#Indigenous Protocols

[eye-candy-film-enjoyer]

I’m out of content ideas so here’s my headcanons for how The Magnus Protocol Characters look

(In order: Sam, Alice, Celia, Gwen, Lena, Colin, Teddy)

[salswisteria]

SPOILERS FOR TMAGP 27

Sign something? Like the Beholding Contract? 🤨

PS: this is just me saying that Celia's reaction to Helen saying "Do you want me to sign something?" Was hella fucking weird and could possibly been hinting to the fact that she knows about the Beholding.

[bumblehaven]

I saw your post reblogging about mythological creatures from other cultures that have been "creepy pasta'd" for lack of a better terms.

You mentioned how one that was tagged and censored "shouldn't be named" and I was hoping you could explain more???

Taanshi! I'm happy to provide. Please note I can only speak from the perspective of my peoples, the Cree & Michif, so it's very possible there are variations from different nations across Turtle Island.

The creature that was mentioned, often portrayed as an "undead" skull-headed beast, is part of a story with deep protocol involved. This protocol is important because the creature is said to be a very dark, twisted spirit, and even invoking its name brings bad medicine unto the speaker and those around them.

The Cree story discusses that this spirit possesses humans and leads them to commit atrocious acts, so we often try to avoid catching its attention in any way we can. The same can be said for the other creature mentioned in the initial post -- a shape-changing figure that brings about bad medicine if not handled correctly.

Unfortunately in this contemporary age, it's beyond possible to rein in and protect our sacred stories like these two, but it is not beyond possible to bring information to those who encounter the stories out in the wild. These creatures, these legends, myths, and teachings, are all an important organ in a very real, very alive body of people. So while we're still here -- at least while I still exist -- it feels right to remind those who're listening that our stories (and by extension, the people they belong to) are not free for the taking. They weren't ever free in that way, but history has shown a deep lack of respect that nearly cost Indigenous culture its life and memory. Not anymore.

Anyways, hope that clears things up a bit for you!

[two-bit-socrates]

I finally finished Honest Hearts. I think I hate Daniel more than I do Crispy Bacon Man. I found out too late that had I'd lied to Waking Cloud about what Daniel had said she would have talked to her people about not trusting Daniel and it would have put a stop to the New Caananites missionary work at the (wrongful) loss of karma for me. Graham has a fuck load of issues but at least he helped the people of Zion Canyon to keep their homes and to stomp out the fascists.

Also the word 'innocense' is right up there on my shit list of words that I'm too tired to articulate but it's a word that acts as a red flag depending on the context for me.

Daniel: Weh, the Sorrows need to do what I want so I can protect their innocense and let fascist applicants destroy their homes and doggedly pursue them so they can complete their genocide.

Man, shut the fuck up.

[2nd-mushroom-circle]

WHY DID I CHOOSE TO WATCH THE LATEST EP OF TRANSPLANAR WHILE COOKING FRIENDSGIVING MEAL. AUGHHHHH

[maplewozapi]

When it comes to textured hair there’s many styles, here some I’ve seen at powwows. Braided locs have to be my favorite style so far 💖

(Edit)- i didn’t communicate this very well but this is a merging of cultures. Culturally/traditionally no we didn’t have cornrows/locs these are black hairstyles, and then mixed with our hairstyles because of the influence of Afro indigenous people (the two braids)💖 having two braids for some regalia is very important and so these are hairstyles I’ve seen Afro natives wear for powwows. Not saying two pigtails are just a native thing but cultural context is important

Reminder braids are not a universal hairstyle between tribes! I’m coming from the perspective of Great Plains tribes. I just thought I might share what braided hair means to my community and people. I see people trying to make ocs or redesigns of characters who are native but don’t actually represent us too good. Reminder to always research a tribe before making a character learn their protocols and at least try to learn something new! 🌸💖🍇

I just wanna say I love our hair! It means so much to us please take care of it🥺💖

[creature-wizard]

Looks like it's time to talk about starseeds and the New Age movement again.

Since I'm seeing more starseed content being posted, I'm gonna make another post on why the whole starseed thing and the surrounding New Age belief system are... not good.

So for those who don't know, New Age mythology is essentially a hodgepodge of cherrypicked and distorted myths from various cultures, racist pseudohistory, and far right conspiracy theories. To put it very briefly, starseeds are supposedly here to help Earth resist the reptilians, a race of politics-manipulating, war-starting, media-controlling blood-drinking aliens. For those who don't recognize the tropes here, these are basically all antisemitic canards. The reptilian alien myth as most know it today comes from David Icke, who ultimately cribbed a bunch of his material from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a Russian hoax created to justify violence against Jews. He was also influenced by the work of people like Fritz Springmeier, a hateful crank who based much of his work on other hateful cranks.

(David Icke, by the way, also claims that transgender is an evil reptilian conspiracy. You'll never find just one form of bigotry with these people.)

There are supposedly numerous alien races out there, and one of the most prominent among them are the Pleiadians, AKA Nordics. While modern depictions of the Pleiadians give them more variety in skintone, there's no denying that older Pleiadian mythology basically pictured them as Aryans In Space, even associating them with the swastika.

You see what's going on here? "Good" swastika-loving Aryan aliens versus "evil" Jewish aliens? Sound familiar?

Racism isn't just a tangential part of the starseed myth, either. It lies at its very core. It's inextricably tied in with the ancient astronaut hypothesis, which has a history of racist motivation behind it. The TL;DR is that a bunch of white people couldn't believe that non-white people had built a bunch of things they couldn't figure out how to build themselves (EG, the Great Pyramids), so they proposed that the real builders were anyone from Atlanteans to aliens. (Atlantis, by the way, never existed; it was a literary device created by Plato.)

One supposed purpose of starseeds is to help the world "wake up to the truth," which basically just means "convert people to New Age spirituality." New Age believes that world peace is contingent on a majority of the world being converted to New Age belief, and that resistance against their belief system is ultimately the work of the aforementioned reptilian aliens.

To put it another way, New Agers think they understand other cultures' spiritual traditions better than the actual members of said cultures, and think that anyone who disagrees with them is being manipulated by the conspiracy, or is an agent of the conspiracy. This includes Indigenous cultures which are already endangered from white Christian colonialism.

Essentially, endangered cultures cannot speak up for themselves and resist New Agers' efforts at cultural assimilation without being labeled a problem and an enemy. It's basically white Christian colonialism repackaged as "spiritual, not religious."

Again - if you heard from these people that some ancient text or myth describes extraterrestrial beings visiting our planet for one reason or another, you heard misinformation. They twist and misrepresent literally every myth and text they get their hands on. For example, you may have heard that the vimanas from Hindu traditions were actually alien spacecraft. They were no such thing. Or maybe you heard that the Book of Enoch describes aliens performing genetic experimentation on humans. It literally does not. At best, all of the stories they cite just kind of sound like aliens if you ignore most of their content and pay no attention to their cultural contexts.

The starseed movement preys on alienated people, especially autistic people and people with ADHD. You can look up nearly any list of signs that you're supposedly a starseed, and many of them will align perfectly with characteristics associated with autism and/or ADHD, or that people with these conditions commonly report. Some people within the movement even go so far as to claim that ADHD and autism don't even exist, but were actually made up by the conspiracy as a cover to suppress and control starseeds, which is some yikes-as-hell ableism.

So basically, people are being told that if they have these certain characteristics or symptoms, that means it's their job to spread New Age spirituality to defeat the conspiracy and help others ascend to the fifth density.

And what's the fifth density, you might ask? It's supposedly humanity's next evolutionary level, because New Age is also based on biological misconceptions. Supposedly once everyone's DNA "upgrades," they'll essentially morph into an aetheric form. Supposedly, this is preceded by a number of "ascension symptoms," including depression, headache, gastrointestinal issues, and any number of other symptoms that could indicate almost anything, including stress.

What many of these people don't realize is, this prediction has already failed. Back in the 2000s and 2010s, experiencing "ascension symptoms" was supposed to precede ascension to 5D beginning December 21, 2012. One lady, Denise Le Fay, was convinced that the hair loss she was experiencing in 2008 was an ascension symptom. As we can see by looking her up, she's very much still with us on the 3D plane these days, repeating the same tired old scripts New Agers recycle endlessly.

By the way, everything you near New Agers saying today about old systems being dismantled, dark forces being arrested or kicked off the planet, and new economic systems on the horizon? They've been recycling these scripts for years now. Take a look at this page written back in 2012. You got stuff about the complete dismantling of an enormous network of sinister forces," "the arrest and removal of a world-wide cabal," and a "new economic system."

("Cabal," by the way, is a dogwhistle term for "Jews.")

Furthermore, people in this movement are often encouraged to try and access past life memories through dreams or hypnosis, which makes the whole thing feel even more real to them. But the thing is, you can have incredibly vivid experiences about literally anything you put your mind to - the people in the reality shifting having vivid experiences of living another life in the Harry Potter universe are a great example of this. Just because you have vivid experiences, doesn't mean they have any bearing on anything happening in this reality.

So yeah, the starseed movement and the larger New Age movement are both extremely harmful. They promote racist pseudohistory, medically-irresponsible pseudoscience, conspiracy theories that target numerous marginalized groups, and functionally target aliened people with ADHD and autism to convince them that spreading its beliefs is their job.

[akajustmerry]

Just out of curiosity - I read your post about how the “Australian” government abducted aboriginal children and assimilated them as part of the genocide against the native people, and it has me wondering, what is the land of Australia actually called? Since Australia is the name given by settlers, what do the aboriginal people actually call their home?

this is very easily googleable and I really encourage you to do your own research but I'm feeling generous. there is no one name for the land because Aboriginal peoples had (and still very much do have) our own nations that make up this land.

There are over 300 Indigenous nations on this continent. Each with its own language, laws, and cultural protocol. Some nations close in proximity share certain cultural protocols and language. Certain regions have names like "Koori" is most of the region also known as NSW and "Murri" is similar to the region known as Queensland. My people are Koori.

What is widely known as the Australian continent is large. First Nations peoples from Palawa, for example, rarely if ever interacted with Noongar peoples until after colonisation. Because of the size (only slightly smaller than the US) and differences in language, it's unlikely Aboriginal peoples had an agreed-upon name for the entire land. But it's also worth noting that if we did have a name for it, that name has probably been lost due to violent colonial efforts to strip us of our language and history. You'll hear people say "so-called Australia" as a way to acknowledge all this.

[kelluinox]

Oh are people mad at JKR again and calling out her antisemitism? That's funny. No, it is! It's funny when people suddenly care about antisemitism after these 5 months we've had. It's funny when people who threw a grand ol party on October 7th suddenly care about being antisemitic. It's funny when the people who called the kidnapping and rape and largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust justified resistance... suddenly care about the Holocaust. It's funny to hear their "very angry very loud very righteous outrage against antisemitism" when they have:

1) said and done nothing about the hostages being held by Hamas, among which there is a baby and a 4 yo and women being subjected to sexual torture

2) done nothing to pressure the embarrassment called the Red Cross to pass vital medicine to the hostages and actually do its job

3) have gone full Holocaust denial with their denial of the 7th... despite eagerly sharing videos of Shani Louk and Naama Levy and Noa Argamani and the Nova Festival massacre as it was happening, asking Hamas to film their slaughter horizontally and calling victims "hipsters" as the massacre was actually happening

4) called for the murder and expulsion of half the world's jews from the Levant, labeling them all colonizers despite us being indigenous... which is ironic because they certainly don't seem eager to move their own ass and go back to wherever they came from (looking at you Americans, Canadians, Australians - shut the fuck up you hypocritical bitches)

5) attacked, and harassed, and bullied, and even murdered jews all over the world since the 7th. Jewish students were told to hide in the attic from an angry mob, have been unable to walk to class without verbal or physical attacks, have been unable to mourn the biggest massacre of jews since the Holocaust, have had posters of the kidnapped jews that they put up torn down, have had all their attempts at talks about antisemitism and peace derailed and have even been unable to wear their magen david without harassment. Jewish business have been targeted and defaced. And Paul Kessler and Samantha Woll were murdered. Murdered!

6) refused to listen to jews about antisemitism and have eagerly repeated antisemitic conspiracy theories as old as the middle ages like the gullible bigoted little idiots that they are: Jews control the media by distracting Americans from Gaza by using Spotify Wrapped, the Superbowl, and making a Stop Jewish Hate ad (wow do I 'love' it when Americans make fun of their own intelligence by admitting that they're so easily distracted). Jews poison wells - they poison Palestinian land. Jews steal Christian kids and drink their blood - Jews kidnap blond Palestinian children and steal organs from Palestinian corpses. Jews love killing and are bloodthirsty monsters - Jews intentionally target civilians, have killed 0 terrorists whatsoever, and are rubbing their hands in glee watching mass starvation unfold. Oh, and they also do all this on Ramadan because they're evil like that. Beyond that we also have had: Jewish doctors are not to be trusted - straight out Stalin's doctor's plot. And Zionists are racists - straight out of Imperial Russia's Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Wow, congrats on quoting Imperial Russia and the leader of the Soviet Union, fuckers. Though frankly you don't seem embarrassed about that considering your genocidal intifada posters display the hammer and sickle, do you?

7) have ignored literally everything Hamas has done. From the rape and brutal murders and kidnapping (videos of which they published themselves!). To the tunnels. To the theft of aid. To the execution of civilians following humanitarian corridors to safe zones. To using hospitals to hide weaponry, terrorists and hostages. To forcefully keeping civilians in said hospitals even as they try to evacuate, using them as human shields. To shooting at civilians who try to get some aid before it's stolen. To sending 4 yo children to Israeli soldier camps to assess their preparedness. To keeping weapons beneath a child's bed. To enlisting child soldiers. To programming children with Mein Kampf. To launching rockets from next to kindergartens and across the street from a building belonging to the joke we call the UN. To breaking the November ceasefire 15 minutes in because even an hour without killing jews was too difficult for them to accomplish. To separating families despite the hostage deal being that families will not be separated. To branding the Jewish boys they took hostage (sound familiar to you yet?). To forcing child hostages to watch their October 7 videos and threatening to shoot them if they cry. To raping female hostages. To depriving elderly and chronically ill hostages of life saving medicine. To forcibly converting female hostages. To not releasing the Bibas family despite the deal being that all children be returned. To executing hostages and then lying they died in air strikes despite the cause of death being a bullet. To creating sick games where they publish photos of hostages and dare psychopaths on the internet to guess which are dead and which alive. The list goes on and on and on and you lot stick your fingers in your ears every single time and go "lalala not listening".

8) Have supported the Houthis who literally have "a curse upon the jews" in their slogan

9) Have supported Bin Laden

10) Have supported Iran by supporting its proxy - Hamas.

11) Have shamed Ukrainians for trying to remind them that Russia is still attacking them, and told them that they should support Palestine when... Hamas and the Houthis have literally visited Moscow and Iran are Russia's allies. Good job, guys. Good job.

12) Have done everything to exaggerate what's happening, twist the facts and demonize Israel, all the while portraying it as "criticism". A war is suddenly not bad enough on its own - it has to be a genocide to get people to care. Displacement caused by a war is not bad enough - it has to be ethnic cleansing. Israel is suddenly a fascist Nazi state... despite being democratic and Jewish (where have all the people who laughed at Putin for calling Zelensky a nazi despite Zelensky being a jew gone? I wonder). The war in Gaza has to be the worst conflict on Earth, despite there being ongoing genocides in Sudan and China and the goddamn invasion of Ukraine.

And before any of you antisemitic goyim start furiously typing that it is a genocide and I'm a genocide apologist, please do keep in mind that jews know more about genocide than you ever will. And being a Russian jew I will know more about fascism than you ever will. So do us all a favor, shut up and listen to people more educated on the matter than you.

13) Have tried to define Zionism and Judaism and Jewish history to jews. Thanks for the goysplaining, I guess

14) Have mocked released hostages and their testimonies. Falsely claimed that they were not mistreated and actually written fanfics of them falling in love with the terrorists who murdered their families and kidnapped them

15) Have defaced the statue of Amy Winehouse

16) Have made lists of jews. Oh, sorry, "zionists"

17) Have devolved into race science

And to conclude my post, here are just a few photos of the shit goyim have done since october:

[bignosebaby]

If you've heard of black crested macaques or the Yaki monkey, it is probably this one:

This black crested macaque became famous in 2011 when the photographer David Slater was taking photos in the jungle of Sulawesi Indonesia where black crested macaques are indigenous fauna. Slater was not the photographer who captured this photo, however. It was the macaque who has since been commonly called Naruto who took its own photograph on Slater's camera. The famous monkey selfie sparked a copyright lawsuit brought by PETA onto Slater, which was settled in 2017 with an agreement that Slater would donate a percentage of any profits gained by the pictures Naruto took to organizations that protect this species in the wild.

For the millions who enjoyed Naruto's selfies online, the story ends there. For Naruto and the Yaki the story continues. The black crested macaque is critically endangered. Slater's website says he donates 10% of the proceeds of all "monkey selfie" merchandise to "a monkey conservation project in Sulawesi", and while he does not specify which conservation project he supports, there is one I know of that does incredible work.

Selamatkan Yaki is an operation with a huge impact. The Yaki is one of the most endangered primates in the world, and it can be difficult to gauge just how many of them are out there. This is where biodiversity monitoring comes in to produce the data needed for effective conservation protocol. A pilot study was conducted in Tangkoko Nature Reserve, which has created the blueprint for surveying the entire province using camera traps and remote sensing to observe the Yaki and their threats over time.

Using the data gathered from monitoring, Selamatkan Yaki collaborated with the government agency for natural resource conservation to create a Species Action Plan (SAP). This species action plan is not only an evidence based conservation plan designed to save the Yaki, but all the other species that share its forest home. Establishing the Yaki as a flagship species is crucial as this charismatic monkey is just one of many species that is not found anywhere else in the world.

One of the major threats Yaki face, like many other primate species, is hunting for wildlife trafficking and the bush meat trades. While hunting the Yaki is illegal, it takes a true culture shift to keep endangered animals out of traps and cages. Selamatkan Yaki has developed both community conservation and environmental education programs designed to unite local communities in protecting the species. The community conservation program involves surveys conducted since 2007 so that long term data on human-animal relationships can be tracked to best identify community conservation methods. This data is used in the environmental education program which introduces information on biodiversity and conservation to school curriculum and provides research opportunities and scholarships for post secondary students to contribute to conservation.

Selamatkan Yaki understands that it isn't enough to have a team of people dedicated to saving the black crested macaque-- the more people who care and help the better. Everyone has a role to play in conservation, but right now so many people outside Indonesia have only ever seen the black crested macaque once, in a photo online. That's why I'm partnering with Selamatkan Yaki to spread information about the work they do and the species they protect. To learn more about Selamatkan Yaki you can click the links in this post, and stay tuned for more on the black crested macaque.

[jewish-sideblog]

hey, so im Palestinian and a strong activist for my people's liberation. i wanted to ask for some info/advice on avoiding antisemitism in my activism for Palestine. im on anon bc i don't want to be called a racefaker for caring about Jewish ppl. i know antisemitism is on the rise right now (and generally over the past few years) and i want to make sure i'm not unintentionally contributing to it.

Hey there! I wanted to start by genuinely thanking you for asking this question. Partially because I don't actually get any well-intentioned or helpful questions in my inbox anymore, but also because I understand the amount of bravery it takes to reach out with a question like that at a time like this.

Next, I want to apologize to all my followers who hate long posts. Judaism is a very complicated ethnoreligious group, antisemitism is a very complicated form of bigotry, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is arguably the most complicated international issue that has ever existed. I'm going to try to go through everything as succinctly as possible below the cut-- I am also going to ask other Jews to contribute to and make edits to this list as needed.

And finally-- I'm writing this as though I were speaking to someone with very little knowledge of the subject. I understand that as a Palestinian, you probably know a lot about what's going on here. But I want to make sure that I'm covering bases for anybody else who might need to use this post. So if you're like, Yeah, Obviously I Knew That. Please remember that a fuckton of people on tumblr are engaging in Israeli criticism without obviously knowing that.

There are two primary forms of antisemitism in anti-Zionist spaces-- antisemitic conspiracy theory, and criticism of Israel that no other country receives. The first kind is the easiest kind to pick out, and it makes a nice bulleted list, so we'll start there.

Dual Loyalty. A global stereotype that has skyrocketed since the establishment of Israel, but it's been around for a lot longer than that. Simply put, it's the idea that Jews are more loyal to Israel (or some global secret kabal) than we are to the countries we currently reside in. With I/P, it manifests as the idea that All Jews are directly responsible for Israel or the idea that All Jews secretly support Israel. If you see a Jew who isn't directly engaging in I/P topics, don't ask them what their stance is. Plenty of us have never even been to Israel, and it's fucked up to assume that we're all experts in geopolitics.

The Holocaust was a Fabrication or a Lesson. The idea that Jews made up the Shoah has been around since the Shoah was still happening, and it's always been ridiculous. Today, you'll see three primary lines about this. Either it's that Jews made up the Shoah as an excuse to establish Israel, that the Jews deserved the Shoah because of what's happening in Israel today, or that the Jews "should have learned their lesson from the Holocaust" because now Jews are "the new Nazis". Frankly, I wish goyim would stop treating the deaths of millions of Jews like a TV show. Palestinian deaths are genuinely horrible, but this isn't some kind of "narrative parallel" to the Shoah.

The Kazars Theory, or All Jews are White. This is the DNA test nonsense. The idea is that Israel (or Jews at large) are only pretending to be indigenous to the Levant and that secretly Jews as a whole are actually indigenous to Eastern Europe. It's a lie, started by a German professor of Russian history in the early 1800s. Meanwhile, the vast majority of genetic, historical, and archaeological evidence points to Jewish origins in the Israeli/Palestinian region. There have been literal hundreds of genetic studies on this. Most of them suggest that Jews, even "white" Ashkenazim, are nearly genetically identical to Palestinians.

World Domination. The idea that Jews control the world began with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in 1903. If you're encountering criticism of Israel that suggests that world governments, particularly European or American ones, are being controlled by Jews, you've got yourself antisemitism. White supremacists like to use the term "Zionist Occupied Government" or "ZOG" as shorthand for this conspiracy. The next two points are born out of this same ideology.

Controlling the Media. The idea that Jews are in charge of Hollywood and/or major news organizations around the world. Regarding I/P, I've seen a bunch of people say something like "Western media outlets won't cover this! (Because you know who controls them!)" only to look online and see... Western media outlets covering it. See also: "My source is tiktok! I don't trust the news!" While it's obviously a fair criticism to say that some Western news outlets certainly have a pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian bias, it's certainly not every single one of them. Reuters and the AP are once again my go-to's here.

Controlling the Financial World. I haven't actually seen this come up regarding I/P, but considering how things have been going, it's only a matter of time. We don't control the banks. We don't control the stock market. We're not in charge of American aid being sent to Israel. HaShem knows that if we controlled all the money, I'd certainly be living larger than I am now...

Those Bloodthirsty Jews. This one arguably started with Blood Libel in the 1100s, when Christians started accusing us of stealing and eating their babies. Straight up, I have met Christians who still believe this in 2023. You see this a lot with I/P-- the Al Ahli Hospital is the biggest example. More than a month later, most reliable intelligence organizations agree that a misfired Hamas rocket landed in a parking lot, killing about 100 people. But a ton of people are still saying that Those Bloodthirsty Jews intentionally bombed the hospital dead on, killing 470 people. I want to be clear-- Israel is killing a lot of civilians. But if you see a bandwagon of people focusing on the one group of deaths that Israel probably actually didn't cause? Consider why.

Causing wars, revolutions, and calamities. Hamas has straight-up got this one in their founding charter. No, the Jews are not responsible for any major global conflicts, revolutions, or counter-revolutions that don't directly involve Israel. We didn't do WWII. We didn't do the October Revolution. See above-- we're not secretly plotting massacres on Shabbat. A lot of people are saying that Netanyahu and Likud let Hamas in to justify the invasion of Gaza... I'd be shocked if that was the case. All evidence points to a classic intelligence failure. We're not orchestrating bloodbaths.

Section 2: Criticisms only levelled at Israel

It's important to recognise that Israeli civilians are no more collectively responsible for the actions of the Likud coalition than Palestinians are collectively responsible for the actions of Hamas. No Palestinian deserves to be stripped of their rights to self-determination in their ancestral lands because of the October 7th attack. Likewise, no Chinese person deserves to be displaced from China because of the CCP's human rights violations in Tibet, Uyghur and Hong Kong. No Russian person deserves to be ethnically cleansed from Russia because of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. But plenty of people do believe that Jews should be stripped of their rights to self-determination in historically Jewish indigenous lands because of the actions of the Israeli government.

After October 7th, I've seen people argue that Israeli babies deserved to be kidnapped because of their national origin. I've seen people argue that Israeli women deserved to be sexually abused because of their nation of origin. I've seen people argue that the seven million Jews living in their ancestral homeland deserve death or displacement because of their nation of origin. Justifying or allowing brutal harm against people because of their national origin is hateful.

I want to make this part very clear-- I do not have an issue with calling out Israeli war crimes or crimes against humanity. But I do have an issue with treating Jewish civilians differently than civilians of other nations responsible for similar horrors. Amplifying bias against a particular group because of that group's nation of origin is called bigotry. Taking a stand against Israeli settlements in the West Bank is anti-Zionism. Collectivizing the label of "white colonialism", and forcing that label upon refugees forced to move to Israel, or Mizrahim with uninterrupted 8,000-year histories in Israel, is antisemitism.

Part 3: Moving Forward

So where do we go from here? If advocating for the destruction of Israel is advocating for the elimination of Jewish self-determination in our ancestral lands, but advocating in favour of the Israeli government is advocating for the elimination of Palestinian self-determination in your ancestral lands, then we must find some middle ground. A solution that allows seven million Jews and five-and-a-half-million Arabs to share the same holy land, without fear of persecution, displacement, or death. For me, this means a few things.

First of all, the recognition that most Israelis disagree with Netanyahu's approach to Palestine, and most Palestinians disagree with Hamas's approach to Israel. And that brings up a question-- why are Likud and Hamas in charge of Israel and Gaza respectively if most people disagree with them? Without getting into the complicated intricacies of the Knesset and the PNA on an already very long post (and without explaining your own government to you), the simple answer is international funds.

Israeli crimes against Palestinians are bankrolled by American Evangelical Christians, who believe that when Palestine is gone, all the Jews will go to Israel, and Jesus will come back to kill the world's infidels. They actually fucking believe that. Meanwhile, Hamas is bankrolled by Iran, which believes that the more often Jews and Sunni Muslims kill each other, the easier it will be for Iranian Shiite Jihad to take over the world. They actually fucking believe that.

So what steps can we take during our advocacy? Not for the destruction of Israel nor the destruction of Palestine, but for America and Iran to get their noses out of our damn business. I genuinely believe that a defunded Likud and a defunded Hamas will allow Israelis and Palestinians to work together for a peaceful two-state or joint-rule solution. Something that will keep my Palestinian friends from feeling like they can't safely travel from Jaffa to Tel Aviv. Something that will allow my Jewish family to visit and pray at the Cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebecca and the Temple Mount. Something that will let Israeli children from Kibbutz Nirim and Palestinian children from Khan Yunis play on the same playgrounds together, instead of sheltering from missile fire.

Frankly, we nearly had that when the Supreme Muslim Council and the Assembly of Representatives began collaborating against the British Mandate instead of against each other. Clearly, it's possible, we just need to stop being pitted against each other by foreign powers.

[dalishious]

Hi Lydia-Marc!

I want to reach out to you because of something you posted. Usually when I reach out like this, I get blocked, I’m hoping you’ll be willing to listen.

You said that “Zionism is a colonial movement that supports building an ethno-national state for Jewish people on top of Palestine, by any means necessary.” And then linked to Al Jazeera as proof.

I want to start by pointing out that Al Jazeera is the state media of Qatar, a nation that in its state approved textbooks teaches that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (a debunked soviet antisemitic conspiracy theory) are true, as well as teaching that Jews are evil, and that the holocaust isn’t real/the holocaust was actually a Jewish plot to further their nefarious goals (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/3492-Informational-Materials-20200917-70.pdf). I am asking that you acknowledge that if that is what’s in state run textbooks, then the state media outlet might also be biased against Jews.

What you state Zionism is sound more like Kahanism (https://imeu.org/article/fact-sheet-meir-kahane-the-extremist-kahanist-movement ), a movement that most Jews (and most Jews – about 80-90% depending on the survey – are Zionist) thoroughly denounce. The founder and his political party were actually banned from participating in the Israeli government because most Jews found the movement so disgusting.

Zionism is actually a land back movement that supports self-determination for Jews in their ancestral homeland. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zionism ) A lot of leftists have decided to try to change the definition of the word into something more like what you said, but it’s a Jewish word to describe a Jewish movement, and non-Jews don’t get to define our words for us.

Applying a colonizer/colonized lens to the area is not really useful, but if you must, then please recognize that we have archeological evidence of Jews in the southern Levant going back over 3000 years (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/opinion/jewish-history-israel.html ), genetic evidence that even the whitest looking Ashkenazi Jews have middle eastern genetic markers (https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.100115997 ), and written evidence from Rome talking about the Jews living in the area. In fact, we have maps showing that the area that is now called Palestine, used to be called Iudea (https://www.worldhistory.org/image/269/map-of-the-roman-empire-in-125-ce/ ) prior to Rome conquering the area, extracting its wealth, and taking the native, Jewish, population as slaves back to the empire (https://www.worldhistory.org/The_Bar-Kochba_Revolt/ , https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Jerusalem-70 ). The people who identify as Palestinian are the descendants of the people who filled the void left by Rome’s abduction of the Jews, and the descendants of the actual colonizers from the Arabian peninsula who showed up hundreds of years after the majority of Jews had already been evicted. The area has been colonized repeatedly, just not the way you claim.

I, personally, as a Zionist, am in favor of a two state solution, and I know many other Zionists that feel the same way. Palestinians have been living on the land a long time, and should have a state, but there is no denying that the area is the Jewish homeland, and they should be allowed a state of their own as well. It is frustrating to see so many people decide that self-determination (a human right!) is something that should be denied to the Jews, simply because they were conquered so long ago that everyone considers the colonizer’s presence to be “normal.” Apparently, somewhere along the line, Jewish indigeneity expired.

I hope you’re still reading this. I hope you’re willing to listen. If you have any questions, or want to discuss this further, I’m happy to talk.

Anyway,

[magicaguajiro]

Caribbean Folk Saints and Mighty Dead: A Precursor

We all have family members who take on an almost Mythic quality after they pass on. They may have been a character in life, or a perhaps a spiritual practitioner. Maybe they were known for their generosity, or lack of it, or their strength or brilliance. Nonetheless, it is someone who, even in death, still makes an impact. In personal practices, we may work with these ancestors for guidance and healing, but what happens when their influence spreads past your family, into the local community or even entire country? This and many other strange circumstances often explain the origin and powers of Folk Saints and Elevated Dead. I will be going into the various Folk Saints and Deified Ancestors of the Caribbean, (including Florida), but before I can do that I need to explain where these spirits come from, and why they are so potent in our everyday lives.

What are Folk Saints and Mighty Dead?

Folk Saints and Mighty Dead are spirits of dead people who were either elevated in life, or became elevated after death. Their elevation often is then connected to their ability to grant various petitions made to them. Some of the Folk Saints I will be talking about were used to disguise other figures who were outlawed by the Colonial government at the time, while others are various figures of marginalized communities who gained sorcerous or otherworldly reputations after death.

Cuba and Florida are Lands of diaspora and syncretism. Many different traditions abound and each tradition has multiple lineages, so the classification of spirits differs depending on the worldview of the person explaining. Some practitioners work within a framework of Catholicism, some use elements and some flat-out reject Catholicism completely for decolonization purposes. For this reason, I have differentiated Folk Saints from the Mighty Dead.

Folk Saints will include those spirits who are worked with in a Catholic context, but are usually not canonized or not at first. On the other hand, the Mighty Dead will include spirits who are venerated amongst Indigenous and African traditions in Cuba as well as the surrounding areas, as to not group them under a title created by Colonizers. If you are Cuban or Caribbean, these Folk Saints and Mighty Dead offer power at a closer degree because they are more proximal to your Spirit Court, and may even already have bonds with them.

It is important to note, spirits like Orisha and Cemí have very specific protocols, manners and taboos when approaching them, so this is best done with the help of a priest, such as Oloricha or Babalawo, or a Taíno Behike. These are not energies you simply feel drawn to and work with. Orisha and Cemi are in some cases Deified Ancestors and others Personified Forces of Nature, among other things. This varies from the Ancestors and Spirits I will be discussing in this series.

Benefits of Working with The Mighty Dead

Folk Saints and Ancestors give us a closer connection to the divine through their proximity to the Divine and their individual virtues and personalities. As with all spirit relationships, you will get out what you put in.

Folk Saints who are related to the Land you live on, such as Uncle Monday or Bessie Graham for us Floridians, can help to deepen your connection with the local community. They can help you to further your relationship with the Earth and introduce you to other Land spirits.

Spirits related to your Ancestry can help to work through generational issues. Some ancestral spirits, like José Martí or Guamá for us Cubans, are related to ideas of War, Rebellion, and overcoming oppression. These spirits can be worked with for the same pursuits of defeating oppressors in the modern day. Each spirit has a story and is multi-faceted, so it really depends on what your connection is to the Spirit and what you are capable of offering them.

How to Work with Deified Dead

Working with these spirits is individual to each spirit, based on what their heritage is, as well as their personal tastes. When starting out, it’s best to keep things simple. Instead of going and creating an entire altar dedicated to a spirit, begin by praying about it at your Bóveda or ancestral altar. Here, you may find that a spirit is not compatible with your current situation, or doesn’t want to work with you ever! Should the omens be good, however, and you may begin establishing a connection to that spirit Research and talking to other devotees can give you great insight into what a relationship with that Spirit can look like.

My formula for reaching out to these spirits is always different, but I follow basic principles. I always begin with a representation of the spirit, a small offering and a candle. The representation can be anything, from a statue to a printed picture or even just their name on some paper. The offering is in most cases water until the spirit makes other wants known to me, but when a spirit doesn’t take water I offer food or tobacco instead. The candle is something I was taught helps to enhance spirit communication, carrying messages between the worlds. It is helpful to research about whoever you are attempting to communicate with, and if possible you should speak to other practitioners who work with the same Spirit. Often times, this is someone-you-know’s father or grandmother. From here, you should sit with whatever entity you are contacting, allowing yourself to experience a personal relationship with them. I will share individual experiences of what each spirit has been like in practice for me, or people I know, but for beginning this is a good basic way to start out.

I look forward to sharing more about these incredible figures who influence my favorite corner of the world to this day.

Paz y Progreso 🕯️

[interlockingpatches]

i would love to see australian animal patches

wombat… ringtail possum… bandicoot.. redback spider.. cool birds

I would love that also! Australian wildlife has been on my long-list since forever, so to the top of that list it goes, anonymous antipodean and/or australophile!

I have unpublished Kangaroo and Quokka designs from early days, and an Ibis I've been hoping to place — with adjustments, I think that motif could do right by the unfairly-maligned but delightfully-monikered "Bin Chicken."

Wombat is just a sketch, and my sense at first was that it would work up much too large, but then I looked up "wombat scale" and

I see that this fear was unfounded.

I confess also that, when I searched for a "ringtail possum," I expected someone with a striped tail, like a lemur? instead…

i immediately lost The Game.

I'll definitely have a go at Bandicoot and Redback Spider! Off the top of my head I'll also be looking into a Koala, an Emu, a Kookaburra, a Dingo, an Echidna, a Tasmanian Devil and…

… we'll see who stands out in this first round, but if anyone has species to suggest (especially herps, birds and invertebrates), design critiques to offer, or advice and or resources to share on Indigenous protocol/preferences vis-à-vis representation and naming, I'd be very happy for that input!

[anonymousewrites]

Logos and Pathos (AOS Edition) Chapter Ten

AOS! Spock x Empath! Reader

Chapter Ten: Volcanic Arguments

Summary: The Enterprise has been on many missions with danger, but none have ever put a rift between any of the crew members until now.

            “Kirk to Shuttle One!” shouted Kirk over the communicator. “Locals are out of the kill zone. You are clear. Repeat. Spock, get in there, neutralize the volcano, and let’s get out of here!”

            “Captain, you’re still being pursued,” said Uhura, looking at the trackers and recordings of life-form activity on the planet.

            “He stunned our ride!” griped Bones.

            This was a common mission for the Enterprise at this point—surveying planets—but it had gone a bit array as Kirk accidentally took an artifact he should not have from the locals (though he had needed to lure them away from the path of the explosion because they were also going against orders to stop the volcano). Now he and Bones were running for their lives through a forest trying to escape while Spock went to detonate the device that would halt the volcanic explosion.

            “We have to do this now, Captain,” said Sulu on Shuttle One. “The shuttle wasn’t built for this kind of heat.”

            (Y/N) strapped Spock into his heat-proof suit, carefully checking for any cracks. They wanted their boyfriend as safe as possible during this dangerous mission.

            “Captain, did the indigenous life-forms see you?” asked Spock.

            “No, Mr. Spock, they did not,” said Kirk, obviously lying (though he had worn a hood and mask).

            “The Prime Directive clearly states that there can be no interference with the internal development of alien civilizations,” said Spock, and (Y/N) chuckled at his focus on protocol at all times.

            “I know what it says!” said Kirk, panting over the communicator. “Which is why I’m running through the jungle wearing a disguise! Now drop off your super ice cube and let’s go! Kirk out!”

            “You’re good,” said (Y/N) after checking the suit.

            Spock nodded and knelt to open up the device.

            “If we’re going to do this, we’ve got to do it now!” said Sulu. “This ash is killing our coils.”

            (Y/N) put Spock’s helmet on next and smiled at it. “Are you still sure you don’t want me to go?”

            “I’d prefer to risk my own life instead of yours,” said Spock honestly.

            “How sweet,” teased (Y/N), touching their fingers to his covered ones before letting him go.

            “We have to go now,” said Sulu.

            “I’ll see you in ninety seconds, okay?” said (Y/N), and Spock nodded.

            (Y/N) and Sulu sat in the cockpit, and the doors shut. Spock attached a coil to himself, and Sulu opened a trapdoor. Spock fell down into the volcano below that was preparing to blow. (Y/N) couldn’t help but wince in worry. They didn’t want Spock to get hurt. They loved him so much.

            Bam!

            The shuttle shook as the smoke and debris became too much, and the console began to flash in warning as they spun.

            “Prerequisite change: 2-7-3,” said the computer. The engine was overheating. “Reduce descent.”

            “I can’t hold this position,” said Sulu. “Spock, I’ve got to pull you back up.”

            “Negative, this is our only chance to save this species,” said Spock. “If this volcano erupts, the planet dies.

            The shuttle shook and swung as the pre-eruption hit it. It couldn’t take much more.

            “Pull him back up! Now!” said Sulu.

            (Y/N) grabbed the handle and pulled it down. The coil began to wind back as the shuttle sailed upwards.

            Snap!

            The coil broke, and Spock fell onto a floating rock, thankfully avoiding the lava flow.

            In a panic, (Y/N) cried, “Spock, are you okay?!”

            “I am, surprisingly, alive,” said Spock. “Stand by.”

            (Y/N) couldn’t relax, though. They were tense as the volcano rumbled ominously. Spock was stuck inside.

            “We have to get him back,” said (Y/N) to Sulu. “I can suit up and go down to get him.”

            “It’s too dangerous, your cord will break,” said Sulu.

            “We can’t leave him down there,” snapped (Y/N).

            “We don’t have a choice!” said Sulu desperately. “I’m sorry, (L/N).” His emotions were a mess of sadness, anxiety, and fear.

            (Y/N) clenched their jaw but opened the comms again. “Spock, we’re going back to the Enterprise, but we’ll get you out of there. I promise.”

            “Captain, we’re ditching the shuttle,” said Sulu, stripping into the wetsuit beside (Y/N). “You’ve got to make it to the Enterprise on your own.”

            “Wonderful!” said Kirk sarcastically, still running.

            “(L/N), you ready to swim?” asked Sulu.

            “Ready,” said (Y/N).

            They jumped out the trapdoor and landed in the ocean below while the shuttle careened into the volcano. (Y/N) and Sulu pressed the button on their mouthpieces to activate oxygen stores and small thrusters to propel them through the water. A few moments later, two other figures landed in the water—Bones and Kirk. All four swam towards the Enterprise hidden under the waves, and the ship picked them up.

            The water drained from the chamber, and Scotty opened the doors.

            “Do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to hide a starship on the bottom of the ocean?” he questioned. “We’ve been down here since last night! The salt water’s gonna ruin the—”

            “Scotty, where’s Spock?” asked (Y/N).

            Scotty swallowed. “Still in the volcano.” Concern wound through his aura and swept over (Y/N)’s skin. “We haven’t been able to get him yet.”

            Instantly, Bones, Kirk, (Y/N), Scoty, and Sulu ran towards the bridge to get to work.

            “Captain on Bridge!” announced Chekov as they all ran in.

            “Lieutenant, do we have an open channel to Mr. Spock?” asked Kirk.

            “The heat’s frying his comms, but we still have contact,” said Uhura. (Y/N) didn’t hesitate to put on a headset to keep track themself, as well.

            “Spock?” said Kirk, opening the channel.

            “I have activated the device, Captain,” said Spock. “When the countdown is complete, the reaction should render the volcano inert.”

            “Yeah, and that’s gonna render him inert!” snapped Bones, his anger belying his worry.

            “Negative, sir, not with those magnetic fields,” said Sulu.

            “We need to beam Spock back to the ship,” said Kirk. “Give me one way to do it.”

            “Uh, maybe if we had a direct line of sight,” said Chekov.

            “You’re talking about an active volcano!” cried Scotty. “Sir, if that thing erupts, I cannot guarantee we can withstand the heat.”

            “I don’t know that we can maintain that kind of altitude,” added Sulu.

            “Our shuttle was concealed by the ash cloud, but the Enterprise is too large. If utilized in a rescue, it would be revealed to the indigenous species,” said Spock.

            “We’re not leaving you,” said (Y/N) fiercely.

            Kirk nodded. “I’m with (Y/N). Spock, nobody knows the rules better than you, but there has got to be an exception.”

            “None. Such action violates the Prime Directive,” said Spock.

            “Spock,” said (Y/N), voice pained.

            “Shut up, Spock! We’re trying to save you, damn it!” said Bones, stepping up.

            “Doctor, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” said Spock.

            “We’re talking about your life, Spock!” said (Y/N).

            “The rule cannot be broken—” The channel cut off, and (Y/N) covered their mouth. Uhura moved to their side in worry.

            “Spock!” shouted Kirk, but no reply came. “Uhura, get him back.”

            Uhura nodded and worked on the controls. Instantly, (Y/N) was beside her, furiously working.

            “Ninety second to detonation!” warned Chekov.

            “If Spock were here and I were there, what would he do?” asked Kirk.

            “He’d let you die,” said Bones.

            (Y/N) whirled on him. “He wouldn’t. He cares about all of us.”

            Kirk and (Y/N) made eye contact, and he nodded. “Sulu. Take us up.”

            They all knew the risks and the issues with the Prime Directive. But they weren’t to leave their friend behind.

            “Yes, sir,” said Sulu, firing up the thrusters.

            The Enterprise erupted out of the water, right in front of the indigenous people. Ignoring the consequences, the Enterprise flew towards the volcano. Ten seconds were left to save Spock. Everyone was tense, and cloudy emotions floated around the Bridge.

            “I’ve got him!” said Scotty, programming from the Bridge.

            Not a second too soon. The device detonated, and an explosion went off below, freezing over the volcano. The Enterprise didn’t wait around, though, and flew out of the atmosphere, leaving the volcano and their disruption of the Prime Directive behind.

            Spock rematerialized in the Transport Room. Bones, Kirk, and (Y/N) were there in a moment to greet him worriedly.

            “Spock!” said (Y/N), hugging him. The heat of the volcano remained, but a little suit and warmth didn’t stop them. Spock let out a soft breath as he held them in return.

            “You alright?” asked Kirk.

            “Captain, you let them see our ship,” said Spock.

            (Y/N) let go and stepped back, frowning. “You’re alive and that’s what you say?”

            “He’s fine,” huffed Bones.

            “Captain,” said Uhura over the comms.

            “Yes, Lieutenant?” said Kirk.

            “Please notify Commander Spock that his device has successfully detonated,” said Uhura.

            Kirk smiled happily and nodded at Spock. “You hear that? Congratulations, Spock. You just saved the world.”

            “You violated the Prime Directive,” repeated Spock.

            “Oh, come on, Spock. They saw us. Big deal,” said Kirk, downplaying the severity.

            “Spock, we couldn’t leave you to die,” said (Y/N).

            “But the Prime Directive—”

            “How could you expect us to leave you there?” snapped (Y/N). Bones and Kirk took a step back.

            “It is protocol,” said Spock.

            “I couldn’t let you die,” said (Y/N), crossing their arms. “Do you think I should have?”

            “It would have been necessary,” said Spock.

            “So if someone else had been down there, you really would have just left?” (Y/N) knew Spock and knew all he’d been through and would do for those he cared fro, but his hesitance was infuriating. “Unbelievable.” They turned and stormed out of the Transport Room.

            “Good job, buddy,” said Bones, slapping Spock on the shoulder. “You angered your partner, probably the nicest person in the world.”

            “I…I would not have left them,” said Spock. As much as the Prime Directive mattered, to watch (Y/N) die would destroy him.

            “We know,” said Kirk. “But that’s the same way they feel about you.”

            “And it’s the face you think your death should matter less is exactly why they’re pissed,” said Bones. “Good luck!” He walked out of the room.

            “Don’t worry, Spock,” said Kirk. “(L/N) will come around as long as you show you’re glad to be alive.”

            Spock nodded curtly. He didn’t want (Y/N) upset at him…And he knew Kirk was right. (Y/N) loved him like he loved them. Undoubtedly, it would destroy them to watch him die. That being said, Spock would rather die himself than witness (Y/N)’s death.

            He would break if he lost them. (Y/N) was Spock’s heart.

Taglist:

@a-ofzest

@grippleback-galaxy

@genderfluid-anime-goth

@groovy-lady

@im-making-an-effort

@unending-screaming

@h-l-vlovesvintage

@neenieweenie

@keylimeconstellation

@wormwig

@technikerin23

@ilyatan

@nthdarkqueen

@kyalov

@starlit-cass

[anarchywoofwoof]

Hello, Thank You For Being Here (Pt. 3)

other links: twitter | twitch | bluesky | neocities

side blogs: @toocoolforghoul & @in-the-woods

old pinned post

hello. my name is biddy. my pronouns are whatever, but you can use he/him if that makes it easier. i am a degenerate Anarchist dog from the Midwestern United States. i am 34 years old and taken (@thatcrazywitch). i am AuDHD, i suffer from anxiety, cptsd, depression, and dyspraxia.

this blog serves as the primary source for my thoughts, feelings, ramblings, shitposts, life happenings, art, and whatever else crosses my mind. the topics will vary wildly, but you can expect a lot of the following:

anarchist and leftist agitprop

general us political news and opinions

world news

climate change/environmental news

poetry, prose, and other writing

random personal diatribes

animals

memes

silly text posts

photos of my dog

i find DNIs pointless, but i would ask if you are a TERF, transphobe, zionist, hardline religious zealot, or otherwise a fascist, for you to unkindly go fuck yourself. this blog is an unyielding ally to all marginalized and/or oppressed peoples, including but not limited to trans folks or any other queer-identifying individuals, Black and Indigenous peoples, and many others. you get a block immediately when interacting with my posts. i will not engage, so please do not waste anyone's time.

here are some tags that i frequently use. i am terrible at keeping up with them and i largely reblog without tags and then go back and add them later when i have time.

Text Posts: #text, #bork bork thoughts

Ask Responses: #borking back

Tumblr-Related: #meta

My Dog: #sweet princess peregrine

Other Dogs: #anarchodogism

Cats: #cats on the bork blog

Anarchoposting: #anarchy, #anarchism, #anarchist

OC Graphics: #oc, #learning photoshop through play

OC Poetry: #oc, #poetry

Non-OC Memes: #memes, #not oc

Wholesome Posts: #happy borks

please be advised: if i fail to tag something appropriately or reblog from someone detestable, please message me or send me an anonymous ask and let me know. DO NOT REBLOG MY POSTS WITH PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE COMMENTS. i treat people with respect when they treat me with respect. but i will publicly dress you down if you break this rule and then block you. this is the only warning i will give. no exceptions.

otherwise, please feel free to like or reblog anything i post. if it was too personal to be reblogged, i wouldn't share it. so don't worry about breaking tumblr protocol. i'm too old and tired to care about that.

my sense of humor is also very deadpan/sarcastic, so please keep this in mind when interacting. if something seems out of character, ask me for clarification and i'll provide it. there's a good chance that i'm probably just being silly. i love you, enjoy your stay.