Avatar

Getting Involved Masterpost

I’ve been compiling links to resources and organizations that are doing important work to support the most vulnerable people during this pandemic. If you’ve been feeling helpless to fight all the awful things that are happening, here’s some ways you can help. Do what you are able to - donating, volunteering, protesting, joining a union, contacting your government representatives, and simply spreading information are all good actions to take right now.

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief - resources for getting involved in mutual aid efforts. https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/collective-care/

Mutual Aid Hub - map for locating mutual aid resources and groups in your area that you can donate to or get involved in. https://www.mutualaidhub.org/

Never Again Action - organization fighting against ICE detention centers. https://www.neveragainaction.com/

Feeding America - all food banks are in desperate need of support right now, donate or find your local food banks here. https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank

Black and Pink - organization for prison abolition and support for incarcerated ppl who are LGBT/HIV+. https://www.blackandpink.org

Movimiento Cosecha - organization for undocumented immigrants, in need of donations. https://www.lahuelga.com/

Indigenous Mutual Aid Directory - resource for indigenous-led mutual aid groups. https://www.indigenousmutualaid.org/

COVID-19 Sex Worker Harm Reduction Resources (U.S. Based) - google doc of resources for sex workers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GpmUbu7UDCKtbnsBwImFLQtXzHLlZ6FYPY_NjJvyiFs/edit

It’s Going Down - information, news, current actions, and resources about anti-capitalism and mutual aid. https://itsgoingdown.org/

Detention Watch Network - coalition against ICE detention camps. https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/covid-19

Amnesty International - campaign to end human rights abuses. https://www.amnesty.org/

Food Not Bombs - organization providing food and supplies to people in need. http://foodnotbombs.net/new_site

General Strike 2020 - information about the general strike that is being organized in many places on May 1st, as well as other labor and rent strikes. https://www.genstrike.org/may-day-guide/

IWW - International Workers Union https://iww.org/

ResistBot - service that makes it easy to contact your representatives (USA) about important issues. https://resist.bot

Please reblog this, and if anyone has more links to share, please add on!

Avatar
When we talk about climate justice, we should rightfully attack governments in polluting nations for their failure to deliver concrete policies that would deliver a rapid decarbonisation and a just transition for workers. But to build a more caring world that enshrines justice and prosperity for all, we must also work tirelessly to prevent the billionaire and millionaire classes from pursuing their planet-killing lifestyles with reckless abandon. It’s been said before, but only class war can save the planet.
Avatar
reblogged

I know that it is hard for a lot of people with religious trauma to accept. But Christianity wasn't necessarily universally forced upon ancient Europeans. I mean, yes, sometimes it was (especially if it was intertwined with competing political forces... like in Poland). But it was also very common that people just willingly converted. I think people have the right to grieve, I suppose, for their loss of what we call now call pre-christian "Paganism." However I find it incredibly frustrating that white American neo-pagans claim that they are somehow equally victims of the Church's role in colonization and violence as indigenous people are.

I just think it is in very bad taste to compare the Christianization of Europe to Western colonial violence.

Plus neopaganism isn't actually the same religion as ancient paganism, it's a reconstruction.

And this doesn't make it any less valid as a belief system, to be clear, but it does mean that modern neopagans can't really claim stuff like the Christianisation of Europe or the witch trials of the 17th century as some sort of generational trauma that affected them specifically.

Like, the vast majority of witch trial victims would have probably identified as Christian if you asked them. They might not have identified as American Evangelical Protestants (which I swear this site thinks of as the only type of Christianity), and they might also have believed in the existence of magic and magical beings, but they would probably have called themselves Christians.

The pagans of ancient Europe might have worshipped the same gods as neopagans do today, but they wouldn't necessarily recognise the methods of worship or the modern interpretations of said gods.

And if you're going by ancestry, the Christianisation of Europe happened long ago that for the most part people who claim to be descended from the ancient pagans are also going to be descended from the Christian colonisers, because the two populations merged and started intermarrying hundreds of years ago.

The Christianisation of Europe was violent in many cases, but modern Europeans can't really claim to have the same trauma from that as indigenous people from colonised countries. Like the Christianisation of Europe ended in the middle ages, Western colonial violence is still happening and affecting people today.

(Also, while there are indigenous groups in Europe that face discrimination (like the Sami people of Finland) and even in the UK there have been/still are attempts to kill off indigenous languages like Welsh and Gallic, there are also a ton of people over here who will use stuff about 'indigenous European' culture and beliefs to justify straight up racism and xenophobia.

Like, the last time a British person tried to tell me about 'the old songs that connected us to the land' they were explaining why they thought black people shouldn't be shown in the John Lewis Christmas advert. There is a reason why neopaganism has a White Supremacy problem, and it's something to be… wary of in conversations like this.)

Avatar
reblogged

DIRECTORY OF CRIMINAL SYSTEM BAIL FUNDS

National organizations funding bail across the U.S.

Local organizations funding bail for immigrants

Arizona Tucson Second Chance Bail Fund Colorado Colorado Freedom Fund California Bay Area Immigration Bond Fund Immigrant Families Defense Fund The Orange County Justice Fund Connecticut Connecticut Bail Fund Immigrant Bail Fund Florida LGBTQ Freedom Fund Hawaii Hawaii Community Bail Fund Illinois Champaign County Bailout Coalition Chicago Community Bond Fund Iowa Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project Kentucky Louisville Community Bail Fund Louisiana New Orleans Safety & Freedom Fund YWCA Greater Baton Rouge Community Bail Fund Massachusetts Massachusetts Bail Fund Minnesota Minnesota Freedom Fund Nebraska Omaha Freedom Fund Nevada Vegas Freedom Fund New York City Bronx Freedom Fund Brooklyn Community Bail Fund Lorena Borjas Community Fund WSLS Bail Fund New York State Columbia County Bail Fund EOC of Suffolk Inc. Charitable Bail Fund OAR of Tompkins County Bail Fund Syracuse Jail Ministry North Carolina Southern Coalition for Social Justice Bail Fund Alamance County Community Bail Fund North Carolina Community Bail Fund of Durham Oregon Portland Freedom Fund Pennsylvania Dauphin County Bail Fund Philadelphia Community Bail Fund Philadelphia Bail Fund Tennessee Hamilton County Community Bail Fund Memphis Community Bail Fund Nashville Community Bail Fund Texas Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee Fianza Fund Community Bail Fund of North Texas Virginia Richmond Community Bail Fund Roanoke Community Bail Fund Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund Washington Northwest Community Bail Fund Wisconsin Free the 350 Bail Fund

DIRECTORY OF IMMIGRATION BOND FUNDS National organizations across the U.S.

Avatar
Avatar
stay-human

This is a non-exhaustive list of brands to boycott if you would like to participate in the Palestinian call for global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli occupation. I've excluded security, construction, etc. firms that cannot be boycotted in an individual capacity. However, pressuring governments & other organisations to refuse contracts to those firms is an integral part of the BDS movement. Will also try to make seperate posts on how to add your voice to the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

On another note, Coca-Cola and Nestle belong on every boycott list. Not just because they are complicit in the Israeli occupation but also because they have committed some of the worst human rights violations the world over. Coca-Cola has gone as far as having Union leaders murdered. Both Coca-Cola and Nestle steal water supplies and create water insecurity in already marginalised regions among many, many other crimes. I did not include them in the list because I am aware of how overwhelmed people become when they see those two companies and all their endless subsidiaries and I wanted to keep the list targeted on companies that have been the specific focus of the Palestinian BDS movement.

I have also excluded some brands that are often on older BDS lists, like McDonald's, because over the years they have stopped engaging in the activity that resulted in their boycott or have simply fallen to a lower priority because their relatively lower level of involvement compared to the brands that are our focus.

That being said, I hope this list will serve as a place to start. As always, do your own research to make informed decisions. For more information, you can also visit bdsmovement.net and bdslist.org

Avatar
Avatar
rukunas

important !! please read and reblog !!

it’s unfair of us to have platforms and not use it to speak up for palestinians. i have resources provided below for how you can educate yourself on the ethnic cleansing that is happening in israel right now and how you can help.

educate yourself
  • thread on what is occurring in sheikh jarrah, another thread
  • thread of infographics about misconceptions regarding israel and palestine
  • tw bombing video of al aqsa mosque being bombed
  • tw violence, tw bombing, tw shooting video of palestinians in al aqsa mosque
  • tweet explaining importance of al aqsa
  • a website where you can learn more about palestine
  • a video breaking down the history of the israeli oppressing palestinians
  • video of palestinian explaining the importance of spreading awareness
  • tw violence video of 16 yo palestinian boy being forcefully evicted from his home by israeli solders
  • tiktok of palestinian speaking about what is going on in her country. please see the links in her bio for more information— tiktok will not let me copy and paste her linktree
  • tiktok of palestinian speaking on situation in gaza
  • instagram page for jewish voices for peace, an organization working for liberation and justice for palestine
free ways to help if you cannot donate
  • do NOT sign petitions !! they are not accounted for in the middle east and do nothing.
  • simply go to this website and click
  • watch this video to donate, it’s 3 hours long but just playing it in the background can help
  • watch this video to donate, it’s 1 hour long but just playing it in the background can help
  • if you are from the U.K., follow these instructions to call local MPs into action
  • if you are from the U.S., text RESIST to 50409 to urge congress to help palestine
  • thread of dua’as muslims can make to pray for palestinians
  • boycott israeli products
donate— it is better to donate directly to people rather than organizations, but i do have a few organizations listed.

i’ll add more links as i continue to find reliable sources and proper donations. please dm me other resources and i can add them to this list. if anything here is not trustworthy, please let me know immediately and i will take it down. free palestine until it’s backwards, pray for palestinians who do not know whether they will be safe in their own country.

last but not least, if you are a zionist, unfollow me immediately. i don’t need you on my tumblr. and do not use what is happening in palestine right now to be anti-semitic.

Avatar
Avatar
lgbtmazight

the cognitive dissonance displayed in some posts about palestine by white americans etc is absolutely fucking astounding. i really really need you to understand that the horrific genocidal process of land expropriation we are witnessing in sheikh jarrah is how all of israel was settled, how every settler colony was established, and that that violence and theft are ongoing not just in occupied palestine but where you live. in the united states and canada and australia and new zealand and new caledonia and french polynesia and the french antilles and and and. and that if you don't understand settlerism, the ideology behind it and the mechanisms through which it is enacted; if you do not see the material connection between standing rock and gaza, you cannot be effective allies to palestinians because you do not actually understand what is happening in palestine. that the dispossession and murders have an end goal, and it is the establishment of a colonial state that looks like yours. of a country where natives don't exist, or exist in such minuscule numbers that large scale resistance becomes impossible. the end goal is annihilation. what appears like "senseless" brutality does have a purpose, and it is a purpose that is fundamentally incompatible with the existence of palestinians. and when you see pictures and videos from jerusalem, you need to remember that the land you are standing on was and continues to be settled through the same processes. not so that you can feel useless guilt, not to derail from the urgency of the situation in palestine; but specifically so that you can contextualize the genocide of palestinians and where it fits in the colonial timeline. so that you can understand talks of two state solutions and nuance and "both sides" the same way you understand manifest destiny and unceded land and one-sided treaties. and so that you can finally develop an internationalist political approach to indigenous struggle and liberation and imperialism, and start fighting the correct enemies where you live in the belly of the beast, because that is what you have to offer and what will help colonized people everywhere.

Avatar
Avatar
rukunas

important !! please read and reblog !!

it’s unfair of us to have platforms and not use it to speak up for palestinians. i have resources provided below for how you can educate yourself on the ethnic cleansing that is happening in israel right now and how you can help.

educate yourself
  • thread on what is occurring in sheikh jarrah, another thread
  • thread of infographics about misconceptions regarding israel and palestine
  • tw bombing video of al aqsa mosque being bombed
  • tw violence, tw bombing, tw shooting video of palestinians in al aqsa mosque
  • tweet explaining importance of al aqsa
  • a website where you can learn more about palestine
  • a video breaking down the history of the israeli oppressing palestinians
  • video of palestinian explaining the importance of spreading awareness
  • tw violence video of 16 yo palestinian boy being forcefully evicted from his home by israeli solders
  • tiktok of palestinian speaking about what is going on in her country. please see the links in her bio for more information— tiktok will not let me copy and paste her linktree
  • tiktok of palestinian speaking on situation in gaza
  • instagram page for jewish voices for peace, an organization working for liberation and justice for palestine
free ways to help if you cannot donate
  • do NOT sign petitions !! they are not accounted for in the middle east and do nothing.
  • simply go to this website and click
  • watch this video to donate, it’s 3 hours long but just playing it in the background can help
  • watch this video to donate, it’s 1 hour long but just playing it in the background can help
  • if you are from the U.K., follow these instructions to call local MPs into action
  • if you are from the U.S., text RESIST to 50409 to urge congress to help palestine
  • thread of dua’as muslims can make to pray for palestinians
  • boycott israeli products
donate— it is better to donate directly to people rather than organizations, but i do have a few organizations listed.

i’ll add more links as i continue to find reliable sources and proper donations. please dm me other resources and i can add them to this list. if anything here is not trustworthy, please let me know immediately and i will take it down. free palestine until it’s backwards, pray for palestinians who do not know whether they will be safe in their own country.

last but not least, if you are a zionist, unfollow me immediately. i don’t need you on my tumblr. and do not use what is happening in palestine right now to be anti-semitic.

Avatar

Solarpunk Action Week 2021

It’s that time again, space cadets!

Solarpunk Action Week has been ongoing twice a year since 2019, with every week looking bigger and better than the last. People all over the world are planting gardens, learning new skills, building things, reducing waste, spreading information, taking direct action, and getting their neighborhoods and workplaces organized. We, your humble hosts, have consulted the auguries and scheduled Solarpunk Action Week 2021 for:

April 25th to May 1st!

Mark your calendars, kids

What is Solarpunk?

Solarpunk is  a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion and  activism that  seeks to answer and embody the question “what does a  sustainable  civilization look like, and how can we get there?” The  aesthetics of  solarpunk merge the practical with the beautiful, the  well-designed  with the green and wild, the bright and colorful with the  earthy and  solid. Solarpunk can be utopian, just optimistic, or  concerned with the  struggles en route to a better world — but never  dystopian. As our  world roils with calamity, we need solutions, not  warnings. Solutions  to live comfortably without fossil fuels, to  equitably manage scarcity  and share abundance, to be kinder to each  other and to the planet we  share. At once a vision of the future, a  thoughtful provocation, and an  achievable lifestyle.”

And what is Solarpunk Action Week?

Solarpunk  Action Week is a week dedicated to taking radical environmentalist and anticapitalist action to make the world a better place.  Previous Action Weeks have seen people starting gardens, learning new skills, making and repairing things, reducing waste, spreading information, getting involved in community organizing

All you have to do participate is begin or continue with an environmentalist, anticapitalist project and talk about it in the #SolarpunkActionWeek tag; it’ll get a lot of signal boosts to connect with other people around the world doing the same. &and follow along on Mastodon at @SolarpunkActionWeek@ecosteader.com

- - -

The previous Solarpunk Action Weeks saw a lot of individual actions, and those were incredible to witness, but we’re at our most powerful when we come together, so your homework for the next 6 months between now and the end of April is: Get organized! If we were able to do so much as individuals back in March, just imagine what you could get done rolling into Solarpunk Action Week with a crew ready to go

If you’re new to organizing, here are some great places to get started:

Can’t find anything in your area? Start something yourself!

And I’m sure people will link to all sorts of other great projects and resources in the rebagels, so keep an eye on the notes!

If you’re already part of a union or a tenants’ association or what have you, even better! Get them in on it.

What can I do?

So many things! You can check out the #SolarpunkActionWeek tag to see what others have done in the past for inspiration. The two dinguses organizing these events have got resource tags full of just so many things you might could do and how to get started on them, here and here respectively. And here are some other fun ideas:

Get out there and invent the future, space cadets, because we have a world to win. I know y’all are gonna make me proud; y’all always do.

If you want to keep up with/support the mods between Action Weeks, here’s our info:

Natalie: Mastodon, tumblr (resources tag), Patreon, cashapp $NatalieIronside, buy Natalie’s book

“We have always lived in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how to accommodate ourselves for a time. For, you must not forget, we can also build. It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute.“ 
–Buenaventura Durruti
Avatar
reblogged
Avatar
lovecorekiss

Your trauma from Christianity isn’t an excuse to be antisemitic, you just suck. Judaism and Christianity are nothing alike. Just because you’re pagan now doesn’t mean you get to be a bigot.

and please for the love of God stop acting like you know anything about Jewish tradition just because you grew up Christian.

Avatar
"This thesis examines the discourse surrounding cultural appropriation in contemporary witchcraft and neopaganism, particularly online. The aim of this thesis is to look at how cultural appropriation became such a central topic in the witch and neopagan community and to see what can be learned about the community as a whole from this discourse. Definitions, neutralization techniques, and the development of alternative practices and terminologies are all discussed, as well as how cultural appropriation relates to the history of witchcraft as a whole. Seven witch/neopagan members of the popular blogging platform tumblr.com were interviewed for this study to examine how the discourse affected them in their personal lives and spiritual practices. Their experiences are examined in relation to the culture of tumblr as a whole and in the context of the history of modern witchcraft and neopaganism."

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IN CONTEMPORARY WITCHCRAFT AND NEOPAGANISM by Kathryn A. Gottlieb (links to free .PDF)

Avatar
"When we are respecting someone or something, we pay it attention and give it deference. We do not interact casually or take advantage of something or someone we respect. As white witches in America, we need to respect that BIPOC magical practices are not simply there for our taking, to be grafted into our workings because we think they are powerful or exotic. We need to know and understand the provenance of the magic we seek to practice, and make sure that we are seeking to acquire the wisdom embedded in these practices in legitimate ways from teachers who are authentic practitioners, and that we are not looking for shortcuts that trivialize or fetishize BIPOC people and cultures. This involves, first and foremost, asking hard questions when white people appear to be making a profit from selling BIPOC magical practices."
Avatar
reblogged

Antisemitism in Witchy Spaces

I decided to start writing down every time I saw/experienced something in hopes that it will help shed light on some specific stuff Jewitches go through. My hope is that people will see antisemitism as a community-wide issue and not the fault of just a few individuals. We all play a part in making it better.

  • Facebook Witch Group: post is made by a user with a profile picture of a clear nazi swastika. After being notified, admin declares the user is allowed to stay because the group is a “judgement free zone.”
  • Facebook Witch Group: Jewitch witches were assumed white by default and pitted against other groups, as if Jewish people are leveraging their identity to “play up” their own oppression and undermine others. Many openly Jewish witches are harassed out of the group.
  • A witchy discord group implements a rule that outlaws all mention of all closed practices (including Judaism) “to protect from appropriation,” even if the person has legitimate claim to the practice. When I pointed out this basically forced me into hiding, admin says, “you can be Jewish. Just not here.”
  • A user identified themselves as a Kabbalist. Later in the discussion, they were surprised to learn Kabbalah was Jewish in origin, admitted they didn’t know a single Jewish person in real life, and argued that Kabbalah couldn’t be that bad because Arianna Grande also used it. (”Are you saying she’s wrong too??”)
  • Another user is called out for appropriating Kabbalah and proceeds to sling antisemitic jokes until they are banned.
  • Just. So many more people appropriating Kabbalah and just becoming really nasty towards any Jewish person that expresses discomfort. (Including one person that even gave themselves a Hebrew username)
  • A group of users too big to argue with talking about how amaaaazing working with Lilith is. A few Jewish folks respectfully ask them to be mindful of her origins. They’re not given attention. (Or what attention they are given is only to debate her origin.)
  • Discord server has rooms for every major subcategory of Paganism and one room for “Abrahamic.” Christian witches completely dominate the conversation.
  • I mention on my blog that I am a proud Jewish person. One of the comments shortly after is “go be Jewish in Israel.”
  • A Nazi sympathizer joins a Discord group, reveals themselves, is banned, and proceeds to try and join again over and over again through different accounts.
  • I’m checking my blog activity and see a nazi witchy blog had gone through my blogged and liked a ton of stuff so I’d be sure to see their username (they did this to other notable tumblr blogs as well.) Looking at their bio revealed their agenda of proving Nazis “weren’t all bad,” and their dash included an open invite to a holocaust denial discord server.
  • A tumblr thread gets big of a bunch of witches arguing to cancel the word Sabbat because of supposed antisemitic origins. Jewish people chime in to insist that we really don’t give a shit about Wiccans using the word Sabbat, and not to speak over Jewish people and declare what we’re offended by. Tumblr arguments ensue.
  • I get “called out” for baking challah. That’s not antisemitism but it made me laugh really hard. (It’s okay for goyim to bake bread, obviously. Just don’t be weird about it.)
  • “High magic” and ceremonial practitioners ignoring or brushing off their tradition’s origin in blatant appropriation.
  • A user shares a magical chant to a group for everyone to use. The chant is in Hebrew. It includes a name of Gd. They didn’t realize that was a part of it.
  • Another discord group asserts in the rules that members of closed cultures may be openly themselves and discuss their craft, but not in an educational way. A mod practices exclusively Hermetic Kabbalah. I don’t have the strength to get into it. (Thankfully we had an actually decent discussion but it still made me feel kinda shitty.) 

Everyone is free to reblog. Jewish witches, please feel free to add your own experiences! 

Avatar
"Another thing to re-think about is how modern American pagans build their relationship with the land itself, and with our ancestors. Pagans making offerings to the spirits of the land is nothing new. Pagans revering ancestors is a time-honored practice. But when we do that, do we really understand the full history of that land, including it’s colonization? Do we understand the intersection between our ancestors and those who were enslaved or subjected to oppression? Every lineage and every land has a history and not all of it is sunshine and roses. Even white people like me who didn’t have ancestors who owned slaves have ancestors who have benefitted from racial discrimination. And as I have discussed before, ancestors can be problematic for all kinds of reasons, and one does not need to dig too far back into our personal histories to find individuals who are problematic if not downright awful. Deciding what to do with that context around who you are and the things you value is difficult and an individual process. But once you are aware of that context, ignoring it is no longer a credible option."
Avatar
"We also need to be aware that as practitioners of earth based spiritual traditions, our worship and practice spaces might not be as hospitable to and inclusive of BIPOC people as we think they are. We take it for granted when we hold a festival in a local campground that everyone feels comfortable and welcome there. Not many white folks realize that access to public outdoor spaces can be a different proposition for Black people. Black people camping on campgrounds have found themselves harassed at gunpoint as “trespassers” and in many instances were historically excluded from camping in state and even national parks. Going off into the woods with a bunch of white people might not feel the same to a Black man as it does to you. Are you doing everything you can to assure Black attendees feel safe coming to your events and rituals? Have you even considered whether a Black attendee might feel unsafe at your events or rituals?"
You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.