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lgbtqiamuslimpedia · 1 year ago

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Boyah

Boyah (plural: Boyat) was subcultural identity of AFAB non-binary,tomboy,demi girl & trans-masculine folks of Persian Gulf. Boyat are asigned female at birth,but express gender atypical behaviour. The origin of this queer subculture is unclear, some boyat claimed that it was started through online forums & groups. [citation needed]

Boyah subculture was more visible in Gulf states (including Kuwait,Oman,Saudi Arabia,UAE,Bahrain). Boyah identity may fall under the modern Transgender and Non-binary umbrella. However some people may considered them as people of forth gender.

Sexuality

Boyat folk's sexuality can be confusing in various cultural contexts. Most of the Boyat had intimate and romantic relationships with cis-girls in their past life, but they do not consider themselves as homosexual.

The term Boyah itself does not mean lesbian in arabic.In later life many Boyat had to pursue a heterosexual marriage & had children.Because marriage is a obligatory in local arabic customs.In addition to this, some boyah were androsexual & interested in boys only.

Culture & Lifestyle

Trans-masculine/tomboys/AFAB non-binary/AFAB genderpunk took the “Boyah” cultural identity in their early adolescence. On the otherhand, some boyat took the male role to challenge societal gender norms and stereotypes in Arabic Gulf States.

In general, a boyah is characterized by no make-up, no feminine expressions, no feminine name,feminine pronouns.In boyah subculture, Boyat community may use a massive masculine watches.Boyat people worn loose-fitting male cloth with a touch of the military, vibrantly coloured dresses,shirts and boyah jeans(which are baggy with big prints all over them). Since the age of internet Arab's boyat community started informal groups,online forums.

Most of the boyat have to lead double lives because gulf states has strict cultural gender roles especially for womxn.Many of them are forced to get married.In general Boyah phenomena is considered a disgrace to an arab family's honour.Additionally atypical gender expression is seems to be indecent and deviant in GCC states.Many boyat face stigma for not adhering with rigid patriarchal gender roles.

After leaving home, many undergo a radical transformation,changing their clothes at school/college or a friend's house.While in transition ,they run no real risk of being caught because,while in public, Emirates women are required to wear the national dress - a long black over-garment called an abaya, which makes it easier to switch roles without drawing attention.

Media

In general, Gulf media portrays queerness in negetive ways. A Boyah named Abeer appeared on the Saudi TV Show “Ya Hala” where he/ze said that he/ze was attracted to women while still at school. He/Ze had a complete love relationship with a classmate for a long time. Another person named Hamood joined a show of Radio Sawa where he/ze explained ze was rebelling against social (gender) norms and his/zee family’s restrictions through this boyah phenomena.

On a national television of UAE, a boyah named Bandar openly spoke about his queer relationship with another girl and expressed the desire to marry her and have children with her through IVF. His statement on Abu Dhabi's national television shocked the whole nation.

Decline of Boyah Culture

In the Persian Gulf region, boyah identity became very controversial since 2007. In 2007, the Kuwaiti parliament amended Article 198 of the country’s penal code so that anyone “imitating the opposite sex in any way” could face up to a year in jail and/or a fine of 1,000 dinars ($3,500). A further problem was that the law made no attempt to define “imitating the opposite sex” So it was basically left to the discretion of the police. Within a couple of weeks at least 14 people had been arrested in Kuwait City & thrown into prison. Boyat made their debut as a public concern in 2008 when Dubai police denounced cross-dressing - its chief, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, called on the Ministry of Social Affairs to find out how widespread the practice is and what causes it.

In 2009, Dubai launched a public campaign under the slogan "Excuse Me, I am a Girl", which cautioned against “masculine” behaviour among AFAB queers & tomboys and aimed to steer them towards "femininity". The impetus for this was a moral panic which swept through several Gulf states at that time, regarding the Boyah phenomena. 2 months after announcing the campaign the police persecuted 40 people (for their gender atypical expression), imprisoned them for 3 years in jail.In addition, trans-masculine/trans males,trans women,gender-queers were also shamed & abused by the UAE's police team.

Public Attitudes

Many conservative patriarchal arab people see a greater danger in the Boyah subcultural practices; they fear it can become permanent and cause great distress for the women and their families.

Psychiatrist Yousef Abou Allaban says, "It can go extreme, where they change their sex and have an operation.'' Saudi journalist Yousef Al-Qafari said in an interview on Radio Sawa that family disintegration and lack of true love have led women to act like a man. Al-Qafari said education was the best way to tackle this phenomenon.He called on the Ministry of Education to take up this role.

Social worker Nadia Naseer said, “Families play an essential role in such cases. Families should monitor their female members, especially when they start acting like men by cutting their hair short, wearing men’s clothing, or refusing to wear women’s accessories”. She also said, when a girl or woman does this,she is looking for attention & sending a message that she is a boyah.

Saudi writer Randa Alsheikh, in one of her columns, said that she attended a social gathering where she saw a group of females who appeared almost completely like men.“I would not be exaggerating if I say I could not tell the difference between them and men,” she wrote.She said that they looked, talked and walked like men & “even worse” some appeared to be in their 40s. We need to quickly address this phenomenon to contain these girls so that they are able to build good families and a healthy society,”

#Boyah #Booyah #Boyat #arabic #GCC #Persian Gulf #queer #trans masculine #genderqueer #gender variance #AFAB #Middle Eastern #queer culture #cultural gender identity

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ghostinthelibrarywrites · 1 month ago

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Let's not overanalyze

The first chapter of a belated fill for @palasakiweek, set in my Ministry of Supernatural Investigations AU. You can read the first chapter below or here on AO3.

Prompt: Day 6: AU

Rating: T

Word count: 4K.

Warnings: none

Relationships: Crystal/Niko; Edwin & Niko; Edwin & Crystal

Summary: When Niko starts a job as an analyst at the MSI after barely leaving her flat for two years, she has no idea what to expect. She’s not expecting to find out that vampires, ghosts, and other supernatural entities are real. She’s especially not expecting Crystal Palace Surname-von Hoverkraft, the gorgeous and somewhat terrifying agent who she can’t stop thinking about.

***

Niko stares at the blank white wall of her brand new office. There’s a tiny dent right at her eye level, but besides that, it’s an expanse of nothingness, like no one has ever stepped foot in here before. She wanted to bring some posters to hang up today, but that seemed overly optimistic when she doesn’t even know what her brand new job entails, or if she even has a job. She isn’t entirely convinced that the slow slide into losing her mind that started when her dad died two years ago hasn’t finally caught up with her. Everything about being in this strange room in this strange building seems a little surreal.

Before last night, she hadn’t even heard of the MSI when her godmother called to tell her that she got Niko a job as an analyst and she would start in the morning. Niko doesn’t know what the MSI does, or even what the acronym stands for. She thinks it might be like MI6, but what would an agency like MI6 want with a uni dropout who hasn’t left her flat in two years?

Maybe it was a mistake to call Auntie Niko and ask her for help finding a job, but it had been two years since she’d left her flat for more than a few minutes at a time, the money she inherited from Dad was starting to run out, she knew what would happen if she called her mother back in Osaka and asked her to send money so Niko could keep hiding out in her flat, and Auntie did always say to call if she needed anything. She doesn’t actually know what Auntie does for the British government. Not even her mother knows, and they’ve been best friends since they met at boarding school when they were girls. Auntie could work for MI6, for all Niko knows, though it’s hard to imagine.

Niko wonders if she should start unpacking the small box of things she brought—her heart-shaped stationary, her favorite sparkly pens, the Scooby Doo plushie Auntie gave her when she was little—but she’s half-convinced that as soon as she opens the box, someone will come along and yell at her that she actually shouldn’t be here and she needs to leave. Assistant Director Nurse is supposed to come speak to Niko at some point, but according to her skittish assistant, she’s been delayed by another meeting that went long.

Part of Niko wonders if she should just go home, change into her favorite hedgehog slippers, and crawl into bed, but then she pictures the disappointment on Auntie’s face. If her godmother thinks she can do this, then Niko is going to do it.

The sound of heels on tile is the only warning she gets that she has company before someone slaps a clear plastic bag full of what looks to be shards of seaglass down on her desk. Niko startles and whirls around in her desk chair.

“I need to know if there’s been any chatter online about seaglass similar to this washing up on the coast near Dover,” the woman standing over her says briskly. “And see if you can find out what language this is etched on it while you’re at it. It’s nothing I recognize.”

Niko stares. The newcomer is a few years older than her, petite and stunningly pretty with a cascade of dark hair highlighted blond, golden brown eyes, and the most immaculate makeup Niko has ever seen in her life. Actually, everything about her is immaculate, from her heels to the perfectly tailored black suit to her manicure.

The woman arches an eyebrow. “Hello?”

“Sorry, yes.” Niko turns to the bag of seaglass. She can make out the faint lines of symbols that might be writing, though it's nothing she recognizes. “How should I do that exactly?”

“You’re new.” It’s not spoken like a question.

Niko smiles, relieved. “Yes.”

“And nobody’s been in to train you?”

“No. Sorry.” Niko isn’t sure why she’s apologizing. “I’m Niko. Niko Sasaki.”

“Agent Crystal Palace Surname-von Hoverkraft.” She says the name with emphasis, like she expects Niko to recognize it.

Niko doesn’t. “Wow, your signature must take forever.”

Crystal looks incredulous, which is fair. It was a pretty stupid thing to say. “Hana and Rosa are busy on a case Payne has them working on, because of course he needs two analysts, since every case Edwin fucking Payne works on is the priority. Duncan’s out on paternity leave and Grace apparently caught norovirus from eating a sketchy burrito. That leaves you as the only analyst available. And meanwhile, I have pieces of seaglass that keep showing up and driving people to dance into the ocean.” She pauses, then adds, “Don’t handle it with your bare hands.”

Niko has no idea what any of that means. “I’m still not really sure what an analyst does.”

“Mostly, you’re going to monitor chatter online for any sign of the supernatural,” Crystal says, her obvious impatience increasing with every word. “And you assist agents with our research so we’re not wasting time at a computer while there are monsters to hunt down.”

“Monsters?” Niko can’t keep the squeak from her voice. The supernatural?

“So I would really appreciate it if as soon as someone bothers coming along to train you, if you would look into this seaglass so I can figure out why people are losing their minds up and down the coast.” Crystal flashes a smile that’s as false as her long lashes. “Thanks, Nikki.”

“It’s actually—”

Niko is cut off by a shriek from outside, followed by the blare of an alarm loud enough that the floor seems to vibrate with it.

“Fuck,” Crystal says and turns to run into the hallway. She runs really well in those heels, Niko notices.

Niko thinks about heading home to her quiet, safe flat again and not leaving for another two years. Instead, she follows Crystal. In the hallway, Crystal is facing two people. One, a pretty woman with curly blond hair, is pressed up against the wall with wide eyes. The other one is a tall, thin man in an old-fashioned tweed suit, complete with a slightly askew bow tie. The man and Crystal appear to be in the middle of a heated argument.

“How precisely was I to know that the amulet would react like this?” he demands. “I’ve been handling it all morning with no trouble. Perhaps it was a woman’s touch. But no, then it surely would have reacted to Agent Drake’s touch. Miss Green, are you by any chance a virgin?”

The blonde’s eyes go even wider.

“You can’t just ask people if they’re virgins, Queen Victoria,” Crystal snaps.

“I am simply trying to determine the cause—”

“I’m not worried about the cause, I’m worried about the fucking hellhound you let loose."

“Its origins appear to be a cursed amulet, not the depths of Hell, so I’m not sure if we can call it—”

The blare of the alarm is making it hard for Niko to think, but she understands enough to pick up on “cursed amulet” and “hellhound.” Before she can ask for someone to please tell her what’s going on, there’s a snarl loud enough to be heard even over the alarm and something comes bursting through the closed office door across from Niko, sending shards of wood flying everywhere. The blond woman shrieks and goes running down the hallway, but Niko can’t move.

It’s a dog, but it’s not a dog, because she’s never seen a dog this large. Its fur is black, with red glowing through it, like it isn’t skin under the fur, but molten lava. The eyes that fix on Niko burn with fire and its teeth are easily as long as her hand. When it takes a step towards her, Niko is hit with the smell of burning meat, strong enough to make her gag.

The first time Niko has left her flat for more than a few minutes in two years and she’s going to get eaten by a dog. She even likes dogs. She donates to the RSPCA every year.

Crystal steps between Niko and the dog, planting a hand on Niko’s chest to shove her back. In the other hand, she holds a baton tipped with metal. She swings at the dog, hitting it in the face. A line of red fire appears on its cheek and it snarls. She brings the baton down on its head and another line of fire appears, but it doesn’t go down.

“Payne, could you do something fucking useful for once?” she shouts.

The man, who must be the Edwin fucking Payne Crystal mentioned earlier, brings up his hand, where an amulet with a dog’s snarling face carved into it dangles from his fingers. He’s pale and wide-eyed, but his voice is steady as he chants something that Niko thinks might be Latin, though it’s been a long time since she took Latin at Gray Wake. The dog lets out a howl and seems to dissolve right in front of Niko, a dark shadow twisting in the air right before it’s sucked back into the amulet.

“Excellent,” he says. “I wasn’t certain that would work.”

And then there are a lot of people in the hallway and a lot of shouting. Niko stands very still, letting people move around her. No one seems to notice her, which is just how she likes it. They’re asking a lot of questions and Crystal and Edwin are back to arguing. Someone takes the amulet from Edwin, placing it in a large metal box with multiple locks. Niko wonders if she should just go back into her office, close the door, and hide under the desk until someone finally comes to tell her what’s going on.

A woman in a brown pantsuit with her red hair in old-fashioned victory rolls comes stalking down the hallway. Niko recognizes one of the women following her as the assistant who showed her to her office this morning. “What on earth is this racket?” the woman demands in a Scottish accident. “And will someone turn off that bloody alarm? We all know there was an emergency!”

The alarm goes quiet, like the building itself is under her command.

“Agents Payne and Surname-von Hoverkraft.” The newcomer, who must be Assistant Director Nurse, turns to Crystal and Edwin with her arms crossed over her chest. “Explain.”

“The amulet that was recovered from the Sofia Delacroix murder scene appears to be possessed by the spirit of a monstrous dog,” Edwin says briskly. “While it didn’t react to my touch, the moment Miss Green picked it up, the spirit was summoned. It had little interest in myself or Agent Surname-von Hoverkraft, so given its known victims, I can only guess that the spirit targets virginal young women.”

He turns to Niko, opening his mouth, but Assistant Director Nurse cuts him off. “Agent Payne, do not ask what I think you’re about to ask. There will already be enough paperwork about this incident.” She turns to Niko with a strained smile. “You must be Ms. Sasaki. I’m Assistant Director Asa Nurse. I do apologize for the delay. Director Brown was unexpectedly out of the office, so I had to fill in for him at a meeting.”

Niko finally finds her voice from under a layer of shock. “What was that?”

Crystal, Edwin, and Assistant Nurse all turn to her, as if they forgot about her presence entirely. “I just explained,” Edwin says. “A cursed amulet. I believe its origins to be roughly thirteenth century, give or take a few decades.”

“A curse?”

“Yes, quite a rudimentary bit of magic. Even Agent Surname-von Hoverkraft would be able to counteract it.”

Crystal glances at Assistant Director Nurse to make sure she’s not looking, then flashes a rude hand gesture at Edwin. His nostrils flare with annoyance, but he doesn’t reply.

“A curse.” Niko’s thoughts are swimming. Cursed amulets and seaglass that makes people dance into the sea and hellhounds that aren’t really hellhounds.

Assistant Director Nurse eyes Niko like she’s a bomb that’s about to explode. “Ms. Sasaki, what do you know about the MSI?”

“Nothing.” Niko shakes her head. “I don’t even know what MSI stands for.”

“The Ministry of Supernatural Investigations, of course.”

“Oh.” Niko stares at the place where the not-hellhound just vanished. Well, that explains why she’s never heard of the MSI before. She imagines that if the UK government has a ministry devoted to solving supernatural crimes, they probably don’t advertise it.

“Oh, dear,” Edwin murmurs and Crystal curses softly.

Assistant Director Nurse lets out a gusty sigh. “It seems like we have things to discuss. Ms. Sasaki, please come with me. We can get this all sorted out.”

***

There are no monster dogs on Niko’s second day at the MSI, which is nice, especially since yesterday, she didn’t think she would have a second day at this job. The fact that the supernatural—including demons, ghosts, the Fae, hellhounds, vampires, and more—is real is still taking some getting used to, but Niko has always been very open-minded. Plus, she can’t really deny the existence of the supernatural now that it’s nearly eaten her.

After spending her morning looking into the cursed seaglass for Crystal, she goes to work with two of her new coworkers, Rosa Green and Hana Watanabe. Rosa—who apparently isn’t related to Dr. Jenny Green, the scary medical examiner Niko met during the tour Assistant Director Nurse gave her yesterday afternoon—seems unfazed by her close call with the not-hellhound the day before.

“A near death experience means I’ll probably get a holiday bonus this year,” she told Niko brightly when she poked her head into Niko’s office to introduce herself properly this morning.

Niko marvels at how normal everything seems as Hana and Rosa fill her in on the office gossip and complain about the workload caused by two analysts being absent at once. They tell her all about the tumultuous love triangle going on between three of the agents.

“Shelby and Maren are going to leave Brad for each other eventually,” Hana says with a twinkle in her eye, which gets a bark of laughter from Rosa.

They warn her about Agent Hunter, who has asked out every woman who works at the MSI (except Assistant Director Nurse, Niko assumes.) They tell her about Agent King, who is a shapeshifter and occasionally wanders around as a tabby cat, but gets cranky if someone tries to pet him. Niko files that information away, because she would definitely try and pet a tabby cat she found wandering the halls.

“Thomas is always a laugh at the monthly socials when he’s around,” Rosa tells Niko. “He does a lot of the undercover work, because no one thinks twice about a cat being places its not supposed to be.”

That brings them to the topic of Edwin Payne, who’s rumored to be a sometimes-hookup of Agent King’s. Apparently, they’ve been seen leaving at least one supply closet together.

“He’s a lot,” Rosa says. “If he brings you a case, it’s probably going to be your full-time job for two weeks. He doesn’t get that we only have a few analysts supporting thirty agents. He also doesn’t get technology at all.”

“To be fair, he was born in 1900,” Hana adds.

Niko doesn’t get to ask about that before Rosa continues. “He thinks it’s like magic, like I can just wiggle my nose and all the answers he needs will materialize.”

“I’d take him over Crystal Palace Surname von-Hoverkraft,” Hana says.

They exchange loaded looks. Rosa and Hana have been friends since secondary school and seem to have a whole language of silent looks. It makes Niko, who hasn’t talked to any of her friends from Gray Wake since stilted calls to tell her how sorry they were about her dad, insanely jealous. She’s never been close enough to somebody that she could talk to them with just a tilt of her head or the arch of an eyebrow.

“What about Crystal?” Niko asks. “I met her yesterday. She seemed…” She trails off, because she was about to say “nice,” but that’s not accurate. Crystal breezed into Niko’s office, deposited a bunch of seaglass on her desk, saved her life, then breezed away just as fast. She wasn’t nice at all, but she did save Niko from the not-hellhound while wearing high heels, which is its own sort of accomplishment.

Rosa waves a dismissive hand. “She’s just basically MSI royalty. Her parents are Seth von Hoverkraft and Maddy Surname, who are basically the MSI’s James Bonds. For most of the 90s and early 2000s, if there was a high-profile case, they were probably on it. They’re the ones who figured out what really happened to the Titanic.”

Niko doesn’t think she actually wants to know. She’d like to be able to rewatch Titanic without picturing a kraken snatching Jack off the deck.

“So everyone always knew Crystal would follow Mommy and Daddy’s footsteps and join the MSI,” Rosa says. “They were probably training her to become an agent before she could walk. And she’s a psychic, which is really rare. She and her partner walk around like they own the whole place.”

Hana makes a face. “Agent Fisher. He’s creepy.”

“So creepy,” Rosa agrees. “They’re dating too, which, ew.”

Hana nods. “Ew.”

The conversation moves on to the recent battle over the break room’s aging coffee maker, but Niko’s only half-listening. She wonders what it would have been like for Crystal, to know from the time she was little that she was meant to follow in her parents’ footsteps, to know what her life would be like before she drove her first car or went on her first date. It sounds like a lot of pressure. It sounds really lonely and Niko knows all about loneliness.

***

Walking into the agents’ workroom is immediately overwhelming. The space is crammed with haphazardly arranged desks, only about half of which have agents sitting behind them. The room is filled with the sounds of phones ringings, raised voices, and a strange buzzing that seems to be coming from a smoking alarm clock one of the agents is examining. Most of the walls are covered in photographs, newspaper clippings, and case notes. There’s what looks a lot like a human heart covered in barnacles sitting in the middle of one woman’s desk, right next to a greasy bag of takeaway.

Niko spots Crystal at a desk in the corner. She’s leaning back in her chair, staring up at a wall of photos, all of which depict close-up shots of seaglass. There’s a man leaning against her desk, bending down to whisper into her ear. He wears a glossy black suit with a matching fedora perched on top of his wavy dark hair and without even seeing his face, Niko feels pretty confident that Rosa and Hana’s estimation of Agent David Fisher, Crystal’s partner, is accurate. There’s something about the way he crowds into Crystal’s space that puts Niko on edge.

Niko stops on the other side of Crystal’s desk, waiting for either Crystal or Agent Fisher to notice her. When neither of them do, she says, “Hi.”

Crystal turns around in her desk chair. When she sees Niko, she sighs and holds out a hand to her. For a strange moment, Niko thinks she wants to shake hands or something, before Crystal snaps, “The seaglass?”

Oh, right. Those. Niko passes the bag over.

“You must be the newbie.” David smiles, his gaze traveling over her. “The hellhound didn’t scare you off?”

Niko doesn’t dislike many people, especially after only exchanging a handful of words with him. She thinks she might dislike David Fisher. “It wasn’t a hellhound. It originated in a cursed amulet, not in Hell.”

David laughs and looks down at Crystal, as if inviting her in on a joke. “Payne’s going to love her.”

Crystal smiles. It’s not a very nice smile and Niko gets that shrinking feeling she used to get back in uni, when she felt like everyone, even people who didn’t know her, was staring at her, laughing at the girl who had a breakdown after her father died. “Did you find out anything useful?” Crystal asks in a tone that suggests she’s pretty sure the answer will be no.

“I don’t know what language the writing is in,” Niko says. “But that’s because no one knows what language it’s in. Similar writing has been found on seaglass along the coastlines of Greece, Italy, and Spain. Some people think it’s an ancient mer language we haven’t encountered before. But this is the first time the seaglass has hurt anyone, as far as I could tell. Unless they stepped on it and cut their foot, I guess.”

David smirks and tries to exchange another look with Crystal, but she's frowning at the seaglass.

“I’ve never known mers to drive people into frenzies like this,” Crystal says thoughtfully. “But there’s a first time for everything.”

“I couldn’t find anything about anyone finding seaglass just like this in Dover,” Niko adds. “But I did find this.”

She pulls up her MSI-issued tablet and pulls up an Instagram post by a user named heathersfeathers1087, which shows sandal-clad feet with bright teal toenails standing within a perfect circle of green seaglass. The caption reads, “Nature’s mysteries are beautiful!”

“If you look closely,” she says. “That almost looks like the same writing, doesn’t it? And in the comments, she says she’s going to take some of it home to make a necklace out of it.”

Crystal and David both squint at the screen. “I don’t see it,” David grumbles.

“No, she’s right,” Crystal says, tapping one perfectly manicured nail against the screen. “There. It’s faint, but you can just see it. Shit, this was posted yesterday. This lady may have drowned by now.” She looks up at Niko with a frown. “Do you know—”

“Heather Featherington,” Niko says. “She lives near Brighton. I sent you her address. She hasn’t posted since finding the seaglass and her neighbor’s security camera hasn’t shown her leaving her house since she got home last night.”

“Then we need to get moving.” Crystal is already standing up, grabbing her blazer from the back of her chair.

David sighs in a long-suffering sort of way. “Like you said, it’s been over a day. The damage is probably already done.”

“That doesn't mean we're not going to try,” Crystal snaps. “Come on, David.”

Niko knows she should let Crystal go save this lady’s life, but first, she says, “Thank you, by the way.”

Crystal blinks at her, halfway through putting on her blazer. “For what?”

“You saved my life yesterday,” Niko says. “I never got the chance to say thank you. So thanks for not letting me get eaten by a monster dog.”

“Oh.” Crystal smiles, a far nicer smile than the one she flashed earlier. It’s sweet and makes her look younger, less like the terrifying MSI princess Hana and Rosa described. “You’re welcome. First days suck enough without getting mauled.”

David sighs gustily. “I thought Heather with the tacky toenail polish was in mortal danger here.”

“Jesus, David, I’m coming.” Crystal rolls her eyes and follows him out of the workroom.

Later, Niko learns through the grapevine that Heather Featherington was lucky enough to break her leg dancing down the stairs and never made it to the sea, but Crystal apparently spent several hours at the bottom of the ocean, negotiating with the priestess of an ancient mer clan until she agreed to stop trying to kill humans with enchanted seaglass. It sounds really badass and Niko wishes she could hear the story from Crystal herself, but Crystal is already away on another case.

But the first case Niko helped with at the MSI has wrapped up successfully and that’s enough to give her a warm little glow that’s almost as good as having Crystal Palace Surname von-Hoverkraft smile at her.

***

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please consider leaving comments and kudos over on AO3, where the rest of this will be posted.

#dead boy detectives #palasaki #crystal palace #niko sasaki #palasaki week 2024 #ghost's fic #ghost's writing #ministry of supernatural investigations au

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bellamonde · 2 years ago

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Update on Afghanistan

Taliban continues its repression of women.

Here’s a summary of the situation of women in Afghanistan:

Banned from university education

Banned from attending school above 6th grade

Banned from entering parks, bathhouses, gyms, and other public places

Banned from working for domestic or foreign NGOs

Banned from working in the media, including acting

Banned from working outside the home, except for a few sectors and particular roles (which have been ever decreasing)

No women in cabinet and there is no Ministry of Women’s Affairs, effectively removing women’s right to political participation

Women are required to have a male chaperone when they are travelling more than 78 kilometres.

Women have been ordered to wear head-to-toe covering.

However, brave and courageous Afghan girls and women are protesting. They are taking to the streets, posting their stories online and not giving up. And we have also seen young Afghan men join the fight by walking out from their exams. The women, girls and boys who are protesting are all risking their lives.

Afghanistan is no longer alone and the women of Afghanistan have millions of women around the world supporting their cause. They will not be silenced. And we have to make sure their voices are amplified. So, please post about Afghanistan and put pressure on your representatives. Taliban is a terrorist regime who has hijacked Afghanistan and is destroying a beautiful people, a beautiful country and an amazing culture.

Don’t forget, this was Afghanistan in 1970s:

But Afghan women are strong and brave and continue their fight against repression:

And now Afghan men have joined them as well as a group of Afghan university students walked out of their exams.

Above is a photo of male students at Afghanistan's Nangarhar University walked out of their exams in solidarity with their female peers.

These brave women and men are endangering their lives. Videos have come out showing Taliban shooting at them with live bullets. But they will not be silenced. Afghan women have been fighting for and demanding their freedom for the past 30 years and they will not stop. And they are no longer alone in this fight.

#Education is Human Rights

# Women’s Rights = Human Rights

#afghanistan #afghan women #human rights #right to education #taliban #woman life freedom #education work freedom #unity of women #womanism #free afghanistan

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allthebrazilianpolitics · 4 months ago

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Brazil apologises after three diplomats’ Black teenagers searched at gunpoint

Ministry of foreign affairs forced to say sorry to Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso embassies after incident

Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs has been forced to apologise to the embassies of Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso after three diplomats’ teenage children – all of whom are Black – were searched at gunpoint by police officers.

The incident emerged when the mother of a Brazilian boy in the group posted a security camera video online, prompting outrage – but also a weary recognition that such experiences are all too typical for Black youths in Rio de Janeiro.

The three diplomats’ children were in Rio for a five-day holiday with a white Brazilian friend, celebrating the end of the school year. All attend the same school in Brasília, where they live. It was their first trip without their parents.

Late Wednesday, they were returning from a day at the beach and were about to enter a building in the wealthy neighbourhood of Ipanema when a military police patrol car drew up. Two officers jumped out, ordered the boys to face the wall and searched them at gunpoint.

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #antiracism #foreign policy #canada #gabon #burkina faso #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt

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mesetacadre · 8 days ago

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hopefully not a weird question with everything that's going on, but do you have any recommendations about what geography toys/resources are best for kids? my little brother's really interested but I don't see him often enough to play globle with him or show him world maps (his favorite games rn) so I thought I'd give him something :} (just wondering if there's a good way to help him learn)

Online resources I'd recommend are sporcle and seterra for quizzes (the no borders blank map ones in sporcle are really fun), and for just looking at maps there's geamap, mapsland, gifex, library of congress, the rumsey historical map collection, the university of cape town, old maps online, the british library, and the national library of australia, there's many more but these are most of the ones in my bookmarks.

If you do want to encourage him to develop an interest in geography as a field of study, I would show him how some online geographical information systems (GIS) work, but I don't think I can link any useful ones because all I know are the GIS managed by the various Spanish institutions and ministries. I'd consider this important because geography is much, much more than memorizing features on a map, even if I've always enjoyed that (and if he's still in primary school/early secondary, it'll definitely be useful to memorize some countries). Those GIS allow you to pick and choose between many layers and a basic set of tools, so even if you're just curious and not in the mood for figuring some connections out, they have a lot more information than the set of printed maps, because not all that information has been actually mapped out and made available on those sites. For example, if you want to see the distribution of land plots where you live, it's simply easier, and probably the only option, to go look at the GIS an administration has made public, like the cadastre or the tax admin, than sleuth through all these sites and Google images for relevant already printed maps.

#ask #anon #geo

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sneckoil · 1 year ago

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Spent my last 15 bucks on your reptile yaoi comic today instead of buying grocery and immediately fell in love. Couldn't stop rereading every frame to find deeper meanings + take in the stunning visuals. The only issue I have is that it ends too soon. Can you tell me more about boss Wachi and Father Handsomeface? (Just the details like their ages, character tidbits, ect is fine, anything will do. I'm just a little obsessed with them)

ohh my GODDDD!!! ANON!!! thank you... im so sorry about your groceries. I'll try to tell you some more fun facts about them to make up for it...

Father Valencia has been involved with the church since he was a kid. He was part of his school's ministry group (students who sing/serve/read during school-held masses) as an altar boy. He always handled the thurible (incense holder). Also, he chose to bleach his hair white (which his school and the school's ministry did not like)

Wachi has awful taste in men. He's really into dangerous types ('red flags' would be the word i'd use if it wasn't such a broad term). Clean through his early 20s to late 30s he had several toxic relationships + an awful gambling addiction. He is still on dating apps but has since given up. Part of why he moved to St. Camillus is to escape any possibility of physical/online gambling (Awful signal) and romance (no one in st. camillus is his type. well. until

Wachi also has an extremely dated ipod nano with oldies (by our standards) and oldies (2000s and 2010s hits. because while not apparent in st. camillus, the world takes place in about 1-2 generation gaps into the future). the playlist exists in my spotify

#im also in the middle of making a free 40-ish page comic with a lighter tone abt them rn #so i hope that gives you some closure anon #THANK YOU FOR READING ST CAMILLUS!!#shioshpam #can of worms #christian valencia #wachi rivera #st camillus #shioart

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cristianpaduraru · 1 year ago

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Jeremiah Helps us to Hope in God Week-28-of-2023

Peace friends, this week we read 8 chapters a day from the book of Jeremiah which can be listened audio here then meet to share from the Scriptures at the Bible study group 🌏 EN RO SP God bless your support for Relate4ever Resources as we are reaching new people every day at Eforie.Church https://relate4ever.com/wp-content/24-Jeremiah-Audio-KJV-Relate4ever.mp3 1:5 Before I formed you in the…

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#Bible Reading Plan #Bible School of Preaching #Blessings #Eforie.Church of Christ #Faith #Jeremiah audio #Online Bible Study Group #Online School of Ministry #Peace #prayer for healing #prayer for protection #Relate4ever Resources #Singing Scriptures #the Word of God #Youtube

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mannabibleinstitute · 3 months ago

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Studying the Bible in the USA: A Guide for International Students

This creates an opportunity for the international student to go deeper into theological studies with new cultural experiences from studying the Bible within the USA. Whether interested in a Bible college for clergy in Florida or other Bible schools in the USA that accept international students, this guide should provide key information within the scope of one making a wise decision. We will also nip in a discussion on how to access financial aid opportunities, including making opportunities for the Bible scholarship fund in Florida. Read more : https://mannabibleinstitute.blogspot.com/2024/08/studying-bible-in-usa-guide-for.html

#Online Bible Institute #Biblical Studies Courses #Christian Ministry Education #Theology Degree Online #Bible College Online #Biblical Counseling Training #Ministry Leadership Courses #Accredited Bible Institute #Online Christian Education #Bible School Online

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thedailydescent · 2 months ago

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Whether or not my raffle will end up helping anybody, I would like to focus on a few select individuals from my list who have not reached 5K yet and are not getting enough attention:

From lowest to highest:

Mohammed Eid Matar- @mohammedmatat and @matarmoh2024 (€1,175)

Mohammed's fundraiser has been vetted by @/el-shab-hussein @/nabulsi and @/moayesh. Sadly, Tumblr had unfairly deactivated his blog for four months, leaving him unable to campaign for his family. He is now back on Tumblr and asking you all for help.

Mohammed has a little brother and sister, both left critically injured by occupier bombardment and currently needs your help getting them medical treatment! I have chatted with Mohammed a few times and he seems like a wonderful and protective brother, who just wants to do everything he can to help his family. Will you respond to his call?

Hashim & Laila- @hashimsafadi (€1,219)

Laila and Hashim's fundraiser has been vetted by Pali Pals. @victoriawhimsey and others have trying to get them to their short-term goal of €5,000 for months now, but has so far been unsuccessful. Before Oct 7, Hashim was previously NGO coordinator, and Laila a lab specialist in the agriculture ministry. They were happy and had plans of starting a family together. Now their home is destroyed, their careers lost, and their dreams halted. They have already been displaced several times due to orders from occupiers.

Laila and Hashim have already done everything they've needed to do. They've made themselves known online. They're vetted. They put photos and videos of their situation up. They come on frequently to campaign for themselves. What more do you need from them? What will it take for you to finally respond?

Mohammed- @mohamedabushaban06 (€3,079)

Mohammed's fundraiser has been vetted by Pali Pals. Mohammed is an 18 year-old medical student who is studying in Qatar. He previously needed €3,000 in tuition fees to start his semester. He reached his goal, but his journey is far from over.

Mohammed is at risk everyday of being deported back to Gaza if he does not meet his school's financial requirements. This cannot happen. He needs €20,000 to make it through the school year. He has not received a donation in 2 days, despite being spotlighted by @/victoriawhimsey and @/dlxxv-vetted-donations. Please don't forget about Mohammed!

Ruba Abushahan- @rubashsblog and @iyadsobhegaza ($4,210 + CHF166)

Ruba is listed at #90 on the Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser List, and perhaps is one of the most heartbreaking and frustrating cases I've read about. Ruba had previously raised 27K on her old gofundme (which is listed in the link verification), but the funds were placed on hold with gofundme still slowly processing her appeal to release them. Two other fundraisers have luckily been set up, so people have been requesting refunds from her old gofundme to donate to her new ones, but still, the process has been going depressingly slowly. She has also been spotlighted by @neptunerings and @heliopixels, but it has not been enough.

Ruba is currently in hospital, recovering from an injury she got while being forced to move again. Iyad suffers from a weak heart and needs medical care now. Can people please help them out?

Tagging: @khanger @neptunerings @heliopixels @brutaliakhoa @determinate-negation

@heritageposts @ana-bananya @a-shade-of-blue @underthejollyroger @schoolhater

@dlxxv-vetted-donations @dykesbat @transmutationisms

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mariacallous · 5 months ago

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(Kyiv, June 20, 2024) – Russian authorities are suppressing the Ukrainian language and curriculum, imposing the Russian curriculum, anti-Ukrainian propaganda, and Russian as the language of instruction in schools in areas of Ukraine that Russia is occupying, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These measures violate the laws of armed conflict, which prohibit an occupying power from making unnecessary changes to laws in the occupied territory, as well as international human rights standards on the right to education.

The 66-page report “Education under Occupation: Forced Russification of the School System in Occupied Ukrainian Territories,” documents violations of international law by the Russian authorities in relation to the right to education in formerly occupied areas of Ukraine’s Kharkivska region, and other regions that remain under Russian occupation. Russian authorities have forced changes to the curriculum and retaliated against school staff who refused to make such changes with threats, detention, and even torture. Human Rights Watch also found that occupying authorities threatened parents whose children were learning the Ukrainian curriculum online.

“Russia should stop denying Ukrainian children their right to education as guaranteed to them under international law,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “It should immediately cease attempts to Russify the education system and to carry out political indoctrination in occupied territories of Ukraine.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 42 educators, school staff, and other officials in Kharkivska region after Russian forces left the area in September 2022, and interviewed teachers who had been displaced or escaped from the areas of Khersonska, Zaporizka, Donetska, and Luhanska regions that are currently under occupation.

Ukrainian experts estimate that one million school-age Ukrainian children remain in Russian-occupied territory. Data that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science provided Human Rights Watch indicate that more than 62,400 children living in occupied areas continue to study in Ukrainian secondary education institutions remotely.

The laws of war require an occupying power to restore public order and services in the occupied territory, including to facilitate the proper education of children, but it must respect the laws in force in the territory before the occupation, and is prohibited from imposing its own laws, including laws on education.

The Russian school curriculum imposed in occupied areas of Ukraine includes history textbooks that justify Russia’s invasion, portrays Ukraine under its current government as a “neo-Nazi state,” and strictly limits instruction in the Ukrainian language. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children’s right to an education that develops respect for the child’s “own cultural identity, language and values,” as well as the “national values” of the child’s country of origin. Russia’s imposition of changes to education in occupied territories also violates other international human rights standards, including the prohibition against propaganda for war, the child’s right to mother-tongue education, and parents’ right of choice regarding their children’s education.

Ukrainian children under occupation also receive military training as part of the school curriculum. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that Russian authorities require secondary schools in occupied Ukrainian territory to share the names of students ages 18 and older, whom the Russian authorities deem eligible to be drafted into the Russian armed forces.

Human Rights Watch found that occupying authorities retaliate against anyone, including in schools, who criticizes the invasion. Russian authorities and their proxies punished distance learning or teaching of the Ukrainian curriculum and threatened parents with fines, loss of custody of their children, and detention if they did not enroll their children in “Russian” schools, or if their children studied the Ukrainian curriculum remotely.

Occupying authorities also used coercion, detention, ill-treatment, and torture to pressure Ukrainian teachers to work with them or to hand over students’ files and other school data. The report documents the week-long detention, in dire conditions, of a school principal from Borivske village in Kharkivska region, whom security officers beat repeatedly for refusing to hand over information about his school.

In addition to the occupying authorities’ specific abuses, Russia’s full-scale invasion has placed a range of pressures on Ukraine’s education system, such as barriers to online learning, the burgeoning need for mental health support for students and teachers, and a negative impact on students with disabilities.

The report also documents the Ukrainian authorities’ problematic use of the criminal offence of “collaboration” against Ukrainian education staff who worked under Russian occupation, even though some teachers had to work under occupation to survive.

A letter from the Education Ministry to the heads of educational institutions and other officials in September 2022, which Human Rights Watch examined, warned educational workers that working in any managerial, teaching, or research position under the occupying authorities is “categorically unacceptable” and warrants a “severe” criminal penalty, even though occupying authorities used threats and violence to coerce educators to work in schools.

The laws of war do not directly address wartime collaboration but prohibit occupying forces from exercising coercion against civilians who are not their own nationals, anticipating occupying forces’ efforts to do so. They also require the occupying power to facilitate the proper working of institutions dedicated to the education of children, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities.

Given the context of occupation and teachers’ responsibilities to educate children, Human Rights Watch believes Ukrainian authorities should not penalize teachers in occupied territories solely for providing education to children under the Russian curriculum, and should revise their overly broad view of the offense of collaboration.

Ukrainian authorities and foreign donors should work with Ukrainian civil society groups to find ways to keep children connected to learning under occupation or during displacement by Russian forces, Human Rights Watch said.

“Russian authorities should ensure that education in occupied territories of Ukraine follows Ukrainian curricula and Ukrainian law,” Van Esveld said. “They should hold to account all occupation officials responsible for harassing, ill-treating, and putting undue pressure on Ukrainian education workers, students, and parents.”

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