ﮧﺑـَـــــﮧ @blossom-ly - Tumblr Blog

Eurovision is the absolute easiest thing in the world to boycott. It's not food owned by one of 5 food conglomerates. It's not tech that corporations have made essential. There's no "support the devs" logic to be even considered. It's literally just noise that is forgotten in a week.

This year it's noise that will be forgotten in a week that is actively supporting one state that's committing genocide to another state they're actively suppressing any discussion about.

furryprovocateur

it sounds like a joke but literally so many of you would've been supportive of the vietnam invasion by america and would've accused draft dodgers and draft card burners of being divisive

furryprovocateur

i think regardless of generation or timeframe a deeply american problem is the inability to imagine a better world if the establishment tells you it cannot exist + a deeply self-centered idea of compassion where american citizens matter more than any other type of human being. we've been doing the oppositional "i'm good and whatever's against me is evil so i have no obligation to challenge my contemporaries" shit for literal centuries now and no amount of "i'm lgbt and it's 2024!" will divorce you from your attachment to oppressive regimes.

gyrrakavian

The quickest path to true evil is to forget what evil is.

In all of our lives, there will be moments when there are only bad options to choose from. The easiest path is to make excuses. to say the least evil option is good. The more you say it, the more you believe it. And before you know it… You don't see it as evil anymore. You stop looking for other options.

-- Arthur J. Arthur, El Goonish Shive

halalchampagnesocialist

How to spot Liberal Zionist Propaganda 101

This post is by no means exhaustive at all. There are many Liberal Zionist talking points but these are just some of the most common ones. While on the surface they seem a little naive and hopeful at best, they are very much harmful. If you claim to be an ally to Palestinians, this post is primarily for you!

For starters, liberal Zionists will often try to both-sides the issue of Palestine, talk about how it's complicated, they'll claim that the conflict hurts both Israelis and Palestinians, how the only way forward is one where Jews and Arabs "just need to get along," amongst other things. They also often like to centre themselves, even when acknowledging Palestinians as the victims of Israel or this "conflict." From time to time, they also like to engage in tokenising certain Palestinians whose views tend to more or less align with theirs. Here are some common arguments you may hear from them:

1. Any form of justifying Israel's existence or claiming that the only solution is two states

It does not really need to be said why justifying Israel's existence is harmful but justifying its continued existence also means legitimising Israel's land theft, its expulsions of Palestinians, and its ongoing harm to Palestinians and other populations. Reducing any sorts of “solutions” into a binary is unhelpful. Needless to say, a 2ss would not even address any legitimate concerns Palestinian have, such as the right of return, and would only legitimise Israel’s colonialism. Talking about a two-state solution also implies that the root of the conflict lies in Palestinians not having their own state rather than being an occupied people. It is very much also possible to construct a paradigm where Jews and Palestinians both live together on the same land as equal citizens that doesn't involve two separate states, much less an ethnostate.

2. Security for Israel could only come through peace

This is a similar talking point to the one above. Not only does it centre Israeli safety and security above Palestinian liberation but it mistakenly assumes that once Israel makes peace with Palestinians, it'll achieve security. The reality, however, is that Israel's imagined security has quite often come at the expense of peace. In fact, "peace" has just acted as nothing more than a smoke-screen for Israel to carry out its expansionist policies, particularly in the West Bank. When liberal Zionists talk about peace juxtaposed with Israeli security, they're talking about attaining a negative peace rather than a positive one.

3. Israelis are not their government.

This point does nothing to actually help Palestinians. It is also an incredibly tone-deaf thing to say when Israel has targeted many Palestinian civilians by having alleged proximity to Hamas, such as being family members of militants or leaders (inc. children!), civil servants in a Hamas-led government, or even any male above the age of 15 they consider to be a potential combatant! It also deliberately erases Israeli civilians' support of and culpability in Israel's actions towards Palestinians.

4. Netanyahu and/or the Israeli right are the source of conflict.

While it is true that things have gotten inadvertently worse under Israel's various right-wing governments, they are not the source of conflict, but rather a product of extremist nationalism and Jewish supremacy perpetuated by the system. Both the 1967 occupations and settlements were undertaken under centre-left governments in Israel, and Israeli policy under non-right wing governments has been just as harmful towards Palestinians and has paved the way for where we are today. Blaming Netanyahu just also obscures the violent nature of Israel's military occupation over Palestinians which long precede him coming into power.

5. Netanyahu and Hamas are two sides of the same coin

I don't think I've seen any allies give validity to this claim but it's an extremely reductionist claim and is sort of similar to the one above. Groups like Hamas are merely a response to the Israeli occupation while Netanyahu is a byproduct of it. While some Israelis may see Hamas or their actions as an "obstacle to peace," Israel's actions and policies long pre-date Hamas and how Israel is currently responding to Hamas is no different to how Israel has engaged with Palestinian militant groups in the past, regardless of political affiliations or political goals. It is also important to note that Hamas has agreed to the establishment of a state along 1967 borders while Netanyahu aims to prolong the occupation and empower the settler movement (some of whom are part of his coalition government) as much as possible.

6. Israel is not a settler-colonial state.

While it is indisputable that Jews have historical connections to Palestine, that doesn’t automatically make you Indigenous or negate Israeli settler-colonialism. Colonialism in particular describes a relationship of exploitation. There are many cases of this, but we most clearly see this in the West Bank where Israel exploits natural resources on occupied Palestinian territory for its own political and economic gains. In terms of settler-colonialism, it is widely known that Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to make way for Jewish refugees and migrants to the new state of Israel, and is still actively facilitating Jewish migration to Israel today while denying Palestinians their right of return.

7. (X) doesn't help Palestinians.

It is not up to anyone to determine whether certain tactics or strategies are helpful or not. This point only seeks to discredit pro-Palestine organising. Only Palestinians get to decide what is actually helpful for the cause or not.

8. Any sort of Hamas-blaming.

On the surface it may seem like there’s nothing wrong with this, but this point is often harmful and usually lends itself to right-wing talking points because its objective is to deflect blame away from Israel. Certain arguments blaming Hamas also aim to minimise Palestinian suffering perpetuated by Israel. It also paints Israeli violence as retaliatory to Palestinian violence which only obfuscates Israel’s (and by extension, the US’) role in its state military apparatus and the differing power dynamics between Israelis and Palestinians. In other contexts, this point seeks to also legitimise certain opposition, such as the Palestinian Authority. Hamas-blaming also tends to sometimes lead to racist diatribes about Palestinians and their culture.

9. Al-Jazeera is not a credible news source.

Al Jazeera is a news source like any other. It has varying editorial policies and therefore will have equally good reporting on certain issues while having terrible reporting on others. The difference is that Al-Jazeera's news on Palestine is credible because it comes directly from their Palestinian reporters on the ground and first-hand eyewitness accounts. Western news sources are no more or less credible than al-Jazeera. Compare this to CNN, NYT, and any other Western news sources where Palestinian voices are often entirely missing from the narrative.

10. Overemphasis of antisemitism on the left

Antisemitism is a real issue and has the potential to fester in left circles if not directly addressed head on. Combatting antisemitism is extremely important, however, it is not an issue exclusive to the left. There is also a double standard in that no one expects Zionists to call out Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. Certain accusations of "antisemitism" also seek to distract from what's going on in Palestine by making it about Jewish comfort and feelings. Combatting antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism etc is always important as the basis of good politics.

Last but not least, be wary of native collaborators or any sort of normalisers! They are Palestinians or Arabs who try very hard to appeal to Western liberal consensus and can end up perpetuating a lot of harm to the cause and/or other activists. You will know them when you see them.

arabian-batboy

If a war between Iran and Israel really will emerge it will not just be Iranians who will suffer, but every country in the region will be somewhat involved, which includes some nations that are already declared as one of the poorest, most war-torn and starved nations in the world. All of whom all be completely unprotected while Israel wreak havoc on their citizens (excluding those who live in puppet-states aligned with the US) with full-support and funding from the US and other Western superpowers to ensure that no matter happens, their influence and interests in the Middle East will not be lost and they'e willing to sacrifice the lives of as many non-Israeli civilians as they want to in order to achieve their goal.

This is one of the reasons they implanted this cancerous tumor called Israel in our region, to act as military base that cause instability and state-sponsored terrorism in the area so that it would be easier for them to exploit these failed-states that surround it and the best part is? All they have to do to maintain this military base is give them a couple billions and some weapons yearly so that those blood-lust Zionist settlers can do all the dirty work for them, that's NOTHING compared to the costs and casualties of other wars that had the US be directly involved in like Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan (off the record; but that's exactly why they're using Saudi Arabia to indirectly destroy Yemen, they learned their lesson, its always better to use a proxy.)

If a war breaks out? The US will not be in any real danger, because they're half-way across the world and all the fighting will be in West Asia and North Africa, far away from them. No American building is in danger of being destroyed, no American city is under the threat of being bombed, the average American citizen will not be in any danger and can just continue living their life like normal, hence why they're always the first ones to start making those WW3 memes, because they're not the ones in danger of dying.

This is precisely why the US's imperialism in the Middle East hasn't slowed down in decades, because they do not suffer any negative consequences from it. All the destruction and casualties they cause is inflicted solely on the native people and the native people only, for the US, they only have things to gain from these wars, whether it was stolen resources or more instability that will further their control and influence in the area.

The US, like every single oppressive empire in history, will not suddenly grow a conscious over-night and immediately halt all their wrongdoings simply because they don't want the innocent people in other countries to suffer anymore. The only way to stop their imperialism is to have them believe that its not worth it anymore, to have the cons of being involved in our region out-weight the pros.

Because at the moment if the only cons here are "innocent Muslims will die"? Then those motherfucking colonizers will NOT stop, they will only stop once it reaches a point where its also the colonizers who are dying alongside the native population and the first step for that to happen is to dismantle this giant settler-colony built square in the middle of our region and forcing these Western Superpowers to choose between continuously spending trillions of dollars to maintain their interests directly or to fucking leave us alone already and save those trillions for something else.

mintendo96

But to think that the key to the Palestinian future was Washington's to formulate was, and remains, a fatal error.

-Edward Said, The Politics of Dispossession

demiwitchthequeenofthisage-deac

I have run across memes and jokes from people who say they are feminist but don’t understand that what they are saying is very misogynistic. This wrong judgement stems from the fact that misogyny is very ingrained into even female minds due to the years of oppression that feminist movement is actively trying to eradicate from people’s mindset.

One of my friends said,”Some of the feminists really don't know what feminism really is” and I told him,”It’s not that they don’t it’s just that it’s hard to forget something you have told all your life even if you know what you have told is wrong. Patriarchy has ingrained misogyny so deeply into the society that women subconsciously seek validation from men and turn to a misogynistic point of view and degrade themselves. Even when we try hard to fight it there is misogynistic persona inside us that humiliates us and laughs at us.”

This quote describes what I am saying perfectly:

Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy: that you're strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren't catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you're unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.

By Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

habdichverloren

“Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just… start.”

— Ijeoma Umebinyuo (via thoughtkick)

spideyyeet

Please do your research! There is so much misinformation out there and a lot of lies.

Everyone should know the truth so please try to know as much as you can so you can spread awareness and help!

Free Palestine🇵🇸✌️

iziksquirel

carbombrenee

Today I find beauty in the small things:

the scent of apple blossoms hanging on the air,

the vibrant crimson of a Japanese maple,

the taste of strong coffee on my tongue.

The world possesses a euphoria today,

one forged out of grief,

but a shimmering promise nonetheless.

Today I am so completely filled with memories of the past,

and so incredibly hungry again

for the bright days of my youth.

Evening falls in the South.

The days of sweaters and scarves,of parkas and snow

are gone.Home again.

The leaves are still green on the trees

and the air is soft on my skin.

After two years I am finally able to return

to the state of my birth,

Texas,

Gulf Coast humidity and suburban sprawl,

a place I once hated

but now I just feel full.

Soon enough I’ll leave again

to go back to my northern heights,

back into my small apartment in the city on the lake,

and winter will once again bleed slowly into spring,

where I’ll be homesick all over again.

The best laid plans often go awry,

my dreams of homecoming once again crushed

under the weight of situations and responsibilities,

but I swear one day I’ll make it back to you again

if only to swim in that vast expanse of brown sea,

somehow washing myself clean.

illgiveyouthesun19

we’ve no home.

ive been reading and re reading these posts and quotes about home having a heart beat, about home being someone with a heart and a mind of their own, a pair of eyes, a someone, who have their head in the clouds and walk bustling with life, but as soon as they pass us we feel a breath of fresh air like we are flying upwards and we feel so light, like renaissance, like a new life.

ive been reading and re reading these posts and quotes about how home, sometimes can be a feeling of being in the arms of someone and how safe it feels to crash down and break apart, pull down the walls in those very arms. like theres not a thing to worry about and you’re in a safeplace.

but i havent come across, even one, of the posts where it tells us how it feels when youre homesick and your home is no where to be found, when you cant turn to your safeplace because youre in exile and theres no way out of it,

its a maze, scarier than the thoughts in your head.

ive been looking and looking for these posts and quotes that tell us how it feels to lose your home, how,

the someone who once made you feel like breath of fresh air on a june afternoon suddenly makes you feel like rain in mid November and makes you hide underneath the blankets when it’s dark outside just after 5pm and youre craving for a new start, for sunshine to reach and touch your tucked away heart, touch.

it doesnt tell how you walk those bustling streets with the slowest pace and gaze yourself in the mirrors of those lively shops where life is in full spirits, disgusted to even think you deserve to be happy, because the very thing that made you feel something, other than the void inside, the very person who was a reason for your life, is now gone

and you cant turn to them, the arms, even if the walls of your hearts are shattering and the words are looking for a way out,

it, doesnt, ever mention that losing your safeplace,your home will make you look for pieces of yourself in strangers at 3 am, willl make you incomplete.

home isnt a person, home isnt a feeling, it can be, yes.

but what’s the point if they are gonna leave anyway?

- illgiveyouthesun19

urbnite

theambitiouswoman

Seeing unhealthy patterns in your family and deciding that those pattens end with you and will not be passed down to future generations is an extremely brave and powerful decision.

Forgive yourself for repeating what was taught to you as a child, then put the conscious effort into deprogram these patterns.