#political hope

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

On this episode of the podcast, Ariel chats with Dr Tanis MacDonald about her upcoming course in winter 2025 on hopepunk. What exactly is so punk about this kind of hope? Can hopepunk even be said to be a genre in its own right, or is it an aesthetic or lens that we can use to think through just why the characters are deciding to have hope in bleak situations?

Tune in for recommendations of hopepunk novels (and poetry!), ruminations on political hope, the centrality of relationships and radical empathy to these stories, and more. Plus some academic theories informing the formulations of hope, of course.

Links:

Tanis MacDonald | Author of Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female

Watershed Writers with Tanis MacDonald | Podcast on Spotify

Hopepunk, explained: the storytelling trend that weaponizes optimism | Vox

Companion Species Manifesto

The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

S2.9 Reframing Narratives With Ecocriticism, With Dr Jenny Kerber

[chongoblog]

So a lot of political scandals just dropped in the last 24 hours

-NC Governor Candidate Mark Robinson's online posts were found, including some VERY graphic descriptions (like seriously, do not read if you're not 18) of him cheating on his wife, calling himself a black Nazi, and expressing support for reinstituting slavery. His email address was also found on Ashley Madison

-Robert F Kennedy Jr was revealed to be cheating on his wife with a reporter (and that isn't even the weirdest thing since federal law enforcement opened an investigation into him allegedly cutting off the head of a whale and taking it home with him less than 24 hours ago)

-GOP Senate candidate who is the CEO of a bank has been found accepting millions of dollars from what seem to allegedly be Mexican drug cartels.

-Finally, probably the biggest bombshell, according to multiple eyewitness testimonies within sealed sworn affadavits, Congressman Matt Gaetz allegedly invited a 17-year-old girl to a drug-fueld sex party

And we haven't even hit October, folks. Again, these are all still breaking news stories, so things are subject to change, but oh man oh man.

[beggars-opera]

If nothing else, as a historian every time I get scared at the state of the world I have to remind myself that "uninteresting times" is a myth.

The world has always been in the throes of chaos and violence and fear, just in different ways and to different degrees. The anxieties of the past are no less real than our own, and we can learn from them. Normality and peace are fleeting, but we can always strive to increase those moments. We have to keep hoping and working for a better future. It's all we have. We may not succeed, but if we don't try, what are we living for?

[donutdrawsthings]

People all over the world are thinking of you!

[willgrahamscock]

[creature-wizard]

Since folks are exhausted from hearing about Project 2025 and Agenda 47, here are some reasons to feel hopeful about Harris

(It would be wonderful if folks could reblog this, a lot of people are feeling very discouraged right now and could use the morale boost!)

[drunkmusichistorian]

[calciumyum]

The hungy trio (selling these as pins for comifuro 19 :D)

[hope-for-the-planet]

Under what legal experts called a “historic” settlement, announced on Thursday, Hawaii officials will release a roadmap “to fully decarbonize the state’s transportation systems, taking all actions necessary to achieve zero emissions no later than 2045 for ground transportation, sea and inter-island air transportation”, Andrea Rodgers, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case, said at a press conference with the governor.

[kedreeva]

Today is going to be rough for so many people. It's going to be rough for you. There are things you can't change today.

But you can take care of yourself. Eat breakfast, drink water, take a long shower, put on clean clothes/favorite clothes. Checking in on the politics as needed, rather than wallowing in them all day. Put on a comfort movie or show, and watch that for a while. Focus on your job if you have to be there today. Reach out if you need help.

You can also check in on your friends- making sure they have eaten and had water and showered and have something comforting. Reach out if they might need help. The only way out of this is through, and we need each other to get there.

We will have a long fight ahead of us for the next 4 years. We would have had a long fight ahead of us regardless of who won; only the kind of fight would have been different. This is the fight we have: survival and damage control. Not the fight we wanted, but it is what it is, and we're still going to use tooth and nail.

Today is Day 1.

Today is checking with your clerk's office, if you mailed your ballot, to ensure your ballot got counted. Today is weathering the despair. Today is taking care of yourself and checking on your loved ones to make sure they have what they need to weather Day 1 with you.

Tomorrow is resolving to vote in the next local elections to aid in damage control, and planning the next steps.

Survival and damage control.

Hope is not a fragile flower, easily crushed beneath a fascist boot. Hope is a fighter with blood on her knuckles and dirt on her knees, and we are going to help her get back on her feet every time.

[reasonsforhope]

"Arizona’s ban on transgender athletes has been blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which called the 2022 law “the essence of discrimination.”

Supporters of the so-called Save Women’s Sports Act claimed that the law protected girls and women in schools and colleges from “unfair competition.” However, the federal court found that pre-pubescent trans girls and trans girls on puberty blockers have no significant physical advantages over cis girls their own age, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“[The law] to ensure competitive fairness and equal athletic opportunities for cisgender female athletes cannot be squared with the fact that the Act bars students from female athletics based entirely on transgender status,” Judge Morgan Christen wrote in the court’s 3-0 decision.

“[The law] permits all students other than transgender women and girls to play on teams consistent with their gender identities,” Christen continued, “transgender women and girls alone are barred from doing so. This is the essence of discrimination.”

Two trans girls, an 11-year-old soccer player and a 15-year-old swimmer and volleyball player on puberty blockers, sued to overturn the law; 18 states signed court arguments in favor of the law, and 17 states signed arguments against it.

A lower federal court also ruled against the law, and the two court rulings against it can now be cited as a legal precedent to help other trans girls play sports. However, Arizona could also appeal the decision to be heard by an 11-judge panel on the appeals court or ask the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the matter.

“A student’s transgender status is not an accurate proxy for athletic ability and competitive advantage,” said Rachel Berg, a lawyer with the National Center for Lesbian Rights who represented the two girls in court. “Our clients are thrilled to be able to continue to play on girls’ sports teams with their friends while this case proceeds to trial.”"

-via LGBTQ Nation, September 10, 2024

[jaskierx]

‘LiBeRaLs being pArAsOcIaL about kamala and tim walz are making me want to kms’

yeah that checks out, i’d be mad too if people were rallying around a candidate that gives them genuine hope after i’d spent the past few months trying to get trump elected by constantly saying they’re all as bad as each other and there’s no point in voting bc nothing will ever get better :)

[blindchat]

Happy Birthday! Hope nothing monumental is coming in the next few hours! Keep dancing Dabi Jensen release the tapes

[badolmen]

They don’t even attempt to assassinate US politicians anymore. You notice that? Not since the anthrax scare back for… who was it, Barack? And even that… pathetic. This new generation has no respect for an honest hitman. I’m not sure this new generation has any honest hitman - you see that shit with Boeing? Sloppy, fucking disgraceful - you kill the whistleblowers before they get halfway to a lawsuit. What kind of fucking amateur is doing faked suicides the night before testimony? Goddamn greenhorns. Back in my day someone tried to shoot Ronald Reagan in broad daylight. There used to be bomb threats to Congress. I took out a few union leaders in the utilities sector myself. Today’s generation? Won’t even threaten to throw a punch - not even over on that - what’s it now, ‘X’? They got no guts. None! And they don’t even have poor impulse control to boot! Too much of that - that panopticon anxiety bullshit. “Oh what if I get a called out post???” People used to send the president letters full of bioweapons. In the mail! Today’s generation? Not a chance. All because of woke.

[smaccbookair]

[bowtiepastabitch]

Hey. HEY. Pause the election doomscrolling for a moment and look at me. We're gonna be okay. I'm still gonna be right here on tumblr tomorrow, reblogging my silly little posts, and you'll see them and you'll smile. Nothing is decided yet, these things take time and there is still hope, and however things turn out this is not the end, okay? An idealogy relying on hate wants you to be disheartened and give up, and I know it's hard but we won't give them that satisfaction. None of us individually can hold that line of resilience; that's a community task, and when all else fails that's what we have. Queer people have been in this world as long as people in general have, and we're not. fucking. going anywhere.