#Not really a current event

[beaujagr]

If you don't want me to extrapolate on your meaning and intentions in vague social media posts, how about you actually fucking tell me what your meaning and intentions are (instead of holding your emotions inside and not communicating until it triggers my abandonment trauma AND puts me in a double bind)?

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

I am so sorry and sad to have woken up to this news, Hind's body was found alongside the two medics who went to rescue her, after 12 days.

Hind was killed. And Israel continues its crimes without consequences.

[comfymoth]

i’m mad this is my most liked post right now so look at my cat instead lol

[woman-respecter]

leftist non-jews want soooo bad for everything to be the new holocaust or worse than the holocaust so they can minimize jewish suffering and avoid acknowledging that jewish people were and are an oppressed minority.

[sscarletvenus]

armed resistance against your colonizers was, is, and will always be rightful, necessary and morally correct... glory to the resistance!

[yvesdot]

80+ PROTESTERS VIOLENTLY ARRESTED AT UCSC

PROTESTERS ARE ASKING ALUMNI TO PARTICIPATE IN AN EMAIL ZAP: bit.ly/zap-ucsc

& FOR EVERYONE TO DONATE TO THEIR BAIL FUND: (Venmo) pizza_party_1312

[ID: UCSC students waving Palestinian flags and holding protest signs at the base of campus. /ID]

Longer write-up based on personal knowledge, news articles, and multiple direct sources below.

****

For roughly a month, UCSC administrators, including chancellor Cynthia Larive, have been essentially politely asking protesters at the pro-Palestine encampment to "voluntarily disband." I was told personally by members of the encampment that among the demands they were given by the administration, two were 1) to guarantee Larive's safety, in part by not allowing any calls for violence against her, and 2) not to use images of her to make memes. "They specifically said memes," said the protester I spoke to. Additionally, protesters were told the use of the word "genocide" in a public statement by UCSC admin was "off the table."

The consensus among organizers appeared to be that Larive was vainly hoping to "wait [them] out," knowing she was in a no-win scenario: call the police and risk looking evil, or let the encampment stay and risk looking toothless. (It was clear which side she leaned towards.) Additionally, @kiegotakami mentioned hearing from a source at the department that "none of the local cops want the public scrutiny nor do they care abt the encampment so they’ve been avoiding it."

Protesters escalated by first blocking the entrance/s to campus temporarily, then moving their encampment down to the base of campus, beginning an academic worker strike on Monday 5/20, and finally, as of Tuesday 5/28, blockading both campus entrances indefinitely. Classes moved online. There was a dispute as to whether an ambulance was blocked from entering campus to help a child who was choking; protesters maintain that it was police, not them, who formed an obstacle. Larive later claimed again that it was the protesters.

(Larive also characterized SJP's demand that UCSC cut ties with specifically pro-Israel groups as "demand[ing] that we end relationships with organizations that support our Jewish students and funders that support important student success work and happen to be Jewish organizations." (emphasis mine) SJP did not call for the disbanding of all Jewish groups, not even all Zionist ones. They singled out the ones which list furthering Zionism in their mission statements. The conflation of holding a specific political opinion with being Jewish generally is an unacceptably racist one that echoes the "dual loyalty" myth.)

After protesters refused to disband their encampment at the base of campus, 100+ police officers from Eureka, San Francisco, Watsonville, Berkeley, San Mateo, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Riverside, as well as the California Highway Patrol, slowly dismantled the blockade, bulldozed the encampment, and arrested anywhere from 80-100+ people. (Numerous student/protester/organizer sources list more than 100 arrested, as well as greater numbers of police.) The bulk of the conflict occurred between 12 and 9 AM on Friday 5/31 morning, marking the 31st day and a full month of the protest.

Students present at the demonstration say the police were outfitted in riot gear and focused their abuse immediately and especially on women of color at the encampment. Students were "stabbed... in the stomach" with batons, hard enough that some vomited. One was covered in a spit hood for saying the cops' "glasses looked stupid," and thrown to the ground hard enough to give him a concussion.

From an anonymous source:

We were thrown to the ground and dragged along the concrete. Our faces were clawed at, masks were ripped from our faces, helmets were torn from our heads so the straps dug into our throats, and our eyes were gouged out. Several of the women had their clothes ripped off, one particular trans comrade who was pleading for the cops to have any form of humanity, had “trick” screamed at her before her skirt was ripped off and she was thrown to the ground. All the while, they laughed. Snickering as people were beaten unconscious. After each one of us was detained, the police took selfies with us, grinning over their trophy. We were shoved into buses and vans where they blared music that rattled the cages we were thrown into until we couldn’t think. This went on for hours. In one of the buses, people were told to go to the bathroom on the bottom staircase. We were organized by sex (not gender) and the cops called non-binary people “x-rays” for the x identification on their license. First, it was the county jail, then a university parking lot, then a university building. The cops, with their hands on their pistols, shouted for us all to sit down. We all sat with our wrists tied behind our backs, the marks of which I still have on my arms a day later. The cops proceeded to play the “good guy” act as though all of us weren’t covered in bruises inflicted by them just hours earlier. Our restraints were cut, and they slowly called us by name. After several hours, my name was called. I was banned from school for the rest of the year, given a court date, and sent out like none of that had just happened.

Despite the brutality, protesters were back at the base of campus by the end of the day on Friday. Morale appears largely unshaken, and (despite bots brigading r/UCSC) student support across online and in-person spaces is at a high.

Some students were asked by KSBW about their arrests. “The people in Palestine are going through far worse than a citation," said Aydan Beavers. "So yeah, I believe it was worth it."

****

Once again, students are asking alumni to support them in an email zap at bit.ly/zap-ucsc, and for everyone to please donate to their bail fund, Venmo @/pizza_party_1312.

Sources: [Sentinel] [KSBW] [SJP Instagram] as well as multiple anonymous private sources.

[haraimomos]

not enough people are talking about the conflict in the west philippine sea. this has been an ongoing dispute that has deprived the philippines of access to its natural resources, risked the safety of its people and our livelihoods. china's actions at the moment put us at risk of war, which the united states will likely take advantage of.

note that this is not an attack on china or the chinese people. i am not advocating for xenophobia. all i am presenting are facts and data collected from historical accounts and articles.

here's a graphic by @/onigiryy on instagram that gives the gist of the situation. i'll be adding links to articles under this post and in new posts. #AtinAngWestPhilippineSea

filipinos, please feel free to add links to other readings. also note that at this moment no formal calls to boycott have been made by any organizations.

further readings:

lengthy primer on the conflict

west philippine sea explained

the problematic west philippine sea

twitter thread with more reading material and videos

[catastrxblues]

EVERMORE by taylor swift (feat. bon iver) — “and i was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step. and i couldn’t be sure, i had a feeling so peculiar, this pain wouldn’t be forevermore.”

my #swiftiegiftexchange2024 for @lovesickallovermybed!!!! 🫶🏽🫶🏽

[lennsart]

I feel like I'm not great with words and wanted to thank the mods for putting together the LU write-a-thon event... So I drew what I do best : little guys !

Sorry it's not really personalized, but I wanted to do this as a little surprise (and quickly, but I kind of failed on this account)...

But anyway, a big thanks to you all @not-freyja, @hotcheetohatredwastaken, @noorahqar , @a-manicured-lawn , and @winterfen !

Know I said I'm not great at words but let me try anyway—

Not even touching the fact that I was having a shitty day and that talking with adorable people helped tremendously, this event really meant a lot to me !

Up until this year I felt like writing was a pretty lonely passion, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but can get discouraging at times. But starting to share my work made me realize it didn't have to be, and the write-a-thon was kind of the gathering of all things good about fandom interactions and sharing work with people who love the same things as you do !

I couldn't even be present a lot and it really made a great impression on me, so I wanted to let you all know how awesome of a job you did, and I can't wait next month :D

[haunted-xander]

I shall protect you

[rei-is-hiding]

magnet

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that 99% of what I'm seeing on social media about the Andrew Tate situation is funney jokes about how pwned he got??

This is a man who has built a career on publicly dehumanising women and encouraging other men to abuse women. Has made repeated public comments blaming rape victims in general for what they endured.

And it's just been made widespread public knowledge that he has committed horrific acts of violence based on those beliefs.

And that other public figures visited the home where he was imprisoning women to commit those acts against them and may have participated in that violence.

I get how there would be SOME jokes about his hubris etc but the fact that they're almost the entire conversation right now is deeply, deeply disturbing to me.

[acepumpkinpatrick]

Hi wtf is this???

I literally just talked to a father from gaza that asked me how he can better share his campaign so he can reach his goal, in the hope that the Rafah crossing will be opened next month and he and his family can get out and I had to tell him that I don't know any other way than what we have been doing and then immediately after I see this tweet!!!

I hate every single person who participated in this. I hate you all so much, the English language doesn't have enough words for me to describe it.

[writhe]

[high-quality-assorted-chaos]

challengers (2024), luca guadagnino / who we are, hozier

[coulsonlives]

Like someone else said, it's not good to be Mary Whitehouse, kids. Or Ron DeSantis. Or anyone else under that umbrella. Which is exactly what's happening with a lot of y'all and your anti circles. Get out of those spaces!