Zizim // any pronouns // animals // books // too many animals // too many books // 23 // South Indian // Bi //Discworld // Animorphs// Podcasts // Learning Welsh // Fiber craft //
Myth: "I only wear vegan fabrics. Better for the animals, better for the planet."
Let's check in on Doris's annual contribution.
Once a year, in late spring, Doris is sheared. The procedure takes approximately three minutes. Doris does not enjoy it. Doris does not, by any visible measure, suffer from it. Doris is, immediately afterwards, a noticeably more comfortable animal in the British summer.
The fleece weighs approximately 3 kilograms. It is sold to the British Wool Marketing Board for, depending on the year, between £0.40 and £2.50 per kilogram. The shearing costs more than the wool fetches. Brian is shearing Doris at a loss.
The wool is then:
- Naturally flame-retardant
- Naturally antibacterial
- Moisture-wicking
- Biodegradable
- Renewable, annually
- Carbon-storing while in use
The replacement, in performance fabrics:
- Polyester
- Polyamide
- Acrylic
- Polypropylene
- All petroleum-derived
- All shedding microplastics on every wash
- All requiring fossil fuel inputs to produce
- All non-biodegradable, with a typical landfill lifespan of 200-500 years
A single wash of a polyester fleece can release up to 700,000 microplastic fibres into the water system. These fibres are now in: every tested water source on earth, every tested human placenta, every tested rainfall sample, the deep ocean, the Arctic ice, and the lungs of marine mammals.
A single wash of a wool jumper releases: nothing. The wool, when eventually disposed of, returns to soil within a few years.
The fabric being marketed as the "ethical" alternative to wool is plastic.
The plastic is "ethical" because nobody has been asked to slaughter the polymer.
The polymer also has not been asked.
Doris, by being a sheep on a fell, is producing the most thoroughly sustainable performance fabric humans have ever made.
Brian is selling it at a loss.
The fashion industry, meanwhile, is selling petroleum at a profit and calling it ethical.
Reject plastic. Wear wool.
Doris is, this morning, growing next year's batch.
Note: if you're allergic to wool, you might be allergic to the dyes and fine with undyed wool. Maybe not, but it's worth a try.
the most annoying thing is its never the actual smalltime indie authors that are anti piracy, instead i always see these popular tradpub authors with 6 figure deals and big social media accounts crying that ppl are stealing from because they are sharing one epub copy of their work 😭
Literally its always the neil gaimans of the world crying throwing up that they arent getting more money to abuse people or the wannabe jkrs who think piracy is the reason their mediocre books r not blowing up and filling up their bank accounts. And BOTH of them want us all to have fucking nothing. Sorry you will not catch me shedding tears for their exploitation while they actively work towards barring us from having ANYTHING from textbooks to their stupid booktok books.
actually fuck cjp fuck sourav das its was so fucking easy for you to claim 'demcracy is restored' while minority students are being harassed, fir's being filed against students who simply attended protests, delhi police is targeting people who made posts against modi online and taking down videos of police brutality while you are partying???? THIS is the democracy you claim to have restored?
this is exactly what happens when you lead with a lack of ideology. this is what happens when you try to play 'safe'. fuck you.
to all the non-delhi residents/people who can't join the protest for xyz reason, who are feeling helpless and guilty and don't know what to do: spread the word.
no, seriously, spread the word. there is so much misinformation out there, partly due to the useless indian media channels who are calling protestors fighting for a chance to be heard "terrorists". they're saying that the protestors are committing brutality (like throwing stones) against the police when it is the opposite.
its a police using teargas and batons against teenagers, women and literal children. they're ripping the clothes of the women. people are badly injured. all because our corrupt coward "education" minister cannot take accountability for paper leak which caused over 20 deaths by suicide.
some are trying to derail the protests, calling the protestors "anti-national" and but you have to do your part in ensuring that this revolution isn't over until dharmendra pradhan resigns and the youth of india are heard and acknowledged. it will save the future of the students who are currently preparing/will prepare for similar exams.
spread the videos of the police brutality (save them if you can), write emails to the pmo, and share as much info as you can about the protest; how and why it is happening. speak up; online and also in real life, translate posts/videos, make your own. correct and educate people who are still against this movement. don't let this die out until our government finally listens to its citizens.
When the country doesn’t have easily accessible public libraries, piracy is sometimes the only option. They’ve been collaborating with the police to arrest poor street vendors and small book shop owners. Evil, just evil
for those unaware today india experienced one of its biggest protests in half a decade. there were protests all over the nation for various causes but the major one was in delhi. all we asked for was the resignation of the education minister because he's failed the students of this nation time & time again. but we were met with brutality, the police had barricaded the main site of protest (jantar mantar). metro stations were shutdown, the public was restrained from reaching the protest site and all the adjoining areas had signal jammers to make sure the crowd had no access to constant updates. they had us blocked from all the sides. they were lathi (baton) charging students from one side & releasing tear gas from the other. you couldn't walk 100 m on streets without having a tear gas shell thrown at you. there were many students, women & kids bleeding — some from their head. some couldn't walk anymore. the police had removed their nameplates & acted with full impunity to resort to unprecedented levels of violence. they were pelting stones at us, beating up people for no reason, forcefully detaining them and attacking us constantly with tear gas & rubber bullets. they wouldn't let you exit either. the crowd was peaceful & looking out for each other yet they were met with violence. i made a friend who was all alone & she asked to join me & my friend because a policeman wouldn't leave her alone. he constantly prodded her for personal info, invited her back to the jeep saying they have food there, wouldn't stop following her around. you couldn't call or ask anyone for help, we were left to fend for ourselves & be on a constant lookout if you did not want to be beaten up to death by police. all for what? asking a resignation? shame on this country.
look, i abhor police brutality against workers and students, though i do believe the latter comprised the bulk of yesterday's protests, but i would like to point out that these protests that are ostensibly being held under the aegis of, or at least being monopolised by, the cockroach janata party (one that has barefacedly announced itself as 'apolitical' and upholds the UAPA in their manifesto, fucking egregious) is to demand the resignation of the education minister in the wake of the mishandling of the NEET and the tragedies that followed. it is intended solely for the instigation of liberal reforms within education to uphold the merit based and casteist system that already exists, nothing more, nothing less.
the ideology (though i don't believe every protestor subscribes to it) is merely one that privileges the already privileged; government medical colleges are 'affordable' i.e. the annual fees is about 10,000 rupees at their lowest, not counting living expenses, while private medical college fees skyrocket into the lakhs, the field is highly competitive, and india is quite possibly a country with one of the worst healthcare systems in the world, and it has been so for a little over forty years, as neoliberalisation has gradually worked toward the privatisation of both education and healthcare. without addressing the roots of the problem (which many student and civil society organisations have been doing for a long time, while being sidelined and ignored: see NEP protests 2019-2020) these protests will mean nothing.
hey, do you know of ways to support the student protestors in india?
sadly it is currently mostly reliant on on-ground volunteer work, there are no links to donate or order things for the main crowd at jantar mantar because again signal jammers. but the aam aadmi party has launched a helpline number (8588833548) for protesters to provide medical and legal aid. there is also a master doc of lawyers for legal help & a help desk form by CJP in case any protesters need medical or legal help.
also the increasing number of posts i'm seeing 'demanding' solidarity from muslims for these protests. it's baffling. muslims have been at the forefront of resistance in this country for decades while majority of the same crowd that is currently protesting, has turned a blind eye or even encouraged the brutality they have faced at the hands of the state. you called them anti national for doing the same. how can you forget umar khalid, sharjeel imam and many other activists who are behind bars without a trial?
it's good to see the youth gain a political consciousness, you should absolutely go to these protests, it is your right. but do not forget the countless voices that you ignored and mocked until the water reached at your doorstep.
A not so brief account of my experience at the Delhi protest on the 20th of July:
CW: violence, police brutality
3 of my friends and I, all of us resident doctors in various disciplines, had made extremely last minute plans to get to the walk that was organised for the 20th. I thankfully have a friend who lives fairly close to Jantar Mantar, and we were able to leave our things at their place while we were at the protest. We had decided to leave our phones at their house-since all of us had been extremely critical of the current government online, as well as in correspondences to our friends and family-and one of my friends carried a burner phone, in order to record the protest.
We reached Jantar Mantar at around 2:00am, fearing that the police may stop people from entering the site later in the day (this was of course what happened), and we milled through the crowd, talking to some of the other protestors at the site. At some point, we realised that the police presence had increased significantly, and the rapid action forces, had also been deputised to "deal" with us. At this point, I honestly still wasn't feeling scared at all. We were surrounded by several like minded people, who were also opposed to the current ruling party. It genuinely felt like we could speak with ease, for the first time in 12 years. We then found out, that the cops had started welding the barricades together. I'll admit that this is when I felt genuine fear. The minute we heard about this happening, the people around me immediately started talking about Jallianwala Bagh. Jallianwala Bagh, for those who don't know about the massacre, was a peaceful site of protest, where a large group of Indians had gathered to protest, during the Indian fight for independence. General Dyer, had then ordered all exits to be sealed, and opened fire on the protestors. A lot of what India faces under this government, feels eerily familiar to what she faced under British colonial rule.
Eventually, some of the protestors were able to push over the barricades, and we were able to start trying to move towards the parliament. That's unfortunately, when the violence began. The cops and RAF, started very indiscriminately lathi charging the crowd. There was no violence from our side. The cops had even parked a truck full of massive rocks, right by the protest site, probably hoping that the protestors would make use of them. In the end, we only have videos of the police themselves, chucking the rocks to make it look like the protest had been violent. And even after getting beaten up, the only responses I saw from the protestors, were pleas to be allowed to continue the march. We saw a lot of young students, face police brutality for the first time, and have to quickly come to the understanding, that the cops were not there to help them.
My friends and I had primarily gone, because we knew the cops would attempt to attack the protestors, and we wanted to provide whatever little medical aid we could. We had reached the site with 6 bags of saline, and at least 50 rolls of gauze, among other supplies. We were completely out by the time we left at night. I saw a lot of scalp and head injuries-it seemed like the wonderful police had gone out of their way to aim at protestors heads. I also saw a concerning number of children who had been injured by them. I counted 6 cases of eardrum rupture, and more bruises and cuts than I could keep track of. It was while I was attending to one of the injured protestors, that I was hit with the lathi for the first time. They saw very clearly, that I was in my doctor's coat, stethoscope in my pocket, and was treating a patient. They still tried to physically assault me. It was my fellow protestors, who immediately came to my defense, and got in between the police and I. This was our reality at the time. The only people we could rely on, were each other. A friend of mine was almost carted off by the police, to be placed under unlawful detention. He, like all of our little group, was only treating the injuries of the protestors. It was only because of the protest, once again, that he was able to escape from their hold, and disappear back into the crowd. My friend who carried his burner phone, had it snatched from his hand, stomped on, and was then asked who was paying him to be there. We were a fair distance away from the tear gas shells, so we didn't experience the effects of the expired canisters the cops threw at the protests who were closer to the parliament. I found out after reaching the airport, that it was the nearby gurudwara and mosque, who were sheltering the protestors, and treating the inflammation inflicted by the tear gas. The same people, the media like to call Khalistanis or Pakistanis, they were the people who stepped up to help the protestors who were getting gassed by the cops.
We did not make it to the parliament, it's true. The delhi police and the RAF, who had all conveniently "lost" their name tags, made sure of it. But honestly, I can't find any sort of disappointment in myself. For the past few years, I have felt so alone, wondering why the people simply accepted the harm this government has inflicted on our country and our communities. But I came to realise that I wasn't alone, and I never had been. There I was, surrounded by people of all ages, who wanted better for this country. And it filled me with a sense of patriotism, that I hadn't felt in so long. These were ordinary people, who had taken leave from their jobs and studies, and were here, right beside me, demanding a better India.
Today I returned to my hospital, and to the outside observer, things may seem to have not changed in the slightest. But something feels different. Maybe I'm being foolish, or overly optimistic. I returned with nothing much to show, but a slightly depleted bank account, and a large bruise on my shoulder, but yesterday felt like an awakening. The people who want to claim that the 20th was the death of democracy, are so incredibly mistaken, because this is just the beginning. Now and forever इंक़लाब ज़िन्दाबाद.
Do not go gentle into that good night @alexfireon - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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