#germany pro league

[zvaigzdelasas]

South Africa’s genocide case has put the spotlight on a deeper fault line in global geopolitics. Beyond the courtroom drama, experts say divisions over the war in Gaza symbolize a widening gap between Israel and its traditional Western allies, notably the United States and Europe, and a group of nations known as the Global South — countries located primarily in the southern hemisphere, often characterized by lower income levels and developing economies.

Reactions from the Global North to the ICJ case have been mixed. While some nations have maintained a cautious diplomatic stance, others, particularly Israel’s staunchest allies in the West, have criticized South Africa’s move.

The US has stood by Israel through the war by continuing to ship arms to it, opposing a ceasefire, and vetoing many UN Security Council resolutions that aimed to bring a halt to the fighting. The Biden administration has rubbished the claim that Israel is committing genocide as “meritless,” while the UK has refused to back South Africa.[...]

As a nation whose history is rooted in overcoming apartheid, South Africa’s move carries symbolic weight that has resonated with other nations in the developing world, many of whom have faced the burden of oppression and colonialism from Western powers.

Nelson Mandela, the face of the anti-apartheid movement, was a staunch supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990: “We align ourselves with the PLO because, akin to our struggle, they advocate for the right of self-determination.”

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while South Africa’s case is a continuation of its long-standing pro-Palestinian sympathies, the countries that have rallied behind it show deeper frustrations by the Global South.

There is “a clear geopolitical context in which many countries from the Global South have been increasingly critical over what they see as a lack of Western pressure on Israel to prevent such a large-scale loss of life in Gaza and its double standards when it comes to international law,” Lovatt told CNN.

Much of the non-Western world opposes the war in Gaza; China has joined the 22-member Arab League in calling for a ceasefire, while several Latin American nations have expelled Israeli diplomats in protest, and several Asian and African countries have joined Muslim and Arab nations in backing South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ.

For many in the developing world, the ICJ case has become a focal point for questioning the moral authority of the West and what is seen as the hypocrisy of the world’s most powerful nations and their unwillingness to hold Israel to account. [...]

Israel sided with the West against Soviet-backed Arab regimes during the Cold War, and Western countries largely view it “as a fellow member of the liberal democratic club,” he added.[...]

“But the strong support of Western governments is increasingly at odds with the attitudes of Western publics which continue to shift away from Israel,” Lovatt said.

Israel has framed the war in Gaza as a clash of civilizations where it is acting as the guardian of Western values that it says are facing an existential threat.

“This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told MSNBC in December. “It’s a war that is intended – really, truly – to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization.”

So far, no Western countries have supported South Africa’s case against Israel.

Among Western states, Germany has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The German government has said it “expressly rejects” allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that it plans to intervene as a third party on its behalf at the ICJ.

An opinion poll by German broadcaster ZDF this week however found that 61% of Germans do not consider Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip as justified in light of the civilian casualties. Only 25% voiced support for Israel’s offensive.

But it is in Germany’s former colonial territory, Namibia, that it has attracted the fiercest criticism.

The Namibian President Hage Geingob in a statement on Saturday chided Berlin’s decision to reject the ICJ case, accusing it of committing “the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions.” The statement added that the German government had not yet fully atoned for the killings.

Bangladesh, where up to three million people were killed during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in the 1970s, has gone a step further to file a declaration of intervention in the ICJ case to back South Africa’s claims, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

A declaration of intervention allows a state that is not party to the proceedings to present its observations to the court.

“With Germany siding with Israel, and Bangladesh and Namibia backing South Africa at the ICJ, the geopolitical divide between the Global South and the West appears to be deepening,” Lovatt said.

Traditionally, the West has wielded significant influence in international affairs, but South Africa’s move signals a growing assertiveness among Global South nations that threatens the status quo, says Adekoya.

“One clear pattern emerging is that the old Western-dominated order is increasingly being challenged, a situation likely to only further intensify as the West loses its once unassailably dominant economic position,” Adekoya said.

19 Jan 24

[capybaracorn]

Israel’s ‘anti-Zionists’ brave police beatings, smears to demand end to war

Some have been jailed for refusing to serve in the armed forces while others face threats and harassment from right-wing groups.

An antiwar protest in Tel Aviv during municipal elections [Mat Nashed/Al Jazeera]

(9 Mar 2024)

Tel Aviv/West Jerusalem – In 2015, Maya, a Jewish Israeli, travelled to Greece to help Syrian refugees. At the time, she was an exchange student in Germany and she had been deeply moved by the pictures she saw of desperate people arriving there in small boats.

That was where she met Palestinians who had been born in Syria after their parents and grandparents fled there during the founding of her own country in 1948.

They told her about the Nakba – or “catastrophe” – in which 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes to make way for the newly established Israel. Maya, 33, who had been taught that her country was born through “an independence war” against hostile Arab neighbours, decided that she needed to “unlearn” what she had learned.

“I never heard about the right of return, or Palestinian refugees,” she told Al Jazeera.

“I had to get out of Israel to start learning about Israel. It was the only way I could puncture holes in what I was taught.”

Maya, who asked that her full name not be used for fear of reprisals, is one of a small number of Israeli Jewish activists who identify as “anti-Zionists” or “non-Zionists”.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a pro-Israeli group with a stated mission of fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in the United States, Zionism means supporting a Jewish state established for the protection of Jews worldwide.

However, many anti-Zionists like Maya and the people she works with view Zionism as a Jewish supremacist movement which has ethnically cleansed most of historic Palestine and systematically discriminates against the Palestinians who remain, either as citizens of Israel or residents of the occupied territories.

But since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israeli civilians and military outposts on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and nearly 250 taken captive, Israeli anti-Zionists have been accused of treason for speaking about Palestinian human rights.

Many have called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza to stop what they view as collective punishment and genocide of the Palestinian people.

“I think [anti-Zionists] always claim that Jewish supremacy is not the answer and it is not the answer to the [October 7] killings,” Maya said.

“Israelis don’t understand how the Palestinian story is all about the Nakba, refugees and the right of return. If we are not able to deal with that then we are not going anywhere.”

Perceived as ‘traitors’

Since October 7, Israeli anti-Zionists have described living in a hostile political and social environment. Many say the police have violently cracked down on anti-war protests, while others have received threats from far-right-wing Israelis.

Roee, who, like Maya, did not give his last name for fear of reprisals from Israeli society or authorities, is also a Jewish Israeli activist. In October last year, he attended a small demonstration of a couple of dozen people a few days after Israel began bombing Gaza. The demonstrators were calling on Hamas to free all Israeli captives and on Israel to stop the war.

“The police pushed all of us [out] violently in just two minutes,” Roee, 28, told Al Jazeera at a cafe in West Jerusalem.

Weeks later, Roee and his friend, Noa, who also did not want her full name to be revealed, attended another silent demonstration outside a police station in Jerusalem. They put tape over their mouths to denounce the sweeping arrests of Palestinian citizens of Israel who had also called for an end to the war on Gaza.

But again, police chased down the Israeli protesters and beat them with batons.

“I think it is very clear that the police recognise us. It doesn’t matter the signs we hold. They know us. They know we are leftists and that we are ‘traitors’ or whatever they call us,” Noa told Al Jazeera.

Many Israeli antiwar activists have also been smeared or “doxxed” – a term given to people whose identities and addresses are made known on social media by those hoping to intimidate them into silence.

Maya said that a right-wing activist had accused her romantic partner of cooperating with Hamas by informing them of the whereabouts of Israeli positions in Gaza. The activist published photos of her partner on Instagram with captions detailing the fabricated accusations.

“We were afraid that our address would be exposed, but luckily it wasn’t. Even before October 7, [these groups of extreme right-wing people] tried to obtain addresses of people to ‘dox’ them and taunt them. Some of our friends had to leave their apartments. That was our main worry,” Maya said.

Conscientious objectors

While most Israelis are required to enlist in the army after high school, antiwar activists have refused to take part in their country’s continuing occupation of the West Bank, where raids and arrests have been intensified since October, or in the war on Gaza. Two young Israelis who publicly refused to join the army are now serving short sentences in military prison.

Einat Gerlitz, a “non-Zionist” and a member of Mesarvot, a non-profit organisation providing social and legal support to Israeli conscientious objectors, said that more people may have refused military service since the war on Gaza began, because not everyone goes public.

“The army does not release the numbers … because the army’s interest is to make sure [refusing service] is not a topic spoken about in the public sphere. The government and army work really hard to glorify army service, so they want minimal attention on conscientious objectors,” the 20-year-old said.

Einat Gerlitz is a 20-year-old peace activist and a conscientious objector. She spoke about her peace activism in a cafe in Tel Aviv [Al Jazeera/Mat Nashed]

Gerlitz added that the October 7 attack did not make her reconsider her peace activism, but she is very concerned for friends and peers who were quickly deployed to Gaza.

“I was worried for them, but I was also worried about some of the commands that they may need to fulfil,” she told Al Jazeera, referring to her worries that soldiers may be ordered to commit atrocities or violate international law.

Over the past five months, Israeli soldiers have razed entire neighbourhoods in Gaza, bombed universities, hospitals and places of worship, and shot at crowds of starving Palestinians lining up for food aid.

Rights groups say that these attacks amount to war crimes and may collectively amount to a campaign of genocide.

‘We need greater empathy’

Many anti-Zionist Israelis say that their aim is to make fellow Israelis recognise the humanity of the Palestinians.

However, they say it has been difficult to counter the messaging of Israeli politicians, some of whom have called Palestinians in Gaza “animals”, “subhuman” or “barbarians” in order to rally support for the war. Some of these statements were singled out by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which issued an emergency order in January on the genocide case brought against Israel by South Africa.

Israeli society also expresses little empathy for Palestinians in Gaza, several Israeli activists told Al Jazeera. They explained they believe this is partly due to Israeli media rarely reporting on the army’s probable war crimes, nor on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis brought on by Israel’s war.

Maya recalls going to a demonstration in Tel Aviv to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza in late October. About 50 people attended, with many holding up photos of children killed by the Israeli army. But when Israeli children saw the photos, they claimed they were fake.

“[Young Israeli kids] pointed at a photo of a father holding a dead baby in Gaza and said, ‘How can you believe this? It’s not real. He is acting’,” Maya said.

“[Another child] pointed to a different dead baby and said, ‘This is a doll’.”

Addam, an anti-Zionist Israeli and a graffiti artist, who did not disclose his full name, was also at the protest. He said that an Israeli woman called the demonstrators “traitors” and said that her own brother had died fighting for Israel in Gaza.

While Addam was heartbroken to hear about her loss, he said he believes that the government is weaponising Israeli grief to commit atrocities in Gaza. He added that he tries to humanise Palestinians through his art and spoke about one project where he photographed the physical scars that Palestinians and Israelis bore from past conflicts.

“Once there is empathy, it creates an entirely different foundation to begin engaging in reality,” he told Al Jazeera. “It should be a given that people in Gaza are human beings with families, dreams and jobs.

“But, for many factors, there is this ongoing process [in Israel] of dehumanising Palestinians.”

[gotham--fc]

January Hymn - An Emily Sonnett Imagine

So this takes place during 2020 when Sonnett was on loan to Gothenburg and that was a very long time ago so if the timeline is not correct that's the way the cookie crumbles 🤷‍♀️(also my first time writing in second person if y'all like it I might do more second person stuff)

Also based off the song January Hymn by The Decemberists which I cannot recommend enough their entire discography is *chefs kiss*

About 2k words, pretty angsty, not a happy ending

You had long since accepted that this was as far as your career will take you.

You grew up in Sweden, up north, and moved to Gothenburg when you turned 18. You played soccer all your life and it was obvious to everyone who saw you that you were yards ahead of every other kid you played with. Your parents would drive you hours away from your hometown so you could play on a competitive team in a bigger city, where your talent was matched and developed. You ended up on an academy team and set your sights on going pro.

You are a professional player now. In your teenage years, you imagined yourself in World Cup finals, Champions League finals, you imagined your mantle filled with trophies and medals. You imagine you would leave Sweden. You liked to imagine yourself in Germany, or France, or England, maybe even America, and playing for top clubs around the world. However, none of those dreams really panned out for you.

You moved to Gothenburg and signed your first professional contract. You didn’t notice it at the time, but you were nearing your peak in your play, your development slowing. You love playing here, always have, but you didn’t imagine spending your whole career here. Over the years, you have watched players leave. Young players rise quickly through the ranks and get swooped up by flashy contracts at even flashier clubs. You look back at yourself at 18, 19, 20, and you know you were never as good as they are, never really had a chance at going somewhere else.

You’re not upset. You’re at peace with it all now. Sure, when you first realized that your dreams wouldn’t pan out, you were heartbroken, disappointed, frustrated, but you moved on. You’re happy with your life. You still get to play the sport you love for a living. You recognize now that you would’ve crashed and burned had you gone anywhere else. You love Sweden too much to leave, and the homesickness would’ve been too much. All in all, you’re happy where you are and you don’t regret a thing.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

Players move around all the time. It’s the nature of sports, players choosing to leave for a variety of reasons, teams deciding not to resign players for whatever reason, the team is always changing. You have been a staple in Gothenburg for years, but you’re one of a few. You’re used to having your friends move away and you’re used to only seeing them over Facetime after fighting through time differences. It’s part of your life.

You don’t think much of it when your coach announces a new player will be joining the team on loan from America. It’s not the first American, and it’s not the first loan, and really you’re just happy to see a new face. With Covid restrictions you really only see your teammates and the coaching staff, and you’re looking forward to not having the same conversations over and over. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have an extra player to contribute when you’re pushing for a title.

Emily Sonnett, when you meet her looks like she’s had more of a year than you have. There’s a deep tiredness in her, one that she tries to hide behind her smile. You hear whispers in the locker room, about trades and the team in America she wasn’t playing for. You don’t care. You don’t care what she’s running from in America, you don’t care what her reasons for coming here are. It’s not really your business to care, anyway.

"Hi, Emily, right?" You approach her in the locker room. Her head is trained down at her cleats even though she’s tied them tight already. Her head snaps up when you speak.

“Most people just call me Sonnett. Or Sonny. Whatever you want.”

“Okay Sonnett,” You say, “You enjoying the city so far?”

“Uh, I haven’t really had a chance,” Emily, Sonnett, says, “I don’t really speak Swedish so, I just try not to get lost.”

Most of the team knows some English, some more fluent than others, but they do tend to speak Swedish to each other. You learned English when you were younger, in the hope that you might need it when you moved away. You’re grateful for it now, because Sonnett looks like she needs someone she can speak to.

“I’ve lived here for a long time, let me show you around. Gothenburg is a beautiful city, I would hate for you to not see the city the way I do.”

“Okay,” Sonnett says, “I’d like that.”

You take Sonnett around the city, showing her all your favourite spots, and you love sharing your city and your country with your teammates, but something feels different with Sonnett. She’s hilarious, and you laugh the whole day, and every time you laugh her eyes light up. You asked her, earlier in the day, why she came to Gothenburg, and she gave you a vague answer about COVID and not being able to play in the States over the summer and just wanting to get some games under her belt before the Olympics next year. You understand, in a way, because you’ve never not had soccer, never not been able to play, and you can’t imagine having it taken away without your control.

You have been fairly lucky with injuries, never having anything serious enough to take you out for a long time. You have watched your teammates and friends sidelined for months with injuries, and you feel extremely grateful that you’ve never had to deal with that. You know that Sonnett isn’t unable to play in the States because of injuries, but because of the pandemic that has effected you as well. No one really knows what the pandemic will bring, how the world will be impacted by it, and you’re just happy you get play, that the team has found a way to play safely.

“I know Sweden is not as warm as Florida,” You say when you noticed Sonnett shiver.

“Oh, I wasn’t in Florida, I was in Georgia with my family,” Sonnett says, “I don’t have a place in Florida and I’m not about to couch surf off my friends, so I just stayed with my family.”

“I did not realize your American teams don’t provide housing.”

“They did, they do,” Sonnett says, “There’s no point in getting me a place. They’re not playing in Florida this year, and they won’t keep me next year. I told them I don’t want to stay next year.”

You’re not really sure what to say. The conversations today have been lighthearted, and you’re not sure how to handle the change. You’ve had teammates request transfers before, but the system here is so different than in the States. Here, if you don’t want to stay with a team, you just don’t sign another contract, but it’s different over there.

“I was traded,” Sonnett says when you stay quiet, “From Portland. I’d been there for so long and I really thought they’d keep me, but then they traded me. And I don’t want to play for Orlando. I… I want to go back to Portland, I want my old life back. All my friends were there and I was really happy. It felt shitty that they could just get rid of me like that.”

“I’m sorry,” You say, because what else is there to say?

“I’m not playing in Florida, for the Pride, and I made that clear. I don’t even want to go back to Portland, because it’s obvious I don’t mean anything to them, and all my friends are gone too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“D’you know any good pet shops?” Sonnett says suddenly, “I wanna get my dog Bagel so many Swedish dog toys before I go back.”

Your head reels from the abrupt change in conversation. You get the sense that Sonnett is not someone who likes to have serious conversations, so you don’t push. You don’t have any pets, so you don’t know where the nearest pet shop is, but you use google maps and you laugh as Sonnett makes jokes about each toy and the way she butchers the pronunciations of names.

It feels like the start of something, something you can’t put a name on. You didn’t know it then, but the start sometimes can also be the end.

***

You knew Sonnett’s loan would end. That’s how loans work, there’s also an end date to them. While you knew that, and knew your time was limited, her departure crept up on you. First, you were ecstatic, thrilled, that you won the league. It’s what the team has been working towards, and you get to see all your hard work paid off. Through the celebrations and the champagne, you find Sonnett alone.

“I thought you were the life of the party,” You say, “Or are your stories lies?”

“No, I am usually pretty rowdy,” Sonnett says, “They don’t call me Saucy for nothing.” You chuckle. “I was just thinking how much I’ll miss this.”

You head cocks to the side. Miss this? It’s hits you, the season is over, and Sonnett’s loan is over, and she’ll be going back to the States.

“I’m happy to go home, see my family and friends again, but I’ve really enjoyed it here.”

“Yeah,” You say quietly, feeling choked up suddenly.

The two of you look at each other and you can see the emotion in Sonnett’s eyes, no doubt mirrored in yours. There’s something you want to say, caught on the tip of your tongue, and you’re not even sure yourself what it is, but before you can, someone bumps into you and then you and Sonnett are dragged back into the celebrations.

Sonnett leaves a week later.

You offer to drive her to the airport. It’s an excuse to see her one last time before she leaves and she doesn’t fight you on it. You pick her up from her apartment and she slides into the passengers seat of your car. She looks tired, and you think a little sad, but she hides her emotions so well that you can’t tell if you’re just projecting.

The drive is quiet, the two of you attempting to make conversation, but there’s nothing to say. She’s leaving, and you’re staying, and neither of those facts will change. Her life is in the States, and yours is here, and maybe in another life you would’ve been more talented and more skilled and maybe you would’ve found yourself in the States, on the same team as Sonnett.

You park in the drop off zone and you get out of the car while Sonnett grabs her bags from the back. You take a moment to just look at her, and then you pull her into a hug.

“I’m glad you came here,” You say, “Even if it was short. I… I wish…” There’s so much you want to say. You pull back to look Sonnett in the eyes. As soon as you lock eyes, all the words leave you. What can you say?

She stands there, looking at you, and she’s waiting, she’s waiting for you to say it, and you’re waiting for her to say it, because how can you say anything right before she leaves you? How can she say anything right before she leaves you?

“Goodbye Emily Sonnett,” You say, “Don’t forget about me when you win a gold medal, okay?”

“Never,” She says, “Don’t forget me when you win the Champions League.”

And with that, she’s gone.

You drive back alone.

As you drive, even though you’ve lived in Sweden your whole life, it feels colder than it has ever been.

You go about your life as normal, except with an aching hole in your chest. You go over the drive and the goodbye over and over, wondering. What would you have said? What could you have said that might’ve made her stay? If you said something, if she said something, would it have changed anything?

No, you think, it wouldn’t have, because your lives are thousands of miles apart and nothing will ever change that.

You watch her at the Olympics that summer and you watch her lose in the semis and you watch Sonnett on the field, with her teammates, after the loss, and then in the bronze medal game, when they win. You wish you were there, you wish you could call her, congratulate her. You wonder if she watched your Champions League games. You wonder if she saw you lose and wished she could call you. You wonder if she thinks about you at all.

Maybe in another life, you tell yourself, maybe if things were different. Maybe you should just let it all go, maybe when you stop waiting, she’ll come back to you.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Year

1. Belgium approves four-day week and gives employees the right to ignore their bosses after work

Workers in Belgium will soon be able to choose a four-day week under a series of labour market reforms announced on Tuesday.

The reform package agreed by the country's multi-party coalition government will also give workers the right to turn off work devices and ignore work-related messages after hours without fear of reprisal.

"We have experienced two difficult years. With this agreement, we set a beacon for an economy that is more innovative, sustainable and digital. The aim is to be able to make people and businesses stronger," Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo told a press conference announcing the reform package.

2. Spain makes it a crime for pro-lifers to harass people outside abortion clinics

Spain has criminalized the harassment or intimidation of women going for an abortion under new legislation approved on Wednesday by the Senate. The move, which involved changes to the penal code, means anti-abortion activists who try to convince women not to terminate their pregnancies could face up to a year behind bars.

3. House passes bill to federally decriminalize marijuana

The House has voted with a slim bipartisan majority to federally decriminalize marijuana. The vote was 220 to 204.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, will prevent federal agencies from denying federal workers security clearances for cannabis use, and will allow the Veterans’ Administration to recommend medical marijuana to veterans living with posttraumatic stress disorder.

The bill also expunges the record of people convicted of non-violent cannabis offenses, which House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, “can haunt people of color and impact the trajectory of their lives and career indefinitely.”

4. France makes birth control free for all women under 25

The scheme, which could benefit three million women, covers the pill, IUDs, contraceptive patches and other methods composed of steroid hormones.

Contraception for minors was already free in France. Several European countries, including Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, make contraception free for teens.

5. The 1st fully hydrogen-powered passenger train service is now running in Germany. The only emissions are steam & condensed water.

Five of the trains started running in August. Another nine will be added in the coming months to replace 15 diesel trains on the regional route. Alstom says the Coradia iLint has a range of 1,000 kilometers, meaning that it can run all day on the line using a single tank of hydrogen. A hydrogen filling station has been set up on the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude.

6. Princeton will cover all tuition costs for most families making under $100,000 a year, after getting rid of student loans

In September, the New Jersey Ivy League school announced it would be expanding its financial aid program to offer free tuition, including room and board, for most families whose annual income is under $100,000 a year. Previously, the same benefit was offered to families making under $65,000 a year. This new income limit will take effect for all undergraduates starting in the fall of 2023.

Princeton was also the first school in the US to eliminate student loans from its financial aid packages.

7. Humpback whales no longer listed as endangered after major recovery

Humpback whales will be removed from Australia's threatened-species list, after the government's independent scientific panel on threatened species deemed the mammals had made a major recovery. Humpback whales will no longer be considered an endangered or vulnerable species.

Climate change and fishing still pose threats to their long-term health.

Some other uplifting news from last year:

A Cancer Trial’s Unexpected Result: Remission in Every Patient

California 100 percent powered by renewables for first time

Israel formally bans LGBTQ conversion therapy

Tokyo Passes Law to Recognize Same-Sex Partnerships

First 100,000 KG Removed From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

As we ring in the New Year let’s remember to focus on the good news. May this be a year of even more kindness and generosity. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2023!

Thank you for following and supporting this g this newsletter

Buy me a coffee ❤️

[mariacallous]

In recent days, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has capitulated to the far-right anti-immigration agenda of Marine Le Pen. In July, in an electoral pact with the left, he sought a firewall against her. Now he has turned rightwards, giving her an effective veto over prime minister Michel Barnier’s new government.

By the end of the month, the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ), founded by two former members of the SS, Anton Reinthaller and Friedrich Peter, is expected to form an anti-immigration,pro-Russian government. It will cement a new hard-right axis across Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, and more importantly, Italy, where step by step the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni (who met Keir Starmer on Monday), is accused of taking control of the press and the judiciary.

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has just won the east German regional elections in Thuringia and came second in Saxony. This is despite Germany’s domestic intelligence agency listing the AfD in three states as an “extremist” organisation, reflecting concerns about the Holocaust denial and links to far-right political violence of some of its members – and their invoking of banned Nazi slogans, for which the party’s Thuringian leader, Björn Höcke, has twice been found guilty in German courts.

But while Germany’s centre-right opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, who last year supported coalitions with the AfD in local government, has now refused to enter any national or regional coalition with the AfD, he has come closer to much of its anti-immigration agenda. He now wants “to talk about the issue of repatriation” of existing residents.

Now Höcke is openly mocking what he calls the “dumb firewall” against him, forecasting that it will not last. And last week the German coalition government reacted to the AfD’s success by tightening control of its bordersin an effort to curb irregular migration.

Another lurch rightward came with the decision last month by the Dutch health minister, a member of Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party, to refuse requests from African countries for urgent help in the fight against mpox, even when the Dutch stockpile runs to 100,000 boxes of unused vaccines – many of which will pass their use-by date next year.

The spectre haunting Europe is not communism, as Karl Marx once wrote, but far-right extremism. And not much is left of the cordon sanitaire that was to keep out the far right. Europe now has seven governments with hard-right parties in control or in coalition, with Austria likely to be next, as once-immovable barriers to contamination are swept aside by centre-right appeasers.

“Breaking point” was the slogan on a poster that Nigel Farage deployed in 2016 during the Brexit referendum campaign, portraying bearded and dark-skinned migrants appearing to march in droves towards us. The exact same photograph was later replicated in Hungary, with the caption changed from “Breaking point” to “Stop”.

Similar slogans include “Stop the invasion” (“Stop invasione”), used by Matteo Salvini’s Italian League party; and “Close the borders” (“Grenzen dicht”), adopted by German far-right groups the AfD and Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West).

A few years ago, when the now-imprisoned former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon attempted to form a global coalition of anti-globalists, he managed to herd together a number of Europe’s rightwing leaders, from Nigel Farage to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He was involved in setting up an “Academy for the Judeo-Christian West” in Italy. And Trump’s “America first” Republican party is now one of many to adopt the “my country first” slogan.

Spain’s far-right Vox party has used “Primero lo nuestro. Primero los españoles”; Italy’s League, “Prima gli Italiani”; Hungary’s Fidesz party, “Nekünk Magyarország az első”; Germany’s AfD, “Unser Land zuerst”; Austria’s FPÖ, “Österreich zuerst”; and the Swiss People’s Party, “Die Schweiz zuerst”.

Outside Europe, “Önce Türkiye” (“Turkey First”) is promoted by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party. The far-right Japan First party marches under the banner of “日本第一” (“Japan first”). “India first” has been adopted by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party.

Variations on this theme include “Polska dla Polaków” (“Poland for Poles”),used by nationalists in Poland, Vox’s slogan “España viva” (“Long live Spain”), and “Brasil acima de tudo” (“Brazil above everything”), used by Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro.

In all, about 50 countries have already gone to the polls in 2024. “Fears that this year would reflect the global triumph of illiberal populism have so far been proved wrong,” Francis Fukuyama, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy and the author of the End of History and the Last Man thesis, has concluded. “Democratic backsliding can and has been resisted in many countries.”

He can, of course, point to the return of Labour in Britain, the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, the shift away from the far right in Poland and the setback for Modi in India. But the Polish and Indian results tell me no more than tolerance of rightwing extremism can ebb when the electorate finds out that the nationalist demagogues are good at exploiting grievances, but bad at eradicating them.

And so we must not forget what has happened in countries from Indonesia to Argentina, the knife-edge fight for power in the US and – what Fukuyama misses in Europe – the insidious surrender of the centre to far-right prejudice.

Of course, there are ways to frustrate the onward rush of rightwing populists. Not only did the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, defeat the right in national elections last year, but he has skilfully engineered a split between Spain’s centre-right People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox over the fate of vulnerable child migrants. Until July the two were in coalition in five key regions: Valencia, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla y León.

But it was not the centre-right PP that abandoned the extreme-right Vox; it was the extreme right that walked away from the centre right. And as long as the so-called moderates continue to play with fire – believing that by keeping their opponent close, they can eventually tame the beast – they will continue to lose. Sooner rather than later, the far-right poison will have to be countered with a progressive agenda focused on what matters to people most: jobs, standards of living, fairness and bridging the morally indefensible gap between rich and poor.

[thelastaerie]

Post-canon multi-chapter FF fics:

The Berlin Chapter - Takes place two years after Free Fall. A special work assignment sends Marc to Berlin, after he finds out Kay has been living there. Kay enjoys his new life in Berlin and is in a budding relationship with a prominent politician, while Marc is determined to convince Kay to give him a second chance, he still has his whole life back in Ludwigsburg.

A Spotless Mind - This takes place about a year after the original film. Separated from Bettina and feeling alienated in his unit, Marc asks for a transfer to Stuttgart, he is still battling the depression caused by Kay's departure and a drinking problem... one day, he finds Kay working in a bar near where he lives... Though this is another "Fix it" fanfic, it has a twist which some may find implausible, but I have this idea that wouldn't go away, so I thought I'll try to reunite Kay and Marc under different circumstances.

Parting Words - This is a post Canon fic set 10 years after the movie. Marc is now a Sergeant in Berlin’s criminal investigation police department (KriPo), balancing a promising career and a busy dating life. Even though the one regret in his life remains, Marc believes he has moved on - or so he thought until he sees Kay again by chance on the train one morning. Just like before, seeing Kay unravels Marc’s life. It doesn’t help that Kay seems to be doing a disappearing act. Their paths cross when a work-related opportunity presents itself, they soon find out how much has changed and how much has remained the same between them.

Winter Bird - A post-canon short story set between 2-3 years after the original movie ending. Marc tries to move on; he thinks Kay has moved on, so it shouldn’t matter when Frank tells him where Kay is, should it? But soon regrets and memories keep calling, Marc decides to go looking - a trip which could turn out to be a fateful one - for the road to redemption is paved with perils.

The Confessional - This is a post-canon short story.

Leaving Ludwigsburg, his police career and Marc Borgmann behind, Kay Engel decides to have a new career and a new life. His phone number isn’t new but at least he has the sense to block Marc’s number. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Except Marc doesn’t seem to care that Kay isn’t listening. He has made a habit of leaving one-sided messages, treating Kay’s phone like a confessional…

Alternate Universe (AU) multi-chapter FF fics:

Doppelpass - AU story based on Free Fall characters, set in the world of professional football/soccer league in Germany (Bundesliga).  Star attacking midfielder Marc Borgmann has two goals this year: winning the league title and Player of the Year award, until Kay Engel enters his life and makes him questioning everything in his life.  A rising star in League 2, Kay Engel has a secret he has to keep and falling in love with his new team captain is not his idea of a career move.

Doppelpass: How to Solve a Problem Like Mario - Marc and Kay are living their new life in Hamburg. Marc is the manager of St. Pauli football team who has just been promoted to Bundesliga top league. He begins to notice that one of his players, Mario Lüthi, seems to be harbouring a secret; and has taken an interest in meeting Kay.  Set in the “Doppelpass” serie universe, this is a slight crossover with the characters from the movie “Mario” (2018), although you do not need to watch “Mario” to follow this story.

Doppelpass: Christmas coda - Doppelgänger - This little Christmas chapter takes place after Doppelpass’s last Chapter but before the Epilogue.  This is soon after they have moved to Hamburg, when Marc is getting his football management pro licence and Kay is attending university.  In Kay’s POV - Marc and Kay discuss how to spend their Christmas.

Running on Empty - This is a AU story based on Freier Fall/Free Fall characters. Plus a few original characters.  For Marc Borgmann, life is good. He’s about to get married, the security company he co-owns finally hits the big league, landing a lucrative contract to protect prominent businessman, Wenzel Wolff. What he isn't expecting is Wenzel's aloof and ambitious executive assistant, Kay Klossner, who seems to be hiding a secret or two, of who he really is - someone from Marc’s past.  Kay Engel thinks he has the best-laid plans. He is so close to the truth now, all he needs is a bit more time. What he isn't expecting is his first crush, Marc Borgmann, reappearing in his life again, stirring up feelings Kay thought he has long given up.  Marc sees himself as a protector, but he has no idea who he might end up protecting.

Wanderlust - “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” - Marc meets Kay, a charming stranger, during a holiday in a Far East city. And allows himself to break a few rules along the way. It’s okay, Marc thinks. Because they will never see each other again. Right?  Until one day Kay turns up in Marc’s place of business... This is an AU story with Free Fall characters. A semi holiday romance with a closeted bisexual man who is good with his hands, a photographer who is often prettier than the subjects he photographs. And a chocolate Labrador with separation anxiety.

Take Me Home - An AU story based on Free Fall characters.

Sole heir of a large family business empire, Marc Borgmann is used to his jet-set high life. He has deals to make, plans to execute and goals to achieve. He also has a secret. But don’t worry, he already has a solution for it. It’s all under control - he has an agreement with his ambitious girlfriend. Marc likes rules and he follows them. Until he meets Kay Engel on a flight from Berlin to New York, who breaks rules for fun, leaves napkins with cute cartoons everywhere he goes and Marc can’t seem to get rid of him. Or does he really want to? This is more than opposite attracts, this is Kay turning Marc’s world upside down.

The Wayward Son - An AU story based on Freier Fall characters.

Marc has just joined the famous Berlin LKA, his police career is looking up. All he needs now is to meet the right woman, get married, have 2.3 children and a house of their own. The night he meets Bettina, he thinks he has hit the jackpot, she’s perfect. But Bettina isn’t the only one Marc meets that night. There is also this mysterious stranger named Kay Engel who says weird things to Marc and two hours later, he’s working with Marc and his colleagues on a big kidnapping case. Marc befriends Kay over the course of the investigation, soon he finds out the life he planned for himself might not be what his heart really wants…

Canon-Divergence multi-chapter FF fics:

Say Something - This is a canon-divergence fic that starts from and diverts from the original film after the scene when Marc hits Kay. With additional characters.  It is still a “fix-it” story. I’m just trying to explore some “what if” scenarios where the trajectory of the story changes, Kay and Marc make different decisions etc.

Day Zero - This is a canon-divergence story with the assumption that Bettina hasn’t found out about the fake night shifts - so Marc’s affair with Kay remains a secret, even though he has broken up with Kay.  The story starts from Marc returning home after giving the key back to Kay.

Nightswimmers - This is a canon-divergence story. It follows the original film version right up to the forest scene where Marc flees after his first sexual encounter with Kay.

What if Kay never got transferred to Marc’s unit? In this story, they meet five years later in another city. Marc is still with Bettina and their son is five years old. Kay has left the police force and now working as a paramedic.  Marc never forgets Kay and what happened between them has stirred up something in him, although he is still repressing his feelings, he finds ways to cope with it. But seeing Kay again changes everything again.

Once upon a time, chasing after Marc was Kay’s number one goal. But a shattering experience one night has changed his life forever. He thought the chance is lost before it can begin. But seeing Marc again… could this be his second chance?

Canon-Divergence one-shot FF fics:

Someplace New - A one-shot canon divergence. Part of the writing challenge on scenario: Marc returns to Kay’s apartment and Kay is still there.  This is written in both Frank and Marc’s POV

The Key on the Ledge - This is a one-shot Canon-Divergence. Marc goes back to Kay's apartment  as Kay is just leaving.  

Extended scene/missing scene one-shot FF fics:

Ambush - Extended scene and my take on the “Don’t you get it? I love you” scene from the original film.

The Day He Gave Me His Key - Just my musings on the scene when Kay gave the key to Marc. Marc’s POV

A One-off / Ein Ausrutscher - Mostly canon but with added missing scenes. It is the period soon after Marc’s son was born but before Kay got caught  during a police raid.

The Offer - My take on the scenes when Kay offers to go *jogging* with Marc and their encounter in the woods, with additional made up scenes.

*Updated summary of my marc x kay fanfics ❤️

[andromeda-grace]

Writeblr Introduction

Hi, I’m Andromeda (she/they). I am returning to Writeblr and decided to start a new blog for my WIPs and writing updates! I want to use this blog to shout out other Writeblrs, make posts about my current WIPs, and experiences in publishing. I mostly write original fiction but write fanfic when the inspiration strikes. I love Writeblr games and asks!

This blog is a safe space for all identities, gender & sexuality, neurodivergence, race, and religion. I do my best with content and trigger warnings.

My Writing: Genre and Representation

I love horror, sci-fi, and fairy tales 

I don’t enjoy romance (if it’s only the pursuit and drama), but I love writing nuanced love stories where people communicate well and put effort into building relationships

Lots of queerness and queer relationships

BIPOC main characters

Neurodivergence- shout out to the undiagnosed ADHD queens, the anxiety, and masking/coping behaviors

Trauma, out of context, is seen as personality

Smut- sex is a part of life and it’s fun to write. Get down, make mistakes, get messy. My sex scenes aren’t just conventionally attractive people putting on a show. I emphasize body diversity, complexities of gender identity, and emotional state

Tropes:

Found Family

Villains

Redemption- working to be a better person, even when it’s hard

Poly-Amory- we often have more than one close friendship, and have variety and nuance in those different relationships, so the same thing goes for romance

Morally gray/Feral girls- women have so much responsibility put on them for the emotional wellbeing of others, but what if they aren’t capable of that? (think Broad City/ Bottoms)

Finished works:

The Devil You Know- short story- Out now! Find your copy here

Genre: horror, vampires, fairytale

Vibe: The Green Knight x The Witch

Anya has built a quiet life for herself, trusted as the village healer as long as she keeps her magic hidden. All of that changes when a strange traveler arrives at her doorstep. The man looks human, but Anya senses an old and powerful magic within him. Intrigued, she allows Owen inside. He claims to have been an apprentice to a witch, and Anya, despite her suspicions, finds him to be a kindred spirit. They begin a romance, both finding comfort in one another.

Their peace is broken when a family comes to Anya in crisis. Their child has been cursed, and is transforming into a monster. Desperate to save the boy, Anya asks Owen for help. He can grant her the power to break the spell, but it requires blood and forbidden rites. Knowing that she can’t break the curse alone, Anya faces a choice with deadly consequences.

WIPs:

Bubblegum Capital

Genre: Queer Cyberpunk

Vibe: 1984 x Legally Blonde

Novaczek is on the brink of fame. They’re an amateur gamer about to break into the pro leagues. But their dreams are crushed when work denies them time off for the championship.

Novaczek decides to play on shift and is caught. Everything comes crashing down. They find themselves at rock bottom having lost their job, company housing, and girlfriend all at once.

In a world where your value is measured by your social ranking, Novaczek has to claw themselves back up, hustling for money and favors from friends. As they work their way back up the ranks they discover an underbelly where nothing and no-one are what they appear to be.

Love, Asunder

Genre: Gay Vampires, Family Saga

Vibe: 1917 x Hellboy

James Townsend was supposed to be starting his new life, an American abroad, with a Fellowship at Oxford University. All of that changes when Germany marches on Paris. James can’t remain in the classroom while teachers and students leave their desks for the battlefield. So James enlists as a volunteer ambulance driver on the Front. The days stretch long with violence and misery, but he finds purpose and friendships in the trenches. 

Then he meets a man, a smuggler providing supplies and information to the Allies. Etienne is so different from the soldiers, bright and charming. They begin a secret romance, disappearing together when they can, and writing letters in between. 

An opportunity comes to meet in Paris, and James is overwhelmed at the opportunity to spend time with Etienne in the City of Love. Free to spend their days together, James quickly discovers just how much Etienne has been hiding from him, and enters a world of magic, beauty, and death. 

Tropes and fun stuff:

Butch witches

Femme werewolves

Playing the vampire tropes straight

Magical Underground

Found Family

Bio-Family responsibilities

Many, Many different kinds of love

I'll be sharing moodboards and snippets along the way! Looking forward to learning more about the other talented Writeblrs out here!

tagging: @hillnerd-art @suffrajett @starknstarwars @em-dashes @blind-the-winds @leave-her-a-tome @athenswrites

[grantmentis]

Women’s hockey roundup 5/19-6/1

Please note this is not intended to cover every single transaction or news story but tries to condense the most noteworthy. Some stuff does slip by me especially with language barrier, so feel free to add!

PWHL (America/Canada)

PWHL Minnesota are the first ever PWHL champions! Taylor Heise is your first ever PWHL MVP

List of eligible draft picks are announced. Tje list includes some players who do have contracts for overseas leagues next season, but whose contracts include an opt out clause if they make a PWHL team. The draft is June 10th

Teams can now negotiate with their pending free agents. Unrestricted free agency begins June 21st

Brittany Howard (Toronto) is retiring.

Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reports that Jess Healey (Boston) will also be retiring

Next season to start in November, and be 30 games long

SDHL (Sweden)

Rickard Hårdstam will serve as Djurgårdens general manager as well as coaxh

Norwegian national team goalie and NCAA star Ena Nystrøm signs with Brynäs. Her contract does include a PWHL opt out clause and she will enter the draft

Amanda Rampado, who posted a .930 save percentage with RPI in the ncaa last year, signs with Färjestad. Currently, Färjestad plays in Sweden’s second level league

Czech defender and veteran player Adéla Jůzková signs with Färjestad. She most recently played in Germany

Goaltender Camryn Drever, USports first team all star with university of Saskatchewan, signs with Skellefteå AIK. Her contract has a PWHL opt out clause

Clarkson University captain Brooke McQuigge signs with Modo Hockey. Her contract includes a PWHL opt out clause

Clarkson Defender Alexie Guay signs with Modo Hockey. Her contract includes a PWHL opt out clause

Veteran defender Lindsay Agnew signs with Linköping after spending last season with Frölunda

15 year old forward and U-18 danish national team player Nikita Bergmann signs with Skellefteå AIK

Finnish national team player Eve Savander signs with Linköping after playing with MoDo Hockey last year

18 year old Swedish defender Hilda Ljungberg joins Leksands. She most recently played with Brynäs and the u-18 Swedish national team

Stonehill college captain Grace Parker joins Färjestad, the second Stonehill alumni to go pro

SWHL/Postfinance Women League (Switzerland)

SC Bern Frauen announced a bunch of signings, most notably Lea MacLeod (most recently in Germany) and goaltender Nadia Häner (most recently with SC Langenthal Damen in the SWHL.) They also announced star defender Sarah Forster would not return to the team

Robert Morris/St Lawrence university forward Shailynn Snow joins HC Fribourg-Gottéron Ladies

Naisten Liiga (Finland)

16 year old center Vilma Nurmisto, who represented Finland on the U-18 team, returns to TPS

A few big re-signins for Roki: -17 year old Czech forward Magdaléna Felcmanová, who was on Czechia's U-18 team that won bronze will return. -Also returning is forward Moona Keskisarja who was second in scoring last season for RoKi. -Another young RoKi core player, 17 year old Slovakian defender Alexandra Mateičková, returns. She averaged 30 minutes a night last year of ice time. -RoKi's leading goal scorer, Czech forward Anna Kalová, returns

Goaltender Melisa Mörönen returns to Ilves after posting a .915 in 13 starts last year. They will also bring back assistant captain Helen Puputti, who was over a point per game last year. Their high scoring blue liner, Elli Suoranta, is also returning. .

Kiekko-Espoo core player Tinja Haukijärvi re-signs for another year. They also bring back captain Reetta Valkjärvi and Finnish national team defender Ada Eronen

HIFK are bringing back goaltender Minja Drufva and top center Johanna Kemppainen

Other News

University of Delaware, which will have it's first season in division 1 women's hockey in 2025-2026, has it's first two commits; American defender Bailey Gray and Canadian forward Francesca Barresi!

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Dion J. Pierre

According to documents shared with The Algemeiner, since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, extreme anti-Zionism, as well as platforming of individuals who have promoted antisemitic conspiracies and tropes, has exploded at UIUC. Two months after the attack, the Women & Gender in Global Perspectives Program added two virulently anti-Zionist panelists, Susan Abulhawa and Laila El-Haddad, to what was scheduled to be a one-on-one conversation featuring a pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian speaker.

Abulhawa has accused Israel of committing “a dozen kristallnachts [sic],” referring to the infamous pogrom carried out against Jews in Nazi Germany in November 1938. Abulhawa’s viewpoints are so controversial that a sponsor of an Australian festival she was scheduled to participate in pulled its support. After Oct. 7 she also rationalized Hamas’ massacre on her Facebook page.

El-Haddad is a member of a pro-Palestinian think tank that has regularly shared articles celebrating Hamas’ violence and promoting false allegations of Israeli apartheid and genocide.

Later, the event was canceled after Abulhawa allegedly refused to share a stage with a Zionist. In its place, the school’s Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) held a panel in which UIUC Students for Justice in Palestine member Sara Hijab said, “I hope you realize the evil Zionism is and that it has no place anywhere in the world.” Labor and Employment Relations professor Augustus Wood added, “The armed resistance should not be referred to in crude inhumane terms such as terrorists,” apparently referring to Hamas.

US college campuses have experienced an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students— since Oct. 7. Between that day and Dec. 18, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses , and during that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.

Last month, the ADL called out American colleges and universities in an open letter, reminding them of their obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and intimidation.

“Shockingly, many students engaging in this activity — including harassment, intimidation, and other clear violations of student codes of conduct — have not faced consequences,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote. “Universities have by and large been derelict in their duty to protect Jewish communities on campus, in many cases raising serious concern under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Simply put, to date, there have been too few consequences — that must change.”

[jewishbarbies]

I am sick to my fucking stomach. The Left is truly the Right, just in another font.

They are an actual cult......They are rewriting what is happening in Ivy League schools rn. They are even posting images of Jews with gentile protestors to convince themselves Jews aren't evil and also for tokenisation. Then they have the audacity to reblog stuff calling Germany antisemitic whenever the topic of Germany's treatment of Pro Palestine protestors come up or something of that sort then they call real antisemitism Zionist propaganda.....They are choosing to define antisemitism, something they cannot do for any other group (yes it's not a competition but the fucking hypocrisy of it all makes me so sick as a POC). They accuse Israel of constantly changing the definition but look at them! They only bring up antisemitism when it's convenient....oh wow yes those Jewish Anti-Zionists losing jobs for supporting Palestine is wrong but also hey saying all Israelis (who are Jews btw) should die is fine because they drink the blood of Palestinian babies (insert blatantly obvious antisemitism here) etc etc.

They refuse to speak up about Jewish students being unsafe to the point of Rabbis warning them to stay away from campus while screaming about genocide? How does that work? If you hate genocide logically you must be against the harassment of Jews? And yet.....

Hmm evidence that they just scream things without ever caring or meaning it. They have the same thinking of conservatives, the same behaviours and tactics, everything and the irony is completely lost on them.

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth Mandel

Bruguera is—quite famously, though her name is a hint—a Cuban dissident. The Palestinian protesters got in her face and called her “gringa.” They called one of the gallery’s directors, Sam Bardaouil, who is Lebanese, “an Arab with light skin.” In other words, Germans were seeing the familiar sight of anti-Semites marching through town calling anyone with Jewish friends or colleagues a “race traitor.” Onlookers were horrified to see the ghosts of Germany’s past reappear wearing keffiyehs instead of jackboots.

Easily the most pathetic part of the play stoppage was when Bruguera tried to defend her honor. I cringed watching it, and I cringed again while writing this. “First of all, you don’t know who I am,” Bruguera shouts at the protesters after a while. “You don’t know my history. You don’t know everything I’ve done for Palestinians and for all the people in the world.”

The clashing of tectonic-plate-sized egos, white people yelling at Cubans that they’re white—it might as well as have been Park Slope instead of Berlin.

Of course, Bruguera signed an open letter calling Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza a “genocide.” But she was out of her league here, among professional anti-Semites. The protesters went on a stark-raving-mad rant about the lesser humanity of “Zionists” (meaning people with Jewish-sounding names) and the legitimacy of violence toward them while this poor woman was reduced to asking them if they had a gun and were going to shoot her. For that, Bruguera was deemed a racist.

The icing on the cake is that before the performance opened, Bruguera gave an interview to the The Art Newspaper’s podcast, “The Week in Art.” In it, the host and Bruguera went on at length about how this is such an appropriate time to read Hannah Arendt because of how Germany censors anyone who criticizes Israel. Bruguera went so far as to say that Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei’s ridiculous comment that censorship in the West is the same as in Mao’s China didn’t go far enough. “I think it’s worse” than in Mao’s China, Bruguera asserts, because “the censorship in China was [at least] condemned by the world.”

[fvngus]

Hi there ! I'm Fungi, [ she/her, they/them ] 25 years old and hailing from Germany.

I'm pretty much completely self-taught and a hobbyist. My tools of the trade can be checked out below.

I have too many characters I draw way too less and instead hyperfixate on 3-4 at a time :). Other than drawing, I do enjoy myself some writing and gaming, mostly BG3 and League of Legends. Which are also my two current obsessions.

Asks of any kind are always welcome, please just be respectful ♥

★  COMMISSION INFO  ★    ★   OC LIST ★  

Tools of the trade below cut:

★  Using: Samsung Tab S6 + Stylus, Clip Studio Paint Pro

★  Brushes:

Custom Grease Pencil (example):

────────────────────────────────────────────

Crm Bleeding Marker-Brush (example):

[olympic-paris]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

September 6

1809 – English sailor Charles North receives 300 lashes and 2 years of solitary confinement for "indecent liberties" with a ship's boy.

1890 – Carl Maria Weber who also wrote under the pseudonym Olaf, was a German educator and writer born in Düsseldorf, Germany.(d.1953) Carl Maria Weber was the author of poems and essays . His early poems often deal with typically Expressionist themes such as the love of mankind and the call to action; his later work was strongly influenced by the youth movement and characterized by a vague sympathy for socialism.

Carl Maria Weber was the son of a teacher. He grew up in Düsseldorf. During his studies at the University of Bonn from 1912 to 1914, he made contacts with Thomas Mann and Kurt Hiller.

During the First World War, Weber became a pacifist. In 1919 he was a member of the Wandervogel movement. In 1920 he was appointed by Wilhelm Vershofen to the group of "Workers on House Nyland"; there he was in charge of lecturing. He published his texts in numerous expressionist Magazines.

From 1921 to 1926 he was a teacher of German and history at the Free School Community of Wickersdorf. After he passed his teacher exams in 1927, he worked as a teacher at various private schools in the province. In 1932 he withdrew from literary life after one of his stories was mutilated by the censors because of its anti-militarist tendencies.

From 1937 Weber worked as a teacher at the Marquartstein Landerziehungsheim . His unchanged pacifist attitude and his homosexuality made his work there increasingly difficult. After the nationalization of the home in 1942, Weber saw no other way out than to join the Nazi party, especially in order to avoid the threat of being called up for military service.

His Nazi party membership was his undoing after 1945. He was dismissed by the American occupiers; the attempt to be politically rehabilitated failed, so that Weber fell into deep poverty and finally died of a starvation-related heart attack.

1976 – Oladele Brendon Ayanbadejo is an American football linebacker and special teamer who played in Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons. He played college football for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 1999.

Ayanbadejo has been selected to the Pro Bowl three times as a special teams player. He also was named to the All-Pro team two times as special teams player by Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers Association. He has also been a member of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins of the NFL, the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts and BC Lions of the CFL.

Ayanbadejo was born in Chicago to a Nigerian father and an American mother of Irish descent. He has one older brother, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, also a professional football player. Shortly after his birth the family moved to Nigeria, but after his parents separated he returned to the United States with his mother, settling in Chicago and then Santa Cruz, California.

Since 2009, Ayanbedejo has advocated for legalizing same-sex marriage. His advocacy rather suddenly became a cause célèbre in September 2012, after Maryland State Delegate Emmett C. Burns, Jr. wrote an August 29, 2012 letter to Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, on official Maryland State letterhead, demanding that Bisciotti "take the necessary action ... to inhibit such expressions from your employee." Burns' letter went on to state that, "I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing. Burns' letter was widely criticized as an effort to infringe on Ayanbadejo's right to free speech. According to The Washington Post, the Ravens acknowledged receiving the letter but had no further comment.

Shortly after the Burns letter was delivered, Ayanbedejo publicly announced that, as the son of interracial parents whose own marriage would have been illegal in 16 states prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Loving v. Virginia decision in 1967, he had no intention of remaining silent on an issue of conscience and public importance. Ayanbadejo has since said that he has received widespread support in the world of football. Among others, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe wrote a scathing response to Burns, while the Ravens also publicly sided with Ayanbadejo. In February 2013, Ayanbadejo and Kluwe filed a joint amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage, particularly in the case dealing with California Proposition 8.

1980 – Vikram Kolmannskog is an Indian-Norwegian writer, psychotherapist, and jurist.He was born and lives in Oslo, Norway. In 2008, as a legal adviser working with the Norwegian Refugee Council, Kolmannskog wrote Future Floods of Refugees: A Comment on Climate Change, Conflict, and Forced Migration. This became the starting point for the work that he and the Norwegian Refugee Council did to improve the rights of so-called climate refugees.

Kolmannskog has practiced as a gestalt therapist since 2012. In this field too he has been particularly concerned with research related to marginalised groups, including trans folks.

Kolmannskog writes fiction and poetry. Much of his work explores the intersections of queerness, sexuality, and spirituality. With Taste and See: A Queer Prayer, published in 2018, he became known as an author who 'reconciles religiosity, spirituality and being queer'. His work was described as 'a lyrical study of passion, both religious and carnal'.

Many of his poems and short stories have been written during, and as part of, the Indian LGBTQ mobilisation, and he has been a regular contributor to Indian LGBTQ magazines such as Gaylaxy. On 6 September 2019, on the one-year anniversary of the Indian decriminalisation of homosexuality, a collection of his short stories Lord of the Senses was published by queer-of-colour–centric press Team Angelica.

In March 2020, Lord of the Senses was announced as one of the Lambda Literary Award finalists in Oprah Magazine.

Jwan Yosef (L) and Ricky Martin

1984 – Jwan Yosef is a Syrian-born, Swedish painter and artist. He specializes in plastic arts and is based in London, England.

Yosef was born in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, to a Kurdish Muslim father and an Armenian Christian mother. His family immigrated to Sweden when he was two years old, and later he studied painting in Pernby School of Painting in Stockholm between 2004 and 2006, then moved to Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm.

Yosef has taken part in a great number of art fairs and group exhibitions. He held two solo exhibitions in 2013 titled Painting about Sex, Flesh and Violence, lol at the DIVUS Gallery in London and High Notes, at the Galleri Anna Thulin, Stockholm. He participated in the Threadneedle Prize exhibition in 2013 and the BEERS Contemporary Award for Emerging Art both in 2013. In 2015 he exhibited at Galleri Bon with group exhibition There and Back Again with fellow Konstfack graduates Josef Bull, Petr Davydtchenko and Natasja Loutchko. He is a founding member and studio holder at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation in Archway, North London.

Yosef is openly gay. In April 2016, during the amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research gala in São Paulo, Brazil, he publicly announced that he had been in a relationship with Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. The couple married in 2017. On December 31, 2018, Martin and Yosef announced, via Instagram, the birth of their daughter, Lucia Martin-Yosef. On October 29, 2019, Martin and Yosef announced the birth of their son, Renn Martin-Yosef.

2005 – The California legislature becomes the first to pass a bill allowing marriage between same-sex couples. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes the bill. The same thing happens in 2007.

[beardedmrbean]

Under clear blue skies, extra French police have been making a show of force around Paris today, on foot patrol at railway stations and near stadiums, seeking to reassure the public amid new warnings that the Islamic State group might be planning to attack European football events.

The heightened security in the French capital marks a moment of growing concern across Europe, as governments seek to assess, and react to, threats made on a pro-IS media channel.

It also comes at a complicated moment for France itself, as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in July following growing concerns that the Kremlin is deliberately trying to spread doubts and fears about the French government's ability to keep its citizens safe.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he had "considerably strengthened security" around Wednesday night's Champions League quarter-final match at the Parc des Princes in southwest Paris.

The move follows an online threat to European sporting events that Mr Darmanin said had been "publicly expressed" by IS. The pro-IS media channel had reached out to supporters in France and elsewhere, who may feel emboldened after seeing the recent IS-claimed attack on a concert hall in Moscow.

But Mr Darmanin was keen to put the threat, and a raised national threat level, in context, stressing that the risk of an IS attack was "not new" and that "I don't have - and I say this quite frankly - any specific information. We don't know which location might be particularly affected, nor under what conditions".

He also pointed out that his forces, with long experience of tackling Islamist extremism, had foiled two attacks since the start of the year and arrested five individuals in three different cases in the past fortnight.

Two fans who had come from Toulouse ahead of the PSG-Barcelona match, were quick to brush aside the risks.

"We live constantly under the threat of terrorists and attacks so we have not stopped ourselves from living and coming to a superb match even after these threats," said Julien, 21.

"We must not be afraid," declared Alexandre. who's 27. "If they are doing this communication campaign, it is above all to scare us and terrorise us, so that the French no longer go out. So we must continue to live, and show them we are stronger than that."

But across Europe, with a long summer of sporting and cultural events ahead, governments are expressing growing concern about IS-K, as the jihadist group's Afghanistan-based wing is known.

Germany now calls it the country's biggest internal threat and is increasing security ahead of this summer's European Football Championship, including the rare step of introducing land border checks.

In recent months there have been police raids targeting IS-K supporters in Germany, Belgium and Austria and reports by police of foiled plots, for example against Cologne Cathedral on New Year's Eve.

But finding the right balance between security preparations and public reassurance is never easy, and France faces some particularly tricky challenges with the Olympic Games due to begin with an unprecedented opening ceremony along the river Seine in the heart of Paris in little more than 100 days.

The right-leaning French newspaper, Le Figaro, has already warned that too much attention is being given to IS threats, claiming that "the propagandists of the Islamic State have already achieved part of their objective".

French security expert Guillaume Farde argued that it was important for a democracy like France to be seen not to be cowed, otherwise "we are playing the game of terrorist organisations who want to establish a climate of terror, a climate of distrust".

France has experienced many devastating Islamist incidents in recent years, from the Charlie Hebdo killings of 2015, the Bataclan attack of the same year, the Bastille Day murders in Nice in 2016, and a series of brutal murders of teachers.

The authorities have responded with Operation Sentinelle, a military force focused on protecting people from terrorist threats. Twenty thousand soldiers will be involved in securing the Olympic Games in Paris, alongside some 40,000 police and gendarmes.

Army training was in full force ahead of the Olympics at Gap in south-eastern France on Wednesday, simulating a knife attack and a hostage situation.

The lieutenant-colonel supervising France's 4th regiment de chasseurs had a message of reassurance for visitors to Paris: "At my level, I just can say that we are well prepared for this mission and my battalion is ready to protect the population during the Olympic Games."

But the war in Ukraine has added a new dimension, with President Emmanuel Macron warning that Russia now presents "a risk" to the Olympics.

President Macron has taken an increasingly tough line with the Kremlin, which appears to have responded with an aggressive cyber-campaign designed to discredit France at every opportunity.

"I'm not going to link Russia with jihadist terrorist organisations. On the other hand, Russia is attempting other destabilising actions," said Guillaume Farde, citing examples of online cyber-trolling networks, linked to Russia, seeking to spread false information and to amplify "bad news".

The French defence ministry, for example, recently took the rare step of publicly denouncing a fake, copy-cat version of its own official website, which appeared to invite 200,000 French people to "get involved" in Ukraine.

Analysts believe it is part of a broader Kremlin-backed campaign to weaken Western support for the Ukrainian war effort.

[tomorrowusa]

Two notable defeats handed to the far right in European elections over the weekend. 🇩🇪🇫🇮

In the German state of Thuringia, the candidate of the extremist AfD unexpectedly was upset by the candidate for the moderate center-right CDU in a runoff for district administrator of Saale-Orla. The position of district administrator (Landrat) is roughly equivalent to a county board chair/president in the US.

AfD loses run-off in first vote since mass-deportation story

Christian Herrgott of the conservative CDU beat out far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate Uwe Thrum in a regional run-off election in the eastern German state of Thuringia on Sunday. The vote was viewed by political observers as a barometer for the AfD's popularity at a time when damaging headlines may have dented its alarming nationwide momentum. The vote was the first since Correctiv, an investigative journalism outfit, published a report outlining a November meeting in which AfD politicians and far-right extremists — including Austrian neo-Nazi Martin Sellner of the Identitarian Movement — discussed plans for the mass deportation of foreigners and unassimilated German citizens should they come to power. The story sparked outrage and led to numerous rallies across the country in which more than one million people turned out to demonstrate against right-wing extremism and for democracy. AfD candidate Thrum had led the race safely before the Correctiv report was released — he dominated the general election two weeks ago with 45.7% of the vote compared to Herrgott's 33.3% — but only gained 47.6% of the vote to Herrgott's 52.4% on Sunday. Herrgott, the 39-year-old leader of the CDU state party in Thuringia, has been a state parliamentarian since 2014 and will take up his post as district administrator on February 9.

So Herrgott ran 12.4% behind Thrum in the first round but ended up beating Thrum by 4.8% in the runoff. Presumably voters from other pro-democracy parties united Herrgott to lift him to victory.

In any country, unity among pro-democracy forces is necessary to defeat fascism.

—··—— —··—— —··—— —··——

Meanwhile, Finland held the first round of its presidential election on Sunday to replace retiring President Sauli Niinistö.

Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb of the pro-EU center-right National Coalition Party (NCP) (Kokoomus) came in first place with 27.2% of the vote. Former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, a member of the Green League (Vihreät) but running as an independent, came in second place with 25.8%. Stubb and Haavisto move forward to the runoff on February 11th.

Edged out of the runoff was Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho of the far right Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) who received 19.0% of the vote and finished third.

Finland’s Stubb and Haavisto head for runoff in presidential election

As neither Stubb nor Haavisto secured the 50 percent needed to win outright in the first round, the two will now go head to head in a second round on February 11.  [ ... ] “Of course it’s nice to come first in the first round, but everything starts again tomorrow morning; the election starts again,” Stubb told reporters as the vote count drew to a close.  The result marked the latest step in an unlikely comeback for Stubb, an ebullient and at times divisive politician, who walked away from Finnish politics in 2017 after a brief stint as prime minister ended in a parliamentary election defeat.  [ ... ] Stubb has said Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022 drew him back into the political fray; like his rival Haavisto he has said he will take a hard line against Finland’s giant eastern neighbor.  Presidents in Finland take a leading role in foreign policy and serve as the country’s commander-in-chief, meaning the looming shift from widely respected incumbent Sauli Niinistö, who has reached Finland’s limit of two six-year terms, to Stubb or Haavisto is on the radar of international leaders.  [ ... ] Haavisto also has a long foreign policy track record. He is often less forceful in debates than Stubb, but is seen as a quietly effective operator.  Both candidates represent mainstream political parties in Finland: Stubb as a longtime lawmaker with the center-right National Coalition Party and Haavisto with the center-left Green Party. 

Stubb and Haavisto are staunchly pro-Ukraine. Finland fought a war with Stalin's Soviet Union and has few illusions about its eastern neighbor. Even Halla-aho, unlike the leaders of some other far right parties, is not a fan of Putin's Russia.

On a personal note, Haavisto would become Finland's first LGBTQ president if he wins on February 11th.

Finland’s ‘DJ’ candidate hopes to become the country’s first Green and gay president

Finland recently joined NATO. If it also elects a gay president then homophobe Vladimir Putin might get conniptions. 🤯

[hero-israel]

Encountered an Al Jazeera article about how Francesca Albanese has been unfairly attacked for her efforts to speak for the Palestinians by unfounded accusations of antisemitism (which the article didn’t bother to present, by Albanese has previously tweeted about how America is ensnared by the “Jewish lobby” and Europe is blinded by its guilt over the Holocaust, and also that while it is a tragedy when Israeli civilians die, Palestinians are entitled to use whatever means necessary to accomplish freedom, so take your pick) which really underlined for me that for the pro-Palestine side, the fact that unfounded accusations of antisemitism could be used for political purposes means that any accusation of antisemitism must be unfounded and for political purposes

I remember when Richard Falk was the new "it-girl" of the UN.

For Palestiners, all accusations of antisemitism are opportunistic lies. Get them going and it takes about four seconds for them to spiral into the level of MRAs screeching about false rape claims. Albanese is just another Eurotrash mediocrity whose sense of normalcy is based around Jewish absence, silence, and death. Either her term will end in 2025 and you'll never hear from her again, or it will carry into 2028 with the same result.

These people, their committees, their reports... they are nothing. They fade from history, like Falk, like the Goldstone Report, like "Zionism-is-racism," like the League of Nations. They chatter and frown and publish books, and nevertheless we persist in spite of them. Emphasis on spite. Ironically, the only lasting legacy they ever seem to have is among Jews. Who on this planet remembers UN staffer Mary Robinson - except the Jews who know of her role in the 2001 Durban re-creation of a Nuremburg rally? What cultural currency does Richard Falk now have? Or Nasser, or Brezhnev, or East Germany? I have had an unhealthy number of online arguments with Palestinians and Arabs in which I mention Haj Amin al-Husseini or Fawzi al-Qaukji and every single time they have never heard of either. Only the Jews remember. We ritually drag Pharaoh and Haman and Chmielnicki behind us through history.

Francesca Albanese and her ilk should be nicer to us. One day, we will remember them too.