception, even though several of those hostages were Americans.

A core function of the International Committee of the Red Cross is to visit and monitor prisoners. Historically, the ICRC would visit Israeli prisons. After it neglected to visit Jewish hostages in Gaza, Israel suspended its access. That the Red Cross made a greater issue about such suspensions while Hamas tortured, abused, starved, and, in some cases, executed Jewish civilians in its custody suggests that the Red Cross considers the welfare of Jews to be an exception to its mission.

Less than two weeks after Hamas seized more than 200 men, women, and children, President Joe Biden said, “I asked Israel that the global community demand that the International Red Cross be able to visit hostages. I just demanded that the United States fully — a just demand that the United States fully supports.”

Yet, when Israel made the demand and Hamas rejected it, the White House continued channeling hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to ICRC. The message was clear: Biden’s team recognized but would not lift a finger to rectify the ICRC’s Jewish exception, even though several of those hostages were Americans.

Had Biden withheld funding to the ICRC until the group visited all hostages, Mirjana Spoljaric, a Swiss diplomat who heads the group, may not have been so willing to throw Jews under the bus for the sake of the group’s good relations with Hamas. Instead, the group continues to allow Hamas to subject Jewish women to harassment and abuse upon their release. Moral clarity and backbones matter.

Alas, the ICRC’s willingness to sacrifice its mission upon its antipathy toward Jews is not a one-time occurrence. It took the ICRC headquarters more than 75 years to recognize Israel’s Magen David Adom’s chapter because of objections over its Jewish star. It had no trouble recognizing the Islamic Red Crescent, however.

Nor is the ICRC alone. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency effectively became an enabler of Hamas terrorism, if not a Hamas arm. Its employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Its hospitals doubled as Hamas command posts. And released hostages said they were kept at times in UNRWA facilities. Yet, its commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini, an ICRC leadership alum, deflects criticism and accountability. Instead, he seemingly embraces the ICRC’s Jewish exception.

ICRC rot runs deeper. Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, cited ICRC’s Israel denunciations to justify her own advocacy for Hamas.

Antisemitism remains the world’s oldest hatred, and Jews are the canary in the coal mine. Antisemitism’s victims are not just Jewish, however. The institutional antisemitism and embrace of a Jewish exception in international organizations such as the ICRC and the U.N. erode their moral standing.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was right when, in 2023, he said the Red Cross had “no right to exist” if it did not visit the hostages in Gaza. His only error was he did not go far enough. The moral bankruptcy not only of the ICRC but also of organizations ranging from UNRWA to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund raises questions about whether it is time to cull them.

[waitmyturtles]

(Source)

The Lower House (House of Representatives) will be hearing Thailand’s marriage equality bill at 9:30 am Bangkok time (10:30 pm Eastern for those of us in the States). The bill, if passed, would still have to be approved in Thailand’s Senate.

(Source and source)

Below the fold is Bloomberg.com's report on the happenings (source):

Bill to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage in Thailand Heads to Parliament

Bill is supported by most major parties, needs king approval

Thailand would be first in region to codify marriage equality

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat, March 26, 2024 at 2:00 PM PDT

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage could face a vote in Thailand’s parliament as early as Wednesday. If it passes, the country will be the first in Southeast Asia to establish marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

The House of Representatives will take up the legislation, technically an amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code, for second and third readings when it meets at 9 a.m. Lawmakers may vote later in the day.

The bill would legalize marriage for same-sex partners aged 18 and above, along with rights to inheritance, tax allowances and child adoption, among others. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s administration has made it a signature issue, and advocates say it would also burnish Thailand’s reputation as an LGBTQ-friendly tourist destination.

Taiwan and Nepal are the only places in Asia that currently recognize same-sex marriage, and recent efforts elsewhere in the region have had mixed results. Hong Kong has yet to comply with a 2023 court order to establish laws recognizing same-sex partnerships, and India’s Supreme Court refused to legalize same-sex marriage, saying it’s an issue for parliament to consider.

The Thai bill would change the composition of a marriage from “a man and a woman” to “two individuals,” and change the official legal status from “husband and wife” to “married couple.”

Thai laws have protected LGBTQ people from most kinds of discrimination since 2015, but attempts to formalize marriage rights have stalled. In 2021, the Constitutional Court upheld the law recognizing marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. Last year, a bill to recognize same-sex civil partnerships failed to clear parliament ahead of elections.

Rights advocates have higher hopes for the bill pending now, noting that it has broad support from most of the major parties. If it passes, it will need to be approved by the Senate and endorsed by the King. Then it would be published in the Royal Gazette and take effect 120 days later.

Srettha’s government has also promised to work on a bill to recognize gender identity, and the health ministry has also proposed legalizing commercial surrogacy to allow LGBTQ couples to adopt children. Thailand is seeking to host the WorldPride events in Bangkok in 2028.

Legalizing same-sex marriage could have positive effects on tourism, which contributes about 12% to the nation’s $500 billion economy. In 2019, before the pandemic froze international tourism, LGBTQ travel and tourism to Thailand generated about $6.5 billion, or 1.2% of gross domestic product, according to industry consultant LGBT Capital.

Formal recognition could boost the reputation of a place already considered one of Asia’s best for LGBTQ visitors, said Wittaya Luangsasipong, managing director of Siam Pride, an LGBTQ-friendly travel agency in Bangkok.

“It will become a selling point for Thailand and raise our strength in the global stage,” Wittaya said. “It will create a relaxed and safe atmosphere for tourism and help attract more and more LGBTQ visitors. We could also see more weddings by LGBTQ couples, which could generate income across industries and local communities.”

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading updates: august 2024

the good news is that I did a lot of reading this month, the bad news is that honestly? I think that my birthday month has had the biggest percentage of literary letdowns, duds, and outright bullshit than any other month of this year so far.

but at least there's plenty to talk about, so let's get going!

Unlearning Shame: How We Can Reject Self-Blame Culture and Reclaim Our Power (Devon Price, 2024) - uh oh gamers, we're starting on a doozy! I've enjoyed both of Price's previous books very much, but with Unlearning Shame I couldn't help but feel like I couldn't quite shake the feeling that I wasn't getting what I had signed on for. the issue, I think, could be corrected by an adjustment to the title, which seems to be promising a very broad tackling of the concept of shame and is therefore making some pretty big promises. in reality, the book is much more narrowly focused than that, interested primarily in the shame that arises in the activism-minded when they feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of awful things in the world and their perceived inability to do anything about it. fairly early on Price introduces an apparently relatable anecdote about himself and a friend having mutual breakdowns in a grocery store because they were both so paralyzed by the conundrum of trying to buy the most ethical groceries possible, and I realized this book was maybe not really for me or my particular experiences with shame. I think this book will be really helpful for a lot of people for sure, would love to pass it on to a lot of my freshmen, but overall it did not live up to the expectations I brought to the party.

A Separate Peace (John Knowles, 1959) - so I wanted to reread this because someone on here sent me an ask about, I don't know, my favorite required high school reading or whatever, and I said it was A Separate Peace but then I realized it's been over a decade since I read the book and I had to go see if it still actually held up. and god, does it EVER. this is such a brutal and heartbreaking novel, beginning in the last carefree summer that best friends and roommates Gene and Finny will experience before their final year at their boys' private school and their seemingly inevitable draft into WW2. although Gene is seethingly jealous of Finny's seemingly effortless charisma, popularity, confidence, and athletic prowess, the two boys are also inseparable - until a tragic injury changes the course of Finny's life forever. this book is a mess of unspoken pain, from the looming end of innocence on a global scale to the intimate ache of loving your best friend so, so much and having no healthy way to express it because you're a repressed little rich boy in the 1940s.

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea (Rita Chang-Eppig, 2023) - Chang-Eppig's debut novel follows the career of Chinese pirate Shek Yeung, also known as Zheng Yi Sao, immediately following the death of her husband, fearsome pirate Sheng Yi. you've probably seen a post or two about her floating around on this very hellsite, calling her a pirate queen and accompanied by this image:

Chang-Eppig isn't interested in portraying Shek Yeung as any kind of heroine or feminist icon; over and over again it's acknowledged that she's simply a woman who has survived massive hardships and will do whatever she needs to do to survive. manipulation? spying? extortion? torture? murder? you name it, she's done it, and she does not feel remorse. while the novel wasn't a knockout for me either in terms of plot or prose, it's nice to see an entry into the trend of "retelling" stories from history and mythology centered on women that isn't determined to justify every step a maligned woman ever made. Shek Yeung is what she is, and her story makes for a gritty, bloody adventure.

Victim (Andrew Boryga, 2024) - this book is pure sleazeball fun; if you've ever wondered what I consider a romp, this is it. Victim follows our manipulative king Javi Perez as he builds a writing career for himself by turning in one essay after another about racial discrimination that he never really experienced, inventing stories of hardship caused by racism and poverty from his college application essay to his school newspaper to the story that finally brings the whole lie crashing down when he stretches the truth too far. the novel is written like Javi's apology in the wake of getting #canceled, and while I do sometimes feel that this premise makes some of the writing seem a bit implausible (why would you admit that!!!) it's a fun setup for a scandal that would have been a bloodbath on the twitter of old. come get your mess!!!

Bad Girls (Camila Sosa Villada, trans. Kit Maude, 2022) - this is my first time reading Sosa Villada's work but OH BOY, do I need to seek out more. this is a skinty little novel following a dramatized account of the travesti (or transgender) women who live and sell sex in Córdoba, Argentina. the women build an unsteady but beautiful and magic-infused family under the protection of the ancient Auntie Encarna. the protagonist (who is named Camila Sosa Villada, no relation I'm sure) watches as her unconventional family grows, changes, and frays over time, struggling to find ways to stay afloat in a world that see them as disposable. Sosa Villada's turns of phrase are brilliant and searing, and she weaves fantastical elements so nimbly into her narrative that it's utterly believable to see women becoming animals and courting headless men in the streets of a modern city. strongly recommend for fans of Kai Cheng Thom's Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars.

Talkin' Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism (Aileen Morteon-Robinson, 2000) - this book serves as a scathing literature review indicting Australia's white women anthropologists and feminist scholars for the ways in which they've dehumanized and discredited Aboriginal women, stripping them of the right to be authorities of their own experiences and barring them from a white-centered feminist movement. Moreton-Robinson's account is excellent, contrasting the wok of white women academics with the accounts of Aboriginal women to reveal exactly how massive the disparities in understanding are. as a USAmerican previously aware of Australia's colonial history but unfamiliar with the specifics, it was jarring to discover exactly how similar the mechanism of colonial violence are between my country and Australia, with countless genocidal parallels to be drawn. one particular highlight of the book comes via my purchase of a 20th anniversary edition, which includes a new post-script by Moreton-Robinson in which she dissects and responds to various criticisms of the book at its time of release, taking several critics to task for the belittling tone they used to describe her work and the tools white feminists use to absolve themselves of blame in the face of critique from women of color. fascinating and thorough articulation of Moreton-Robinson's point, and deservedly blistering. I love when academics call each other out by name.

The End of Love: Racism, Sexism, and the Death of Romance (Sabrina Strings, 2024) - so the thing about this book is that there are really good PARTS. Strings is still an excellent historical writer, and I found a lot to appreciate in, for instance, the segments on the history of Black American pimp culture and the analysis of Playboy and Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl. the more personal segments, where Strings contorts herself to fit her own failed relationships into the narrative she's building, are decidedly less consistent in their quality, with some feeling like they would have been better off staying between Strings and her therapist. there's a long and convoluted digression about Sex and the City, and a strange anecdote towards the end in which String recounts a phone call with a friend's college-aged son who, String believes, was masturbating during the call. a yucky experience, to be certain, but I'm not sure it justifies Strings filing a police report against the youth and his mother, who she accuses of having groomed her on the son's behalf. she also casually drops in the same chapter that she considers herself pansexual because she's attracted to trans men in addition to cis men? idk man!!! this book was so uneven that I found myself genuinely questioning whether Strings' first book, Fearing the Black Body, is actually as excellent as I remember it being. I'm pretty sure it is, but god it sucks to get shaken so hard that you have to wonder!

The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures (Phoebe Gloeckner, 2002) - another book that I had to read for class, years ago! I read Diary of a Teenage Girl in one of my gender and women's studies classes in my undergrad, for a class with a title along the lines of Girlhood Stories in Fiction and Film. Gloeckner's novel (though heavily informed by her own life, she insists that it's a work of fiction) sees its young protagonist, Minnie, navigating a great deal of sex, alcohol, drugs in 1970s San Francisco. I started thinking about the book because I was listening to a trio of episodes of You're Wrong About in which Carmen Maria Machado guests to talk about the pervasive sham that is Go Ask Alice (great series, check it out) and I started thinking about Diary, which is so much less preachy and didactic and is, you know, actually drawn from a real teenage girl's diary, unlike Go Ask Alice, and lacking Alice's preachy didacticism. as a diary based on a real diary this book is largely lacking in any particular plot (the most consistent through line is Minnie's ongoing and tumultuous sexual relationship with her mother's 35 year old boyfriend), but if that's not a turn off then you'll find yourself rooting for Minnie to find her way all the way to the uncertain but ultimately optimistic conclusion.

One and Done (Frederick Smith, 2024) - okay, so. this is a romance novel that I picked up because I saw a review talking about how it's an incredibly realistic depiction of working at a university. now that's obviously an insane thing to look for in a romance novel, but I like romances, ESPECIALLY gay romances, and I work at a university, so I figured sure, I'll bite. spoiler alert: it's not great. I posted some examples of the prose here, and even if the two protagonists talked like actual human beings it wouldn't make up for the stale-ass plot or devastating lack of chemistry they have going for them. more like One and Glad to Be Done With This Book That Isn't Very Good, am I right, ladies?

Seduced (Virginia Henley, 1994) - guys, I'm gonna be so fucking real with you. this is the most batshit novel I've ever read, period, let alone the most batshit romance novel. this book was the winner of a poll I ran on patreon last month in which my wicked patreonites got to nominate romance novels of their choosing for my next reading project and voted amongst themselves to crown a winner, and against all odds and my own light attempts to sway the voters, Seduced won it all. this book has everything: a historical setting, a bold young lady disguising herself as her own brother, wildly unchecked orientalism, a murderous cousin, high society scandal, and some of the most torturous sex scenes I've ever encountered in my life. truly this write-up cannot do justice to what I have experienced; I've already promised by patreonites that I'll have to do a little youtube live in order to fully express the extent of my dissatisfaction.

and that was the month of August, babey!!!

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

By Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff

U.S. 1500-meter runner Nikki Hiltz, who is nonbinary, will be running for their community in the Olympics, and very much against the grain when one considers the retrograde approach that the transphobic World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field, has taken when it comes to trans participation. In March 2023, it issued new guidelines that, in essence, banned transgender women athletes from participating in World Athletics events.

[argumate]

Germany has long been considered a global leader on climate change and the clean energy transition. In its landmark Climate Action Law adopted in December 2023, the country aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 and reach climate neutrality by 2045, along with setting annual emission budgets for various sectors until 2030.

Former chancellor Angela Merkel was often referred to as the "climate chancellor" for her efforts to tackle emission reduction on the international level. And climate was an important issue for voters choosing her replacement in the 2021 German election.

she shutdown the nuclear plants 🤔

[mariacallous]

A growing Christian supremacist movement that labels its perceived enemies as “demonic” and enjoys close ties to major Republican figures is “the greatest threat to American democracy you’ve never heard of,” according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The SPLC, a civil rights organization that monitors extremist groups, released its “Year In Hate And Extremism 2023” report on Tuesday. A significant portion of the report, which tracked burgeoning anti-democratic and neo-fascist movements and actors across America, is devoted to the New Apostolic Reformation, “a new and powerful Christian supremacy movement that is attempting to transform culture and politics in the U.S. and countries across the world into a grim authoritarianism.”

Emerging out of the charismatic evangelical tradition, the NAR adheres to a form of Christian dominionism, meaning its parishioners believe it’s their divine duty to seize control of every political and cultural institution in America, transforming them according to a fundamentalist interpretation of scripture.

NAR adherents also believe in the existence of modern-day “apostles” and “prophets” — church leaders endowed by God with supernatural abilities, including the power to heal. In 2022, a handful of these “apostles,” the report notes, issued what they called the Watchman Decree, an anti-democratic document envisioning the end of a pluralistic society in America.

The apostles claimed they had been given “legal power and authority from Heaven” and are “God’s ambassadors and spokespeople over the earth,” who “are equipped and delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.”

And who’s the enemy? Basically anyone who does not adhere to NAR beliefs. NAR adherents see their critics as being literally controlled by the devil.

“There are claims that whole neighborhoods, cities, even nations are under the sway of the demonic,” the report states. “Other religions, such as Islam, are also said to be demonically influenced. One cannot compromise with evil, and so if Democrats, liberals, LGBTQ+ people, and others are seen as demonic, political compromise — the heart of democratic life — becomes difficult if not impossible.”

This rhetoric has become increasingly widespread among Republican lawmakers, including former President Donald Trump, who last year referred to Marxists and atheists as “evil demonic forces that want to destroy our country.”

That Trump would use NAR-inspired rhetoric is unsurprising considering his relationship with Paula White-Cain, an NAR figure who delivered the invocation at Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and at the kickoff of his 2020 reelection campaign, as noted by Paul Rosenberg in Salon. White-Cain also delivered the invocation at Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C. — the event that eventually became the insurrection at the Capitol.

The attack on the Capitol was largely inspired, the report suggests, by NAR’s theology of dominionism. “NAR prayer groups were mobilized at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as supporting prayer teams all over the country, to exorcise the demonic influence over the Capitol that adherents said was keeping Trump from his rightful, prophesized second term,” the report states.

Major Republican figures took part in such events on or around the day of the attack. Mike Johnson, who is now the speaker of the House, joined the NAR’s “Global Prayer for Election Integrity,” which called for Trump’s reinstatement as president, in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol. Johnson has also stated that Jim Garlow, an NAR leader, has had a “profound influence” on his life.

Ultimately, the SPLC report is an attempt to ring the alarm bells about the NAR, ”the greatest threat to U.S. democracy that you have never heard of.

“It is already a powerful, wealthy and influential movement and composes a highly influential block of one of the two main political parties in the country,” the report continues. “So few people have heard of NAR that it is possible that, without resistance in our local communities, dominionism might win without ever having been truly opposed.”

The SPLC’s report, according to a press release, also documents 595 hate groups and 835 antigovernment extremist groups in America, “including a growing wave of white nationalism increasingly motivated by theocratic beliefs and conspiracy theories.”

“With a historic election just months away, this year, more than any other, we must act to preserve our democracy,” Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center and SPLC Action Fund, said in a statement. “That will require us to directly address the danger of hate and extremism from our schools to our statehouses. Our report exposes these far-right extremists and serves as a tool for advocates and communities working to counter disinformation, false conspiracies and threats to voters and election workers.”

[kristynguyen7]

Blog Post #2 - Week 3 (due 2/6)

Cyberfeminism, Technology, and Digital Inequality

Does cyberfeminism help fight gender and racial inequality online, or does it sometimes reinforce these inequalities? 

Cyberfeminism aims to create online spaces for gender equality, but it can also overlook racial differences. Some cyberfeminist ideas assume a white, middle class perspective, leaving out the voices of women of color. Fernandez and Wildling note that much of cyberfeminist writing is targeted toward an “educated, white, upper-middle-class, English-speaking” audience, which can unintentionally exclude others (Daniels, 2009, p. 104). This highlights the need for a more inclusive approach that considers race, class, and access to technology. Additionally, digital activism led by women of color often operates outside mainstream cyberfeminist discourse, reflecting a broader need for intersectionality. While some platforms provide opportunities for marginalized voices, others replicate offline hierarchies, limiting real progress. By expanding cyberfeminism to actively address these exclusion, the movement can become more effective in advocating for digital equity. 

Can people truly escape gender and racial identity online, or do digital spaces still reflect real-world inequalities? 

Some early cyberfeminists believed that the internet allowed people to leave behind gender and racial identities. However, research shows that digital spaces often reflect real world inequalities. Daniels explains that instead of changing identities online, people “actively seek out online spaces that affirm and solidify social identities along with axes of race, gender, and sexuality” (Daniels, 2009, p. 110). Additionally, many online platforms use algorithms that reinforce existing biases, making marginalized identities more visible and subject to scrutiny. While some individuals may feel a sense of anonymity, structural inequalities persist in the ways people interact, build networks, and gain access to digital resources. 

How do cyberfeminist practices differ in the Global North and Global South, and what challenges do women in developing nations face when engaging with digital technologies? 

Cyberfeminist practices vary significantly between the Global North and Global South due to differences in economic resources, access to technology, and sociopolitical contexts. In industrialized nations, cyberfeminism often focuses on online activism, digital art, and gender representation in media. In contrast, women in developing nations frequently use digital technology as a tool for survival, resistance, and economic empowerment. Daniels highlights that “while it is true that many affluent women in the global North have ‘depressingly familiar’ practices when it comes to the Internet, this sort of sweeping generalization suggest a lack of awareness about the innovative ways women are using digital technologies to re-engineer their lives” (Daniels, 2009, p. 103). However, barriers such as limited internet access, censorship, and economic inequality continue to restrict their engagement. Addressing these disparities requires cyberfeminist movements to integrate global perspectives and advocate for digital inclusivity on a broader scale. 

How do race and technology intersect to perpetuate systemic biases in digital spaces, and what can be done to address these issues? 

Nicole Brown discusses how racial biases are embedded in technology, from facial recognition software to algorithmic decision making. These technologies often reinforce systemic inequalities rather than eliminate them. Brown highlights that “facial recognition software has been proven to misidentify Black and Brown individuals at significantly higher rates than white individuals, leading to real world consequences such as wrongful arrests and surveillance” (Brown, 2023). Addressing these issues requires greater accountability in tech development, including diverse representation in AI design, policy changes to regulate biased technologies, and increased advocacy for ethical digital practices. By critically examining the intersection of race and technology, we can work toward creating digital spaces that are equitable for all users. 

How does automation in public services contribute to inequality, and what are its impacts on marginalized communities? 

Virginia Eubanks argues that automation in public services disproportionately harms low-income and marginalized communities by making access to essential resources more difficult. Automated decision-making systems in welfare programs, housing assistance, and healthcare often reinforce pre-existing biases, leading to further exclusion. Eubanks notes that “they are shaped by our nation’s fear of economic insecurity and hatred of the poor; they in turn shape the politics and experience of poverty” (Eubanks, 2018, p.7). These technologies strip people of their autonomy and create barriers rather than solutions. To address this issue, we must push for transparency in algorithmic decision-making and ensure that automated systems are designed with fairness and social justice in mind. 

Word Count: 603

Daniels , J. (2009). Rethinking cyberfeminism(s): Race, gender, and embodiment | request PDF. Project Muse . https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236786509_Rethinking_Cyberfeminisms_Race_Gender_and_Embodiment 

Eubanks, V. (2018). (PDF) Virginia Eubanks (2018) automating inequality: How high-tech tools profile, police, and punish the poor. New York: Picador, St Martin’s press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337578410_Virginia_Eubanks_2018_Automating_Inequality_How_High-Tech_Tools_Profile_Police_and_Punish_the_Poor_New_York_Picador_St_Martin’s_Press 

[Nicole Brown]. (2020, September 18). Race and Technology [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8uiAjigKy8

[eretzyisrael]

by Terry Glavin

For Sarah Rugheimer, a professor of astronomy at York University in Toronto, the first sign of the virulent strain of antisemitism now embedded in Justin Trudeau’s Canada appeared on a lamppost.

It was a few weeks after the Hamas massacre of last October 7. Rugheimer, 41, was walking in a park near her home in the city’s quiet Cedarvale neighborhood when she saw a poster of the Israeli hostage Elad Katzir, a 47-year-old farmer from Kibbutz Nir Oz, covered with swastikas.

In the days that followed, as the war raged in Gaza, swastikas turned up all over Cedarvale. They also started appearing on the York campus, where Rugheimer serves as the Allan I. Carswell Chair for the Public Understanding of Astronomy. As fall turned to winter, a swastika showed up in the snow outside the campus building where she works.

An astrophysicist with a particular interest in the origins of life on Earth and the possibility of life on other planets, Rugheimer tended to confine her worldly concerns to scientific matters. So the swastikas came as a shock. But worse was to come.

She grew up in Montana, and her academic career took her around the world—from a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics at Harvard University to Scotland, England, and now Canada. But until taking up her post at York University two years ago, Rugheimer said she’d never encountered any overt antisemitism. Nor had she given much thought to her identity as a Zionist: Like the vast majority of Jews around the world, Rugheimer believes in Israel’s right to exist.

A broken window at the Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue in Toronto on May 17, 2024. It was vandalized again last week. (via David Jacobs/X)

Jew-hatred was a phenomenon of the fringes, she reckoned. “It wasn’t on my radar,” she told me. Now, it’s everywhere. “Every week there is a major incident in Canada, and multiple minor ones every day in my neighborhood.”

It was what was happening inside her university that disturbed her the most.

York’s student unions issued a declaration just after the attack calling the barbarism of October 7 a “justified and necessary” act of resistance against settler colonialism, genocide, and apartheid. The student groups found widespread support among York’s professors—some of whom Rugheimer considered friends.

A politics department faculty committee demanded the university enforce a definition of “anti-Palestinian racism” that encompassed any expression of sympathy for the right of Israelis to exist within their own state: “Zionism is a settler colonial project and ethno-religious ideology in service of a system of Western imperialism that upholds global white supremacy.”

She was shocked by the declarations, and the defaced posters, and the swastikas. But for Rugheimer there was something worse. “The denial is what’s painful,” Rugheimer said. The denial of the rapes and savagery of October 7, 2023. The denial of the pervasive antisemitism in “anti-Zionist” polemics. The denial of Jewish history itself. “Reasonable people can disagree about what to do in an intractable conflict, but the denying of what should be uncontroversial facts makes it impossible to have hope.”

This sort of despair has become a feature of everyday life for Jews across Canada who are experiencing open hatred—and yet are living under a government that appears either blind to it, paralyzed by it, or indifferent to it. Law enforcement in Canada is not blind. Quite the opposite. Officers want to do their jobs. What they say is that they lack the moral support from the political class to enforce the law. And that they cannot keep up with the volume of hate crimes—crimes that arise from a widespread ideology that has normalized the idea that “Zionists” anywhere are a fair target for attack.

Police at Bais Chaya Mushka elementary school in Toronto on May 25, 2024 after two people fired shots outside. (Andrew Francis Wallace via Getty Images)

Perhaps nothing captured Canada’s dark new reality better than a split-screen story from late last month.

On November 22 in Montreal, at the 70th annual session of the NATO parliamentary assembly, rioters organized by the organizations Divest for Palestine and the Convergence of Anti-Capitalist Struggles wreaked havoc on the city. They ignited smoke bombs, threw metal barriers into the street, and smashed windows of businesses and the convention center where the NATO delegates were meeting. The rioters torched cars. They also burned an effigy of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While Montreal burned, Trudeau was dancing and handing out friendship bracelets at a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto. It took 24 hours for him to weigh in with a single tweet.

‘It Was Like a Dam Burst’

The impression that the violence unfolding around them is somehow invisible to the state responsible for their protection has overwhelmed not only relative newcomers to Canada like Rugheimer, but also Jews who have lived in Canada for decades. People like Robert Krell, 84, the former director of postgraduate education in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia.

A pioneer of Holocaust education in Canada and a specialist in survivor trauma, Krell immigrated to Canada at the age of 11, after having been hidden by a Catholic family during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Krell was not as shocked by the unspeakable barbarism of the Hamas massacre of October 7 last year as by the jubilation the atrocities elicited from within the “progressive” milieu across Canada—and by the total silence from the “social justice” scene.

Police respond to a dispute between an Israel supporter and pro-Palestinian supporters in Toronto on June 9, 2024. (Nick Lachance via Getty Images)

On Sunday, October 8, activists affiliated with the terrorist-designated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were already shouting their happiness into megaphones to a crowd at the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, only a few minutes’ drive from Krell’s home. “We are calling on those in so-called Vancouver to uplift and honor the resistance,” they said. “Show solidarity and celebrate the steps towards liberation!”

Scenes like these repeated themselves in cities across Canada—all the way to St. John’s, Newfoundland.

[ars-theurgia]

Anarchy & Apathy (things we should probably learn from Eurovision 2024)

(tl;dr – a review of the voting process is critical; Croatia should have won)

It’s a rare year that sees a consensual Eurovision winner. It is to be expected – the contest is not only a competition of musical taste, but also of musical identity. There is more than simply genre, melody or vocals at play, as these are often filtered through the lens of national sensibility. At face value, a stereotype of geopolitics; at a deeper level, the actual cultural wealth of each European region. 'Our neighbours', etc. To which of course, theatrics and gimmicks are added, in the hopes of standing out from the rest of the crowd.

This is what makes, or should make, watching Eurovision a positive experience. Which this year, failed spectacularly on all counts, leading to a problematic, underwhelming and polarising edition, derailed on Thursday night and crashing its way through apathy and anarchy all the way to the grand final.

Apathy, because it seemed to want to get away with being apolitical. Anarchy, because it failed to carry out apolitical acts.

And from each side, its worst attribute, resulting in what feels like a bland and uncomfortable watch.

This year, Eurovision attempted (and in my view, failed) to manage itself by allowing too many paradoxes to take place. Glaring inconsistencies, arbitrary exclusions, aloof silences, inability (or lack of desire) to address core issues and legacy accusations – a broken code. A program in error, glitching and ineffectual, all under the symbolic and literal guise of “neutrality” – which doesn’t stick. And worse, seems to negate the actual positive aspects of the show, this year neutralised themselves.

This isn’t to say Switzerland did or did not deserve the win – the voting conditions of both jury and public are clearly stated, and in theory were applied. The jury voted, the people voted, and the winner was chosen.

But unlike other years where a similar pattern of voting distribution could be considered ‘curious’, and where ‘the safer song’ wins over the public favourite – see Käärijä 2023 – this year’s jury results feel unjust not only to the runner-up, but to the vast majority of contestants. And by extension, the viewers.

Stage presentation was ignored (see UK for the extreme example, and Ireland for a less radical, visually incompatible result).

Vocal performance was ignored (see Norway’s Gunnhild/Gåte for the extreme example, along with Portugal’s Iolanda; Germany’s Isaak, possibly the strongest vocalist in the competition this year; Israel’s Eden Golan for the complete disregard of vocal ability over nationality).

Radio-friendly potential was ignored (see Luxembourg’s ‘Fighter’, Cyprus’ ‘Liar’, Italy’s ‘La Noia’, Austria’s ‘We Will Rave’ even).

Resulting once again, in a surprisingly cohesive jury vote that deems Switzerland’s ‘The Code’ as the winner, over the fifth place that the public attributed it.

Being neutral is not the same as being objective. And while objectivity is difficult to gauge in a contest where musical taste and national identity (not to mention global politics) are part of the formula, there is a case to be made for the fact that Eurovision and the EBU’s passivity and top-up decision making reflects poorly on the Eurovision experience.

Recurring discrepancies between jury and public voting should be addressed. Because a jury’s role (in Eurovision and elsewhere) should not be of neutrality, but of objective action.

In objective action, a contestant cannot be excluded without a proper justification, to date only explained through vague declarations and heavy speculation (see Netherlands).

In objective action, and in a self-identified democratic continent, the people’s paid vote should inform the winning result over a closed group of juries (see Croatia’s disproportionate second place).

In objective action, rules must be enforced equally to all contestants (see Ireland, who had to remove part of their presentation, vs. Portugal, who was allowed to show a message through nails).

And in objective action, microphones should not be silenced; contestants must be allowed the freedom to be judged by the people listening, and not on what the EBU determines should be judged.

Until that’s learned, processed, addressed, reformed – why watch for disappointment?

[alianoralacanta]

Warning! Long post alert!

Thanks to @maybezax (Zax) for posting a clip on Twitter, showing several drivers crouching in exhaustion in the pit lane (not even in the shade, where this would make a bit more sense) after the 2024 Singaporean Grand Prix. It is one thing for drivers to put everything into a race, but it is unusual to see this many drivers collectively doing this at the same time. Indeed, the last time I saw this was Qatar 2023.

For anyone who doesn't remember the debacle that was Qatar 2023, the drivers were asked to race in a ridiculously hot and humid place, in cars that have to be driven with precision at high speed. It was a blatant safety issue, confirmed by multiple drivers reporting either passing out or neither do so in the cars, vision problems, someone vomiting and a driver having to be persuaded to retire (because one of the symptoms of heat exhaustion is not getting the signals to say one is ill until it the situation is severe).

- Not written names because names aren't the point here. This is about the general safety situation and anyone could easily have swapped reactions with another - or had other serious reactions - because severe dehydration is like that.

One of the ideas that was proposed was for F1 to pay attention to the wet-bulb global temperature for their location. F1 might not have adopted the idea, but it occurred to me to check, so we can see whether this was weather-related or a bunch of drivers simply went, "It's the last race before several weeks' break, let's put absolutely everything onto the track to end this phase of the season".

I've had a look at the wet-bulb rating for Marina Gardens (which I think is the closest weather station to the track that measures WGBT) and it had a wet-bulb of rating 35, or Black. This is above the Green-Yellow-Red rating Singapore usually uses for this purpose (red is for 33 C + and it is required in Singapore to offer 10-minute breaks every hour, to every worker in an outdoor occupation in these conditions https://www.mom.gov.sg/heat-stress-measures-for-outdoor-work/faqs-on-heat-stress-measures-for-outdoor-work ).

Exact readings:

S108 Marina Gardens Drive Temperature: 29.1 degrees Celcius Relative Humidity: 80.7% WBGT rating: 35 WGBT Rating: BLACK Time taken: 2024-09-23, Time 06:15:00, +08:00 ahead of the UK

(Please note that this is at the end of the night and the sun will only just have started rising. Usually, humidity drops during the night). If these drivers make it look like it was ridiculously hot and sticky out there… that's because it was.

Singapore has a Workplace Safety and Health Act covering this situation for employers and organisations alike: if the WGBT is 32 degrees or higher, and the job has to be done outdoors, every company must provide 10 minutes of rest to every worker (longer breaks are recommended above this, but aren't compulsory and I can't imagine the FIA jumping in to impose these). No exemption for sports appears to exist (there's a limited one for military personnel), nor is any other heat protection measure considered mitigation for this. The choices are:

1) Shorten the event to below an hour. 2) Postpone the event until WGBT is below 32 degrees Celcius. 3) Red-flag the race for 10 minutes every hour, starting the count from when the last marshal has had chance to get to the rest area following the last car entering the pits, and giving all marshals chance to resume their posts before resuming the race.

The race was longer than 1 hour. I did not see the FIA or the teams offer a break. (For those of you saying, "the drivers could have parked if they wanted to follow the law", the FIA is responsible for the marshals and they can't take their mandatory break until all the athletes are taking theirs, so mandation from the FIA and co-enforced by teams would be the only way to make this work).

Since the FIA has not obeyed this standard, it is now liable for every single issue that occurs from this. We know the F1 drivers struggled and they train for this exact scenario quite intensely. If any marshal complained to the Ministry of Manpower about this (and I would be surprised if all of them handled it better than the drivers), then the FIA would be liable, which in turn would make the teams jointly liable - even if everyone in the teams and travelling part of the paddock were OK with this arrangement.

It also underlines how important it is that WGBT is adopted before Qatar and the FIA and teams all be bound by it. I don't know what Qatar's laws are about WGBT, but it is unlikely that a F1 struggling with a Singapore that it's been to successfully for years prior to this would otherwise be equipped to handle a Qatar that it barely got away with last time it went there (on a less stressful calendar, with a FIA that was less complacent about safety).

[qnewsau]

Pope Francis dies at 88: LGBTQIA+ community reflect on a 'compassionate' but complicated legacy

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/pope-francis-dies-at-88-lgbtqia-community-reflect-on-a-compassionate-but-complicated-legacy/

Pope Francis dies at 88: LGBTQIA+ community reflect on a 'compassionate' but complicated legacy

It was announced Monday, April 21, that Pope Francis has died at age 88.

He led a papacy marked by quiet reform, controversy, and complex relationships with marginalised communities, including the LGBTQIA+ faithful.

“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell in a statement following the Pope’s passing. 

“He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love. Especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised.”

Francis became Pope in 2013 after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and was quickly hailed by some as a progressive leader, particularly for his tone of compassion and inclusion.

“Who am I to judge?” A timeline of a complex history with the LGBTQIA+ community

In July 2013, just months into his papacy, Pope Francis made international headlines with a now-famous quote: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge him?”

The remark marked a departure from the Church’s historic rhetoric and was seen by many as a radical shift.

In 2016, he called for an end to “unjust discrimination” against queer people, despite still firmly rejecting same-sex marriage.

“There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family,” he said at the time. 

Two years later, in a private conversation with a gay man in 2018, Pope Francis was quoted as saying, “God made you like this and he loves you.”

Then, in a 2023 interview with the Associated Press, Francis again challenged global anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.

“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” he said.

“Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them… condemning a person like this is a sin.”

In October 2023, Pope Francis signed a document that, in certain cases, allowed trans individuals to be baptised and serve as godparents. A move seen as a step toward inclusion.

But, in a back step in March 2024, Pope Francis approved a declaration labelling gender-affirming surgery “a grave violation of human dignity.”

“We are called to protect our humanity… accepting it and respecting it as it was created,” he said.

Later that year, in 2024, Italian media reported the Pope used the slur “frociaggine”, a derogatory term for gay men. He allegedly said it during a closed-door discussion about celibacy and seminary admissions. 

The Vatican responded with an apology, saying the Pope remained a supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Finally, in early 2025, the Vatican issued new guidelines in Italy, allowing gay applicants to the priesthood as long as they remain celibate. A small but symbolic shift.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Pope Francis (@franciscus)

Pope Francis most pro-LGBTQIA+ yet, but Catholic Church has a long way to go

Longtime LGBTQIA+ rights activist Peter Tatchell, who has spent decades protesting the Church’s treatment of queer people, issued a statement on the Pope’s passing.

“I extend my condolences to Catholics worldwide on the passing of Pope Francis. While we often disagreed on issues of LGBT+ rights, I acknowledge his more compassionate tone towards sexual minorities,” he said.

“His recent moves to allow blessings for same-sex couples, albeit with limitations, signalled a small but significant shift in Church doctrine.”

Tatchell continued, saying the “Catholic Church remains a force for discrimination”.

“Under his leadership, the Vatican continued to oppose same-sex marriage and trans rights.

“The Vatican still upholds the homophobic edicts of the Catechism.

“Francis’s legacy is, therefore, a mixed one, offering some progress but leaving deep-rooted inequalities largely intact.”

“The struggle for LGBT+ equality against a homophobic Church must continue. We urge the next Pope to go further—to end the Church’s support for discrimination, both within the faith and in the wider society.”

Catholics around the world mourn the loss of their spiritual leader. For many LGBTQIA+ believers and advocates, his legacy offered moments of compassion but fell short of full inclusion.

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[jackoshadows]

International Courts issue arrest warrant for Netanyahu

Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court ('Court'), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel ('Israel') brought under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute (the 'Statute'). It also issued warrants of arrest for Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant.

Warrants of arrest

The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.

The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations. However, the Chamber decided to release the information below since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing. Moreover, the Chamber considers it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence.

At the outset, the Chamber considered that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant falls within the jurisdiction of the Court. The Chamber recalled that, in a previous composition, it already decided that the Court’s jurisdiction in the situation extended to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Furthermore, the Chamber declined to use its discretionary proprio motu powers to determine the admissibility of the two cases at this stage. This is without prejudice to any determination as to the jurisdiction and admissibility of the cases at a later stage.

With regard to the crimes, the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu, born on 21 October 1949, Prime Minister of Israel at the time of the relevant conduct, and Mr Gallant, born on 8 November 1958, Minister of Defence of Israel at the time of the alleged conduct, each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.

----

More at the link. It's a symbolic gesture at best considering all the Western countries arming and funding this genocide will do nothing and attack the ICC instead, breaking more international laws along the way. As they say, one rule for them another for the global south.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Q&A with Tabata Amaral: “It’s Impossible to Talk About Meritocracy in a Country as Unequal as Brazil. We Need a Robust and Qualified Expansion of Basic and Higher Education”

In Brazil, efforts to build a legitimate and lasting democratic project must respond to the historical challenges and realities of a majority Afro-descendant population (55.5 percent, according to the 2022 census). While Brazil often projects an image of racial harmony abroad, its Black population faces severe economic, social, and political disadvantages at home. This disconnect limits Brazil’s potential for development, preventing it from leveraging its diverse society to address regional challenges in a hemisphere that yearns for innovative responses to inequality, social cohesion, and citizenship safeguards.

The context for this interview series could not be more appropriate. Recently, discussions over Brazilian inequalities, especially ethnoracial ones, have regained visibility at home and abroad. In 2023, the federal government re-established the Ministry of Racial Equality and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, bodies responsible for implementing public policies to combat racism and promote the rights of Black and Indigenous populations, respectively. In addition, the country is reforming the national curriculum frameworks for secondary education, which could present a window of opportunity to address educational deficits and consider the demands of historically marginalized populations.

At the international level, while participating in the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Brazil voluntarily adopted the 18th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to racial equality (in addition to the current 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda). In addition, the Lula and Biden administrations resumed the Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality (JAPER), an initiative focused on education, healthcare, violence reduction, justice, and preserving the culture and memory of marginalized racial and ethnic populations. Similarly, Brazil has established cooperation channels with countries such as Colombia and Spain, providing exchange activities and sharing experiences of overcoming racism in scientific research, education, history, and culture. Also, during Brazil’s presidency of the G20, the country focused on inequality as the central theme of its four priorities at last year’s summit in Rio: sustainable development, social inclusion, the fight against hunger and poverty, and global governance reforms.

Considering the context and seeking to understand how the Brazilian education system produces unequal educational development trajectories, we spoke to Tabata Amaral, federal deputy of the state of São Paulo and member of the Inter-American Dialogue. Amaral dedicates herself to issues of education, women’s rights, inequalities, and social development.

Continue reading.