hey reminder to continue boycotting eurovision and instead turn your eyes on gaza where the last media outlet al jazeera has just been shut down so that Israel can launch its attack on the most densely populated area in the world without scrutiny. Dont stop talking about Palestine

Vetted family fundraiser masterpost 1

Version date: May 7th 2024.

This is a masterpost for the evacuation fundraisers I've vetted so far. The numbers next to the names have no significance beyond ease of navigation for me for when I check their progress in the future. You should look at the disclaimers instead and focus on those. Occasionally I will update these with new info, including new fundraisers, and the amount of cash that's been raised. Check in regularly on the original post when you see it being reblogged. In all likelihood once its reached you it's already outdated. This post is part of this masterpost series compiling fundraisers for Ghazzah and Sudan. I focus on Ghazzah as I am Palestinian and am more equipped to do verifications as I'm more familiar with my own country and its politics and dialect, but if I know a fundraiser for a Sudanese family is legit I will include it here.

Ottawa4Palestine’s vetted fundraiser spreadsheet (76 different families with listed fundraisers)

I'm very tired of this "queer college students should stop supporting Palestine, they'd kill you there!" I watched a hijabi ask a trans man, "but what name do you want to go by?" A butch giving a woman their hoodie so that she could keep her hair covered after the cops took her scarf. Muslim girls making sure the lesbian couple got through the system together. Religious men making sure green haired protestors got out safe. A Palestinian girl with an ex-southern baptist fiance, who definitely isn't a practicing Muslim, whose parents were raising hell for her. I don't want to hear it. Solidarity forever, free Palestine.

This ^

And also, the group currently (and historically) most violently oppressing and murdering queer people in Gaza is the IDF. A queer person in Gaza has their freedoms most acutely violated on a daily basis by the state of Israel.

If someone wants to argue that Hamas is a bigoted organization, yeah, they are, but you CANNOT use that argument to shield the state of Israel; as though the queer Palestinians would be free to live their truth under Israel's apartheid, if only Hamas wasn't around.

Get rid of Hamas and queer Palestinians still do not have freedom of movement, freedom of return, equal rights under the law, or any fucking access to healthcare or education, because the IDF has systemically leveled all the schools and hospitals.

Israel's bombs do not magically curve around to miss the houses of lesbians, their warheads don't make exceptions for doctors who prescribe HRT, and their soldiers don't respectfully refrain from looting the belongings of trans people. There is, at present, one great enemy of queerness in Gaza, and its tanks are rolling into Rafah as we speak.

i couldn't even appreciate the artistry behind the clothing designs this year at the met gala because my bitterness and anger toward the exorbitantly wealthy has grown too much to be contained i try to say ooo pretty gown but all the black hateful bile starts oozing out from under the lid of its container. 7 months of genocide and the largest homeless camps my city has ever seen and food banks in the universities and baby formula locked behind glass and stomach gnawing guilt over a $7 latte and rent is always late and always behind on electricity bills uh ohhhh summer is here time for another wild fire. oooo pretty gown. the next met gala theme will be bear spray and what happens is i bear spray inside the gallery. i can't even force a sort of healthy detachment anymore like "haha oh well i guess that movie actor is rich it's not like they're an ultra wealthy bazillionaire oooo pretty gown" they're all worms to me vile beasts i look at them in their isolated imagine john lennon covid song bubble and i feeeeeel the milk of human kindness curdling within me. how can you smile at the camera. we are all dying girl. isn't there a protest not even a block away from you guys? protesters and riot cops and homeless ppl in the streets. i guess that's unfair you guys deserve a night of glitz and glamour and getting away from it all as if you're not constantly away from it all. girl we are dying. sick sick world. sick dying world. anyway i didn't watch the met gala this year

Lioness Steals a Photographer’s Camera, Gives It to Her Cubs as a New Toy

Photographing wild animals has certain risks. But often, the potential hazards are worth it—something photographer Barbara Jensen Vorster can attest to first hand. In July 2018, she was snapping pictures of a lion pride in Botswana, until a local lioness stole Vorster’s Canon 7D after she accidentally dropped it on the ground. (The “thud” piqued the big cat’s interest.) Luckily, Vorster had another camera on hand and captured what happened next.

Once the camera dropped, the lioness mother growled and approached Voster’s group. They withdrew to their vehicle and watched the drama unfold. “The camera fell with the lens looking up,” Voster recalled, “she gently flipped the camera on its side and picked it up by the barrel of the lens.” The lioness then brought it to her cubs who started to playfully pounce on it. “They dragged it through the dirt, chewed on the lens hood and then, fortunately, like most kids, soon grew tired with their new toy.”

Eventually, Voster was able to fetch her abandoned camera. She found that it still functioned fine, but the lioness left her signature. “There are two huge teeth marks on the rubber focus rings of the lens and small teeth marks on the plastic lens hood, both of which I decided not to replace.” She spent roughly £200 getting the camera fixed, but the cost was worth the photos she snapped that day. Calling it a “priceless experience,” she also puts it into perspective: “What photographer can boast that their lens had been in a lion’s mouth?”

Barbara Jensen Vorster: Instagram

https://mymodernmet.com/barbara-vorster-animals-playing-with-a-camera/

Aliens and Angels, article on my creatures by the talented Amanda Roach

I see the West has found a loophole for persecuting Jews while appearing to be progressive.

"In a historic “first-of-its-kind” agreement the government of British Colombia has acknowledged the aboriginal ownership of 200 islands off the west coast of Canada.

The owners are the Haida nation, and rather than the Canadian government giving something to a First Nation, the agreement admits that the “Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai” or the “islands at the end of world,” always belonged to them, a subtle yet powerful difference in the wording of First Nations negotiating.

BC Premier David Eby called the treaty “long overdue” and once signed, will clear the way for half a million hectares (1.3 million acres) of land to be managed by the Haida.

Postal service, shipping lanes, school and community services, private property rights, and local government jurisdiction, will all be unaffected by the agreement, which will essentially outline that the Haida decide what to do with the 200 or so islands and islets.

“We could be facing each other in a courtroom, we could have been fighting each other for years and years, but we chose a different path,” said Minister of Indigenous Relations of BC, Murray Rankin at the signing ceremony, who added that it took creativity and courage to “create a better world for our children.”

Indeed, making the agreement outside the courts of the formal treaty process reflects a vastly different way of negotiating than has been the norm for Canada.

“This agreement won’t only raise all boats here on Haida Gwaii – increase opportunity and prosperity for the Haida people and for the whole community and for the whole province – but it will also be an example and another way for nations – not just in British Columbia, but right across Canada – to have their title recognized,” said Eby.

In other words, by deciding this outside court, Eby and the province of BC hope to set a new standard for how such land title agreements are struck."

-via Good News Network, April 18, 2024

Press release by the Haida Nation about the vote

Two really great things about this:

1- they didn't have to go to court. Cases like this usually take years or decades and are incredibly expensive for First Nations, even if they win.

2- to quote the press release: "In the agreement, British Columbia recognizes and affirms that the Haida Nation has Aboriginal title to the lands of Haida Gwaii. This recognition does not create title – Haida Title is inherent." That's a big deal!! The difference between Canada granting title versus recognising Aboriginal title is incredibly important in matters of sovereignty. Haida sovereignty and Aboriginal title is inherent; it does not need to be "given" by the Canadian government.

The Changing of the Seasons By Saint Hildegard