Don't blame humanity as a whole when capitalism and patriarchy are the villains

"donate to gaza" "humanitarian aid to gaza" "raise money for gaza" and egypt, gaza's neighbor that has the only border through which aid can get through, cannot currently get aid through to gaza because israel is refusing to let the trucks pass. the gate was supposed to open three hours ago in a deal struck between egypt and the US to let foreign gaza nationals out and humanitarian aid in. now israel is denying it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement: "There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out." and this is after israel bombed the border crossing three times in the past week. this is the reality that's happening right now. the tonnes of aid that countries are donating, the money the EU is promising, all of this is NOT GETTING THROUGH TO GAZA. if egyptians cannot get through to gaza, nobody can!!!!! the only fucking way this happens is through international pressure to hold israel accountable and that is currently not happening!!!

this is genocide. israel is a fascist state with genocidal maniacs in charge, and they want gazans obliterated, they want gaza gone. this is genocide happening right in front of us. and the entire first world has sanctioned it.

ONLY POLITICAL PRESSURE ON THE ISRAELI GOV IS GOING TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING RIGHT NOW:

USA Citizens sign here for a call to Congress: Stop the Gaza Genocide

UK Citizens sign this template to email your MP

canadian citizens sign here to email your mp

Good morning! Americans do not celebrate Labor Day on May 1st. It was moved by the government to distance the day from the actual labor movement that birthed it.

After the Haymarket Incident, the bomber(s) were not confirmed, but those in proximity to the labor protest—organizers, outspoken members—were executed for it.

1 cop was killed by the bombing, then the police opened fire into the crowd. As a result of the skirmish, 6 more cops were killed and so were 4 protesters.

The US government was already deeply deeply anti-labor and anti-union, blaming any movement on communist interference, and were looking for an excuse to condemn the movement.

Everything we have with regards to worker protections, not working weekends, the 5 day work week, we owe to the labor movement.

Good morning! Americans do not celebrate Labor Day on May 1st. It was moved by the government to distance the day from the actual labor movement that birthed it.

After the Haymarket Incident, the bomber(s) were not confirmed, but those in proximity to the labor protest—organizers, outspoken members—were executed for it.

1 cop was killed by the bombing, then the police opened fire into the crowd. As a result of the skirmish, 6 more cops were killed and so were 4 protesters.

The US government was already deeply deeply anti-labor and anti-union, blaming any movement on communist interference, and were looking for an excuse to condemn the movement.

Everything we have with regards to worker protections, not working weekends, the 5 day work week, we owe to the labor movement.

Watch Robert Reich explain why we need to make polluters pay

The fact that people are instantly making a threads account despite knowing how evil facebook(meta) is and all thier shady under the table and even over the table deals about collecting and selling data and about supporting multiple terrorist groups around the world and supressing anything that oppose that and deliberately spreading and fabricating misinformation that causes literal death to innocent people is just.....

Idk its giving" most people who claimed to care about human rights were just doing performative activism to fit in and once they found a new way to fit in they chucked that out the window"

Or maybe im Just reading to deep into it but either way threads and meta are evil and i hope more people realize that before they surrender themselves to that bullshit.

Dont forget that this is not a boycott and that as of right now, "not crossing the picket line" mainly refers to those within the industry not writing for, going into talks, or making deals with the companies that fall under the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing pretty much every large production company under the sun). As of right now there is no official boycott or call to cancel subscriptions. Boycotts on a large scale, unless officially called for, could do damage to the strike, whether through harming potential negotiations or preventing pay for striking workers through residuals and the like from projects that they've already worked on.

The best support for the strike right now will mainly come from social pressure on the AMPTP, and the official website (wgacontract2023.org) has a social media toolkit that includes info graphics, icons, and other material that can be posted online. There is also potential good to be done with monetary/mutual aid support in cities with a strong entertainment industry. The wga website has links to funds to help with financial aid for union members. Another post mentioned looking out for suggestions or news from local chapters of IATSE and Teamsters, which is a pretty great suggestion.

That said, I also think that as the strike goes on, this is a great time to seek out more indie entertainment. Tubi seems like sort of a haven for indie films right now, and my suggestion is always to look for titles you've never heard of just to give them a go. I promise you'll have fun!

Remember to support the strike, but also that the goal is to not have to strike! This is going to be a hard time for industry workers, but they're doing it for the good of the industry as a whole.

(Dating this on 5/3/2023. Look to the wga website for the most current news on the strike).

Edit: I originally wrote the MPAA instead of the AMPTP, whoops.

how to stand in solidarity with the WGA as non-screenwriting writers

if you're a writer with adaptable material, do not negotiate or even discuss contracts for adaptations with struck studios. do not sign documents. do not turn in materials.

if you have an agent and your agent has been negotiating, ask them to halt negotiations. don't provide struck studios with material while screenwriters are on strike!

I hope it goes without saying that you should not do any screenwriting for struck studios during the strike. if solidarity isn't a good enough reason for you not to take on projects, the WGA is apparently very strict and will not allow you membership in the future if you've scabbed in the past. additionally, there's a REASON the WGA is striking. if you think the studios are going to treat you any better than they do current members after you get a foot in the door as a scab, think again.

the WGA provides information about not crossing the picket line here.

you can also find a list of struck companies here. (it's a csv download just fyi, the actual list is not on the linked webpage)

finally: please remember during strikes to always listen to UNION asks!! unions know how to achieve what they want and will provide specific action items. when in doubt, boost their social media posts. listen to the union. do not take matters into your own hands and decide on actions that the union has not asked for. LISTEN TO THE UNION.

if you’re a Black female-presenting person in St. Louis, pls be safe there is a person (maybe multiple ppl) committing violent hate crimes (murder & other gun violence) specifically towards Black women in that area

more info here & here

contact the governor of MO at (573)-751-3222

contact the mayer of StL at (314)-622-3201

pls share Black women’s lives are in danger

[Transcript: Over the last day or so I've been seeing a lot, a lot of comments with the name Jelani Day, and I came across a video of Jelani's mother essentially begging for the media and for police to continue searching for her son. So this is Jelani Day, he also goes by JJ, 25 years old, 6'2", Black male, short black hair, he has a little bit of facial hair, and he weighs about 180 pounds.

Jelani was last seen on August 24th entering a dispensary called Beyond/Hello in Bloomington, Illinois. He was wearing a black shirt that has the Jimi Hendrix logo on it, white or silver basketball shorts, black shoes that have a silver or white bottom, and a blue Detroit Lions baseball cap.

Two days later on August 26th, Jelani's car was found in the woods almost an hour away in Peru, Illinois. In the car, they found that shirt that Jelani was wearing, the one with Jimi Hendrix, as well as his baseball cap. The license plate had also been removed from his car.

On September 4th, an unidentified body was also found in the same area in Peru, but police are still working on identifying the body and they have said to not speculate that it is Jelani. However, Jelani's mother has said that she feels like all investigations have ceased on her son's case after they found this unidentified body.

Jelani's mother describes her son as energetic and full of life, with so much ambition. She says he was just a normal guy who loved to live life and spend time with his friends and travel. He always kept in contact with his family and he would call her just to say he wanted to hear her voice. He was a first semester graduate student at Illinois State University. He was an incredible student with a high GPA, and he wanted to go on and get his doctorate and become a speech pathologist.

The Gabby Petito case has shown us that collective voice, people spreading accurate information, can help in cases like this. Jelani's mother is begging for help to help bring home her son, and she really feels that someone out there has to have some information on what is going on. Anyone with information, please contact the Bloomington police, and Jelani's mother has also hired a private investigator and she stated that if people feel uncomfortable talking to the police that they can speak to her directly, they can speak to the investigator, that anyone is available to speak at any time with details about her son. No detail is too small.

End transcript.]

Contacts:

Bloomington Police:

(309) 820-8888

Peru Police Detective Commander Dennis Hocking:

(309) 223-2151 ex. 2804

Detective Brad Jones:

(309) 223-2151 ex. 2816

Detective Paul Jones:

(309) 434-2548

pjones@cityblm.org

Family's Private Investigator:

(618) 223-0044

Finally a moment to show off my obsession with solarpunk!

“Overpopulation” is such an easy thing to brainwash people on. I used to believe this until somebody pointed out that you could double the living space of my hometown without developing more land by hypothetically adding one extra floor per building. Do this across the board and you’ve already ended homelessness- but thats not even considering all the millions of vacant buildings just lying around that could be used for housing (fill those up first).

Theres also a more sci-fi concept for incredibly tall, thick skyscrapers and artificial layered mountains that, to my knowledge, are completely within the realm of physical possibility and would house tens of thousands of people. Blueprints were drawn up in the 90s in a few different countries, like Sky City 100 in Japan

And the Ultima Tower in San Francisco

The designs are gathering dust and need proof-of-concept but the basic idea is contemporary: If youre a high-technology civilization and you have too many people, build UP, or DOWN, but never OUT. Then surround the towers with farming space and preserve the rest of nature. You could triple the global population if you wanted to, and not only would you be able to give all of those people the living space of a modest house, but youd actually vastly increase food production (which is already enough to feed all those people and can be doubled like OP said)

And if you still prefer living out in the country? Nobodys saying you can’t! It would barely affect current living accommodations, it would just make things easier for the current homeless and you wouldnt need to pay as much for food.

Or if you wanna look at something that we can 100% do now, literally just combine agriculture and architecture.

These are just concept art pieces of Forest Cities, but there are legitimate plans to begin building living spaces that use plants in their designs. Again, towers are more environmentally friendly than individual housing because you get vastly more living space per acre and if those buildings double as crop/oxygen production then youre basically supercharging nature by “overpopulating” humans.

Remember kids: We are the only species on earth that can not only intentionally save nature, but vastly increase its potential. When people talk about environmental issues and housing crisises by saying “the earth is dying because of human overpopulation,” they’re detracting from any real solution by saying that it’s actually your fault just for existing in a large species. Never listen to them.

Not only do we actually have enough resources to feed and house everyone in the world, the idea of “overpopulation” nearly always carries tones of racism and classism. It’s never (or almost never) wealthy white people saying that they themselves should have no kids/fewer kids in order to curb “overpopulation”. And I’ve never heard anyone call England or France overpopulated, for example. No, when people talk about “overpopulation” it’s often white people implicitly saying that non-white people, often in the global south, should have their reproduction limited or curtailed. In the rare instances when “overpopulation” is used to refer to white people, it always refers to poor/impoverished/working class white people. 

That is why people have started to name “overpopulation” concerns as ecofascism. Overpopulation is a key idea espoused by those who use fake environmental concerns to mask their desire to control or eradicate people of color and the poor.

(I know others have said this before me, but I want to make sure it’s discussed on this post so this is my summarization of the words of others)

On Wednesday, September 1, 2021, Texas’s new law, S.B. 8, went into effect. This law effectively bans abortion in the state AND asks private citizens to act as bounty hunters to “enforce” the law.

Then, in the dead of the night, the Supreme Court turned its back on 50 years of precedent, rendering Roe v. Wade effectively meaningless in Texas. The Supreme Court allowed Texas’s unconstitutional six week abortion ban to go into effect. Six weeks is before many people know that they’re pregnant.

This is an attack on human rights and Texas law sets a dangerous legal precedent and could clear a path for states to override people’s constitutional rights. If the courts let this bill stand we can expect to see similar bills introduced in states across the country.

Abortion is health care. Yet politicians are consistently attacking access to that care (even during a pandemic).

Tumblr, let's rally our voice and speak out against this ban.

Ways to take action:

i don’t normally like to add onto posts but i thought this thread was pretty insightful (link)

(via Jovishark)

Whatever you think of the music Imagine Dragons are exmormon and the lead singer is a huge donor to LGBT groups in Utah. His like sole political cause is like fighting the astronomically high lgbt youth suicide here in Utah. I fucking hate this webbed site

yeah, this tweet thread fucking sucks.

1. i don’t like Imagine Dragons’ music and i think it is arguable that much of it’s a commercial product, but their members are, as stated above, more or less ex-Mormon.

the lead singer, Dan Reynolds, has discussed his active struggle with his faith and the cult of Mormonism. leaving a cult--especially one that practices shunning--is extremely difficult and can take years. and yet, despite this, he’s made it his mission to help combat issues affecting the LGBT+ community, including conversion therapy, LGBT+ youth suicide, and LGBT+ homelessness.

he has been a consistent and active ally to the point that he has an annual music festival called Loveloud that is dedicated to raising awareness about LGBT+ issues, featuring and promoting LGBT+ artists, and raising money for several charities. he has also donated his own money to LGBT+ organizations and gave his $1 million childhood home to Encircle, an LGBT+ advocacy group in Utah.

the guitarist, Wayne Sermon, has also given talks at conferences dedicated to assisting Mormons in leaving the cult and healing from their trauma.

2. the Lumineers have a history of holding shows solely so they can donate all profits to various charities and causes, including Planned Parenthood in Texas after Republican efforts to defund PP, Dakota Access Pipeline protestors, and LGBT+ charities in North Carolina following the passing of anti-LGBT+ legislation. a lot of their music that doesn’t make it to the radio focuses on issues like poverty, the working class, addiction, and trauma.

3. Marcus Mumford has explicitly stated that he doesn’t actually identify as a Christian, despite using Christian imagery in some of his songs. a person’s parents being Evangelical conservatives should not be an indictment on them. he and the other band members also kicked out their guitarist when he started spewing alt-right talking points and supporting Andy Ngo. i’m still not totally sure i trust his politics--he strikes me as pretty centrist--but good lord, he’s not an Evangelical.

do y’all not realize that you’re allowed to dislike music for purely surface level reasons? like that it doesn’t have to be that it’s made by terrible people--you can just seriously not like how it sounds?

making up bullshit theories where you falsely charge people--especially people actively fighting for progress--with being part of some kind of conservative religious extremist conspiracy theory to justify “i don’t like how they sound” is fucking awful and appalling. go outside.

If you are American, PLEASE SUPPORT THE SSI RESTORATION ACT OF 2021

This new bill has been introduced in both the house and the Senate.

Among other things, it will:

For those unaware current regulations do a lot to oppress disabled people. In fact marriage equality doesn't even extend to disbled people who risk having their benefits reduced or outright taken away if they marry someone. This means that in common law states disabled people can't even live with their significant other or they risk losing their financial independence.

Current regulations mean that if you're disbled you can't have so much as one penny over $2,000 to your name. So buying a car and gaining more independence or freedom is largely out of the question for disabled people.

Current regulations penalize social security recipients who receive income from outside sources, even if those sources are reimbursement. Did you get paid to babysit for a few hours? That's income, and you get your benefits reduced. Did you loan a friend $10 and they pay you back? The government considers that $10 income, and you get your benefits reduced.

These aren't mere anecdotes - these are all examples of actual things that have happened to disbled people I know, and if you have any disabled friends in your life I'm sure they can tell you the same stories.

If you value marriage equality, if you value financial independence, if you value the rights of disbled people, please PLEASE support this bill! Contact your reps, vote, and make noise! This is a great thing!

I am once again asking you not to make fun of people on the internet for misinterpreting something or not knowing that it's satire, because even though you're an asshole regardless who you do it to, you most often end up ridiculing a neurodivergent person. and ableism is not a good look.

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Thinking Critically

Kendra Wells, Copyright 2021 - The Nib