#in Arab countries! in Asian countries! in African countries!

[quotidianish]

Tell me if I’m being dramatic but I feel like trans Headcanons in fandom hardly revolve around anyone except young, skinny white people. It feels like a large reflection of how western trans communities view trans people who aren’t exactly like them; as nonexistent.

[kpoppersblog]

I just found out that my mom has a jewish grandfather who has roots from germany making him as ashkenazi despite being born in the west indies.

since judaism comes from the mom, it doesnt really matter if she got it from her mom or dad does it ?? all that matters is that it comes from the moms side. if the mother has jewish roots from her side then that her kids r jewish. by those means im jewish ????

never knew i was a jew until the age of nearly 17 and I havent celebrated shabbat or read torah, traditions, explored judaism and no nothing, worn a kippah, did hanukkah candles, went to a synagogue (except on my school trip but I was still so young???), and more.

how the fuck like

im in so much shock like you mean to tell me i am a jew all this time ??? and the fact that my uncle explained the judaism line in our family aka his family. like the jewish side comes from my uncle and mom (since they r bothers and sisters since they were both born to my grandma which had my mom so its my moms brother) their side is the German side (ashkenazi) and my moms grandfather (my great grandfather) is a jew from germany. his mother is jewish and the judaism is only in the father’s side all the way to my mom passed my grandma making it my moms side of the family.

like. u mean to tell me. I am jewish ??? JEWISH ???? ALL THIS TIME ???

I asked her yesterday to make me and her do an ancestry test and find out what else is in our tree. I come from an extremely diverse background so I wouldnt be suprised if HALF the generation is a jew up until this point of the grandfather.

the fact it is from the father’s side only ????? like... I AM SO IN SHOCK ???

[former-leftist-jew]

First off:

Secondly:

I love how the same people who spent years saying:

"Men can't dictate to women what is and isn't sexist because he's never walked a mile in her shoes."

"White people can't tell POC what is and isn't racist because they've never experienced life in colored skin,"

"Straights can't tell gays what is and isn't homophobic,"

"Terfs can't claim to be persecuted because they go around persecuting trans people,"

etc.

Turn around flash the very same "you're just playing the victim card" the second a minority group tells them that THEY'RE being unfair.

(The exact same "our hatred is legit, you're just playing the victim card to deflect valid criticism" card that they hate when men/conservatives use it against women/other minorities.)

The left doesn’t hate Jews. The left hates bigots! Unfortunately Jews are acting very bigoted right now. Maybe you should spend some time reflecting on why so many leftist like myself have turned our backs on you instead of just playing victim.

how many antisemitic asks like this one until I land on the coveted Zionist block list(tm)?

[nonbinary-vents]

I remember that when everything was happening with Noah Schnapp, so many people were saying that ‘he’s a white coloniser!’ ‘he’s clearly European!’ and ‘how are we supposed to think he’s indigenous to the Middle East when he looks like that?!’ They were screaming so much about he couldn’t possibly be from the swana region due to being pale, despite the fact that… wait for it…

Noah Schnapp is a Moroccan Jew.

The exact the same thing happened with Jerry Seinfeld too, despite him being a Syrian Jew.

But what this tells me is that so many American and European leftists fundamentally do not understand what North Africans and Southwest Asians look like. They do not understand that many Middle Eastern groups are pale, many Middle Eastern groups share features with Europeans— I mean, the Middle East literally borders Europe, did you not expect us to have similarities? This stretches back to the ancient world too. We know that in Yehuda there were gingers, as shown by King David*. Iirc, studies on Rameses the second’s remains show that he most likely had an olive tanned complexion and reddish-blondish hair, similar to a European Mediterranean look— which makes total sense seeing as Egypt is literally a Mediterranean country as well

It’s not just Jews. Persians, Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, Amazigh, Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula**, all of these ethnic groups are incredibly diverse in their features, even without any significant genetic influence from other areas. You cannot just project American and European black and white concepts of race onto the Middle East and act as if that is reality. The world is not split into pale people in the north, brown people in the middle, and black people in the south, and if you genuinely believe that then you really need to look at some pictures of the groups that you’re claiming to be the defender of. Please. I’m so tired of this bullshit lol

*I know that the historical evidence for David is shaky at best and we’re not sure if he was real or not (I personally believe it’s a King Arthur sort of situation where there was a real person here that got turned into legend), what I’m trying to say is that if the Ivrim could have a figure like this who was ginger, then the Ivrim clearly had gingers. Nobody come for me please

**not adding other Arabs because there tends to be genetic mixes with other groups, and my point is about how even without distinct genetic markers from each other, middle easterners groups can turn out with a super intense variation in appearance, especially skin tone

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

Malcolm X on Palestine:

“The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is Zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.

Zionist Israel's occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.

And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people...thus, indirectly inducing Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.

‘They cripple the bird's wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.’

The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can't stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser's call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.”

Malcolm X: Zionist 'Logic', published in “The Egyptian Gazette,” Sept. 17, 1964.

[tanadrin]

medieval monks and accountants start using Italian millione ("one thousand" + augmentative suffix) to mean 10^6 by the 1200s; this spreads to other languages

Jehan Adam coins bymillion and trimillion to mean 10^12 and 10^18 in 1475

Nicolas Chuquet extends this scale up to nonyllion (10^54), with every step being another six orders of magnitude (million, byllion, tryllion, quadrillion, quyllion, sixlion, septyllion, ottylion, nonyllion) in 1484. Note that in this period, it was common to put the digit separator every six digits instead of every three.

Guillaume Budé refers to 10^9 as milliart in 1516, in a Latin text

But in 1549, Jacques Pelletier du Mans uses milliard to mean 10^12, citing Budé as a source

In the 1600s, people start putting digit separators every three digits. But some scientists and mathematicians define the numerical scale according to how digits are grouped, rather than the actual order of magnitude: thus, one billion becomes 10^9, one trillion becomes 10^12, etc, creating the short scale.

"Milliard" is eventually added to the long scale, meaning 10^9 (in keeping with Budé's usage); the first published example is from 1676

By 1729, the short-scale meaning of "billion" (10^9) has already crept into American usage

This is in keeping with French usage at the time: in 1762, the Académie Française dictionary cites billion as meaning 10^9.

By the early 19th century, France has almost completely converted to the short scale, and U.S. usage follows France; the long scale is referred to in some sources as "obsolete." But Britain is still using the long scale (and I assume Germany and most other European countries)

Over the course of the 20th century, the long scale begins to become more influential in France, presumably due to the influence of continental usage; while the short scale becomes more influential in Britain, presumably due to the influence of American English. Notably the SI system very specifically uses unique prefixes that are the same across languages, to prevent confusion!

In 1961, the French Government confirms that they're going to officially use the long scale from now on; in 1974, Britain officially switches over to the short scale, and many other English-speaking countries follow.

In 1975, the terms "short scale" and "long scale" are actually coined, by mathematician Geneviève Guitel.

One reason large number names could be so unstable for so long is, of course, that outside specialized usage they are rare, and were even more rare before modern science and large modern monetary amounts became commonplace points of discussion. Wikipedia says "milliard" wasn't common in German until 1923, when bank notes had to be overstamped during Weimar-era hyperinflation.

As it currently stands, English, Indonesian, Hebrew, Russian, Turkish, and most varieties of Arabic use the short scale; continental Europe and most varieties of Spanish outside Europe use the long scale. A few countries use both, usually in different languages, like South African English (short scale) and Afrikaans (long scale) or Canadian English (short scale) and Canadian French (long scale) . Puerto Rico uses the short scale in economic and technical usage, but the long scale in publications aimed at export.

Notably some languages use neither, having their own names for large numbers--South Asian languages have the Indian numbering system, and Bhutan, Cambodia, and various East Asian languages also have their own numbering systems. Greek, exceptionally, uses a native calque of the short scale rather than a borrowing.

[ayin-me-yesh]

US Americans have got to stop the "go back to New York" "settlers = Brooklyn landlords" thing. Are there American Jewish settlers in Palestine? Absolutely. Are there Israeli Jews in the U.S. who are still reservists? Absolutely.

The problem is that they are a small minority of settlers and Israelis. There are about 30,000 Israelis in the entire state of New York, including Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. [x] There are 1,600,000 Jews just in New York City. [x]

500,000 Israelis have U.S. passports, including Palestinian citizens of Israel. [x] There are 9,174,520 Israelis, again including Palestinians with citizenship. [x]

Saying this does not diminish what's happening in Palestine or the absolute U.S. government support for colonialism and genocide. Settlers do not need to be American or have direct ties to the U.S. to be settlers. Settlers do not need to be American for their colony to be a proxy state for imperial interests, as has also been seen in, say, South Africa.

When you do this shit you're also erasing millions of Arab, Persian, Amazigh, Kurdish, Ethiopian, Indian, Bukharan, and other Jews from outside of Europe who have largely ended up in Palestine as settlers due to colonial and imperial destabilisation of Asia and Africa and a racist "Western" agenda to keep African and Asian refugees of all religious backgrounds outside of "Western" countries as much as possible.

You're also erasing how much xenophobic anti-migrant policies contributed to "Allied" countries after WWII using Palestine as a means of removing Holocaust surviving refugees from mainland Europe without also themselves taking large numbers of refugees into their own countries.

Palestine has been at the centre of displacement of Jews from around the world through a process of ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. This is backed by "Western" not only to create or maintain white Christian hegemonic authority in their own countries, but also as part of a Cold War agenda to destabilise Asia and Africa and eliminate anti-imperial and communist movements.

Israel is a genocidal, fascist country propped up by the US, the UK, and other "Western" imperial powers while its settlers are largely from continental Europe, Asia, and Africa.

[matan4il]

Today is Erev Yom Ha'Shoah (Eve of Holocaust Memorial Day) in Israel. It will be observed by Jews outside of Israel, too.

The Hebrew date was chosen to honor the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It's also a week before Erev Yom Ha'Zikaron Le'Chalalei Ma'archot Yisrael (Eve of Israel's Memorial Day for its Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims), which is itself observed a day before Yom Ha'Atzmaut Le'Yisrael (Israel's Independence Day). A lot of people have remarked on the connection between the three dates. On Yom Ha'Atzmaut, we celebrate our independence, which allows us to determine our own fate, and defend ourselves without being dependent on anyone else, right after we remember the price in human life that we have paid and continue to pay for this independence, and a week before we mourn the price we've had to pay for not getting to have self defence during the Holocaust. NEVER FORGET that in one Nazi shooting pit alone (out of almost two thousand) during just 2 days (Erev Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur 1941), more Jewish men, women and kids were slaughtered than in the 77 years since Israel's Independence War was started by the Arabs. This unbreakable connection between the living and the dead, between our joy and our grief, is often addressed with the Hebrew phrase, במותם ציוו לנו את החיים, "With their death, they ordered us to live."

On this Erev Yom Ha'Shoah, I'd like to share with you some data, published on Thursday by Israel's Central Bureau for Statistics (source in Hebrew).

The number of Jews worldwide is 15.7 million, still lower than it was in 1939, before the Holocaust, 85 years ago (that is what a genocide looks like demographically).

7.1 million Jews live in Israel (45% of world Jewry) 6.3 million Jews live in the US (40% of world Jewry)

Here's the data for the top 9 Jewish communities in the world:

There are about 133,000 Holocaust survivors currently living in Israel. Most (80%) live in big cities in central Israel. Around 1,500 are still evacuated from their homes in northern and southern Israel due to the war (back in January, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, there was a report about 1,894 survivors who also became internal refugees due to the war. Source in Hebrew). One Holocaust survivor, 86 years old Shlomo Mansour, is still held hostage in Gaza. He survived the Farhud in Iraq.

I haven't seen any official number for how many survivors had been slaughtered as a part of Hamas' massacre, despite everyone here being aware that Holocaust survivors had been murdered on Oct 7, such as 91 years old Moshe Ridler. Maybe, as we're still discovering that some people thought to have been kidnapped during the massacre, were actually killed on that day, no one wants to give a "final" number while Shlomo has not yet been returned alive.

Out of all Israeli Holocaust survivors, 61.1% were born in Europe (35.8% in the countries of the former Soviet Union, 10.8% in Romania, 4.9% in Poland, 2.9% in Bulgaria, 1.5% in Germany and Austria, 1.3% in Hungary, 4.2% in the rest of Europe), 36.6% were born in Asia or Africa (16.5% in Morocco, 10.9% in Iraq, 4% in Tunisia, 2.6% in Libya, 2.1% in Algeria, 0.5% in other Asian and African countries) and 2.3% were born elsewhere.

Out of all Holocaust survivors in Israel, 6.2% managed to make it here before the establishment of the state, despite the British Mandate's immigration policy against it (up until May 13, 1948). 30.5% made it to Israel during its very first years (May 14, 1948 until 1951), another 29.8% arrived in the following decades (1952-1989), and 33.5% made Aliyah once the Soviet Union collapsed, and Jewish immigration to the west (which included Israel) was no longer prohibited by the Soviet regimes (1990 on).

The second biggest community of survivors in the world is in the US, the third biggest (but second biggest relative to the size of the population) is in Australia. I heard from many Holocaust survivors who chose to immigrate there that they wanted to get "as physically far away from Europe as possible."

For a few years now, there's been this project in Israel, called Maalim Zikaron, מעלים זיכרון (uploading memory. Here's the project's site in Hebrew. In English it's called Sharing Memories, and here's the English version of the site) where Israeli celebs are asked to meet up with a Holocaust survivor (it's done in Hebrew), and share the survivor's story and the meeting on their social media on Erev Yom Ha'Shoah (which is today). Each year, there's also one non-Israeli Jewish celeb asked to participate (in English. This time around it's Michael Rapaport, he's meeting Aliza, an 81 years old survivor from the Netherlands, who was hidden along with 9 other Jewish babies for two years. He uploaded a preview of his meeting with her here, where he asked her what it means to her to be a Jew, and from what I understand, he will upload more today to the same IG account). This year, there will be an emphasis on Holocaust survivors who also survived Oct 7 (with 6 of the 20 participating survivors having survived Hamas as well). Here's a small bit from an interview with one such survivor, 90 years old Daniel Luz from kibbutz Be'eri:

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[tsibeyantiger]

How to write European characters for Americans (and for everyone else, but especially for Americans):

Rule number one: Europe is a continent, not a country. No, European countries are not like American states. They are all totally autonomous and may be massively different even when they are neighbours. So everything I tell you might not be the case in every country in Europe or not in all parts of all countries!

-not everyone owns a car and many people prefer public transport or bicycles over driving, especially in north western Europe. Places that cannot be reached by foot exist, but are rare.

- Euros are the currency in most countries, but not in all. Im countries poorer than the EU average, Euros might be accepted, too, in richer countries they will not be. Cents and 1€ & 2€ are coins, the rest are notes. The notes don't all have the same sizes! Cash payment is favored in some parts of Europe, card in others. Debit cards are way more common than credit cards!

- Eastern European countries are way poorer than Western European ones. You see a lot of people moving west for work. People from Western Europe hardly ever move to an Eastern European country.

- In Northern and Central Europe, pretty much everyone younger than let's say 70 speaks at least a decent English. Millennials and Zoomers often also speak French or Spanish. In Southern Europe, the younger generations usually speak English, but elderly people are usually monolingual. In Eastern Europe, German and Russian are common second languages, often even more common than English.

- in an elevator, people usually lean against the walls and look into the middle. Standing in the middle and facing the door is uncommon. Unlike in America, you keep your fork always in the same hand and do not move it to the other hand during the meal.

- Northern and Western European countries have got a lot of foreign citizens. South Asians, Africans, Caribbeans and other Europeans are typical in the UK, Arabs and Africans in France, Arabs and Latinos in Spain, Africans in Italy, Turks, Poles, Arabs and Russians in Germany, Arabs and South Asians in the Nordics. Eastern European countries are way whiter and their foreign population mostly consists of people from neighbouring countries.

- some countries prefer their local cuisine, others prefer international food. If a country has got a world-famous cuisine, it probably belongs in the first category, if not in the second.

- With the exception of a few countries (Ireland, Finland and the Baltics), football is the number one sport. Every country has got a national professional league, but especially people from smaller countries often support a team from another country, usually from England or Spain. Women's football is way smaller than in the US and is often ignored or forgotten. Even though each of these has got at least a small fan base in Europe, you cannot expect people to know anything about NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB. Other notable team sports are handball, basketball, ice hockey and rugby, but this depends very much on the country.

- in most countries, sports clubs play a huge role, and school and especially university sports teams hardly exist.

- colleges don't really exist in most countries. If you're going for an academic degree, you'll go to a university, for other careers you'll usually get trained by your company and acquire some kind of diploma. I actually never really understood the difference between a college and a university and so do probably most people here. Studying is not free in every country, but public universities are usually very cheap and under 1000€ per year. Applications for universities are way easier than in the US and usually free. Many people go to university in their hometown. It is not common to move out from home before your early twenties, especially in Southern and Eastern Europe, unless you go studying in a different city. Students live with their parents, in a flat share, with their partner, very rarely alone or in a student's residence. They do NOT share their bedroom with anyone and fraternities or soririties in an American sense do not exist in any country I know.

- Windows can and will be opened frequently. Air conditioning is common only in the Mediterranean and is used to cool down the room, not to let fresh air in. For that purpose, we open the window.

- for distances of a few hours, Europeans either take the car or the train. You can reach every major European city by train, but this doesn't mean the train service is always good. For longer distances, flights are common.

- Germany is always less modern and the Baltics are always more modern than you expect.

- Europeans are just as political as Americans, but every country has got a great variety of different political parties, even though usually 1-3 of them dominate the political landscape. "Liberal" means "center-right" in Europe. Leftists would define themselves as socialists, social-democrats, communists or anarchists. Most countries have at least one conservative AND one extreme right party.

- You can't just fire someone for no reason in most European countries. You'll often have to pay them at least a few monthly salaries as compensation. Every country has got universal health care, though it isn't always good or accessible, and it does NOT depend on your employment. The number of sick days is not limited and even though some countries work even more hours than America, people usually can't be contacted by their employer in their free time.

- the EU is often criticised, but mostly viewed as positive. National laws may not break European law and you see EU flags on many public buildings.

- if someone owns a gun, they are a hunter, a cop, a soldier or a gangster.

- parties start and end way later than in the US. In most countries, no club will close before 3am and you don't arrive at the club before midnight. Sometimes you can party until 8 or even 10 am.

- it is common to cross an international border for shopping if products are cheaper in the other country.

- people are less religious than in America. Even in the most hardcore Catholic or Orthodox regions, you don't see shit like in the US. People there might be frantically kissing some Saint's painting, but they don't believe Jesus died for their right to own a gun or stuff.

Feel free to add some!

[kick-a-long]

People who say zionism is the majority and that anti zionism is revolutionary because being anti zionist comes with a cost unlike zionism which "controls the world" have no idea that most countries have no jewish populations and those countries especially those of the global south are at least 90% anti zionist. The 10% or maybe 5% are the people who "support" Israel because they want it to fall and the antichrist to come.

Im speaking from experience. Anti zionism is the vast majority of the 3rd world country im from. There are no more jews left there and 99% of people dont even know there used to be a jewish population.

the thing is that most "revolutionary" and "popular" and "poorly thought out extreme political/racist/violent social reaction" fads and movements are the same thing. they dress themselves up as niche and alt but it's usually popular anger scapegoating easy targets rather than do the hard work of learning what will actually improve your political system. Even the "eat the rich" people refuse to start/support alternative businesses and vote for politicians that will actually have a positive effect on wealth disparity. It's laziness and foolishness.

the world is steeped in three thousand years of jew hatered, and people think they are being new and revolutionary renaming jew hatered. "it's not jew hatred. it's this scientific term antisemitism!" "it's not jew hatred. it's an inquisition to root out fake christians." "it's not jew hatred. it's holding everyone to muslim religious law." "it's not jew hatred. it's just hatred of the only jewish state defending itself from terrorists who's stated problem with israel is the jews."

they think they are being leftist and kind by allying with the most restrictive, conservative, richest, and politically powerful muslim hypocrites in the middle east. they think it's culture which is bs. muslim arabs deserve to have a say in their governance as much as anyone else... like jews. like south americans, and africans, and asians, and europeans, and north americans, and everyone else.

dictators stay in power because of fear, complacency, and money. it's not revolutionary to be anti-zionist, anymore than it's revolutionary to by pro-dictator or pro-theocracy. it's offensively ignorant and offensively entitled.

look at what has happened because Israel attacked just hezbollah (who had been and have been bombing civilian israeli targets for years and more intensely for months.) Syrians finally overthrew Assad, one of the longest running dictators in history. (although what the long term ramifications of that are??? we will see. at least assad is gone.) Lebanon might be able to rebuild a functional government that cares more about the Lebanese people, their lives and economy, than Iranian dictators. Iran's gov might have to improve their people's living conditions and freedoms to avoid being overthrown rather waste taxes and oil profits on trying to genocide a populace the size of Massachusetts with some of the most technologically superior defensive/offensive capabilities in the world. Russia has been partially pushed out of the middle east. that's leftist movement. people who oppose that really have to work hard to stay ignorant. there are lots of arguments about how to improve the situation in other ways, but they don't have real world examples of how to produce results like this.

[wrotelovelytears]

Pluto might be in Aquarius

But that's only half the story.

Now I'm not one to believe only the planets inspire change in people but the environment they live in, their disposition and their current state of being impacts them just as much. Astrology without the consideration of culture and context is just astronomy. It has the body but not the soul.

I start with that because of all the current global happenings. I understand the importance of spiritual and religious practices, and they don't exist in a bubble of their own. It is highly related to the cultural movements and ethnic practices of a region. If we are going to be honest religions/spirituality would not exist with out those cultural foundations. Literally there would be nothing if ethnic and cultural differences didn't play a role.

Hoodoo wouldn't exist if African Americans didn't. The Greek Pantheon wouldn't be a thing if the ancient Greeks didn't interact with the Egyptians, Nubians and Macedonians. And it should be very well known the Romans stole their whole flow and rebranded. The same Romans who took Christianity and set the foundation for the many versions we see today.

I say all that because I've noticed a lack of connecting between the social/political climate, traditions and belief systems. We can't pretend that Vedic astrology isn't an actual part of Hinduism because it wouldn't exist if Hinduism wasn't here. And Hinduism is the result of two very different populations interacting with one getting colonized and pushed south and the other needing a system/ belief to justify it. We can't pretend that tropical astrology isn't a more Eurocentric method because the signs, planets and their meanings are not the same outside of Western/Eurocentric ideology. In fact it's heavily based off of Roman and Greek interpretations, the base of Western Society as a whole.

I'm not going to pretend that Pluto moving into Aquarius is the only reason why we suddenly "see" more social changes, more standoffish behavior, more coldness to our fellow human. All Aquarius is doing is putting it on the internet. It sent a tweet out and we all saw it. These issues aren't a magical happening, they are the result of centuries of bs pilling up. Of cultures merging in ways that weren't possible before modern technology. Of colonization. Imperialism. Chattel Slavery. The Arab Slave trade. Ethnic cleansings.

People weren't passive before the shift into Aquarius, people were ignoring it. It's really easy to do when you have no personal reason to care, in fact it's probably something all humans can relate to on one topic or another. Trust me I was heavily into activism spaces a decade ago, everything being talked about in media now was talking about then. It was talkes about when my parents were growing up in the 60s. My grandparents in the 20s/30s and so on. Aquarius just put it in our faces (again, and will continue to do so) and said "now what? ".

I want people to not just lean in to spiritual/religious practices because they are popular but to look into the actual meanings they have. I want people to understand that yes you can be spiritual/religious and your ethnic background does impact how you practice. I want people to understand these changes we see in France (they lost their standing in Africa, literally all their former colonies told it to cope, and that's leading to their collapse), South Korea (this is not the first, and sadly won't be the last time, power has been abused under the name of "anti communism", in fact ask South East Asians how they treated there and you'll see this was going to happen), the United States (a country founded on genocide and racism isn't going to magically be less of those because a Black woman got to run for office) etc aren't solely a shift in the Star positions.

I see people point out the French Revolution happened the last time Pluto was in Aquarius (but they also had lost all the land in the US and Haiti told them to fuck off, so it wasn't just not eating cake, it was the lack of slave labor to fund their empire). Or America getting it's freedom (Britain was getting close to abolishing chattel slavery (again free labor, people hate to lose their free labor), the Irish and Scottish were also giving the English a hard time, they had to pick between the people next door or the ones over the Ocean). At that time it was the lack of free labor that pushed those movements, yeah everyone didn't have slaves but they all benefited from that system.

So many astrologers say don't let the stars determine your life but literally turn around and do that. Astrology is a tool at the end of the day. That's it, because if someone doesn't believe in it that doesn't change what happens. Conformation bias would have us believe differently but that's just part of our nature to lean towards that which supports us, not questions us. It's a practice that spans the globe and millennia because we can all look up and see the same stars at night. Maybe not as bright because light pollution, not the same positions because stars go supernova and the solar system moves, but it's still up for everyone on the planet. It's something that regardless of where you go, there's some meaning to it, maybe not always spiritual but a reason nonetheless. And it's never the same, obviously or else this would be a very boring plane of existence, and there's overlap because humans gonna human no matter where we are.

I implore you to think on your upbringing. Think on your ethnic group(s). Think on your current country of residence. Think on what you were taught in school. Think on your family. Because that's what's impacting you. That's what makes you make the decisions you do. Not just Mars moving through your third house (this is just an example, if that's happening for you good for you or I hope it gets better idk) .

Pluto in Aquarius isn't bring change. It's humans and our individual motives that are and always have.

Aquarius is a sign that puts the spot light on things already in motion. It makes you think because if you don't you can't understand. It makes you detached because if you feel it too much you might get hurt. It makes you remember because this isn't the first, nor the last time it will happen. Aquarius is the personal motive made public part of human nature. The selfish desires that push for survival. The seeking of like mindedness. The drive for community, but only if it's the same as you. Aquarius is the when of the story.

[psychotrenny]

Now I've received a few comments about the mass migration of Mizrahi Jews to Israel during the mid 20th century, specifically about Israel's lack of culpability towards it. And there's a few things I've said in response to this that I'd like to reiterate

For one, a number of commenters have attributed the time period of these migrations to the "30s and 40s" which I don't understand. Even Zionists usually consider the "Mizrahi Exodus" to date from the 50s onwards; a big part of how the process is portrayed by pro-Zionist sources is the framing as Israel as this land of opportunity and safety for Jews fleeing the violence and intolerance of the Arab world, something that couldn't exactly happen until Israel was actually established as a state in 1948.

Secondly as I've already stated multiple times the displacement, marginalisation and violent attack on Palestinians by Zionist European Settlers was already underway in Mandatory Palestine by the 1920s, as embodied by the existence of groups like Haganah and Irgun. So like even if we for whatever reason backdate the supposed mass exile of the Mizrahi to the "30s and 40s" it's still very easy to see the correlation between violence perpetrated by European settlers in the name of "Jewishness" and the development of conflict between previously peacefully co-existing communities of Jews and Gentiles in North Africa and West Asia.

And finally, the idea that the mass migration of Mizrahi Jews to Palestine was the result of intolerance from Muslim neighbors is essentially a Zionist distortion of a much more complicated situation. Soon after the establishment of Israel, the new government actively encouraged Jews from the surrounding region to migrate and worked with many of the surrounding governments (usually the European colonial governments that still controlled extensive tracts of the region) to facilitate this. Some Jews (such as those of Yemen or Morocco) were even essentially deported against their will by the wishes of the Israeli government. While there was an increase in inter-communal conflict between Jewish and Gentile populations in the region, this was both due to the general aftermath of Israeli's brutal establishment and in response to specific actions such as the Mossad terrorist attacks in Egypt in 1954 with some actions even being specifically undertaken in order to cause conflict (or even just the appearance of conflict) and induce migration such as Mossad's activities in Iraq through the 1950s. And while there was certainly a significant level of violence and maltreatment (both legal and extra-legal) directed towards Jewish people in various West Asian and North African countries in response to Israeli's invasion, the sheer degree that direct violence and persecution played in such migrations has also been greatly exaggerated by Zionists in order to justify their continued aggression against the people of Palestine and their Allies. The idea that you can draw any real equivalence between the population movements of the Mizrahi Aliyah and that of the Palestinian Nakba is a ghoulish distortion of history that only serves to justify Zionist atrocities both past and present. One was a more or less voluntary* migration that was only partially induced by fears (both hypothetical and actually realised) of conflict while the other was an incidence of direct and unambiguous ethnic cleansing. The factors that led to the Mizrahi migration has plenty of "pull" in addition to "push" and a great deal of said "push" was deliberately engineered by the Israeli government rather than being purely the result of some natural Islamic cruelty or antagonism

*while not an entirely fair thing to say, and its accuracy will vary a lot on a case by case basis, the Mizrahi migrants on the whole had a lot more freedom than the Palestinians in both the decision to leave and their choice of destination (as several of those linked articles mentioned, some Mizrahi migrated to Europe or the Americas rather than Israel)

[sissa-arrows]

Little history lesson.

In 1960 France was struggling to keep Algeria. They were also very close to “Israel” so they allowed the Mossad to have an office in Paris for “propaganda in Europe”. The Mossad was helping France against Algeria and Algerians wanting the end of colonialism and fighting for their liberation. They use their office in Paris to gather informations about African and Asian countries thanks to France’s colonial empire and send the informations to their US ally. They also help France organize assassinations against the members of the Algerian resistance who were in Cairo.

At the same time “Israel” is hoping to build a relationship with Morocco. They consider the country as a potential ally but also acknowledge that the majority of Morocco’s allies are enemies with “Israel”. Eventually they make a deal with Morocco. Hassan 2 must let Jewish Moroccans leave to colonize Palestine without consequences and in exchange “Israel” will train the Moroccan military and provide them with some weapons. That deal create a relationship between the two countries and that’s when the REAL normalization started behind closed doors.

In 1965 the Arab league has a reunion in Casablanca. During that reunion they say that they need time and weapons before being able to attack “Israel” to help Palestinians and lay out a plan. Hassan 2 has everything recorded and gives the recording to “Israel”. The informations are precious and both sides, both pieces of shit, these informations led to the 6 days war in 1967 and “Israel” admitted they wouldn’t have won without the informations. So Morocco doesn’t give the information for free. They ask for help to kill Mehdi Ben Barka.

Mehdi Ben Barka was a progressive Moroccan man who was getting popular in the Arab world and wanted the end of the Moroccan monarchy. He also supported resistance and the end of colonialism which made him an opponent, the biggest, of Hassan 2. Because of that he was exiled in Europe, so the Mossad used their Paris office to spy on him and give the informations to Morocco. The plan was for the Mossad to find all the information and provide them as well as the fake passports needed for Moroccans and French officials involved to assassinate Ben Barka. But they were not supposed to do the killing themselves. They find him in Geneva and give the informations to Morocco. That plan fails so the Mossad organize an other plan. They invite Ben Barka to Paris pretending to be French and to want to make a documentary about him. Once in Paris two French cops arrest him and take him to an appartement where he is tortured by a Moroccan with the complicity of the two French cops. Officially the Mossad wasn’t there during the torture (suuuuuuuure). Ben Barka dies from the torture. The Mossad then made his body disappear.

2 years later De Gaulle was still so angry at what happened in France that he actually put a weapons embargo on “Israel” during the 6 days war and ordered for the Mossad office in Paris to be dismantled. (I think De Gaulle was totally on it, his issue was that it happened in Paris which made France look bad instead of it happening in Geneva as planned)

Edit: An article in French retracing everything with a couple more details

[yamishika]

have any other ethnicity headcanons for fairy tail characters?

Fairy Tail Characters Ethnicity HCs

I don’t have as much extensive proof as I do for my Erik headcanons post but I will explain my thoughts for why I think certain ethnicities.

Natsu Dragneel : Japanese + Greek? (Because of the clothing style in his past flashback with his biological family)

Erza Scarlet : British + ? - I say British because she reminds me of Lara Croft who in her older days had reddish hair, also English history is big on knights, which Erza is. The other half I can’t tell as I don’t actually know what to think of her father Rung as. He seems like a POC though. (Maybe Mexican?)

Lucy Heartfilia : British / American - Because Lucy’s heritage as a noble it reminds me more of English nobility, but then her characteristics remind me more of american for some reason (it doesn’t help that Lucy looks a lot like Ashley Graham from the original RE4 and she’s American so I am kind of biased there)

Gray Fullbuster : Canada or Serbia (I think that’s mainly because I am making the link of cold countries though). Also if with Serbian I can see Ultear and him coming from similar places)

Gajeel Redfox : Native American (His hair and features remind me of Native Americans and I don’t know he kind of reminds me and looks like of Ratohnhake:ton / Connor from AC3) Juvia Lockser : Spanish + Russian (Spanish as the name Juvia is Spanish origin and Russian since the ushanka she wears and her clothing style in general)

Jellal Fernandes : Mixed ethnic - Mixed Arab (mainly Levantine Arab) + Brazilian, but then in my HCs he’s also part Desi too since the name Jellal is most prominent in India (And I want Erik to have a desi bro in CS). And the Arab/South asian idea came from him wearing Kohl/Surma in S1 in the anime. 

Ultear Milkovich : Serbian with mixed Central Asian or Kazakh (Again cold countries but since Ultear looks Eurasian but with dark features these countries came to mind. Serbia because apparently the name Milkovich is Serbian origin)

Macbeth/Midnight :  English w/Scottish + Irish + Japanese - English/Scottish/Irish is a given since his name ‘Macbeth’ but since his aesthetic is alike to Visual Kei, I see Japanese influence. But I don’t know, I just can see Macbeth with a british accent, maybe that’s just me.

Sorano Aguria : French and Korean/Japanese (I don’t know why I have the French, it just fits me when discussing with my friend @acutemushroom. Korean/Japanese because despite having a Japanese name (her and Yukino) due to her features she gave me kind of Korean vibes for some reason)

Sawyer : English (I can’t explain other than the name. But I thought of Romanian too for some reason, so English + Romanian?)

Richard Buchanan : South African + Scottish? (My only thought for this was because Buchanan I knew it as a last name big in South Africa, and Scottish is probably because of the red hair and ruddy complexion that I know scottish people can have)

Meredy : Irish (I don’t know why, it was hard to think of anything for her)

Kinana : Desi (Since the name Kinana is an urdu name apparently - So Pakistani) 

Cana Alberona : Irish + Italian (Guildarts gave me tanned Irish vibes for some reason and Alberona is I believe an Italian name)

Minerva Orland : Chinese + Latina (She wears a Cheongsam and her hair reminds me of Chinese culture but then I see Latina too) BUT, maybe she has Egyptian too and Italian since Minerva (Italian/Latin) but the blue eyeliner/eyeshadow she always has is alike to Malachite powder that was used by ancient egyptians 

Laxus Dreyar : Ukrainian + Russian (He gives me eastern europe vibes and also his features) but also since he's Makarov’s grandson he’d have Russian in him 

Makarov Dreyar : Russian - (I think his full name is of Russian origin but I can't be sure.) These are the HCs I have off the top of my head, hope this answers your question!

[rooksamoris]

I just read your thoughts about Scarabia and Leona's arc development in game, and I got very interested.

There's very little info on Arabian culture online, at least that I've seen, and also African. A thing that makes me very curious is about their mythologies, folklore, and also music. We know a lot about food, since it's something so universal, but the rest is hard to get info on, unless it gets popularized or romanticized by someone else.

The scarabia arc is one of my favorites for a reason, and that is because I'm very sympathetic with Jamil, and very sad how his and Kalim's story together got so "twisted" so fast (ehe). Honestly there are so many layers to it that it would take many many chapters, and events, to close the situation. But I think it's good they left the future open like that, since it's something that can't be fixed overnight.

And also, *gets down* PLS PLS PLS PLS 🙏 I love the fluffy fics, are you going to also add Bolllywood songs? They are so good seriously it's so dancing and fun! I love Jamil so much and I MELTED with the headcanon short fic where we are taking care of him. I wanna hold his precious handsome face and just kiss it all over! He is so cute I will go FERAL-

hey qamar 💕 this was a pleasure to read! honestly, i feel like both the scarabia and savannaclaw chapters were too short? of course, we were introduced to the themes and then the whole conflict—resolution mountain for stories, however i just feel like they could have done more with the both of them.

also, i think the reason why the southwest-asian and african themes aren’t covered is because the source material is literally disney films 💀 like we get a warning before rewatching aladdin since they just now realized it was kind of racist (still a major part of my childhood though 😭 “a whole new world” in arabic is delicious). based on how yana has written other characters that are meant to be from south asia, there’s a big chance it would have been disappointing anyways.

plus, with scarabia in particular, there’s too many cultures trying to be represented due to how colonizers deemed all of the countries to be the same thing in different fonts 💀 you’d never confuse a nepali with an omani, but winston churchill sure did not care.

the original aladdin movie was meant to take place in baghdad, a city in iraq, but due to political conflicts at the time (george bush a war criminal regardless of saddam hussein’s crimes. the usa literally gave saddam weapons to kill kurds and then turned around and invaded when he wasn’t convenient anymore 💀). baghdad became agrabah—but the culture is still an amalgamation of west asian, south asian, north african, and like eurasian/turkish culture. im sure they’ve got stuff from central asia too 😭

the issue with this is that from ethnic group to ethnic group/country to country, the culture varies a lot. yemenis and palestinians are both arabs, but our cultures are vastly different, with yemenis having more eastern african influences and palestinians having mediterranean influences. i personally headcanon the scarabia duo as arab, but honestly, they could be from anywhere. for all we know, kalim is afghan and jamil is tunisian—it’s all up in the air due to the original source material. but i digress!! i rambled a lot 😭

ON THE BOLLYWOOD NOTE! omg this brought so many good memories back. we used to watch bollywood films with shitty arabic dubs 🥹 i miss those days. i love that idea and ive always wanted to write bollywood inspired fics, like based on the crazy and unrealistic romantic moments in bollywood. it’s just so much fun lmao. honestly, i think that’s a great idea especially when so many bollywood songs just lead the listener through a story anyways. im so glad you enjoy my fics!!! that’s very sweet 💕 have a great day, qamar, and take care of yourself

[phobic-human]

Death In A Prison Cell

Arabic translation: We are struggling to save the life of the progressive, patriotic fighter, Fadil Al Borno, from death in a prison cell in the Zionist prison in Gaza

On the door in the lower left is a list of groups that participated in this effort: Fatah; The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP); The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); The Iraqi Socialist Front; The Egyptian Socialist Front; The Popular Struggle Front; Coalition of Egyptian nationals in foreign countries; The Palestinian Socialist Front in the Gaza Strip; The Union of Asian and African Writers; The Union of Palestinian Writers and Journalists and The Union of Lebanese Writers

Artist: Qassas

Circa 1983