#and who owns 50% of the province

[ancientcharm]

The last Princeps of Rome

Marcus Aurelius Alexander Severus was born in Arca Caesarea, Syria (present-day Akkar district, Lebanon) on 1 October 208. Unlike all assassinated emperors before him, the Senate mourned the assassination of this young Princeps for decades.

He was proclaimed emperor at the age of thirteen on 13 March 222, two days after the death of his predecessor Elagabalus. The historian Dio Cassius, who served as consul, describes Alexander Severus' character as calm and peaceful. He was characterized above all by his religious tolerance; He believed that "everyone is free to freely profess his beliefs." He had an extraordinarily kind attitude towards Christians and Jews.

During his early years, the government was really left in the hands of his grandmother Julia Maesa and his mother Julia Avita Mamaea who dedicated themselves to cleaning up the financial mess left by Elagabalus. His grandmother died in August 224. In 226 He married Sallustia Barbia Orbiana, with whom he had no children and two years later she was banished by order of Julia Mamaea.

As he grew older, Alexander began to make his own decisions. He faced the Sassanians who began to establish their new empire replacing the Parthians. In 230 they attacked the province of Mesopotamia. Alexander gathered an army to begin his military campaign in 231. In 233 Ardacher, king of the Sassanians, withdrew from the newly conquered provinces. Severus Alexander considered this a victory and had a triumph.

A year later, the Germans began to attack the northern borders of the empire. Alexander headed there with his troops and to gain time he sent gifts to the leaders of the enemy peoples. The soldiers took advantage of this to accuse him of a "cowardly" act. In fact the whole army hated him for not continuing with the policy initiated by the first of the Severan Dynasty (Septimius): paying exorbitant salaries to the army. Septimius Severus since the year 193 did this in his day to ensure the loyalty of the troops, as did his son 'Caracalla'. This made the army fill with an excessive ambition and began to see the position of emperor as something that could be taken by force. The young Alexander understood the danger and drastically lowered the salaries of the army: but it was too late.

On 18 March 235 the 26-year-old Emperor Alexander Severus was assassinated by his own soldiers in a camp near Moguntiacum (modern Mainz, Germany). They then killed his mother J. Mamea and proclaimed Maximinius the Thracian as the new emperor. Three years later, after the death of Maximinus the Thracian, the Senate deified Alexander Severus.

The death of Severus Alexander meant the end of the Principate created by Augustus in 27 BC. The government of Maximinus the Thracian was the beginning of 50 years of anarchy with 26 emperors along with countless aspirants to the throne. Except for one, all of them died violently. It is the era of the "soldier-emperors", or "The crisis of the third century" characterized by constant internal struggles that lasted until the arrival of Diocletian to power, who saved Rome from its total collapse- 200 years before the fall of the western empire- by creating the Dominate.

Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD), from Ryakia, Archaeological Museum, Dion

Photography by Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA 2.0)

[centrally-unplanned]

Gonna make this a quick one since I just don’t have the spoons for a really big effort post: Pre-CCP 20th Century China Did Not Have Feudal or Slave-like Land Tenancy Systems

Obviously what counts as “slave-like” is going to be subjective, but I think it's common, for *ahem* reasons, for people to believe that in the 1930’s Chinese agriculture was dominated by massive-scale, absentee landlords who held the large majority of peasant workers in a virtual chokehold and dictated all terms of labor.

That is not how Chinese land ownership & agricultural systems worked. I am going to pull from Chinese Agriculture in the 1930s: Investigations into John Lossing Buck’s Rediscovered ‘Land Utilization in China’ Microdata, which is some of the best ground-level data you can get on how land use functioned, in practice, in China during the "Nanjing Decade" before WW2 ruins all data collection. It looks at a series of north-central provinces, which gives you the money table of this:

On average, 4/5ths of Chinese peasants owned land, and primarily farmed land that they owned. Tenancy was, by huge margins, the minority practice. I really don’t need to say more than this, but I'm going to because there is a deeper point I want to make. And it's fair to say that while this is representative of Northern China, Southern China did have higher tenancy rates - not crazy higher, but higher.

So let's look at those part-owner farmers; sounds bad right? Like they own part of their land, but it's not enough? Well, sometimes, but sometimes not:

A huge class (about ~1/3rd) of those part-owners were farming too much land, not too little; they were enterprising households renting land to expand their businesses. They would often engage in diversified production, like cash crops on the rented land and staple crops on their owned land. Many of them would actually leave some of their owned land fallow, because it wasn’t worth the time to farm!

Meanwhile the small part-owners and the landless tenant farmers would rent out land to earn a living…sometimes. Because that wasn’t the only way to make a living - trades existed. From our data, if you are a small part-owner, you got a substantial chunk of your income from non-farm labor; if you owned no land you got the majority of your income from non-farm labor:

(Notice how that includes child labor by default, welcome to pre-modernism!)

So the amount of people actually doing full-tenancy agriculture for a living is…pretty small, less than 10% for sure. But what did it look like for those who do? The tenancy rates can be pretty steep - 50/50 splits were very common. But that is deceiving actually; this would be called “share rent”, but other systems, such as cash rents, bulk crop rents, long-term leases with combined payment structures, etc, also existed and were plentiful - and most of those had lower rent rates. However, share rent did two things; one, it hedged against risk; in the case of a crop failure you weren't out anything as the tenant, a form of insurance. And two, it implied reciprocal obligations - the land owner was providing the seed, normally the tools as well, and other inputs like fertilizer.

Whether someone chose one type of tenancy agreement or the other was based on balancing their own labor availability, other wage opportunities, the type of crop being grown, and so on. From the data we have, negotiations were common around these types of agreements; a lot of land that was share rent one year would be cash rent another, because the tenants and market conditions shifted to encourage one or the other form.

I’m doing a little trick here, by throwing all these things at you. Remember the point at the top? “Was this system like slavery?” What defines slavery? To me, its a lack of options - that is the bedrock of a slave system. Labor that you are compelled by law to do, with no claim on the output of that work. And as I hit you with eight tiers of land ownership and tenancy agreements and multi-source household incomes, as you see that the median person renting out land to a tenant farmer was himself a farmer as a profession and by no means some noble in the city, what I hope becomes apparent is that the Chinese agricultural system was a fully liquid market based on choice and expected returns. By no means am I saying that it was a nice way to live; it was an awful way to live. But nowhere in this system was state coercion the bedrock of the labor system. China’s agricultural system was in fact one of the most free, commercial, and contract-based systems on the planet in the pre-modern era, that was a big source of why China as a society was so wealthy. It was a massive, moving market of opportunities for wages, loans, land ownership, tenancy agreements, haggled contracts, everyone trying in their own way to make the living that they could.

It's a system that left many poor, and to be clear injustices, robberies, corruption, oh for sure were legion. Particularly during the Warlord Era mass armies might just sweep in and confiscate all your hard currency and fresh crops. But, even ignoring that the whole ‘poverty’ thing is 90% tech level and there was no amount of redistribution that was going to improve that very much, what is more important is that the pre-modern world was *not* equally bad in all places. The American South was also pretty poor, but richer than China in the 19th century. And being a slave in the American South was WAY worse than being a peasant in China during times of peace - because Confederate society built systems to remove choice, to short-circuit the ebb and flow of the open system to enshrine their elite ‘permanently’ at the top. If you lived in feudal Russia it was a good deal worse, with huge amounts of your yearly labor compelled by the state onto estates held by those who owned them unimpeachably by virtue of their birthright (though you were a good deal richer just due to basic agriculture productivity & population density, bit of a tradeoff there).

If you simply throw around the word “slavery” to describe every pre-modern agricultural system because it was poor and shitty, that back-doors a massive amount of apologia for past social systems that were actively worse than the benchmarks of the time. Which is something the CCP did; their diagnosis of China’s problem for the rural poor of needing massive land redistribution was wrong! It was just wrong, it was not the issue they were having. It was not why rural China was often poor and miserable. It could help, sure, I myself would support some compensated land redistribution in the post-war era as a welfare idea for a fiscally-strapped state. But that was gonna do 1% of the heavy lifting here in making the rural poor's lives better. And I don’t think we should continue to the job of spreading the CCP's propaganda for them.

There ya go @chiefaccelerator, who alas I was not permitted to compel via state force into writing this for me, you Qing Dynasty lazy peasant.

[tomorrowusa]

Another mysterious infectious fatal disease has emerged outside the US.

At least 79 people have died from an unknown disease that is causing flu-like symptoms in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry says. The health ministry says the majority of people who have died are between the ages of 15 and 18. More than 300 people have been infected with patients exhibiting symptoms like fever, headaches, runny noses and coughs, breathing difficulties and anaemia.

If you do the math, this infection has a death rate of over 25%. It also targets young people like the deadly "Spanish Flu" pandemic of 1918-1919. Being "flu-like" means it may be difficult to distinguish from typical seasonal influenza. That also implies that it could easily be transmitted like the flu.

Response teams have been sent to Kwango Province, specifically the Panzi health zone, where the disease is most common, to manage cases and investigate the nature of the disease. Cephorien Manzanza, a civil society leader, told Reuters news agency the situation was worrying as the number of infected people continues to rise. "Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines," he said. A World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa region official told the BBC they have "dispatched a team to the remote area to collect samples for lab investigations". Authorities have urged the population to remain calm and vigilant.

Kwango Province is adjacent to the region where the capital Kinshasa (pop. 17 million) is located.

If the Kwango infection spreads to the US after Trump's inauguration, we would be in even worse shape than when COVID-19 came to the US. Instead of Dr. Anthony Fauci, we'd have anti-vaxxing quacks like RFK Jr. and other clowns running American public health.

Trump himself would try to underplay a new pandemic the way he did in 2020. In case you've forgotten, this was his reaction to the first case of COVID in the US...

Trump waited until March 13th to declare a state of emergency. COVID had already spread to most of the US during the 50 days he hoped the infection would just go away on its own.

Urge your US senator to reject any Trump public health nominee who does not accept standard scientific and medical thinking related to infectious diseases.

In the meantime, it's a good idea to catch up on related vaccinations such as seasonal flu, COVID boosters, and RSV before the December holidays.

[lectorel]

Modern Thedasians in Inquisition:

(Yes, I am riffing on the Modern Girl in Thedas concept.)

Post-Reformation Qunari: Viddathari mage, under the arigena as silversmith, who only ever learned about the pre-reformation Qun's attitude towards mages as 'a product of what was known at the time'. Went through 'possession-proofing' at ten, which was mildly traumatic, but, you know, fair trade-off for being able to live without things trying to crawl inside their head.

The pre-reformation Qun, as embodied by the things the Iron Bull says about it, deeply troubles her, and she's constantly having small crises of faith. She grew up being taught that the problems of pre-reform were only due to what was not known to them at the time, and that any pre-reform qunari given the correct information would naturally adopt the post-reform view. The fact that this is not proving true is leading her to wonder how rational their society's beliefs actually are.

Especially troubled by the gender thing, since post-reform Qun has moved to seeing gender as a function of role: all those governed by the ariqun use zi/zir pronouns, those by the arishok use he/him, and those by the arigena use she/her. She's very bad at remembering what people's genders are, since to her, everyone is walking around with very clear gender signifiers that are not correct. Except Dagna, who is, in her mind, the only damn person in Skyhold who makes sense. 

Western Tevinter Vulgerati: Tevinter split in two in a massive civil war several generations before his birth, the outcome of which has resulted in the western liberationist province, and the eastern slave-holding province. Technically still the same country, but only because neither side will acknowledge the other as its own nation.

Western Tevinter has a split government - The House of the Magisterium and the Publicanium Assembly. The Magisterium's members are all mages, elected from a limited pool of candidates put forward by Altus houses. The Publicanium is non-mages from Vulgerati Houses, and seats are inherited.

Western Tevinter has a semi-regimated society, with Altus (mage) and Vulgerati (non-mage) houses theoretically being equals at the top of the heap. Below them are the Lanteans, land-owners, and below them the Soperati, the working class.

The herald is the adopted son of a vulgerati house, specifically adopted because the blood heirs all developed magic, and under western province laws, they can't inherit a vulgerati title. (The blood heirs are less than pleased with this, and their parents are trying to find an Altus house they can be married into.) He has vague memories about learning about Corypheus, but only in the context of 'that guy who pissed off the rest of the world so bad we spent a couple decades in a cold war. Did something to the fade, I think? I don't know, it's not exactly relevant to my life. If you want to know the past 50 years of covert warfare and political maneuvering, that I can tell you about.'

Is continuously appalled by Dorian 'allegedly a progressive' Pavus, because "by the old gods, man, there are a lot of possible outcomes between 'being comfortable as a slave' and 'being poor while free', how do you not see this?"

[mariacallous]

BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents breached Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo after blowing up two car bombs on Friday and were clashing with government forces on the city’s western edge, according to a Syria war monitor and fighters.

It was the first time the city has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when they were ousted from Aleppo’s eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

Witnesses in Aleppo city said residents have been fleeing neighborhoods on the western edge of the city because of missiles and exchanges of fire. The government did not comment on insurgents breaching city limits.

Syria’s Armed Forces said in a statement Friday it has been clashing with insurgents in the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, destroying several of their drones and heavy weapons. It vowed to repel the attack and accused the insurgents of spreading false information about their advances.

Thousands of insurgents have been advancing toward Aleppo city since a shock offensive they launched on Wednesday, seizing several towns and villages along the way.

The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, who had backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battle at home.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the insurgents blew up two car bombs at the city’s western edge on Friday.

An insurgent commander issued a recorded message posted on social media calling on the city’s residents to cooperate with the advancing forces.

Turkey state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the opposition insurgents entered Aleppo city center Friday. It said the insurgents “broke through the defense lines of the regime forces along the Hamdaniyya, New Aleppo, and Zahra axis on the outskirts of the city.”

It added the insurgents now control approximately 70 locations in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Syria’s state media reported earlier Friday that projectiles from insurgents landed in the student accommodations at Aleppo’s university in the city center, killing four people, including two students. Public transportation to the city had also been diverted from the main highway linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus to avoid clashes, the report said.

Fighters also advanced on the town of Saraqab, in northwestern Idlib province, a strategic area that would secure supply lines to Aleppo.

This week’s advances were one of the largest by opposition factions, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, and comes after weeks of low simmering violence. It is most intense fighting in northwestern Syria since 2020, when government forces seized areas previously controlled by opposition fighters.

Syria’s Armed Forces said the insurgents are violating a 2019 agreement that de-escalated fighting in the area, which has been the last remaining opposition stronghold for years.

The war monitor Observatory said dozens of fighters from both sides have been killed in the battles that started Wednesday. The insurgents have seized control of more than 50 villages in their advance, which seem to have caught the government forces unprepared.

Hezbollah, the lead group in an Iran-linked alliance that has backed Syria’s government, has been locked in a war with Israel that escalated since September. A cease-fire was announced Wednesday, the day the Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.

“Hezbollah was the main force in the government’s control of the city,” said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Observatory.

The insurgents reported earlier Friday that fighters had wrested control of the Scientific Research Center neighborhood, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the western outskirts of Aleppo city. Government-linked media denied the insurgents have seized it.

The Associated Press was not able to immediately verify the claims.

Insurgents posted videos online showing they were using drones in their advance, a new weapon they had not had previously in the earlier stages of their confrontation with government forces. It was not clear to what extent the drones were used on the battleground.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, reporting from Idlib, said insurgents attacked a military airbase southeast of Aleppo city with drones early Friday, destroying a helicopter. It said the opposition groups seized heavy weapons, depots and military vehicles belonging to the government forces during their advance.

Aid groups said the fighting has displaced thousands of families, and forced some services to be suspended. The opposition fighters said their offensive will allow the return of thousands of displaced people who were forced to flee government bombardment in recent weeks.

The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters since the 2011 protests against Bashar Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.

Russia and Iran and its allied groups had helped Syrian government forces reclaim control of all of Aleppo that year, after a gruelling military campaign and a siege that lasted for weeks.

Turkey has been a main backer of an array of opposition forces and its troops have established military presence in parts of northwestern Syria. Separately and largely in the east of Syria, the United States has supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants.

[southeastasianists]

Since February 1, 2021, when the Burmese military seized power in a coup, ending a decade-long period in which they had allowed multiparty democracy limited by the army’s claim of 25 percent of the seats in parliament, a violent civil war has raged throughout the country. It has killed over eight thousand civilians and displaced 4.6 million, a quarter of whom have left Myanmar entirely.

In the three years of fighting since the outbreak of the civil war, anti-coup forces have largely succeeded in confining the junta to cities. Only 14 percent of Myanmar’s territory, and 33 percent of its population, are under military control. In response to the military coup in 2021, a cross section of Burmese society, including unions, youth, women, civil servants, and health workers organized thousands of protests against the junta in the Spring Revolution. But as the junta responded with live bullets, assassinations, sexual violence, communications blackouts, and mass detentions, much of the pro-democracy movement took up arms.

Three years later, guerrillas routinely ambush junta forces in the central lowlands, which are effectively surrounded by dozens of armed groups in provinces that have since independence never truly been controlled by the central government. Military rule in Myanmar was always predicated on a suppression of ethnic minorities, most notably the Rohingya, who faced persecution and denial of citizenship under the rule of Aung San Suu Kyi. Consequently, opposition to the junta has largely taken the form of ethnic armed organizations.

The military’s attacks on rural areas have forced anti-coup forces to construct their own organizational structures, not all of which ally themselves with the ousted 2021 government. Outnumbered and isolated, the military has largely retreated to cities and garrisons from which it launches indiscriminate air strikes, dodges sanctions, and tries to maintain Russia and China’s economic and military support, although the latter has of late been putting pressure on the junta to accept another ceasefire. The People’s Republic helped to broker cease-fires between the junta and its opponents in January and June of this year.

Over the last few weeks, ethnic armed organizations have made significant gains. The Three Brotherhood Alliance, made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army, control an area larger than Belgium in the north of the country with close trade ties to China. Last week, the alliance successfully captured Lashio, the headquarters of the military junta’s Northeast Regional Command, and it is also in control of Mogok, the center of Myanmar’s world-leading ruby industry. The city of Lashio, the first of the junta’s fourteen military command centers to fall, is essential to controlling the expansive Shan State. With these victories, anti-coup forces hope to take control not just of territory, but vital economic and political centers and weaken the military’s decade-long grip on power within the country.

The Generals Protect Themselves

Myanmar’s military refers to itself as the Tatmadaw (Royal Armed Forces), but the average Burmese knows it less glamorously as the Sit-Tat (military). Myanmar’s military has dominated the country’s politics for eighty years, fighting British and Japanese occupiers and then communist insurgents and ethnic militias throughout the turbulent 1940s and ’50s. In its half-century (1962–2011) of one-party rule, the Sit-Tat subjected Myanmar to a torpor of stage-managed politics, economic catastrophe, and international isolation. Dictator Ne Win (1962–1988) initially attempted a Buddhist-socialist hybrid that glorified the military without handing real power to peasants and workers. Shock nationalization largely transferred Indian, Chinese, and Western assets into the generals’ hands, while mismanaged agricultural and financial policies condemned most Burmese to abject poverty.

After the economy collapsed, Ne Win and the Sit-Tat’s ideology and structure became more malleable, contorting into whatever preserved military dominance. The boiling point came with the 8888 Uprising (August 8, 1988), a broad-based, pro-democracy protest movement that still inspires today’s opposition. The Sit-Tat shot and killed thousands of protesters, and though Ne Win was ultimately ousted, the military maintained its grip with mass detentions, torture, arson, and executions. Afterward, the Sit-Tat largely shed its ideological posturing and redoubled efforts at self-preservation and self-enrichment. It created an artificial capital (Naypyidaw) to escape urban protesters, built up a domestic weapons industry to fend off its citizens, and captured significant portions of the Burmese economy to exchange for its officers’ loyalty.

By the time the Sit-Tat finally conceded to democratic elections in 2015, a wealthy caste of officers and their families inhabited a vast patronage network whose lavish lifestyles were funded by confiscated land, factories in which abuse took place, and sweltering mines. Even pro-democracy officers and some within the democratic opposition shared with the military a commitment to the suppression of minorities and kleptocratic rule. But the 2021 coup proved that even this concession was too much for the military, which, under General Min Aung Hlaing, once again turned to brute force to preserve its dominance.

The Political Economy of Military Rule

Today’s military oligarchy does not rely on any one export or industry. Resources, consumer items, manufacturing, and land are all plundered by the military and its associates. Jade, gold, rubies, lumber, oil, gas, and clothing are either owned by officers, gifted to associates, sold to the highest bidder, or protected for foreign corporations. Any opportunity for extraction, extortion, and profit is ruthlessly exploited through systematic, decades-old practices of forced labor, union busting, land expropriation, public embezzlement, and corruption in licensing and procurement.

The Sit-Tat surrounds Chinese mines and oil facilities with deadly landmines and sends soldiers to break up strikes at garment factories. Corporations owned by current and former generals or their family members, like the massive Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Ltd (MEHL), make billions of dollars for the Sit-Tat’s upper echelon through complex webs of investments and money laundering. All the while, the average government soldier scrounges for food and goes into battle without adequate training or equipment.

The inequality and plunder that are the basis of Myanmar’s economy have been well-integrated into international supply chains and financial networks, both before and after the coup. As Myanmar reopened to international investment in 2011–12, states and multinational corporations became heavily involved in all of the industries central to the country’s economy, despite continued human-rights abuses, widespread corruption, and the clear role of the Sit-Tat in many of these industries. A host of international corporations and state actors have remained essential partners for the Sit-Tat ever since, even as it carried out a vicious military campaign in Kachin State in 2012, invaded Shan State in 2015, and committed genocide against the Rohingya in 2017.

Today, the Sit-Tat bombs civilians with Russian airplanes serviced with Indian parts and running on jet fuel shipped by Chinese and Vietnamese companies while Singaporean and Thai banks facilitate weapons procurement for the Sit-Tat’s state banks. The coup has not deterred Australian mining companies, put off state-owned Israeli and Indonesian arms manufacturers, or halted a European Union trade agreement that allegedly promotes workers’ rights from coming into effect. Ultimately, though states maintain complex relationships with the junta, sometimes sanctioning, regulating, or divesting from these dealings, the Sit-Tat’s economic architecture remains diverse and extensive. Divestment and sanctions have been slow and incomplete, all while Myanmar’s ordeal continues.

Working Against the Junta

Every day, Myanmar’s workers experience this military oligarchy firsthand. Even if the junta were to follow the law, Myanmar’s worker protections have long been inadequate. Workers face frequent, arbitrary wage cuts and wage theft, long hours and appalling working conditions, forced and unpaid overtime, restrictions on speech and assembly, dismissal and arrest, and sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. Employers frequently call in the Sit-Tat, its police force, or pro-junta militias to break strikes or intimidate workers. Employers even maintain agreements with the military that allow soldiers to enter factories at will to arrest organizers.

In the mines supplying the world with jade and rubies, miners have little protection from arbitrary violence meted out by gangsters, militias, and soldiers, to say nothing of the dangers of oxygen shortages and cave-ins. Women (though not exclusively) across Myanmar face serious risks from sex traffickers, sexual extortion and abuse by employers and soldiers, or sexual violence and torture in the junta’s many overcrowded detention centers. School closures and poverty have created widespread child labor, while LGBTQ populations have lost much of their socioeconomic autonomy in a targeted campaign by the junta and its supporters.

Despite all the hurdles, Myanmar’s diverse workers are prolific organizers. There were three thousand unions registered by 2021, and they routinely went on strike, including widespread walkouts in the garment industry in 2019. Unions like the Federation of Garment Workers would then be at the forefront of the protests and civil disobedience campaign after the coup. The junta was quick in banning sixteen large unions for supposedly failing to register, but general strikes still shut down the country as railroad operators, civil servants, and doctors and nurses took to the streets for months. In Myanmar’s largest industrial district, Hlaingthaya, workers spent six weeks shutting down production before the Sit-Tat violently stormed the township and killed multiple people. Despite great personal risk, workers and protesters mobilized over Facebook and called for domestic and international boycotts of businesses with ties to the military.

After the protests were repressed and Myanmar descended into war, workers were left under the watchful and repressive eye of the junta, which clung to its urban strongholds. Their very proximity to the junta’s vital sources of income ensure workers and organizers are constant targets for surveillance, harassment, arrest, and prosecution. While they constitute an essential pro-democracy base for the opposition, Myanmar’s laborers have had to endure three years of war and economic crisis. Yet they remain resilient. On February 1, 2024, even within the junta’s grip, workers and supporters managed to shut down Myanmar’s towns and cities in a “silent strike” commemorating the third anniversary of the coup. It remains to be seen how much longer they will have to wait for a semblance of stability.

[fanficfish]

hetalia thoughts: america's states/canada's provinces HC

idk these were jus some thoughts i had about it. i'll go deeper if anyone asks.

also there was something i wanted to mention but i forgot it.

so if you don't know US history: basically Europe came over and settled in a bunch of places. Like, a lot of places. Alllll the way down the coast. These colonies were separate but most had the same idea of "hey new land! let's get some resources and stuffs and things!" Jamestown wasn't under the same local rule as New York, for example.

now in Hetalia, we know colonies, staets, provinces, etc. can have personifications, because personifciation represent the people. So if you have enough people claiming a certain place as their home, you could get a personification. E.g. American settlers were English but thought of themselves as a little more then that so America pops up.

And I like to think America is Jamestown (I think Canada miiight have been New France's Canada since that came under British rule after the Seven Years' war), obviously they don't call them that in the canon but they also use modern names for countries across the board regardless of time period soooo whatever with that. Eventually of course the colonies grow, but there's a good chance there were other colonies personified, especially in Canada with the French Canadians and the Arcadians and what is now Florida. But Brittain decided to take the two colonies he probably thought were the most likely to do something great for him so we got America and Canada meeting and hanging out for a while. The long times England is gone, he's probably at his other colonies and trying to divide his time equally, or to an extent anyways.

Jamestown also served as the the colonel capital for a while, so this would also add to that. Canada is Canada, and I personally think he was just all of New France (America of course is just weird and we all get insulted if you think we're from a different place, America the country was probably literally just the Jamestown area and maybe Roanoke Island and the other small colonies of the colony, who knows)

anyways considering there were so many colonies and many had different purposes (religious freedom, the Pennsylvania thing, common language differences, reactions to natives, etc.), there were almost definitely more then just two dudes.

moving on from that, I think America as we know him kind of became the "ringleader" of sorts for the 13 colonies' rebellion. He was the first permanent colony, he was at a central location, and he knew England well because England hung out with him so much. And since Canada was fighting on England's side, it would make sense to maybe not have him up north having to fight him (although that didn't really stop Canada ofc). Since the 13 states were technically each their own, it's likely there were 13 American personifications (or at least a couple, depending on how strong the colonists' identity as part of their state needs to be for that to happen).

Eventually when America became the 50 states and Canada became a bunch of provinces and territories, I think America and Canada kind of became like the representation of "being American/'Canadian". America I think became like Washington D.C. - he's the main guy the diplomats talk to, he's the one deciding "oh ima go bother Japan and hang out with him", while his states all do their own things (for non americans yes we have state pride. My friend from Arizona likes to yell that he's from Arizona (walking around in winter with flipflops) and there's a bit of rivalry between Northerners and Southlanders in California)). Canada is the same, and I think his nightmare about Quebec might prove he's not Quebec (they seem pretty set on staying French Canadian) and he's just been general-Canada.

Now that i think of it, America might have jsut been "whoever is the capital rn that's me". Would make sense as Virginia and Maryland gave up land to make Washington D.C.

So how exactly do the states/territories in America and Canada's provinces/territories work?

Well, like I said- they're all personified. There's more then enough people, and the US I know even has laws about "you need x amount of people to be a state". Probably just add "you have a personification" to that list. I imagine that most of them are around middle-highschool age, a few like California or New York who could rank as small countries might be tipping on the edge of 17-18 physically But America or Canada would be the oldest of their broods respectively, and it'd kind of be like how Japan has all his provinces and they sort of act like assistants. States on the lower end of the spectrum, like in the Midwest, would be younger for sure. The whole territories thing is the same- Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, the Phillipines when they were under America, Hawai'i before it became a state, etc. would all have been younger and if they got a new title (independent or statehood), they would age up a bit as normal. Think Iceland going from territory slowly growing before speedrunning puberty in the 1900s.

And ofc there's little cliques and groups. Border states between Canada and America like to join each others' sports leagues, for example, and people sometimes cross the border if things on the other side are closer, heck if memory serves me there's even an airport cut in half because of the border. Though there's a fascinating video or two on YouTube about the no-touch line that's just canonical real-life America and Canada being sibligns and complaining the other touched their islands. Naturally those border states are much closer relationship-wise. The Southern states have their own thing going on (for a while they tried to be rebels and went through their punk era), the New England states have their own deal, etc.

and of course personalities differ! Quebec is quite set in his way (complete with Marukaite Chikyuu). California complains constantly about gas prices while their neighbors complain about California's inability to not go on fire every summer, Florida is Florida, Winsconsin has a cheese obsession, etc.

The key difference for me though is that Canadian provinces and territories are all under Canada but in America, each state is its own little country. So while fundamentally they'd serve similar purposes, America's assistants are....well, they're a bit more free-range lol.

Also! America probably just lets his states go freerange (most of them are nearly his age anyways they'll be fiiiine they're American-) so unlike Japan or France whose regions live nearby or with them, America's live in their respective states and Canada's are probably the same considering the size of their countries. I presume most countries' places do this (Japan's house might be in Osaka and that's why we get to see him as Japan's assistant.)

so basically tldr: The American states are mini countries (they technically are-) and the provinces/territories just exist the same way Japan's and China's do. America and Canada were also probably never actual states. Probably.

thank you for coming to my utterly useless rambly tedtalk.

also random thought but Hawai'i is the American version of Europeans going to France for the summer.

[wifeguyrambles]

Bram Stoker Doesn't Understand Maps

Good Morning degenerates, My girlfriend has finally got me to use tumblr because I need an avenue to vent my rage and frustration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dracula Daily was off to a great start. I was sending wholesome messages to my lovely partner until all of a sudden. I was filled with rage. Despite being set in the 1890s. As a contemporary text set when it was written, and being in the wake of the great Hungarian Revolution of 1849. There are too many geographical issues and I can only come to a single conclusion.

Bram Stoker doesn't understand maps.

Let's start with what killed me first. His claim that by claiming that crossing the Danube into Budapest "Took us among the traditions of Turkish rule"

But my friends. HUNGARY WAS (almost) NEVER RULED BY THE TURKS. The Ottomans got close, they owned most of the Balkans until big daddy Russia beat their asses in the Crimean and Russo-Turkish war. But even at their territorial peak they hadn't crossed the Carpathian Mountains into Hungary since 1699.

And even then, they'd only controlled Hungary since 1541. Nowhere near enough time to describe Hungarian architecture as "among the traditions of Turkish rule", it's fucking blasphemous.

It's like saying the Welsh bear "the traditions of Viking rule" just because they controlled parts of England.

And don't even get me started on this nonsense Transylvanian nationalism. The Hapsburgs had annexed that territory since 1683 and Transylvanian princes were quickly replaced with Habsburg imperial governors as the Roman Catholic Church was weaponized against the traditionally Protestant lands.

Now don't get me wrong. Austria Hungary was notoriously decentralized, and despite this what I've said above. Transylvania had some level of freedom, I could almost understand Bram if his writings were set 50 years earlier, or perhaps partway through the Hungarian revolution. But unfortunately for history, it was completely and unequivocally crushed by the Russian and Austrian forces. And following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 any special status Transylvania once had, had ended. It became a province under the Hungarian diet and referring to it as though it was an independent nation is laughable.

Or is it? You see, just like sex and gender. A nation and a state are two different things. You see, a state is defined by its ability to have sovereignty, (control) over the going on within its defined borders. Whereas a nation is basically a group of people with a common language, history, and culture. And just like sex and gender, despite the fact that most countries (after ww2 at least but that's a different tangent) are nation-states, there are many nations without states (like the Kurds or the Palestinians). We're not lucky enough to have states without nations just yet but I'm holding out hope.

Perhaps Signor Stoker was simply referring to this concept of nationality instead. IS WHAT I WOULD SAY IF I WAS AN IDIOT. YOU SEE "In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the East and North"

This quote proves that this foppish fool of a man is clearly not viewing Transylvania as a nation in the sociological sense either.

BUT IT GETS WORSE. FOR BRAMOTHY STOKERSON SAYS TRANSYLVANIA BORDERS "Moldavia and Bukovina". BUT MOLDAVIA HASN'T EXISTED SINCE 1877, WHEN IT AND WALLACHIA UNIFIED INTO ROMANIA. AND BUKOVINA (as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) HAD ITS SOVEREIGNTY DESTROYED AT THE SAME TIME THE TRANSYLVANIANS DID.

In conclusion. Big Boss Bram has never read a map in his life.

[snoozefestalert]

Message to usamericans

This will be divided into multiple talking points. I am posting this mostly anonymously to avoid harassment.

This a message to US American's from a US American.

"Why are you posting such a serious work on the gay porn writing website?" Because it is a prime example of minorities banding together in order to achieve one large thing, I've seen Archive reach its annual goal of thousands of dollars within a DAY. Additionally, we can do something small to make difference, hopefully this can be a part of that. At the very least, I just want to get you thinking and at the very most, I want you to get your feet on the ground.

Before you jump in my ass, again, I am American. Don't play with me.

It is often we see that American's are called selfish, stubborn, lazy, entitled, stupid and inconsiderate. And I understand that it is difficult to not become upset when someone is making a judgment about who you are without having met you personally, especially if you are a minority or your circumstances are less than ideal.

However, understand that great privilege comes with being American, we benefit from imperalism. It is an ugly truth, but everything and every comfort we have is from the blood and tears of the innocent, many from the people slaughtered our own soil and many many more overseas. The American government is not deserving of such graces, we all know that, but it holds great power, regardless if we want it to or not. And people's frustrations with America and American's comes from a great and old rage of being oppressed by the American occupation.

Secondly, and quite frankly, selfishly. If you not want be labeled as a "Stupid and Selfish American" Do not act like one. I understand this may cause controversy but please hear me out.

How do you treat people who speak English with an accent, which could very well be their second or even fifth language, in private? How many languages do you know? Do you automatically assume someone is from the states when you speak to them in an online space? Did you even bother to ask?

Do you understand what people say when they speak of US centrism? Have you heard of the term, and if you have, how deeply do you think it goes?

I see other Americans online make these statement's:

"America is many counties in a trench coat."

- I know 50% of us say this in jest, know that 50% genuinely believe that. No, it is not. States vary in many things like laws and accents and what is considered to be polite. This is also the case, literally everywhere else. What made you assume that we were the only one's to do that? America is big, yes, but I beg of you to know, the rest of the world is even bigger.

"People outside the US can't even name all 50 states! They can't even name the capital of every state!" —

- First of all, can you? Can you name the capital of any country outside of the US that isn't in Europe? Name all the Canadian provinces and territories off the dome! When was the last time you REALLY looked at a world map? And I mean REALLY looked at it. Do you own a map, a globe, anything? They are not expensive. When was the last time you went out of your way to learn a culture that was not your own without it being in an academic setting?

"Our education system is bad!"

- Yes. I am aware. I was born and raised in one of the most dangerous cities in the country. My elementary school doesn't even exist anymore. I remember playing on the playground during recess and then my classmates and I had to lay flat because a shootout had begun and our one teacher couldn't rally all thirty of us inside in time without risking any of us getting hurt. Do you really think we are the only one's who suffer from education not being prioritized? Do you think we suffer the most? Why do you think that?

- Yes, there were many things I was not taught in school. There were times where I would be in an online space and people were making fun of Americans for not knowing who a recently deceased public figure was. My initial response was to be offended, but then I sat and I thought about it. And I had no-fucking- clue who this person was or what atrocities he had committed. They were right. So you know what I did? I liked the post for later and went and researched it myself. I didn't leave a comment talking about how poor or education system was or how it wasn't my fault I didn't know. The internet is at your fingertips, please, it is your greatest tool in more ways than one. The man in question, by the way? Henry Kissinger. The wealthy American man who bombed Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in the name of American power, money and greed.

- When I said the internet was, is, your greatest tool, I meant it. Why do you think your schools didn't teach you that? Why do you think everyone outside the US knows about that but you? Understand that ignorance is a temporary state of being. You can always be learning. The American education system does not foster curiosity, that is why I am. Always ask questions. Always research on your own. Be curious and implore others to do the same. Always look up names, histories and actions of people. ESPECIALLY, if they sit comfortably on our wealth while we fight over their scraps. When we fight each other, we cannot fight or question our politicians, our governors, our senators or our police. They do not care about us. They care about their money and don't you ever, ever, forget that.

"You can just ignore American politics if you don't want to hear about them!"

- Take a look at this post really fast for me: https://www.tumblr.com/zzoupz/757516050990530560

- I am speaking in broad strokes here, naturally, people outside the us have every right to not want to hear or give a fuck about our maniacs in the oval office. They have their own issues to worry about as well. But please know, generally, people do not have that luxury. American oppression has sunken its claws so deep in so many other people's flesh that they have no choice but to pay attention. Why? Because usually some way or other, our politics impact them.

- Remember when I mentioned US centrism? You can afford to ignore the issues of other countries politics because they do not affect you personally. That does not mean you SHOULD NOT care. But this is a prime example of US politics impacting the rest of the world while we are granted the luxury, and quite frankly, the comfort of not knowing.

- Yes, I know it is not your fault. I know you did not make it this way. I know many of you are also upset at this reality. So when other people talk about their cultures, their criticisms, their politics, thier history and so on. Please listen. Listen to learn.

- It is not right that people must suffer for our comforts. We must change that.

"We are not our governments."

- True. People are not their governments. I hope that while you ask for this grace to be set upon you, you also extend it to others? Do you honestly think every app made in China is spyware out to steal your data and spy on you? What on EARTH would they even do with it if they had it? Facebook/Meta, Apple and YouTube steals and sells your data nonstop and you don't say anything about that? You have to ASK and app to not track your data, you cant even putright say no. Have even SPOKEN to someone from China or even a Chinese American? Do you TALK to people outside of your own ethnic group?

- Do you think every person who critiques the US government is automatically a bot? A spy? Did you ever stop to think that perhaps this person may be impacted by the American government and NATURALLY has opinions to voice about it? Are you listening to learn from them or are you just listening just to respond to them?

-If people are sharing their frustrations about America/its government/American tourists/ etc, this is not your place to go "But!" Or tone police/" I agree but you could've said this nicer" Why? Because you must understand, America IS the oppressor. It always has been.

- Some of you say this and will then go out and literally suck the skin off some cop's dick. Stand up.

"A person from outside the US gives a critique about American's or America and your first response is to go "Yeah, we suck." or "I'm sorry, we hate us too."

- Listen, I understand you want to go "We're not all like that." But your words mean nothing if your actions do not reflect them. You do not need to apologize or belittle yourself, when you do that, it makes the person have to comfort YOU rather than the other way around. Intentional or not, you are making this about YOURSELF. It's like when POC talk about white supremacy, their experiences with racism or living as women of color and some white person goes "Haha yeah I hate white people too! I'm sorry for being white." Please, read the room.

- Instead you can simply, AGREE. You can go, "Yes/Exactly! | I see where you're coming from! | Yes, that is unfair/unjust! | " OR! you can say nothing. You can nod, like/share the post, remember it for the future and adapt accordingly.

- I understand the desire to want to defend yourself but in most if not all cases, these criticisms are valid! They are coming from someone who is STILL heavily impacted and they aren't even from the US! Do you see how insane that is?

- Please try to understand and begin to try to take your "L" in silence. Just keep these criticisms in mind, try to become better accordingly, listen when people speak and for the love of god, stop embarrassing the rest of us in the comment sections of social media posts.

"Yank/Yankee doesn't offend me. It's a baseball team too."

Please shut up. I don't even have a valid talking point on this one but I am begging you to keep this one to yourself. The rest of the world already doesn't like us do not add fuel to the fire buddy.

Do you want the rest of the world to come up with another deragatory term for us???

"People outside the US don't know how our government works!"

- I PROMISE you they do. They are in fact, smothered by it despite their best efforts to ignore it.

- Do YOU how THEIR governments work? Name the president of Mexico without looking it up. How long is a presidential term in Mexico? Name a country with a King/royal family outside the UK?

- If you are curious about a countries politcal climate, culture, etc, please look it up online! And if someone of said place is interested in sharing/telling you where to look, ASK! (If they say no, that is fair! They dont HAVE to say yes. You should try your hardest to research online anyway)

"X term is offensive/ doesn't make sense!"

- Additionally, possibly controversial, these terms could be considered polite/sensible WHEREVER THIS PERSON IS FROM. For example, In the states, it is considered extremely offensive to refer to someone who is black or brown as "Colored." However, in South Africa, it is the most appropriate term!

- This goes for queer labels/titles as well! These terms and identities go by many names by many different groups. They are not wrong or better than the other, they are different and have been shaped by many different walks of life/experiences. (Additionally, not quite the same, but there are people who mean well, WHO ARE IN YOUR CORNER, even if they are not up to date on the terminology. )

"Americans face/suffer X issue!"

- Yes. We do. We are not the only one's . Please do not tell people, "You guy's don't understand because America oppresses us." Because YES, if America does oppress it's own people, imagine what the fuck it does to everyone else.

- It is not a competition, that is not what I'm trying to say. What I AM trying to say is, people understand. Do not assume that they do not. Do not "What about ME," on someone else's post, comment, conversation, etc.

- Listen to me, you are not a bad person. Bad people do not try to become better. But you must TRY to become better. You cannot learn if you are talking. And your talking means nothing if you actions don't mirror your words. You cannot make people NOT hate America/Americans, it would be foolish and selfish to try, especially knowing what this nation has done and is doing. My friend, YOU hate America(ns) and you're FROM HERE.

- Undoing Amercian centric thoughts, actions, conversations etc, isn't going to make peoples thoughts, emotions and histories go away. People are still going to call Americans selfish, lazy, cowards, annoying, etc. You must try to be better anyway.

I'm not trying to get on here and saddle on my high horse, to be like "Oh I'm one of the good one's." That is not what Im trying to do. I am telling you what I have learned and I'm trying to share that with you.

More to take away from this. (This can most likely apply outside the US as well but I'm staying in my lane. If you are not US American, do with this what you will. )

The rest of the world IS NOT JUST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, CHINA, JAPAN AND KOREA!!!!!! THE WORLD IS A BIG BIG BIG PLACE! Yes, these countries have rich and deep cultures and histories you should learn about but there are dozens more you should learn too.

As an American, your elected officials are not your friends. I don't care how much they talk themselves up, if they look like you or anything else. They are simply that, elected officials. You vote for them so they can do their jobs. And if they say their job includes giving a fuck about people, that they give a fuck about YOU, then you BETTER hold them to that. Say it with me, do their words reflect their actions?

More on elected officials. Who is your mayor? Your Comptroller? Who is the representative of your district? When and where is your town hall meeting? Do you have a library card? When and where is your farmers market? What's your neighbors name? Is there a community garden? Are they any local shops, events happening near you? How can you find out? I live in a city on the East Coast as well as the north, so I understand this may be harder if you are in a Southern/Mid-western/Etc part of the states but I am BEGGING you to try looking before you give up. And, if you have the resources, do it yourself too! We need each other, we must build our communities again brick by brick.

What do I search for/ Whats a good jumping point? I think its SO snobby when people tell you to do better and then provide NO resources, so here are just a few things to get your gears turning. I am speaking to American's, so understand these will be US based links, if there are resources you know of outside the US, please share and I can edit this to add.

-

Nonprofits near me

Burn music on the CD's, mod your old gaming consoles and print out your photos for a scrapbook again. These companies have gotten too comfortable putting simple shit behind paywalls and ads. If it is not in your hands, it is not real. And they will take it from you when they can no longer profit anyway.

If you want to connect to people across the world, there are things like discord for language learning groups or, A Pen Pal! Apps such as Hellotalk may also be useful to you!

Khanacademy.org (American nonproft oraganization deigsned to teach with short videos and even lessons, 100% free, you just need an account)

Black/Latine/Native/LGBTQ+ advocacy groups near me

Can I start a community garden in X State? / Zoning Laws of X State

Local election dates/candidates

Food not bombs (Locations outside the US as well!)

How do I get a library card?

https://openlibrary.org/ (online library)

http://web.archive.org/ (online archive)

Is X library partnered with Mango? (A language learning website in the US that lets you learn languages for free if you have a library card!) Or Rosetta Stone/Udemy

Language learning groups near me (There may even be one on discord/tumblr/etc!)

Brief history of X country.

Soup Kitchen volunteers

You can always look up a world map, but I STRONGLY recommend having a physical one on your wall/work space. Allposters.com has cheap one's that are 36in x 24 inch. Pick a country to learn about, any one, anywhere, even if its only for like an hour.

BDSmovement.net (If you have not already, please joint the fight in the Palestinian liberation/freedom. Boycott products from Israel/companies that support Israel and share/donate any fundraisers for Palestinians. These fundraisers are in USD, EURO, CAD AND MORE )

Look in to the hashtags of Free Palestine, Free Congo and Keep eyes on Sudan. Atrocities are happening across the globe in the name of Western comfort/goods, we must do our VERY BEST to help as many people as we possibly can.

https://www.tumblr.com/newsfrom-theworld/754997875427115009/list-of-campaing-resources-for-countries-in-need?source=share (This link provides a master-list of resources for countries/people in need including Sudan, Palestine,Yemen, Haiti, Congo, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Tigray, West Papua, Uyghur, and Hawai'i.)

If you are making a post about history/historic figures, resources, links, etc Please specify that these are US based and that they may or may not work in other countries. You can encourage people to add to it and re-share it once additional resources are added. (This will not dimish the fact that SO many things are us based and will still cause frustrstion for many people, but at the very least people can know what to expect)

When people who are not American are critiquing America, listen, especially if they did not ask for your input. Do not speak. Listen.

If you order something online and make a mistake on your order information. Please specify all the details of your order, including that you are in the US. Georgia the STATE and Georgia the COUNTRY both exist. Mail does not just come to the US.

Practice being humble and kind. Not just in person but online as well. You will be wrong, misinformed and fall victim to American propoganda. Apologise, reflect and do better and move forward.

If you can make your own stuff, do it. Keep as much money from these corporations as POSSIBLE. Or even shop small!

^ This includes, gardening, book binding, paper recycling for books/crafts, recycling, having reusable items, buying second hand like in thrift shops/depop/mercari/facebook mp/yard sales/clothing swaps

^ there are entire youtube and tiktok channels dedicated to teaching you how to do these things on your own. Just search the topic and go! The internet is what?? Your biggest tool!

^ if you interested in this one as I am, please look into homesteading skills/traditional skills

Your fight for equality must include everyone. Black people. Brown people. Gay/queer/transgender people. Disabled people. Fat people. Women. Men. Children. Nature in all its forms. From all 4 corners of the world.

Do not give the president or the vice president money? LIKE EVER?? AT ALL?? I cannot believe I have to say this but I'd rather say it than not. Donate to ANYTHING else. Donate to Wikipedia or Adblock or something!

The American government will steal even the skies from you. But only if you let them. Do not let those fuckers rest for even a MOMENT, until they do what they said they would do. There are more of us then there are of them.

Hold your vote hostage against elected officials. Do they fucking want it? Of course they do! They have got to earn it. Make your demands and if they can meet them, then that's when they can have it. If they fail too, drop them like a sack of bricks. There are no second chances when people's lives are at stake.

https://www.tumblr.com/fairuzfan/757294690366357504?source=share Read this post.

Wear a FUCKING mask.

Kill the cop in your head.

Create, build community and love. Joy is resistance. Your apathy will not save you. Fighting in the comment sections online is not going to change the world, you must go out and do that on your own.

None of us are free until we are all free.

"I am severly disabled/cannot leave my home due to a disability/ I am a child/minor, but I still want to help and make a difference! What can I do?"

A few of the tasks listed above require very little physical activity like a pen-pal, library card, wearing a mask, etc. pick whatever you can do. If there is something I didnt think of, share it with me! And i can add.

You are never too young or too old, to big or too small, to make a difference. We need eachother. We always have.

I'm sure there is so much more. but I am just one person. I cannot do all of the work for all of us. But I can do some of the work and you can meet me halfway. And that is how we make a difference. If there is an issue in your community that troubles you then I suggest you share what you can on it and lay the foundation because if not you, then who? If not now, then when?

I hope this is helpful, I apologize in advance if I've gotten something wrong about other peoples countries/homes and if there are any errors.

[postnuclearophelia]

Hello angels 💞🪶 My first for purchase short anthology of poems just dropped. Currently digital pdf only but looking at a special run of handwritten zines as well. You can purchase it here for $5. Because I love tumblr so much I am also including a special promo code which will give you 50% off MY ENTIRE SHOP! This includes the poetry book which means u can get it for only $2.50 CAD. PROMO CODE LINK HERE TO INSTANTLY APPLY or enter TUMBLRBABY at promo code prompt at checkout. Here is the introduction for the poems:

‘Written for a Haunting’ is a short anthology of poems written during a Christmas trip back home to my hometown of Woodstock in rural New Brunswick. Three nights before Christmas, the province, (and most of the Maritimes), was rocked by a storm which left many without power for over 10 days. During this time, I self medicated with my dad’s hidden weed stash and whiskey from my luggage flask. Before reading these poems, know that although having a lovely childhood, a dark rotting spirit has constantly occupied my childhood home, ever since I could remember. From seeing figures watching me from an opposing room, night terrors that left me paralyzed, a constant heightened sense of anxiety, bad smells and full body apparitions, the house has always been a place of haunting and fear. I am now 24 and live happily away from home, all the symptoms of the haunting seemed to leave my psyche as soon as I moved away. My dad, who still lives in my childhood home, continues to experience the hauntings, and often finds strange objects on the deck and surrounding the home.  He continues to see full body apparitions and has seen furniture open and move by itself. Coming home for Christmas is always exciting, but I always fear facing the dark spirit I was always so open and susceptible to as a young child. This December, I travelled to my childhood home, laid down in bed and immediately felt a sense of anxiety and fear almost unrecognisable to me. I felt a scream bubbling at the back of my throat like bile,  and yet completely paralyzed by fear, I somehow managed to sleep through the night. The next night, the storm started to shake the house, the lights started flickering and then finally,  the power went out. Covered in the smell of my own fear, I hid under the covers, and wrote these poems. Transfixed by the spirit I could almost see watching me, I pulled these poems from the air, haunted by screams and tears, and transmuted them to the written page. I am not sure if these stories belong to me, the spirit, or if we are one in the same. 

[beardedmrbean]

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The mining of minerals critical to electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies in Congo has led to human rights abuses, including forced evictions and physical assault, according to a new report from Amnesty International and another rights group.

Congo is by far the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, and it is also Africa’s top producer of copper, which is used in EVs, renewable energy systems and more.

Rights groups and U.S. officials have long criticized the trade of Congo’s cobalt, copper and other minerals due to abusive labor and the risk of violence in an impoverished central African country where militants control swaths of territory.

A measure was introduced in the U.S. House in July to ban imported products containing cobalt and copper and mined through child labor and other abusive conditions in Congo.

The report released Tuesday by Amnesty International and the Congo-based Initiative for Good Governance and Human Rights, or IBGDH, details how the search for the minerals has forcibly uprooted people from their homes and farmland, often without compensation or adequate resettlement.

The groups said they interviewed 133 people affected by evictions related to cobalt and copper mining in six locations around the city of Kolwezi in Lualaba Province during separate visits in February and September 2022. They also reviewed documents, photos, videos, satellite images and company responses.

The report highlights the numerous human rights violations that have occurred as a result of mining activity. In one case, Congolese soldiers burned down the Mukunbi settlement in the southern province of Lualaba in November 2016 to make way for cobalt and copper mining by Dubai-based Chemaf Resources. Residents who tried to stop the military were beaten, according to the report. The fire, which left a 2-year-old girl with life-altering scars, and the assault had followed initial warnings delivered to residents by company executives escorted by police.

“Ernest Miji, the local chief, said that in 2015, after Chemaf acquired the concession, three representatives of the company, accompanied by two police officers, came to tell him it was time for Mukumbi’s residents to move away. He said the representatives visited four more times,” the report said.

Following protests in 2019, Chemaf agreed to pay $1.5 million through local authorities, with some former residents receiving between $50 and $300, which the local advocacy group Coalition for Safeguarding of Human Rights called an undervaluation of victims’ properties.

Chemaf denied any wrongdoing, liability or involvement in the destruction of Mukumbi or directing military forces to destroy it, the company told Amnesty International.

On its website, Chemaf says the copper and cobalt project is at the heart of its ambitious growth and would consolidate its position as a leader in the production of those minerals.

The report also highlighted a neighborhood in Kolwezi, home to 39,000 people, that has been facing continuous demolitions since 2015 to make way for an open-pit copper and cobalt mine. The mine is operated by Compagnie Minière de Musonoie Global SAS, or COMMUS, a joint venture between Chinese company Zijin Mining and the state-owned Gecamines mining company.

Those who were forced out said they were not adequately consulted, while COMMUS said it aimed to improve its communications, according to the report.

The company asserted that it already has made compensation payments calculated by the provincial government’s relocation committee to ensure residents' quality of life was not affected.

“The compensation prices of COMMUS for housing and land were higher than market prices,” according to a letter that the company sent to the rights groups.

But the groups denied it was enough.

“Despite claims by the company that its compensation package was set to ensure living standards were not affected, none of the former residents of Cité Gécamines that researchers interviewed said that they were able to afford substitute housing with the same amenities as the houses that they were forced to leave,” the report said.

Donat Kambola, president of the IBGDH group that co-wrote the report, said in a statement that “people are being forcibly evicted, or threatened or intimidated into leaving their homes, or misled into consenting to derisory settlements. Often there was no grievance mechanism, accountability, or access to justice.”

Amnesty International says companies are not doing enough to address human rights concerns and are disregarding international human rights laws and standards, as well as national legislation and U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

As the world demands more green technologies to reduce climate-changing emissions, the extraction of minerals for these products is causing social and environmental harm, the group said.

“Amnesty International recognizes the vital function of rechargeable batteries in the energy transition from fossil fuels. But climate justice demands a just transition. Decarbonizing the global economy must not lead to further human rights violations,” it said.

[theoriginalivyannazimuth]

If I was any good at poetry I would write a poem about the sewing machine I just got.

I am disabled and get benefits but am %50 under the poverty line in my province (Our government thinks that disabled people should not be able to even rent a single room apparently). One of the things I splurged on when I got on disability was a $69 sewing machine so I could sew my own clothes and maybe make a bit of money on the side. I am ecstatic because it is a well-made machine, that came tested and pre-threaded for proof of function, it has a little drawer to hold stuff and is similar to the ones I used in school when learning how to sew. On top of that, it came with at least $50 worth of notions.

Thread snips, fabric scissors, replacement needles, a thimble, a thread ripper, a measuring tape, and 34 spools of thread. When I was in school I had to beg just to be bought a measuring tape and some pins because together that was $15 at the local shop, and I had to swallow my pride to ask for used fabric from the donation bin which made me a social pariah among me classmates, who already didn't like me because I had to stay home and write an essay on fashion history because I couldn't afford to go to the week-long trip out of Canada to New York City.

I am blessed that I can afford this. But I know I can't afford this. The price is paid by the impoverished workers in whatever country this comes from. The price is paid by the Amazon factory workers who die on the daily and have to pee in bottles on the floor or be fired. The price is paid by Gaia, who's body will wear the plastic of this machine long after its cheaply-made parts die and can't be replaced.

Where others would be happy they have a sewing machine. I feel guilty for not being able to afford a sewing machine.

Dread looms over me.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Julia Malott

Published: Sep 18, 2023

In the coming days, Canada will see heightened activity in the nation’s ongoing gender identity politics debate. The “1 Million March 4 Children” protest against how gender identity is taught in schools, is set to occur on Wednesday, with synchronized events in more than 50 cities countrywide. Two days later, separate Toronto rally will spotlight two figures prominent in the gender-critical movement: Chris Elston, colloquially known as “Billboard Chris” for his distinctive method of protesting against childhood medical transition, and Josh Alexander, a Renfrew, Ontario student who was expelled earlier this year after objecting in class to his school’s transgender washroom policy.

Organizers of these events bill them as a defense of the safety and wellbeing of children, though the protesters’ opinions span a wide spectrum of positions. While some desire personal discretion in how matters of gender identity are handled for their own children, others urge broader constraint on transgender-related discussion and accommodations for the entire student body. The perspectives reflect the diverse community backing the movement.

As parents’ voices grow louder, there’s a perception in the progressive left that all of these emerging movements are rooted and inspired by “far-right” extremism. Many in leftist circles suggest that parental rights advocacy is a dog-whistle: a veiled attempt to advance anti-transgender policies. A recently leaked video from an Ontario Federation of Labour meeting offers a glimpse into how some of the province’s most influential union members perceive these protests. As one member notably stated during the meeting: “The fascists are organizing in the streets … . This is far more than a far-right transphobic protest. They’re fundamentally racist, they’re fundamentally anti-union, they are fundamentally transphobic, and it’s just a matter of time before they come for us.”

Such language of a growing fascist movement, evoking images of 1933 Berlin, is more than a little unhinged, particularly when all they are discussing is parents uniting together to demand involvement in their children’s education. As a covert spectator in the union meeting, there was an undeniable sentiment among participants that if not for them democracy would surely collapse.

It’s a grave mistake to deride the parental collective pushing back against the status-quo as fascist sympathizers motivated by transgender hate. A glance past such alarmist rhetoric reveals that — while a fringe group of hate has always existed — the concerns many parents are championing are much more moderate than a “far-right” moniker suggests.

For many parents, the core issue at hand is preserving their agency and autonomy over the ideological content of their children’s education. They want transparency about what is being taught, the option to excuse their child from content they believe doesn’t align with their values, and the discretion to determine age-appropriateness for activities, such as certain reading material or events like drag queen performances at schools. Perhaps least surprisingly, parents want to be involved in the key decisions of their own child undergoing a social transition in the classroom.

Many of these matters have been surfacing in school board meetings for several years, largely to be ignored by Trustees and Education Directors. The shared sentiment among these parents is the perception that the education system increasingly sidelines them, diminishing their role in their children’s upbringing. This sense of alienation is leading a growing number of parents to take a stand, even if it means confronting accusations of extremism.

The matter of social transition behind parents’ backs in particular is so condemning of their role in upbringing that it has thrust the entire gamut of gender identity matters into the national spotlight, revealing just how out of balance transgender accommodation has become. The manner in which the left has responded — by doubling down in their rhetoric and deriding parents as militant zealots, has played powerfully into the rapid growth of this grassroots movement.

Many parents, even amid those who will stand in protest, have little desire to limit other families’ decisions regarding gender teachings and expression for their children. They realize that their objective of ensuring their own parental autonomy is intertwined with safeguarding those same freedoms for other families as well.

Over time, the persistent branding of even modest parental rights positions as far-right extremism does injury. As the left cries foul each time they encounter a perspective they don’t like, they desensitize the meaning in such a label. By regularly branding modest parental concerns as extremist, progressives may very well be shoehorning the adoption and normalization of more hardline positions that do straddle the line of the parental rights of others. As grassroots gain traction, a vocal minority have now taken to calling for sweeping bans on gender affirming teaching and accommodation for all children and families alike within the public education system.

So where do we go from here? What might a balanced approach to parental rights look like within the nuanced landscape of gender identity politics? Fortunately, we need not start from scratch; history offers us a model for the coexistence of diverse ideologies within our educational institutions. Look no further than religion.

For years, Canada has upheld an educational system truly inclusive of students from all religious backgrounds. The classroom approach to religious topics is robust; it sidesteps direct religious instruction, and when religion intersects with the curriculum, it is presented academically rather than doctrinally. Instead of dictating what’s “true” in religious contexts, educators shed light on what various groups “believe,” cultivating an environment of both choice and critical thinking.

Amid religious diversity, we teach acceptance. Students are taught to make space for varied faith expression among their peers, whether through clothing or other customs, and with a strong desire to maintain neutral, religious symbols are not adorned by the institution. The lesson for students is to embrace and include, even where personal beliefs diverge; Meanwhile, the guiding principle for the institution is to avoid actions that display favouritism toward any specific religious doctrine.

Such a solution could address a significant portion of the concerns fuelling the rising parental unrest. Moderate parents would applaud such an education system, and this would still be inclusive of transgender students. But in order for this to be realized, the two factions moving ever further apart will first need to come to the table and talk. Given the recent rhetoric from progressive quarters, the prospect of this dialogue anytime soon appears distant.

[ Via: https://archive.md/sPIaA ]

==

It's a deliberate tactic by activists with no argument. If you poison the well with an Ad Hominem, you never need to justify your claim: parents are, by default, "far-right" and "fascists" and can be ignored. And by calling it a "dogwhistle," they need never say what you want them to say, you can just claim that's what they actually meant, putting words in their mouths.

There's fewer better ways to piss off voting parents than by trying to cast their concern about their children and the undermining of their parental rights as "far-right" or "fascism."

[apresmidiaparis]

A Canadian Lolita’s guide to custom fees and self clearance!

***All of this is information is based on my experiences with the subject. I am not an expert and this is just advice.***

I’ve gotten most of my information by just googling “how to self clear a package Canada” and the following article. Please do your own research on addition to this guide!

https://borderbee.com/2014/01/13/how-to-self-clear-your-parcel-with-customs/

What are custom fees?

For most USA based lolitas, they have never faced customs and duties when receiving a package unless it is over 1000$ worth or more (the reasons for this I dont think I could explain very well, so please do us both a favour and if your curious just google it :,) )

Unfortunately for all of us who do not live in the US of A, we have to face taxation and fees on any imported shipment outside of the country. Yes, that means all of your beloved burando is going to cost even MORE! T^T

The price of these fees will be determined by you provinces tax % (in Quebec, taxes are around 15% of the total amount spent) and if you choose to accept the courrier company’s brokerage fees.

What are brokerage fees?

Brokerage fees are a fee imposed onto you by the courrier company for acting as your broker and clearing your shipments customs for you. These fees, like taxes vary with the amount spent and from company to company.

UPS notarially has the most expensive brokerage fees. As an example, I bought a dress from a us seller on lace market for around 285$ and my customs and duties came up to around 90$. They were trying to charge me more brokerage fees than taxes! If I remember correctly, it was around 50$ for the brokerage fees and 40$ of taxes.

I avoided these insanely high and unwanted fees by self clearing my package.

What is self clearance?

You can probably guess that self clearing is not accepting your courrier service to act as you broker and clearing your customs yourself.

This sounds intimidating and like you need a law degree to go through with it but I promise you this is so easy. There’s only 4 steps to this.

Step number one

First step is to find you courrier services email adresse or phone number.

Since I’m a girlypop with phone anxiety, I usually choose to contact them no matter what by email and sometimes that can be hard to find! Because these companies want to make money, they kind of want to make this as hard for you to do as possible! If you’d like to call them, The phone numbers for customer service is usually very clearly displayed on their official websites.

Here are the two email addresses that I’ve successfully self cleared my packages with in Quebec, Canada. I’ll try and add to this post when I have more!

UPS : custsvccaen@ups.com

FedEx : clearancehelpline@fedex.com

Once you have the email address, you send them a polite email saying

“hello, I would like to self clear my package with the following tracking number : [enter your tracking # here]. Can you please send me the necessary documents to do so?”

If you are uncertain about the email address you can always ask in advance that if they can’t help you to transfer you to someone who can.

Wait for a response with your needed documents, usually you will receive a response within 1 business days depending on the time of day you sent it.

Step number two

Print out ALL of the documents given to you. You are better off being over prepared than underprepared.

Step number three

You need to find your local CBSA office and get your poofy self down there. You can find your nearest cbsa by just googling cbsa [name of your city].

*Most if not all cbsa offices open at 8am and close at 4pm and are NOT open on weekends, so be aware of this if you work a 9-5*

Once you’re there you just need to wait in line, tell the customs officers that you’re there to pay your custom fees on a self cleared package and from there on they will tell you what to do and who to talk to. Make sure to bring ID with picture and corresponding address, just in case.

They might make you fill stuff out, they might not, all depending on how much information your shopping service gave the courrier service. When they’ve confirmed everything, they will ask for you to pay the taxes that are due and will give you a receipt. KEEP THE RECEIPT and pay attention to make sure they stamp it!

Step number four (final)

Take a picture or scan receipt and documents given back to you and send a copy back to the email address that sent you your documents (or if they direct you to send the receipt to another address, follow their instructions). Your courrier service needs to have proof that you have paid for your customs and duties.

And there you go! You have successfully self cleared a your package!

Sometimes you will have to pick up your package at l one of your courrier service’s locations but other times they will just proceed with the delivery as usual. They usually tell you in advance if you need to pick it up, but checking your tracking Is a more effective way to determine whether or not you need to do so.

If you do end up picking it up, be sure to bring your receipt and documents when getting it so the employees will have an easier time finding your package. Again, better to be over prepared than under prepared!

Extra tips!

- stick up for yourself! You have every right to self clear and you should not take no for an answer under any circumstances! The delivery people can be at your doorstep and you can and should deny accepting the delivery until they recognize that you self cleared or are self clearing your package.

- you should act as quickly as possible if you want to do this, especially if you have chosen an express delivery.

- usually you should only start this process when your package has entered Canada, but most of the time I have had success self clearing the second I get a customs invoice. I have had some unsuccessful attempts starting this process early with DHL though.

- in my experience, no two self clearances are ever the same. Sometimes it can go extremely smoothly and other times you be scared that they’ll send the package back to the sender. Be calm and always prepare for the worst.

- you should almost always declare your package as a gift, if your package is worth less than or equal to 60$ Canadian, you should not get charged custom fees. If it is more than, they should only charge you [the actual amount] - 60$cad (example 100$ - 60 = you should only pay 40$ worth of customs)

If you have any feedback on this I’d love to hear it! Again I’m just an amateur speaking from experience! :)

[thetruearchmagos]

Breakaway In Brief: Or, Why Upepwani Left, And The Commonwealth Came

I'd like to thank @hessdalen-globe for the queries that led to this particular post coming into being. If anyone would ever like to know anything about some part of the 12 Worlds, feel free to Ask!

For the sake of attempting to institute brevity, which I preety much always lack, I'll try and keep the answers narrow to the questions, and in scope generally.

If it's alright, I'll Tag @lividdreamz @writeblrsupport @caxycreations @theprissythumbelina @thatndginger @sanguine-arena @the-stray-storyteller @orphicpoieses @dogmomwrites

1. Why is it that Upepwani is trying to break off?

In short, Slaves, egregious Nepotism, and the almost inevitable results of an institution of Empire about as well unified and centralised as Holy Rome.

I'll start with that last one. The Fuhrati Empire had gained its dominance over the continent on the twin methods of crushing military capability, and comparatively soft-handed governance. Upepwani was one of seven Princedoms in the Empire, ruled by assorted lines of the House of Tharoon whose main dynasty held court over the Empire as a whole, and like the rest of the princely states it was risen from the ashes of the once powerful Kingdom of Sabto, whose people had been turned to slaves in the bloody wars that secured Fuhrati ascendancy. The rest of the Empire was divided between the Homeland Provinces, the Old Country of the Empire which had birthed the dynasty and was once the old Sultanate of Merkat, and the Client, or Vassal Provinces, which were formerly states in their own right which had, by fair means or foul, been turned to the light of the Empire.

As it relates to the Upepwani Seccession, this particularly sprawling system of government resulted in distinct, highly independent polities to grow wealthy and achieve significant autonomy for themselves, with Fuhrati rule relying as much on complex social and familial systems of patronage to ensure compliance as the formal structures of a bureaucratic state. The dynastic line which ruled Upepwani would take advantage of this generally detached system of government to conduct what was effectively its own secret foreign and trade policy, building the economic ties to foreign states it bordered as well as the United Commonwealth and the rest of the 12 Worlds that it needed to secure the development of an otherwise resource poor and centrally neglected Province.

The reasons for that particularly alien relationship between Upepwani and the broader Imperial whole would be summarised by those other two points: Slavery, and Nepotism. I'll start with the latter.

Of the seven dynastic branches which were given their own slice of the Sabto corpse, that which had received the province of Upepwani were said to have received it mostly to keep them away from the capital in a respectable sort of exile. They were the 'black sheep' of House Tharoon for various court-politics related reasons I shall not get to here, but to cut a long story short by the time of the 50s to 70s A.S. the only thing that stood in the way of the destruction of the provinces autonomy by the other seven Princes or its absorbtion into the Heartland itself was the particularly close relationship between Emperor Sayed II and a former Prince of Upepwani forged in their combined experiences in the foreign conquest of Santa Mateo. Much to the entirely unstated indignation of more senior and prestigious dynastic lines, Sayed II, who was no saintly figure himself, had taken to siding with the Prince and his descendants in matters of court politics, and despite fairly considerable contempt for their choices in government allowed them to keep their autonomy so long as they didn't bother anyone else. At the turn of the 7th Decade in the UC Calendar, however, the ailing monarch was quite obviously drawing his final breaths, and everyone within or beyond Fuhrati itself knew that when Sayed's time came and his eldest son, Haroon III, would ascend the throne, Upepwani's time in the sun would come to an end. This, thus, put quite the impetus behind the Provinces desire to preserve its hard won autonomy.

One particular feature beyond family squabbling which would mark a definite distinction between Upepwani and the rest of the Empire was its attitudes towards slavery, which were seen in time as almost a direct assault against the Imperial system and order of things. From the first Princes to the Seccession, the dynastic court and the Provinces populace and institutions of state more broadly had taken an extreme aversion to the practices of slavery which defined so much of the Imperial economy, external and internal. The Princes had declared all peoples free within its borders, and only the threat of very direct violence had prevented a declaration that any enslaved person who stepped foot on Upepwani soil would be under the Prince's protection. Upepwani's refusal to participate in the system of Fuhrati slavery would have three main effects:

Economic decoupling from the Empire

When it came down to it, Upepwani conducted more trade with the foreign states that bordered it than the fellow provinces of its own Empire, which meant that when the time came for decision to be made very few ties of necessity existed to pressure the Province to stay behind. The Province would refuse to participate in the Imperial Grain Levy, or "Daribat Alhubub", either in receiving the food products or submitting them, on account of the fact that the majority of the Empire's crop production and export was produced by millions of generational or imported slaves across the rest of the Empire. Thus, Upepwani was fairly insulated from agricultural pressures compared to many other provinces, which gave it the freedom to act more independently

Industrialisation And Liberalisation

Unable to support inefficient farms off the cheap labour of forced servitude, the Upepwani government and its major economic actors would turn to industrialisation and modernisation to provide the economic production - and export potential - needed to sustainits autonomy. To cut another long story short, with significant Commonwealth aid in capital investment and education, a solidly well-educated, productive urban middle class of both ethnic Merkats and Sabtos who carried with them an ever-increasing political movement for further liberalisation in government and society, and a positive view of foreign states such as the United Commonwealth for having attained the sorts of societies this new class wished to create in Upepwani. The Prince and provincial government were broadly in agreement with the push for modernisation and liberalisation, showing their support by allowing for the creation of local-level elected assemblies. Simultaneously empowered by this public fervour and incentivised by the need to maintain strong foreign economic access, Upepwani would forge treaties with the UC which would eventually lead to an agreement on the Commonwealth's part to support a bid for Upepwani independence and to preserve its sovereignty against any Fuhrati invasions. Without the creation of this new political class, such lofty dreams as seccession would have been impossible to attain, or even imagine.

The Sabto Socio-Cultural Enclave

While the old Kingdom was quite firmly dead, many of the Sabto people who survived its fall could remember a time when its pride still stood. While the court and monarch were slain and so many of its people enslaved, in Upepwani thousands of refugees and the diaspora would find a safe place for themselves. Many integrated heavily into the provincial social fabric heavily dictated by the Merkat majority, but otherwise they had found a place wherethey could practice their faiths and ways in peace and dignity. Many notable Sabto leaders would describe the province as a "new home" for their people, and word would spread into neighbouring provinces and their Sabto populaces of this apparent haven for the vestiges of the old cultural identity. Thousands of Sabto would immigrate or escape to the province in search of a better life, even without the official protection of the Prince, and when their freedoms and home seemed threatened by the Imperial crown, they would be first and most willing to fight to protect it.

In short, the Upepwani Secession came to be for many reasons, and considering the cirumstances that birthed it merely a matter of time. While there stood a decent chance that a bid for independence was inevitable, the intervention of the United Commonwealth would turn it from a hopeless cause to the act which would destroy the Fuhrati Empire.

------

2. And how come the UC felt the need to get involved?

In short, Slavery, Hegemony, and Ideology had set the Commonwealth and the Empire on the path to conflict long before Upepwani made its choice, but the act of and opposition to secession was the spark that lit the flame of UC intervention.

In a roundabout fashion, the United Commonwealth had been both fighting the Fuhrati Empire and aiding Upepwani for over two decades, quite seperately. Every one of the Commonwealth's founding states were varyingly democratic nations with significant maritime and mercantile interests, which already set them up for competition with an Empire in the habit of sponsoring Corsairs to raid coastal cities and seize shipping for loot, slaves, and political leverage. The moral fury that the fairly 'progressive / liberal' populations ofthe states that would over time be admitted to the UC was matched by the concerns in its 'unified' government that the naval capabilities of the Fuhrati Empire could threaten the lines of trade and communication that the Commonwealth, split as it was across so many Worlds and continents, relied on for its prosperity, legitimacy, and very existence. Independent slaver ports and states known to have aided the Empire were mercilessly destroyed where found, and systems of repatriation were created to return freed slaves to their homelands or admit them to migrate to Commonwealth shores, while nations that fell victim to raids were declared to be under Commonwealth protection, received aid to their economic and political structures to bring them in line with the UC, and often eventually integrated into the United Commonwealth.

The Fuhrati Empire wished to avoid direct confrontation with one of the few states that could rival it, but wishing to preserve its interests in the form of the Inter-World market for slaves and slave-made goods the Empire did what it could to prop up colonies and puppets abroad, and even attempted to sow discord in the Commonwealth itself when it supported seperatist movements in the founding UC member state of the Battezid Empire. The constant, back and forth competition for international influence and trade would continue for decades, growing ever more violent for all, until it soon became obvious that sooner or later the matter would be settled by the fire of the guns and the clash of the greatest powers in the 12 Worlds.

That this clash would come in the manner of the Upepwani Seccession was no accident on the Commonwealth's part, which is not to say the UC's various arms of foreign policy actively manipulated events in the province to reach the state it did. A core founding principle of the United Commonwealth, which has held for nearly two centuries, was the conviction that the ways of the democratic, liberal state in general, and of the Commonwealth in particular, should be extended by free association and the will of the people as far and wide as is absolutely possible. This missionary zeal had seen the polity grow from seven states to thirty in less than fifty years, with a combined population of over two hundred million souls. To the most fervent followers of the Commonwealth dream, the Fuhrati state was its darkest enemy, and the province of Upepwani a prisoner of that autocratic, oppresive regime. And to the more practically minded of them, a chink in their greatest rival's armour.

Hope was harboured that if the conditions that had led to democracy and liberalisation in the Commonwealth states could be replicated in the Province, a victory would be at hand and a blow dealt to the stability and political unity of the ever divided Fuhrati state. To that end, the Commonwealth would 'covertly' sponsor and support the creation of over a thousand schools from the ages of six to sixteen in Upepwani, in lockstep with the Provincial authorities, and acting through the bordering neutral states ensure that Upepwani would always have access to the capital, commodities, and markets it needed to fuel its industrial growth and development, creating links between the markets of Upepwani, its neighbours, the Commonwealth, and the rest of the 12 Worlds. Having invested so much wealth and political capital on creating the new Upepwani state, there was a very real desire to see it join the United Commonwealth soon after seccession as a beacon of resistance to the Fuhrati Empire for all to see, to further expand the Commonwealth way, and to ensure the promised-by-the-Prince eventual conversion of Upepwani to complete democratic rule could take place.

Simply put, in many ways it was inevitable that the Commonwealth and the Empire would find cause to apply their fullest strengths against each other, but it would be the circumstances surrounding the Province's path and dreams for the future that decided where the gauntlet would be thrown and the great battle held.

---------

Author's nOte:

All translations and place names are to be considered placeholders. If anyone's got a good source for Arabic translators, I'd love to hear it.

[female-malice]

First Nations groups on the Canadian side of the Columbia River Basin are adamant that salmon runs that have long been blocked by dams in the United States must be restored, potentially in a renewed river treaty between the two countries.

But experts say possible solutions, such as “salmon cannons” that suck fish through a pipe and shoot them out upstream and over obstacles, are all costly and potentially limited in their effectiveness.

Representatives from the Ktunaxa and Syilx Okanagan nations say they continue to bring up salmon restoration in negotiations for a modern Columbia River Treaty and will not stop until a solution can be reached within or outside a new agreement.

The U.S.-Canada treaty regulates the cross-border Columbia River to prevent flooding and generate hydro power. A key component of the 62-year-old treaty is set to expire in September 2024, lending urgency to the ongoing talks.

“I think what we are doing in the fight to bring salmon back is vital to us moving forward,” said Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow, who is a member on the Syilx Okanagan Nation’s Chiefs Executive Council and the Nation’s lead in the Columbia River Treaty talks.

“And we’re not going to back down, either,” he said.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says much of the migratory salmon run in the Upper Columbia, both in Canada and the U.S., ended with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state in 1942.

While the Grand Coulee Dam isn’t among four dams built in accordance with the 1961 Columbia River Treaty, First Nations leaders say the talks offer a rare opportunity for them to directly engage American officials about restoring Pacific salmon to the Upper Columbia.

“The salmon hasn’t been a big piece of (the talks), and I’ve been trying to move it forward consistently,” Crow said.

The nation opened its own hatchery near Penticton, B.C., in 2014 to help bring salmon back to Okanagan waters.

The goal, Crow said, is the restoration of natural salmon runs throughout the Upper Columbia Basin.

“We’ve been supplying salmon back to the people for years from our hatchery from the work that we’ve done, but to be able to see them actually swimming freely and coming up the Columbia the way they’re meant to be, I think it’s something I’m hoping I’m going to see in my lifetime.”

Ktunaxa Nation Council Chair Kathryn Teneese said the loss of salmon to the Upper Columbia Basin fundamentally changed communities and their ways of life, since the fish was a staple to traditional diets and held significant cultural value.

“We now have generations of people that have grown up without even knowing that salmon was very much part of our staple diet,” Teneese said. “So, from that perspective, it’s changed who we are. Because one of the things that we say is that we have a word in our language for salmon, but we don’t have access to it.

“We just fill that void with the utilization of all of the other resources off the land that we’ve always used, but there’s just a piece missing.”

Crow said salmon may have comprised up to 50 per cent of traditional Syilx Okanagan diets prior to the region losing its fish runs.

In September, the U.S. pledged more than $200 million over 20 years from the Bonneville Power Administration for reintroducing salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin.

Crow said he has spoken with British Columbia Premier David Eby about similar long-term financial commitments on the Canadian side.

“Right now, we are kind of doing the best we can with the budgets that we get every year,” Crow said. “So, a long-term commitment would be so much more beneficial. We can get so much more done, I think.”

In June, the province agreed to separate bilateral deals with the Syilx Okanagan, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc Nations so each group receives 5 per cent of the revenue B.C. receives every year from the U.S. through the Columbia River Treaty, funding known as the Canadian Entitlement.

But the challenge in bringing salmon back to the Upper Columbia Basin isn’t limited to funding, experts say.

In 2012, a group of researchers published a report on efforts to restore Atlantic Salmon and other migrating fish species to rivers on the East Coast of North America.

The report found that the effort at three major rivers did not yield “self-sustaining populations in any eastern U.S. river” despite “hundreds of millions” in investment on the construction of hatcheries and fish passages.

“It may be time to admit failure of fish passage and hatchery-based restoration programs and acknowledge that significant diadromous species restoration is not possible without dam removals,” said the report on fish that travel between salt and fresh water.

University of Victoria Biology Professor Francis Juanes was a co-author of the report, and he said that while the topic of fish passage technology among researchers is actively discussed and constantly advancing, studies have shown the only reliable way to fully restore a natural fish run may be a dam’s removal.

Juanes said that when a dam on the Elwha River was removed about a decade ago in Washington state, “you didn’t have to reintroduce (salmon).”

“They came back naturally. In a sense, that is the best way to reintroduce salmon especially to a river system.”

Results on the East Coast where fish ladders were used, particularly the Connecticut River, were not nearly as effective, Juanes said.

“It took so much effort by so many states, and you needed the hatcheries to grow these babies. So, that’s an enormous effort, and the return just wasn’t very good.”

John Waldman, biology professor at Queens College in New York, is one of the main authors of the report.

Waldman said there is rising belief among grassroots and Indigenous groups throughout North America that dam removals may be the optimal way to restore fish runs, in lieu of the poor results from alternative passages.

“I think there’s one universal theme that has emerged over the last two decades, which is that dam removal is without question the best solution to bringing these fish back again,” he said.

“Fish ladders and fish elevators provide what’s called the halfway measure.

“It looks like to the uninitiated that you have a solution and that it works, but the truth is when you look at the actual performance of many of these fish ladders and fish elevators, not that many fish pass through them.”

The biggest dam removal project in the United States began earlier this year on the Klamath River along the Oregon-California border, where four such structures will come down by next year under a budget of US$450 million.

Discussions on removing four dams on another branch of the Columbia River Basin – in the lower parts of the Snake River – have been ongoing for years, with the U.S. federal government rejecting in 2020 the idea due to possible power-grid destabilization if the hydro electricity from the dams are removed.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden directed federal agencies to use all available authorities and resources to restore salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin that are “healthy and abundant.”

Biden’s order, however, stopped short of calling for the removal of the dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington state.

The Upper Columbia United Tribes, consisting of five member Indigenous nations in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, said on its website on salmon restoration that while more studies are needed, there have been “encouraging advances” in fish passage technologies such as floating surface collectors and salmon cannons to get past tall dams without the structures’ removal.

But such technology, Waldman said, is unproven in being able to support a large, natural fish migration.

“I think this is a quarter-way measure, not even a halfway measure,” he said.

“You see them emerging once in a while, and somebody gets wind of it on TV, and some late night comedians make fun of fish being shot through these these cannons. But no one’s ever ramped them up to be at a level that would sustain a natural level of migratory fish.”

But Juanes said such options may be necessary if dam removals are not possible, even if they may add stress to the salmon population and make them more vulnerable to diseases.

“For one, that’s a very costly thing to do,” Juanes said of fish-passage technology. “For two, it causes stress to the animals. I can imagine that this cannon is not a happy moment for the fish, but maybe it’s better than it dying below the dam.”

Crow, for his part, said he understands “there’s no way of getting around the fact” that dams such as the Grand Coulee remain in the migration path, posing a monumental challenge to restoring salmon migration routes.

But he said the reintroduction of salmon runs to the Upper Columbia Basin is important enough to warrant effort and funding.

“There are lots of options out there, but what is going to be the most efficient and least impactful to the salmon, and they can still get back up? That’s the key,” he said.

“I’ve been taught to think seven generations down. So, I’m looking seven generations ahead of decisions that I make today: How is it going to influence or how is it going to impact my great-great-grandkids?”