#mass action

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Dion J. Pierre

She continued, “The fight for a free Palestine is an intersectional movement that encompasses fights for environmental justice, racial justice, health care and reproductive justice, and the liberation of oppressed peoples worldwide.”

Labourdette went on to describe a paranoid worldview in which Zionism is linked to “mass surveillance” which “gives our government and institutions the capability to identify members of our movement through their usual clothing or facial recognition trained on ID databases” and implored protesters who attend the event to conceal their identifies by “wearing masks and sunglasses or nondescript clothing.” At past anti-Israel protests, such instructions have facilitated hate crime assaults, property destruction, and the illegal occupation of campus buildings.

As part of the demonstration, the students will issue a slew of demands calling for policies which fulfill the requirements of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. They include terminating foreign aid to Israel, severing Wesleyan University’s relationship with the aerospace company Pratt & Whitney, and ending “all university partnerships and programs with Israeli academic institutions due to their direct contribution to the Zionist state’s goals of colonization.” According to Labourdette, these demands, and others, were authored by the group known as the February Action Committee, a splinter group of National Students for Justice for Palestine (NSJP) by way of its affiliation with Connecticut Students for Palestine.

NSJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, has publicly discussed its grand strategy of using the anti-Zionist student movement as a weapon for destroying the US.

“Divestment is not an incrementalist goal. True divestment necessitates nothing short of the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself,” it said in Sept. 2024 in a now-deleted tweet. “It is not possible for imperial spoils to remain so heavily concentrated in the metropole and its high-cultural repositories without the continuous suppression of populations that resist the empire’s expansion; to divest from this is to undermine and eradicate America as we know it.”

[zebracandle]

[neengareadynaaready]

Mandela and Maaveeran

I finally finally saw director Madonne Ashwin’s Mandela (2021) and Maaveeran (2023).

These are fantastic! Mandela is his first full-length feature film, followed by Maaveeran, and I am now a fan of this director.

Mandela (2021)

Here, famous comedian Yogi Babu stars as Smiles, a barber from the Dalit caste. Smiles isn’t his actual name. It’s what the villagers call him - if not Jackass. He doesn’t remember his name. His parents are gone. His only family is this boy named Side Burns who isn’t even related to him. They live under a banyan tree. Sometimes, they’re given money for their services - sometimes they get a share of rice after Smiles gets their ration.

And then one guy steals Smiles’ money from the tree, so he goes to the post office, and the officer, Thenmozhi, recommends he get a bank account. To do that, he would need an official ID. And to get that, he would need an actual name.

With the help of Side Burns and Thenmozhi’s help, they landed on the name Nelson Mandela after the historical figure who, as Thenmozhi says, also fought for his identity.

The main conflict of the movie is that two political parties tied for number of voters. When Mandela’s voter ID arrived, they start fighting over him.

It’s definitely a great film to watch, with a Dalit as the main character. It doesn’t ask the audience to break the caste system though. It does talk about vote-buying as a very “normal” custom that people are used to doing or take for granted. It presents the issues to the viewer and leaves you to think.

Trigger Warning: there is a short scene where Mandela contemplates suicide but he gets interrupted and has a conversation with a younger woman who opens his eyes to see his situation through a different perspective

Maaveeran (2023)

What a truly fun film! Madonne Ashwin brought a smart and unique take to the table of masala action hero movies. It’s a very meta film. It places the action hero formula and elements in a fun new angle. I suggest it to anyone who loves to watch action hero films. I say “action hero” films instead of just action films because this movie focuses on The Hero, The Great Warrior aka Maaveeran. It’s about how one person (usually a man) or two (if it’s a dual hero movie) fights for his people and beats up bad guys while looking cool. They’re a superhero without the powers.

Sivakarthikeyan is in amazing form in this movie - and I don’t just mean his physique. He looks cool in the action scenes, as both someone who doesn’t really know how to fight and later as someone who fully embraces his “role” in the story.

Cinematography is slick, action sequences are quick and largely more grounded than in the usual masala movies.

The main story revolves around Sathya who is a comic artist. He draws the story The Great Warrior, which has been running in the papers for decades. He and his family were forced out of their home by the river and into a shabbily-done apartment complex with other families. Sathya, the opposite of most masala action heroes, does not want to complain. Unlike his mother (and the heroic father who died when he was young), Sathya isn’t confrontational, not even after his sister were assaulted (off-screen) by a neighbor.

He then hears his mother complain about him being a coward.

Cue TRIGGER WARNING: attempted suicide

Sathya, when he hears this, tries to take his own life. He gets stopped when his sister calls him via phone. He tries to get down but falls instead because of the substandard construction. This accident leads to him hearing a voice (by Vijay Sethupathi 🥰) that narrates the story of The Great Warrior, with Sathya as The Hero.

It is honestly a fun film. This might be my favorite SK film. Sathya is a great character. Despite him constantly resisting the Voice, we get hilarious masala action hero movie elements. It is SO FUN. I don’t know what else I can say — this movie is just a fun and enjoyable one.

If you’ve seen many mass action hero movies, you will recognize the elements in Maaveeran and how they wove it into the story in a very smart way.

Oh and THERE IS A POST-CREDIT SCENE! I found it very very satisfying and wrapped up the story in a good way.

I will be rewatching this with my family because it’s a truly enjoyable flick.

(One of these days I swear I will write a paper on this, just you wait, world)

[nerdyonlineramblings]

Rōmæ antiquæ prīma populī minantis exempla inventa est quæ sciō. Plebs, pars civitātis Rōmānæ sine natī iūribus, "many strikes".acc.pl fecerunt ut Patriciī, ista pars cum hīs iūribus, illās iūrēs sibi dāret.

(quamquam "complete revolution" nōn erat; tempore Cæsaris, plebs ut Crassus divitissimōs esse poterat, ut "oligarch")

mass action is not new.

[paranoid-confident]

CT New Haven protest at Yale during alumni reunion fundraiser

[martyr-mayhem]

[hellafluff]

Garrus' interactions with Shepard post-Thessia are so fucking well written. Everyone else is telling Shepard they're sorry or doing a soft sad voice asking if she's okay but Garrus has this moving little speech about how losing a fight isn't the end of the war and I just. He's so fucking good. He knows what Shepard needs to hear and has the experience to back up the things he says. He's so good to her

[mylittlecrow]

i will never shut up about jon promising to protect sansa in 6x09 and then the parallel of lyanna begging ned to promise to protect jon IN THE NEXT EPISODE. something something “if the day should ever come when your lord father was forced to chose between honor on the one hand and those he loves on the other what would he do?” and we KNOW ned picked love. ned loved his sister so much he lied to his king and bff to protect jon. ned loved his daughter so much he sacrificed his honor and duty to the realm and lied to protect sansa.

the writers intentionally put sansa at the center of jon and dany’s conflict. sansa’s not in king’s landing during the battle in 8x05 or 8x06 but she still haunts the narrative, her name is brought up by FOUR different characters. jon was ready to die if dany saw him as a threat to the throne. “i'm tired of fighting it’s all i've done since i left home.” and the only way to get through to him and to get him to fight again and to kill dany is to mention sansa and how she’ll never be safe with dany around. “if we don’t take back the north we’ll never be safe i want you to help me but i'll do it myself if i have to.”

and sansa is so used to being alone. she spent months waiting for robb to rescue her from king's landing, and it never happened. robb chose the north, his duty, over her. and she's beaten for the north's independence and then sold to two different families who stole the north from her. and then she finally finds help in theon and brienne and podrick but she doesn't feel completely safe again until she's in jon's arms. but even then she's still ready for more disappointment, to be separated from her family again because “life is not a song” and “there are no heroes.” but jon isn’t robb. “jon isn’t tormund. jon isn’t davos, or the red woman, or stannis for that matter. jon is jon.”

“where will you go? where will we go. i won’t ever let him touch you again. we need to trust each other. until i return the north is yours. touch my sister and i’ll kill you myself. what you did for her is the only reason i’m not killing you. i’m her family too. what about everyone else? what about the other people who think they know what’s good? i’ll protect you, i promise. no one can protect me, no one can protect anyone.” but jon proves her wrong, he can protect her. he will keep her safe. because when his day comes and he has to chose between love and duty, he chooses her. there still are heroes in her story and their story isn't over yet.

[politijohn]

Source

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[sliceoflasagna]

I will never get how people here aren’t losing their minds more over that pathetic little priest from midnight mass. He is either mumbling incomprehensibly or screaming like a lunatic. He is constantly covered in blood. He’s a manic pixie dream girl. He’s a poor little meow meow. He ate a guy

[katy-89]

This was a turning point for him

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

[diss-track]

Not once have I seen anyone mention/bring up that Arthur Fleck is one of the few fictional men we have had that is not racist, misogynistic, sexist, feels his emotions, and is kind and respectful to women in his fantasies and in his reality

[kawaimoonshine]

MY GARRUS FIGURE ARRIVED AAAAAAAA

EXPECT PICTURES

Le space husbando is safely home :3

[fictionisthebetterreality]

Me: Yeah I like Mass Effect a normal amount.

Also Me: Did EDI know that she was going to die? Did she see the possibility, one of a thousand simulations, subroutines running like dreams in the back of her mind? Did she tell Jeff? Or did she feel the Crucible wave catching up to the ship as it was happening, feel its hungry claws reaching for her synthetic synapses, her circuitboard heart? Did they get to say goodbye? Was there time for her to give him a message? Say Thank You, Jeff, I'll always remember you, Jeff, Jeff, I love you- Or did he look over, start calling her name, only to see the blank shell of what used to be his love? Did they hold a funeral for her? Bury her body in the foreign earth of a planet scorched by the heat of their crashing ship (her true form)? Did he ask Shepard afterwards? Did he ask her if she knew, knew what would happen when she made that choice? Did she reply? Did she tell the truth, or lie, her tongue burning like a thousand suns because she is too far broken, too cracked with guilt and grief, to force herself to risk another? Kaiden, Ashley, Mordin, Thane, Miranda, Anderson, EDI - surely another would destroy her beyond repair, so does she lie? Does she crush yet more bodies beneath her boots, saying No Jeff, I would never-

[starscreamingg]

Detroit Become Human and why does this game decide that the problem in society is individual people treating androids poorly because those androids are choking them out of the workforce and NOT the corporations and governments who deliberately designed the androids to do this