Oil Paintings by Kristoffer Zetterstrand (2003)
Suzanne Treister
1991-1992
Fictional Videogame Stills
Dirona Albolineata
Jeff Goddard
Random PNGs, part 173.
(1. Gas mask dog (?), 2. Glass boots (?), 3. "Lapinou des cendres" by Hélène Loussier, 4. Shark-shaped stapler by Jac Zagory, 5. Penguin soap (?), 6. Pregnant keychain, 7. Halite, 8. Sculpture by Anna Dębska, 9. Stone carved hare (?))
“Despite the UN resolution calling for a ceasefire, the IDF ramped up bombings of Gaza on Monday night, describing them as the largest in weeks. Damage and loss of life was reported across the Gaza Strip, including 18 people, nine of them children, in an airstrike on one residential building in the northeast of Rafah.”
More profound when you consider that Doctors Without Borders rarely makes political statements.
In #UNSC mtg on Middle East, @MSF SG Christopher Lockyear says: "Israeli forces have attacked our convoys, detained our staff, bulldozed our vehicles, hospitals have been bombed and raided. And now for a second time, one of our staff shelters has been hit. This pattern of attacks is either intentional or indicative of reckless incompetence. Our colleagues in #Gaza are fearful that as I speak to you today, they will be punished tomorrow."
He adds: "The humanitarian response in Gaza today is an illusion. A convenient illusion that perpetuates a narrative that this war is being waged in line with international laws. Calls for humanitarian assistance have echoed across this chamber. Yet in Gaza we have less and less every day, less space, less medicine, less food, less water, less safety."
Specifically, Doctors Without Borders rarely makes political statements because doing so can jeopardize their ability to work in as many places as possible (including places controlled by incredibly shitty governments), and their one singular goal is to provide medical care wherever it's needed. They are extremely practical-minded as an organization and will, regardless of members' personal beliefs, avoid potentially offending people who have the ability to make their work more difficult/impossible. All they care about is getting doctors to the people who need the doctors. If they're doing this, it's because providing medical care in Palestine has become so difficult that calling on the global community for action gives them better odds of being able to do their jobs than avoiding offense to the Israeli government, possibly because offending the Israeli government can no longer make the situation worse than it already is.
At times, love is...
mfw im thinking about mapo tofu
A damaged wayside crucifix near Bellenglise being used to hold telephone wires, 9 October 1918.
wanting to talk to people is so fucking embarrassing. literally hi it's me again I wanted to have a conversation with you because I think you're fun to talk to. oh god you can just fucking kill me if you want sorry
The UN Security Council passes a ceasefire resolution for the month of Ramadan
Reminder that we are ~two weeks away from the end of the month of Ramadan
If Israel abides by this, it is imperative that we continue advocating and agitating until it is a PERMANENT ceasefire in Gaza
Nimer Sultany points out two unfortunate problems with this resolution.
(1) There's 15 days more for Ramadan to end which is not enough to address the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe. I doubt it's enough to even fix it to at least a significant amount.
(2) Release of hostages will be pressured more onto Hamas than the thousands of Palestinians detained in Israel. I believe this will cause an imbalance where a significant number of Israeli hostages might be released even if the Palestinians in Israel are not.
He also states that the language of ceasefire obscures Israel's obligations and that there is no need for a ceasefire resolution for Israel to not weaponize starvation. He points out to a UNSC resolution from 2018 regarding that
i do think there is a degree to which certain kinds of Instagram activists have convinced themselves that traumatising themselves in solidarity is a useful form of activism. "I'm having nightmares and crying so much I want to be sick because of all these videos of dying children but I can't look away while people are getting hurt" I mean don't you think you'd be able to help more if you weren't having nightmares and crying all the time?? don't you think this is a one-way trip to burnout? don't you think maybe increasing the amount of trauma going around is counterproductive? I dunno bro there's something to be said for bearing witness but there comes a point where you gotta look hard at yourself and go "am I helping, or am I just making myself suffer so I don't feel guilty for not suffering while somebody else is experiencing bad shit"
"Absolutely no one comes to save us but us."
Ismatu Gwendolyn, "you've been traumatized into hating reading (and it makes you easier to oppress)", from Threadings, on Substack [ID'd]
HEY wanna read but annoyed on where to find copies of books?
from a foggy february first
2/1/2020