Maybe this is just me but I am really surprised that 2023 was the first time a lot of people heard about Palestine because 2021 was when settlers tried expelling Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah - this then escalated to the IOF attacking Palestinians in Al Aqsa and throughout the country (almost 300 Palestinians in Gaza were killed and thousands were injured) - there were massive protests all over the world in response. 2021 really laid the foundations for everything that is happening now but it surprises me how little people actually mention the uprising then or were even aware it was happening.

When I say that 2021 laid the foundations for everything happening now, you don't have to look very far. Just as an example, the absolutely atrocious things happening on College campuses right now against pro-Palestinian students? Palestine Legal responded to 280 incidents of suppression of US-based Palestine advocacy in 2021 - 58% of which were related to targeted students and scholars at 81 different campuses. State and federal lawmakers introduced over 30 legislative measures in 2021 aimed at silencing, condemning, or punishing advocacy for Palestinian rights. Also in 2021, George Washington University banned trauma care services for Palestinians after the campus charter for Hillel said it was "harmful to Jewish students".

You can't even forget how in 2021 literal lynch mobs were going through the streets looking for Palestinians to attack - instances of Palestinian drivers being pulled out of their cars and beaten by mobs of settlers or Palestinian-owned businesses or homes being broken into or set on fire. they even mistook other Israelis for being Palestinian and beat them bloody in the streets. I still have a very vivid memory of seeing a video of a settler trying to run over Palestinians with his car in Al Quds and hit one man.

There were massive protests all over the world - around 200,000 people turned out for Palestine in London and there were large protests in major US cities - 2021 marked a huge surge in support of Palestine.

I'm not trying to belittle anyone who has learned about Palestine this past year, I'm glad you did, but I have a really hard time believing that so many people saw *nothing* during 2021.

because people are saying "germany has banned irish" or even "germany says the irish arent white" (literally please learn how to read): this is about the occupy against occupation camp for palestine in front of the bundestag and only affects the camp and surrounding areas. doesnt make it any better but the state or city have not just banned a language period and yes you can travel to berlin and speak your mother tongue

but why are they doing this? there are now so many protests and gathering for palestine around the city that the cops simply do not have enough translators to check if anything illegal or anticonstitutional is being said in arabic (and now in any other language because the protests are getting bigger and berlin is a very multinational country), but its not like they did only accurate translations before, they kept accusing people of saying things they did not say to denounce the protestors of course so its not like they are so interested in accurately following and representing the speeches and music on the camp site but its a requirement they got from the interior ministry for constitution protection nonetheless. they allowed arabic after 6pm that day because thats probably when they got to book a translator/get an arabic speaking cop on site.

for people asking for sources (youre not going to find this in a newspaper): go visit matt's page

TWO HOURS AGO: an incredible photo taken by a ut austin student capturing something deeply poetic in my opinion, a line of state troopers eagerly waiting to arrest student protesters standing just behind a sign that reads "what starts here changes the world. its starts with you and what you do each day."

the stuff going on at columbia campus rn is genuinely incredible

despite mass arrests by NYPD and several students (including rep ilhan omar’s daughter, isra hirsi) being suspended for their participation and having their university identification deactivated, the gaza solidarity encampment is still going strong well into its second day. def recommend following independent reporter talia jane who is taking part and providing live updates. (talia was the first reporter to break aaron bushnell’s self immolation in february; she was one of the reporters he contacted personally prior to the protest.)

thank you so much alexa @shivsblunt for mentioning it…..anyone who wants to contribute to their jail support fund can do so @ bcabolitioncollective on v*nmo. also, if anyone is in the area and available to join (via cssw4palestine on ig):

(x)

Mahmoud Darwish, Edward Said and Marcel Khalife. Too much in one picture. 

Salma Hayek casting Polaroid from the 90s

idk man the nervous system makes me kinda nervous

fell over

Tank (2003) - Palestinian Artist LARISSA SANSOUR

The Prestige, Hanif Abdurraqib

[ Text ID: the poem begins not where the knife enters / but where the blade twists. ] 

being in your early 20s is crazy bc there’s people who are literally married and people who’ve never even dated and people who are trapped in their childhood bedrooms waiting to get out and people who are trying to live out romanticized dream lives and people who are completely on their own and people with multi tiered support systems and we’re all supposedly peers and none of us think we’re doing it right at all

Love (2015), dir. Gaspar Noé

I think the best advice I ever got to stop myself from getting in my head over issues i was having with a partner/friend was “Are you deciding on ultimatums in your relationship without the other persons knowledge or consent? Are you having conversations in your head where the other party is a projection you supply the responses for? If so; you have done this person a huge disservice in not allowing them to answer on their own terms. You have done so much architecture around this problem in your mind that is impenetrable for anyone who was not there when it was being built.”

That shit really changed my life and honestly? I think made me a nicer person to be around.