dubious gift

I am walking next to a joy, a joy that isn’t mine

[nevver]

Don’t even think of parking here, Dr.Smoothdeath

[proustiansleep]

When I say “I love you,” it means that I want to be near the feeling of ambivalence our relation induces and hope that what’s negative, aggressive, or just hard about it doesn’t defeat what’s great about it really—or in my fantasies of it, anyway.

Lauren Berlant, On the Inconvenience of Other People

[urgetocreate]

Christine Lashley, Twilight, Libby Hill, 2018, Oil on linen

[miamaimania]

“The Garden Room” by Nitin Barchha & Disney Davis: A Curved Oasis in Mumbai 🌿

[huariqueje]

The light through the curtains , Villa Arreaza ,Gio Ponti - Bea Sarrias , 2024.

Catalan, b. 1978  -

Acrylic on linen,  60 x 60 cm.

[thunderstruck9]

Bea Sarrias (Catalan/Spanish, 1978), The light through the curtains, Villa Arreaza, Gio Ponti, 2024. Acrylic on linen, 60 x 60 cm.

[nedlittle]

[id in alt text]

nadezhda mandelstam, hope against hope (tr. max hayward)

[weltenwellen]

Didi Jackson, from "Poem With the Last Line as the First"

[soracities]

How Samuel Beckett Sought Salvation in the Midst of Suffering, by Andy Wimbush, pub. Aeon [ID'd]

[luthienne]

Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Dark Interval

[merulae]

“There is no chance that we will fall apart. There is no chance. There are no parts.”

— June Jordan, “Poem Number Two on Bell’s Theorem, or The New Physicality of Long Distance Love”

[anneemay]

Red Crescent is no longer operating in Gaza as of 9 July 2024

Israeli jets hit UN school in Nuseirat; Gaza City hospitals forced to close

Israeli warplanes hit school in the Nuseirat refugee camp as tens of thousands flee latest Gaza City evacuation orders.

[urgetocreate]

Yuri Klapouh (Ukrainian b.1963), Apple Tree, Oil on canvas

[foxeia]

Louis-Geraud Castor

[urgetocreate]

Seth Armstrong (American b.1983), Dinner Time, 2017, Oil on paper adhered to wood panel

[sanstoitniloi]

"You survive this and in some terrible way, which I suppose no one can ever describe, you are compelled, you are corralled, you are bullwhipped into dealing with whatever it is that hurt you. And what is crucial here is that if it hurt you, that is not what’s important. Everybody’s hurt. What is important, what corrals you, what bullwhips you, what drives you, torments you, is that you must find some way of using this to connect you with everyone else alive. This is all you have to do it with. You must understand that your pain is trivial except insofar as you can use it to connect with other people’s pain; and insofar as you can do that with your pain, you can be released from it, and then hopefully it works the other way around too; insofar as I can tell you what it is to suffer, perhaps I can help you to suffer less."

- James Baldwin, The Artist's Struggle for Integrity

[stuckinapril]

Every mainstream media outlet imaginable wants you to know that Israel has just re-opened the Erez border, thereby allowing aid through it for the first time since October 7. The White House released a statement saying that it’s delighted to hear this news. It’s a great improvement from previous arrangements, reports state.

What they fail to mention is that now 30% of all Palestinian children under 2 in Gaza are malnourished, that the death toll has surpassed 33k, and that the US—the same superpower that’s telling Israel to protect the civilians—has signed off billions in weapons to Israel not even a month ago.

[stuckinapril]

It’s extremely aggravating to me when people are tone-deaf enough to celebrate “small wins” like this. Biggest thing is, we don’t know how many trucks Israel will grant access. In February it was as little as 14 trucks a day, which is not enough considering Gaza is now suffering mass starvation. Not only that, but this also came in light of a majority white convoy being targeted, which angered Israel’s allies—and is ultimately what forced them into opening this border up. This is still not and never has been about the devastation in Gaza. This is about PR—and also about the US asserting its influence over Israel. None of this reads as humane or with good intention to me.

[stuckinapril]

And finally—and this is what I think makes me the angriest—this is proof that the US could have stopped it all much sooner if they wanted to. I already know this will be people’s go-to for defending their decision to vote for the verminous, blood-soaked war criminal that is Biden (and when I say Biden, I mean him and his genocidal administration equally). What they fail to realize is it’s actually the very proof that the US has been complicit in this all along, that it willingly chose to infantilize itself and play wary ally that has to tiptoe around Israel. It’s disgusting, it’s duplicitous, and it’s unforgivable. This is not getting any thanks from me, and I question anyone who chose to celebrate this move rather than see it for what it really is.

[tamarrud]

I've always felt uneasy about wanting to get people to pay attention to the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza by saying "if Israel isn't stopped, it's only a matter of time before it happens to you" because why not care even if this wasn't ever going to affect you personally

But seeing as how Israel had targeted a clearly marked vehicle of World Central Kitchen today, killing 4 of its staff operating in southern Gaza who are Australian, British and Polish - just goes to show these people again that Israel is setting precedent and making sure the world understands that it's not "violating international law", it is in fact changing the standard and setting the stage of what counts as a crime and what is permissible and can be done with complete impunity and no consequences.

[pure]

the radical liberals pontificating about what race of person are allowed to use what innocent phrases to mourn the dead, and why people are mourning a white male soldier and such, aren’t actually real federal agents lol. but this should make you ask some questions. we have declassified files from cointelpro operations. why is this crass exploitation of identity politics indistinguishable from what a genuine psyop would look like?

why is the department of defense using the banal appeals of “representation” in their recruiting strategy? why does mossad plaster videos of female IOF militants over their tiktok pages, waxing poetic about the “empowerment” of thugs and mass murderers? why is kimberle crenshaw, the academic hero of many liberal feminists, black feminists, anti-racists and LGBT advocates, pioneer of the often weaponized, often misunderstood concept of “intersectionality,” silent about the ongoing genocide in palestine? or, anywhere where American fangs are buried? congo? hell, why did the government lie about babies being ripped from incubators in kuwait?

the state department, its mouthpieces in mainstream news outlets, and its intellectual weapon—academia—all work in tandem to hollow out and exploit our pleas for material change. in doing so, these institutions are then able to groom us into these hyper-individualist, atomized tribes and drones that prioritize optics, ego, appearances and uphold “boundaries” that are nothing more than a means to entrench a false sense of personal novelty and exclusivity. Because Americans love the idea of being so fundamentally unique that no one else can quite understand the particulars of our plight. This attraction to individualism bleeds into every corner of our cultural fabric. the goal is to make each of us feel like an island in a collection of islands that can never form bonds and be responsible for each other despite our differences.

It is necessary for the powers-that-be to keep us complacent and thwart any efforts to unionize, organize, or connect our struggles to each other and to those overseas whose bodies lie at the heart of imperial plunder. It’s also a necessary marketing strategy to sell us products. It is necessary for these institutions to exploit social justice language and grievances to justify war. if we adopt this callous and destructive approach to “politics” then there is very little need for cointelpro, since we have become experts in enforcing it ourselves, and no serious mass movement against white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism and so on can ever materialize if maintaining these impossible “boundaries” overrides a material analysis of how we live, how we act, and what we can do to change our circumstances.