#both palestine AND ukraine need our help. they need ACTUAL HELP.

[mineral-poetry]

THE WORLD MOVES ON

Protest. An interesting form of community. A form where the voices of the few are projected by the voices of the many.  Amplified louder, and louder, and louder, until the change they are screaming for comes to fruition. Or until the world moves on. Until something newer is printed out and placed in front of the news anchor in a script they have no choice but to follow. Until something more devastating happens. Or, let me rephrase. Until something more profitable happens.

The voices of the few may continue crying out for the change that everyone seemed to be so invested in mere moments ago, but without the voices of the many to amplify them, the voices of the few become far too easy to ignore. 

Object permanence is a concept that many learn as they mature.  The notion that something still exists even when we are not directly perceiving it is considered exceedingly common knowledge. 

Your house doesn't disappear when you are not inside it. A glass still exists if a jug is placed in front of it. The sun does not go out when you close the blinds.  Just because something is suddenly out of view, doesn't mean that thing then ceases to exist.

So why then do matters that were being so loudly protested mere moments ago seem to vanish the moment the news stations move on?

Why then do we pretend that the problems disappear the second something new is on the news anchors script?

If we know with utter certainty that the glass does not disappear when the jug is placed in front, then how come we seem to believe that an issue vanishes the instant there is a new one to commercialise ?

Problems do not disappear when we close our eyes. Just as the sun doesn't disappear when the blinds are drawn. 

The voices of the few, once amplified by many, are slowly becoming quieter, as the many choose a new few to raise up. The same hands that once tenderly laid a megaphone into the palms of the few now seek to pry it from their grasp, instead opting to offer the gift of voice to a new protest. 

But who decides who holds the megaphone?  Who selects one group out of the countless in strife at any given time? What devine figure decides what problem is worthy of being amplified by the voices of millions who seek to make whatever difference they're told is correct? 

The truth is that there is no one person.

We as a collective mind move on from one problem to the next with almost horrifying synchronisation.  Leaving each one behind once there’s a new one, whether or not the change we sought was actually implemented, and if the change actually ended up making a significant difference. It almost never does. Even if change is made there are always new problems.  There is always more to fight for.

But fighting becomes a chore as our attention spans grown shorter, And acting purely in your own self interest becomes the newest trend.  And suddenly making a difference isn’t just about making a difference anymore. 

Then slowly people begin bringing cameras to protests. They begin taking selfies with posters, They vlog themselves marching, And they post the videos for the world to see. They announce what protests they’ll be at next and it almost sounds like they’re announcing a meet and greet.  They change their bios, add flags for places they’ve never been, and call it support.

And all this would be fine, wonderful even.

If at the end of every video, and in the caption of every post, there was not a simple phrase that throws the sincerity of everything they have done into question.

“Like and follow!”

But it gets the word out I guess. 

Or it will for a while.

At least until the world moves on.

[dosthoeyevsky]

You Cant Free Palestine if You're In Jail or Dead.

(An open letter to every American on the internet, from a random Australian who has studied US politics basically against her will and is so, so tired.)

I don't like talking about US politics. I'm not American, so in theory, I shouldn't have to talk about it if I don't want to. But life isn't fair, no matter how little I want to care about USAmerican politics, it's going to affect the policies my country makes, and that every other country in the world makes. In a perfect world, this wouldn't happen. But this is not a perfect world, and we must be pragmatic.

At the end of the day, the one thing I cannot afford to ignore at any cost is the fact that I simply give a shit about my fellow human beings. We are a social species. We must help each other to survive, no matter where in the world we are. I care about people in my native Australia being able to access affordable housing and food, and climate change-proofing our infrastructure. I care about people in Bangladesh fighting for workers rights. I care about people in China who advocate for freedom of information. I care about Americans whose public infrastructure is crumbling under climate change events like hurricanes Helene and Milton as we speak, and I care about civilians in Palestine and Ukraine currently trying to survive the ultimate horror that is militarized violence.

(For any other non-Americans reading, I apologise for how US-centric most of the following spiel is about to get. But the election's in like two weeks, and I feel like I can't express this any other way right now.)

Many of us care about these things. Since October 7th of last year, millions of people around the world, many of them American, have been protesting, donating, advocating, for ceasefire and an end to the systemic termination of human civilian lives in Gaza. And as the 2024 US Election draws near, both major political party candidates are being scrutinized (rightly) for their support of the Israeli Defense Forces, who are conducting this bombardment and deliberately targeting and killing civilians.

I have heard many fellow progressives denounce democratic candidate Kamala Harris for not openly calling for a ceasefire, and I understand why.

However.

Her opponent is Donald Fucking Trump.

It's been eight years since the 2016 election. A lot of people who were young then are now eligible to vote (by the way, if you haven't already, check your voter registration and make sure you also have the option to vote by mail at the ready in case you can't access a polling station on election day.) And if that's you, and you've only become eligible to vote in the last eight years or so, you need to be very keenly aware of something.

You don't get a third option. It's Harris or Trump.*

Because of how the US electoral system works, third party candidates basically cannot win because of how ingrained the two party system has become over the past couple hundred years and change. No third party candidate is going to gather the numbers behind them to beat out Donald Trump and his army of worshipers, and definitely not in the next two weeks.

This means if Harris does not win, Trump will.

This might not make an immediate difference in Palestine for the first few days of either administration, but it's going to make a massive difference for the actual millions of Americans currently undertaking activism once he's elected.

To sum up, the fight for Palestine (or at least the fight to stop funding the military) has much greater odds of winning with Kamala Harris in the white house than trump, and if you care about that fight at all, you have to vote for her.

To be clear, I know she's not a christian** leftist, and she won't immediately stop funding the war, but under her administration, you will be able to fight for the ceasefire and your own rights much more effectively and in greater numbers than you ever will be able to with Trump in the white house.

Project 2025 is very fucking real and you should know that if you care about Palestine, him taking office will not only speed up the rate at which the genocide happens, but will also utterly tank your ability as a collective to fight against it and for any other progressive cause, for that matter, ever again.

Many of the activists fighting for Palestine on US soil right now are BIPoC, women, queer, trans, disabled, or any combination of the above. Roe vs Wade has already been overturned on a federal level by judges appointed during the Trump administration, and most of the anti-trans legislation currently metastasizing is doing so under republican-led state governments aligned with Trump.

If you're in jail (or dead) for trying to access abortion or birth control, you can't help free Palestine.

If you're in jail (or dead) for trying to access trans-related healthcare, you can't help free Palestine.

If you're overworked, over-indebted, or slowly dying because of a lack of healthcare coverage that could support you if you become (or are) permanently or temporarily disabled, you can't help free Palestine.

If you're over-indebted, unhoused, or dead because where you live hasn't funded the infrastructure it needs to survive climate change events like hurricanes, deep freezes, wildfires, droughts, and heatwaves, you can't help free Palestine.

As the above linked video states, if you are a US citizen, you are one degree of separation from someone who is going to get their quality of life drastically negatively impacted by a second Trump administration. And every person affected by those policies is one less person able to fight to stop the US government from aiding and abetting actual, literal war crimes.

I understand that Harris won't immediately end all suffering upon election. But unlike Trump, she actually values the lives of human beings who aren't cishet white men ready to fork over their livelihoods and lick boots. She has a vested interest in improving the immediate quality of life for American citizens, and if your immediate quality of life is improved, you will be much better able to fight to stop the US government from funding the systemic slaughter of civilians in Gaza.

So if you give a shit about Gaza, or worker's rights, or healthcare, or equality, or climate change, you need to vote for Harris. Even though she doesn't adhere to all progressive ideals. Hell, even though it already looks like everything is about to go to hell in a proverbial handbasket.

Think of it like this, right. Everyone in the world is on a plane right now, and the plane is crashing. The USA and Palestine are sitting right next to each other. The oxygen masks drop from the ceiling and dangle overhead.

When you get on a plane, the instructions say to put your own oxygen mask on and then assist others. This will increase your odds of surviving the crash. What the USA should do, is put on its own oxygen mask, because it will enable them to assist Palestine with theirs. By petulantly refusing to vote for Harris because "everything's already fucked", not only are you not going to be able to meaningfully help Palestine, you're drastically lowering your own odds of survival.

To add insult to injury, and to extend the metaphor for plane crashes as unfolding world issues, in the case of the extremely pressing issue of climate change, the US is not just seated next to Palestine, it is, in fact, flying the fucking plane.

If you Americans don't get your shit together and put on your oxygen mask by voting Harris, not only does your quality of life get flushed down the toilet, so does ours. Maybe not by patriarchal religious oligarchy, but by the rising tides, heavier droughts, encroaching famines, harsher storms, that will inevitably get worse under Trump because unlike Harris, Trump has a vested interest in funding the industries that keep the world's greatest polluters in business.

And let me be clear, to every American with progressive leanings who doesn't want to vote- if Trump wins, and your rights are stripped away, and the war goes on, and everyone else in the world drowns, it's your fucking fault, and I will haunt you. I hope my words certainly haunt you.

This isn't about making the most ideologically pure choice. This is about making the practical choice that gives you the greatest odds of survival, because survival means you can keep being activists.

So be practical, for fuck's sake.

*I hate to burst the bubble of every progressive idealist out there, but you are not organising a glorious leftist revolution that somehow steamrolls the entire US political institution in the next two weeks. That takes money and frankly firepower that most of you are unwilling and unable to organise. Even if it does, it will just be January 6th again but with a leftist coat of paint on it. And violent revolutions don't result in better quality of life long term for civilians if you don't have a plan in place for an ethical government to replace the previous one. I've known enough young leftists both online and off to know that that's not happening anytime soon either.

** This is a reference to this person on the reality TV show Trading Spouses, who, frankly, a lot of people on this website resemble when engaging in discourse. A lot of you ascribe to a set of leftist ideals driven by unreachable standards of moral conformity, personal disgust, and pride in personal moral purity that is functionally just oppressive evangelical christianity but with progressive gay window dressing. Before you open my askbox to scream incoherently into it, know now that no matter what, I'm going to delete it. You are wasting your time. Stop your portland polycule commune cult-tier bullshit where all activism begins and ends with hurling verbal abuse at anyone you disagree with. That's not activism. Stop threatening people with doxxing and death threats over fandom headcanons you deem "non-progressive" and do something useful. Join a mutual aid group. Better yet, vote for the person who isn't going to put you in jail for taking birth control or being trans.

[nezoriy]

Trans people in Ukraine: transition process, legislations, healthcare, and social attitudes 

Kyiv, 2024. A protest for adopting bill #5488 that defines hate crimes and introduces harsher punishments for them. The author stands second to the left. Photo source

Whether it’s Ukraine, Palestine, or other “third world” countries, the issue of queer rights is often used even by the relatively well-meaning liberals to claim: “We shouldn’t help them, look how badly they treat their queers!”

Of course, the ethical argument against it would be that no one deserves genocide and not that “the situation is not that bad.” But anyone who has argued online at least once knows that’s not how it works. So the argument I'm here to make is:

Trans rights and lives in Ukraine are not that bad.

I’m a trans man living in Kyiv. I’m currently medically and legally transitioning, I have a lot of trans/nb friends and try to involve myself in activism. So I have both first-hand experience and up-to-date info to talk about the issue.

Let me be very clear here: things are not perfect. 

We still don’t have a lot of legal protections we need. The human factor and community networks matter a lot. But it’s not the “leave the country if you’re trans” levels of bad, and haven’t been for a while. 

Compared to some Western European countries with rights for self-id and third gender markers, Ukraine is obviously not that progressive.

However, after learning more about the UK’s trans issues, as well as the various US states’ anti-trans legislations, I was compelled to write this text because I wanted to say from the bottom of my heart: “Shut the fuck up” to everyone who wants to say something about how backward Ukraine is. 

In Ukraine, trans and other queer people can live their lives relatively freely. And what’s even more important: in contrast to a lot of “developed” countries, the situation with trans rights and social acceptance is actually improving. 

(Am I afraid that our society and legislators will slide backward with the influence tr*mp will have over the whole world? Yes. But that’s another issue entirely. And historically, even during his first term, our laws actually improved.)

So, if you ever find yourself arguing about Ukraine, here is everything you need to know to also politely ask everyone bemoaning “poor” Ukrainian queers’ fates to shut up.

In the first part, I talk about general vibes, and in the second one, I go into the transition process in way more depth than was necessary. This monstrosity absolutely got out of hand, if I’m honest. Maybe I need to try to shoot a YouTube video so people can use it as background noise.

Read on Medium or keep reading here.

In any case, enjoy!

How do trans people in Ukraine live? Laws, attitudes, and vibes

Kyiv, 2024. A protest for adopting bill #5488. The author stands second to the right. The poster says “Stop violence against transgender people. Adopt 5488.” Photo source

So, you’re transitioning. What life in Ukraine has in store for you?

Ukrainian trans legislations

There’s a clear legal procedure that allows Ukrainian trans people to change their gender marker and all of their legal documents.

In Ukraine, there are some laws to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

There are also laws prohibiting hate speech/discrimination in the media. They don't protect from misgendering, insensitive jokes, and stereotyping. But show me a country where they do.

There are no laws prohibiting trans people from using the right bathrooms.

Unfortunately, you can only transition medically and legally once you turn 18. Minors can get a psychiatric diagnosis (but not F64.0) but they don't have access to puberty blockers. 

There are still quite a lot of hate crimes. Police are often not investigating them properly. They get classified as “hooliganism” instead of a hate crime. The good news: more people are reporting them, and NGOs are actively working on these cases. Bad news: the bill to define hate crimes specifically and introduce harsher repercussions for them has been lying in the parliament for more than 2 years. Activists are actively advocating for adopting this bill. In general, there’s an understanding that it might be done in the coming years.

Same-sex marriage is not legal. However, there's a bill to introduce civic partnerships. And there is an explicit understanding in society that queer people will benefit from it the most. Unfortunately, it's also been lying in the parliament for 2+ years. Activists work hard to change that. The main detractor is the council of the churches. 

There's some gray legal area around the issues but there's a common understanding that trans people are not allowed to adopt children. They also can't retain custody over their under-18 children if they change their documents.

Society at large

The author presents his painting “A time to plant and a time to uproot” about his experience of transitioning during the full-scale invasion during the Ljubljana Pride events in 2023.

According to recent polls, social attitudes toward LGBT+ people are improving by the year. In 2023 a poll showed that 64% (info in Ukrainian, use Google Translate) of people expressed neutral or positive attitudes towards queer people (compared to 54% in 2022). The number of people who have negative attitudes towards LGBT+ was 33,9%. Contrast this with 60,4% in 2016.

For some trans people, it's hard to find work if their documents do not match their looks. When it comes to hiring practices, the anti-discriminatory laws often don't work because obviously a business can refuse to employ you citing other reasons. However, all of this depends highly on the industry and specific employers. For example, most Ukrainian IT companies are okay with gender-nonconforming and trans people. They, along with NGOs, often have anti-discriminatory company policies. It’s harder to get employed when it comes to customer service jobs. However, I’ve heard positive personal anecdotes there as well. In general, the situation is improving compared to even 5-10 years ago, but there's still room for growth. 

The major public force that opposes queer rights, and one with the most influence, is the Council of churches (which includes most major denominations that exist in Ukraine.)

In general, in mainstream liberal circles, it's no longer acceptable to be openly transphobic or homophobic. For example, a lot of large bloggers, who consider themselves nationalists (which used to be synonymous with anti-queerness) are publicly supporting queer rights as a marker of a civilized society and progress regardless of their personal beliefs. 

Increasingly more mainstream liberal media is trying to give positive coverage to the queer community, from using the right lexicon to shooting special materials dedicated to queer and trans issues. Still, it’s also quite common even for some of the well-meaning media outlets, and especially bloggers to misgender trans people, use clickbait headings, and so on. The vast majority of media were incredibly confused regarding the right pronouns when covering Nemo’s Eurovision victory.

3rd Forum for Transgender and Nonbinary People, Kyiv, 2024. The slogan reads “TRANS*forming the reality.” The author stands to the right. 

Increasingly more queer books are getting published, including those by Ukrainian authors.

There are right-wing organizations that specifically target queer people, harass them online, even attack physically, and threaten queer events. Just yesterday (November 9th, 2024) a bookshop canceled a presentation of two Ukrainian LGBT+ books because they were threatened. However, by year right-wing organizations with explicitly queerphobic agenda are becoming more and more inconsequential in mainstream society. There's an understanding that most of these groups, although claiming to be ethno-nationalists, are actually funded by russians, and they look up to russian "traditional values" as opposed to the "decadent" West even to the detriment of our victory. 

TERFs are also not mainstream and don't have any actual political sway. They’re only loud on X and Facebook but they don't have their own organizations and most mainstream feminist NGOs are explicitly queer- and trans-friendly. 

Ukrainian queer community

There are a lot of LGBT+ and trans NGOs that promote queer rights, advocate for the community, collaborate with the legislators, and help out the community (including materially). 

There are a number of publicly open trans and nonbinary activists.

The hormones are quite costly and there's no way to get them free from the country. However, the NGOs are often offering hormones as humanitarian help for free. Most of the time, I myself get hormones this way.

All in all, since 2010 (and especially 2016) the number of trans organizations grew and their work has become more influential. 

Military

Ukrainian LGBT Military NGO. On their website, they state they have a separate online community for 15+ trans people who are currently serving in the military or are veterans. 

There are no legal protections or mechanisms to regulate the relationships of trans people with the military. That's also a huge zone for growth the activists are working on.

The state also doesn't provide people in the army with hormones. 

There's an NGO for the LGBT military. 

There are open trans people in the army. But most trans men I heard of are in stealth.

LGBT+ people, even the open ones, may face some discrimination in the army from their comrades and officers. However, the mainstream idea communicated by lots of military people is “I might not personally like queers but I don't care who you are as long as you're busting your ass for the victory.”

When going through the TCRSS (Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support, local military administration) evaluation, except for the good old regular transmisogyny, transfems may face additional scrutiny and negative attitudes from medical professionals and officials because they may be seen as “draft dodgers.”

A personal note: I'm in the process of changing the documents so I haven't communicated with TCRSS yet. I won't dwell upon it but I have to say for the record that I'm absolutely willing to accept not only rights but also responsibilities that come with an “M” gender marker in documents. So, if I'm considered to be fit for the military, I won't try to avoid it. Moreover, my consciousness dictates that I do have to serve. Still, the process of going through the military medical board scares me a lot – way more than the military service itself.

A bit of history: the transition until 2016

The author’s art.

Until 2016, the transition process was frankly all kinds of fucked-up. 

To get access to legal recognition and healthcare, a person had to go through a doctor's board evaluation. The doctors (including psychiatrists and sexologists) were predominantly educated in the Soviet Union where all kinds of queer people were considered deviants with psychiatric disorders (and often, in the case of gay men, criminalized.) So, the board was incredibly transphobic and homophobic. It used a questionnaire full of questions relying on the worst kinds of gender stereotypes: “Would you rather be a plumber or an artist? If you were a journalist would you write about sports or art?” 

If you didn't look like a very stereotypical version of the gender you're transitioning to, down to the underwear, you were fucked. 

If you let them know you're not straight, you were fucked. 

And there was only one board for the whole country, in Kyiv, so if you haven't "passed" the assessment the first time, it was way harder to get reevaluated. 

Even if you got the psychiatric diagnosis and got access to healthcare, to be able to change your gender marker and documents, you had to get sterilized.

I personally know some people who didn't want to go through this shit so they went on HRT and instead of changing the gender marker just changed their name and surname in their documents (we are allowed to do that for non-trans reasons without any issues.) This way, at least when they are signing documents and so on, they won't see their deadname constantly. They also kinda hoped that people checking their documents would just skip over the gender marker or think it's some kind of mistake. 

Side note: both a sad and funny aspect is that you can change your name and surname just because you want to, but you can't change your patronym or drop it altogether. And it's always, always gendered, so if you went this way, from Olexandra Olexandrivna Ivanova you'd become an Olexandr Olexandrivna Ivanov (-ivna being female suffix, the male version would be -ovich.

Thankfully, thanks to the efforts of activists, the legislation around the transition changed, becoming way, way more relaxed. It's been in place since.

Legal and medical transition in Ukraine

Kyiv, 2024. Author at a protest for adopting bill #5488. The hashtags read “human rights,” “inclusivity,” “equality,” “safety.” Photo source. 

After some confusion in 2016 around the procedures, they’ve become quite established. I started the medical transition in 2023 and legal – in August of 2024, so the info is as up-to-date as it can be.

#1. Getting a psychiatric diagnosis of “transsexualism”

If you go about your transition the proper way, the first thing you need to do is get a psychiatric diagnosis. Ukraine's healthcare system is still working with ICD-10. The country is committed formally to moving to ICD-11 but there’s a common understanding it’s really unlikely to happen until the war ends. 

Under ICD-10, the diagnosis you need to get is F64.0 “transsexualism”. Yeah, yikes. 

You need to go to a state psychiatrist, the diagnoses from the private ones are not valid. 

De jure, you should either keep in touch with a doctor to be observed for 2 years or spend 2 weeks in a hospital. Most of the time, it's understood to be a day hospital, so you visit every day but don't sleep there. But it’s up to the doctors, so there were cases when a person spent the whole time in a psychiatric hospital. Obviously, the person is kept in the ward of the gender they were assigned at birth. You can imagine that for a lot of peopl,e the experience is quite distressing, especially considering that Ukrainian state psychiatric clinics are really not fun places to be in.

Considering this, a lot of people look for workarounds – and find them.

In some hospitals, you can pay a "voluntary contribution" (a bribe basically). The price tag for this in Kyiv’s main psychiatric hospital is around UAH10.000 ($250). 

In some hospitals, fortunately, there are friendly doctors (and/or doctors who themselves belong to the queer community) who can help you out willingly. 

In any case, if you can get arrangements in place, you just visit a couple of times and the hospital puts the necessary dates on the documents without actually keeping you there.

How do you get evaluated for F64.0

In a psych hospital, you get the bloodwork and some other physical examinations done (for example, a cardiogram, a lung x-ray, nothing invasive.) 

You talk to a psychologist who assesses your general mental state. 

And you talk to a psychiatrist and write an auto-biography focusing on your transness specifically.

The evaluation is still often based on strict gender binary and gender stereotypes. It is implicitly understood within the trans community that for example as a trans man you have to present the narrative that you always played with cars and not dolls, preferred the color blue, befriended only the boys etc, etc. Friendly psychiatrists know that this is bullshit but often still ask to narrate your story like this in case some of the higher-ups have any questions. 

Correspondingly, even if psychiatrists are aware of the nonbinary spectrum, nonbinary people still have to present a very binary narrative to get the diagnosis.

Being non-straight does no longer automatically mean you don't get the right diagnosis. However, a lot of people still prefer to hide it if possible. I told my psychiatrist I'm bi with a preference for women (which is true) and had no problems because of that. 

It is implicitly understood that if you're already on HRT (DYI, found a very friendly private endocrinologist, etc), the whole process is likely to go easier for you. That was my experience: I just emphasized that I've already been on HRT for half a year and so much happier for it.

When getting a diagnosis gets more complicated

Because of the war transfem people now come under more scrutiny and the evaluation has become way more strict than before 2022. Some doctors plainly refuse to do it at all. The reason is that the doctors are afraid that people trying to go through an mtf transition just try to avoid the mobilization. 

There are cases, especially in the regions, of doctors refusing to deal with our trans shit. But legally doctors are not allowed to refuse to provide trans healthcare. So if you know your rights you can either press them or file a complaint. In any case, you can just go to the next state hospital and try your luck there.

A lot of psychiatrists refuse to give you F64.0 if you are currently depressed or especially have some more serious psychiatric diagnosis. A lot of them go like "well, go treat your depression and then come back." Obviously, it's absolutely bullshit because a lot of trans people are depressed because of gender dysphoria but it is what it is. Most trans people advise their peers not to disclose their other diagnosis when undergoing this evaluation. 

This part is often the most hard and stressful. If you have your diagnosis, the rest is usually easier. Well, mostly.

#2. Endocrinologist, HRT, and the certificate of transing your gender enough

The author after 2 years on HRT.

Once you have your F64.0, you go to an endocrinologist. For HRT, private ones are okay. They make you do a lot of bloodwork and then prescribe HRT. 

Most of the time, trans people go to the doctors that other trans people recommend. There's an understanding that there's a high chance a random state doctor won't be educated enough in trans healthcare. Because of this, I haven't heard of cases of mistreatment or refusal to work with a trans patient. 

When you're on HRT for some time, you get a medical document from your endo that you've been on hormones for long enough and your secondary sex characteristics are now aligned with your desired gender.

#3. “Sex correction” certificate from a family doctor

With the document from the endo, you go to your family doctor (a GP). They get you a medical document that states you have "corrected your sex". Except for the family doctor, it should have the signature of one other doctor and the head doctor of their hospital. 

Most of the time it's just a formality. Legally, family doctors can't not do it. So, if they are refusing to help you, you can file a complaint and pressure them legally.

In my case, I signed a contract with a family doctor who's explicitly queer-friendly and has already helped quite a lot of trans people. I needed to go to her hospital (in Lviv) to be physically present, but everything went quickly. There were no additional examinations or assessments, no questions asked, we just needed to sit in a queue for a bit and the head doctor signed my documents.

#4. Birth certificate change

To change your gender marker, you first go to a civil registration office, and with the documents from the psychiatrist and the family doctor, you file a request to make changes to your birth certificate. 

There are cases when the officials try to refuse to do so, quite often out of ignorance. The officials are not legally allowed to refuse to file a gender marker change request if your documents are in order. So, once again, you can file a complaint and pressure them into registering your request.

There are also cases, however, when the document from the family doctor is not done 100% right according to the regulations (most of the time because the doctor didn't know how to do it right, not out of maliciousness), and the officials refuse you because of it. In this case, they are legally right, so most of the time you have to ask the doctor to reissue the certificate.

Because of the war, you can go to any registration office in Ukraine, and they request the info from the registration office where your birth certificate was issued. The downside is, they legally have 3 months to do so.

Side note: I'm at this point now. The registration office made a request to the hospital that issued me the "sex correction" certificate to confirm it, and they haven't gotten a response yet although it's been more than 2 months. This request is not necessary but also not illegal. If my birth certificate is not ready in 3 weeks, I'm likely going to contact the paralegals from a queer NGO and file a complaint.

#5. Changing the national ID and other documents 

The sign reads “to the European country – progressive laws.” Photo source. 

With your new birth certificate, you go to a center for providing administrative services (just as well, during the war any is okay, not just in the neighborhood you're registered in) to change your national ID. I was shocked to learn that in some countries, including the UK, national IDs are not mandatory. In Ukraine, they are, and they are a primary document you use for identification. Basically, no one ever sees your birth certificate. It takes about 2 weeks. Then you can change the rest of the documents: passport, driver's license, tax documents, educational documents (if you want to), and so on. 

#6. Registering with the military office

Regardless of the "direction" of your transition, after changing your ID, you're supposed to go to the Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support (TCRSS) – the local military registration organ. That’s where things get tricky once again.

For context: all people with a “Male” gender marker are registered with a TCRSS when they are teenagers. People with “Female” markers are not. They are only registered if they become bound for military service for other reasons (for example, doctors.) 

Under the military time law, all people who have an "M" marker have to be assigned to a TCRSS, and have their personal information updated in person or in a special app ("Reserve+"), and go through a medical board’s assessment in a TCRSS. The whole process is quite complicated even for cis men as on the one hand it is highly bureaucratized. There are literally cases when a trans man who had his uterus removed had to go through and have the certificate to confirm it still has to go through an assessment by a state gynecologist to prove he hasn't somehow grown his uterus back in the meantime. And on the other hand, there’s a lot of gray legal areas where decisions depend on the individual official’s assessment. 

The main decision dependent on the human factor is: whether a person is considered fit for military service (then they get mobilized effectively immediately), "unfit for military service," or "fit in a limited capacity.” Before the full-scale invasion, “limitedly fit” was equal to "unfit." Now it usually means you either have a temporary delay of mobilization and you have to show up every 6 months to prolong it, or you're mobilized and get assigned to a second-line position pushing the documents instead of being on the front lines.

Most psychiatric diagnosis, including F64.0, is a reason to consider a person either "unfit for military service" or "fit in a limited capacity." So, what does it mean for trans people?

Transfems who changed their gender marker to an "F" have to show up to a TCRSS and get themselves excluded from the military register because now they’re not bound for military service. 

Transmasc people with an “M” marker, as it follows logically, have to show up to get registered. They go through a military medical board like cis men. 

Most of the time, transmascs are considered permanently "unfit for military service." However, this decision is up to the TCRSS’s head officer.

Communication with the TCRSS is honestly a huge issue trans activists are working on. People transitioning in both directions often face a lot of misunderstanding and outright hostility from the military medical board and officers.

Most trans women want to get excluded from military service and face discriminatory attitudes basically because the state doesn't want to exclude them, and a lot of officials think they are just transitioning to avoid military service. So they can face a lot of hate and contempt. 

A lot of trans men on the other hand may be willing to serve in the military but can't do so because of the psychiatric diagnosis. There’s a conundrum because often trans men willing to serve don’t get to, and those unwilling to serve get told “well, you’re a man now so fuck off to the front lines because you’re disposable.”

As I’ve already mentioned, it all comes down to the human factor, and unfortunately in a lot of cases, people working in TCRSS are uneducated and bigoted. And because there are no specific legislations regulating the relationships between trans people and the military, the officials get to exercise their bigotry.

Crossing the border

Besides not getting mobilized while walking down the street, getting your documents right with the TCRSS is important because it defines whether or not you can leave the country.

Transfem people with an "F" gender marker who get the documents done and are excluded from military service can travel outside Ukraine. There are unfortunately quite a lot of cases of trans women having trouble crossing the border if their documents are not crystal right. Recently there was a case of a trans woman who wasn't allowed to cross the border: despite having an "F" in her passport, she skipped the TCRSS step, so officially she still was bound for military service. Unfortunately, the border guards were legally right. 

Quite often the border guards are putting under a lot of scrutiny even those trans people who are legally allowed to cross the border (transfems and transmasc with an “F” marker.) That's also an issue activists work hard on. 

#7. Gender-affirming surgeries in Ukraine

The author’s art. On Instagram 

People are allowed to get gender-affirming surgeries and are not required to get any to change their gender marker.

The context you need to have about Ukrainian medicine: we have free state medicine; insurances exist (but they are not really widespread. Some companies, especially in IT, pay for them, but according to 2019 data only about 9% of the people have them); and there are also lots and lots of private clinics. Those are often quite costly. But they are also well-staffed and well-equipped, and in most cases, you can get an appointment with a doctor for the next day or within a week.

So, gender-affirming surgeries are available, but almost exceptionally at private clinics. This means people have to save up quite a lot and often travel to Kyiv or other large cities to get them. But there are no waitlists and patients can get good healthcare without facing any discrimination.

There are however cases of trans people getting free healthcare at a state clinic. Mostly that happens when the doctors are willing to help them out. In the documentation, they state a diagnosis that qualifies for free healthcare (any trans-related diagnoses are not.) For example, one trans man I know got free top surgery at an institute for cancer research, presumably because in the documents the doctors claimed he was at a high risk of breast cancer. Another trans man got a free hysterectomy at a state hospital. Although he was put in a women's wing he claimed he got treated well.

I got a mastectomy at a private clinic just over a month ago. For that, I had to provide the F64.0 diagnosis and the "sex correction" certificate from my family doctor. Another doctor I consulted with only does the surgery if you've already changed your ID.

The price both doctors asked was UAH75.000 (about USD 1850). (For reference: the median salary in Kyiv is UAH 25.000 (USD625) a month.) My surgeon claimed that in part the price is so high because she has to rent a surgical room only in private hospitals as the state ones don't want to deal with this kind of surgery.

From the initial consultation till the surgery, it took about 2 months and it was mostly because I was gathering the funds.

At a recent trans event for activists, I got the information that there's a group of doctors in Kharkiv that do bottom surgeries for both trans men and women and they are quite good at it. I haven't looked into it more properly yet but still – good for us.

TL;DR

Trans people do face discrimination. There are no opportunities for legal and medical transition for minors. And there are some legal gray areas, especially concerning military service, when the lack of explicit anti-discriminatory laws and proper regulations leads to bigotry from officials.

But the legislation around trans rights is improving, not getting worse, and there are procedures for legal and medical transition. 

Social attitudes are also improving steadily – the acceptance of queer people in society grew almost twice since 2016, and more than half of Ukrainian society is neutral or positive towards the LGBT+ community.

[zonedelicious]

An analysis of Ultraman Blazar's ending:

Going into the last episode I was expecting a simple but enjoyable finale. Blazar is a very simple show after all. It didn't have a big plot to keep me on the edge. I even thought about not watching it live and just going to bed. It was late and I wanted to sleep. But I didn't, and ended up watching one of the most beautiful endings to a show.

Throughout Blazar we see Gento's struggle to protect those close to him. As well as his struggle to understand the kaiju and Blazar. He was ready to die to protect the Earth, and I was actually worried that he would die while watching the last episode. But the kaiju are a part of that Earth which is what Gento comes to realise through his role as Ultraman.

There is no villain in Blazar. Well besides the military industrial complex of course. But besides that there's no role of a villain character or villain group that a superhero story usually has. Instead the final opponent of Blazar are aliens who are just as scared of humans as the humans are scared of them.

If the final message is meant to parallel current real world events I don't think it works. Might even be in poor taste. The wars in Ukraine, Syria, Palestine, etc. aren't simply about equal sides fighting for no reason.

But as a more universal message of peace I get what they're going for. Blazar was about protecting the beauty of Earth as well as humanity. And it showed that not caring for the Earth and all its beauty leads to our destruction.

This parts stuck out to me as it showed how all the fighting only lead to more destruction. No side was winning. They were both planning to fight until the other side was completely exterminated. All because they saw the other side as simply an obstacle. A hazard that needs to be taken care of. They did not consider the humanity of those they're destroying.

They needed to stop fighting to save themselves.

But while the humans are struggling to come to a decision, we see the Earth kaiju coming together to save the world. These are kaiju that humans have been fighting throughout the show. And they're now the ones helping the Earth, as they're part of it. The planet itself was fighting to survive.

Which ties well with the final message the humans send to the aliens. The message is only one word. Future. This single word was able to convince the aliens to stop fighting. Because that was when the aliens realise that humans too are people who want to survive. That they both want to live. The aliens realised that they've been destroying someone's home the entire time.

And then to further seal that message, the final power up that saves the day is the bracelet that Gento's son made. Being the bond of a father and his son, the bracelet represents the future of humanity. A better future without violence. A future worth protecting.

Blazar is a very simple show, but I think through its simplicity it ended up with a very heartwarming and deep story.

This is the final frame of the show, and it is the perfect frame to end it on. Because this one frame perfectly captures the show's message.

[pico-digital-studios]

My final post concerning the Palestine and Ukraine situations / Me pondering about the future

Okay. Like the title says, this is going to be my last post concerning the wars. As much as I can't stand seeing all the negative news about what both countries are actively going through, I will say this; I do not condone any of what either Russia OR Israel are actively doing to the countries, and the people in Ukraine, Gaza and Palestine actively deserve better than this.

The post I've linked above has various links and petitions connecting to ways you guys can continue to help Palestine and Gaza with getting the ceasefire they so desperately need at this time. Whatever country you're at, the people there and in Ukraine desperately need our support and respect to put an end to these wars and make a genuine start to world peace.

From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free from the burdens of war and occupation, and we shall do our part to help ensure that does happen. Today, I've signed my part in an Oxfam petition to lead the ceasefire and stop Israel's tyranny. You guys do your part, as well, and keep going strong wherever you can to support these countries in a bid for world peace!

And no, arab.org does not count as part of these efforts, due to it being a likely scam used to waste people's time and effort daily.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that being said, I've been thinking quite a bit about the future today, and how it could be like if we do achieve world peace. That thought has stemmed from me listening to this livestream radio from Chill Music Lab and looking at the visuals presented before us. You're welcome to listen to it while reading my pondering and thoughts below.

While I'm sure that technology will be taking the lead for our future, the visuals showing people still living and working in this cyber city gives me hope that man and machine can actually co-exist in harmony and work well together (rather than, you know, AI taking over people's jobs and wasting water), alongside any other sentient species that may be out of our world.

Making these cities the right way could do wonders for our society. Just imagine; bustling environments full of interaction and activities, with night lights plenty aglow and a stunning mix of holographic work and real-life props for special events. Yes, flying cars may well work wonders for the future, but I'm also seeing it that traffic that remains grounded is appreciated just as much as freely travelling in the skies (with some necessary restrictions and laws in place, of course).

That, and nature is still given its place in our society. Sonic CD's good futures have given me the hope that one day, technology and nature can actually thrive together and benefit each other, rather than working against each other (in tech's case, causing pollution). We could have factories making floral pieces a core part of their design, former mines making way for thriving natural underground worlds, colourful and safe theme parks for the whole family... The whole lot.

And above all else? Everyone should be allowed to live in a world free of war and violence, where peace, freedom, justice and rightful democracy can be a thing. Sure, not everyone's going to favour peace, but the warmongers would've dwindled in population by then, and constructive criticism for works is passed into law to help artists improve their works. Active help would be available to prevent suicides and homelessness from taking hold, and the law would be actively working harder to stop criminals in their tracks, with technology serving to benefit justice rather than hinder it.

Sure, life still wouldn't be perfect even with all this, but it would surely be a strong step in the right direction to making our world a better place to live in. One day, I really hope that can become a reality.

[wolfprincesszola]

all the tags and replies are honestly so weird because they’re saying it’s a site that promotes child pornography? it’s not, it’s an archive that anyone can post onto, so there’s obviously bound to be a lot of weird people, including those that fetishize incest, child pornography, and other topics that are generally not acceptable. if you’re finding that and not filtering it out, it says more about you than it does of ao3. if you’re classifying ao3 by the small proportion of weird fics instead of the other 11 million+ fics of writers putting their time and effort to making them, you’re a part of the problem.

the donation drive comes from ao3 being a nonprofit and it’s probably helped tons of people out of their struggles as both a reader and a writer. as a writer myself, i’ve honed my writing skills because i continuously posted on ao3. supporting ao3 means supporting ao3 writers by keeping their fics up, encouraging new writers to post, and it brings a small community together.

sure, it makes them look bad for not skipping a time to ask for donations when they have more than enough money to run the site, but you don’t have to donate to it and you definitely don’t have to shit on them asking for donations. just click dismiss and stop interacting with the site if you don’t agree with it. they use that money for other things and rest assured, they aren’t for-profit.

it would actually make them look worse if they were to not ask because people would notice and ask why they brought more importance to the genocide in gaza over the invasion of Ukraine and BLM. in all of those instances, they were tragedies because many lives were lost and many families had to grieve over someone, and before someone says that gaza was “worse”, no. A tragedy is a tragedy, no matter how many lives were lost. We can’t compare them together. That just divides us and keeps us from obtaining our goal of helping others.

if you donate to ao3 or interact with it, then you are not a bad person and you definitely aren’t immediately zionist. wanting to fund your entertainment does not mean that you want innocent people to die. it’s not bad to want to donate to your entertainment, especially when entertainment and helping donate to end the genocide are NOT mutually exclusive. you can donate to ao3 AND donate to helping people in gaza at the same time.

even if you don’t donate, it doesn’t make you a bad person. there are other ways to support innocent civilians that comes with boycotting for-profit organizations (i don’t even know how you’d boycott ao3), voting for someone who represents your views (especially in the u.s. with the upcoming primary election), educating yourself, spreading the word, and more.

there are more things that happen in the world than ao3 donations and palestine too. there are femicides still going on in mexico, collapsing systems in yemen, recovering citizens in congo from the war, and even police brutality still happening in the u.s. we can’t always focus on one particular issue but instead broaden our gaze to try and help everyone. that’s always been the case. we need to unite to help anyone.

and no. i don’t think ao3 should die because its asking for donations. and no. i don't believe ao3 should be babied and supported because it's "ao3" and it helped me through a lot (it did but that's not why this argument overall is wrong). and yes. i believe that ao3 should have some blame when there have been controversies surrounding people getting kicked off of the volunteering team for supporting palestine. and yes. i believe that this argument overall should be done and over with in a simple "donate to both".

i don’t think op is a bad person for being a hypocrite, but i do think op is ignorant. when you yell at people for donating to ao3 when you don’t know the full story and you don’t know whether or not they’re also donating to help gaza, it separates you from wanting to actually help and just being angry. encourage people to donate instead of pushing them down for giving money to something that’s made them happy.

anyways, attached below are links to donate to ao3, wikipedia, and help end the genocides around the world, and if you can’t donate, there’s also links to help palestine without any money involved:

ao3 donations

wikipedia donations

emergency: fund a movement-centered response in palestine

international rescue committee: matching gifts for gaza

anera: humanitarian aid to gaza

direct relief

world vision: middle east crisis response

gaza crisis emergency relief

NATAL: mental health aid for traumatized victims of war

unicef for gaza

mercy without limits: gaza tragedy

global women fund: to help femicide in mexico

save the children: help children in congo

yemen emergency fund

campaign zero: ending police brutality

email u.s. representative to cease fire

click a button to help (daily)

ROI petition: demand protection for civilians in gaza (UK)

NI petition: demand protection for civilians in gaza (UK)

brands / businesses to boycott (p.s. support local / mom-and-pop businesses instead!)

but most importantly, educate yourself! education is your best tool <3

can i be real? i think ao3 should die for doing a donation pool for themselves with everything going on

[knarme-stray]

Some of my thoughts about...

...Well, how the world is now.

...Especially about why I have decided to NOT be doomerpilled about it.

I'm from Finland so this is my localized perspective, - however I think it's good that we talk between countries how things are going. We can all learn from one another. I know I have gained a lot of perspective from different people's movements resisting power from various countries as well.

One thing I need to consider first is that I actually am kind of lucky. Because my country hasn't been a warzone in my lifetime. I need to actually take time to appreciate what that means instead of taking it for granted what mobility and oppoturnity this enables.

Sure, studying and worrying about future employment etc. in these times + with disability and dystunctional youth have been a pain, - but I'm still a person who has lived in relative stability for basically all this time.

We even have a functioning democracy in my country, something that I'm participating in as actively as possible. The Finnish left is very impressive with how consistent in its values (supports Palestine and Ukraine, cares about both human rights and climate/nature/environment + worker rights) and how diverse it is.

In these awful times we are just growing because people here are seeking hope and the ability to resist fascism.

We are a chariot racing for victory, and these times will only make us stronger.

Trump winning emboldens fascists everywhere, - the Orbans, the Putins, the Netanjahus, - or our own assholes called Petteri Orpo and Riikka Purra, - so now is a really important time to...

- Participate in all democratic action possible, - sign petitions, go to protests, join parties etc. and critique power

- Strengthen your support network, - join organizations that take direct action, find people who dare to want a better world together with you. Or just hang out with friends and family if possible. They can be invited with you.

- Don't be alone, it's easier to face difficulties together with others and it's easier to help people as a group!!

.....

...But here is the final thing about the doomerism part is...

For decades or some years now, many people have had to survive under dictatorships, corruption, occupation, active genocide, displacement, extreme poverty, environmental disasters etc.

For many people, resisting their oppression has been a thing they've done for generations, and continue to do now.

Yet you don't see those people giving up because for them none of this is abstract, it's an immediate observable reality. They don't have the luxury of dropping the fight and ignoring what is done to them.

I think a white western person like me will, in this picture, be just a self-excusing coward by deciding to give up on the world.

That is like... So weak!

I have no excuse to give up!

There is so much I can still do in my own communities and country alike, why should I doomerpill??

We just need to work on ourselves and learn to take action and get involved. And yea, we need to help each other proggress the grief about it.

Forget hyper-individualist "special person hero" dick measuring shit narratives. Instead, feel some relief, - that you're enough, because people generally accomplish things together.

See, it is not so scary to take more action, - because there are so, so many who also want to. You do what you can do and I promise it's enough. It contributes.

Be humbled to how lovely it is that there are many people!! Yes!! You are not alone!! We don't have to be anything outside of the ordinary to just do what we can, together with other people.

Yes, bad things will happen. Sometimes to others and at other times to ourselves and our close communities. We will live to see some really terrible things on top of the already terrible things. And no, we don't know how we die, either.

But when we keep always choosing what is most likely to produce the best outcome, we increase the chances of improving our conditions and preventing some of the bad things!

No power is forever.

Pushing for sovereignity and freedom of all peoples, human rights and action to restore ecological health and the climate, are worth it no matter how big or small the success is.

There was never a perfect world, nor will be, - but choices made accumulate into better outcomes. There is a chance in all things.

So yeah this is why I am not gonna mentally spiral about this because I don't want the sacred temple of my mind to become Hell when the real world grows more Hell-like indeed.

Existing in the moment, making decisions in it... Forgiving myself... Accepting I what I can't control but using my agency to change anything there is I can change. Especially starting from just my own thought process and personal choices.

[the-anonymous-vent-blog]

hi, i just found this blog by searching for "anonymous vent" because i just. i just really need to get this out, but the only friends that i'm close enough to to vent to are going through rough stuff and my part of my vent is about one of them so. and these friends also follow my tumblr. so i'm here.

i'm just so fucking tired. i started music school this year, studying music technology, which i have next to no prior experience with, but i was ready to learn. but it turns out our school is one big shit show where nothing works and a lot of people, like teachers i mean, just don't care. like seriously something like half of the students get burnt out within their first year. and i'm really feeling it too, and i've lost my motivation for learning music technology, bc it turns out they don't really teach us! we just gotta go mix gigs on our own accord and hope it doesn't end up a disaster. and when i seriously have a miniscule amount of prior experience, yea, that doesn't sound very inviting. the latest gig i did i just froze, i panicked and had no idea to do, so two other students did most of the job and i felt completely useless and stupid. and i feel bad and lazy about how i'm not motivated to learn all this stuff on my own, like i wanna know and learn this stuff, but it's not such a passion like that. i dunno. for the first time in my life i have wondered if i'll be able to graduate at all.

in the spring i've got so much stuff coming up, like long term projects every month, some are school, some are work, and some are volunteer stuff. i don't know how i'm gonna be able to handle that. i mean it's gonna be lots of rehearsals, lots of meetings, long nights working. yea.

this year also our country got a new government, and guess what, they're racist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, and all that fun stuff! there's so much drama going on about the new government closing borders and making huge budget cuts that worsen poor people's, students', and families' lives in an unbelievable way, while happily giving money to the already wealthy. that's rly stressful. then there's the ongoing war in ukraine, which actually quite closely affects us. and a genocide in palestine, can't even describe how frustrating and heartbreaking it is. oh yea and also i've now come to realize in our country the media lies and the police are corrupt (i know it's not new to most people in the world, but i've wrongfully believed our country is just and modern). oh right and of course climate change! natural disasters and epidemics that follow that! ain't that fun!

with all of that stuff going on, i've become a much more active citizen, taking part in protests of many different kinds. it's wonderful to feel like i'm able to do Something about the injustices of the world, but when the protests don't give much result, it's frustrating. and it turns out taking part in activism leads to a lot of feelings of guilt for not doing More. and just in general, activism is a lot of hard work, meetings and getting educated, and they involve their risks. so. you know.

and lastly i have two friends who are both severely depressed, both suicidal. one of them is going through very rough treatment right now, and it doesn't look like it's helping, it's just exhausting. at least weekly, i go to bed fearing that in the morning my friend won't exist anymore. i try, i try so hard to tell them that they mean the world to me (and the other friend also tells them that, they both know each other very well), i try to offer to help, to come over at night, to drive them to the hospital when they're especially bad, but it feels like nothing works. i'm just so scared. i love them so fucking much.

so um. i guess that's all. or all the big things at least, going on right now. then i have the general stuff, hating myself, hating my body, feeling so fucking unproductive, i haven't been creative in so so so long.... i feel like i can't get a grip on my life and just get things done, and take care of myself too. there's so much.....

i dunno, i guess that's enough complaining for now. sorry for saying so much. i'm just. i am so fucking tired. i really wish i could just. pause the entire world. and just. enjoy christmas. go sledding. or ice skating. play minecraft with my brother. breathe. but there's just so much going on both in my own personal life and in the world in general that's just. it's all crashing down on me.

Woah. That's alot.

[drunkoctopusinc]

Saw this on Instagram and not gonna lie- it kinda bugged me. Some of these points are accurate, some I disagree with but I see the argument for, others are out and out wrong. Usually the inaccuracies are due to purpously inflammatory phrasing, which is understandable since its a meme but the issues are to important for the language to stand fully uncriticed. Basically, I know it’s just a meme but I wanna pick it apart since this stuff is important and quite frankly I’m a little bored.

“Total support for Isreal”

This is true of the official platforms for each party. That being said I think it’s important to note you will find Democratic candidates and office holders with more moderated views on Isreal and (increasingly so) candidates who strongly support Palestine. There is no such moderation or diversity of opinion on the Republican side. If you want to cast your vote for someone who doesn’t support Isreal you might find that in a Democrat especially in the House of Reps, so be sure to look up your local candidates because they might surprise you on this one.

“Do Wall Streets bidding”

Wall Street is basically begging for Dodd-Frank to be repealed, and no Democrat is gonna do that. A Democratic administration created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and since 2010 there have been 3 separate bills introduced by Democrats to improve/reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. (The most recent was a bi-patrician bill sponsored by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), John McCain (R-AZ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Angus King (I-ME)) I understand how a lack of success can make it feel like Democrats are just doing Wall Street’s bidding, but that’s not the case. There are certainly differences in the level of regulation Democrats are asking for, but the broad strokes is Democrats want regulations put on Wall Street, while Republicans believe Wall Street can be trusted to do whatever they want.

“Unlimited Military Spending”

Much to my chagrin, this is true. Regardless of party affiliation it’s good for any elected official to say they brought jobs to the district, and more fighter jets mean more jobs building fighter jets. No one wants to rock that boat.

“Hostility to Russia, Iran, & China”

This one has multiple parts with varing degrees of debatablity. For Russia the Obama Administration tried to soften relations but Putin basically responded “No thanks Toots” and proceeded to violated Ukraine’s sovrienty, back a dictator using chemical weapons on his own people, and meddle in our elections. Basically the Dems tried but it’s a two way street and Russia’s gotta be on board too. Meanwhile Trump and the Republicans seem to be fine with Russia paying militants to kill Americans and undermining democratic norms in the 2016 US elections as well as a bunch of other European elections so seems like they want to get along with Russia whatever it fucking takes. So I’d say there’s a pretty big difference on that one.

Regarding Iran, there’s not much difference between Democrats and Republicans. Both are skeptical about Iran and don’t want to risk the alliances we have with other middle eastern nations in order to tighten bonds with Iran. HOWEVER, the Iran Nuclear Treaty was a huge step forward in calming tensions which damn near every democrat supported. And the Republicans basically yeeted it into the sun for no good reason. So at least democrats don’t want to make shit worse with Iran. As for China 100% hositlites would have remained the same with a Dem and probably most Republicans. But at the moment Republicans support an active trade war with China which is only making our relations with them worse. So for both Iran and China the Dems gotta get at least some points for not wanting to make shit worse.

“Full Spectrum Dominance.”

Yes. Both parties want the US to a strong political and economic force on the world stage without any major foreign threats. (TBH I struggle to see the problem with this because that dominance could be used to give every nation wi-fi and tasty cookies just easily as to perpetuate rampant injustice especially when its so vauge as to what they mean by Full Spectrum Dominance. But I don’t have nothing against you if you don’t want the US to persue dominance as goal.)

“Let Money Rule politics”

Campaign finance reform is a complicated issue because there isn’t 1 clear answer for how to do it. Campaigning costs a lot of money and candidates have to get that money somehow, unfortunately there isn’t really an answer for how it needs to be done that can’t in some way be attacked for not going far enough or not solving the real problem. So while Democrats generally try to find solutions and create reform, it is perfectly understandable and reasonable to feel they aren’t actually solving anything. However I think it’s important note (given how important this years election is) that Joe Biden has been very consistent on voting for campaign finance reform for the past 40 years, even going so far as to create a system of public funding for congressional elections in the early 90s. So if this is a high priority issue for you Joe Biden has a strong record on it.

“Neoliberalism Rocks!”

I’ve found online the term “neoliberalism” is used to describe such a wide range of policies it’s becoming less and less clear exactly what a person means by saying “neoliberalism.” So how accurate this claim is really depends on how you define “neoliberal.” That caveats aside, traditionally both parties have their neoliberal cohorts, and they do wield a far bit of power since they usually are the “deal makers” who talk more with the other side and create the compromises which get broad enough support to pass. However, the Republican Party has been drifting away from neoliberal policies for some time and has been completely sprinting away from them since trump was elected. For example here are some policies self described neoliberals love which recent republicans have taken a massive shit on; Free Trade, easier immigration, and a carbon tax. Neoliberals are inherently in the middle so yes both parties have neoliberal segments (Bill Clinton, Bush Senior for example) but Republicans are rapidly running further and further right, so if not already accurate to say “Neoliberals universally identify as democrats” it will be soon.

“Spy on Everyone!”

This is a bit hyperbolic but yeah mostly. While there are officals on both sides who want to stop or at least curb the survalince state when talking about the respective parties as a whole there aren’t big differences on changing this, at least not public ones.

“Screw the Old and the Poor!”

This one is just so wildly overstated as to be impossible to really discuss/debate effectively. I could say this is false because both parties agree we should strive to eleminate poverty but they differ on how. I could also say this is true because neither party has proposed a solution which would actually help end poverty, or I could say this is false because the Democratic platform includes issues like raising the minimum wage and expanding the social safety net which will help the poorest Americans. There’s no way to really analyze for accuracy because its so broad and emotional that it’s really more of an opinion statement than anything. (To be clear, there’s nothing inherently wrong with such a statement. In many ways they are critical to the nations broader political discussion. it just doesn’t lend itself to what I’m looking to do with this post and I felt it would have been dismissive to just say “it’s an emotional argument so I don’t care”) The only substantive thing I can say here which still fits into my general structure is no candidate wants to do anything against old people because old people vote in big numbers. It’s the reason despite talk of cutting medicare and social security Republicans haven’t actually tried anything substantial on those issues.

“Oligarchy not democracy”

This is another one that gets caught up in definition. If you use the strictest definition of democracy and a broad definiton of Oligarchy then yes this is right but otherwise it really depends on how you define oligarchy. The majority of Americans have the right to vote, thus they have a say in what our government does. This would generally meet the most common definition of democracy and neither party wants to change that (at least not officially.) there is no bi partisan call for the wealthiest 1% or even the wealthiest 10% of Americans to have exclusive control over our governance. Of course that’s the most inflammatory version of this statement, and I doubt that’s what the person who wrote it was saying. The more likely definition of oligarchy this person was using is a government where an elite class hold a disproportionate share of political power rather all political power. In which case it’s very very hard to agrue the US isn’t an oligarchy. I mean even if we put aside the more heavily debated question of how strongly political power and money are, I think everyone would agree my senator has more political power than I do. Plus, the founders didn’t want “mob rule” they were terrified of a populist leader rising up, so they didn’t create a pure democracy. Instead they made republic, which one could argue is simultaneously an oligarchy and a democracy. This means when anyone looks to maintain the current american system even in the broadest strokes it could be agrued they’re supporting oligarchy over democracy. However you could just as easily argue they’re supporting democracy. The line between oligarchy and democracy aren’t as clear as we’d like them to be. (And of course when you bring the “how strongly are political power and money connected” debate back into the picture it only gets more obscured). Now, to finally get to my point, the degree to which the US is an oligarchy is unclear and so is the degree to which each party supports maintaining the oligarchical elements. However I think saying that either party doesn’t support democracy is inaccurate. BUT I also think it is vital that we recognize under Trump the Republican Party has tolerated repeated undermining of our democratic system risking serious and dangerous backsliding into totalitarianism. The Democratic Party has not engaged in this backsliding at all and has fought against it as much as they can, and you absolutely must understand that as you vote this fall.

“Vive US imperialism!”

Yeah this is pretty much spot on. I mean I don’t think either political party is looking to conquer Cuba or to steal Baja California from Mexico but yeah the bulk of people in each party are at the very least not invested in reducing what has been called “Neo-imperialism” which is almost certainly what this statement is referring to, so while I could get this on the technically but that would be disingenuous.

“outlaw third parties”

Third parties are legal. No one wants to make them illegal, the constitution also wouldnt let them. The problem is our voting system makes third parties mathematically unstrategic. You could argue they are functionally unallowed and there’s no insensitive for either party to change that so the idea here isn’t to far off, but outlawing third parties is such a bold claim, and that mathy disadvantage is drastically reduced in local races. So if you support a third party or want to create a third party, go for it. Just know that your efforts will be best spent starting local.

“Crush the left”

Pretty sure “the left” here means self described socialists and further left in which case yes. the establishment of both parties are still scared by the s-word and even worse the c-word because no one wants to be the USSR. But there are loads of people who would define the left as the democrats and the Democratic Party doesn’t want to crush Democratic Party. (It doesn’t mean to be a self destructive idiot but sometimes it just can’t help itself) so again I know what they’re going for here but little astrisk for other people might not.

“Regime change is cool.”

If regime change was something both parties liked there would be US troops in Venezuela right now. The oldest Democrats might not be out and out against all regime change but no democrat (and plenty of Republicans quiet frankly) want to repeat the Iraq War. When it comes to regime change worse case something democrats and republicans disagree on and best case something they both agree is bad.

TL;DR- there are key differences between the political parties, regardless of what a meme might say. It’s not the 90s anymore so those differences are pretty big and only getting bigger. To each there own on who and what they support, so do your research and learn which party and which candidates best represents your values.

PS- if it’s Donald Trump go jump of a bridge.

[treehugginglibrarian]

“But what about.”

A tale of liberal elitist assholery, what-about-isms, and people just generally failing to ever be satisfied by the internet or each other. Ever. 

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don’t need no water let the motherfucker burn.

At least, if they’re being honest, that’s what a lot of liberals would be saying regarding the recent burning of la Cathedrale de Notre Dame in Paris. Instead, they’re going with a refrain that’s old and familiar among more socially liberal subsets of the online community whenever something that they deem “unimportant” or “less than” is damaged, destroyed, or otherwise harmed.

What-About-Isms! (Weird, because we’re so fucking good at calling out conservatives when they “what-about-ism” us… huh… funny how that works…)

“How are people donating money to this problem when there’s a war in Syria and a famine in Yemen?”

“So glad how many tourists a place gets makes it more important than war, famine, or poverty.”

“If the billionaires can fix this problem, why can’t they fix world hunger? The economic inequality in the world?”

“Really? Flint still doesn’t have drinking water and this is what people are spending their money on?”

And so on. And on. And on. But not really, because liberal what-about-isms are exactly as creative as conservative ones, which means they’re really all just a variation of those four. Come on, guys. If we’re gonna dicks, too, we should at least be more creative at it. 

While I have a read a couple of elegant albeit clearly privileged rants, most of the complaints, memes, and crappy cartoons are being drawn by normal, though well-educated, liberal folks who think they mean well.

You’re not doing “well.” You sound like a bunch of educated, elitist, assholes telling the rest of America (and the world, since many of y’all are lecturing billionaires in France now) what should or should not be important to them, what is or is not worth spending money on, and what individual people should or should not be sad about. You’re also, effectively, telling people what news they should be consuming and what media they should be watching. Which means, not even inadvertently, you’re telling people how they should spend their spare time and, often, their spare change. I’m a librarian and I don’t even pull that shit, because intellectual freedom is sort of important and coercive learning isn’t a particularly useful educational tool.  

Just stop. No seriously. Stop. You’re not helping your cause. You’re not making people more interested in Syria, or Libya, or Lebanon, or Palestine, or Israel, or the Philippines, or the south of Thailand, or Myanmar, or Russia, or Kenya, or South Africa, or Ukraine, or, or, or. See, I can play that game, too. I bet that some of my uber liberal, supposedly well-read friends, can’t tell you what’s going on in some of those countries. What about Guatemala? El Salvador? Ecuador? Mexico, Puerto Rico, Italy, France (aside from their Cathedral), the UK, Northern Ireland specifically, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, or Iraq? Who are the Kurds? Where are the Kurds? What are they up to right now? Are you bored yet? Do you know about the famines in Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia, or only the one in Yemen? Are you tired of being told how ill-informed you are? Do you feel foolish for not knowing what’s going on in every single one of those countries?

Don’t. Don’t feel foolish. You’re human. No human can, or should, know every bad thing that is going on everywhere in the world. It’s not feasible and it’s emotionally exhausting. Those are just the countries I’ve read about in the news during the course of the last six months or so. Some are at war. Some are experiencing internal strife. Some are committing genocide or something that resembles it. Many are just in the midst of famine or suffering poverty so extreme it makes the homelessness crisis in America look non-existent. I am sure there are hundreds of issues the world over besides just these, and I’m sure many of them are as severe or more than the ones I’ve mentioned above. Which means, in many ways, the what-about-isms surrounding the burning of a Cathedral aren’t just elitist, they’re hypocritical.

“How are people donating to this when there’s a war in Syria and a famine in Yemen?”

Okay, but there’s also wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are basically perpetual incursions in the Kashmir region between Pakistan and India. There are effectively genocides going on in various countries in Africa. Depending on how Brexit breaks, violence may well break out in Northern Ireland, again. Russia is occupying parts of Ukraine, still. Venezuela is in such a great state of upheaval, other countries are considering intervention. At least three nations in Africa are in the midst of a horrible famine. Hell, our own state of California just crawled out of a drought that it had been in for years. A drought that led to wildfires that caused the destruction of thousands of homes, many of which still haven’t been rebuilt and likely won’t be rebuilt for decades. And absolutely none of that will matter if we don’t stop climate change and save the fucking bees. But your focus is Syria and Yemen specifically? What makes them important? Why are they special? And why should they be more important and more special than every other conflict or food-oriented crisis on the planet? I can most definitely what-about-ism your what-about-ism until the cows come home, because there’s almost certainly something horrible going on somewhere else that I can toss in your face as being just as important as your bullshit what-about-ism.

“So glad how many tourists a place gets makes it more important than war or famine.”

Not necessarily more important, just more well known. When we threw 59 missiles at an airbase in Syria, it made the front page of one of the newspapers sitting behind the reference desk where I work. Sure, it was in the local newspaper, but it wasn’t deemed interesting enough for front page news. Notre Dame burned and it was on the front page of every fucking paper on the planet the next day. Hell, it’s on the front page of all four papers sitting behind my reference desk today. Three out of four them it is, for the second day, the obvious front page story. Why? Because people know what and where that Cathedral is. Seeing a story about a recognizable object or place is going to make someone pick up the newspaper and read it. Media centers know that, and they plan their layouts accordingly. People will only know about the items and entities that are placed before them for their intellectual consumption. A place having a lot of tourists doesn’t make it inherently more important, but it does make it inherently more well-known, and thus a better story.

Before anyone says “seek out better news sources,” it’s worth considering the fact that better news sources require both access and time. These are not two commodities that everyone has. Money, or a local library, are necessary to make access to things like the New York Times or the Washington Post possible. Things like NPR, the BBC, and PBS are all free access, but they still require broadband or wireless access, via internet or a data plan. The number of people without ready access to the digital world is literally unknown in this country, because it’s not a question that’s ever been asked on a census and the few times the government has tried to do a conclusive count it’s come up stymied. Assuming that the entire country has ready access to any news they want at the touch of a finger is an intensely privileged assumption to make. Don’t believe me? Work a library reference desk for a day and count how many people call for phone numbers because they lack a means by which to look them up. Then tell me again that ready, and immediate, access to “acceptable” news sources is something they’re probably overly concerned about. 

Even for those with ready internet access, financial means, or access to a library, time is still a constraint. We can only consume so much media in a day. We can only fit so much, full stop, in a single day. I know more about what’s up than most people, because I work a job that allows me to read the news while at work. One of my many tasks is literally clipping relevant news articles from the local paper so I am, in effect, paid to stay “in the know.” How are we going to tell a single mother who works insane hours that, after she’s finally gotten her kids to bed, she should be reading up on the crisis in Syria rather than catching up with her friends on Facebook? Her life is not abnormal, which means her lack of insight into the world, existing not because of a lack of caring but because of a lack of time, is not abnormal. How are we going to tell the couple with sick parents and an overdue mortgage that their concern for a Cathedral, the one piece of news they were able to catch up on in between hospice visits and work, speaks to their character?

The fact that so many people are so concerned about a damned church is not cause for alarm, it’s actually cause for a sigh of relief. It means people haven’t completely tuned out. It means people are, in fact, paying attention to what’s going on in other parts of the world. Even people who genuinely lack the time or money to dedicate to “adequate” intellectual pursuits are still, on occasion, tuning in to the rest of the world. Do not discourage that with your snarky elitist “you’re paying attention to the wrong things” bullshit.  

“If the billionaires can fix this problem, why can’t they fix world hunger? The economic inequality in the world?”

First, how do you know what the billionaires are spending their money on? Do you disclose everything you spend your money on? Am I allowed to start approving your philanthropic pursuits and telling you what you can/should donate to? Bill and Melinda Gates all but single-handedly (or rather, single-walletedly) eliminated certain diseases via vaccinations. Oprah is educating young girls in multiple countries. Elon Musk is trying to get us to Mars, for fucks sake. Billionaires, like all humans, are capable of super shitty things. They’re also capable of super awesome things. They’re not capable of fixing all of the problems in the world and, honestly, they shouldn’t be expected to. While billionaires in the United States rarely pay their “fair share” of taxes, those in other countries often do. Which means that the billionaires in France who have pledged (read: started a fierce and ridiculous competition, but whatever) to help rebuild the Cathedral have likely already donated to the French coiffeurs and are now doing what they consider to be “their part” (read: are now competing to prove they’re the best rich Frenchman of them all) to help ensure the government doesn’t have to rebuild a national monument. Because that’s what Notre Dame is.

While it may hold Catholic services, it’s not owned by the Catholic church. Which means the church is, in no way, required to repair it. If France wants to guarantee its maintenance for future generations, it’s not something that can be left to the church. A couple of billionaires are making sure the dent it puts in the available tax base is relatively minimal, even if that’s not necessarily their intent. You don’t have to commend them for it, but I’d recommend not lambasting them for it, since the Cathedral is getting fixed one way or another. The more billionaires “waste” their money on it, the less tax payers will feel it.

But “why” is it getting fixed? Why does it matter? Why can’t they spend the money on something else? It was started in the 1100s. It is one of the oldest, largest, standing examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. Some of the most important events in French history have happened in or at that Cathedral. History is important, as liberals who call for reparations are well aware. Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it, as liberals who scream that we should be punching Nazis cannot have forgotten. There is essentially nothing in our country so important to us, so fundamental to the fabric of our being as a nation, that we would be willing to dedicate millions of dollars to repairing it if it was damaged. Part of this is that we’re a very new nation still. Part of this is that much of our history is tarnished, some horribly so. Much of this is that America, for all its “pride,” lacks an overarching sense of identity.

We are, and have for some time been, quite fractured. By politics, by religion, by skin tone, by the fact that we have always been an imperialist melting pot founded upon a land that we stole from another people. There are few structures or places in this country that hold a significance large enough to all of us that they would be overwhelmingly viewed as worth saving. While France is seeing some internal strife, they are a nation that largely possesses a sense of identity. I can’t really tell you what it means to be American, and I am one. Fuck, I wore our uniform for eight years and I still can’t really tell you what it means to be American. I have never met a French person who couldn’t tell you what it means to be French. That Cathedral lies at the heart of their capital city and, in many ways, at the heart of their nation. The French people would never allow it lie fallow and turn to dust, and it’s pretty deplorable that a country of people who all but lack a unified identity think we have the cultural savvy to dictate to another nation what should become of a structure that is four times older than our entire being. We cannot comprehend why the French would pay millions to fix a church that old, in part because we literally cannot comprehend what it means to have a national history that old. If we could, the donations of billionaires would probably make a lot more sense to us.

“Really? Flint still doesn’t have drinking water and this is what people are spending their money on?”

I live in Cleveland. The lead levels in certain neighborhoods in my city are exponentially higher than those in Flint. If you’re using Flint as an excuse to avoid spending money on other things, you’re showing your own bias and overall lack of knowledge on a topic that is much bigger than the buzzword you’ve turned the city of Flint into. My city is not the only one like this, either. There are dozens (probably hundreds) of cities in this country that have lead levels higher than those in Flint. We just don’t have an exceptionally annoying movie producer named Michael Moore capable of throwing an international temper tantrum about the situation. I’m thrilled that he got the attention that he did and that he forced Flint’s officials to at least admit wrong doing, even if they still haven’t fixed the problem. Pretending that the water in Flint is as bad as it gets, though, is seriously disingenuous and shows just how thoroughly even some of the most obnoxious elitists don’t understand their own talking points. Come on guys. Do your research.

In the end, telling people what they can be upset about isn’t just bad politics, it’s bad interpersonal dialogue. It presumes that the person you’re talking to is incapable of considering multiple major world issues as important at the same time. It presumes that the person you’re accusing of not caring “properly” has access to the same time and resources that you do, and presumes that your own personal international interests are the most important ones out there. Yes, the war in Syria is important. So is the famine in Yemen. But so are five million other things going on right now, and you are not the arbiter of that which is “most” important.

There will come a day when something big, and important, will happen to you. Maybe it’ll be a car accident. Maybe it’ll be a birth. Maybe it’ll be a deployment. Maybe it’ll be an explosion that leaves half a city block leveled. It will be the center point of your existence for as long as you need it to be. Maybe people from outside of your town will care, maybe they won’t. That doesn’t matter, though, because the event in question is important to you. Now imagine how disheartening it would be if you got online and hundreds of thousands of people were discussing the fact that whatever happened in your corner of the planet was irrelevant because of all the other things happening in other parts of the planet. Just as we went back to ignoring Syria a couple weeks after each bombing run, just as we’ve long since forgotten that the war in Iraq ever even happened or that the one in Afghanistan is still on-going, just as we’ve forgotten that Puerto Rico is still rebuilding and that Venezuela is still falling apart, in a couple of weeks we will forget about Notre Dame. And then each of us, as individuals, will be free to go back to our separate corners of the internet and focus on the things that we find important.

Until then, calm down. Get off the net if you have to. Liberals have enough problems without a subsection of our own deciding they’re solely and singularly qualified to determine what major world events are actually worth talking about and giving money to. You don’t know everything. None of us do. So how about if we just don’t act like a bunch of elitist dicks and let people care about whatever the hell they want to care about.

Including the fact that the stain glass windows survived that fucking fire. Props to 13th century artisans.  

[cometconmain]

That hypocrisy extends to the Israel/Palestine war too because we fall for propaganda constantly on both sides there as well. It's difficult to discern fact from misinformation especially if you're not versed in making that distinction which I'm definitely not and the majority of other pro-Palestinian activists aren't either which makes us prime targets for propaganda from Hamas-supporting sources. Add rampant antisemitism and you get a lot of excuses for attacking Jewish people and their very existence and nativeness to the region being denied because we can't wrap our heads around the fact that the actions of a right-wing government and military don't reflect the beliefs of the majority of Jewish people, nor do they negate Jewish right to self determination, just as Hamas' actions don't reflect the beliefs of the majority of Palestinians nor fo they negate Palestinian right to self-determination.

Unfortunately, we refuse to recognise that a) Westerners caused a massive amount of this conflict to begin with and should be focusing on fixing that so at the very least Jewish people aren't terrified to merely exist in Western countries and b) while I normally hate both-side-ism, this is a rare case of two genuinely indigenous groups in conflict - again mostly due to Western interference - and there is in fact a lot of bad blood between them and there is a very human habit of telling us only the things one side or the other has done depending on who's talking. Add in raging islamophobes and antisemites into the mix spreading whatever historical revisionism and propaganda best supports their goal of turning people extremist to one side or the other and you get some really REALLY shitty hypocrisy in the leftist movement especially because we get into the habit of thinking we can't hold already bigoted beliefs that can be easily radicalised to people we thought ourselves so far removed from.

Boom. Leftist hypocrisy and treating Ukraine differently because to recognise things about Ukraine would be to have to address rampant radicalisation in both pro-Israel AND pro-Palestinian groups who think only the other group has issues they need to sort out because "our side is correct in all things and totally immune to propaganda." (See shit like physically attacking Jewish people for removing anti-Israel stickers, the refusal to learn the complexities of what exactly Zionism is instead of assuming only the worst because some of them suck and we're antisemitic in Western countries and it's easy for us to slide from one-shitty-section-of-otherwise-valid-movement to 'the Jews control the world and love killing children' etc, acting like the way to resolve this is to destroy Israel as a state when it isn't because Jewish people deserve to live there too actually and if you get past the propaganda you can see that, attacking an Israeli embassy with Molotov cocktails like that's remotely helpful to anyone in Palestine when really it just looks like an excuse to attack Jewish people again for something a government and military are doing a world away with a massive number of Israelis protesting what that government and military are doing, as well as an increasing number of other hate crimes and general antisemitic behaviours being excused as just supporting Palestine and people refusing to weed that out so we can actually support them without just turning into neo-nazis. On the other side I'm seeing rampant islamophobia, war crime denial, civillian victims being called liars and people being called antisemitic for any form of supporting victims getting out of the country or criticism of the Israeli government/military at all. I've blocked people on both sides of this doing all of that because I don't want to get drawn into that shit and I've already had to be pulled out of the radicalisation rip myself with all the genuinely antisemtic propaganda/historical revisionism I was sharing that I hadn't realised was antisemitic. I'm still trying to figure all this shit out now.)

Fact is, we have to face uncomfortable truths that we can get pulled into doing bigots' work for them or we will be adding to the problem/creating new ones/dredging up old ones, rather than making sure the world improves for everyone.

I know I'll get hung by both sides of the Palestine/Israel activism for this but I'm trying to figure this out properly whenever I find the spoons to educate myself further because I really don't want to be part of the problem. I don't want to call actual freedom fighters terrorists, or actual terrorists freedom fighters. I also don't want to ignore indigenous voices or erase history of violence and prejudice on either side to the other.

Russia and Ukraine is pretty clear cut from what I can see so far (though I'm sure there's misinformation there we'll need to sort through constantly to be actually helpful with any activism there too), because as far as I'm aware the conflict there is driven by a different type of reason ie: Putin is being a giant cunt and oppressing the Ukraine. Palestine and Israel is way messier with two groups of people who both belong there coping with a long history of shittiness while the people in power utilise that anger to excuse their war crimes, and a very large part of how effective that is as well as a whole lot of that bad blood to begin with is our fault.

I dont think anything related to politics and current state of the world has ever enraged and disgusted me more than seeing pro-palestine/marxists/communists/leftist supporters be this extremely hypocritical and evil when it comes to Ukraine. Not only that entire breakout of russian invasion of Ukraine was followed by "what about Palestine/Syria/Afghanistan/Iraq" comments on every video/photo of a destroyed Ukrainian home but also even after more than 2 years of russian invasion and what experts call most brutal war since WW2, this same group of people is constantly minimizing and relativizing tragedy and injustice to Ukraine by lowering number of civilian casualities, holding dearly onto chunks of russian propaganda that have already been debunked countless times, taking announcements of Ukrainian officials out of context or simply excusing oppression of Ukrainians by something unrelated (like supposed support of Ukraine for Israel???). All that while screaming about "double standards" or "Western hypocrisy". Why are Ukrainians who support Israel called out more frequently and harshly than Palestinians who support Russia? What makes Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Syria etc more deserving of sympathy and support than Ukraine? Why are Azovstal defenders called nazis while Hamas is praised as freedom fighters? Why is russian oppression of Ukrainians and erasion of Ukrainian identity that lasted for centuries overlooked? I seriously dont understand psychology behind such reasoning.