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I can't properly put into words the amount of disgust that I feel seeing someone who looks like she could be my cousin fight for a genocidal occupational force like Israel but I will say this.

If you are Chinese, Korean, Japanese or any one of these Asian ethnicities that the West deem "acceptable" and you align yourselves with western-backed racial supremacy, you are making fools of yourselves. You have fallen prey to the myth of the "model minority" and you are suckers for it.

The premise of racial supremacy is based on exclusivity. And here's a dose of reality - the myth of the "model minority" is nothing but a tactic to placate you. To sow divide in the ranks of people of colour. To artificially manufacture another realm of racial supremacy in minorities so that you're distracted from how we all suffer under colonialism.

Did we all forget about the skyrocketing of sinophobia in the wake of the first COVID outbreak? The transformation of Chinese people into fiends with barbaric eating customs, poor hygiene, and mass conspiracy to infect the world with biological weapons?

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What about the hate-crimes? The attacks in the street against anyone visibly asian? The rampant discrimination and ostracisation from society?

In 2020, Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as "The Chinese Virus", "Kung-flu" at a campaign rally to raucous applause, a chilling echo of the times where fears of the "Yellow Peril" had the western world in a stranglehold.

For all that Chinese people have been lauded as "prodigies" and "well-mannered workers", the moment our existence was incovenient, were were nothing more than another target. And although Chinese suffering then wasn't close to the scale of suffering that Palestinians now endure, we all received a reminder on what it was like to be in the world's crosshairs.

Now, in 2023, Biden dismisses death tolls as unreliable and remains proudly Zionist even after Netanyahu described the genocide Israel is inflicting upon Palestine as the "struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle." At the same time, Palestinians are being compared to fleeing rats in a gesture of dehumanisation that mirrors how the Nazis portrayed Jews during the Holocaust.

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And let's not think Abigail's Jewishness will save her, not when it's been proven that Israel has administered contraceptives to Ethiopian Jewish immigrants without their consent. Racial supremacy is an exclusive club that never stops getting smaller, and there is nothing that you, as a minority, will ever be able to do to fit in. One day, you too will be a target and there'll be nothing you can do but blame yourself. After all - it's already happened.

So shame on Abigail. Truly. With the memory of knowing what it's like to be targeted for factors out of your control fresh in her mind, she happily fights to do the same to others. And that says more about her than I ever will be able to.

I am not going to say TLT is about fossil fuels because it's about a lot of things and it's reductive to boil it down to anything, but a society fueled by necromancy/death magic/corpses is reminiscent of our society fueled by and built with petrochemicals (oil, natural gas, plastic), and given that within the necromancy framework the role of the cavalier is to be metaphorically, literally, and/or spiritually consumed, it's interesting that the first cavalier was the planet Earth. This new world is still based on devouring the planet.

Does this make Paul a metaphor for nuclear fusion I'm joking but I suppose the question Alecto must resolve is whether we can escape needing to consume to survive.* And maybe we can't - stop trying to make your carnivorous pets vegan - but can we find a method of consumption that's less destructive?

(Some people may see Paul as that answer but I am a Hater who isn't into ego death.)

if you think about it, monarchy being explicitly framed as a bad thing in the story of mcd and the system of lordship giving every village the right to self-governance where villages can do business with each other without interference of a ruling power that enforces a single system of law and government is probably the most progressive part of its writing.

A 19th Century Abyssinian shield,

The circular dome shield made from hide and decorated in blind, with white metal strapwork and floral appliquets, the central boss engraved description "Magdala 13th April 1868", the reverse with carrying handle,

52cms diameter.

Lord Napier led the expedition of 1868 against Emperor Tewodros II of Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia). The Abyssinian ruler was holding a number of Protestant missionaries hostage, in his mountain capital of Magdala, as well as two British diplomats who had attempted to negotiate their freedom.

After months of planning, the advance guard of engineers landed at Zula on the Red Sea to constuct a port on 30th October 1867; Napier himself arrived in Zula 2nd January 1868, on the 25th January 1868 Napier led his group south to Ethiopian highlands.

After traversing 400 miles of mountainess terrain in inhospitable weather, Napier's troops reached the foot of Magdala on the 9th April 1868, and the next day, defeated the 9000 troops still loyal to Tewodros at the battle of Magdala for the loss of only two British lives.

Although Emperor Tewodros II surrender his hostages and made repeated efforts for a negotiated surrender, the distrustful Napier pressed on and ordered an assault on the mountain redoubt on 13th April 1868. The British captured Magdala and Emperor Tewodros killed himself. Napier then ordered the destruction of Tewodros' artillery and the burning of Madgala as retribution. This included the expedition and its troops looting many local artifacts which they took back to Britian.

Napier was elevated to the peerage as Baron Napier of Magdala on 11th July 1868 and granted annuity and ammunity for life.

Courtesy: Anderson and Garland

It’s amazing how many meanings one small shell can have!

🌊🐚

I have been obsessed with Fort Meigs recently and the Ohio campaigns of the War of 1812, so this news article hit differently. The Ohio History Connection (the same organisation behind the Fort Meigs historic site) is trying to preserve a historic and culturally significant Indigenous earthworks from the golf course that has used it since 1910. The fact that this callous use of an ancient astronomy and ritual calendar site has been allowed to go on also reflects the violent removal of the Shawnee people who by all rights should have been there protecting and using the site. Imagine if they made Stonehenge a golf course!

This is all related to the War of 1812 and campaigns against the Shawnee, Potawatomi and Miami Nations. I have been thinking a lot about this since Indigenous Peoples' Day is Monday, and I have been thinking of writing up something with a predictable War of 1812 focus (there is a lot of material). It just goes to show how much the issues of the War of 1812 continue to affect the present day.

Even though I’m gathering with some family in an inadvertent commemoration of this “holiday”, I’m going to try to use it - as I did last year - as an opportunity to encourage donations to our local tribes. This year I’m also going to discuss gathering for Hanukkah and Rosh Hashanah instead, and I’m going to try and make a list for any friends & family who want it of BIPOC-owned businesses and causes to support.

#Repost @decolonizemyself with @use.repost

#Repost @itsmirastern — Links in bio for more ideas! 'another year and another opportunity to switch it all up and work for repair. ⚡️ if we’re committed to rewriting narratives, we have to take bold moves to do so. when my wifey and i began to boycott the holiday, it felt lonely, i longed for community and gathering. i mourned giving up the childhood memories i kept trying to create as an adult. but what nourishes me much more is knowing i have a hundred other opportunities to center into gratitude, land reverence, and community beyond the last thursday in november. ⚡️ especially for us white folks and other non-white settlers…divesting from the american regime of colonial whitewashing is our only salvation- physical, mental and spiritual. we’ve all been dragged into the lies of american amnesia and hegemony, but our power lies in our commitment to reshaping. ⚡️ here are some alternatives to commemorating thursday’s holiday. message me if you want handles or links to any of the suggestions here! ⚡️ what other practices or reimaginations allow you to resist thankstaking? what movements or individuals do you want to support this season? please share below!

fellow australian artful dodger watchers have any of you worked out where in australia this is meant to be set because this is driving me up the wall

On this day, 128 years ago, Italian forces with their high tech weapons, diplomatic cover from their imperial allies and confident assertion of African servitude got their a** kicked by Black Ethiopian warriors in the most stunning way in the history of the world. So much so that the European and American press began to question how Black the Ethiopians really were and started publishing stories about the origins of “Caucasian Ethiopia”. Happy Victory Day to Ethiopia! 🇪🇹 We made a graphic novel of this story. Link in bio to read it now. #etancomics

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I know it’s a little late, but I learned this year that May is both Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish Heritage Month, so here’s the Bats.

From left to right-

Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ashkenazi Jewish), Kate Kane/Batwoman (Ashkenazi Jewish), Minkhoa Khan/Ghost-Maker (Singaporean), Cassandra Wayne/Batgirl (Chinese), Damian Wayne/Robin (Chinese & Ashkenazi Jewish) and Bao Pham/Clownhunter (Vietnamese).

ime, orthodoxy is just as anti-choice and anti-gay as catholicism. have you tried anglo-catholicism?

yes, i have. let me just say i have just as many issues with joining the anglican communion as i do joining the catholic and orthodox communions. they just happen to be different concerns.

And so they should be returned. These taonga ('treasures' extremely loosely) are extremely important and need to reside with their iwis.