#Refugees And Displacement

[mzminola]

Every time I see news of crowds agitating against Israel outside a synagogue, or museum, or Jewish day school full of children, or restaurant, or educational event, and so on in the US, every time my thought is why the fuck aren't you holding this 'protest' at city hall? Or your state legislature? Or your federal reps' offices?

A random Jewish institution in the United States has absolutely zero power to affect the decisions made by Israel's parliament or military. You're not "raising awareness" or "drawing attention to the issue" because the general public of the US is already at least somewhat aware thanks to the news, and Jewish people are in fact one of the groups in the US to be the most fucking aware of what's going on.

If you are upset by US military aid going to Israel, you need to convince your federal representatives to change that. Those reps do not base US military foreign aid policy on random US citizens harassing other US citizens.

If you want the US to provide more civilian relief in the form of food, medicine, or helping refugees come here, you need to convince reps at every level. Can your city partner with a refugee organization to arrange housing? Can your governor arrange scholarships or exchange programs to state universities? Can the feds channel more funds to Doctors Without Borders?

Do a write and call-in campaign. Hold your protest at legislatures. File a petition. Do something to directly express your desires to the elected officials who have a direct say in policy.

We've held protests at city halls and state legislatures and federal buildings for centuries. Why aren't you doing so for this issue?

Why are you macing people attending synagogue? They have no more power over elected officials' choices than you do.

Why are you screaming at schoolchildren? They have less power over elected officials' choices than you do.

Why are you blocking entrance to a museum? Hold a fundraiser to build your own, if you want to educate people so badly!

I know the antisemites don't actually care about US military & foreign aid policy. I know the racists are simply reveling in an excuse to whip up a mob to attack Jews. It's obvious.

But if you really, truly want to help the people of Gaza, you need to stop being part of that hateful mob, and organize your own, real political actions that directly engages with your elected representatives.

[saxafimedianetwork]

Welcome Home To Nothing: Refugees Repatriate To A Forgotten Somaliland

The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) calls on the International Community to assess the pros and cons of granting diplomatic #recognition to #Somaliland.

Continue reading Untitled

[enoughbykelela]

“I am Hala, and I'm a biomedical engineer from Sudan, a country that has been engulfed in war since 15 April 2023. The conflict has not only disrupted my life but also put my dreams and most importantly put me and family's safety at great risk.

I have been displaced four times, constantly moving to escape the violence. I live in Omdurman now where militias are shelling artillery and we could die at any moment. Moreover we suffer from severe shortages of food, water and no electricity it's too bad to a point we have one meal a day.

Tragically, My dad was a prisoner for months by RSF militias and accused him of having a rank in the sudanese army, tortured him and stole all his money leaving him nothing, almost lost his life but thank god he manged to escape. What's worse I lost my dear aunt due to the lack of medical supplies and assistance tragically after her decease we intended to leave but a long siege was forced on us by the RSF. But eventually were forced to leave our home due to a mass shelling but still we couldn't manage to completely leave danger zone. I hoped of returning to a safe home but it has now been 11 months, and I still haven’t seen it, don't know if i ever will. Honestly till this moment i do not know how I survived and still alive or if I will have a life to live in the future.”

Please keep Sudan (and Congo) at the front of your mind. Donate if possible, and spread!

[odinsblog]

Israeli Occupation Forces cheer as a Palestinian neighborhood is destroyed to make room for a so-called “buffer zone” that will permanently displace Gazans from their homes, and make room for more illegal Israeli settlements.

Whether it’s euphemistically called a “buffer zone” or a “purification” process, please understand that Israel is illegally displacing Palestinian families from their homes. Temporary buffer zones will eventually become permanent Israeli settlements. This is land theft, plain and simple. This is what settler violence + settler colonialism looks like.

If indiscriminately killing civilians and intentionally destroying the homes of noncombatant civilians isn’t a war crime, it should be. Regardless, Israel needs to stop, or needs to be stopped.

[todaysdocument]

"The Flower and I" by Ralph Kuznitzki

Record Group 48: Records of the Office of the Secretary of the InteriorSeries: Central Classified FilesFile Unit: 1-5 Refugees (Pt. 1)

This is an English composition written by Ralph Kuznitzki, a 15 year old refugee living in the Fort Ontario refugee camp in Oswego, New York.

The flower and I

The fresh and rather cold morning breeze blew directly in my face, making my ears and the and the tip of my nose, red. I had passed the houses which protected me against it, and now I was crossing a wet lawn. I hurried to pass it. But when I arrived at the next block of houses, I noticed that a small part of it had come along with me. It was stuck in my shoes, that small flower. After having picked it up, I was about to throw it away, when I suddenly came to think of a strange fact. How greatly likely was the flower's life with mine! It may be a stupid idea, but there is something true with it.

Born far away, it stayed in it calm life only for a short time. Where was it born? I don't know. It didn't answer me when I asked it. In its youngest years the wind of nature brought it and the tornado of Nazis brought me away from our mother place. Many things we saw; we passed many strange spots on this earth, I imagine. Then comes the difference between our lives. After a long time it found its place, where to settle down, where to stay for all its life, till the cruel feet of a boy came to take it away. I found a place too; but will this place be my fatherland, my place where I can settle down, develop and finally -- die? I hope so, because I like it and feel the liberty which is here, as the medicine for my illness. The illness of terror and supressed [sic] nights of a man And then when the foot was bones will strike me, I'll be satisfied with my life and my work.

The shrill blast of the sirens awoke me from my dreams. I didn't throw the flower away. I kept it and now it hangs on the wall of my room, as a symbol of hope for a home for myself and a fatherland for me and my descendants.

Robert Kuznitzki

[agentfascinateur]

From the steps of Cannes to Gaza, more reason to love UN refugee ambassador Cate Blanchett

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A post shared by Livia Giuggioli Firth (@liviafirth)

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[grecoromanyaoi]

n like the thing is there is no need for neither palestinians nor israelis (or non israeli citizens living in israel) to die. the hostages couldve been released months ago in a deal. no lives r worth more than others it doesnt work like that. israeli lives shouldnt take precedence over palestinian lives, and its horrible how often they do n how popular that way of thinking is. n u can say all of that n not like. get mad at ppl for getting kidnapped from their homes or from a party?? like its their fault??? r u insane???????

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Displaced persons arriving in New York, 1948.

Photo: Clemens Kalischer via the NY Times

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Ukrainian refugees work as shoemakers in a displacement camp in Germany after World War II.

Millions of Ukrainians were taken by the Nazis as slaves during the war, and hundreds of thousands were left stateless as their land was absorbed into the Soviet Union.

[alwaysbewoke]

This might help to get an overview of the humaniterian crisis in sudan

[doloneia]

been consumed with thoughts about teucer lately (as usual) but especially after reading a translation of this poem (Helen, by the Greek poet Giorgos Seferis) which is basically a twist on Teucer's perspective in Euripedes' Helen where he reflects on the Trojan War and his exile from Salamis.

the entire poem is incredibly moving and i recommend everyone read through it themselves but i just want to go through some of the highlights for me that made me put my head in my hands and start rocking back and forth:

these lines... OUGH.... the way teucer is on the margins of both greek and trojan identity, how he has spent his life raised on the periphery of heroes like herakles and peleus and nestor, born to an argonaut but never truly accepted into that world like his brother, how he watches similar heroes of his generation quarrel and bleed and die, and how he is left somewhere outside that paradigm after the war.

chewing on these lines a bunch but i love how teucer is depicted with this sort of skeptical and cynical perspective towards the war, especially because he lost so much as a result. also this characterization feels so accurate to me teucer always has self-loathing out the wazoo

his sympathy for paris.... seferis' adaptation/interpretation of teucer here is so fascinating to me because before teucer considers the human cost of the war his mind thinks of paris, and how he lost something he never had in the first place.

this section is amazing for many reasons - it builds up the human cost of the war and the resulting devastation among both greeks and trojans in a way that really underscores teucer's dual heritage, and the punch of "an empty tunic - all for a helen" really cements the gut-punching moment of how fruitless the conflict becomes in scenarios where helen is transported to egypt. how trojans and greeks fought and died for a conflict based in nothing - an empty tunic.

and the break in thought after teucer's mind turns to ajax? the sudden shift to contemplating human mortality? can you hear me sobbing on the floor?

anyways i recommend this poem to any big teucer fans out there please read it you won't regret it

[worstloki]

People who think Palestinians wanting equal rights to live on their own land equates to wanting to genocide Jewish people are actually telling on themselves

[scentedluminarysoul]

(reposting this bc the og had unnecessary fatphobia)

[sugas6thtooth]

[teaspoon-of-salt]

Xiong was born in 1973 in Phab Kheb, Laos, one of 11 children in a family that fled the country in 1975 and spent four years in a refugee camp in Thailand before emigrating to the United States, according to Sahan Journal. He grew up in St. Paul and was valedictorian of his class at Humboldt High School in 1992.

Xiong graduated with a political science degree from Carleton College in Northfield in 1996 and began traveling around the country as a motivational speaker, storyteller and rap artist, billing himself as the country's first Hmong comedian.

Xiong helped organize the first Hmong Minnesota Day at the Minnesota State Fair in 2015, and was named a Bush Fellow in 2019 to earn a master's degree in public affairs.

With Xiong's death, the Hmong American community in the Twin Cities has lost a true leader, "consummate organizer and cultural interpreter," said longtime friend Pakou Hang. In his presentations and writings, she said, Xiong was a teacher who tried to show people how to be kind, generous and do the right thing.

Xiong connected people across generational, cultural and political lines who traveled the United States to speak at schools, colleges and businesses, Hang said. As a friend, he could inspire laughter in every conversation, she said.

[Rest of article under cut.]

A highly regarded Hmong American activist, speaker and comedian from the Twin Cities was found dead Monday in Medellín, Colombia, after kidnappers demanded $2,000 in ransom from his family.

Tou Ger Xiong, 50, was killed while on a vacation to Medellín. His brother, Eh Xiong, confirmed his death Tuesday morning on Facebook.

"The pain of his loss is indescribable. We extend our deepest gratitude to all who have offered their condolences, thoughts, and prayers," Xiong's family wrote in the Facebook statement.

Xiong, who lived in Woodbury, was kidnapped Sunday after a date with a woman he met on social media, according to the Colombian newspaper El Colombiano.

A group of men contacted his family demanding $2,000 — the equivalent of $8 million in Colombian pesos — and killed him a day later without collecting the money.

Three American tourists, including Xiong, have been murdered in the last month, El Colombiano reported.

Kidnappings in Colombia are on the rise, according to authorities. In the first few months of 2022, 35 people were abducted in the country, and that figure is more than double this year for the same period.

Early last month, the father of a Colombian soccer star was freed after he was held for around a week by a guerrilla group.

[The excerpt above came from here.]

Former state Sen. Mee Moua of St. Paul, for whom Xiong worked as a volunteer coordinator in her successful 2002 campaign, said in a statement that she was "weighed down with grief for my friend," and called Xiong "a one-of-a-kind modern-day hero."

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-St. Paul wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Xiong's death was "devastating news" and that his work as a comedian and activist "touched many lives in the Twin Cities and beyond."

Hang said Xiong would perform skits based on his own stories growing up as a refugee and other lessons from the larger Hmong community. She recalled him bringing older Hmong women onto the stage to demonstrate how they would pick corn or fetch water as children, setting it to music and transforming it into a dance.

Xiong sought to connect first-generation Hmong American kids with classmates of other races, and strengthened intergenerational relationships with their families by making them proud to be Hmong, she said.

Xiong and Hang worked together on many community causes, including the formation of the Coalition for Community Relations, a group that traveled to rural Wisconsin from the Twin Cities in 2004 to "bear witness" at the trial of Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong American man eventually convicted for killing six hunters.

"We're not here to defend Chai," Xiong told the Star Tribune at the time. "We're coming together to accentuate the positives in the Hmong community."

Xiong also brought media attention to a hunger strike in Northern California in 2021 after a Hmong cannabis farmer was killed by police, Hang said. He flew to California to lead a march and gather stories. Discriminatory ordinances passed by Siskiyou County were later ruled unlawful.

"We don't have anyone else in the community like that," Hang said.