#southwest asia

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

How about a European greenfinch (Chloris chloris)?

in honor of my neighbourhood population :)

Absolutely!

[zestingbloodorange]

The ignorance that the queers of the world have about swana/mena queers and them only bringing us up when talking about how they're illegal there and they would get raped and killed there speaks volumes in so many ways.

and one of them is that it's because it's about them. It's about them wanting to come to our countries and have vacations and adventures and wear our cultural attires for aesthetic and getting free / cheap stuff and rides and even places to stay. I've seen so many tourists take advantage of our hospitality thinking their posts won't reach bilingual arabic speakers. film us whilst laughing as if we are circus animals. and fetishizing us and making content out of us...etc.

it was never about our safety and lives it's about their safety if they wanted to come visit countries that they will never be forced to go to or live in.

The western celebrities that come to the middle east and wear rainbow things have done absolutely nothing for us and actually it has backfired on us so many times while they get to leave. because it was not thought out and it was not about us from the beginning just for them to look good and for their non swana/mena queer fans.and their silence and neutrality at this critical moment tells me enough.

I'm not surprised because when we actually need solidarity we get ignored we only exist when it fits an agenda, for jokes, fetish or for selfish reasons.

And we have queer swana/mena famous artists and activities by the way (I know that's crazy) and they did are doing so much for the community than any westerner queer activities have done and is doing.

[virgocurator]

Details of The Wonders of Creation

Iranian scholar Zakariya al-Qazwini ‎(1203–1283).

After traveling throughout Mesopotamia and Syria, he wrote his famous Arabic-language cosmography, 'Aja'eb ol-makhluqat wa qara'eb ol-mowjudat (The wonders of creation, or literally, Marvels of things created and miraculous aspects of things existing).

[embodiedfutures]

[ID: Screenshot of an Instagram post by @/SeekWithSer. The location reads, “Haut-Karabagh.” The title reads, “WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE ETHNIC ARMENIANS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS A RESULT OF THE WEST'S APATHY TOWARD S.W.A.N.A REGIONS.” The users Substack article is mentioned at the bottom, titled “Uncomfortable Truth: Breaking the wall of silence, indifference, and apathy.”

Slide 2 reads: I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT SOMEONE (A WHITE PERSON) SAID WHEN I MENTIONED THE 2020 WAR IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH.

"ISN'T THERE ALWAYS CHAOS IN THOSE AREAS? IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, THOSE PLACES ARE ALWAYS INFESTED WITH WAR AND DESTRUCTION."

This statement stuck with me because it represented the general apathy, indifference, and willful ignorance of the West toward countries we can't point to on the map whose names we can't pronounce.

And yet. AND YET. What we fail to realize (or conveniently ignore) is that our tax dollars are one of the most significant contributors to political and economic instability and PEACE in "those places."

Slide 3 reads: WHILE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT BANKROLLS GENOCIDES AGAINST WEST ASIAN MINORITIES, ETHNIC COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO BE GASLIT AND TOLD TO BE GRATEFUL FOR U.S. INTERVENTION.

For example, Armenians are expected to be grateful to the U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide despite continuing to aid Azerbaijan in their genocidal efforts and ethnic cleansing of our ancestral lands.

For example, Afghans are expected to credit American soldiers for fighting terrorism in Afghanistan despite the U.S. playing a key role in the Taliban's rise.

IT IS ALL RELATED.

The more we see them as separate issues, the more divided we will become and the more power we hand over to imperialist agendas to continue pillaging ancestral lands and destabilizing SWANA communities.

Slide 4 reads: I'M NOT EXPECTING EVERYONE TO CARE ABOUT GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS. THAT IS YOUR PREROGATIVE.

BUT I WILL SPEAK ON BEHALF OF ALL SWANA COMMUNITIES THAT ARE HURT BY THEIR SO-CALLED ALLIES WHO WERE OUTRAGED OVER THE WAR IN UKRAINE BUT WHO CONTINUE TO TURN AWAY IN APATHY TOWARD THE PLIGHT OF THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Do they not deserve the same ounce of respect?

Have we collectively decided that their lives don't matter? Are they not worthy of the same rage and empathy that we've showed to our Eurocentric counterparts?

I IMPLORE us all to look at our hypocrisy. WE ARE COMPLICIT ABOUT THE SAME VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS THAT WE STAND AGAINST.

Slide 5 reads: ALLIES OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES NEED TO BREAK THEIR WALL OF SILENCE, INDIFFERENCE, AND APATHY.

WE NEED COLLECTIVE ACTION AGAINST THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF COLONIZATION AND INSTITUTIONALIZED TERRORISM NOW.

INDIGENOUS ARMENIANS OF ARTSAKH ARE BEING ETHNICALLY CLEANSED FROM THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS AS YOU READ THIS AND THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION AND AWARENESS OF THIS HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE.

IF THE VALUES OF INTERDEPENDENCE, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY MEAN SOMETHING TO YOU, IGNORING THIS WOULD BE OUT OF INTEGRITY.

Slide 6 is a painting of an Armenian woman with tape across her mouth that reads “terrorist.” At the top, it reads: “seekwithser.substack.com.”

/End ID.]

[paperpressbooks]

paper press books & assoc. publ. co. at beast crawl literary festival in oakland july 27, 2024

Marhaba means welcome.

As a North African owned and operated press, Paper Press Books is proud to welcome you to a presentation of voices from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This marks the first such reading at Beast Crawl Literary Festival.

Colonial legacies continue to cast long shadows, shaping narratives that neglect the richness and complexity of our culture and literary heritage.

We are excited to showcase the talent and diversity of MENA writers. Join us for an evening of discovery and celebrate the power of these voices.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Every two years, the Department of Defense reviews its grand strategy in a report called the Defense Planning Guidance. The first draft of the report due in March 1992, just three months after the fall of the Soviet Union, laid out a bold new vision:

Our first objective is to prevent the reemergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This . . . requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[zestingbloodorange]

The thing that has been getting to me the most in these mental health conversations these days, is westerns who keep acting like we are being insensitive to their disabilities and mental health issues when we say it's not an excuse to be ignorant or to be silent and to do nothing and to keep a blind eye for comfort and for some to not to trauma dump on palestinians and on pro palestine people of color on social media.

People keep assuming that palestinians and pro palestine people from other parts of the region that have been destroyed by the west are able-bodied and have ok mental health just because they don't talk about it much or don't talk about it. we have suffered and we are suffering because it doesn't end with a ceasefire it doesn't end when you grow up it doesn't end when you leave the country it doesn't end when you get help it doesn't end even if you were born outside of those countries and never stepped a foot on your mother land it doesn't end.

and we are still privileged because palestinians in gaza are keeping us updated and are keeping up with the west bank and with the rest of the world whilst being under one the worst bombardments in history and going through a genocide that in itself should make you feel embarrassed to even bring this up.

I grew up with American airstrikes non stop dropping on my neighborhood and my SCHOOLS because we kept evacuating from schools because they kept getting bombed, watching my family and friends and classmates and my neighbors get kidnapped and killed get blown up to bits watching limbs fly into our house and into our school playgrounds then watch almost everyone i know that lived flee the country in the worst conditions possible then live through daesh...etc I could go on and on for months and I'm only in my early 20s and we didn't get mental or physical help. my uncle just died a couple days ago because of his disability he was poor and he got diagnosed way too late he lived such a hard life that when he died it was relief. most of us don't have access to the most basic human rights which medical help and therapy.

and we are expected to always be well spoken have patience and be comforting for people that we are spoon feeding information or otherwise we are aggressive and barbaric and ungrateful and we are pushing people away from our movements.

I keep seeing people send anons and dms of their suicidal thoughts because of the news to every palestinian i follow on every social media platform and some other pro palestine people of color including myself which is crazy because I don't even have a big following, the news that they have the privilege to turn off because for the gazillion time western countries are committing massacres far from the west especially americans who are in the stomach of the beast.

Have shame.

[tenth-sentence]

Muslim southwest Asia diverged rapidly from the flourishing Islamic Mediterranean.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[nonbinary-vents]

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

Noah Schnapp is a Moroccan Jew.

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

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

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

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

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

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"THE WORD "GABBEH" COMES FROM THE PERSIAN "گبه," MEANING RAW, NATURAL, UNCUT."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a colorful vintage gabbeh rug [No. 9], by Forsyth Art, Saint Louis, gallery & studio. Dimensions 60 x 80 inches.

"A gabbeh rug is traditionally a sleeping rug. The pile is thick and cozy and hand-spun and woven of 100% sheep's wool. These rugs is popular among the populations of the Zagros Mountains of Iran, including Kurdish, Luri and Qashqai people."

-- FORSYTH ART (gallery and studio)

Source: www.forsythart.com/collections/vintage-rugs/products/vintage-gabbeh-rug-no-9.

[therandomfandomme]

you know what, i feel for USAmericans, I do, and I'm devastated abt what this will mean and what impact this will have both for y'all and globally, however, kinda sick of everyone being in a state of mourning, as if elections like this haven't been happening everywhere and bigger tragedies aren't occuring, like it's not opression olympics or anything, but god, the world truly must stand still whenever something happens in the USA and it's annoying and exhausting sometimes

[cringefaecompilation]

People will complain up and down about how Laura isn't a lesbian or Liam isn't bisexual irl and wanting their fictional characters to be so is being disrespectful or some sort of parasocial line-crossing evil…

But unless Robbie says Dorian really likes fry bread or something people will act like his culture has zero impact on his character? Really?

liam literally also just had an entire candela chapter where he used his irish heritage to discuss class and trauma, so you can't even act like they never bring up their own cultures in their story, either.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Back in 1971, the editors of the magazine Scientific American invited the geoscientist Earl Cook to contribute to an essay that he called "The Flow of Energy in an Industrial Society." He included in it a diagram, much reprinted since then, showing best guesses at per-person energy consumption among hunter-gatherers, early agriculturalists (by which he meant the farmers of southwest Asia around 5000 BCE whom we met in Chapter 2), advanced agriculturalists (those northwest of Europe around 1400 CE), industrial folk (western Europeans around 1860), and late-twentieth-century "technological" societies. He divided the scores into four categories of food (including the feed that goes into animals whose meat is eaten), home and commerce, industry and agriculture, and transport (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1. The Great Chain of Energy in numbers: the geoscientist Earl Cook's estimates of energy capture per person per day, from the time of Homo habilis to 1970s America

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[zestingbloodorange]

If you need to come to the swana region yourself to start questioning the stereotypes made about us don't come.

[tenth-sentence]

The West long ago expanded from the original core in southwest Asia* to encompass the Mediterranean Basin and Europe, and in the last few centuries the Americas and Australasia too.

*What, since the nineteenth century, people have rather confusingly called the "Middle East."

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris