#national minorities

[useless-catalanfacts]

Sweden saying they'll vote against allowing the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the European Union Parliament because "there's lots of minority languages and we can't allow them all" is so funny because CATALAN HAS MORE SPEAKERS THAN SWEDISH

Catalan is the 13th most spoken language in the EU. It has more than 10 million speakers, which means it has more speakers than other languages that are already official EU languages like Maltese (530,000), Estonian (1.2 million), Latvian (1.5 million), Irish (1.6 million), Slovene (2.5 million), Lithuanian (3 million), Slovak (5 million), Finnish (5.8 million), Danish (6 million), Swedish (10 million), and Bulgarian (10 million).

Neither Galician (3 million) nor Basque (750,000) would still be the least spoken languages to be allowed in the EU representative bodies.

But even if any of them did, so what? Why do speakers of smaller languages deserve less rights than those of bigger languages? How are we supposed to feel represented by the EU Parliament when our representatives aren't even allowed to speak our language, but the dominant groups can speak theirs?

It all comes down to the hatred of language/cultural diversity and the belief that it's an inconvenience, that only the languages of independent countries have any kind of value while the rest should be killed off. After all, isn't that what Sweden has been trying to do to the indigenous Sami people for centuries?

[muffinlance]

I'm sorry, this was bothering me enough to send in an ask.

The stupid question is: how strict is Earth-Kingdom-is-China vs Fire-Kingdom-is-Japan generally? I mostly ask because although none of the canon characters use real Japanese names, but it feels like everyone uses Japanese names for Fire Kingdom and Chinese for Earth, which makes Chinese Wanyi for Zuko's ship not fit in.

I mean, the waters are muddied from China's historical domination over the area, and it's a really great pun, but I woke up and my brain wouldn't let go of the entirely petty issue.

Ugh. Sorry for the stupid ask, especially since I don't come bearing any like funny trivia with to mitigate with. Please feel free to disregard as well, especially since I'm too cowardly to link to my actual tumblr account.

There's absolutely no strictness, because that's a fanon division anyway, and not one I adhere to. Fanon is fake and we can make of it what we want, and I want the pretty ship name!

[dimlylittorch]

18+ drabble MDNI

My Masterlist🌱

Viktor x pre-op!transmasc!reader

he always knew when he had a rough day you’d be there to help

crawling into bed after a long day, Viktor moved to settle in on your right. his leg had been killing him all day, his head throbbing from a never ending headache. but it all seemed to calm down when he was with you.

you let out the prettiest noises while you were sleeping, especially when his hand slipped down between your thighs, playing with your soft cunt. he couldn’t help himself- the idea of making you feel nice made him feel nice. what better way to end his day on a nice note?

slender fingers circling your little bud, occasionally rolling it between the pads as a shiver wracked through you in your sleepy state. he always adored how his boy’s thighs would get tighter and tighter around his wrist, having to fight to keep up his pace.

“i know, i know love. it just feels too good, hm?” he whispers against the shell of your ear as his cock starts to chub up against the curve of your ass. “you deserve nothing but pleasure” he murmurs softly as he slips a finger into your tight hole, being careful as to not cause any pain.

as your eyes flutter slightly, he slows down his pace, coming almost to a complete stop. he couldn’t dare wake you up, not when he was being so selfish as to use you for his own amusement. “forgive me” he breathes against your neck as he starts to place the gentlest of kisses along your skin. “do not let matters of the flesh concern you, hm? just sleep, my love. you need your rest.”

making a small noise as your eyes close again, his fingers pick up the pace slightly as he every so gently grinds against your arse. “fuck” i whispers breathlessly when he slips a second finger into you. “so tight- my boy is so tight” he murmurs against your soft skin.

he can’t help but let out a weak moan when he feels how your cunt is sucking on his fingers, pulling him deeper. even in your sleep you needed him so desperately. “you are such a good boy” he breathes as he kisses along your bare shoulder. “the best boy- taking me so well. how amazing are you, no? being able to sleep while taking my fingers up your pretty boycunt. a marvel, you are.”

as you shift in your sleep, he smiles against your skin as he peppers kisses along your shoulder blade, his left hand positioning so he can run his fingers through your hair comfortingly. “the sweetest thing i’ve seen, i swear it” he says comfortingly. “in all my life.. nothing as beautiful as you.”

“hm?” you hum faintly as he attempts to add a third finger while his thumb rubs your clit, the rough pad of his fingers causing a nice friction- one of the better parts of him often working with his hands.

“remarkable.” he sighs against your skin. “such a sweet and soft creature.. no survival instincts” he teases against your ear. “what if i were dangerous, my love? what if i wasn’t your Viktor?” he questions faintly.

a little noise of confusion slips past your throat as your thighs squeeze together, starting to feel and recognize his touch.

“oh, but you’re so right, little love. it would be no one else. i wouldn’t let them.” he murmurs. “you’re safe” he adds comfortingly when you start to stir. “you’re in good hands. my fingers will carry you to where my legs cannot. always.”

requests are open, let me know if you’d like this continued🙂‍↕️

[awkward-sultana]

"Kösem Sultan’s experience with her sons illustrates the duality of her position: celebrated as a maternal figure but ultimately betrayed by those she had empowered, a recurring theme in Ottoman palace politics." - The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire, Gülru Necipoğlu (2005)

[tanadrin]

One of the arguments Zubok seems to be developing in this book on the fall of the USSR is that a huge factor in its breakup was Russian nationalism: as the other Soviet republics began to assert their rights and identities in '89 onward, the Russians seemed to be looking at each other and being like, "hey, why don't we have the same national rights?" There was no Russia-only branch of the CPSU, no quotas for Russians in universities, no particularly Russian state institutions--Russia was, despite being by far the largest part of the USSR, very unlike the other republics in being sort of a glue holding them together.

This was probably for solid historical reasons--Lenin and co. took very seriously the idea that the USSR should be a multinational state, and whether they succeeded or not the subsequent generations of Soviet leadership carried this idea forward: the USSR was not supposed to be a Russian-chauvinist enterprise. But resentment of protections for minorities--a sort of Soviet version of "white people are the most oppressed ethnicity in America"--in the context of everything else happening politically in the USSR at the time made Russian nationalism politically very salient, including (given how other republics like Lithuania were going) talk of Russian secession.

The USSR could have survived Lithuania seceding in a way it never could have survived Russia seceding, obviously; Russian nationalism was by far the most efficient way to destroy the Soviet Union. And the Politburo recognized this: they discussed in 1989 versions of plans mooted as far back as Andropov's premiership of balancing the internal relationship between the republics by breaking the RSFSR into smaller units, either de jure or just de facto. In the event, it seems like other events (the failure of perestroika, the August coup, etc) overtook them before anything could have been done about it, but it's interesting to note that the breakup of the USSR was not (only) peripheral regions trying to escape a state to which they were unhappily wedded, but also the core region of that state wanting to jump ship as well.

[blatterpussbunnyfromhell]

Making a separate post because it bothers me but "gaelic" is not the name of "the scottish language", it's an umbrella term for the celtic languages of Gaeilge (Irish gaelic) and Gàidhlig, the scottish gaelic, not language.

(Not be confused with the brythonic branches of celtic languages such as Welsh, Brezhoneg, or Cornish.)

[reverie-quotes]

After a disappearance, that's when the fly returns to hover over the painting.

— Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

[brw]

Krakoa defenders do really bother me because I just genuinely can't see how after 4 years of predominantly white middle-class American comic book writers purposefully or inadvertently saying that the only way minorities can be safe from violence and bigotry is by founding what is, objectively, an ethnostate, where your morals and ethics can be as henious and horrific as possible, and the only thing that matters is that you are One Of Us, and not One Of Them, and claim that Zionism has no place in the Krakoan project or was not an inspiration. They claimed the moniker of ethnostate when they chose to open with Magneto in Israel. They made those comparisons from the start. At this point it's just willful misreading to act like this was never a theme or that because we know that mutants are Good in fiction, that means the subtext (or, well, text) shouldn't be analysed for what it objectively is.

[justmenoworries]

"OOo, Magneto's EMP probably disabled a bunch of hospital equipment, now he's just as bad as Bastion and Sinister"

Shut up. Holy shit, just shut the fuck up.

[orcelito]

ok I don't think we as a fandom talk about the way Vash cries blood enough

we only see it once or twice from what I remember, the one definite time being here ^ when the puppet attack first begins & he's dealing with the emotional agony of seeing so many of his family turn into puppets.

so it's clearly something that comes out only when he's in severe emotional distress.

the interesting thing is that Wolfwood is fucking TERRIFIED of him bc of it.

whatever this moment is, Vash is giving off the same sort of oppressive energy that Wolfwood's experienced with Knives. it's the first time during their travels that he's really been forced to recognize What Vash Is. he knew it of course, saw him in Jeneora, but he's such a goofy guy it's easy to forget.

but whatever Vash is doing here, it makes Wolfwood Incredibly aware of what he is.

so the real question i think is What exactly is going on here? is it unintentional? is it simply a response to the emotional agony?

Vash isn't the type to indiscriminately terrify everyone in the vicinity on purpose. he wouldn't be doing this purposefully out of anger while Wolfwood's there. no, in this moment, he's not even angry at all. he's Distraught.

going from This

to this

in just a moment.

yeah. that's some fucking emotional agony. i dont think Vash is doing this entirely on purpose.

but THEN...

as both Leonof and Wolfwood stare at him in fear, Both feeling his oppressive energy, Vash then lets out some sort of blast that blows against everything between him and Leonof. it doesn't destroy anything, doesn't even injure him, but it's a physically tangible effect that scares the Shit out of Leonof & spurs him into motion.

there may be some anger involved in this moment, but it's not the hair-trigger rage you would expect from seeing his family turned into puppets. it's something Quiet, something almost cold. he's distraught, Resigned, & retaliating just because he has to.

Vash hates all of this. he doesn't want to fight him. he fucking Knows this guy too, knew him as a kid, & none of this makes sense. but he knows that he needs to fight him, & doesn't have any kind of choice.

but he's not happy about it. not in the slightest.

[storybookstr4nge]

I bought and read the sun and the star today and..... nobody talk to me rn. I can TELL where mark oshiro pulled through for us. this book is so unapologetically queer, and melded with rick's always wonderful action sequences makes for such a lovely read... it really solidifies Will and Nico's chemistry and history and the wonderful way they love both romantically and as friends.... it never fell into the miscommunication trope even when the boys argued, and instead had them talk it out and be so transparent the whole way through...... it was so cavity-inducing-ly cheesy with just the right moments of incredible fluff and tragedy. I just love them. I love how dorky they are together. two cringe fail (affectionate) losers who are just so so smitten by one another and putting in a beautiful and mature effort towards loving one another the exact way the other needs to be loved. I am just so happy that this book exists within the riordanverse canon

[useless-catalanfacts]

The rap singer Valtònyc (wearing dark green in the first photo) has returned from exile. It's the first time he steps in his homeland Mallorca in almost 6 years.

He was sentenced to 3.5 years of prison because when he was 18 years old he wrote a song where he criticized the Spanish monarchy and uploaded it to YouTube. He wasn't famous and his most listened song on YouTube had 8,000 views, but in Spain it's a crime to say "injuries against the crown", and the laws are often applied more harshly against national minorities (Valtònyc is from the Catalan Countries). His song was found and he had to go to trial over it, and was sentenced guilty of the crimes of injuries against the monarchy, praising terrorism, and threats.

Valtònyc refused to accept the so-called "justice" of the Spanish judicial system, so he decided to escape. He managed to sneak to France unnoticed by the police, and went to Belgium, where there was already a community of Catalan people on exile for their political involvement in the Catalan independence process. He has lived on exile in Belgium these last 5 years and a half.

Had he come back to any Spanish territory, Valtònyc (same as the other exiles) would have immediately been jailed. In fact, Spain issued an international order of extradition, demanding Belgium arrest him and send him to Spain to be imprisoned. But the Belgian courts found that these kind of cases should be allowed under freedom of speech and, instead of sending Valtònyc to Spain, Belgium got rid of their own law that punished "injuries against the crown" as a crime. With no Belgian law to punish him, he was allowed to stay in Belgium. This is a similar process that had happened with other Catalan exiles, who Spain has demanded be extradited multiple times but Belgian law has protected for human rights and freedom of speech reasons.

By the way, the song that got him sentenced to prison had been a commission from the Spanish politician Pablo Iglesias (leader of Podemos, the left Spanish party) for his TV show La Tuerka. Valtònyc has explained that Iglesias never called him, never showed any solidarity nor interest in his case. Iglesias was vice-president of Spain during Valtònyc's exile.

The crimes expired six months ago, meaning he can no longer be imprisoned for it. However, the Spanish courts did not notify him of it (as they should have done), so his lawyer and him just found out.

After saying goodbye to other Catalan people on exile in Belgium, who are not allowed to come back yet (in the photos, shared by Valtònyc on his Twitter, he is saying goodbye to the politicians Lluís Puig and Carles Puigdemont), he has come back home.

He was welcomed by 200 people in his hometown. He has thanked all the people who helped him and showed solidarity. He also reminded that Pablo Hasél (a rap singer from Catalonia) is still in prison for the lyrics of his songs and the contents of his Tweets, sentenced guilty of injuries against the crown and praising terrorism. You can read more about Pablo Hasél's arrest in this post, and an explanation of the tweets and lyrics that got him sentenced in this post.

As we celebrate Valtònyc's return, we cannot forget that Spain has repeatedly ranked number 1 in the whole world for country that sent the most musicians to jail for the content of their music, in 2018 and 2020. By the way all the 14 rap singers condemned to prison for their lyrics were Catalan (Pablo Hasél and the 12 members of the band La Insurgencia from Catalonia, and Valtònyc from the Balearic islands), not one of any other culture group or from any other area. Curious, 100% of the sentenced, when the population of the Catalan Countries is less than 29% of the population of Spain. Wonder why!

[cabinetofotherthings]

i have a historiographical quibble with how the antisemitic campaigns in the soviet union in 1948–1953 are often framed as an extension of the holocaust in the scholarship rather than being fully considered within the context of the soviet nationalities policy. except when i'm applying for funding from institutions that do holocaust studies. then i'm fine with it

[queenwendy]

Ffs if I see one more post from fellow leftists talking about how they refuse to vote for Harris because of how much she sucks (and she does) I am gonna lose it. If you want a socialist movement in this fucking country do grassroots organizing, join local organizations, attend protests, set up protests, unionize your workplace, etc. etc. don’t fucking hand the election over to motherfucking Trump because you wanna vote third party for president. I bet Claudia would be an amazing president, and I want third party candidates in all kinds of offices, so run fucking non presidential candidates so we can fix this god forsaken FPTF electoral college system that way we can get an actual leftist president without risking the motherfucking fascist winning! And before you call me a democrat shill, I fucking hate the democratic party but dear god they are moderately better than the republicans. I’ll take more neoliberal hell over a fascist hell any damn day; at least I’m fucking alive.

[scrambledlikeeggs]

If you're still taking hermit hybrid requests I always have to shill for my boy xB. With a guardian maybe? Or anglerfish if you're feeling fancy 👉👈

I love this one…..ANGLERFISH XB!!! I was working on a piece for hermit horror titled 'fish food' so I might come back to it. I honestly think this might by my favourite piece from my hermit hybrids collection second to only possum pearl

(fyi until otherwise stated I am always taking hermit hybrids requests /gen :D)

[lovelylotusf1]

Bubblegum

There's bubblegum stuck to the desk, George notes.

It's the only free place in the front row. Someone is sitting in his usual spot. George stares at him.

Dirty blonde hair sticking out from underneath a cap. A white hoodie with bright pink letters screaming at him, matching the gum glued to George's desk. Icy blue eyes glaring right back at him. A can of Red Bull underneath fingers that are tap-tap-tapping against the metal.

George sits down, the old chair creaking underneath him like it always does in this particular lecture hall. He needs to have a chat with someone about safety regulations.

“You took my spot,” George says, trying to sound neutral and polite. But his vowels are too short and his consonants are spoken through gritted teeth. His tone makes his displeasure noticeable.

The guy rolls his eyes. “I didn't see your name on it. There's lots of space in the back.”

George can't place his accent. It's harsh and melodic at the same time.

George takes out his notebook and pens, careful to avoid placing them right on the pink gum. Where he's sitting, he is desperately lacking some space.

George tries again. “I always sit here.”

“Not my problem.”

George is about to retort when the professor starts talking. He hadn't even heard her come in.

He snaps his head back to his notebook and opens it. He carefully writes the headline “Lecture 3” and underlines it before writing the date in a neat little box in the top right corner.

The lesson continues like usual. He meticulously takes notes, asks for clarification multiple times, marks passages for when he should consult the textbook at home.

He ignores the guy next to him. Or tries to, at least. But every scratch of his neighbor's pen against paper burrows its way deep inside George's brain. Every sip of an energy drink next to him irritates George to no end.

He is thankful that he writes with a pen. If it were a pencil, it would have snapped in half not even ten minutes into the lesson, wood crumbling under the pressure of George's iron grip.

George wishes that something bad would happen. Just to have something external match his discomfort within.

He curses himself the second it happens. The professor announces group projects. Of course, the groups are determined by seating position.

George turns around, feeling a bit like a robot going through preprogrammed motions. He comes face to face with the guy who took his seat and is now offering his hand in return.

“I'm Max Verstappen. What's your name? So I can write a sign to reserve the desk for you next time.”

The pink letters on his chest seem to mock George. Pink like the bubblegum on the desk that's not his, on the desk that he had been forced to sit at.

George takes the offered hand with a smile that's frozen in place and a handshake that cuts off his circulation. “George Russell. Nice to meet you.”