#and oppressors will continue to be hated

[theamazingannie]

Being mad at the people who have been influenced by the terrible stuff they’ve seen rather than be mad at the terrible stuff is honestly such a crazy way to live like how do people do that

[fappellmoan]

damn sometimes i try i really do try to follow along on the posts where people try to address intracommunity issues among queer people and different relationship dynamics etc but as much as y’all want to say This isn’t abt hating women/lesbians/etc that’s. very much what you’re saying. like you realize that right. like you realize saying that women being bitchy and whiny about uwu their oppressors :((( while being no better than them and etc like. is fucking bullshit. like you realize how shitty that is right. like you realize that once again trying to pin these issues on lesbians and women for discussing misogyny and talking about how that affects our lives isn’t always just about Bonding over Victimhood lol it’s like. sure there are those people they sure exist but. talking abt misogyny doesn’t inherently hurt other queer people including masc presenting ones and like. it’s not our fault that we still exist in a patriarchy….? like i feel like i can pick apart what you’re saying and it’s very much about White Feminism but that’s not. every post on here discussing misogyny. like you realize how fucked up your stupid ass discourse is right. you realize how fucking stupid you’re being. how fucking idiotic it is to lump all those discussions into the same fucking category. sorry i’m being mean but like. you have to get there at some point right. we can’t keep going in these fucking circles kill me

[i-am-aprl]

So those shadowbanning us who work at @meta see these videos everyday, see the torture and turmoil Palestinians are going through and the hate that is spreading...and yet continue on with their jobs. How can people see this and not feel crippled from within by the sheer injustice. My heart hurts. This is expected from an oppressor but those that are just watching on the sidelines...how could you??

[hummingbird-hunter]

The thing is, I have nothing against socialism or communism as a political ideology; trust me, I'm as anti-capitalist as they come. The leftism is really not the problem here.

The problem is when in their leftism, people – Americans, really, and western Europeans – use the ussr as this sort of goal, this complete antithesis to the modern capitalist society, this almost-utopian place to live. They use hammer and sickle symbol, the ussr anthem; sometimes, as a joke, sometimes, not so much.

Not only that clearly shows that they know absolutely nothing about the ussr – it's also spreading russian propaganda, whether it's on purpose or not, which is especially insidious now, when russia is literally committing a genocide.

The ussr wasn't a socialist utopia where everyone is equal. It was a totalitarian dictatorship, responsible for colonisation and genocide of multiple people and cultures. Just like the russian Empire before it. Just like modern russia continues to do now.

For many Eastern European and Central Asian people, hammer and sickle is not just a symbol of a political ideology. It's the symbol, under which people were starved to death, imprisoned or executed for daring to write in their own language; in which cultures were erased, people – forcefully assimilated, stripped of their own national identity.

It's the propaganda of being "the same people, the same nation" that russians love to use; that westerners love to believe, for the sole reason of the oppressed daring to look similar to the oppressor; for the sole reason of Americans being unable to look past their own history and realize oppression comes in many shapes and forms.

By using the ussr symbols in your political movement, you're denying the atrocities commited under that symbol and spreading russian propaganda, whether it's on purpose or not.

It's not "progressive" to wave around a hate symbol.

Do your research.

[apollos-olives]

hello! If this question is too personal, please feel free to ignore. I’m writing an informative essay on the Palestinian experience under occupation (college English final) and I just wanted to ask this.

As children in Palestine (or outside of Palestine, but born to Palestinian parents), are you raised with the knowledge of the hatred and disdain of the Israelis towards the Palestinians or would you say that Palestinian parents “shelter” (for lack of a better word that I can think of) or attempt to “shelter” their children from the pain of the Israeli’s hatred? I would assume that protecting the emotions and minds of the children would be somewhat impossible to do, but I would appreciate if you could provide some insight into this and also how children deal with the mental toll of being under occupation or knowing that their people are not free. My apologies if this is question is insensitive, please feel free to ignore and delete this if you feel uncomfortable. Thank you!

we, as palestinians, are raised with the complete knowledge that zionists hate us. there is no "hiding" that fact. when you live under an occupation, you know it. you feel the effects of it. you see it every day. one of the very first things i've been raised to learn is that i am a person who majority of the world hates. and you genuinely cannot hide that. even though we were, and are, children, we have to face the truth immediately. we are an oppressed people. our parents do not hide this from us. it would be cruel if they did. we deserve to know that there is a better life for us than this, and we deserve to know what is happening against us. you cannot hide the effects of oppression and occupation. we will learn about it whether someone tells us or not.

because of this, palestinians raise their children to be extremely educated. palestinians are some of the most highly educated people in the world. we become educated when we're young and continue to become more and more educated as we grow because that is what we believe will set us free. the newer generations must have knowledge to fight back. the children are the future, as we all know. the sooner we are educated, the sooner we can start fighting back against oppression. that is why we urge other people to become educated, so they can help us fight against oppression as well. oppression cannot be hidden from us. we must learn to notice it wherever we go, in order to end it. that is why palestinians do not hide away their children. of course, we love our children and we try to ease the pain for them as much as possible, but the pain is our real life. our suffering is part of our fight, our identity. and we are fighting for a day where our suffering will never have to be permanent part of our identity again. we want to protect our children, but we cannot protect them against a world that wants them dead. we cannot do it alone, so we need people to step up and stand with us, in order to raise our children without them having to know the suffering we've endured.

being a child living under the occupation is difficult. you make friends one year, you lose them the next year. you finally manage to get out of palestine, and suddenly you're never allowed to go back in. you see posters on the wall of every city, full of faces of the people who were martyred by the hands of the oppressors and you pray to god that your face isn't going to be on there next. you are constantly surrounded by death and suffering. palestine is beautiful. our culture is beautiful. we constantly try to appreciate our beauty. but we cannot just do that without also facing the reality. we are an oppressed people. we know this. we see this. we feel this.

being a child living in the diaspora is also difficult. seeing how everyone around you can go on with their day, all smiles and laughs, not knowing your family in palestine were just killed the other day. seeing the media twist the narrative and make up lies about you and your people. being wary of everyone around you because you're not sure if they're a zionist or not so you have to hide your identity and who you are. watching as your people are massacred on tv while you're sitting there in your living room from a continent away, shaking with fear because "what if that was me?"

we know zionists hate us. this is the first thing we learn. we cannot hide our children from this truth, because that would only harm them more than it would protect them.

[runawaymun]

Two takeaways right now that I really cannot stress enough: 1) We cannot afford to keep spouting the "The American public is fucking stupid" and "Republicans are dumb and uneducated" rhetoric. I have already seen a new resurgence in the past 24 hours. Yes, it's true: One in five Americans are functionally illiterate. Many of them live in states like New Mexico and Mississippi, below the poverty line, with underfunded educational institutions, and very little access to resources to help them. A staggering amount of USAmericans read below a sixth grade level. This is not a moral failing. This is not their fault. This is a societal failing, an infrastructure failing. We've been failing the rust belt for decades and it's only getting worse. And it does not help our cause if we continue to turn up our noses and say they're all stupid cousin-kissing hillbillies who deserve what they're getting. That only helps Trump. That is how we got here. The division only helps the people in power to keep up the grift. As long as we continue to disparage and underestimate working people from the Midwest and the American South, we will continue to lose. They are tired of being condescended to, and that is why they like Trump. He at least pretends (badly, but he at least pretends) that he cares about their interests.

Remember this bit of propaganda?

All the way back from 1754?

We have to stop fighting each other. We cannot afford to continue saying 'Trumpers are stupid and hateful and uneducated' and continue this us-against-them mentality. It is JUST as bad as my Midwestern parents who say that Democrats are evil satanic child-killing communists. I grew up steeped in that environment. I fully believed it. Many people are just as scared as you are. They are working with the information they have. They believe they are doing the right thing, just as you do. They are watching their communities literally disintegrate and the only person that promises to bring them jobs is Donald Fucking Trump. And he is employing every propaganda tactic in the book to grift them. A big part of the lies the Republican party loves to spout is that they're persecuted and they're underdogs -- I grew up in this environment. It stems from an Evangelical worldview that to be righteous is to be persecuted. Disparaging these people, insulting them, condescending them, only feeds this narrative. The only way I got out of this mentality was by having access to community college, meeting kind people outside my bubble who were willing to have a conversation with me, and finally getting education that wasn't steeped in evangelical propaganda.

I invite you all to go and watch Megan Phelps-Roper's TEDtalk (or read her book, it's excellent) about how she left her family's cult. The only thing that broke through that fog of 'We are persecuted and therefore righteous' was when people stopped throwing cups of hot liquid and piss at her (when she was a child!), and started being kind and empathetic. We all can stand to learn a lot from stories like hers. The second that evil god-hating people started being kind to her was the second she began to question everything she'd been taught.

Yes, it's very easy to look at these people spewing hateful rhetoric and label them as evil. But they're not. The people exploiting all of us are evil. The people exploiting fear and division are evil. We need to call for accountability with news outlets, to fund grass-roots efforts to give adults with educational gaps access to help. Many of them simply could not continue going to school because their families were impoverished and they had to work so they could fucking eat. Many of them have undiagnosed disabilities because they do not have insurance to even go to a doctor. To be ignorant is not a moral failing. Willful ignorance? Absolutely. But ignorance, no. The only thing we can do now is be kind, invite people into discussion, and remember that the only enemy is the oppressor in power who views everybody as pawns and dollar signs. We are all the same to them.

2) Please do not fall into the trap of thinking this means that your vote does not count. Voting is more important than ever. You need to vote in your local elections. You need to. The Senate and the House are the lawmakers and the people in charge of declaring war. They have term limits. They are not untouchable. They are the only people now who are capable of checking Trump. And your local mayors, councils, etc are the people who are going to make the real difference between public healthcare, good education, censorship, civil rights, housing, etc. States have an immense amount of freedom to operate. That is how I have access to incredible free healthcare in mine. That is how we have one of the best public transit systems in the country. That is how we placed penalties on industries and got rid of smog and heavy pollution in the 70s. That is how we have gay bars and drag brunches and well-funded libraries. That is all local-government stuff. If you want your communities to change, you HAVE to vote locally. Please, please, please do not give up and think your vote doesn't matter. It does. It matters immensely.

[odinsblog]

Can we please get something straight here??

Mitch McConnell has supported Donald Trump and will support him again if Trump wins the Republican nomination. I have never supported Trump and I never will.

Mitch McConnell has been a willing tool of the NRA and helped pass countless stand-your-ground laws, he has helped pave the way for laws like permitless carry, and he has helped make guns easier for anyone to get. I have not.

Mitch McConnell has helped pass laws that intentionally suppress the votes of millions and millions Black people. I have not.

Mitch McConnell has helped write or pass laws that deny millions of women access to reproductive health care. I have not.

Mitch McConnell has helped write or pass laws that deny basic healthcare and living wages to millions of poor people. I have not.

I AM NOW AND I WILL ALWAYS BE BETTER than Mitch McConnell and Republicans, because my wishes do not have any material impact on anyone, unlike the myriad of hateful draconian laws that Mitch McConnell has helped to pass.

I could continue, but hopefully I’ve made my point: people sending Mitch McConnell “ill wishes” IS NOT being “just the same” as Mitch McConnell and Republicans, and it doesn’t make anyone “as bad as” McConnell and the GOP.

Are you fucking kidding me??

Saying that my wishes = McConnell’s actions is a false equivalence. It’s false, it’s offensive and it’s gaslighting.

Mitch McConnell is an elected politician who has a very long history of using his political power to actively harm the poor, marginalized communities, women, LGBTQ people, and non-Christian, non-white people. If you cannot differentiate between the words and the unenforceable “wishes” of the oppressed vs. the actions of an oppressor, then you have some serious problems to unpack.

I could ~almost~ see it if there was some chance that a Republican would go, “Oh wow, those progressives are being nice to Mitch McConnell, maybe I’ll stop being a racist and vote for a Democrat now.” But that almost never ever happens, does it??

You are not going to win over a Republican by being kind. Their entire ideology is based on racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and cruelty.

Look, I’m not tryna write a dissertation here, but please believe me when I say that this neoliberal knee jerk Pollyanna reaction of, “turn the other cheek” and “be kinder to your oppressors” is very much rooted in Christofascism + white supremacy. It’s a weaponization of the “hate breeds hate” trope and the “forgiveness narrative” meant to tame slaves, and I refuse to fall for it.

I absolutely positively do not wish Mitch McConnell well, and HELL NO, I am not being a bad person for hoping that a racist, evil, old white man suffers a fraction of the pain he has inflicted on others for decades and decades.

I am a proud member of the #MitchMcConnellDieChallenge community.

That all said, at the very least, Mitch McConnell has unintentionally provided us with a teachable moment: please learn to spot the warning signs of someone having a stroke

[katrafiy]

It's simple, if someone says "die men!" 200 times and each time they say it they hit a trans woman instead of a cis man, then they clearly don't actually hate men. Clearly something else is happening here; "hating men" is a false pretense, not their actual motive.

I've seen people from the transunity blog talking about how people shouldn't believe terf rhetoric regarding trans men/transmasculine people, but they apparently are totally willing to believe them when they lie about the reasons they hate trans women.

People who hate trans women aren't doing it because they "hate men". If they did, they would treat cis men the way they treat trans women, but they clearly don't do that. Instead they buddy up with fascists like MW and put out calls for cis men to go into women's bathrooms with guns to protect them from the evil r*pist tr**nies.

"Transmisogyny relies on anti-masculism/misandry" is a statement that is completely out of touch with the realities of trans women's oppression, and this should be obvious to anyone who knows better than to take our oppressors at their word, and think they are being honest about their motives.

"Hating men" is a pretense, their actual motive is trans women being an underclass of "girls they can hit".

So why does transunity continue to believe what fascists say about trans women instead of the trans women who are telling them that they are lying? Until transunity can reconcile with that, I simply cannot trust that this 'movement' is willing to or capable of seriously representing me or my sisters best interests.

[monstersdownthepath]

Homebrew Horror: Vodani, Nascent Demon Lord of Intoxication and Anger

(Art by the amazing @stranger-chads!)

First mentioned here, Vodani is one of the least ambitious yet most active among the Nascent Lords, never truly vying for territory but viciously holding what power and reach he stumbles into with a ferocity and determination that cause most others to simply leave him to his own devices. His primary concerns in his day to day life are acquiring alcohol to drink and people to drink it around (specifically around, and uncommonly with), and though he can conjure seemingly bottomless amounts of it and convert even pond scum into a palatable beverage, he's always hounding for a flavor of spirit he's never tasted before, which is one of his motivators for venturing into the world of mortals.

The primary motivator, however, is only barely more complex than that of most demons: chaos, mayhem, destruction, and the corruption of innocents. Vodani takes on the appearance of a common human vagrant or wanderer to inveigle himself in established populations of the destitute and downtrodden. With endless gifts of cheap drink and drugs woven between sob stories he's collected from hundreds of past victims, Vodani establishes himself as a strange but beloved member of the community, where he works to ignite the fires of hatred within them.

Vodani uses inflammatory rhetoric to gradually unite the societies he infiltrates against specific targets, most of them nobles or government officials, or members of an organization with considerable power over the poor (such as bankers, guards, and local guild members), preferring to pick whomever would cause the largest power vacuum if they were removed from their position and/or cause the largest breakdown of societal order (his least favorite type of order). This habit causes many to call him the Prince of Paupers, believing him a figure of hope and unity, but this is false hope at best; Vodani is not driven out of a sincere desire to help, but a demonic desire to destroy. He intentionally steers people away from any solution that does not lead to violent revolution and utilizes drugs, social and societal pressures, and his magic to prevent anyone from speaking against him or offering relief to his "friends," victims of his toxic influence who quickly find themselves with few choices but to continue wallowing in his lifestyle of violence, indulgence, and hate.

Were the Lord of Gin truly a bringer of rebellion and freedom, he would actually stay to help the reconstruction once the dust settled, or even help at all. As it is, the targets of ire he chooses often serve as convenient scapegoats for the actual reason inequality runs rampant; he may target a guard captain enforcing unjust laws while treating the council who made the laws as an afterthought, or call for the death of a king who is unaware that his advisors have been wringing areas of the city dry behind his back. Vodani gets his fill of destruction quickly once he's gotten a whole riot going, wading into the fray to kill and destroy with savage impunity, often felling friend and foe alike. Whether or not his assembled "freedom fighters" actually succeed in destroying their perceived "oppressors" and "enemies" or if they themselves are routed is of little true consequence to him, with the fiend vanishing from the world once his cruel work is done to let everyone else shoulder the consequences. Any actual good that may emerge in the wake of his riot is purely accidental, and hearing that he has bettered a city sends him into a frothing fury which takes him days to calm down from. He often goes out of his way to either send his followers into the same city or slither back in himself to make it burn down 'for good this time,' and this is one of the only things in creation which can give him actual focus and motivation to plan things over the course of the long term... provided he doesn't completely forget about why he was so angry in the first place during days of senseless rage and endless drinking.

Vodani appears to be a humanoid with an extremely severe case of jaundice and lengthy fingers that end in sharpened, bony points. He wears shabby local clothing and is always clutching a bottle of spirits he takes frequent drinks from. His head is his most startling feature, taking the shape of a tapering pillar of flesh that swirls as though it were smoke in a vortex, solid yellow eyes and a mouth filled with shark-like teeth emerging and disappearing at random in the twister. He has a strange amount of control over his malleable head, able to shape it into distorted faces and exaggerated expressions at will, or even lash his head out like a tentacle to deliver bites to distant foes.

Even when magically disguised, his pure yellow eyes or sharpened teeth randomly peek through to reveal his true nature, forcing him to take pains to hide them with long hair, facemasks, tall collars, or other coverings. His commonalities with the Ginever are noted by most who know of both him and the strange, alcoholic carnivores; many believe him to either be their progenitor, or a member of their kind who ascended to demonhood. He gives contradicting reports, alternatively calling them his children, his kin, his subjects, or his parasites, seemingly just to annoy anyone trying to find a concrete truth. What is known is that any mortal who drinks themselves to death with alcohol he's interacted with in some way has a chance of returning to life as a Ginever. When asked of this phenomenon, he is curiously quiet.

Vodani, the Demon at the Bottom of the Bottle CR 23 Chaotic Evil Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Demon, Extraplanar) Init: +7; Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Detect Good, Detect Law, True Seeing; Perception +37 Aura: Unholy Aura (DC 29)

------- Defense ------

AC 45, touch 35, flat-footed 38 (+7 Dex, +4 deflection, +10 natural, +14 luck) HP 530 (26d10+364), Regeneration 15 (Good) Fort +27, Ref +33, Will +27 Defensive Abilities: Freedom of Movement; DR 15/Cold Iron and Good; Immune: Charm and compulsion effects, cold, death effects, electricity, disease, poison; Resist: Acid 30, Fire 30; SR: 35

------ Offense ------

Speed: 60ft, climb 20ft; Air Walk Melee +3 Improvised Weapon +38/+33/+28/+23 (1d8+10/19-20), claw +28 (1d6+4 plus Intoxicant), bite +33 (1d8+7 plus Intoxicant), OR two claws +33 (1d6+7 plus Intoxicant), bite +33 (1d8+7 plus Intoxicant) Ranged +3 Thrown Improvised Weapon +38/+33/+28/+23 (1d8+10) Space 5ft, Reach 5ft (10ft with bite) Special Attacks: Cloak and Dagger Tactics (DC 28), Intoxicant, Jaundiced Gaze, Sneak Attack +2d6, Whatever's At Hand Spell-like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +31)

Constant--Air Walk, Freedom of Movement, Detect Good, Detect Law, True Seeing, Unholy Aura (DC 29) At-will--Charm Person (DC 22), Greater Dispel Magic, Greater Teleport (self plus 50lbs only), Invisibility (self only), Suggestion (DC 24) 3/day--Create Drugs, Crime Wave (DC 27), Mass Suggestion (DC 27), Song of Discord (DC 26) 1/day--Dominate Monster (DC 30), Life of Crime (DC 29), Summon Demons or Ginever, Time Stop

------ Statistics ------

Str 24 Dex 25 Con 38 Int 20 Wis 27 Cha 33

Base Atk +26; CMB +33 (+4 when performing Dirty Trick); CMD 66 (+4 vs Dirty Tricks)

Feats Catch Off-Guard(B), Cloak and Dagger Style, Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge, Cloak and Dagger Tactics, Dirty Fighting, Dirty Trick Master, Grab and Go, Greater Dirty Trick, Improved Dirty Trick, Improvisational Focus, Improvised Weapon Mastery, Multiattack, Quick Dirty Trick, Throw Anything(B), Vital Strike

Skills Appraise +15, Bluff +40, Craft (Alchemy) +34, Disable Device +26, Disguise +17, Escape Artist +21, Intimidate +40, Knowledge (Local) +34, Knowledge (Nobility) +15, Knowledge (Planes) +16, Perception +37, Perform (Comedy) +21, Perform (Oratory) +31, Sense Motive +37, Sleight of Hand +26, Stealth +30

Languages Abyssal, Common, Dwarvish, Draconic, Orcish; telepathy 300ft, Tongues

SQ Change Shape (Any humanoid or monstrous humanoid; Alter Self or Monstrous Physique I), Drunken Demagogue, Happy Hour, Nascent Demon Lord traits

------ Ecology ------

Environment: Any urban Organization: Solitary, hellions (self plus 3~10 Ginever plus 10~30 humanoids), riot (self plus 10~20 Ginever plus 30+ humanoids). Treasure: Triple standard

------

Combat: While preferring to never battle any foe with a reasonable chance of fighting back, Vodani is a bewildering foe to battle on even terms and will utilize his feats to hamper his foes via rapidly-delivered Dirty Trick maneuvers before beating them down with whatever he has available as the negative conditions mount. Capable of turning anything into a deadly weapon, Vodani is never truly unarmed and will utilize any lull in the combat (or rounds in Time Stop) to customize his held item with enchantments he feels would best harm his foes; he usually begins each day having a single bottle opener or corkscrew he keeps loaded with Anarchic, Human-Bane, and Unholy already on his person. If his foes are intoxicated, he will attempt to use his spell-likes to convince them to either fight on his side, fight with each other, or not fight at all.

Morale: The Lord of Gin turns invisible and flees any fight that is no longer "fun" for him, typically meaning fights in which his foes take no damage from his attacks, cannot be meaningfully impaired with Dirty Trick, and any combat where he is reduced to 200 or less HP. If prevented from fleeing, he flies into an indignant rage and fights to the death.

------ Special Abilities ------

Drunken Demagogue (Ex): Vodani's drunken swaying allows him supernatural grace when avoiding danger, granting him a luck bonus equal to his Constitution modifier to his AC, his CMD, and to his Reflex saving throws. In addition, inebriated creatures have a significantly harder time resisting his words. When communicating with inebriated creatures--even one unwillingly rendered drunk by Vodani's own abilities--Vodani gains a +5 profane bonus to Charisma-based skill checks against those creatures, and those creatures have a -5 penalty to saving throws against Vodani's mind-affecting spells and abilities. If a creature is normally immune to mind-affecting effects, Drunken Demagogue allows his spells and abilities to pierce this immunity, but the spell or effect ends instantly when the creature is no longer drunk.

Happy Hour (Su/Sp): Thirteen times a day as a swift, standard, and/or move action, Vodani can conjure a bottle or flask of any common, nonmagical alcoholic drink he desires, or which is desired by someone he is speaking to (even if they don't know the specific name). This power is often used when he is attempting to lay low and appear as a mundane citizen, but when wishing to appear miraculous, he is also capable of using Rotgut or Enhance Water as spell-like abilities at will on any liquid he can touch even a small portion of, and Tears to Wine as a spell-like ability up to five times a day.

Vodani can consume single servings of alcohol (the bottles/flasks he summons contain three servings each), as well as potions, tinctures, and similar items as a swift action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Each time he drinks a serving of alcohol, a potion, or a tincture, he recovers 1d8+5 hitpoints and may make another saving throw against any ongoing effect on himself.

Intoxicant (Su): Vodani may, as a free action once per round when successfully damaging a creature with his claw or bite attack, threaten to convert a portion of the liquids in that creature's body into alcohol. That creature must succeed a DC 35 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Dexterity and Constitution damage and become sickened as though they had drank too much (alternately, a failure raises the victim's level of inebriation by 1, if using the alternate rules present in Inner Sea Taverns). A creature that fails their saving throw against this ability while already inebriated takes 1 additional point of Dexterity and Constitution damage. A creature suffering any amount of damage from this ability becomes vulnerable to Jaundiced Gaze and Drunken Demagogue via the alcoholic infusion. This is a poison effect.

Jaundiced Gaze (Su): While his mundane alcohol is typically enough to get what he wants, Vodani can dramatically enhance the effects of nearby alcohol with nothing but his gaze in a 60ft cone. Any alcoholic beverage in this cone is converted into a ferocious brew; one serving counts as four to any creature not immune to poison, and creatures normally immune to poison can be affected by the drink, though they treat it as only one serving. Alchemical and magical liquids almost always contain at least traces of alcohol in them which is enhanced by this ability, rendering the substance useless; such items can resist this infusion with a DC 35 Fortitude save. Inebriated creatures who meet his gaze while this ability is active must succeed a DC 35 Fortitude save or become confused, fascinated, or prone (his choice) for 1d8 rounds. He may activate or suppress this ability at will as a free action.

Nascent Demon Lord Traits: A nascent demon lord is a powerful demon that has not yet made the full transition from unique demon to full demon lord of an Abyssal realm. They have several traits, as summarized here:

Immunity to charm and compulsion effects, death effects, electricity, and poison.

Resistance to acid 30, cold 30, and fire 30.

Summon (Sp) Once per day, Vodani can summon any demon or combination of demons whose total combined CR is 20 or lower. He can instead choose to summon two Fiendish Ginever with up to 12 levels of any one class each. This ability always works, and is equivalent to a 9th-level spell.

Telepathy 300 feet.

Vodani’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon he wields, are treated as chaotic, epic, and evil for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Vodani can grant spells to his worshipers. He grants access to the domains of Chaos, Community, Evil, and Trickery. His favored weapon is improvised weapons.

Whatever's At Hand (Ex/Su): Vodani is a master of bar brawls and improvisation. He gains Catch Off-Guard and Throw Anything as bonus feats. Any item he uses as an improvised weapon is treated as if it were a +3 magic weapon (dropped or thrown weapons lose these qualities at the end of the turn). As a standard action, Vodani can further empower anything he is wielding--even a weapon that is already enchanted--with up to +3 worth of additional enchantments selected from the following list: Anarchic, Bane (the Bane type is chosen each time this ability is used), Cruel, Deadly, Flaming, Frost, Keen, Throwing, Shock and/or Unholy. These enchantments last until Vodani uses this ability again, or if the improvised weapon leaves his grasp for longer than 1 minute (which allows him to temporarily lend out enchanted armaments). He cannot use this ability to bring a weapon's total combined enchantments above +8.

[melintowriting]

The first Empress-Chapter 2

Hello everyone! Chapter 2 is finally out. I hope you'll like it!

Warnings: arranged marriage, smut (+18), virginity loss, blood, corruption kink, breeding kink

Word count: 2.528

ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE

Kaitain, a few days later

Their wedding took place a few days after their first meeting on Kaitain.

The ceremony had been lavish and the young Na-Baron and his wife had become husband and wife before the eyes of all the lords and ladies of the Landsraad.

Monique had been watching her daughter attentively throughout the whole banquet. Her Bene Gesserit eyes, trained not to miss anything, had looked beyond the young woman’s apparent calm to see some agitation. The idea of sending her to Giedi Prime, to that horrible planet, tormented her. But she could not fight against fate. She found peace in her torment only when she reminded herself that Jeremy would go with her, that she would not be alone, that her twins would not be separate.

Monique looked at her, sitting next to Feyd Rautha, observing the guests.

She was studying them in the Bene Gesserit way.

Monique almost smiled: her daughter’s training had been a success.

"You taught her the Bene Gesserit way impeccably." commented Lady Jessica, sitting next to her.

"We both trained our offspring well." confirmed Monique "Paul… is he the Kwisatz Haderach?"

Lady Jessica remained silent for a few seconds before answering: "There are signs. Soon the Reverend Mother will test him with the Gom Jabbar and we will know."

Monique immediately noticed the apprehension in Jessica’s voice.

"He will succeed." she reassured her, smiling with maternal solidarity.

Jessica turned to look at her sister-in-law, unsure whether to ask her the question she had been thinking about for hours.

“And Megan? Is she the Chosen Woman?"

Monique remained silent while the prophecy about the First Empress repeated in her head. 

-One day, the Empire will know the power of a young woman. - 

The prophecy of the First Empress was the first that was taught at the Bene Gesserit school, along with the one of the Kwisatz Haderach. Both would have been the result of the complex and intricate breeding plan that the Bene Gesserit had carried out for centuries. 

The prophecy continued with -Loved by the peoples and feared by the powerful, born by a Bene Gesserit sister and an honorable man from an adverse and distant land, she will be the first woman to sit on the throne. - 

Megan had shown signs of great intelligence and power from an early age. The way she spoke, studied people, showed mercy for the weak and ruthlessness for the oppressors... everything had always made Monique believe that she would be the First Empress.

"I think so." she replied to Jessica "Or at least everyone thinks so.”

At the age of ten, during a dinner, Megan asked the Emperor why the people outside the palace died of hunger and while they always wasted their food. He looked at her in shock, opening his eyes slightly, especially when Megan added, "We should feed them too. We have enough food for ourselves."

Since that day the signs had been irrefutable. Her greatness and nobility of mind were known to everyone on the planet. The kind way she addressed servants, the way she always fought with the Emperor, even to no avail, to try to improve the living conditions of the people... everything had led people to love her, to the point of whispering "Empress" at her passage.

Everyone knew about the prophecy, everyone was waiting.

"Our Bene Gesserit sisters have been at work on Giedi Prime to spread the word of her imminent arrival. We’ll see."

The two women looked at each other in silence, almost in a hopeful way. If it was true that their children were the chosen ones... there would be enormous challenges and dangers ahead of them.

"Tell me Jessica." Monique then changed the subject, "My brother hates being here, doesn’t he?"

The two women’s eyes rested on Leto talking to some of the Lords of the Great Houses.

"He hates being in the same room with the Harkonnens. But he would never miss his granddaughter’s wedding." 

Jessica’s words made Monique smile.

Her brother, so stubborn but kind-hearted... 

He was the only real man in that room.

The two ladies were not the only ones observing the Duke though: Baron Vladimir was also looking at him with prying eyes.

-That damned Atreides- he thought -It will have to be eliminated sooner or later. -

******

The celebrations continued until late evening.

The newlyweds had little conversations during the festivities: they had exchanged a few fleeting words on trivial topics but nothing more.

Feyd only looked forward to the end of the dinner. He could no longer contain his impatience to spend his wedding night with Megan.

He wanted to see her, to explore her, to claim her as his. A mischievous and perverse smile had been printed on his lips for the whole evening; a smile that Megan immediately understood to be a sign of desire.

If until then she had tried not to think about it, the idea of consuming the wedding began to frighten her. The way he looked at her, like a predator looking at his prey... almost terrified her. 

Was he going to be gentle? Probably not. Was he going to hurt her? It was easy to see how much Feyd loved pain.

As soon as the banquet was over and the couple got up from the table, Megan’s eyes searched desperately for her mother’s.

Monique looked at her, hinting at a comforting smile. She had explained everything she needed to know about a man and how to give him pleasure. She knew she was ready. Yet seeing her like this, almost seeking help, made her heart clench in her chest.

Jeremy clenched his fists as he watched his sister and Feyd leave the room.

- If he dares hurt her, I swear I’ll kill him.- he thought, barely finishing his glass of wine.

******

The door to the room closed behind them with a slight creak.

-It’s done, now I have no way out.- she thought.

She could feel them, she could feel his icy eyes staring at her incessantly. 

She hated being afraid, fear made her feel stupid and vulnerable. Normally she would be able to hide it with forced confidence but at that moment nothing seemed to work.

"Are you afraid of me?" 

Feyd’s hoarse voice made her wince. 

"No."

"My Na-Baroness, you know what I absolutely hate?"

Megan turned slowly, trying to remain impassive.

"What?"

"Liars." He took a step towards her, passing his tongue over his black teeth. "So I will ask you again and I want you to tell me the truth this time: are you afraid of me?"

-I won’t admit it so easily. - she imposed herself, thinning her eyes.

"No."

-She keeps lying. - Feyd thought, caressing her cheek with one finger. He then whispered: "Such a stubborn pet, I will change that."

Megan shuddered, her heart beating faster.

-Pet, I’m not your pet- she thought but remained silent.

Feyd knew she was a virgin. The idea of taking her innocence, of corrupting her... it was enough to make his cock twitching from impatience.

"I’ll be gentle with you this time." he promised with a perverse smile, "Does that reassure you a little?"

The girl felt her stomach tightening with terror. -This time- she repeated in her mind, gulping.

Feyd shook his head, pretending to be disappointed: "It’s rude not to answer when someone asks you a question, pet. Answer me."

Megan struggled to nod. How stupid she had been. How could she not be afraid to marry him? Thinking back, she should have been. She could have used the Voice, but for what purpose? The wedding night had to be consummated anyway and using her secret weapon this quickly wasn’t wise.

"Yes, it reassures me." she lied again.

When Feyd kissed her, Megan made it seem casual. She returned the kiss with the same intensity he was kissing her with, making her tongue touch his. The kiss was intense, rough, wet. 

She slowly began to undress, sliding the straps of the dress along her arms and making it fall to the ground with a slight thud.

Feyd took his lips off hers to admire her. She was just as he had imagined her to be. Her body was harmonious, perfectly proportioned. Her skin was pale, her breasts were abundant and perfectly round, her hips wide. He laid his hands on her butt and then squeezed her flesh, feeling desire growing inside him. 

"Lay on the bed, pet." he ordered, grinning.

Megan obeyed, sitting on the fresh silk sheets. 

It was all new to her. Being seen naked, having sex... she wondered if it would hurt.

"You’re so beautiful and innocent." 

Feyd looked at her with growing desire.

"Now I must prepare you to take me." he explained, unbuttoning his jacket to reveal a muscular and sculpted abdomen "Otherwise I’ll break you, pet, and I don’t want to ruin you. Not now."

Despite the anxiety, the fear, Megan could not deny how beautiful Feyd was.

His body, his shoulders, his strong arms... everything was a pleasant sight.

Feyd approached her, ravenous. He was so close to her that he could feel her agitated breath. Megan’s dark eyes watched him, studying his moves.

"Spread your legs," he ordered, kneeling before her.

Megan obeyed and Feyd almost grinned, eager to find out what she tasted like.

As soon as his tongue touched her sensitive bud Megan could not hold back a moan of pleasure. Feyd’s mouth was tasting her, exploring her already wet folds.

"You taste good, little pet." he said in a hoarse voice before putting his lips back on her.

The girl shuddered, throwing her head back from pleasure. It was a sensation never felt before. Strong, overwhelming, intoxicating.

"Do you like it, little pet?"

Megan couldn’t help herself and moaned again. Feyd’s mouth was experienced, passionate, and she never thought she would have liked it so much.

"If you don’t answer me, I’ll have to stop." he warned her, raising his icy blue eyes to meet hers.

"Yes, yes." she nodded, out of breath "I like it."

Feyd smiled widely, showing his black teeth: "How much?"

"So much."

There was one thing Feyd was particularly proud of: his ability in giving pleasure to women. He knew how and where to touch them, how to make them responsive to his touch, how to make them moan and scream until their voice was lost.

He eagerly licked her intimacy and then started to tease her entrance with one finger, sliding it up and down her wetness. When he inserted it slowly he felt her become stiff, almost retracting from the sensation.

"Don’t run away from me." he said while grabbing her by her thighs to hold her steady.

It took her a few moments to get used to the feeling and to find it pleasant.

When he inserted a second finger, instead of retracting, Megan groaned even louder. She was ready now. Ready to take him.

"Now you’re ready, little pet." he announced to her, getting up.

The girl caught her breath, watching him getting undressed.

The way he was pleasuring her... she wanted more. She watched him take off his pants, revealing his manhood. It bounced as soon as he freed it, already hard at the sight of her completely naked in front of him.

He was so big that Megan wondered how she could take him. It was as white as alabaster, with some bluish veins starting from the base to arrive at the tip, already glistening with precum.

Feyd crawled on the bed, sliding the tip against her wet entrance.

Megan held her breath as soon as he pushed it slowly into her. He began to move inside her, watching her muscles twitch at each thrust.

"If you contract it will be worse." he said in a deep voice, placing a hand on her breast, squeezing it.

At first it was pain, just pain. He was too big for her... he was stretching her at every thrust, her walls tightening around him from the pain.

But after a few moments the pain turned into pleasure, to the point that she could no longer hold back her moans.

"So tight" Feyd muttered, slightly increasing his speed.

-She’s so beautiful, so delicate... I’ll ruin her as soon as I get her used to my cock- he thought, looking intensely into her eyes.

"Feyd." she whispered, feeling his tip hit an unknown spot inside her at each movement.

The way she had pronounced his name with a mesmerized look of pleasure, almost in a whisper... sent him completely over the edge.

Her tight walls tightened, milking his cock as he came inside her, hard. 

A long and guttural moan escaped Feyd’s lips as he could feel his cock twitching.

He slowly came out of her, looking at his cum dripping from her. He bred her properly. 

"You’re bleeding, pet." he said, seeing blood on the sheets.

Megan looked at him again as if she was bewitched, still panting.

The sight of his seed mixed with the blood of her virginity made him feel insatiable.

"But you haven’t come yet." he pointed, kneeling again "Let me make it right."

His lips kissed her clit again, eating her out like a starved man. The ferrous taste of blood mixed with both of their juices was divine. Feyd continued unabated until he heard her tremble, moaning louder and whining.

"Cum for me, darling." he ordered, inserting two fingers, "Don’t be shy."

Megan felt the orgasm coming hard and fast as she shook in pleasure, screaming his name. 

"Feyd, yes!" she screamed as she came against his mouth, rolling her eyes back.

Their panting breaths united to become a unison as their eyes met. 

All the fear that Megan had felt seemed to be gone. Willingly or unwillingly, Feyd had ensured that she would also enjoy herself, trying to be as gentle as possible. She knew it wouldn’t happen again but she would always remember that moment, beautiful in an unexpected way.

-And now? Now what should I do? What should I say? - she thought as her husband laid next to her -My mother did not instruct me on this. -

Megan, who always tried to explain everything with reason, understood that rationality wouldn’t have been useful to her at that moment. She understood that she had to improvise and to follow her instinct.

She did not expect any other kindness from him: he had already tried hard enough. And then it wasn’t necessary. They’d just gotten married and most likely never going to love each other. They just had to generate heirs and bear each other for the rest of their lives, nothing more.

She could live without love.

In the silence of the room Megan also laid down, staring at the ceiling as she tried to breathe regularly.

After a few minutes it was Feyd who broke the silence with his hoarse voice, saying: "Sleep. Tomorrow we will leave at dawn for Giedi Prime. You must rest."

Megan nodded, her stomach squeezing with anxiety.

Tomorrow she would have left her past behind. Tomorrow, her new life would have begun.

Tag list: @mamawiggers1980 @avidreader73 @pomtherine

[greenqueenhightower]

Hey, this may be controversial to some & even offensive but I have to say that Alicent’s motherhood is very understandable to me as someone who grew up in South Asian family. Not making any generalisations, but the community around me & even within my family there are so many Alicents who were robbed of their lives or dreams and given up by their families in arranged marriages. They are expected to uphold their duty as a wife & mother and they end up continuing the vicious cycle of abuse & torment. From my experience & what I have witnessed in my life, they grasp at what little power they have and inflict all that pain & bitterness towards their children. It doesn’t mean they do not love them. It’s such a complex, messed up situation that they will be the first ones to defend their kids from the outside world, but also pass on the cycle of abuse & inflict the pain on them.

It’s probably this cultural differences that makes me empathise and hold onto Alicent a lot. Because her portrayal is so real & heartbreaking to me. She does not live up to the societal ideal view of a mother, she is not even a good mother. But she doesn’t even know how to be one when such behaviour is what’s normalised in her own life. When people say that modern Alicent would be a “woman for Trump” I genuinely don’t get it. It’s such a shallow and surface level reading of her character. Societies like HoTD exist in the modern world & there are many Alicents out there. I think a modern Alicent would probably, hopefully, live in a society where she wouldn’t be tied to her father’s greed or she would even end up having similar life as she does now.

Hi anon 💚

Thank you so much for sharing; you’re making an excellent point about how South Asian women find themselves trapped in that vicious circle of oppression and service to duty, and then it’s difficult for them to express love. Your analysis of Alicent’s character is spot on; I also think that women like Alicent exist nowadays, and there are families who have or have had women like Alicent among them.

Growing older and looking at things from a more distant and healthier perspective, I’ve also realized I’ve met women like Alicent in my life. I understand Alicent’s inability to express love (even if she feels it immensely) because I’ve seen how it’s possible for a mother living her life feeling unloved herself and thinking that she will never be good enough.

I’ve seen women being forced to fulfill the family’s expectations by being married off at a young age, having children and tending the house and upholding the family’s values, only to be impossibly strict and emotionally distant from their children who grow up and have emotionally distant children of their own. These women are grandmothers now and if you ask them what they’d change in their life they’ll tell you they wish they had stayed girls for longer. They never grew up to find, love, and appreciate themselves as it happens in someone’s late teenage years/early adulthood, and they grew to hate themselves for denying themselves any freedom and agency. Their own mind and bodies became the oppressors in the end.

Like you said, the cycle of abuse continues and I’m so glad when people like you write their thoughts on Alicent and her relationship with motherhood because they are so insightful and so in tune with Alicent’s character.

[aidenlydia]

Hey, just letting you know Jack Black isn't a Zionist, Zionism is the belief of Jewish self determination in a Jewish state. Unless he's said anything specifically about that, saying no civilians should be hurt and that Jewish people are afraid right now (true, antisemitic hate crimes have sharply risen) isn't Zionism, and equating that too Zionism is antisemitic and part of the justification for the harassment Jewish people are facing right now even if they aren't talking about what's going on.

It's good to talk about what's going on, but a lot of stuff is drifting hard into antisemitic dogwhistles and conspiracies and Jack Black should definitely be called out for his support of Autism Speaks, but not for saying Jewish people don't deserve hate and expressing concerns about all the civilians and the hostages. It might be helpful to talk to some Jewish folks about it too, even if you don't agree with them.

Jack Black is using the language of Zionists and that is worth criticizing.

1. Calls a literal GENOCIDE “nuanced and hard to understand” which is used by Zionists across the world (including my own country, which supplies Israel with tank ammunition) as an excuse to not call for a ceasefire.

2. Only talks about the images of kidnapped Israelis and attacks by Hamas, not a peep about the *well documented genocide* (doesn’t even use the word).

3. Calls Hamas terrorists - completely ignoring the 75 year long occupation, displacement, imprisonment and murder of the Palestinian people. (It’s ok when white people fight back against oppressors, but not when it’s Arabs)

4. Talks about the rise in antisemitism, but not the continued unaddressed and actively deadly Islamophobia.

These type of posts never focus on the deaths of the Palestinians and heavily criticize Hamas instead of Israel, despite Israel being the aggressor for decades. Yes, rising antisemitism is absolutely a problem and yes it’s the Israeli government that is to blame, not Jewish people. We know that. However that’s no excuse to be this incredibly one-sided and tone-deaf. Not when the Palestinians have been facing ethnical cleansing by an apartheid regime and are now on the brink of obliteration by both starvation and unimaginable amounts of violence, all while the world watches and supports it. Jewish people and Israelis aren’t the only victims here. Ignoring that is simply unacceptable. Jack Black is downplaying Palestinian suffering.

And I know what Jewish people think about this "war". I know Jewish people see this and call it an inexcusable genocide - that Israel started this long before October 7. You know how I know? Because they come to protests and make their stances clear. They aren’t afraid to speak up. This isn’t a Jew vs Muslim war, it never was.

[jewish-vents]

I try not to think about how everyone hates us but sometimes it becomes all I think about.

Like right now. There are a few Tumblr blogs I follow for history and culture. I've been following them for a long time.

How they treat Israel makes me sick to my stomach. They refuse to do Israeli history to try to ignore the fact that Israel exists and will continue to exist. It's stupid. Israel isn't going anywhere plus you do Muslim history when Islam spread through brutal colonization fucking hypocrite. But whatever I guess. They do Palestinian history and call out Israel's wrongdoings. Well that's fine. No problem there. Even though it's clearly biased I don't mind it.

However the way they treat Israel vs Muslim countries makes me so upset. With Israel it's "WOW WHAT AN EVIL COUNTRY I HATE ISRAEL" and then with Muslim countries no mention of how they're oppressors or evil hmm. Even with Mizrahi Jewish history some of these blogs won't be as passionately upset with how Jews in Muslim countries have been oppressed but will be clearly be upset about Palestine and scream and vent.

"Yeah Arab Jews suffered....." vs "PALESTINE HAS BEEN BRUTALLY OPPRESSED BY THE ALL POWERFUL EVIL ISRAEL" words matter. There is a clear difference in tone language and even care. A small mention of yeah being Jewish in Muslim countries sucked versus a long detailed rant about how Palestinians were oppressed in evil Israel means something btw. It means that you see us as inherently evil while also being like well of course youre oppressed youre jewish! As in our oppressions dont matter or seem important because well you are oppressed everywhere. It feels a bit like the 109/110 nazi dogwhistle that says we were kicked out of 109 countries soon to be 110. It feels like it means we're inherently inferior and will be treated as such. A complete dismissal of our pain while saying well of course you suffer thats your natural state as a Jew.

.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Melanie Phillips

Jews — grotesquely designated in “victim culture” as an oppressor class — are the most victimised people on earth. Jew-hatred through the centuries has led to the persecution, attack and murder of millions. Today it continues at epidemic levels which are out of control throughout the west as well as in the Islamic world. 

Antisemites deny this victimisation. They claim that the Jews invent it, “playing the victim card” to conceal their assumed misdeeds and exploitation of others. They believe that Jews use the claim of antisemitism to enable them to “get away with it”. And what exactly do they believe Jews thus “get away with”? Why, that the Jews are a powerful and sinister cabal with global power which they use to further their own interests and harm others — in other words, all the antisemitic canards about the Jews that are a vicious lie but which antisemites believe to be true. 

Such people also resent any evidence of antisemitism because they want to hate the Jews without being prevented from doing so by social opprobrium. They cannot tolerate the truth about Jewish victimisation because that would reveal themselves to be the disgusting people they are. They want to be able to hate the Jews while continuing to drape themselves in the mantle of moral virtue.

Proponents of “victim culture” have a further problem with the victimisation of the Jews. Using their own “victim” status as a social and cultural weapon, they can’t tolerate the fact that the Jews never play the victim card. 

Despite the ever-ending persecution the Jews have suffered, they have always picked themselves up and sought to transcend their pain and distress by making the best out of their lives and the lives of others. 

The only reparations they sought after the Holocaust were to secure the return of what was rightfully theirs and had been stolen from them. They have never demanded that the Catholic church, the British ruling class or the continent of Europe pay reparations for the centuries of persecution they inflicted upon the Jews. They have never assumed that the appalling way the world has treated them means that the world owes them a living. 

They just got on with building positive and productive lives. From the ashes of the Holocaust, they created the spectacularly thriving, life-affirming State of Israel. And in the war that has followed the barbaric atrocities of last year’s October 7 pogrom in Israel, where a terrible toll has been taken of the best and bravest who are still steadily falling in battle, a grieving and traumatised people under constant attack is continuing to display astounding levels of heroism, steadfastness and resilience.

Despite the fact that they have been so badly victimised, Jews choose never to “be” victims, never to live or behave as victims. Stating this fact drives antisemites mad. “But they play the victim card all the time!” they scream. To them, Jew-hatred is a self-serving fiction. They can’t acknowledge the moral necessity of identifying its unique and all-too-real characteristics. They can’t recognise the difference between truth and lies. They can’t stand Jewish resilience. All that matters is maintaining their own warped and malevolent narrative about a world they choose not to understand. And that, of course, is why such people hate the Jews, who show these haters up for what they truly are.  

[henryshakesmear]

Okay so I had A Thought™ about the My Hero Academia ending

Yes I am fully aware that the ending was horrible for literally everyone but BakuDeku and we hate that from the standpoint of someone who wants to see a story's ending spread certain morals (Help and justice for the oppressed, abused and disabled, punishment for the oppressors and abusers).

But if you consider the ending from a standpoint INSIDE the MHA universe, the ending completely makes sense. It's a PERFECT reflection of how we handle disasters caused by people in real life.

The culprit of the disaster is killed off and silenced because everyone either doesn't know their motivation or doesn't want to know. The changes made to society are miniscule and limited to the personal, not systematic, efforts of few. Singular cases of people who could've fallen prey to the societal issue at hand make it out and are regarded as a success for the whole system, when usually it's just luck or their own extreme effort. Nobody continues to protest for the cause because everyone who protested is dead.

From this point of view, I think the ending is perfect. It's exactly how you'd expect it to be. It's realistic.

But obviously we all don't watch shounen anime because we want reality to punch us in the face, there's seinen for that.

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

Decolonisation is beautiful.

Here’s just one example from one small corner of one small Estonian town, Viljandi.

Picture 1: An ugly communist party building and car park, built by the soviet occupiers on top of a memorial they demolished for local people who died fighting for independence.

Pictures 2 & 3: The memorial, lovingly recreated down to every last detail, is back at the heart of a public square.

There are some commentators abroad who like to lecture russia’s neighbours not to “erase history” by removing the scars of occupation.

It’s weird because this kind of thing is normal everywhere else in the world. In fact, the very same people who get particularly upset about occupation monuments being removed here also tend to be very articulate about the importance of removing statues to ousted oppressors elsewhere. They just think russian imperialism gets a free pass.

Newsflash: It doesn’t.

Rather than erase history, plenty of occupation junk across the Baltic countries has been transferred to museums so that future generations can learn about it in its proper context. But it doesn’t belong in our public spaces. Local people here hated that brutal communist party building, which desecrated the memorial in a way so symbolic of the wider ugliness of russian imperialism.

Public spaces belong to the people who actually live here and should reflect the kind of free, modern, open, independent countries that we are - and which remember those who made it possible.

The other bad take on this issue is to constantly frame this kind of thing as a ‘reaction/response/message to russia’. That, again, is imperialist thinking. We make decisions for our countries based on what we want our countries to be. We’d want to remove this kind of junk even if russia had ceased to exist in 1991 or if it had flourished into a friendly democracy.

In fact, here in Viljandi, it took three decades of planning and sculpting to recreate the monument based off grainy photos of the original. The building was finally knocked down a couple of years ago and the memorial unveiled this midsummer.

In the interim, the building was expanded after the occupation to serve as Tourist Information, which was pretty ironic considering the communist aim was to keep us closed to the world. But that has a new home and the time has come to return the space.

There was quite a debate locally about whether to recreate it exactly or update it with some kind of modern reinterpretation. Both are legitimate, interesting ideas.

In the end, the only difference is that the materials are now of a much higher quality. I think they made the right decision.

And the fact that it was recreated in perfect detail by people who never saw the original but emerged from occupation with the same determination to live free does send its own new message from our time too. We will continue to exist.

Decolonisation can suffer setbacks, horrendously painful as we see in Ukraine, but the long term trend is unstoppable. The special protection that russian imperialism still enjoys in the minds of many around the world is starting to shatter.

I stopped by to take a photo of it for you all and a rainbow appeared. 🙂