i hate nature conservation under capitalism. only the most marketable aninals like pandas and baby koalas and shit get any help. vultures arent pretty but they are essential to their ecological niches and they are critically endangered. everyone fucking hates bugs and frogs and pulmonates and are fine with them being endangered but like. you like robins and finches and swans? how about cute little foxes? how about beautiful flowers and trees? bet you like eating chicken and fish! They all need bugs and cant exist without them. there is no way of predicting the damage that the loss of a species could be, because ecological niches are extremely complex and intertwined.
They have always wanted us dead, and have always enacted that necropower through micro-ecologies of control. That said, now that the US’s inherent micro-fascism is crystalizing into macro-fascism that necropower is on spectacle for all of politics to see. The eradication of difference, in this case transness, will take place on the big screen and the crowds will be frothing at the mouth to see it’s completion.
Probably the saddest sign of our times is how many people respond with complete bewilderment if you mention direct action. Cutting border fences? punching nazis? sharing resources? blocking arms transports? building alternatives? They’re not even outraged, they’re just confused.
It’s like they’re so caught up in the spectacle of petitions, calling senators, ‘awareness’ and media visbility that they’ve completely forgotten that you can also just do shit without begging for permission.
Seriously, we’ve been so conditioned to seek permission for literally anything that the idea of just doing something yourself is seen as utterly unfeasible, pie in the sky, nonsense.
I for one am a huge believer in direct action and just making the changes we want to see instead of asking the powerful to implement them.
Want to house the homeless? Occupy some abandoned buildings. Want to replace your yard with a vegetable garden? Get you hands on some seeds and plant that shit. We can accomplish so much more by doing instead of begging.
I, for one, would just like to say it’s a bad idea to do the whole punching Nazis thing. There’s nothing worse than being sued by a Nazi and having them win and fuck up your life.
On Tumblr I see a lot of concern about safety under every single post about direct action and honestly, that’s good. Looking out for each other is good, wanting to keep each other safe is good.
Because yeah, direct action can be very dangerous. But it’s a good thing some people are willing to do dangerous things to change the world. Because you know what else is very dangerous? Letting nazis organize. Allowing weapon transports to pass. Allowing border fences to stand. These things are deadly. And conversations or petitions are never going to stop them. Pretty much the only time governments do what nice activists want is when they’re worried about what the not-so-nice activists will do if they don’t change a thing.
So I would respond to the need for safety not with inaction but with prepared action and security culture. Which means shit like cover your face, don’t bring your phone, have a getaway plan, make your plans offline, understand how modern surveillance techniques work, gather intel on nazis before deciding who to punch, never brag about what you did, leave out that comrade that can’t punch nazis without bragging about it, have a good lawyer to back you up if things do go wrong. And more.
And important: work with experienced activists and choose an action that matches your experience level. It’s probably not a good idea to go from handing out leaflets to a prison break, or to make the G20 your first blackbloc experience. Start small, start local. But do something.
Also, do what you feel ypu can handle. Like, yeah, I’m the person who can barely keep it in when they’ve done something. How I control that is having one or two designated people I know and trust with my life to tell. I am best utilized as support and research or intel and planning/strategizing. Those are what I’m good at. I can strategize and give excellent strategic advice. But I am not the one you want actually out there doing it.
When I got caught lifting and my backpack had been left behind (with identifying information and my medications), I ran to my friend’s house who I know lifts and got a ride elsewhere. And I ended up getting things back through careful planning, but the fact is that I made a mistake. I make mistakes in the moment but planning is where I shine. I can see a potential landmine problem a mile away and come up with a patch/remedy or alternative plan.
I am good at strategizing. But I’m bad at the actual action. And that’s okay. We all just have to play to our strengths. We’re all different and we won’t all be able to do the same things.
YES. YES. YES.
Also:
High stress actions become easier with time and slow build up. Jumping into a high stress action without experience can knock you off your feet. It takes time to build resilience.
Having a solid base in your life (supportive friends, a safe home, a rhythm that involves enough sleep and good food, time for yourself, creative outlets, etc) is an important part of being able to do high stress activism.
Having a good safety net on the day of the action (like a coördinator team, a legal team, a medic team and a psych help team)
is an important part of being able to do high stress activism.
Information and training go a long way. Knowing what to expect when arrested makes it easier to take risks that might result in arrest. Crossing a police line together to retrieve an arrested comrade is a highly coordinated move that can be done if it is trained properly.
The best way to train, exchange information, create safe lines of communication and take care of each other before, during and after an action is to form an affinity group
Always have at least one protest buddy.
And so on.
Take action safely, but take action! I’ve found myself caught in the trap of talking myself out of action when I could’ve & should’ve taken action. I think it happens to all of us. It’s really important to remember that taking action, on whatever scale, is far better than taking no action out of fear of punishment.
If there’s too many people out for graffiti? Hand out some zines or fliers. Too many cops at a demo to realistically evict Nazis? Record some license plates & get some pictures.
Remember that there more to direct action than violence and that every action must be prepared for appropriately. Do do something stupid but make sure you do SOMETHING.
The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret Wars of Domestic Dissent (PDF)- A breakdown of how the government attacked and sapped the strength of the Puerto Rican Independence movement, American Indian Movement, black liberation, and left organizers. Important because you can read what those crushing our comrades wrote of their own tactics.
If a Tree Falls (Documentary) – Coverage of the ELF arsons (on logging sites, horse slaughterhouses, etc – no one died), including interviews with the arsonists and investigators. Extremely important that you see the version that includes how that direct action black bloc was made (one member who’d been addicted to heroin was made to snitch by cops lying to him, then he wore a wire and visited his friends).
The Newburgh Sting (Documentary) – How the FBI used an informant to set up four impoverished black muslims in New York. Link is to the preview (which is 2 hours). Gives information on how to spot an informant.
Trust friends, be cautious of strangers (especially if they suggest you do anything illegal), and read into security culture. Direct action gets shit done.
I can’t fucking believe I’m reblogging George W Bush.
I can’t believe it either. Hell has frozen over.
you know the world is fucked when you agree with G.W Bush
I am lost and confused. How has my life come to this?
Did he really say that?
Look, Bush was bad. We all know it. He did bad things as president that I strongly disagree with. And there were many bad presidents before him. But that is the difference between what has come before and what we’re living through now.
We have had bad presidents. We have never had a president who is not only so utterly unqualified for the job as to be laughable, but also clearly has no respect for the office, or indeed any of the fundamental institutions that make up the foundation of our government.
There is a difference between a president who does bad things that have harmful results for the American people and a president who seems to be hellbent on becoming a fascist dictator as quickly as possible. There are literal Nazis at the highest levels of government. This is different. This is different. This is different.
An agency spokesman warned that “unprecedented levels of heat” were being seen in some areas.
More than 22,000 people have been taken to hospital with heat stroke, nearly half of them elderly, officials say.
On Monday, the city of Kumagaya reported a temperature of 41.1C (106F), the highest ever recorded in Japan.
The heatwave shows no sign of abating, forecasters say.
In central Tokyo, temperatures over 40C were also registered for the first time.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that temperatures of 35C or higher would continue until early August.
“We are observing unprecedented levels of heat in some areas,” spokesman Motoaki Takekawa said, adding that the heatwave was “a threat to life and we recognise it as a natural disaster”.
In Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo, a 91-year-old woman was found collapsed in a field and later pronounced dead in hospital. In nearby Saitama two elderly women were found dead in their homes.
With less than half of Japan’s public schools equipped with air conditioning, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the summer holidays could be extended to protect pupils.
“As a record heatwave continues to blanket the country, urgent measures are required to protect the lives of schoolchildren,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The public is being advised to drink plenty of water, to use air conditioning and to rest often.
People in some cities have taken part in an event known as uchimizu, or “water ceremony” – pouring or sprinkling cold water on to the hot pavements in an attempt to cool them.
The heatwave closely followed torrential rain that caused severe flooding and landslides in the west of Japan.
If only we knew what was likely causing these extreme weather conditions. I guess scientists are too busy wasting time and money on fake research to figure it out. idk
Call me kooky but I get highly suspicious when I see a sudden push to privatize and commercialize public libraries and then almost immediately see a bunch of viral posts about “library books have bed bugs and you will get bed bugs from them.”
JUST SAYIN’.
on one hand, i get this
on the other, i met an entomologist at spouse’s school at their March for Science, who’s been studying them and consults for (Richmond? Roanoke?) government and housing for the poor, who mentioned that bedbugs have been getting really out of control in recent years, between spending cuts, general refusal to spend money on poor people, and climate change, so ???
Lemme be clear that this was in no way a call-out toward anyone, nor is it dismissive of “Eh, you could probably get pests that way”, in case someone gets that idea (I ain’t got time to act like that). AND that I didn’t really phrase things as well as I should have.
Take precautions for sure – absolutely. Seems to me a real easy way to tackle it would be to ask one’s library about whether pests have been a problem and what precautions they are taking (or you should take).
What got my goat this morning is that I’ve seen a general shape/gloss to posts pertaining to libraries recently that’s left a bad taste in my mouth.
I’ve seen several about how “loud and hot and dirty” their library is, or how “there’s homeless people there who are rude/scary/gross” or “DRUG USERS OMG” or, yes… at least one that was just barely-veiled racism. And a few posts about how libraries are for the poor, and it’s Appropriation for anyone who has an income to go there which 100% felt like trollfarm psyops shenanigans. Some of the posts gave me the impression the posters were disingenuous, others just … not real nice.
They’re gonna post what they’re gonna post and I’m gonna glare balefully at it and possibly say something on an unattached thread in my own space if I feel like grumbling. YMMV.
Yeah. To anyone who has even the most basic knowledge about how libraries work, it is blatantly obvious that we want wealthy people using libraries too. Because we’re far more than just books to loan out, but more pragmatically because they are the ones who can afford to donate.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but the idea of library use as “appropriation” is just so out there and contrary to how it works in reality that I can’t conceive of it coming from anywhere other than psyops.
Yeah no, libraries are a great resource for poor and marignalized people, but there’s nothing to discourage wealthier people from using the library and supporting them especially since libraries can get better funding that way (cuz of racial and economic disparities in local government budgets usually). Like the only reason I can think of that wealthier people might feel discouraged from going to the library is if they’re racist/classist/ableist/etc.
Some libraries aren’t as clean/well-maintained as others, but that is generally to my understanding and experience due to funding issues which tend to be caused by racism and classism by those making the budgets. For example the segregation of communities in Chicago is pretty fucking severe, and you can tell from the public schools and libraries if you’re in a majority white or black neighborhood by how many schools and libraries have been recently closed or downsized, the quality of facilities, and how many services are available at those places. I live in a majority black area and I always can tell when it’s a suburb or a white neighborhood for exactly this reason. A majority black school on the south side got 9% of its funding needs from the government, while a majority white one on the north side got 135% of it’s funding needs (despite already being well-maintained and having more resources to begin with). If the patrons were more diverse in race and economic status (or local governments stopped being TOTAL asshats) then those issues would be resolved.
I am…actually gonna die if I don’t get some money soon
My rent, utility and phone bills are all due next week. Foodstamps are literally all I have left. In the spirit of keeping a black trans woman alive, please donate.
By fourteen I had severe depression, anxiety, acid reflux, iron deficiency anemia, and fibromyalgia (anemia and fibro only diagnosed at 19). My mom never appreciated moochers, “welfare queens”, or people with dietary restrictions, and would scream if I did not eat her acidic food that caused me pain and cancer risk. She sank all our money and my college savings into a failing restaurant she made me work as much as was legal at, because I could be paid under minimum wage as a 14 year old family member.
Shortly after high school 1. I quit a cashier job after a week because of unbearable undiagnosed fibro pain 2. we moved from Washington, where we could no longer afford to live, to central Maine, where my mom and brother began resenting me more and more for my increasingly failing body and inability to work. I eventually started getting betting better with medications and therapy, and completed two college courses through an employee dependent tuition waiver, and had an extremely undemanding job managing a branch of the college’s rarely-used social media.
After an endoscopy (in which they diagnosed a length of pre-cancerous tissue that would be disproven with a later biopsy?) my reflux got drastically worse rendering me unable to swallow easily or take pills. No longer on antacids or pain meds, everything hurt all the time, especially when it got stuck and burned in. My mom still refused to change what she fed me until she offered what she thought was a compromise: I start making dinner every day instead of her. I couldn’t, with my health, but I said I could feed myself, at least, and she wouldn’t have to. She told me to leave.
My partner’s parents in West Virginia had been offering I live with them, when they heard what my mom was doing to me, so when I was kicked out I moved in there. Suffering severe, unmedicated depression, anxiety, anemia, and fibromyalgia, I am unable to do much. I was prescribed dissolving reflux meds right before I left, and they make good food, so I am okay in that regard, but they are beginning to resent me and what they think is me controlling their child. When Zach, my partner, wouldn’t put his mom in control of his new bank account, she made us sob in the car home, and said she would never do anything for us again, including drive me to get my meds. His parents blamed me for being kinder to Zach than they were. They think I’m a welfare queen, trying to steal his and their money. I’ve tried so hard to repay their hospitality with what little I can do, but it wasn’t enough. I’m supposed to be moving in with his sister in two weeks, in the town he will then be going to college in. If I am not kicked out early. My anxiety is afraid of the same thing happening again and again, and I haven’t been able to make any progress on fixing my throat because of long appointment waiting periods, lack of transport, lack of information, and not being here for more than two months. For these same reasons I have not been able to get medicaid or disability even started in processing. I have a total of a hundred dollars available to me after a week of begging online, and that will pay for two specialist consultations and nothing further, no food, no procedures, no medications, no cat food, no clothes, no hospitality-securing-rent, nothing. In two weeks I am going to be alone, without my partner, and without my cat, who I will probably have to leave with his parents (or else have to pay an exorbitant fee for).
I am so fucking afraid. I am unable to work aside from low-price art commissions. I have no substantial or guaranteed income. I have no fallback. I have no medications. I don’t have a working throat. I am afraid of having no value. I am afraid of being kicked out of everywhere I go because of resource intensivity and uselessness.
Everything takes a long time to do, but I still need money for when it happens. I want to be able to get to a place, mentally, physically, where I am no longer in pain, and no longer afraid. I won’t be able to on my own.
Disheveled Mess 