Cambodian women from the region bordering Laos

French vintage postcard

Shibboleth

Conflicted Phonemes, 2012, Lawrence Abu Hamdan with graphic designer Janna Ullrich.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an independent investigator or Private Ear with a great interest in the political use of sound and linguistics.

Conflicted Phonemes is made of vinyl wall prints and takeaway printed A4 sheets on a shelf. The prints visualize the complex relation between a person’s place of birth and linguistic identity, whilst also examining how itinerant and precarious social conditions and cultural exchange result in a hybridization of accents, thus questioning the efficacy of forensic technologies and practices of “bordering” conducted by Dutch immigration authorities.

I wish I could experience this work and the follow-up, also from 2012, The Freedom of Speech focusing on the UK’s controversial use of voice analysis to determine the origins and authenticity of asylum seekers’ accents. The Freedom of Speech is a mixed-media installation comprising a stereo audio documentary and an acoustic foam sculpture on the geopolitics of accents and listening practices that have led to shocking stories of wrongful deportations.

Judges 12:5-6 English Standard Version: they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

There are lots of articles on Abu Hamdan’s work. Here just one written by Emily Apter : Shibboleth: Policing by Ear and Forensic Listening in Projects by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 2016 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://doi.org/10.1162/OCTO_a_00253    

Abstract: Drawing on the work of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, a British-Lebanese artist and researcher currently based in Beirut, this essay examines the juridical and conceptual field of critical forensis which is situated at the juncture of security studies, art, and architecture. Abu Hamdan extends forensics to the area of “new audibilities,” with a focus on the politics of juridical hearing in situations of legal-identity profiling and voice authentication (the “shibboleth test”). Abu Hamdan's projects investigate how accent monitoring and audio surveillance, voice recognition, translation technologies, sovereign acts of listening, and court determinations of linguistic norms emerge as so many technical constraints on “freedom of speech,” itself a malleable term ascribed to discrepant claims and principles, yet taking on performative force in site-specific situations.

I don't think people truly understand the gravity of Rafah being bombed.

There is nowhere left to go.

The lowest cost is $5,000 USD to flee to Egypt. There has been people paying over $10,000 USD.

That is the only option

Pay or die.

Rafah was the only place in Palestine promised not to be bombed. That promise is broken.

1.5 million people have nowhere to go!

Reminder, if possible, please donate to the PCRF, ANERA, Islamic Relief, Palestine Red Crescent Society, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Defense for Children International - Palestine, Doctors Without Borders, and all other trusted organizations.

More profound when you consider that Doctors Without Borders rarely makes political statements.

In #UNSC mtg on Middle East, @MSF SG Christopher Lockyear says: "Israeli forces have attacked our convoys, detained our staff, bulldozed our vehicles, hospitals have been bombed and raided. And now for a second time, one of our staff shelters has been hit. This pattern of attacks is either intentional or indicative of reckless incompetence. Our colleagues in #Gaza are fearful that as I speak to you today, they will be punished tomorrow."

He adds: "The humanitarian response in Gaza today is an illusion. A convenient illusion that perpetuates a narrative that this war is being waged in line with international laws. Calls for humanitarian assistance have echoed across this chamber. Yet in Gaza we have less and less every day, less space, less medicine, less food, less water, less safety."

*the art work is not mine

People against piracy fail to realize that no, I can’t just ‘buy it.’ They stopped making DVDs and Blu-Rays. They’re barely offering digital copies for download. I am not spending money I could use for food or bills to pay for a subscription service just so I can always have access to a beloved piece of media. Especially not when the service will remove media on a whim without concern for how the loss of access to that piece will make its artistic conservation nigh impossible.

For example, I recently learned that Disney+ had an original film called Crater. It’s scifi, family friendly, and seems cool - I would love to buy it as a holiday gift for my little brother! But: it’s exclusive to D+ and THEY REMOVED IT LITERALLY MONTHS AFTER ITS RELEASE.

The ONLY way I can directly access this film is through piracy. The ONLY available ‘copies’ of this film are hosted on piracy websites. Disney will NEVER release it in theaters, or as something to buy, and it may NEVER return to the streaming service. It will be LOST because we aren’t allowed to purchase it for personal viewing. If I can’t pay to own it, I won’t pay for the privilege of losing it when corporate decides to put it in a vault.

So yes, I’m going to pirate and support piracy.

MJ家・柴ボーダーシェパ on X: "新しい車にテンション上がる子 https://t.co/8sdYel5Vsx" / X

The IDF also designated Al Mawasi a safe zone

everytime i tell europeans my favorite cuisine is texmex & sonoran they are like “American bastardized Mexican food?” and i feel like im going insane. its not bastardized. its their fucking cuisine.

Boundary Line #MondayBlogs

Life’s years delineate identity who we were always bordering who we are a boundary line that leaves us separated from ourselves frozen in conflicting times that cannot coexist we seek to merge the past, present, and future chasing acceptance from ourselves – Caroline A. Slee

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US state borders but they are based off rivers and mountains.

by u/Terratoria

Related: Canada province borders by rivers and mountains >>

Doggo's First Day Back At Work After Having A Week Off

(Source)

It's kinda cute how Argentina just sorta reaches her hand out so she can have a border with Brasil 🥰

Barney, snoozing on a hilltop, in the summer of 2009.