Listen while you read (Disco Elysium ambient OST)...
Hi fellow Disco Elysium fans. Full disclosure: I haven't been making much art lately. I'm consumed by anger and disbelief over Israel's gen
(The link above is a more readable google doc version of all the information, links to donations, organisations & fundraisers, and citations listed below the "Read More" line. The organisations I have listed are primarily based in the UK and Ireland. If American or other foreign readers offer me resources on charities and organisations to stay in the loop with, I will add them to the document gladly!)
"UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI" - "ONE DAY I WILL RETURN TO YOUR SIDE." 🕊️🇵🇸
🪩 Hi fellow Disco Elysium fans. Full disclosure: I haven't been making much art lately.
I've been quite consumed with anger and disbelief over Israel's genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people, and by the indifference and complicity of our governing bodies. I imagine many of you are, as well, and feeling similarly hopeless.
I believe these frustrations deserve to be channeled in a way that is, hopefully, productive.
I hope you won't consider it insensitive of me to use fan art to promote this cause. But I felt that Disco was a fitting medium. After all, this is a game which at its core is about the inextricable link between humanity, politics, and action. It’s a game that encouraged me to explore with more curiosity, and to convey with more passion. I don't think I’m alone in this Disco-Accelerated Awakening. So as this game has encouraged me to think, the world around me encouraged me to act.
I drew this a while ago, but it didn’t feel right to throw a piece of Pro-Palestine art to the wind without substance.
For that, I want to take some time to reflect on some of what we know, and hopefully to give something, anything, to the movement.
✎⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
I am writing this on March 17th, 2025.
Israel continues to violate ceasefire conditions in Gaza and in Lebanon.
In today's headlines alone, it has been reported that an Israeli strike has killed 5 people in Gaza as reported by Reuters, and that "at least 4" strikes from the IDF have struck Eastern Lebanon as reported by The Times of Israel.
Yesterday, NPR reported that two Israeli airstrikes in the city of Beit Lahiya, Gaza, killed 9 people - including charity aid workers and journalists. Middle East Eye reports that yesterday, an airstrike in southern Lebanon killed 4 people.
As this continued aggression against civilians unfolds, Israel & the IDF presses on - emboldened by an international community guilty of indifference, manufacturing consent, and outright complicity - in its genocidal conduct.
Palestinians all the while continue to suffer and die as a direct result.
Last month (Febuary), Oxfam reported the following on the lack of water in Gaza:
Fifteen months of Israel’s military assault has destroyed 1,675 kilometres of water and sanitation networks. In the North Gaza and Rafah governorates, which have suffered the most destruction, less than 7% of pre-conflict water levels is available to people, heightening the spread of waterborne diseases. Just 5.7 litres per person, per day is available, barely enough for one toilet flush.
Eight days ago Israel once again cut Gaza's already fragile water supply. The implications of this are catastrophic for Palestinians.
"1.8 million people – over half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance."
Similarly to the water crisis, food is also scarce. Today, Middle East Monitor reports that 80% of Palestinians in Gaza lack regular access to food. This comes 15 days after the Israeli army haulted the entry of ALL humanitarian aid into the region. THIS IS ILLEGAL, and yet the IDF and Israel has received little pushback for its collective punishment of Palestinians (including from my own [insert choice words here] of a prime minister).
In the wake of the mass bombing campaign by the IDF, Palestinians are overwhelmingly without shelter - the sheer scale of destruction in Gaza is difficult to comprehend. NPR Reports:
A U.N. report issued in September estimates $18.5 billion worth of damage was done to Gaza's infrastructure from the war's start through the end of January 2024, and that once a ceasefire is reached, "a return to the 2007–2022 growth trend would imply that it would take Gaza 350 years just to restore GDP to its level in 2022."
The lack of shelter and blockage of tents from entering the region, in the midst of harsh winter storms, has proven challenging and deadly in Gaza.
As reported by Defense for Children International Palestine;
Ramallah, March 12, 2025 – A Palestinian infant has died and another remains in critical condition after suffering from hypothermia in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, after being forced to live in makeshift tents following repeated Israeli evacuation orders. [...]
[...] “Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza, which has destroyed the health care system and the vast majority of homes, is responsible for the deaths of Palestinian children like Sham, whose families have no safe place to shelter,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “By refusing to hold Israel accountable, world leaders are complicit in the killing of Palestinian children.”
Lack of electricity, sanitation, and heating, combined with famine, has created a perfect storm for hypothermia, illness, and the outbreak of diseases.
I could spend days discussing the hardships of the Palestinian people as they currently live, but I will round off the document with this.
As data collection in the region has been made effectively impossible by The IDF and their historic killing of at least 170 journalists (& in some cases, their families), one could safely assume even higher death tolls than reported below, and that accurate statistics remain beyond reach. (*Notably, this has been the most deadly period for journalists in the history of The Committee to Protect Journalists. The targeted killing of them constitutes a war crime. There are even Wikipedia pages dedicated to this issue.)
★ More than 111'100 Palestinians have been injured, "with one quarter of those sustaining life-changing damage, mostly to their limbs".
★ It has been estimated that at LEAST 46'000 to 50'000 Palestinians have died under these genocidal conditions.
★ The death toll is almost certainly higher - perhaps as many as 62'000 - when accounting for missing people.
And this is an injustice beyond belief. But perhaps a fact more urgent, and a fact that we should celebrate, is that;
PALESTINE'S PEOPLE STILL LIVE, AND PERSEVERE, AGAINST ALL ODDS.
1.9 million, or 90% of Gaza's population is internally displaced. These people have a right to remain, and are looking to the world to have their voices heard so that the end goal of Netenyahu, Trump, and all others who have enabled the genocide against them, may never reach actualisation. They are not only resilient, but hospitable, kind, and deserving of human decency, and connection.
Palestinians deserve the right to self-determination.
Palestinians deserve to live free from the apartheid state of Israel.
Palestinians deserve life.
If you are dedicated to the cause, to seeing life flourish in Palestine, I implore you to stay informed, to stay energised, and to stay in community with your fellow activists. It is up to every last one of us to see that these people are not lost to an increasingly uncaring, increasingly fascist world stage, and its buckling media landscape.
"YOU CAN KEEP ME ON THIS EARTH. BE VIGILANT. I LOVE YOU."
Free Palestine
- Candle (votive-candle)
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Recommended Donation Sites
★ GAZA FUNDS (click for a randomised, vetted fundraiser for Palestinians in need)
★ UNRWA
★ Doctors Without Borders
★ Gaza Emergency Fund
★ Medical Aid for Palestinians
★ Taawon (Palestinian Welfare Association)
★ ANERA (An organisation providing healthcare, education, water, and food in Gaza)
★ Gaza Online (providing ESims for Palestinians to stay connected)
★ Defense For Children International Palestine (an organisation focused on the safety of Palestinian children)
BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians.
UK Based Organisations...
★ Palestine Action (a group taking direct action to disrupt Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer)
★ The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (London)
★ Medical Aid For Palestinians (London)
★ Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (GGEC)
★ Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
★ Wales Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Ireland Based Organisations...
★ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
★ Sadaka (The Ireland Palestine Alliance)
★ Irish Aid Palestine
If you would like to recommend organisations from your country (I am based in the UK, hence the above list), feel free to add them in a reblog, reply, etc. as I would be happy to add them to this list. It is important right now to organise on a local level as well as online.
*sees a really ugly necktie* is that a disco elysium reference *sees radio equipmenr* is that a disco elysium reference *sees dice* is that a disco elysium reference *sees a bomber jacket* is that a disco elysium reference *sees empty bottles of alcohol* is that a disco elysium reference *sees a drawing of an elf* is that a disco elysium reference *sees a mesh tank top* is that a disco elysium reference *sees a karaoke machine* is that a disco elysium reference *sees a homophobic slur* is that a disco elysium reference *sees the word piss* is that a disco elysium reference *sees an alphabet book* is that a d
I don't think we as a fandom talk enough about how both Kim AND Harry both had dreams of working in fields related to the Pale as children and how that interest carried on through both their lives.
As stated, Kim wanted to become an aerostatic pilot before becoming an RCM officer. Aerostatics were specifically designed to traverse the Pale, and in game Kim wears an aerostatic pilot jacket, despite not being a pilot.
On the merch website, (which, would not recommend supporting, but I'm putting this in as a little tidbit anyways-) we can see the actual stats + description for Kim's jacket.
It's clear that Kim still holds onto this dream and admires the pilots and the revolutionary brigade. He's also a huge torque dork, so I think it's safe to assume he's carried the fascination with aerostatics and machinery well into his adulthood. (also, Airman Kitsuragi.... I'm going to burst into tears. I'm so serious)
Now, as for Harry, I don't have that much info on. HOWEVER,
So, entroponetics is the study of the Pale. At some point when Harry was a child, before becoming a gym teacher, Harry wanted to be a Pale scientist.
(also, writing poetry is a tactic used before traversing the Pale to keep a stable mind. AKA: Volta do Mar.)
And just like Kim, that interest carried on as an adult.
NOW. Okay stay with me. I've just been thinking of the possibility of Kim and Harry meeting, except Kim is an aerostatics pilot, and Harry is a entroponologist. I have no idea if this is an original idea or if this is even coherent but. There are so many worms in my brain
'cause love's such an old-fashioned word
and love dares you to care
for the people
on the edge of the night 🫁🪩
my piece for the @de-fanzine-cpr-pale zine! the premise for the zine was so sweet and i'm glad i got to draw something celebrating the love we all have for disco elysium 🫁💖 you can download the full zine here (it's free!!!)
i chose the song under pressure bc not only was it an earworm i had during the time i was drawing this, but also because of this lovely edit that ignited some very strong emotions in me! go check it out!!!
like this art? it's a print, here! | like what i do? support me on ko-fi!
i also considered choosing a tagalog song, but to be honest, i'm not much of a music listener so i didn't know enough songs that would've reminded me of disco elysium or had the vibes/inspiration i was looking for. but, oh well!
another inspiration for this drawing was that one sculpture with flowers bursting from its head that people were redrawing, i kind of wanted to capture that but a little differently! instead of drawing flowers, i get to draw one billion trillion disco elysium npcs good god why did i do that to myself
it's actually been a while since i've drawn this i'm trying to remember if i have anything else to say hm hm hmmm oh yea accessories harry's got are the eight-eyed teratorn tie and on the side is the hat he gets from annette! (it's not very obvious, it just looks like a very colorful part of the background too but that was what my idea was anyways pftt) i wanted harry to be wearing things that were out of the little acts of kindness you do in the game.
i haven't read thru the full zine yet bc i've been busy orz but from the pages i flipped through i'm just blown away by everyone's works!!! thanks so much for the mods for organizing this!!
DISCO-SPIDERS! Tequila Sunset and Arachnyum! Never seen anyone do the Spiderverse AU on Disco Elysium may this be a new wave? Who knowwssss twip! Twip!
Kim has a unique relationship to the pale, I tried dissecting it and making sense of it. Reposting with more thoughts after some good conversations with @binomech.
Warning- it's insanely long.
1. After life, death
One of the first thing you can learn about Kim is that he would hurl himself in death's way to save you. From the very first moment, Kim is related to sacrifice and death, it follows him wherever he goes-
The slaughterhouse.
He lost his parents at two years old. He worked a year in Processing (here's good post about that by @renmorris and @spilledkaleidoscope). He lost his partner, Eyes. People have taken a bullet that was meant for his more than once. His survivor's guilt is insane. He's killed six people. He's afraid of killing recklessly, and has a deeply unhealthy relationship with his gun (made another embarrassingly long post about that).
Kim also hears pale 'ghosts' on the police radio all the time, talks about it like it's normal, and says he doesn't believe in ghosts.
If harry is with Noid during the Moralist dream quest (more on it later), Harry can even wonder if Kim himself is a ghost, prompting this beautiful exchange-
And he's not entirely wrong. When Harry gets shot, after Kim fulfills Espirit's promise and stands in death's way for him, you can ask as you fall into darkness what will happen to you-
It's the living who are ghosts. You can leave them behind and rest. Go into the wild pale yonder, along with everyone else Kim has ever cared about. Or at least you can try to.
When death is at the door, you have two options-
2. After death, life again
Kim might associate himself with death, but Harry associates him with life again and again- Death is darkness, Kim has a light bulb halo. Death is a sunset, Kim is a sunrise. Death is where you are when the game start, it's ready to take you, and then- a clarion call, the sound of a motor carriage, a detective arriving on the scene, and you open your eyes.
Of course Kim is no actual saint, no guardian angel, but it's really telling that even in harry's deification the symbols of Kim's holiness are worldly, almost mundane, the matters of every day life- a celling's fan lightbulb, the engine of a car..
Or the way @binomech said it when discussing Kim's portrait: this is the only thing keeping you from the full brunt of the world in your mind #but truly you are already in the world #and he is just a man #and that's just a car and that's just a ceiling fan
The game is very clear about Harry being a ceaseless agent of the world, but he's not the only one. Harry stands at death's door twice, and Kim is his way back to the world both times.
3. After the world, the pale
So what is Kim's relationship with the pale?
As casual as he might try to appear, Kim is clearly uncomfortable with the pale, afraid of it even. When Harry brings up the pale, he intervenes, genuinely worried for the fragile stability of his mind, trying to protect him-
It's no more terrifying than water or death or that we're stuck behind our eyes for all eternity?? Sounds pretty terrifying Kim...
I think the key is in the moralist vision quest, When Harry attempts to reach the Committee of Responsibility, and he hears the pale crosstalk coming through the radio, when suddenly-
"Pale is a shroud of memories and it doesn't really distinguish to whom those memories belong to. You could hear anything." You could hear anything, but you hear Kim. Soona even says that the odds of us hearing him, out of all the voices in the pale, are astronomically low.
We know the past has not been harmless to Kim, we know it's full of ghosts and cold winters, but that's not the thing that's eating at him-
Kim is afraid of forgetting. He's constantly writing, he thinks through his notebook, always recording, so he wouldn't lose anything. That's why the pale is so terrifying to him.
4. After the pale. the world again
The world is what it is. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth.
That leads me to the expeditions through the pale-
Volta do Mar is a skill unique to Kim, according to the stats of this pilot jackets, and it's a Physique skill.
It's driving me crazy to think how Kim wanted to be revolutionary pilot as a kid, and is walking around dressed like a pilot as an adult, to give himself the ability to navigate the pale. To return from the sea-
DISTANT ENEMY OF HIMSELF?? kim....
Seeing how Volta do Mar is strengthened by his jackets, and the items' descriptions point out that most of the people who used to wear this jacket are long gone (alongside what they represented) and considering that the only real advance in pale transit is the speed with which an aerostatic craft can pierce it, is seems fitting that returning from the 'sea' requires the kind of armor that ghosts wear- the ghost of who you wanted to be but never could, of a home that was never yours. Glory to them.
@binomech said it best in this conversation we had about Kim's skills: "your traitorous race. your traitorous job. your traitorous parents. your traitorous senses. distant enemy of yourself: seolite, communist, cripple, faggot. and you wear it as armor"
Kim is equipped for Volta do Mar, he armors himself for it every day, for the thing that makes it possible to return sane, and discover a new world-
This is one of the most touching Kim moments in the game to me- putting his hand in the rain, looking up to the sky, mouth open, welcoming the spring rain, even knowing it'll bring death and destruction with it. He is devoted to this world and the role he has to play in it, or at least the role he thinks he has to play-
But we know Kim has a bigger role to play, he's trying to do his part right there, getting Harry to stay-
His connection to Harry can keep him on this world once again- keeping the two of them together. Their real work is down here, him and Harry are Revachol's only hope. If they stick together they might be able to keep her on this earth.
UNITY AMONG THE RANKS IS PARAMOUNT.
I NEED YOU. YOU CAN KEEP ME ON THIS EARTH. BE VIGILANT.
Kim Kitsuragi - "It's impressive, especially for a man your age -- and in *those* heels..." He nods thoughtfully, tapping his finger on his cigarette.
Kim Kitsuragi - "Nice shoes, by the way. I like the green. Goes with the orange." He looks at your snakeskin shoes and smiles, suddenly.
Endurance - Thank you for the compliment. We could manage it even in wooden clogs. There are uncanny running-reservoirs in this body -- god knows why...
when kim kitsuragi, a man you met less than a day ago, sees your wonder and fear about the world you live in, clocks the most overtly queer signal in your outfit (which your brain informed you was the only thing you felt comfortable in, back when you found the second shoe you had thrown out of the window in a fit of suicidal grief about the life you made for yourself) and went. you're not alone. you're safe around me. the green of your shoes goes with the orange of my jacket, tequila sunset and sunrise parabellum, are you lonely like i am, getting older in a life you want to leave? do you see me? i see you. you don't have to run away from this.
Half Light - No. It's scarier than that. You're *pursued* by a hunter. Smelling of apricots and sorrow. And the past.
the life you tried to leave behind is hunting you down and you are running, and running, but the past is always chasing at the heels of the present. dolores dei colonized and razed samara for their apricots, the commune of revachol was crushed, dora had the money to leave you and this city, her past, smelling of apricot chewing gum and old money; history, even when forgotten, lives in the festering wound of today.
but right now we are here. the green goes with the orange. we aren't getting any younger. for these 15 minutes we can stop running and catch our breath. it is enough.
izzy806
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
blakekathryn
gummygunk
snowghoul
tangentwithtanner
romaincrisis
dededos
stormborns
baratheonpilled
