#Hold the Government Accountable

[trekkitkat]

Blocking celebrities isn’t going to stop the government from engaging in war crimes and war profiteering. It won’t change anything. Aim your ire at the government, the politicians, the billionaires who profit from war.

America has terrible healthcare, education, a homeless crisis, but people think blocking Lizzo will do anything to actually help. Aim that anger where it will actually do some good and hold the government accountable for their actions. This “celebrity blockout” is pointless and useless. You think it will do something, but the politicians and governments will just continue to destroy people for their own benefit. Aim at them instead.

[runalongprincevaliant]

Never Stop 🇵🇸

[constantvariations]

Same train of thought is why in the fuck does Blake start out deradicalized?

The White Fang had been committing at minimum targeted property damage, grand larceny, and assassinations since Blake was twelve. Being radicalized at that young an age, she wouldn't just be lost in the sauce, Blake would be mixing kool-aid in Jonestown!

Something pretty major must have happened in order for her beliefs - which at this point would be intrinsically tied to her identity - to be shaken badly enough that she'd eventually leave the only family she'd known for the last five years. And even after leaving, there's still the unlearning of those beliefs and all the missteps that accompany that journey

Yet she gets introduced as being uncomfortable with the direction of things as if they haven't been going on for half a decade, as if she's not on what seems like a routine mission, as if there's not a damn good reason they're doing the things they're doing

ShawLuna kinda wrote Blake like she was born yesterday and is just now learning what sin is rather than a young woman having a moral crisis

[windcarvedlyre]

Having a rare moment of pride about (some of) my country right now. Since last weekend England (and also Belfast) has been going insane with racist and islamophobic rioting, and another explosion of disorder was expected last night, but instead cities were flooded with counter-protestors forming shields around potential targets and barely any rioters showed up almost everywhere.

Rare british W.

[exponentialb-zukas]

Sometimes I commit tax fraud.

[red-dragon-archfiend]

You can have the best, smartest, most humanitarian laws possible, but they're only worth as much as they're followed and enforced

[wonder-worker]

"The feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist being appointed as the day upon which the coronation of the king [Edward V] would take place without fail, all both hoped for and expected a season of prosperity for the kingdom."

-Excerpt from the Croyland Continuator / David Horspool, Richard III: A Ruler and Reputation

Even though Edward IV’s death was unexpected, after twelve years of peace there need not have been too much of a sense of foreboding about the succession. The great dynastic wound from which the Wars of the Roses had grown had not so much been healed as cauterized by the extinction of the House of Lancaster. There was no rush for London, as had happened in earlier, disputed successions. The royal party didn’t set out from Ludlow for ten days after hearing the news of Edward IV’s death, while Richard took his time, too. And the new king had [his mother the dowager queen and] two uncles to support him: his mother’s brother, the sophisticated, cultured, highly experienced Earl Rivers; and his father’s, the loyal and reliable Duke of Gloucester, to whom Edward IV had entrusted unprecedented power and vital military command.

... [Richard of Gloucester] had achieved his goal by a mixture of luck and ruthlessness, and if he made it appear, or even believed himself, that destiny played a part, this only made him a man in step with his times. Modern historians have no time for destiny, but sometimes the more ‘structuralist’ interpretations of the events surrounding the usurpation can come close to it. When we read that ‘the chances of preserving an unchallenged succession were . . . weakened by the estrangement of many of the rank-and-file nobility from . . . high politics, which was partly a consequence of the Wars of the Roses and partly of Edward IV’s own policies’, it is hard not to conclude that an unforeseeable turn of events is being recast as a predictable one. But without one overriding factor – the actions of Richard, Duke of Gloucester after he took the decision to make himself King Richard III – none of this could have happened. That is, when the same author concedes ‘Nor can we discount Richard’s own forceful character’, he is pitching it rather low*.

Edward IV had not left behind a factional fault line waiting to be shaken apart. Richard of Gloucester’s decision to usurp was a political earthquake that could not have been forecast on 9 April, when Edward died. After all, Simon Stallworth did not even anticipate it on 21 June, the day before Richard went public. We should be wary of allowing hindsight to give us more clairvoyance than the well-informed contemporary who had no idea ‘what schall happyne’. This is not to argue that Richard’s will alone allowed him to take the Crown. Clearly, the circumstances of a minority, the existence of powerful magnates with access to private forces, and the reasonably recent examples of resorts to violence and deposition of kings, made Richard’s path a more conceivable one. But Richard’s own tactics, his arrest of Rivers, Vaughan and Grey, the rounding up of Hastings and the bishops, relied on surprise. If men as close as these to the workings of high politics at a delicate juncture had no inkling of what might happen, the least historians can do is to reflect that uncertainty [...].

(*The author who Horspool is referencing and disagreeing with is Charles Ross)

[bandzboy]

it’s absolutely insane to me how my twitter timeline i see a tweet talking about the super bowl and then right after a tweet about people were carpet bombed im rafah like… i’m so angry that i genuinely have no words this is the world we live in i guess

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

About to make arguably the most objectively nerve wracking call I've ever had to to see if my life has been fucked up or not.

[jarvis-cockhead]

I need Americans to stop weighing in on the UKs indoor vs outdoor cat debate until they read up on our biodiversity crisis and learn exactly why our wildlife decline is so serious (spoiler: it's not the cats)

[canichangemyblogname]

As Israel continues to bomb Palestinians in Gaza and attack Palestinians in the West Bank, global condemnation of Israel's occupation grows.

Tens of thousands worldwide have taken to the streets between October 13th - October 15th to rally in solidarity with Palestine. The people called for an end to Israeli bombing and the occupation of Palestine.

Several Governments have also voiced criticism of Israeli attacks on Palestine and have called for an end to the bombing of Gaza.

Cuba Brazil Colombia Venezuela Belize Russia Ireland Norway Indonesia Malaysia Oman Qatar Iraq Iran Kuwait Syria Morocco Algeria African Union South Africa

The Arab League and African Union released a joint statement calling on the international community to stop the unfolding humanitarian disaster and catastrophe before it is "too late." They have warned that the coming ground invasion could lead to a genocide of "unprecedented proportions."

However, in stark contrast, the European Council recently released a statement "condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel." In the same statement, they "strongly emphasize[d] Israel's right to defend itself in line with humanitarian... law."

The fact this condemnation comes over a week after Hamas' attack on the music festival is insulting. This past week has been filled with death from the constant bombardment of Gaza. Israel has dropped more bombs on Gaza in a week than the US dropped on Iraq in a year. There are now about 1 million displaced Palestinians in Gaza. In a week. The state of Israel gave no time for grief and no time for healing before it began its reckless bombing campaign; a campaign that has killed the very hostages they claimed to be freeing. They literally "bombed the freedom" into their own dead Israeli civilians. Israel does not care about its civilians. It would have heeded Egypt's warning about the incoming attack if it did. The State and Government of Israel only care about centralizing power and finalizing its ethnostate from river to sea. If Israelis have to die in the state's bombing campaign for that, so be it. Netanyahu's far-right government has demonstrated time and again that it doesn't give two shits about its Jewish citizens.

The State of Israel will never succeed in providing for the security and comfort of Israeli Jews. It will always fail in this goal. Not because of Hamas. Not because of Hezbollah. Not because of Iran. Not even because of Palestinian resistance to colonization. It will always fail in this goal because it simply isn't the Israeli State's goal. Israel was founded with the intention and goal of displacing the native Arab people to create an ethnostate, not with the primary goal of protecting Jews. Jewish Israelis will always be the State's collateral damage in its primary goal. And they will always be the international community's collateral damage for their security and political interests in the geopolitical region. They're human capital that can be thrown at a fight.

Palestinians are burying their loved ones in mass graves in Gaza. All the living members of 50 entire families have been wiped from the Gaza Civil Registry. The hospitals and morgues are overrun. Israel is bombing hospitals and schools and refugee camps and UN shelters and ambulances and journalists and detonating white phosphorus over civilians. The EU condemnation a week late is nothing short of tone-deaf. They don't care about the victims of terrorism. This statement's release at a time when some EU countries have broken from EU norms to condemn the violence inflicted on Palestinians serves to uphold the international status quo and maintain European security interests in the "Middle East." This comes as Israel continues to fire artillery into Lebanon, as Israel decommissioned Syrian airports in airstrikes, and as Hezbollah and Hamas forces in Lebanon have targeted Israeli settlements and barracks, bringing concerns of war spilling over the region. This also comes as tens of thousands have already taken to the streets to protest their government's stance on Palestine and as people continue to protest in solidarity with Palestine.

Do not look away. Make your opposition known.

[zoramones]

MORE INFO ON CONTACTING CANADIAN REPS ABOUT A CEASEFIRE IN PALESTINE:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C07AO2kAKQg/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

on the fourth slide of this post, there is a list of canadian representatives and their contact information. feel free to refer to the phone/email script a few posts down my blog and keep reaching out to demand an immediate ceasefire.

UPDATED PHONE SCRIPT TO CONTACT CANADIAN REPS FOR CEASEFIRE IN PALESTINE:

“Hello [Contact Name],

My name is [xxxx] and I am a deeply concerned resident of [city or riding]. I am calling on you to demand that you call for a permanent ceasefire, an end to the siege on Gaza to allow to immediate medical aid, and an end to all material and diplomatic support of Israel's war crimes, genocide and colonization of Palestinian land.

The civilian death toll is now over 17,000 (*to my knowledge*) due to indiscriminate bombing, the mass arrest and detention of Palestinians, and countless other violations of international law like collective punishment, withholding access to food and electricity and the use of toxic white phosphorus. This has been ongoing nonstop for over 60 days now. This is not a war, it is genocide which is currently being funded by our tax dollars.

During the 5 day ceasefire, we saw a majority of the released hostages from Palestine were children who had been imprisoned for years for minor offenses like throwing rocks. We also saw Israel shooting civilians still, and kidnapping people in the West Bank.

Now the bombing has resumed, and again, [country] stays silent and complicit.

It is high past time for [country] to stand against genocide. You, and all of Parliament, must call for an end to the root causes of all this violence: the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the Israeli government's apartheid regime.

I will not be voting for you or [your party] in the next election based on your lack of response on this emergency unless you are willing to stand against apartheid and call for a ceasefire.

Thank you for your time and we will all be watching to see if [country] will stand against apartheid and genocide.

Sincerely, (Your Name)”

[xjnegen]

just got blocked over this controversial opinion:

if you have to choose between the literal worst people on earth and pretty bad people, maybe you have to choose the bad people. maybe praxis can come after. maybe damage reduction is better than saying "i wont participate in this system" and getting mad at the government. maybe the bad people wont fuck everyone over as bad as the literal worst people on earth and maybe theyll give you slightly more space to perform praxis than the actual worst people on earth would.

[belleswiftss17]

I’m so confused why people are more upset with celebrities than politicians?

[massharp1971]

Before you get all pompous about how a leather shoe is more eco-friendly than a plastic one: Just how many plastic feed sacks do you think went into feeding that oh so biodegradeable cow? This is not a leather over plastic argument: this is "we can't individually purchase our way out of ecocide".

[notasapleasure]

A tale of two Georgias

Note: I wouldn't normally share subscriber-exclusive content from this news site, but I think Shota Kincha's opinions are too important to hide away in an exclusive email this time. If you're so minded, please consider supporting open journalism in the Caucasus anyway and sending some money OCMedia's way.

Highlighting is my own. Of course I support Georgia joining the EU, but absolutely not under conditions that ignore the recent rolling back of democratic freedoms.

---

By Shota Kincha, for OC Media.

On Wednesday, Georgians celebrated a long-awaited recommendation from the European Commission for their nation’s candidacy for EU membership, leaving the country’s candidacy pending just final approval from the heads of EU member states in mid-December. But the Commission’s assessment of the government’s ‘progress’ seemed to be based on wishful thinking, rather than its actions. 

On denying Georgia the status last year, the European Commission outlined 12 ‘priorities’ Georgia would need to address for the decision to be reconsidered — preconditions that largely reflected the spirit of the April 2021 agreement brokered by European Council President Charles Michel between the government and opposition groups.

When the unforeseen possibility for Georgia to formally apply for membership presented itself in early 2022, Georgia’s leadership had already failed on some of the key components of the previous year’s accord. 

Instead of addressing the ‘perception of politicised justice,’ an apparent euphemism for the imprisonment of opposition leaders, most notably Nika Melia in early 2021, the Georgian court imprisoned another prominent government critic, Nika Gvaramia, only five weeks before the European Commission was due to assess Georgia’s readiness for EU membership candidacy.

Instead of the ambitious judicial reform promised in the 2021 Michel deal and mentioned in the EU’s ‘12 priorities’ last year, the ruling Georgian Dream party has continued to shield corrupt judicial officials with a stranglehold on Georgian courts, resulting in more politicised administrative fines and criminal cases against civil activists, political leaders, media managers, or youth with ‘confused orientation’ who risked their freedom to defend Georgia’s pro-Western choice on the streets.

In the run-up to the European Commission’s latest decision on Georgia, the government and security services run by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili’s goons artificially created an anti-Western parliamentary group, gifted them private channel PosTV, and made violent extremist pro-Russian Alt Info immune to obstruction or challenge. 

If the last five years under Georgian Dream rule had been a steady decline in democratic freedoms, the government’s actions in the months since it applied to join the European Union — including their recent initiatives to clamp down on Georgia’s civil society and constrain protest — far surpassed any and all negative predictions.

But listening to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, one could have assumed she was discussing an entirely different country. 

Despite Georgia’s government persecuting free media, parroting Russian propaganda against the West, refusing to undertake institutional reforms in a way that included other groups and stakeholders, and satisfying only three of the twelve conditions set last year, the European Commission complimented them with no substantial criticism.

I do not believe the EU should approve Georgian membership candidacy later this year, as the move looks set to validate and entrench the government’s precipitous lurch towards authoritarianism. 

The European Commission’s approach may be based on the belief that denying Georgia candidate status could lead to Georgians becoming disillusioned with the EU and the West. But Georgians have been staunchly pro-Western for decades, perhaps even centuries. 

The real danger to Georgians’ trust in the West comes from the West’s indifference to anti-democratic moves by Georgia’s government, which, if left unchecked, will continue to use state institutions to slowly but steadily shift popular mood and policies towards Russia. 

Even were we to allow that recommending EU candidacy status was a justified decision in Georgia’s best interests, doing so did not obligate the institution’s leaders to legitimise the country’s government in the way they did.

Listening to the widely televised announcement by the European Commission on Wednesday, Georgians could reasonably have concluded that democratic backsliding, state capture by big capital, and a politicised judiciary are consistent with Georgia’s pro-Western aspirations, or that related warnings from local activists and media have been baseless or overblown. 

The announcement could also have created the impression that the ruling party has been delivering on reforms demanded by the EU, a powerful notion less than a year before the country’s next general elections. 

The truth is, however, that in inviting Georgia to join the club while neglecting to call out the government’s shortcomings, the EU is playing a dangerous game, and one it has played before. The EU does not want another Orban, and the South Caucasus definitely does not need another Aliyev.

I may be wrong: perhaps granting Georgia candidate status will still be a wise choice on the EU’s part. But even in its recommendation, the European Commission could have sent a clear message that business as usual would no longer be tolerated. 

What Georgia’s leadership heard instead will become abundantly clear in the coming months.