#let alone something that only fascists believe

[narse-tantalus]

I just googled "definition of fascism" and you're not going to believe this boss

"reject modernity embrace tradition" isn't even a dogwhistle it's literally just saying regressive ideology directly. how does anyone not get this

[swampgallows]

there is absolutely no world in which i would ever tell people not to vote. voting is a hard-won right, esp if you're a woman or black or indigenous or any other person of color. i just think more can be done in terms of getting involved in your community and local politics than ticking a box once every four years and acting like that's going to magically cascade down to every other concern and inequity you have.

especially the 'vote blue no matter who' shit. because i live in california we have plenty of blue bitches on the ballot and some of them are drastically underqualified for the position, or they hold views that completely contradict any sort of good they might be doing, or theyre just republicans rebranded with a blue coat of paint. for instance something EXTREMELY common is that theyll toot their horns on womens rights and gay rights (considered "radical" compared to The Opposition, hoping they can coast on that bare fucking minimum) then perpetuate the narrative about being "tough on crime" and nimby-ass "cleaning up the streets", because obv california has a huge homeless crisis. no candidate is 100% perfect but when people vote based on "blue" and vibes and not even looking at a candidate's endorsements regardless of party i would also consider that throwing your vote away.

voting consciously is HARD and can be convoluted but people crowing about doing their civic duty and then at the same time acting like voting is this totally mindless flippant process that you do once every couple of years and then forget about only contributes to people being completely tuned out of their civil and social existence. it's no wonder so many people readily adopt the 'vax and relax' mentality for covid and believe that anyone else saying "actually things are still incredibly shitty" is some kind of dissident shrew rather than the person being most brutally fucked by everyone else's apathy.

im in this headspace because ive been reading how to survive a plague and about the GRUELING effort that queer people (particularly gay men) had to endure, both from external sources and infighting within their own community, to get people to stop fucking dying and the people in power to ACKNOWLEDGE let alone actually treat the disease. the fact that someone reblogged a post from me and was lauding fauci on it for his contribution to aids research is so deeply contrasted from the years of paternalistic rejection from fauci described in the book, not to mention the petty squabbling over fucking patents and jingoism between gallo and the french over 'who discovered aids' and the decision to use the faulty american tests over the more accurate french ones. people dying by the fucking thousands, over 65% of ALL men in new york at the time being actively infected with the virus, and suits were arguing about fucking stocks and citations. jesus christ.

basically just.. i think it's naiive to believe that these people actually care about you. they dont. they want your "vote" so they can continue to do whatever they need to in order to stay in power. and every time you vote you're saying "i agree with this", even if there are parts you dont agree with. but if you never voice your disagreement and mobilize to take action on it, your silence will ALWAYS be considered tacit acceptance by the ruling class and your peers. so this idea that we cant even VOICE our concerns without being decried as fascists or trump supporters or "letting the terrorists win" is legitimately not democratic.

[andagon]

Dagon, Andagon and the Need for Oceanic Feelings

It's fascinating how bad-tempered the atmosphere is in both Heaven's HQ and Hell of Good Omens. While the vast white expanses of Heaven's HQ (which incidentally is not Heaven, just its bureaucratic control centre) convey a strong sense of protestant solitude amidst a cold and austere hierarchy, Hell is equally lonesome and hierarchical, but bleak and overcrowded.

Since there are quite a few metas about Good Omen's Heaven and Hell as fascist, authoritarian systems, I won't go into them in detail, but will focus on one particular demon: Duke Dagon.

Duke Dagon is a particularly painful example of the lack of freedom in Good Omens' Hell. When one thinks of the original chthonic Cthulhulian fish demon, Dagon is associated with free-flowing waters, be they the rivers of naiads or the oceans of nereids. Before they became a fish demon, Dagon was a god or goddess of fertility and weather.

Now, in the Hell of Good Omens, the only goal in life that Duke Dagon can aspire to is Armageddon. The lack of freedom and oceanic feelings is compensated for by the feverish ambition to lead an army against the heavens. Militaristic drill instead of archaic emotions. Hierarchical power and paranoia:

make Dagon an essentially lonely and envious creature, which is perhaps best shown in this image:

While the demons in Good Omens Season 1 were portrayed as a pathetic bunch full of blisters, eczema and toads on their heads, Season 2 underlines the demons' desire for status, which is evident in their now rather sumptuous robes of fine and luxurious fabrics. This emphasises that they are mainly an inverted image of heaven, but not its true opposite.

The not entirely unfounded fanfiction of shipping the lonely, ambitious Dagon with the equally aspirational but unloved and isolated Archangel Michael is certainly a strong move to subvert these orders and cross the boundaries between heaven and hell. And it is Dagon who says almost triumphantly: "cooperation with our old enemies" ...

If this move is successful, Dagon and Michael may be a little less bad-tempered and will appear to be rebelling against all odds, but the system will remain intact. Dagon is attracted to Michael's high status and clean, cool and bright appearance - which seems to be the opposite of the dark and crowded, claustrophobic hell.

You better believe I'm trying (trying, trying) To keep climbing (climbing, climbing) But the higher we climb Feels like we're both none the wiser (ahh) So I hope I learn to get over myself Stop trying to be somebody else So we can love each other for free Everybody wants something You just want me

(I drink wine, lyrics by Greg Kurstin, Adele Adkins)

Being together with Michael won't make Dagon a free fish demon, let alone the god/goddess that Dagon should or could be. So Dagon will not rise above themselves, will not swim in the warm waters of oceanic emotions. Probably Dagon will stay cut off from nature, from all natural elements. Symbolic of this are Dagon's head-canonical dreams of an "angel fish".

What Dagon will need is something like this:

@god-in-the-basement will understand.

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

This is brought up because you keep bringing up past and present elections on your profile. To answer your question, many of us on the left HAVE protesting Biden's policies even early in his presidency and vigorously protested when Trump was in power. You ask "why now?", but that's such an odd question because this momentum didn't start recently. We've been collectively protesting at the Stop Line 3 Protests, George Floyd Protests, the Protests Against Migrant Detention, and pro-Palestinian protests for years (I and my whole family have attended all of these). In my state, someone tried to run over people at our pro-Palestine protests with their car last October in Minneapolis (I was at the St Paul protest on that day). I’ve done hundreds of hours of canvassing, phone banking, etc. (all volunteer work; none of this paid) as part of a progressive coalition building organization.  I’ve done both mutual aid organizing and electoral organizing for local elections in my solidly blue state. 

To make it clear, I do not think what I do is anything special, but the work you deny exists is absolutely there.  I’m just saying that you can't pretend people on the left making these criticisms have not been putting in this work for years. Both the far left and moderate left have their faults, but you only focus on the problems of the former when the latter has so much more political power.

In fact, I’m only on anon because I've actually had racist zionists stalk what few social media profiles I am required to have for work (LinkedIn lets you see who's viewing your page).

1. I never denied that protests don't happen, I said it's weird to act like being told to vote is suddenly dismissive and worth getting on my dick about right here right now if you apparently have never believed voting works. There are a lot of people doing good work for positive political change. I have a problem with people not voting. Because voting is important and pretending like it's not or that a crummy Democrat is just as bad as a delusional fascist is gonna get a lot of people killed.

2. I don't care how radical a person's policies are-my telling leftists to vote blue applies to far and moderate leftists I'm not picking on anyone you're just assuming that being told "stop being cynical-voting matters" is an attack on you.

3. I do not care that you anon. Don't know why that was even brought up.

Now leave me alone and go advocate for something productive.

[johannestevans]

Hey! I've seen your post about pregnancy going around and I really agree with what you're saying and I wanted to thank you because I've never really heard anyone talk about pregnancy in this way before. I only just started following you so I was wondering what made you want to make that post and also do you have any more thoughts on the subject of parenthood/pregnancy etc?

this post

I have a lot of varied thoughts about topics that I post at different times - I'm a pretty fervent believer in more movements towards children's rights, especially children's rights to bodily autonomy, and to be honest, I'm ultimately a believer in abolishing schools.

I think pregnancy can be a complex topic, because many cisgender women find the concept and the process in various ways to be very gender affirming and a culmination of their journeys as women - unfortunately, this is a perspective that's baked into a lot of Christo-fascist ideology and other dangerous rightwing ideologies, and many other cis women, not to mention other people who can get pregnant, are pressured and policed for their decisions around pregnancy, whether that's to get abortions, to not get pregnant at all, their contraceptive usage, their partners, the number of children they have, their decision to give up kids for adoption, how they parent those children, etc.

Ultimately, I think pregnancy is horrifying. It's very scary to me, and in different ways I think the effects it can wreak on the body can be disgusting, horrifying, frightening, etc - some other people fantasise about pregnancy as something far more joyful and exciting; others have a more balanced view but think it's worth the horrors for the joys, or consider the horrors of never being pregnant worth the horrors of being pregnant, you know?

Much of the fictional body horror I write in various ways plays with themes that are analogous to or parallel the fears of pregnancy - belly bulging, especially inflation and oviposition, obviously mimic the most obvious physical bulging that comes with pregnancy; I play with induced lactation and the fears of being seen as a breeding vessel; I play with themes of infestation and your body being taken over by another creature or creatures, especially in ways that would be legitimised by outsiders, where their claim to your body is seen as more valid than your own; I play with feelings of the personal body being subsumed with a focus on the public or greater good.

People often focus on the birth as the most traumatic aspect of pregnancy, but for me the real fears are actually in the gestation because like...

The birthing process can last up to a few days for a really awful labour, but that's just a blip compared to 80% of a year spent pregnant, and what really freaks me out is not just the physical processes of pregnancy itself, but all the ideology, moralism, and social mores that surround pregnancy and pregnant people, the ways in which anyone pregnant is expected or might be expected to sacrifice themselves, the ways in which our society venerates birth but not life, a potential life but not an actual person, the ways in which our society will coo over the concept of a baby, but not care about that baby's autonomy, particularly as they grow into a child and an adult themselves, let alone the autonomy of that child's parent.

Three out of four of my grandparents were nurses, and my mother had an extremely difficult labour with me, plus I grew up sort of asking questions about medical stuff, and I saw shows like Call the Midwife, medical dramas, and so on - I think as I grew into a teenager, I was constantly bombarded with messaging about the normalcy and the expectation of pregnancy, and I had the difficulty many trans men have of like...

Untangling my feelings of personal dysphoria and nausea around the "feminising" aspects of pregnancy and the gendered expectations, all these being my personal relationship to my own body, to pregnancy, to ways in which my body might be considered femine or threatened with feminisation by others, especially with rape threats that involved pregnancy; and at the same time, sort of looking at pregnancy in society, the way it's treated individually and communally, the way pregnant people are treated, the way pregnancy is racialised, the way pregnancy is treated through lenses of fatness, disability, gender marginalisation, sexuality, immigration status, culture, and the big stratifications of misogyny and the subjugation of those who can give birth, especially those who are multiply marginalised.

Did I feel sick and bad about this because of the threat against my body, because of gender dysphoria, because of gender feels in general, or did I feel sick and bad because of all the injustice that comes with the topic?

And the answer even now is often "all of the above".

[smokeybrandreviews]

Incorrect

Pardon this deluge of Star Wars content but Ahsoka has me reeling. Episode five really recontextualized so much about the Clone Wars (and the prequels, themselves), it’s incredibly difficult not to reexamine my previous perceptions of that part of the mythos. The realization that the Jedi Order effectively sent children to their deaths, that they gave actual teenagers command of entire clone units, is absolutely horrifying to properly understand. Sure, when it’s a cartoon, it’s all in good fun. But seeing all that carnage in live action, teenage Ahsoka standing there next to Hayden’s Anakin? That was a lot. The realization that Ahsoka Tano, one of the most powerful Jedi, trained by THE most powerful Jedi, is little more than a weapon to be used for some Republic trade dispute, is so goddamn bleak, I can’t stand it. Coming to terms with the sheer brutality thrust upon Tano, and every other Padawan at the time, is something which has skewed the very morality of the Jedi for me. I can’t see these cats as the “good guys” anymore. How can they be? The Jedi Council committed war crimes! Like, they’re no better than the Sith in that regard and that’s so weird to say out loud. I grew up with the OG trilogy so, for me, there was a stark delineation between Jedi and Sith. Luke and Obi-Wan were Jedi. Upstanding, wise, and compassionate. Good guys. Vader and Palpatine were Sith; Straight up space fascists with anger problems and a mean-streak that could destroy planets. Bad guys. There was a quaint black and white to the dynamic of the galaxy far, far, away. After that episode of Ahsoka, the child soldier thing paints the Jedi just as atrocious. Sending children to die strictly for Republic interests, is the worst kind of imperialism. It’s staggering to me that more people don’t see that. If the Jedi judged sending children to war morally correct, how can you trust that judgment? How can you not question every choice they ever made? Hoe can you not question their treatment of Anakin?

Anakin mentioned to Ahsoka that he was trained to be a peacekeeper but was he really? I mean, Obi-wan probably did his best to bring the kid up properly but let’s be honest; That was a losing fight. Qui-Gon plucked Anakin from a planet where he spent the first eleven years of his life as a proper slave. No one knows what little Annie endured during that time. Tatooine was a hellscape of violence and depravity, ruled over by the Hutts. This crime family had free range on that planet, a fact the Republic turned a blind eye toward until they needed an alliance against the Trade Federation. How f*cked up is that? Anakin wanted off of that world so bad, he wanted to be free, and he believed from the bottom of his heart, that the Jedi would deliver he and his mother from bondage. But, when Jedi actually show up, it’s not as liberators but as middlemen. F*cking negotiators on behalf of the government, trying to cut a deal with the crime boss who allowed the cruelty of slavery to ensnare Anakin. On a whim, he catches Qui-Gon's interest and they take Anakin. Alone. They left his mother in bondage and at the mercy of that debauched world. They don't even send anyone for her because that's not the Jedi way. Emotional attachments lead to the Dark Side, so sayeth the wise and moral Jedi Code.

They fly to Courasant on the promise Anakin will become a Jedi, himself, probably in hopes of gaining enough power to free his still enslaved mother, only to be dismissed as too old by the Council. Because he was too old for the indoctrination. Those first eleven years of a Jedi’s “training” are for severing the emotional bonds which make you human. It’s for “teaching” you how to suppress your emotions because, again, according to the Jedi, emotions are bad. Anakin, already wildly powerful in the Force, couldn’t be brainwashed into a Jedi zombie because that ship had chronologically sailed. He knew his mother. He was very attached to her. He was quietly crushing on Padme. It was far too late to install those mental blocks of control. But, Qui-Gon being Qui-Gon, opted to train Annie anyway. Until he was murdered by a Sith Lord the Council refused to acknowledge as real. So it fell on Obi-Wan to do the job, even though there was a very strong chance that the eleven year old Anakin was just as powerful as he was. Kid was set in his ways and probably wildly traumatized from a life of bondage. Doesn’t help that, during a crucial time in his adolescent life, a f*cking cold war started and Anakin spent his teenage years “peace keeping” throughout the galaxy at the behest of the Republic; Not at all the enforcers for a government so corrupt, an entire Sith Lord had risen through its ranks like it was nothing.

A decade of this sh*t later and Anakin gets promoted to Jedi Knight out of reluctant desperation, forgoing the actual trials necessary to test the mettle of his character, because the cold war he grew up in got real hot, real fast. So now he’s one of the preeminent muscle men of the Republic and, arguably, their best weapon to boot. The Council recognizes this and instead of getting him the, you know, counseling needed to deal with that life long trauma, they saddled Anakin with a Padawan who is just as precocious as he was. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Ahsoka was good for Anakin. She forced him to mature and become more than just “The Chosen One.” Dude had to set an example for his kid sister and he did just that. But then she walked away from all of that Jedi nonsense, disillusioned and conflicted, much like her Master. He tried to get her to stay, pleading with her on behalf of the Council, but if we’re being honest, that was just Anakin trying to convince himself that Ahsoka wasn’t right to leave. That was Anakin trying to convince himself to stay in the Order. That Dooku wasn’t right. That Palpatine wasn’t right. The brainwashing didn’t take. He was too old. The trials were skipped. He wasn’t tested. Anakin Skywalker, the slave plucked from the Syndicate planet, Tatooine, thrust into the world of space wizards, political espionage, backdoor dealings, and war, at the age of eleven. Expected to be some grand savior of a cosmic unknown, never fully trusted or accepted by his peers. He was rejected by his heroes, had his father figured killed by a maniac, and then became a glorified goon for a Republic that had no qualms with sending people to die over trade tariffs. And you wonder why he fell.

We didn't get to seem eleven year old Anakin on missions. We didn't get to see teenage Anakin slaughtering across the galaxy in the name of keeping the Republic's definition of peace. There isn't a movie for that. But I did see a teenage Ahsoka, standing next to her adult Master, in the middle of an active battlefield and that f*cked me up. She was a child. A teenager, sure, but a child nonetheless. And Anakin was even younger than that! Seriously, let's not mince words here, Anakin Skywalker has been in the field with Obi-Wan Kenobi since he was probably twelve or thirteen years old. It's canon that Anakin is one of the best duelists in history. You don't get that food from practice. You get that good practically, out of necessity. That's how Ahsoka became as skilled as she did and Anakin is even moreso. If the two mirror each other, as they very obviously do, that means Sky Guy was just as honed and sharpened to be a soldier, as Tano was. Only Anakin was honest about it to his Padawan where as Obi-Wan, and the greater Jedi Order, were not. They sold Anakin a lie, preyed on his youth and immaturity, ignore his pain and vulnerability, then went full shocked Pikachu when he turned up to slaughter all of the Younglings. Like, What the f*ck did you expect to happen? You turned the most powerful Jedi to ever live, a slave for the first decade of his life, and instead of showing this kid compassion and patience, you thrust him into a cold war as an enforcer for ideals he can't possibly understand. You let his mom die, tell him he can't love his wife, and chase away his little sister even after proving her innocence. Anakin had a choice, of course. We all do. But, if we're being honest, from his perspective, knowing the life he has led, how is the Jedi Council any better than Palpatine's Galactic Empire? What;s the difference between a absolutist regime who sends children to the front lines of war “in the name of peace”and an intergalactic fascists state?

[chark80]

The thing with Schtitt: like most Europeans of his generation, anchored from infancy to certain permanent values which - yes, OK, granted - may, admittedly, have a whiff of proto-fascist potential about them, but which do, nevertheless (the values), anchor nicely the soul and course of a life - Old World patriarchal stuff like honor and discipline and fidelity to some larger unit - Gerhardt Schtitt does not so much dislike the modern O.N.A.N.ite U.S. of A. as finds it hilarious and frightening at the same time. Probably mostly just alien. This should not be rendered in exposition like this, but Mario Incandenza has a severely limited range of verbatim recall. Schtitt was educated in pre-Unification Gymnasium under the rather Kanto-Hegelian idea that jr. athletics was basically just training for citizenship, that jr. athletics was about learning to sacrifice the hot narrow imperatives of the Self - the needs, the desires, the fears, the multiform cravings of the individual appetite will - to the larger imperatives of a team (OK, the State) and a set of delimiting rules (OK, the Law). It sounds almost frighteningly simple-minded, though not to Mario, across the redwood table, listening. By learning, in palestra, the virtues that pay off directly in competitive games, the well-disciplined boy begins assembling the more abstract, gratification-delaying skills necessary for being a 'team player' in a larger arena: the even more subtly diffracted moral chaos of full-service citizenship in a State. Except Schtitt says Ach, but who can imagine this training serving its purpose in an experialist and waste-exporting nation that's forgotten privation and hardship and the discipline which hardship teaches by requiring? A U.S. of modern A. where the State is not a team or a code, but a sort of sloppy intersection of desires and fears, where the only public consensus a boy must surrender to is the acknowledged primacy of straight-line pursuing this flat and short-sighted idea of personal happiness:

'The happy pleasure of the person alone, yes?'

'Except why do you let deLint tie Pemulis and Shaw's shoes to the lines, if the lines aren't boundaries?'

Without there is something bigger. Nothing to contain and give meaning. Lonely. Verstiegenheit.'

'Bless you'

'Any something. The what: this is more unimportant than that there is something.'

Schtitt one time was telling Mario, as they respecitvely walked and tottered down Comm. Ave. eastward into Allston to see about getting a gourmet ice cream someplace along there, that when he was Mario's age - or maybe more like Hal's age, whatever - he (Schtitt) had once fallen in love with a tree, a willow that from a certain humid twilit perspective had looked like a mysterious woman aswirl with gauze, this certain tree in the public Platz of some West German town whose name sounded to Mario like the sound of somebody strangling. Schtitt reported being seriously smitten with the tree:

They respectively walked and tottered, ice-cream-bound, Mario moving like the one of them who was truly old, mind off his stride because he was trying to think hard about what Schtitt believed. Mario's thinking-hard expression resembles what for another person would be the sort of comically distorted face made to amuse an infant. He was trying to think how to articulate some reasonable form of a question like: But then how does this surrender-the-personal-individual-wants-to-the-larger-State-or-beloved-tree-or-something stuff work in a deliberately individual sport like competitive junior tennis, where it's just you v. one other guy?

And then also, again, still, what are those boundaries, if they're not baselines, that contain and direct its infinite expansion inward, that make tennis like chess on the run, beautiful and infinitely dense?

Schtitt's thrust, and his one great irresistible attraction in the eyes of Mario's late father: The true opponent, the enfolding boundary, is the player himself. Always and only the self out there, on court, to be met, fought, brought to the table to hammer out terms. The competing boy on the net's other side: he is not the foe: he is more the partner in the dance. He is the what is the word excuse or occasion for meeting the self. As you are his occasion. Tennis's beauty's infinite roots are self-competitve. You compete with your own limits to transcend the self in imagination and execution. Disappear inside the game: break through limits: transcend: improve and win. Which is why tennis is an essentially tragic enterprise, to improve and grow as a serious junior, with ambitions. You seek to vanquish and transcend the limited self whose limits make the game possible in the first place. It is tragic and sad and chaotic and lovely. All life is the same, as citizens of the human State: the animating limits are within, to be killed and mourned, over and over again.

Mario thinks of a steel pole raised to double its designed height and clips his shoulder on the green steel edge of a dumpster, pirouetting halfway to the cement before Schtitt darts in to catch him, and it almost looks like they're doing a dance-floor dip as Schtitt says this game the players are all at E.T.A. to learn, this infinite system of decisions and angles and lines Mario's brothers worked so brutishly hard to master: junior athletics is but one facet of the real gem: life's endless war against he self you cannot live without.

Schtitt then falls into the sort of silence of someone who's enjoying mentally rewinding and replaying what he just came up with. Mario thinks hard again. He's trying to think of how to articulate something like: But then is battling and vanquishing the self the same as destroying yourself? Is that like saying life is pro-death? Three passing Allstonian street-kids mock and make fun of Mario's appearance behind the pair's backs. Some of Mario's thinking-faces are almost orgasmic: fluttery and slack. And then but so what's the difference between tennis and suicide, life and death, the game and its own end?

It's always Schtitt who ends up experimenting with some exotic ice-cream flavor, when they arrive. Mario always chickens out and opts for good old basic chocolate when the moment of decision at the counter comes. Thinking along the lines of like Better the flavor you know for sure you already love.

'And so. No different, maybe,' Schtitt concedes, sitting up straight on a waffle-seated aluminum chair with Mario beneath an askew umbrella that makes the flimsy little table it's rooted to shake and clank in the sidewalk's breeze. 'Maybe no different, so,' biting hard into his tricolored cone. He feels at the side of his white jaw, where there's some sort of red welt, it looks like. 'Not different' - looking out into the Ave.'s raised median at the Green Line train rattling past downhill - 'except the chance to play.' He brightens in preperation to laugh in his startling German roar, saying 'No? Yes? The chance to play, yes?' And Mario loses a dollop of chocolate down his chin, because he has this involuntary thing where he laughs whenever anyone else does, and Schtitt is finding what he has just said very amusing indeed.

-pp. 82-85

[phoebesarts]

Mother of God

Today i had a small hyperfocus on Mastodon and dumpted the plot of my favorite Story so far. I don't know if i will ever have the time and ressources to make this story come true.

But the world turns darker everyday and with this story i cope.

The year is 21XX. Global warming is in full swing, but at least the fascist regimes of the world are getting tired.

Our protagonist Mila lives in the ruins of Berlin and studies "something to do with media". At her university, she is known as an angry woman who stands up for social justice too much. She has a reputation for being annoying and pushy. But Mila has no intention of letting it get her down.

One day she accompanies her best friend to a witch located in the Spreewald. There, the friend wants to try out a fertility spell (she and her husband are desperately trying to get pregnant). But something goes wrong during the spiritual session: the witch receives a vision and prophesies to Mila that she will become the mother of the god-king. The king who will unite all the gods and bring the long-awaited peace to the world.

One small problem: as Aro-Ace, Mila is not even thinking about bringing a child into the world.

Although Mila keeps this prophecy a secret, all the gods quickly ambush her and want to fight over the right to become the child's father. At the same time, the human media become aware of Mila and begin to exploit the story.

But although the gods endanger lives and destroy buildings in their love-struck frenzy, the people's hatred is increasingly directed at Mila. She confidently announces in an interview that she will never give birth to a child.

In the end, she has no choice but to look for shelter in her home town of Marburg. Back into the bosom of her bizarre big family.

Mila actually wanted to stay away from the family dramas, power struggles and tragic backstories. But now the situation forces her to come to terms with it all.

Unexpectedly, she not only finds unconditional support from her family, but also gets to know her biological father Ares.

Three themes have always been important for the story:

the bodily autonomy of women and queer people. No reason, no matter how sacred, justifies the loss of one's own decision-making ability.

instead of the neoliberal narrative of "me alone against the world", the focus is on community: only together can we confront injustice and make a difference.

a healthy way for broken families to find each other. By meeting each other at eye level and dropping the power struggles.

I would like to see the story realized as an animated film or series. With a high proportion of musicals. I always imagine the animation style to be a mixture of Ghibli, Across the spiderverse and vox machina.

The most importaint song would be based on Billy Talents "Cure for the Enemy"

In a Song like "Surface Pressure" Ares would show Mila the greatest heroic deeds and worst battles in human history. He also shows how he sees himself: as a monster who cannot save comrades and loved ones. And yet he goes into battle again and again because he believes he owes it to his divine siblings.

The final song would be based on Watergun. Mila decides to break the eternal cycle of violence. Or at least to make her contribution to it.

[missazura]

sometimes I get moments of doubt about my abuser bc the other older members of my family enable her and it makes me feel like. am I wrong? have I been too harsh on her? everything was so "peaceful" when I was younger bc I did everything she wants me to. I don't like being aggressive and distant. I don't like being alone and alienated from the rest of my kin. she even told me off passive aggressively yesterday (because I refused to invite her to come along again) saying that no one will help me if I'm being selfish and distant, that one day I'll get in danger and no one's going to save me if I keep this attitude up (which is already a fucked up thing to say to a person).

the thing is I'm on my guard around her now more than ever once I realized that she's a dangerous, unstable person who, I've seen in front of my own eyes, would let me die. she does not care nor love in a way that's healthy. I don't even think she even loves me, and if there is some kind of semblance I think she only "loves" me in a way someone would love an object. a useful tool to take care of her. that's how she sees her children, in her own words last night, "childless people will die without anyone taking care of them. I made mine so they can grow up and save me when I'm old, and after I die they will pray for me to get into heaven." incredibly fucked up mentality. that's why she's never happy unless the child is 100% devoted their entire existence onto her.

I'm protecting myself and the older folks think that's an insult for putting on boundaries. I know it's bc theyre probably unaware, or the truth is too painful to digest but it's still incredibly hurtful and harmful for my wellbeing.

and so far reactions I get from other people outside the family is just straight up horror when I tell her what she does and what she believes in. my therapist upon knowing tells me to move out, run away from home, keep myself safe, and my friends think that she's a full on monster. I don't doubt their judgement, as I'm slowly coming to terms of how fucked up my family is myself. but like.

it really hurts that the older adults ignore and dismiss the abuse I'm going through. I really thought they would understand. the most I've heard when I tell them is that "Oh old people are just like that. Play along, don't upset her, humor her so she doesn't make a fuss. Stop taking her insults personally, she doesn't mean that." while talking about the woman who blames a guilt ridden orphan child that she's the reason her father died. Sure. the same woman who told me that I'll be married to an abuser bc I'm not your typical housewife material, that the man will see my drawings and rip it to shreds because I'm doing something that I love. or that friends can't be trusted, they're corruption, no one outside the family can ever love me. who thinks men can't get sexual assault, thinks r*pe is funny, is a bigot and a fascist because she wants other races and religions and disabled people to die. she operates on a level that actively disgusts me. and I'm not allowed to protect myself from that?

[dicktat]

Okay my thoughts on the renegades ending.

Turns out Juan isn’t as much of a bastard as I give him credit for. I was expecting full blown chaotic evil dictatorship (akin to Vass Montenegro/Rais) but…he’s decent. At least compared to them. He’s still a tyrant but not like a “I’m building a pit and sending men to fight because I enjoy gore” evil but more like a “lolz people are dying on the street but I got all the good whiskey so let’s party” evil. And throughout the story you can tell his intentions weren’t that bad (at least that’s what he tells Aiden). He did want to uncover Matt’s conspiracy and is honestly the first character to openly lay out the shitiness of that guy (besides the unnamed officer form a collectible tape). And provided decent evidence that Jack Matt was the culprit for Black Monday, and therefore a power hungry fascist leader who’s willing to gamble millions of life for his own goal. So in a way. What he said during his public execution on my first playthrough was kinda true. And he ordered a court martial, an official trail. Perhaps that’s the reason Jack Matt didn’t show up during the X-13 mission. I guess he was overthrown. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that he kinda became something worse LMAO. I’m not cutting this guy any slack he’s still a prick but he’s also pathetic and gay and whimpers because he hates seeing his own blood. (But you could also argue that, the renegades that took over Villedor weren’t the cardboard cutout evil henchmen commanded by Waltz but a separate group lead by colonel Williams which could be seen as less amoral). But the ending is also kinda spicy cuz if you look closely they are protesting on the STREETS at NIGHT without UV meaning the renegades either got rid of all the zombies or made the place much safer to walk around without dying. Which is a W imo. And I’d like to argue food shortage is better than water shortage in the PK ending. And if we are REALLY going that way I could also argue this ending at least let’s you protest unlike the fascist PK supreme. But yeah he’s still a funny loser prick too afraid to step out of his floating castle because he knows the people are mad at him. Over all the missions were fun too, there were a LOT of stealth/spying missions which weren’t exactly my strong suit. I failed a mission 3 times because I kept alerting the guards (that I can’t just fucking kill). My favorite was probably the cathedral demolisher fight. And strangely enough, the side quest where you fight Hakon is a main quest for this one. It’s essentially the same but something you can’t skip and plays a part in the story. Only difference: Even if you chose to spare Hakon, your relationship with him isn’t exactly fixed. EVEN if you get to the homoerotic I don’t want to fight you let’s see the ocean together part. If you convinced Lawan to spare him. Instead of Lawan letting him go he just BONKED HER ON THE HEAD while her back was turned. Also later on he showed up with the renegades, had the exact conversation I posted yesterday, and gross failed ex relationship ensued. Which leads me to believe my save file was corrupted, the game registered me as somehow taking the Juan route and therefore gave me that cutscene. The rest of the game is pretty much the same, the ending- Aiden leaves alone anyway but I think there’s NO reason he can’t leave with anyone? The city has gone to shit and what’s the point in staying. Or alternatively techland could have given us a renegades officer Aiden or co-rule ending if they weren’t COWARDS. Like cmon this would be such a cool idea. Aiden going full evil mode lol. Overall I think it was fun and I got to spend some time with my boy Juan and holy shit he talks so much and panics whenever something goes wrong (which working with him, means all the fucking time). Him almost losing it every time he thought something was wrong was hilarious. Feral rat man. And they have some good chemistry too. Like actual “Aiden going on some death trip to impress some boy” relationship. Then again I feel like we’ve been robbed. Like I said where’s my evil Aiden route lol.

[reconstructwriter]

Had Another Breakdown and Watched Attack of the Clones

And wow, what a B-Movie title but I’m already committed to this terrible life decision so I might as well continue. Got through the Phantom Menace so how much worse can this be?

Warning! Another long post! Also tw for Attack of the Clones shit including genocide and slavery.

The Watto scene: Not only does it double down on Watto as a Jewish stereotype – seriously, WHY?!? – but a scene where a former slave meets their enslaver after ten years of growing up and mystic training with a laser sword? I expected a lot more. Watto should’ve voided his bowels because this has to be Worst Case Scenario for a slaver! At best he was a little ‘nervous friendly’. And Anakin is already well-established as ‘man-child who Loses His Shit at the drop of a hat’. Like dude, where’s your angst and teenage fits now cause boy does this situation fit the bill! But nope, NPC fulfills their NPC duty and off they go.

Fanon Anakin vs Canon Anakin: I was introduced to the former and slowly learned what he’s really like and oh wow is he such a terrible mess of a human being no wonder Mace Windu noped his training. His Fascist statement is extra YIKES for Padme since she’s one of those Senators who’d be forced to agree. The first temper tantrum alone sounded way out of line given the relatively professional setting, let alone the creepy boundary-breaking stare. The ‘I’ve been dreaming about you for ten years’, the ‘my feelings are suffering’ speech – also taking place with him in shadow for extra broody effect. And his first genocide (I can���t believe we’re already keeping track here!) And he KNOWS BETTER is the worst thing. He admits, out loud, that he knows better and still does the thing Padme why did you say yes to this mess?

Padme being mind controlled: a fairly common fan theory to answer the above question, but in-movie Padme straight up asks Anakin if he will use a mind-trick on her (in the context of a 20 questions game so not serious). Anakin’s response is ‘mind tricks only work on the weak minded’. On the one hand, implies Padme is too strong-willed for Anakin to influence through the Force – but on the other hand this also suggests to me that he would if he could!?!?

Though Anakin was the one to suggest keeping the relationship a secret, which did surprise me so no guilting Padme about ‘wanting a marriage like a free man’ like I thought. Padme is the one who says she won’t live a lie. Good to know for future reference.

Are droids sentient or not? Dex outright says droids can’t think but I honestly don’t know if this is in-universe how droids work or if Dex is having a Cleigg-on-Tusken-People moment.

Jedi are Arrogant? Lots of people have cited Madame Nu’s confidence in her archive’s integrity as evidence the Jedi are arrogant and horrible justification of Sith crimes follows. But Obi Wan thinks there’s something more going on and Yoda encourages everyone to help find his lost planet in one of the only nods to ‘funny trickster teacher Yoda’ we get in the movie. To me this seems a hint that the Jedi are unprepared for betrayal from within. Which Dooku’s, Anakin’s and the Clones’ mind-controlled betrayals all blindside the Jedi Order.

Jango: I’ve been torn about him since I learned about him. On the one hand, understandable vengeance motive (per legends anyway), on the other hand selling his own kids into slavery and probably knowing something about the chips and genocide order because I can’t otherwise imagine the legends version assisting the Jedi.

Jango does state in-movie ‘they’ll do their job well’ in a way that sounds just a bit ominous but I don’t know if he’s being accidentally vague or deliberately giving a subtle hint he knows about the Jedi betrayal plan. If this version is just in it for Boba and the money and doesn’t have the motive of his Legends counterpart, why would the Sith ever need to tell him? Dunno, but I was surprised to not hear him say anything derogatory about his clones. I mean he’s still selling his children into slavery in a way George Lucas doesn’t grok but he doesn’t actively deride them like I’ve read in fanfic. It’s a low bar but not as low as Anakin’s.

Made for the Jedi? So the Kaminoians confirm the clone army is specifically made for the Republic but commissioned by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. Glad the movies cleared that up.

Scene Contrast: Kamino is Dark and Stormy with creepy sterile whiteness everywhere in complete contrast to Naboo’s sunny and lush green paradise. The clone army is grown and trained in creepy white lab while the robotic army built in a dark but organic underground hive. Obi Wan sneaks onto Geonosis through the light of day to investigate galactic concerns. Anakin on Tattooine stalks the Tusken people in the dark of night for personal stakes.

The (Other) Horribly Racist Cliché: Speaking of which, I get we’re supposed to assume Shmi was abducted but, um, Cleigg isn’t even a witness – like I initially thought – but is guessing abduction based on tracks in the desert sand and his incredibly racist bias. Are we supposed to doubt every word out of his mouth? If Shmi had been in a bed (even tied) I’d have assumed patient before prisoner.

Anakin’s Genocide: He goes off to save Shmi as ominous music plays and the suns go down, at which point he doesn’t just walk the fascist talk and do baby-Vader’s first genocide but also foreshadows his betrayal and genocide of the Jedi! Which really reinforces the Sith/Nazi and Jedi/Jewish parallel here – Hitler and the Nazis got their Holocaust ideas from White America’s treatment of our native and PoC counterparts. So too does Anakin the future Sith start his genocidal tendencies with the Native people of Tattooine.

But nobody in-universe seems to get that?!? Blorbo!Anakin authors recognize that thar was some FUCKED UP SHIT!!! (Usually by pretending it didn’t happen or re-writing the scene into something less Moral Event Horizon.) Padme’s response would fit better Anakin murdering the literally disarmed Dooku – morally wrong, against the Jedi Code but somewhat understandable but genocide? Cleigg is narratively supposed to be kind and sympathetic but he practically sent a demon after people who’s land and water he’s stealing! The person acting most realistically is the perpetrator and all Anakin admits (again) is he’s a Jedi and therefore should be better. But this still feels like he should have come back to Padme yellow-eyed and Dark Sided!

Once again, George Lucas’ racism screws up the story he’s trying to tell. Ugh. Okay, enough movie time for now. Sorry I’m a hopeless binger despite my friends and kitties’ best efforts.

[dumplingfaye]

(SIGHS) I'm leaving Tumblr (probably permanently)

I know I just came back and I'm leaving again well I'm really sorry about that but the truth of the matter is it's just posting on Tumblr is much more of a hassle than it used to be and even back when I still was posting on my phone I wasn't having as much fun as I was when I started you could see me not having as much fun and trying to be as respectful as I possibly could because I was getting older I still have my beliefs and I will still fight for what I believe is right but I just I can't do this anymore it's not fun I started this account because I was having a lot of problems at school and at home now those problems are dealt with I'm in a much happier state and I want to focus on being a colorist getting better and better with each passing day sure I'm still the lazy cat that I always have been and I still am a colorist, memer, shipper the way I always was but the truth of the matter is I'm doing great without using Tumblr I'm much happier obviously I love all of the people who supported me and were still there for me even when times were tough obviously I got into a lot of controversy I fought adults with what I personally believed what was right looking back those adults were idiots the moment they heard I was 15 years old they took everything I said as a naive kid but if they knew I was a naive kid then they should have just left me alone and that's what I told them to leave me alone I'm not entirely sure but I'm pretty sure you can block people on Tumblr they chose to get into a fight between a kid now that I'm older ( by two years not that much I understand that but still) do I still ship the controversial ship that got me in a lot of controversy yes but it's definitely different now much more than it was before but does it really even matter everyone doesn't cares about you once you hit to 18 everybody's like you do you I don't give a shit like obviously they still care about you but not as much as they used to and but my point of view is if someone were to tell me that I like something controversial in fiction I would tell them this. so you're telling me if I like let's say the joker I'd like a mass murderer in real life if I like Lucius I like a fascist in real life that's you're logic🤨 obviously whatever I like in fiction stays in fiction and it's actually very dangerous for people not being able to make the distinction sure there are the morally righteous but then there are the people who are the groomers who are like you know creepy about it I understand that kids are influenced by what they see that is an undeniable fact I was influenced by what I saw that is true but even then only a real living being can really use that type of content to groom children I personally will always make the distinction between reality and fiction I will not make that type of content between real people because I find fetishizing real people creepy unless you know them it's kinda weird to me I can find someone attractive but I cannot fetishize them in my personal view it's like kind of violating to me (not that there's anything wrong with that but it's just that's how I view it alright) anyways I still have my Twitter it's a safe haven and I don't do anything controversial or anything of any type really because I want it to be a safe haven for everyone sure I have a little jokes here and there but nothing too off putting or offensive I do have a pinterest account where I'm as big of a degenerate possible but even then I am just saving other people's art so I can look at it later now I do have quite the following count (despite me being a degenerate) but yeah that's basically it

Thanks for everything

[luciusspriggss]

thoughts after binging ted lasso:

it has reminded me of who i am to my core

the part that people always say they love about me, but most get annoyed with in the end

my first ex tried to change me because i was "too good" and told me constantly that nobody would ever be good enough for me and i will probably be alone for the rest of my life, unless i decide to settle

my current ex said they loved it, but also saw it as one of my weaknesses, not one of my strengths

seeing people love and adore ted in the show makes me so happy

being kind to others really does help people. not promoting a toxic environment creates a better dynamic as a team.

and even he gets panic attacks! and people dont blame him for it!!! they support him!!

say he is a mess! but not in a bad way!

because really, we all are messes right? it's about how we choose to treat others, ourselves, and the environment around us despite it all, that is what really matters

fucking a. i cant believe i actually saw my hope as weakness.

i didnt truly understand until i got that anon ask, who asked me what botanical species I was

i asked my ex what they thought, and they said something like a fern, because i am "dainty" and "sensitive" and require a lot of attention/help to thrive. which made me sad, but i couldnt put words as to why

then i watched ted fucking lasso and realized

what the fuck do you mean i'm dainty, sensitive, and require help??? that is how they see me?????

fuck

i mean, an actual fern, found in its native habitat, thrives because of its own strength and the support network of the ecosystem surrounding it! there are even ferns that are tree-like!!! (i think they are only found in new zealand though, but i could be wrong). still!

some time ago i said i WISH someone would come to my ask, wondering what botanical species they were, and they would turn out to be a fern

because holy shit are ferns magical!!!

i'm just...going to be me. and accept that, even if people see my true nature as weak, i know it makes me stronger

and someday, i will meet people who accept that about me, and not make me feel bad about it

of course acab, blm, fuck billionaires, fuck capitalism, fuck fascism, no asian hate, and fuck everyone else who actively chooses to be a bigot fascist demon. if i could i would figure out a way to murder them all, but i am sure there are better ways to go around that. like destroying all the dumbass systems in place and replacing it with something better that is determined by a diverse set of people.

but yes, i will try to not let people make me feel bad for being who i am 👿

[ultramaga]

"a fascist won an election for the first time since 1933" Leftists call everyone "fascist". What evidence is there that he follows Mussolini's principles more than Biden does? Or Biden did, before the senility kicked in? "a court decided not long ago that it's allowed to call him a nazi" What court? In September 2019, a German court ruled that describing Höcke as fascist was not libellous. However, a later court ruling in 2020 ruled against the FDP politician Sebastian Czaja for stating that the court ruling had classified Höcke as a fascist.[28] So there's nothing there about the NSDAP, which is hardly surprising as he would be a medical miracle to be alive after so much time. There's no Nazis. At best, you could say he's a neo-Nazi, but since that term was watered down too, it's just an empty noise now.

Wikipedia is written by socialists, but even they can't seem to find anything fascist he has said or done, let alone something Nazis would say or do. “The big problem is that one presents Hitler as absolutely evil. But of course we know that there is no black and no white in history.“ https://web.archive.org/web/20210728210315/https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article162616473/Bjoern-Hoecke-hat-eine-irritierende-Ansicht-zu-Adolf-Hitler.html Yes, that's correct. You would see the same in any of the texts of modern history that we studied in school. But if you are going to say Hitler is absolute evil, then you should be including the others who were exactly the same, like Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot and ... basically every communist leader in the history of communism. Leftists will never acknowledge that there is no morality test that you can use to distinguish communism and fascism. It's just branding.

Where's the antisemitism? This is the closest I can find. It's actually a neutral statement. "Höcke gave a speech in Dresden in January 2017, in which, referring to the Holocaust memorial in Berlin ... stated that "we Germans are the only people in the world who have planted a memorial of shame in the heart of their capital"[48] and suggested that Germans "need to make a 180 degree change in their commemoration policy".[49][50] He's not wrong, and people have been arguing worldwide that Germany doesn't need to focus on WW2 for fifty years now, and that the hairshirt is counter-productive. Is there really any point in telling young Germans to be ashamed for something they didn't do? Does it actually reduce antisemitism to tell people to be ashamed for their birth? Or does it make people feel oppressed, and be more susceptible to actual fascists who promise pride instead? Ironically, if you want antisemitism, you just look at the Leftists here, who have been screaming for a Jewish genocide for about a year now. Leftists are FAR closer to actual Nazis.

These are the things Nazis actually believed in. Until Höcke espouses most of the ones that are unique to Nazis - and nationalism doesn't count, the Chinese are and Soviets were very nationalistic - then HE IS NOT A NAZI, and unless he wants to shave his head and run about in Doc Martens, he's not a neo-nazi, and if you want to say he's a fascist, then you have to stop saying the same word to the person who demands you clean up after yourself at lunch time.

"i am scared."

Yeah, yeah, of course you are, do you need a fainting couch? If you wanted to genuinely solve the problem, you'd have to look at why it might be a bad idea to force mass migration onto the Europeans. You want to know how a genuinely dangerous movement could come into existence?

At some point, either the indigenous population resists, or it ceases to exist. I would rather see that resistance as being peaceful, wouldn't you? So why do Leftists demand that the indigenous people of Europe have no right to exist? And do you really think they will kneel and bare their necks to the machetes, if it comes to it? Or flock to an actual fascism as an answer?

today a fascist won an election for the first time since 1933. here, in germany.

i don't care if it's just one (out of 16) states. björn höcke is a fascist. a court decided not long ago that it's allowed to call him a nazi. bc he is one. not "far right" or "conservative" - he is a nazi.

here. in germany. and he just won an election.

it hasn't even been 100 years.

i am scared.

[lunawlw]

I’m going to be completely honest here: If you honestly think Harris was better than trump, despite her being the exact same as him, I’m just going to unfollow you. Both are fascists. Both don’t care about civilian life. Both care about the American empire of greed, oil, and blood. She ignored and turned down any instance of people advocating for Palestine, people in her party plugged their ears hearing the names of murdered babies, she puts trans women in male prisons, she said nothing about the murder of an innocent black man who was sentenced to death or the multiple police brutality against black people, she said nothing about the students who were protesting and showed brutality from police, she wanted a more powerful military, she allowed racists and war criminals on her platform to speak, she wanted to keep going for oil.

The reality is that both republicans and democrats are the same, one is more open about being evil and one tries to hide it. Both care about the American empire and both kill us all.

So to see people who I thought care about those in need walk over the corpses of thousands of mutilated children to vote for her all while saying she does support genocide is sickening. To blame Palestinians, 3rd party voters, lgbt people, people of color, disabled people, and so on is sickening.

I used to think democrats were the “better” option too when I was younger. But as I grew older I saw the similarities so much so that it blended together to be one entity of the same coin.

It may make you feel powerless, but don’t let it. It keeps me fighting for a better world that one day we all will be free from colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, fascism, racism, and sexism. There is a world out there for us, and we must help each other. We mustn’t just care about yourself and yourself alone.

So to see people just care about themselves when over a year I have seen beheaded babies, children blown to bits, children morning their parents, parents morning their children, entire families gone forever, people torn apart by dogs, people kidnapped, people raped, people forcibly starved - to see all this and more and people have the nerve to only care about themselves. To see all this, knowing Americans are aiding and complicit in genocide, but still utter how a fascist is better - it does something to my brain.

And asking yourself “what am i supposed to do then” you get with your communities in every way you can. You seek out people who care about the world and not just themself. Make new friends, reach out to people. Donate, protest, riot, boycott. help indigenous groups, help lgbt groups, help homeless, help disabled, help people of color. Fight like hell for those going through a genocide. Fight like hell so indigenous people get their land back.

I believe in a future free from oppression, and we will get there if we are together and do all that we can and not give up.

But if you walk over corpses so you can sleep at night, I lose respect for you. And I lost a lot of respect for many across multiple platforms.

[dailyanarchistposts]

A libertarian socialist outlook on The American Insurrection

“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.” — Max Stirner

Since I last posted we have seem significant developments in the so called United States of America. We have moved beyond the small actions by some workers to full scale open rebellion in many cities in the face of police brutality. These rebellions however can’t be quelled with just reforms now. No, we have reached a movement that seeks to abolish the police. A movement that is demanding the world recognizes that we are. black and that we are PEOPLE as well. Police precincts have been taken over and burned down,others are as I write this “under attack” by the people.

This is full blown spontaneous action that could NEVER have been planned let alone organized by a vanguard party. We are seeing what can only be summed up as democratic insurrection. We are launching full scale attacks on private property that is owned by the bourgeoisie,we are attacking the state house, we are building mutual aid. with the resources we have expropriated we are changing the narrative. We have experiences social death and now we are experiencing social rebirth.

Now if you have been living under a rock you may wonder: “How did we get here?” that question can be answered quickly. We got here because of George Floyd, Tony McDae, and Breonna Taylor. All 3 black PEOPLE who were murdered by the police. In the case of Tony McDae this shows not just the ongoing injustices faced by black men but also by the injustices faced by black TRANS PEOPLE. Breonna Taylor’s murder shows the injustice faced by BLACK WOMEN everyday. George Floyd’s murder shows that to be black in America means to have your humanity rejected.

Now the state is responding to our rebellions by cracking down further and attempting to push martial law. The state is attempting to being in the troops to Minneapolis to put down the rebellion. This will only launch us into a revolution. The state has in fact pushed many unconstitutional rules onto the people such as curfews. In Washington DC many believe that cell signals were jammed from 1 am to 6 am on May 31st 2020. In Philadelphia the National Guard has live rounds. In many cities around the country the police have been using rubber bullets. The police have still killed many and even left the body of David McTee in the street for 12 hours. The police have assaulted peaceful protesters, destroyed water of protesters along with reporters.

So this leads me to answer the question of this article. What is to be done today? We now must stockpile weapons by any means necessary, and commit to creating a Black people’s militia. We must also seek to create communes for our people during time. We must interconnect (confederate) them as well to bring true resistance to this fascist we will face. Within these communes we must have community councils, neighborhood assemblies, municipal councils, regional councils and the like. We must defend ourselves and we must stay militant. Their is no going back from here. The state has done it’s best to destroy peaceful change all this has done is make violent a necessity.

It is important to remember however that people are doing mutual aid and solidarity on their own. This includes giving out expropriated goods, donating them to people asking for food and more. The people may not realize it but they have created an Autonomous Zone. They have freed themselves from the police. This may be temporary but this is an important step. This is something we must seek to persevere the state can and will destroy it if they are able. This informal commune is only an extension of what we as black people have done before. This can be seen through the Ogeechee Insurrection and the like. However we as people are coming together and practicing solidarity when free of the state and it’s agents of destruction. We are fighting. We are winning and we shall overcome. To paraphrase Malcolm X The US has put a knife our back and for a long time has not acknowledged it. Now they have acknowledged that knife but only because we took it out ourselves. Now they are scared of what we are doing with it.

We are living through history now and we must remember history is written by the victors. For that it is necessary for us as colonized people to win this.

From the sidelines as someone not in a city with protests and an uprising I can only say this: Thank you and good luck we the people shall win and we shall overcome.

In solidarity and in struggle

A.X. Black Flag Catalyst Jun 2