so... i woke up at 1:30 am bc my brain is full and the first thing that came to mind is... Latinamerica is collapsing and i wonder if the rest of the world knows.
if it doesn't, then maybe it should, so, i wanna explain:
we are actually about to run out of water: 85% of the mexican territory is in a draught, the worst in 30 years, they say. and there's lakes that are disappearing.
government is spreading "tips" and "infographics" about how to save some water when they're allowing companies like coca-cola and pepsi; cemex, bonafont and bimbo to have leverage in aquifers and they let them own basically 70% of the water in the country thanks to the National Waters Law (Ley de Aguas Nacionales)
oh and just last night (may 3rd) the 12th metro line collapsed in México City and 23 people died. everyone is blaming it on the 2 previous governments' corruption for using cheap materials and rushing to finish it and inaugurate it before it was actually ready
same as México, they're running out of water, so far three states are totally out of it, which is around 1.4 million people.
the press has been calling it the worst draught in the history of the country SINCE LAST YEAR
besides the government has stopped buying vaccines and they're leaving around 70% of the population without a vaccination...
there's no space left in the hospitals, the government stole the 1.6k million usd loan that the country got for health care related buys during the pandemic and left the hospitals alone to their luck. people have to sell their things; from their TV's and fridges to their cars, houses, bodies... there's actual people recurring to prostitution so they can buy medicine the government is supposed to be providing
they've been having a hard economic crisis; again, surprise surprise, the government has stolen 14 million quetzales (1.8million usd) that was destined to the healthcare department: since the pandemic started people has been fired by hordes, there's no jobs, there's no money, there's no more safe hospitals or doctors to work in them, or equipment. and the president approved the 2021 budget in the middle of the night and took away money from the health and the education departments, leading to massive protests that, as you have guessed, were repressed with police violence.
government actually created an espionage agency, the UPAD, they're fining people for being outside hiding behind the excuse of the pandemic; which is making hospitals collapse, they passed a recessive tax reform, the Electoral Supreme Court was scammed in the latest elections and they're actually seeking to create a higher rank power, a "superminister", higher than a president, who can hold the three powers of the nation (dictatorship, everyone?)
they're enduring a huge political crisis, they have to chose a president and their only two options are: a leftist man that wants to take all the agricultural land and divide it in equal parts, doesn't support lgbtttiq rights, privatize almost all services and more reforms that would lead to massive firings AND a woman that it's being investigated for fraud and money laundering and that descends from one of the biggest peruvian dictators and wants to get him out of prison.
this uncertainty of course has made the usd price to sky rocket (because what else is new) and now the prices of everything are rising as well, and the wages? they're staying still
reports on the presidential debate
another political crisis: the president along with the congress (which is mostly sitting his party) dismissed and basically fired the judges of the supreme court and the attorney general. and recommended/nominated new ones from his party, opening the way to the totalitarianism and welp, the end of democracy in the country: dictatorship.
the people is outraged and the international community along with the America States Organization are rejecting this horrid violation to the Constitution of El Salvador but the panorama is still uncertain.
the government of Ivan Duque just has been in the process of passing a tax reform to collect around 25 billion Colombian pesos (around 6.5k billion usd) through taxes without raising the minimum wages; this would throw the country in an economic crisis that would impact the lower and middle classes and it would take products off the basic market basket.
the people of Colombia have been marching and protesting about this and the government has replied with police violence, they have their own anti-raid police, the ESMAD, and they have orders to shoot to kill, the process now has paused because of the protest.
there isn't yet an exact number on the death count but what the people is sure of is that they're gonna try to hide it along with the number of rapings and tortures the police has been conducting.
in 2019 chilean government rose the price of the metro/subway and there were protests and marches and manifestations, which led, of course, to policial repression, this was a whole ordeal that was condemned by the UN, now, the people is tired that the same government hasn't dealt properly with the sanitary contingency so they starter planing a huge strike; dozens of worker unions planning to march on april 30th to show that they're millions and they want the president out.
then the president was acused of crimes against humanity before the International Court of Human Rights for the repression of the 2019 protests...
well, if you haven't heard about the venezuelan crisis, you've been living under a rock: it's been going on for more than 20 years, venezuelan people live under a dictatorship (fucking incredible we still have those in the world), the police kills people that march and manifest, citizens don't have dignified access to: public transport, gas and gasoline, electricity, food, water, medicine and medical equipment let alone the covid vaccine.
and when the venezuelan people wanna leave the mediocre and deplorable conditions in which their government had made them live? conditions in which if you don't die of sickness, you get killed by a cop or killed in a robbery or killed on a raid? if you don't die of hunger you die of thirst? they raised the passport prices! and so the venezuelan people as a lot of people in Latinoamérica have to illegally migrate; and we all know how that's seen.
an immense femicide rise and Gender Violence alert.
donations and ways to help México and Colombia
Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.
white lgbt ppl dont know how much trouble theyve caused for us -_-
Hey guys, happy black history month!
I hate to beg but I recently went back to college and I’m paying super high interest rates for loans because I’m an immigrant and I don’t have a super lengthy credit history.
You might recognize these from edits/pinterest/telegram etc. I made them! So if you’ve ever wanted to support my work, you can share this post around and/or tip me on ko-fi. anything is super appreciated and goes towards my student loans ♡
Cashmere Cape, ca. 1912
Reville & Rossiter Ltd.
via Vintage Martini
This is potentially life saving information everyone should know.
A trope that gets to me: 'guard dog' character and their partner who are both fully aware of it and honestly don't care/kind of like it. Someone says "call your guard dog off" and their partner does call them off. That person, their 'guard dog', is someone who is unreservedly, irrefutably loyal to them. Someone undoubtedly dangerous who is willing to kill, to maim, to obey, simply because of their love for one another. There's no manipulation involved— it is loyalty, brutal, dogged loyalty. And it goes both ways.
some thoughts/reminders based on what i’ve seen on social media today:
this decision doesn’t just impact women! it impacts anyone who has a uterus! say what you mean and mean what you say, your words have weight and meaning! (glad we could clear that up)
grieving is normal. having big, messy, unwieldy feelings is normal. taking the time to recognize and sit in those emotions is important. wanting to protest is good. wanting to change things is great. being in touch enough with your emotions to recognize that you’re experiencing trauma is just as important.
everyone processes differently. my reaction may not look like your reaction, and yours might not look like the reactions of your friends/family members. many people have jobs/situations that preclude them from taking the sort of actions they’d like to in response to this/other social injustices they’ve seen recently. hold space for those people, the people sticking it out in places where they can’t speak their minds for the sake of creating a better place for those who come after them.
the people in the U.S. didn't ask for this. CNN polled americans after the draft opinion leaked in early may, and at the time 59% of respondents said that they'd support congressional legislation codifying nationwide abortion rights. I know it's easy to make fun of the U.S. by calling us a dumpster fire or saying you're glad your country didn't do this, but know that there are real people on the other side of the globe from you who are reeling from the whiplash of swiveling their gaze between children being gunned down in their schools and the supreme court attempting to delegitimize reproductive rights. it's not a joke for them, particularly not for those who fall into multiple minority communities and will now be facing the brunt of this ruling head-on in more ways than one.
for fucks sake. donate to abortion healthcare providers. not just PP (we love them too, but the smaller ones need the most help). learn how to support yourself/your friends in the event that you need to get an abortion and don’t live in a state where it’s protected. spend time/money investing in the protection of the rights of the groups that found out halfway through the morning that they have fewer rights than family members only one generation above them. grieve with them. care for them. act just as loudly as your words and posts.
Some helpful links re:putting your money where your mouth is below the cut
Links:
National Abortion Federation (the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual Hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada, providing callers with accurate information, confidential consultation, and referrals to providers of quality abortion care)
National Network of Abortion Funds (direct donation to over 90 local abortion providers, allows you to customize your donation amount + direction)
The Abortion Privacy Guide (how to safely search for abortion access from a device)
Abortion Finder (comprehensive directory of verified abortion service providers)
Repro Legal Helpline (help with specific, legal questions about an abortion experience)
Mayday Health’s Twitter Thread and Plan C (directions on how to request abortion pills for at-home abortion access)
Donations4Abortions (resource to help you find local funds to support from state to state)
Indigenous Women Rising (abortion fund for all indigenous people who are seeking abortion services)
The Brigid Alliance (national abortion fund that arranges/funds all aspects of the abortion process no matter where the person seeking the abortion is located)
I Need An A (provides personalized, up to date info on how to get an abortion)
MA Hotline (licensed healthcare providers to answer medical questions during an at home miscarriage/abortion)
Exhale Pro-Voice, Connect and Breathe (post-abortion counseling services)
Reprocare (emotional support during medical abortion process)
So. Pavlos Fissas was murdered 7 years ago. He was stabbed in the heart in my neighborhood by a member of a neo nazi political party. He was murdered because he was considered dangerous for them. He was an important face in the antifa movement in Greece and he was punished for that. These people felt so comfortable in their ideology that they murdered a man in cold blood on a crowded street. It wasn't late at night. It wasn't in a dark alley. It was in front of the world. These monsters are the shame of my country and have terrorized people for years. Today the judge convicted them guilty not just for murder but as a criminal organization. And thousands upon thousands of people cheered on the streets.
So it's a great day. Δεν είναι αθώοι.
Ukrainians fleeing with their pets. They don’t leave them behind. 🐶🐱🙏 I can’t imagine the pain and heartbreak picking up your pets and leaving your home. Heartbreaking for all. 💔
Praying for peace between Ukraine and Russia and all over the world.
Photos via Missenell
MASON, Tenn. – The Tennessee Comptroller issued an unusual appeal last week to residents of this small, majority Black town, which occupies fewer than two square miles in rural west Tennessee.
“In my opinion, it’s time for Mason to relinquish its charter,” Comptroller Jason Mumpower wrote in a letter mailed to each one of Mason’s 1,337 property owners.
Mumpower urged local residents to “encourage your local officials to do what’s necessary to allow Mason to thrive. There is no time to waste.”
State comptrollers, responsible for financial oversight of local government, typically communicate directly with elected local leaders and not their constituents. “We have not issued a letter to citizens like this before,” Comptroller spokesman John Dunn said, noting it is “unprecedented for us to publicly call for a town charter to be relinquished.”
But the Comptroller’s unprecedented public callout comes at an unprecedented time not only for Mason, but for the state. Mason, located in the southeastern corner of Tipton County, now finds itself with some of the most coveted real estate in Tennessee.
It’s one of the nearest towns to the massive new site to be built for Blue Oval City, a key component in Ford Motor Co’s multibillion-dollar pivot to electric vehicle manufacturing.
Mumpower’s letter has infuriated Mason’s part-time elected officials, who insist they have no intention of ceding their town’s 153-year-old charter – which would subsume the largely African-American, majority Democratic community under the governance of Tipton County, which is predominantly white and Republican.
“This is our home. We were born and raised here. The majority of the town is homegrown people that live here,” Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers said. “He is trying to conquer and divide us. It’s akin to a hostile take-over and it’s not hard to figure out why here, why now.”
Town leaders are accusing Mumpower and other state officials of big-footing a long-ignored, largely Black community now that major investment is heading its way.
Mason is 60% Black and includes descendants of men, women and children enslaved in the area before Emancipation. For more than a century the town was led by White elected officials.
That changed in 2016, when fraud and mismanagement allegations led to the resignations of nearly all City Hall officials, all of whom were White. Mason’s current mayor, vice mayor and five of its six alderman are Black.
“It’s because of the Black people that are in office,” said Rivers, who first became Vice Mayor in 2021.
“And it’s because of all the places in the world, Blue Oval could have selected, they selected here. There’s no way Mason won’t prosper and grow. And now they want to take it away from us.”
Read more
The Comptroller’s office:
Yet again like in the past. New day, new Jim Crow-esque tactics, perfectly timed takeovers. This Black American town needs to be promptly saved without handing a damn thing over. The town elected mostly Black officials back in 2015. They’ve been trying to pay off the debt from when the town was previously ran by mostly white officials. Literally playing catch-up.
This ain’t nothing but a glimpse of what it looks like before eventually uprooting and displacing Black people off the land they have resided on since forever and where their ancestors labored said land as property in chattel slavery and the move into Jim Crow.
There’s a change.org petition to sign and share to get the word out there.
This person suggested to put Ford in the hot seat by sending a letter like this. Others are suggested to call their office.
This is the CEO of Ford’s twitter.
Something gotta give.
This shit should be on the news. But as usual, they make it known after the deed is done or not at all and you end up finding out years later.