Icon ID: Black and white photo of young Thedy Côrrea. /End Icon ID
Banner ID: Black and white photo of an owl looking forward and the moon above. /End Banner ID
What Do 5 Million Brazilians Have in Common? A Name With a Grim Past
Silva, the surname of presidents and soccer stars, has long carried stigma over its colonial links. Now, many see its legacy in new ways.
Fernando Santos da Silva’s surname — shared by 150 relatives — is an heirloom from a grim chapter of Brazil’s history.
Like millions of others in Latin America’s most populated country, he inherited it from his ancestors who were once enslaved, likely named after their captors.
With its painful roots, Silva was long a source of shame even as it became Brazil’s most common surname.
But today, the name is treated in a starkly different light.
“Silva is a symbol of resistance,” said Mr. Santos da Silva, 32, an antiques vendor from Rio de Janeiro. “It’s a connection, both to the present and to my ancestors.”
Whenever you meet a Brazilian, there’s a good chance that Silva is tucked somewhere in a lengthy, melodic last name. If not, they certainly have a friend or relative who has the name. (Most Brazilians use the surname of both their mother and father.)
Silva is found in the name of the nation’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and its most celebrated soccer player, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. It’s also shared by some five million other Brazilians, from movie stars and Olympic medalists to teachers, drivers and cleaners.
Exactly how Silva spread across Brazil — one in 40 Brazilians has the name — is the subject of some debate. But historians agree that much of its popularity is linked to slaveholders who gave the name to many enslaved people who then passed it down to future generations.
Marked by its colonial roots, the name was for decades synonymous with poverty and oppression in a majority Black country that only abolished slavery in 1888, and where deep racial and economic inequalities persist.
Few Brazilians embraced the name in the past. Many prominent figures, including Ayrton Senna da Silva, a Formula One driver in the 1980s and ’90s, quietly dropped Silva from their names.
But as Brazil rethinks how its brutal past helped shape the country’s identity, more and more well-known people are spotlighting their surname, conveying the idea that there’s nothing shameful about being a Silva.
“I don’t want to leave you behind, but we can’t see any other way, Noor,” Mama said. “We are so tired. We cannot bear it anymore.”
Fahed (@/fahed-2) & Reem (@/reem-reem-0), fled south together with their children & their children's grandmother. Fahed's sister's family of 5 fled south as well, and the 13 of them remained together. But after 14 months of surviving hell as a unit (and nearly reaching their campaign goal) the family is now facing one of the worse decisions imaginable: who will be able to evacuate Gaza and who will be forced to stay behind.
There may be an opportunity for evacuation soon, but they're bracing for separation, with Fahed staying behind with his sister and her family. It's hard enough reunifying in Gaza, but with the border with Egypt between them, there's no telling when (or if) they'll ever see each other again. It shouldn't be a choice this family has to make: who survives, who may not. Their kids shouldn't be forcibly separated from their dad, nor Reem from her husband.
Fahed & Reem are some of the kindest, gentlest people ever, and their kids are dazzling, just absolute sweethearts. They've all lost so much and experienced too much, and somehow, kept finding a way to endure.
But right now, they might lose each other, so please: pitch in what you can, help the Shehabs stay together 🙏
DONATE HERE
(vetted here & by ButterflyEffect Project, #764)
sorry about this, tagging for reach below but if you'd like off leave a reply (& thanks for any rb's)
Thank you friends for helping me reach 2.8k. Please keep donating so that I may reach my first short goal 5k. I need this to save my family, and to get out of Gaza together and not be separated and the family dispersed. We still need your support, do not hesitate to donate and participate. Please, if you can, contribute to help us survive these unimaginable circumstances. Every participation, every donation, no matter the size, makes a difference.
My friends please help me reach 3k CAD , I only $200 CAD away from the amount.
December is associated with Christmas, and Christmas is supposedly the "season of giving" in the West. There's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world, so if you're getting into the Christmas spirit and thinking of giving gifts, or of cozying up when you're cold, or even if you just wish the state of the world was better.... there's a way you can make that happen for someone else. You are not powerless, and you can help.
Prices are astronomical in Gaza right now, and winter is making living conditions that much more severe and desperate. Despite the fact that there are a few posts advocating for the Al-Anqar family's fundraiser, they still have not been able to reach even half of their fundraiser goal yet.
You can help this family with a single reblog, or even a small donation. I hope you will find it in your heart to be generous and do what you can to help, I know I am! Their fundraiser is below
**Humanitarian Support Request: Ghada Nabil Al-Anqar**
… ghada alanqar needs your support for Rising from the Ashes: Ghada’s Journey o
I stand on the rubble of our home, but my heart is filled with hope. I need your help to leave Gaza and complete my education to build my future. Every donation, no matter how small, will help me achieve my dream. Join us on a journey of rebuilding
GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/463cbf01
Thank you for your support. Every bit of your kindness means so much to me 💔
My campaign has been vetted by:
1-@beesandwatermelon here #190 link here
2- @gazavetters
Shared by :
1- @a-shade-of-blue here
2- @dlxxv-vetted-donations here
Help Mahmoud Jehad and his family to leave Gaza to study and … Renee Hassert needs your support for Help Mahmoud and his family escape Gaza
people dont really read this anymore so ill skip that. THIS IS URGENT. AHMED NEEDS DONATIONS SO HIM AND HIS MOM CAN SURVIVE. Please dont give up on him!!!!!
this is his gofundme. Please donate at least 115 SEK!!!!! KEEP THE EXCHANGE RATE IN MIND thats only 10$!
Feeling incredibly sick and angry about everything. I’ll go about my day and try to be normal and then it just ambushes me and honestly the only people keeping me sane rn are the Arabs who’ve voiced similar experiences and are staying the course and being vocal despite all the attempts to basically blame everything that’s wrong with this country on us
Guys please donate to the Sameer Project, it’s a grassroots initiative to buy supplies in bulk and distribute them over as many families as possible. It’s doing so much good and can help so many people at once so donating to it and spreading the word is the least we can do
hello friends! i designed these stickers and im now taking preorders for them!! there are two different designs and they will be available separately or together! if you want both, u can get them as a bundle at a discounted price. if you want to go in with friends and get a bunch of stickers (10 or more) I've made a bundle for that as well!
to buy, please dm me! i'll be taking payments thru v*nm* or p*yp*l, and i will be sending ALL proceeds directly to Nizar, who i've been in contact with, and posting receipts. alternatively, you can send me a screenshot of your d*n*tion to Nizar's campaign (donation must have been made AFTER this post).
FREE shipping within the US.
sticker #1:
one day i will find my way back sticker - $2.50
sticker #2:
RESIST sticker - $5.00
(Arabic text says "from the river to the sea, p*lestine will be free")
bundle #1:
sticker 1 + sticker 2 (1 of each, 2 stickers total) - $6.00
bundle #2:
sticker 1 + sticker 2 (5 of each, 10 stickers total) - $25.00
if you would like to make your own bundle and let me know how many quantities of each sticker you would like, just dm me and i can calculate the discount :)
100% OF PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE ABU RAIDA FAMILY to help them secure food, medication, clothes, shelter, etc. and help them save towards evacuation. You can also d*n*te to their campaign freely here: https://chuffed.org/project/112984-help-the-abu-raida-family-in-gaza
Did you know what happened today in the tent area of Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis
‼️⁉️
Yes, I’m aware and deeply concerned
I heard about it but need more details
No, I haven’t heard about it
Voting ended onDec 6, 2024
Today, Israeli airstrikes targeted the tents of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. The bombing resulted in at least 20 martyrs and many injuries. The attack was dangerously close to our own tents, and the area is filled with destruction and fear.
The situation is getting worse, with terror everywhere. Please help by sharing my campaign. Thank you all for your support!
$8,816 USD raised $9,000 goal
Hi, my name is Camille Testa from Saint Paul and I'm fundraising t… Camille Testa needs your support for Emergency Evacuation Needed to Save
Thank you all
@ankle-beez @noble-kale @genderoutlaws s @sorcerersage @watermotif @jesncin @ellevandersneed @tpwrtrmnky @certifiedsexed @tlirsgender @ink-and-teeth @girlinafairytale e @sweetsweethate
This video: Two hours ago, the Zionist occupation planes bombed a camp next to us.
The scene is extremely terrifying. The children around me now cannot sleep out of fear. A bloody night has resulted in more than 20 martyrs so far and dozens of injuries, and ambulance crews are still recovering the martyrs and the wounded. This area that the occupation bombed in Khan Yunis was classified as a safe area and he called on citizens to go there to beat them there and tear their bodies apart. A dirty, false occupation that knows nothing but brutality and arrogance.
There's this thing I noticed among queer people that impedes intersectional solidarity, and it's that certain queer people are White before they're queer, and others are American before they're queer, and it manifests in this belief that trading the lives of non Whites, non Americans for their own safety is some kind if act of queer revolution, rather than a simple extension of White supremacy and American Imperialism.
I'm still a Filipino citizen; I will be for the rest of my life, even if I'm privileged enough to have moved to Canada. On a personal level I love many Americans, but on a macro level these are still the people that committed a genocide against my people, who continue to have a dangerous military presence in my country and pulling us into proxy wars and feeding their propaganda into our country that's mired in poverty because of their colonization and decades of uneven trade agreements. And most Americans don't even know what their nation did, wondering at how Cheap everything is in the Philippines, including our lives. Making our home their paradise while the average Filipino must work every day of their life til they die without the bare minimum of worker protections.
All this to say; I'm as much Filipino, a visibly Brown Asian, as I am queer and a woman. These are all things I am. I do not trade one for another.
So I'm not gonna pretend I don't see the queers that trade in racism, imperialism and genocide for their own safety and acting like this is a radical act. It's the opposite.
People will use Muslim Women experiences misogynistic violence as some sort of Gotcha Islam is Evil, but you know these people don't actually care about women or Muslim women. They just are using it as a pawn in islamaphobia. Because apparently they see the best way to combat misogynistic violence against muslim women is (checks notes) harassing a niqabi online.
