#illegal arts 2006

[uselessidea]

Useless Idea: www.uselessidea.it

[x-heesy]

𝗦𝝠𝗥𝗖𝝠𝗦𝗠 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝝠𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗘𝝝𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗚𝝠𝗟 👉🏾🖕🏾👈🏽

Hᴀʀᴅʟʏ Wᴀɪᴛ ʙʏ Jᴜʟɪᴇᴛᴛᴇ Lᴇᴡɪs 💗

@len0r @only-susie @bixlasagna @bigbonzo

[hussyknee]

17/12/23 this masterlist has been completely revamped with free access to all material. It will be updated and edited periodically so please click on my username and reblog the current version directly from me if you're able.

14/8/24 reboosting this post with How to Help Palestine updated. Please scroll to the bottom to donate or boost the links.

Palestine: The Big Damn List

(Yes, it's a lot. Just choose your preferred medium and then pick ONE.)

Podcasts

Backgrounders and Quick Facts

Interactive Maps

Teach-Out Resources

Reading Material (free)

Films and Documentaries (free)

Non-Governmental Organizations

Social Media

How You Can Help <- URGENT!!!

Podcasts

Cocktails & Capitalism: The Story of Palestine Part 1, Part 3

It Could Happen Here: The Cheapest Land is Bought with Blood, Part 2, The Balfour Declaration

Citations Needed: Media narratives and consent manufacturing around Israel-Palestine and the Gaza Siege

The Deprogram: Free Palestine, ft. decolonizatepalestine.com.

Backgrounders and Quick Facts

The Palestine Academy: Palestine 101

Institute for Middle East Understanding: Explainers and Quick Facts

Interactive Maps

Visualizing Palestine

Teach-Out Resources

1) Cambridge UCU and Pal Society

Palestine 101

Intro to Palestine Film + Art + Literature

Resources for Organising and Facilitating)

2) The Jadaliya YouTube Channel of the Arab Studies Institute

Gaza in Context Teach-in series

War on Palestine podcast

Updates and Discussions of news with co-editors Noura Erakat and Mouin Rabbani.

3) The Palestine Directory

History (virtual tours, digital archives, The Palestine Oral History Project, Documenting Palestine, Queering Palestine)

Cultural History (Palestine Open Maps, Overdue Books Zine, Palestine Poster Project)

Contemporary Voices in the Arts

Get Involved: NGOs and campaigns to help and support.

3) PalQuest Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question.

4) The Palestine Remix by Al Jazeera

Books and Articles

Free reading material

My Gdrive of Palestine/Decolonization Literature (nearly all the books recommended below + books from other recommended lists)

Five free eBooks by Verso

Three Free eBooks on Palestine by Haymarket

LGBT Activist Scott Long's Google Drive of Palestine Freedom Struggle Resources

Recommended Reading List

Academic Books

Edward Said (1979) The Question of Palestine, Random House

Ilan Pappé (2002)(ed) The Israel/Palestine Question, Routledge

Ilan Pappé (2006) The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, OneWorld Publications

Ilan Pappé (2011) The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel, Yale University Press

Ilan Pappé (2015) The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge, Verso Books

Ilan Pappé (2017) The Biggest Prison On Earth: A History Of The Occupied Territories, OneWorld Publications

Ilan Pappé (2022) A History of Modern Palestine, Cambridge University Press

Rosemary Sayigh (2007) The Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries, Bloomsbury

Andrew Ross (2019) Stone Men: the Palestinians who Built Israel, Verso Books

Rashid Khalidi (2020) The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917–2017

Ariella Azoulay (2011) From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction and State Formation, 1947-1950, Pluto Press

Ariella Azoulay and Adi Ophir (2012) The One-State Condition: Occupation and Democracy in Israel/Palestine, Stanford University Press.

Jeff Halper (2010) An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel, Pluto Press

Jeff Halper (2015) War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification

Jeff Halper (2021) Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State, Pluto Press

Anthony Loewenstein (2023) The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the Technology of Occupation around the World

Noura Erakat (2019) Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine, Stanford University Press

Neve Gordon (2008) Israel’s Occupation, University of California Press

Joseph Massad (2006) The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinians, Routledge

Memoirs

Edward Said (1986) After the Last Sky: Palestine Lives, Columbia University PEdward Saidress

Edward Said (2000) Out of Place; A Memoir, First Vintage Books

Mourid Barghouti (2005) I saw Ramallah, Bloomsbury

Hatim Kanaaneh (2008) A Doctor in Galilee: The Life and Struggle of a Palestinian in Israel, Pluto Press

Raja Shehadeh (2008) Palestinian Walks: Into a Vanishing Landscape, Profile Books

Ghada Karmi (2009) In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story, Verso Books

Vittorio Arrigoni (2010) Gaza Stay Human, Kube Publishing

Ramzy Baroud (2010) My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story, Pluto Press

Izzeldin Abuelaish (2011) I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity, Bloomsbury

Atef Abu Saif (2015) The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary, Beacon Press

Anthologies

Voices from Gaza - Insaniyyat (The Society of Palestinian Anthropologists)

Letters From Gaza • Protean Magazine

Salma Khadra Jayyusi (1992) Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature, Columbia University Press

ASHTAR Theatre (2010) The Gaza Monologues

Refaat Alreer (ed) (2014) Gaza Writes Back, Just World Books

Refaat Alreer, Laila El-Haddad (eds) (2015) Gaza Unsilenced, Just World Books

Cate Malek and Mateo Hoke (eds)(2015) Palestine Speaks: Narrative of Life under Occupation, Verso Books

Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing (eds) (2022) Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Haymarket Books

Short Story Collections

Ghassan Kanafani, Hilary Kilpatrick (trans) (1968) Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories, Lynne Rienner Publishers

Ghassan Kanafani, Barbara Harlow, Karen E. Riley (trans) (2000) Palestine’s Children: Returning to Haifa and Other Stories, Lynne Rienner Publishers

Atef Abu Saif (2014) The Book of Gaza: A City in Short Fiction, Comma Press

Samira Azzam, Ranya Abdelrahman (trans) (2022) Out Of Time: The Collected Short Stories of Samira Azzam

Sonia Sulaiman (2023) Muneera and the Moon; Stories Inspired by Palestinian Folklore

Essay Collections

Edward W. Said (2000) Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, Harvard University Press

Salim Tamari (2008) Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture, University of California Press

Fatma Kassem (2011) Palestinian Women: Narratives, histories and gendered memory, Bloombsbury

Ramzy Baroud (2019) These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons, Clarity Press

Novels

Sahar Khalifeh (1976) Wild Thorns, Saqi Books

Liyana Badr (1993) A Balcony over the Fakihani, Interlink Books

Hala Alyan (2017) Salt Houses, Harper Books

Susan Abulhawa (2011) Mornings in Jenin, Bloomsbury

Susan Abulhawa (2020) Against the Loveless World, Bloomsbury

Graphic novels

Joe Sacco (2001) Palestine

Joe Sacco (2010) Footnotes in Gaza

Naji al-Ali (2009) A Child in Palestine, Verso Books

Mohammad Sabaaneh (2021) Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine, Street Noise Book*

Poetry

Fady Joudah (2008) The Earth in the Attic, Sheridan Books,

Ghassan Zaqtan, Fady Joudah (trans) (2012) Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me and Other Poems, Yale University Press

Hala Alyan (2013) Atrium: Poems, Three Rooms Press*

Mohammed El-Kurd (2021) Rifqa, Haymarket Books

Mosab Abu Toha (2022) Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza, City Lights Publishers

Tawfiq Zayyad (2023) We Are Here to Stay, Smokestack Books*

The Works of Mahmoud Darwish

Poems

Rafeef Ziadah (2011) We Teach Life, Sir

Nasser Rabah (2022) In the Endless War

Refaat Alareer (2011) If I Must Die

Hiba Abu Nada (2023) I Grant You Refuge/ Not Just Passing

[All books except the ones starred are available in my gdrive. I'm adding more each day. But please try and buy whatever you're able or borrow from the library. Most should be available in the discounted Free Palestine Reading List by Pluto Press, Verso and Haymarket Books.]

Human Rights Reports & Documents

Information on current International Court of Justice case on ‘Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’

UN Commission of Inquiry Report 2022

UN Special Rapporteur Report on Apartheid 2022

Amnesty International Report on Apartheid 2022

Human Rights Watch Report on Apartheid 2021

Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’ 2009 (‘The Goldstone Report’)

Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, International Court of Justice, 9 July 2004

Films

Documentaries

Jenin, Jenin (2003) dir. Mohammed Bakri

Massacre (2005) dir. Monica Borgmann, Lokman Slim, Hermann Theissen

Slingshot HipHop (2008) dir. Jackie Reem Salloum

Waltz with Bashir (2008) dir. Ari Folman † (also on Amazon Prime)

Tears of Gaza (2010) dir. Vibeke Løkkeberg (also on Amazon Prime)

5 Broken Cameras (2011) dir. Emad Burnat (also on Amazon Prime)

The Gatekeepers (2012) dir. Dror Moreh (also on Amazon Prime)

The Great Book Robbery (2012) | Al Jazeera English

Al Nakba (2013) | Al Jazeera (5-episode docu-series)

The Village Under the Forest (2013) dir. Mark J. Kaplan

Where Should The Birds Fly (2013) dir. Fida Qishta

Naila and the Uprising (2017) (also on Amazon Prime)

GAZA (2019) dir. Andrew McConnell and Garry Keane

Gaza Fights For Freedom (2019) dir. Abby Martin

Little Palestine: Diary Of A Siege (2021) dir. Abdallah Al Khatib 

Palestine 1920: The Other Side of the Palestinian Story (2021) | Al Jazeera World Documentary

Gaza Fights Back (2021) | MintPress News Original Documentary | dir. Dan Cohen

Innocence (2022) dir. Guy Davidi

Short Films

Fatenah (2009) dir. Ahmad Habash

Gaza-London (2009) dir. Dina Hamdan

Condom Lead (2013) dir. Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser

OBAIDA (2019) | Defence for Children Palestine

Theatrical Films

Divine Intervention (2002) | dir. Elia Suleiman (also on Netflix)

Paradise Now (2005) dir Hany Abu-Assad (also on Amazon Prime)

Lemon Tree (2008) (choose auto translate for English subs) (also on Amazon Prime)

It Must Be Heaven (2009) | dir. Elia Suleiman †

The Promise (2010) mini-series dir. Peter Kosminsky (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Habibi (2011)* dir. Susan Youssef

Omar (2013)* dir. Hany Abu-Assad †

3000 Nights (2015)* dir. Mai Masri

Foxtrot (2017) dir. Samuel Maoz (also on Amazon Prime)

The Time that Remains (2019) dir. Elia Suleiman †

Gaza Mon Amour (2020) dir. Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser †

The Viewing Booth (2020) dir. Ra'anan Alexandrowicz (on Amazon Prime and Apple TV)

Farha (2021)* | dir. Darin J. Sallam

Palestine Film Institute Archive

All links are for free viewing. The ones marked with a star (*) can be found on Netflix, while the ones marked † can be downloaded for free from my Mega account.

If you find Guy Davidi's Innocence anywhere please let me know, I can't find it for streaming or download even to rent or buy.

In 2018, BDS urged Netflix to dump Fauda, a series created by former members of IOF death squads that legitimizes and promotes racist violence and war crimes, to no avail. Please warn others to not give this series any views. BDS has not called for a boycott of Netflix. ]

NGOs

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor

UNRWA

Palestine Defence for Children International

Palestinian Feminist Collective

Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

Institute for Palestine Studies

Al Haq

Artists for Palestine

The Palestine Museum

Jewish Currents

B’Tselem

DAWN

Social Media

Palestnians on Tumblr

@el-shab-hussein

@killyfromblame

@apollos-olives

@fairuzfan

@palipunk

@sar-soor

@nabulsi

@wearenotjustnumbers2

@90-ghost

@tamarrud

@northgazaupdates

Allies and advocates (not Palestinian)

@bloglikeanegyptian beautiful posts that read like op-eds

@vyorei daily news roundups

@luthienne resistance through prose

@decolonize-the-left scoop on the US political plans and impacts

@feluka

@anneemay

(Please don't expect any of these blogs to be completely devoted to Palestine allyship; they do post regularly about it but they're still personal blogs and post whatever else they feel like. Do not harrass them.)

Gaza journalists

Motaz Azaiza IG: @motaz_azaiza | Twitter: @azaizamotaz9 | TikTok: _motaz.azaiza (left Gaza as of Jan 23)

Bisan Owda IG and TikTok: wizard_bisan1 | Twitter: @wizardbisan

Saleh Aljafarawi IG: @saleh_aljafarawi | Twitter: @S_Aljafarawi | TikTok: @saleh_aljafarawi97

Plestia Alaqad IG: @byplestia | TikTok: @plestiaaqad (left Gaza)

Wael Al-Dahdouh IG: @wael_eldahdouh | Twitter: @WaelDahdouh (left Gaza as of Jan 13)

Hind Khoudary IG: @hindkhoudary | Twitter: @Hind_Gaza

Ismail Jood IG and TikTok: @ismail.jood (announced end of coverage on Jan 25)

Yara Eid IG: @eid_yara | Twitter: @yaraeid_

Eye on Palestine IG: @eye.on.palestine | Twitter: @EyeonPalestine | TikTok: @eyes.on.palestine

Muhammad Shehada Twitter: @muhammadshehad2

(Edit: even though some journos have evacuated, the footage up to the end of their reporting is up on their social media, and they're also doing urgent fundraisers to get their families and friends to safety. Please donate or share their posts.)

News organisations

The Electronic Intifada Twitter: @intifada | IG: @electronicintifada

Quds News Network Twitter and Telegram: @QudsNen | IG: @qudsn (Arabic)

Times of Gaza IG: @timesofgaza | Twitter: @Timesofgaza | Telegram: @TIMESOFGAZA

The Palestine Chronicle Twitter: @PalestineChron | IG: @palestinechron | @palestinechronicle

Al-Jazeera Twitter: @AJEnglish | IG and TikTok: @aljazeeraenglish, @ajplus

Middle East Eye IG and TikTok: @middleeasteye | Twitter: @MiddleEastEye

Democracy Now Twitter and IG: @democracynow TikTok: @democracynow.org

Mondoweiss IG and TikTok: @mondoweiss | Twitter: @Mondoweiss

The Intercept Twitter and IG: @theintercept

MintPress Twitter: @MintPressNews | IG: mintpress

Novara Media Twitter and IG: @novaramedia

Truthout Twitter and IG: @truthout

Palestnians on Other Social Media

Noura Erakat: Legal scholar, human rights attorney, specialising in Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Twitter: @4noura | IG: @nouraerakat | (http://www.nouraerakat.com/)

Hebh Jamal: Journalist in Germany. IG and Twitter: @hebh_jamal

Taleed El Sabawi: Assistant professor of law and researcher in public health. Twitter: @el_sabawi | IG

Lexi Alexander: Filmmaker and activist. Twitter: @LexiAlex | IG: @lexialexander1

Mariam Barghouti: Writer, blogger, researcher, and journalist. Twitter: @MariamBarghouti | IG: @mariambarghouti

Rasha Abdulhadi: Queer poet, author and cultural organizer. Twitter: @rashaabdulhadi

Mohammed el-Kurd: Writer and activist from Jerusalem. IG: @mohammedelkurd | Twitter: @m7mdkurd

Ramy Abdu: Founder and Chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Twitter: @RamyAbdu

Subhi: Founder of The Palestine Academy website. IG: @sbeih.jpg |TikTok @iamsbeih | Twitter: @iamsbeih

‼️How You Can Help Palestine‼️

Click for Palestine (Please reblog!!)

Masterlist of donation links by @sulfurcosmos (Please reblog!!)

Water for Gaza: Donate directly to the Gaza Municipality

Gazafunds (vetted and spotlighted GFMs)

The Butterfly Effect Project (spreadsheet of vetted GFMs)

Operation Olive Branch has been removed in light of new revelations of unethical behaviour.

Spreadsheet of Gaza fundraisers vetted by @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi

If any links are broken let me know. Or pull up the current post to check whether it's fixed.

"Knowledge is Israel's worst enemy. Awareness is Israel's most hated and feared foe. That's why Israel bombs a university: it wants to kill openness and determination to refuse living under injustice and racism."

— Dr. Refaat Alareer, (martyred Dec 6, 2023)

From River To The Sea Palestine Will Be Free 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

-----

Edit 1: took the first video down because turns out the animator is a terf and it links to her blog. Really sorry for any distress.

Edit 2: All recommended readings + Haymarket recommendations + essential decolonization texts have been uploaded to my linked gdrive. I will adding more periodically. Please do buy or check them out from the library if possible, but this post was made for and by poor and gatekept Global South bitches like me.

Some have complained about the memes being disrespectful. You're actually legally obligated to make fun of Israeli propaganda and Zionists. I don't make the rules.

Edit 3: "The river to the sea" does not mean the expulsion of Jews from Palestine. Believing that is genocide apologia.

Edit 4: Gazans have specifically asked us to put every effort into pushing for a ceasefire instead of donations. "Raising humanitarian aid" is a grift Western governments are pushing right now to deflect from the fact that they're sending billions to Israel to keep carpet bombing Gazans. As long as the blockades are still in place there will never be enough aid for two million people. (UPDATE: PLEASE DONATE to the Gazan's GoFundMe fundraisers to help them buy food and get out of Rafah into Egypt. E-SIMs, food and medical supplies are also essential. Please donate to the orgs linked in the How You Can Help. Go on the strikes. DO NOT STOP PROTESTING.)

Edit 5: Google drive link for academic books folder has been fixed. Also have added a ton of resources to all the other folders so please check them out.

Edit 6: Added interactive maps, Jadaliya channel, and masterlists of donation links and protest support and of factsheets.

The twitter accounts I reposted as it was given to me and I just now realized it had too many Israeli voices and almost none of the Palestinians I'm following, so it's being edited. (Update: done!) also removed sources like Jewish Voices of Peace and Breaking the Silence that do good work but have come under fair criticism from Palestinians.

Edit 7: Complete reformatting

Edit 8: Complete revamping of the social media section. It now reflects my own following list.

Edit 9: removed some more problematic people from the allies list. Remember that the 2SS is a grift that's used to normalize violence and occupation, kids. Supporting the one-state solution is lowest possible bar for allyship. It's "Free Palestine" not "Free half of Palestine and hope Israel doesn't go right back to killing them".

Edit 10: added The Palestine Directory + Al Jazeera documentary + Addameer. This "100 links per post" thing sucks.

Edit 11: more documentaries and films

Edit 12: reformatted reading list

Edit 13: had to remove @palipunk's masterlist to add another podcast. It's their pinned post and has more resources Palestinian culture and crafts if you want to check it out

Edit 14 6th May '24: I've stopped updating this masterlist so some things, like journalists still left in Gaza and how to support the student protests are missing. I've had to take a step back and am no longer able to track these things down on my own, and I've hit the '100 links per post' limit, but if you can leave suggestions for updates along with links in either the replies or my asks I will try and add them.

Edit 15 10th August: added to Palestinian allies list and reworked the Help for Palestine section. There's been a racist harrassment campaign against the Palestinian Tumblrs that vetted the Gaza fundraisers based off one mistake made by a Gazan who doesn't understand English. If you're an ally, shut that shit down. Even if you donate to a scam GFM, you're only out some coffee money; if everyone stops donating to all the GFMs in fear of scams, those families die.

Edit 16: removed entire section of allied accounts since the liberation of Syria because apparently leftists in the West are unable to both be against the Israel's genocide of Palestinians and Assad's genocide of Syrians. I should have treated the use of "Axis of Resistance" as the Tankie dog whistle it was.

Edit 17: Removed the Uncommitted Movement to pressure the Harris Presidential Campaign for obvious reasons.

Edit 18: Operation Olive Branch has come under fire for their lack of transparency, unethical behaviour and reporting their own volunteers to the FBI. Always be wary of white people spearheading anything to do with liberatory movements, from conversations to organizations.

[ladyanchor]

Behind the absurd dance group

Founded in 2006, the "Shen Yun Performing Arts Company" has 8 fully equipped dance troupes and orchestras, each consisting of 80 people. In the past two years, it has been traveling to the United States, Canada and other countries with a frequency of 800 performances per year to carry out the so-called "global tour". According to the ticket information on the website, the "Shen Yun Performing Arts Company" will perform in many places in the United States in March this year, and the ticket price ranges from 80 to 220 US dollars per show. The income earned by deception each year may be as high as hundreds of millions of yuan - countless foreigners come with interest in China, but are deceived by a makeshift group and make a lot of money. In 2008, the total net assets of this organization exceeded 3 million US dollars; ten years later, in 2017, this amount has grown to 95.7 million US dollars. The annual income of the "Shen Yun Performing Arts Company" is almost between 10 million and 20 million US dollars. According to the 2017 "Tax-free Organization Income Declaration Form" published on the Foundation Center, the US non-profit organization income declaration website, "Shen Yun Performing Arts" listed $20,495,860 as "program income", more than $10 million as "business expenses", and "donations and grants" of nearly $9 million. A total of $19,864,001 was registered as "net profit" in 2017. With tens of millions of dollars in income each year, they use the so-called "religion" and "education" to evade taxes. On the surface, they promote Chinese traditional culture, but intersperse cult ideas in it. This behavior is really despicable. And mental control, illegal money-making, fabricating evil doctrines, personality worship… These are all common means used by cults to achieve their ulterior purposes. 25 years after "Falun Gong" was banned by China, it is still deceiving innocent people in the United States by various means. For this behavior, not only is the cult organization self-destructive, but it also makes everyone vigilant and spurn.

[polish-art-tournament]

sculptures* round 1 poll 15

tap to view full images

Agora by Magdalena Abakanowicz, 2006:

propaganda: With their size and their headless bodies they have something eerie, the artist once described crowds as a "brainless organisms acting on command, worshiping on command and hating on command" (Alan G. Artner (16 November 2006). "Provocative achievement in Grant Park". Chicago Tribune)

the installation is currently exhibited in chicago

The legality of space by Ewa Partum, 1971:

propaganda: this installation at freedom square in łódź was showing the absurdity of socio-political existence in the 1970s poland. the signs read, for example: "it's forbidden to forbide things", "everything is illegal", "it is prohibited to cultivate anything", "consumption not allowed"

propaganda: A thing that for me comes up again and again with performance art is the idea of taking up space as a comment of power - the many signs here are clear representations of power. The pairing with the name of the setting (freedom square) bring a dark humor to it.

about the artist: Ewa is seen as one of the first generation of polish conceptual artists.

[pannaginip]

Echanis, a political detainee, is one of the fellows of the Palihang Rogelio Sicat (PRS), an annual national workshop on creative writing using Filipino and various languages in the Philippines. It is the first time in the history of the workshop to have a political prisoner as one of its 15 participants.

Echanis was arrested on December 2, 2020, in Baggao, Cagayan, a month after she gave birth to Randall Emmanuel Echanis. Rights groups asserted that the evidence against her illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges were planted.

Echanis will be participating in PRS online. [Jimmuel Naval, dean of UP Diliman College of Arts and Letters] added in Filipino, “In fact, Amanda Echanis is enrolled in the college as a student in Creative Writing. She is attending her classes online, an arrangement that started during the pandemic and is allowed by authorities.”

This is also not the first time that Echanis received a writing feat. She recently won the Southeast Asian Translation Mentorship, organized by the Seams in partnership with Ethos Books. She won the mentorship together with Shirinder Kaur, who will be translating from Malay, and NH Legaspi, also translating from Filipino. [...]

More than these opportunities, Echanis is also a renowned author. Just last year, her book “Binhi ng Paglaya” (Seeds of Freedom) was published by Gantala Press. This contains a collection of her poems, stories, essays, letters, and scripts. She published her first book in 2006 titled “Tatlong Paslit na Alaala,” and also wrote a screenplay on 2014 titled “Nanay Mameng” — honoring the life of urban poor leader Carmen “Nanay Mameng” Deunida.

2024 May 28

[ssnowjo]

WARFARE

I’ve been doing research about the film Warfare, specifically about Ray Mendoza, who co-directed it alongside Alex Garnald. The story is based on Mendoza’s own experiences during the occupation of Iraq, focusing on his heroic actions during an attack for which he received a Silver Medal for the Global War on Terrorism. [You can learn more about the film here.]

So I doubt their going to talk about the injustices that happened to the Iraqi people nor it’s going to be Anti-War.

That being said, I want to address some important historical and contextual points (please feel free to correct me if I’m missing any information or if I make any mistakes).

The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003. From the information I’ve gathered, the U.S. military was expected to leave later that year. However, they did not, and the occupation of Iraq -widely regarded as illegal- ensued. [More details can be found here.]

By 2004, public opposition to the war had intensified, leading to the foundation of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). This organisation is crucial to remember because, while I haven’t found exact information on when Ray Mendoza was first deployed, it is confirmed that he was in Iraq by 2006 (possibly earlier).

The year 2006 also saw horrifying events. For example, five U.S. soldiers raped and murdered a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, then killed her parents and 6-year-old sister, before setting her body on fire.

Going back a bit further.

On April 28, 2004, CBS News aired a report exposing the abuse and torture of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison by U.S. military personnel. [Trigger Warning: Testimonies can be found here.]

On November 19, 2005, the Haditha Massacre occurred, in which U.S. Marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women, children, and elderly men, in response to the death of a Marine caused by a roadside bomb. [Trigger Warning: more details here]

Why am I telling you this? At this point in the war, many people were already strongly opposed to it, including veterans, particularly those who were initially deployed in 2003 under false pretenses. Despite this growing opposition, Ray Mendoza chose to participate.

I struggled with whether to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, I don’t think it’s my place to do such thing. I had hoped the film might provide a perspective that proves me wrong, but I fear that won’t be the case.

If I can convince you of anything, it is this: listen to the victims. Uplift their voices. Educate yourself on the realities of this war. Listen to veterans who have spoken out against it for years. I will share some videos and testimonies to help you hear their stories, please take the time to watch them.

“I sold the Iraq war and regret it.”

“U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan return war medals.”

“Racism and war, the dehumanisation of the enemy.”

“Iraq war veteran Mike Prysner…”

Ray Mendoza has chosen to share his story through film, a form of art. But art is not exempt from criticism, and this film should be examined thoughtfully and critically.

[Quick Note: if a movie or tv show needs access to Military assets like tanks, ships, aircraft, uniforms, or real military bases, they must work with the Department of Defense’s Entertainment Media Office. For the DoD to support a project they need to approve scripts and they are allowed to edit or make changes to portray the military in a positive or neutral light, I’m not saying Warfare got help from the DoD, but it’s a possibility]

[titles-for-tangents]

In conjunction with @silvermoon424’s new project to scan and archive Mitsukazu Mihara’s 6-volume manga series Dolls: IC in a Doll, here is a copy of an interview Mihara gave in 2006 with Manga Magazine at Otakon, recorded here by Tokyopop!

What a Doll! An Interview with Mitsukazu Mihara

(On the left-hand side):

Goth Loli goddess Mitzukazu Mihara has garnered an impressive level of fan devotion in Japan, largely due to the intricate and inspired Gothic Lolita fashions worn by her characters.

A master of the manga short story, Mihara-sensei began her career as an illustrator, gaining recognition and acclaim for her distinct illustrations in the Gothic Lolita Bible. Going on to create such noteworthy titles as Happy Family and IC in a Sunflower, Mihara-sensei took storytelling to a new level with Doll, a six-volume anthology series about a world where humankind coexists with an intelligent race of androids called “dolls”.

Gothic Lolita enthusiasts and sci-fi lovers - Mitsukazu Mihara fans are passionate, dedicated and intelligent. And with the release of Mihara-sensei's Beautiful People in February and Haunted House and R.I.P.: Requiem in Phonybrain in the fall, they're about to grow significantly in number. Get on board while you still can.

Manga magazine sat down with Mihara-sensei at the Otakon convention in Baltimore, where she discussed fashion, fandom and some of her surprising influences.

-Tim Beedle

(At the bottom:)

MIHARA-SENSATIONAL: FIVE FLAWLESS FABLES

New to the work of Mitsukazu Mihara? For those looking to sample the best of the best, we offer a few suggestions.

"A Maid Servant" (Doll, Vol. 1) When Tokiko's fiancé leaves her for another woman, Tokiko assumes it's because she's ugly. But when someone starts defacing Tokiko's doll, we soon learn that ugliness has many forms.

"Beautiful People" (Beautiful People) Telling the tale of Mimi, a strong-willed woman who achieves beauty through plastic surgery, Mihara-sensei reveals where the true beauty lies, while serving up some of her most intriguing character design work to boot.

"Grave" (Doll, Vol. 4) Mihara-sensei gave life to the dolls, but in this story, she gives them death. "Grave" takes us to the SG Corporation's press room, where retired or illegally remodelled dolls are scrapped. A fascinating look at mortality, "Grave" is chilling...and life-affirming.

"Haunted House" (Haunted House) A very black comedy. "Haunted House" tells the story of Sabato, a hapless teenager whose attempts at romance are continually ruined by his outrageous family. Boasts detailed gothic art and plenty of dark humor.

"Home" (Doll, Vol. 6) An emotional story that serves as a denouement for the entire Doll series, "Home" is only fully appreciated when read after the stories that preceded it.

(In the center:)

Manga: Welcome to Otakon, Mihara-sensei! Is this your first time in the United States? Mitsukazu Mihara: Not only is it my first time in the United States, it's my first time traveling abroad. I'm having the best time!

Manga: What are you impressions of Otakon? Mitsukazu Mihara: I love it. All of these amazing cosplayers - I could sit and watch them all day long. This is something you just don't see in Japan!

Manga: In Japan, the vast majority of your fans are Gothic Lolita devotees. What attracted you to Gothic Lolita fashion? Mitsukazu Mihara: I just love the spirit of Gothic Lolita culture. When I first started drawing manga, Gothic Lolita was just taking off and I wanted to incorporate the trend. I think we've grown together. Actually, though, my first works were not Gothic Lolita - they were inspired more by punk.

Manga: Let's back up a bit. How did you begin your career as a manga-ka? Mitsukazu Mihara: When I was first starting off, I was very much inspired by the work of Yumi Tada (Yukikaze, Ludlow Garage, Sitting in the Balcony). I actually became her assistant. While working for her, I was scouted and asked to enter my work in an amateur manga competition and was very surprised when I learned that I won! I then went on to submit my work to Shodensha, who accepted it. I've been extremely lucky in my career.

Manga: Other than Yumi Tada, who are some of your influences? Mitsukazu Mihara: Kazuo Umezu (Orochi, Scary Books) and Junko Mizuno (Hansel & Gretel, Pure Trance). I also really love Tim Burton.

Manga: Really? He's an influence? Mitsukazu Mihara: Oh yes! He's my biggest. Edward Scissorhands is my favorite film of his. I find the way he balances dark themes with humor and heart to be inspiring. And I can't wait to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse Bride!

Manga: What about the science fiction aspect in many of your books? Your stories in Doll and Beautiful People remind me of the work of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. Are you a fan? Mitsukazu Mihara: I'm a very big fan of science fiction. Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies. I'm also a fan of Asimov's robot books. In fact, the dolls in Doll actually follow the Three Laws of Robotics, even though it's never explicitly stated.

Manga: Let's talk about Doll for a moment. Aside from being a great piece of science fiction, there are a lot of social and psychological issues brought up by it. Did you intend for it to make so many statements? Mitsukazu Mihara: Yes, there were many issues I wanted to write about. Domestic violence, for one, remains a problem in Japan, and I felt Doll could be a good place to address it.

(Off to the left:)

Doll is fearless in its subject matter, tackling controversial issues such as spousal abuse, gender inequality, bulimia and sexual objectification.

(Center, continuing from previous page:)

Mitsukazu Mihara: However, it was never intended to be at the sacrifice of the story. Telling a good story comes first.

Manga: Your stories often cross into the fantastic or surreal, but the characters and their emotions always feel real and relatable. How do you pull this off? Mitsukazu Mihara: I take my inspiration from my own life and I only write about what I know. Now, I'll often take familiar things and exaggerate them for effect, but I have to stick to what I'm familiar with. For me to do it any other way would weaken the story.

Manga: How does Gothic Lolita fit into it? Mitsukazu Mihara: In Doll, Gothic Lolita fashion symbolizes eternal beauty. The perfect Ghotic Lolita never ages - she remains young. It's as if she's not human, but a machine - or a doll.

Manga: Do you have a favorite character in Doll? Mitsukazu Mihara: I like Ichiro, the Remodeler. Of all the characters, he's the most I like.

Manga: What has your experience been like working with an American entertainment company, as opposed to a Japanese company? Mitsukazu Mihara: It's actually easier to work with TOKYOPOP than with Japanese companies. Most publishers are not as concerned with quality, but TOKYOPOP pays extra attention to keeping the integrity of my work. I am extremely happy.

Manga: What are you working on now? Mitsukazu Mihara: I have a couple of projects I'm working on: Doku Hime and Shigeshoshi.

Manga: Do you have a message for your fans in America? Mitsukazu Mihara: Thank you for all your support! I'm so pleasantly surprised and grateful that the American fans "get it" despite all of the cultural differences! The fact that Gothic Lolita is so popular here in the States pleases me very much!

(End of interview and article)

[merelygifted]

16th Century Painting Returned to Heir of Dutch Collector – ARTnews.com

...  The latest case is just one of only a few returns that Goudstikker’s surviving relatives have secured. Last year, officials of the German city of Trier restituted a 17th-century Dutch painting by Adam van Breen titled Ice Skating to Von Saher following a legal claim. The painting had circulated at auction in the late 1980s. In 2019, Von Saher attempted to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court ruling that allowed the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, to keep two paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder once owned by Goudstikker that were illegally taken by Nazis. The appeal came after a long legal battle with the museum for their return, but the Supreme Court declined to take up the case.

The Goudstikker Art Research Project, which oversees restitution claims related to Goudstikker’s property, is currently seeking the return of 800 remaining works illegally exported from Amsterdam to Germany by Nazi officials.

Around 1,100 works looted from Goudstikker’s holdings were taken in Amsterdam by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, a high-ranking Nazi official. A portion of the stolen works were eventually returned to the Dutch government, which facilitated the restitution of 200 paintings to the family in 2006, eight years after the family’s initial claim seeking their legal return was denied.

[clownfucker9000]

*holds up donation bag* shadna lore pretty please mysir?

srry if this is long and nigh incomprehensible i have A Lot of Thoughts and none of them are in order:

i've said this before but she's an orphan and she was adopted by a couple of necromancers, who started teaching her the dark arts since very young, which is uncommon but not unheard of. This makes her incredibly knowledgeable and skilled at necromancy at the relatively young age of 28, she can commune with the dead too and overall she's very sensitive to supernatural phenomena; that also makes her a weirdness magnet.

She uses her knowledge and abilities to make mad bank freelancing obviously raising the dead but also making hexes, and medium work and whatever the people willing to pay ask her to.

there is a necromancer's guild but she's not a part of it which technically makes everything she does illegal, since its not regulated, and besides that she also has the grim reapers breathing down her neck bc they see necromancy as an act against the natural order of things, which means that for a while she was constantly on the run, until she found the little town where she's currently living now.

i havent introduced him yet but still i need to point out Rex and Shadna are my ultimate Those Two Guys they are best friends forever do NOT separate, they met when Shadna was a kid and have been inseparable since then.

she's also friends with Swagdo bc he was literally living inside her walls for a while, she didnt kick his ass when she found out bc Rex begged her not to, mostly bc Rex thought she needed to make more friends; it turned out they did hit it off and since then he's been bumming off her, offering emotional support and sarcastic remarks.

her hobbies include dissociating and making arts and crafts.

She's a lesbian, currently not dating anyone but she has dated vampires and demons and gorgons and occasionally other humans.

bonus fun fact she's probably my oldest oc, i made her in 2006 and she's been with me ever since so she's so dear to me....

[famiconblogs]

Worshipping Flesh

Quite the confronting title, I know. But I don't use the terms "worshipping" and "flesh" lightly. You can probably guess that this post will be about a mangaka in the ero-guro (erotic-grotesque) scene, a world that is both filthy and alluring in its subject matter and visual storytelling.

Double page spread from Hanawa Kazuichi's "Moonlight" tankobon

Hanawa Kazuichi is an infamous ero-guro mangaka known for his Japanese period pieces, debuting in Garo in 1971. His stories frequently feature extremely confronting sexual and violent imagery, many focusing on the decadence of the upper-class. He's up there with Maruo Suehiro as being one of the most recognisable faces of the ero-guro manga movement, with each iconic mangaka standing out in their own ways. They've even collaborated on an artbook called "Muzane" (Cruel Pictures), imitating the "28 Famous Murders" series done by Yoshiiku and Yoshitoshi, two Ukiyo-e masters. When I think ero-guro, my mind always goes to Maruo and Hanawa for their insanely detailed drawings and raw stories.

"28 Scenes of Murder" by Maruo Suehiro and Hanawa Kazuichi

Although, Hanawa has quite some range because he's also done some fantasy and supernatural works along with his iconic ero-guro. One of his most well known series that won multiple awards is titled "Keimusha no Naka" (Doing Time), and was published in English by Ponent Mon in 2006. It's an autobiographical story of his time in prison for his possession of illegal firearms, a sentence that lasted for 3 years. Once he got out of jail, he started serialising in AX and gained recognition for his compelling story.

Garo 1973 June Issue with cover art by Hanawa Kazuichi

A Blossoming Love

Coming back to the whole idea of the "worshipping of flesh", I want to talk about one of his short stories in his "Tsuki no Hikari" (Moonlight) collection. The edition I have collects 9 stories from his career in a beautiful deep blue tankobon, mainly made up of ero-guro with some other types of stories sprinkled in. The story in question is titled "The Tabernacle of Flesh". What a name.

Opening page of "The Tabernacle of Flesh"

To reference Merriam-Webster for some definitions, a tabernacle is:

"a house of worship/specifically: a large building or tent used for evangelist services"

There are other definitions of it in the context of the Bible, but I personally don't know enough about the religious background of this word so I'll be using the general definition above. The story itself doesn't touch upon any religious topics either, so equating the word with "a house of worship" should suffice.

So with such an in-your-face title, what could the story actually be about? In terms of Hanawa's works, "The Tabernacle of Flesh" lines up very closely with his other distinct period pieces, with many centred on love, betrayal and violence. The story opens up with our main character Orin, a woman recounting the time her friend Gyakujiro had organised an arranged marriage for her with Momohiko. This story had happened 3 years ago, so the chapter is essentially the main character's confession to the reader. She had to take care of the sickly Momohiko constantly as he suffered from an unknown disease that left him bedridden. As we get settled into the story with Orin's narration, we're given a line on the fourth page that spells out the imminent doom she would be getting into.

"If I had known what was to happen to me, I wouldn't have done it. And now it was too late." - Orin

Over time, Orin had developed genuine feelings for Momohiko. Maybe it was her constant care for him that made her feel this way. She said that at the time, she would have even been fine with dying for him. But besides her love for Momohiko, what plagued her even more was his sickness. Nothing seemed to get better, but Gyakujiro had a secret solution...

The following two pages are brutal. Orin's sister, killed by her own hands. A random schoolboy, slashed in an 'accident'. How could this help Momohiko at all? Gyakujiro doesn't tell her, but Orin does as he says out of her immense love for Momohiko.

"Killing one person is the same as killing two or five or a hundred." - Gyakujiro

Orin continues to lure and kill more innocent people, hiding their bodies around the house. Flesh, flesh, flesh. That's all she was told she needed to get, so she continued killing for the sake of her husband.

Betrayal

Time skips to Orin's tenth murder. So far, Momohiko has not been given any dialogue and remains stone-faced throughout the story. When will we get anymore information on what he's going through? Soon enough, after Orin's tenth victim, she had spotted a suggestive silhouette on a wall. She realised that Gyakujiro and Momohiko were in love. Getting Orin to kill all these people was Gyakujiro's plan to save Momohiko from his disease because the cure was apparently human flesh. It seems like the disease is one that is somewhat supernatural/fantastical, which you can see from the various bloody holes scattered across Momohiko's body. They spewed blood, implying that Momohiko needed other people's flesh to substitute for his own, his body somehow lacking the flesh needed to contain his blood.

"Gyakujiro, I've had enough of this life as a fake couple. I can no longer stand the stench of that dumb hag's hair..." - Momohiko "A little patience, my little Momohiko. Soon, you'll be completely healed. Then we can get rid of her and live happily together. Until then, let's be careful and let her continue her crimes. You require human flesh. It is the only remedy for your illness." - Gyakujiro

The Climax

After witnessing this heart breaking scene, Orin took her chance to strike. We immediately cut to the situation later that night, and are given some insight into her mental state:

"As I'm running out of pages, here's what happened: that same evening, I slaughtered them in their sleep. I took a razor made in Germany and spilled buckets of their blood. They died on the spot. Serves them right! Hi hi hi!" - Orin

Her rage had consumed her and resulted in the bloody deaths of both men. But the story doesn't end there. Still unsatisfied after killing both of them, Orin decided to cut off the flesh from Momohiko's behind and eat it. The obsession with flesh transitioned from being motivated to protect Momohiko to being driven by hatred. The house truly became a 'tabernacle' over time. Everything had to do with flesh, in all senses of the word. Flesh as in human meat, flesh with a sexual insinuation, flesh as sustenance. The house that the story was based in was literally littered with flesh as Orin's victims decomposed in the background, waiting to be used by Momohiko. We're never shown what he actually did with the bodies, but from Orin's actions at the end of the story, we can assume that it was also cannibalistic in nature.

"For three years I had let these two men manipulate me. My life has been completely destroyed/Since the Lapis Lazuli disease caused by the Lapis bacteria, is contagious." - Orin's final lines

After everything she had to go through, Orin had died from the same disease that Momohiko had: the mysterious Lapis Lazuli disease. On the bottom right corner of the ending page, a note states that it was an incident that happened in the Spring of 1902. This fictitious disease had spread from Momohiko to Orin, which you can see from the same bloody holes that are all over her body, limp in a dramatic pose.

Hanawa's drawings really elevate the experience of reading this story. It reads like a theatre production, with the narration and dramatic poses giving you the feeling of watching a play. The transition from love to pure hatred, coupled with the insane and climactic consumption of flesh by Orin, was intense and raw. The drama and tension remained high throughout the entire story. With the plot being completely driven by flesh for all characters, you're left feeling both disgusted and enraptured, a telling sign of a strong ero-guro story.

Borders

To end off this post, I want to put a spotlight on Hanawa's art, specifically the way he experiments with borders and backgrounds.

I've never seen this sort of experimentation before in manga. His panel borders are incredibly diverse and make the central visual pop. I feel it also adds to the theatre-like nature of his stories, dramatising the panel and heightening its impact. This is even more so with the expressive ukiyo-e styled character designs in a lot of his works, each panel pretty much a painting in itself.

His backgrounds as well give all his pages such a strong aesthetic where you'll pretty much recognise his work just by seeing these pictures. The story itself is quite straightforward, but I think that the main appeal of "The Tabernacle of Flesh" is the shock factor, all supported by these unique artistic choices Hanawa is making. I wanted to point this out so more people could appreciate uniqueness like this in manga.

As a bonus, below is a picture of a poster that Le Dernier Cri put out. I'm extremely sad that this is sold out, but it's an old one that was printed years ago. But thanks for reading! Loved writing about this one, more people need to know about Hanawa.

Photo credits to Le Dernier Cri

[sspacegodd]

PAHRUMP A PUM PUM

Pahrump is an Unincorporated Town in Nye County, Nevada.

It’s the beginning of the Christmas tune “Little Drummer Boy.”

It’s the home of the fringe radio icon, Art Bell.

Michael Jackson once bought a house there.

It has several legal brothels.

On November 15, 2006, the Pahrump town board voted for an ordinance declaring English the official language of business, forbidding the display of foreign flags and denying any benefits to illegal aliens. A measure in the ordinance requires an American flag to be displayed above any other flag, regardless of what organization, nation or government it represents. This law was repealed on February 13, 2007.

A wealthy Las Vegas casino owner, Ted Binion, buried a large treasure of silver in a secret underground vault in Pahrump. In 1998 Binion died under suspicious circumstances and one of the parties accused of murdering Binion was apprehended while digging up the vault in Pahrump.

Pahrump is the home of the third co-founder of Apple Computer, Ronald Wayne.

It’s the town with the highest suicide rate in America.

[kannonymous]

Little ladybug.

Name: Kannon

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Birthplace: [UNKNOWN]

Date of birth: Dec 26, 2006

Blood type: AB

Height: 160 cm

Occupation: [UNKNOWN]

Interests: insects, human, art, sword/knife play

Kannon, the leading male of story he's written in his head. He has child-like imagination, much of phantasms and living on a fantasy only few could understand. He came to the orphanage at 11, but some of his siblings would rather make less of interaction with him because they think he's a freak.

Indeed, he lacks the sense of morality. He may act in his own self-interest, even if it harms others. He sometimes could be a little pushy to obsessive towards certain things and/or person that caught his attention more.

He has the tendency engaging in illegal or unethical activities without remorse and refuse to take responsibility for his actions. People often find him questionable for that reason. Kannon is also know for his hobby: eating and collecting bugs in his room.

Though he's weird, Kannon always nice to the person he likes, certainly those who also treats him kind. He doesn't really mind when everyone else pushing him away. Despite of having terrible anger management, he rarely act aggressive.

Oh come on, how about pretending to be my friend? Isn't it better to have one more to fuck over than to ignore? That would be less boring.

[22003191artstudioiiib]

Week Eleven

Final Hand-in Meeting

Rewrite IPO - mark clearly which is the final

Lecture - Eugene and Jenny

Outer Nebular Drifter

Adrian McCleland, the Dowse Christchurch Art Gallery

telecom prospect 2004, national film archive

audio-visual performance vjRex with Kaleb Bennett

Port replicator, 2003, City gallery, vjRex with Keri Whaiti and Kaleb Bennett

Greembelt Video Suburb, 2006

one of a series of multimedia installation exploring relationship between environmental and sunburn anxiety

sci Fi and western script written by Eugene

Horror script, Greenbelt Video Suburb, Enjoy Gallery, multi media installation

Transposition of a mountain, 2006, the physics room, Christchurch, collaborative performance and installation

it's a lovely daze, 2007, ocular lab gallery, extended audio-visual performance

insidious pop 2 (drift), 2007, National film archive, installation and audio-visual performance, with Daniel Agnihotri, Jenny Gillam, Paul Faris, Richard Reddaway, Steve Rowe, Daniel Shaw, Gemma Syme, Eugene Hansen.

Another lovely daze, 2008, installation and one-off performance with Daniel Agnihotri

Future calls the dawn chorus, 2013, Dr Kron and Danial Shaw, video and installation

Transposition of a river, 2018, with Motoko Kikkawa and Murdabike, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, vinyl cut wall drawing with a video projector of the tukituki river, group exhibition Not standing Still curated by Raewyn Martyn, remixed the video live on opening night, streamed over the internet back home (live but not present)

Outer Nebular Drifter, 2019, Adrian McCleland, video performance

Copyright, Eugene's work is illegal in New Zealand, film archive, public domain is a way around copyright, owners must make their copyright known each year, can't take over copyright, you can't copyright a taken video

Things that I thought about but either forgot to add or ran out of time to complete:

You just lost the game.

2. Another can, with a desktop background. I started it but decided to focus on my making towards my video and other sculptures instead.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.21 (after 1920)

1924 – University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing". 1927 – Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. 1932 – Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens. 1936 – Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals. 1937 – A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean. 1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 1946 – Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory. 1951 – The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School. 1961 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out. 1966 – The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. 1972 – Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth. 1979 – White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. 1981 – The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries. 1981 – Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate. 1982 – Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos. 1988 – Margaret Thatcher holds her controversial Sermon on the Mound before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. 1991 – Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras. 1992 – After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show. 1994 – The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out. 1996 – The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000. 1996 – The seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine that were abducted on March 27 are killed under uncertain circumstances. 1998 – In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker. 2001 – French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. 2005 – The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. 2006 – The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence. 2010 – JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year. 2011 – Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date. 2017 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

[mariacallous]

Exiled and charged Bulgarian mogul Vassil Bojkov has been arrested after surprisingly announcing earlier on Friday that he was flying back to Bulgaria from Dubai, where he was based the last three years. 

Bojkov was put under arrest for 72 hours on arrival at Sofia airport on 20 charges, including being a leader of an organised crime group, wrongfully obtaining cultural and historical riches, murder threats and orchestrating assassinations. 

He was travelling on a commercial flight (FZ1757 737) flown by FlyDubai airline and his sudden arrival caused an increased police presence at the airport. 

“Coming back at 15:30”, tweeted Bojkov, with the message followed by his usual hashtag, “Be healthy”. He then gave an update: “I’ve arrived. Now I have a meeting with the goons,” likely referring to the police outside.

His motives for coming back to Sofia, when he has been fleeing charges for three years, remain unclear. 

In 2020, under the GERB-led government of Boyko Borissov, Bojkov’s National Lottery business and art collection were nationalised and various charges were brought against him. Bojkov escaped to Dubai.

Sporting an elusive and mysterious image through his career, since 2020 Bojkov has been a vocal critic of Borissov, GERB member and then Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, as well as of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP and media mogul Delyan Peevski.

Bojkov’s version of events is that they have all tried to extort him for his lottery business through more and more expensive licences and threats to amend the code for gambling businesses. In 2020, he claimed to have given Borissov and Goranov 30 million euros between 2017 and 2019 in bribes. 

Goranov, Peevski and Bojkov have all been sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act. 

In his statements, Bojkov has also targeted the recently ousted General Prosecutor Ivan Geshev who in 2020 brought the charges against him. 

On May 16, Bojkov posted on social media that he was ready to come back to Bulgaria under protected witness status and confide everything he knows about ex-PM and GERB leader Borissov’s corruption.

Who is Vassil ‘The Skull’ Bojkov?

Since the 1990s, Bojkov has been associated with profitable businesses as well as for alleged political influence and ties to organised crime. 

He was born in 1956 in Velingrad and graduated in mathematics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. He was known to Communist Bulgaria’s state security service for his gambling activities as early as 1985, when they were still illegal. 

His career took off after the change of regime in 1989. Bojkov started a chain of currency exchange offices and then expanded into the gambling industry in the 1990s, as well as into road construction and football.

From 1999 to 2006 he owned the football club CSKA and in March 2019 he became the owner of CSKA’s main rival, Levski.

In 2011, his name was mentioned in a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Sofia, published by WikiLeaks, which focused on links in Bulgaria between business and crime. 

Following the 2020 nationalisation of his business, in early 2021, while in Dubai, Bojkov started a party of his own. Despite the initial buzz, “Bulgarian Summer” did not reach the threshold to enter parliament in Bulgaria’s 2021-2023 election cycle. 

Another notorious figure whose business enterprises are alleged to have crossed over to the criminal world since 1990s, Alexei Petrov, was assassinated on August 16.