Arieso226

This is your reminder that Mahsa Amini's Kurdish name was Jina. The violence she faced wasn't just due to her being a woman, it was also because she was Kurdish. Kurdish people face ethnic cleansing and violence across the SWANA region and Turkey. Kurdish people are not allowed to use their Kurdish names under these regimes.

She wasn't allowed to use her real name in life, please at least grant her the mercy of using her true name in death.

Her name was Jina.

Stop everything the full barbie move trailer just dropped

Midsommar: Horror redefined

NO. 1

So, technically Midsommar is a horror movie, written and directed by the great Ari Aster, debuted in 2019 and got raving reviews, and the film centers around Dani, played by Florence Pugh, who goes through an incredible, traumatic journey that ends in an equally incredible and yet extremely disturbing note. So, why are we talking about this film instead of the ‘myths’ or folklore stories? Well, because this is a film that isn’t like generic horror; it doesn’t include supernatural, it doesn’t have goblins, demons, fairies, but humans. Humans, in this film, is the scariest monster. In this instance, the Harga cult, who shows Dani love and acceptance she was denied the whole movie.

NO.2

Spoilers, for anyone who hasn’t seen Midsommar: So, what makes this movie horrifying? By how bright everything is. In the beginning, of course, it’s dark. Dani has lost her whole family, unfortunately, to a murder-suicide. She is stuck in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend, Christian, who longs to break up with her but is too cowardly to do so. The horror aspects happen when they and their friends go on a, funnily enough, anthropological research trip to Sweden, at the height of the Midsommar festival where they meet the Harga community, (cult). Many of what the Harga community does, like watching the elder’s die by suicide over a mountain, a tactic of eugenics, the disappearances of Christian’s friends, which he later finds out were gruesomely murdered, and then was tricked, and subsequently, raped, while Dany is having panic attack after panic attack was all planned. The use of light, for instance, is used oppressively for all of the visitors, and the isolation of language and traditions is used to ‘differ’ everyone. The cult is mostly open to Dani, for they chose her to join. A cult seeks to have more members, to grow within their own traditions, and not to question anything that occurs, no matter how horrific.

NO. 3

Now, Midsommar is a horror movie, and quite different from the actual Midsommar festival! So, what is the Midsommar festival? It is a holiday to celebrate the arrival of summer because Sweden, where the holiday is commensurate, is known for its long winters. It predates Christianity and is primarily held close to the summer festival. ‘‘The maypole or Midsummer pole is decorated with greenery and flowers. As it turns out, the maypole is a comparatively new part of Swedish Midsummer tradition. It came to Sweden in the late Middle Ages from Germany, where the pole was decorated with leaves and raised on May 1 (hence the name). Since spring comes later to Sweden it was hard to find the greenery to decorate the pole on May 1, so the tradition was moved to Midsummer. Some sources also attribute the perpetuation of the term majstång, or maypole, to the archaic Swedish word Maja, meaning ‘to decorate with green leaves.’ The traditional dance around the pole has changed around the centuries though, and it involves all sorts of folk dancing in traditional costumes, as well as all games for all ages to join in.’’

In conclusion, Midsommar is a movie that explains that not all bad things can be done in the dark. In fact, most evil and horrific acts are especially done in the light. One of the main themes of this movie is loss, and how grief affects people. Unfortunately for Dani, she is driven insane by the cult’s doings and has been accepted into the Harga cult unknowingly.

“Every time a man yells you are seven years old again and he is packing that suitcase once more. Picking you up by the neck, teaching you obedience. To be soft, like the belly of a fish exposed to a knife.”

— Clementine von Radics 

How Climate Change is threatening Culture's Worldwide

    NO.1

Mass relocations are a thing that is set to happen thanks to climate change. And as more natural disasters happen that circuits the need for climate change education, more doomsday scenarios appear instead of healthy solutions to help save the planet--with the water rising from melting ice caps, it is destroying island and southern communities, and producing record number droughts in different sides of the planet. Why then does the media frame climate change as something inevitable, and how does that produce apathy, not just in regular people, but in these companies as well?

NO. 2

The research about climate change is all about education; informing the public about counter-options to reduce carbon levels in the air. I know this could benefit one person, if not the whole group, and that is what’s important. So how do we define apathy toward climate change? Well, the definition of apathy first is a lack of feeling or emotion towards something. It is based on a variety of subjects, like race, sex, education, age, food, culture, groups of people, etc. How does apathy relate to other negative concepts like indifference, and how are those emotions dangerous?  ‘’How does apathy come to exist? Through ignorance of a toxic and uncoordinated action. Framing is used as an institution and illustrates how it shapes media framing in a toxic event. Even in systems who are supposed to help the average person, are people seen to have a ‘tendency to behave in accordance with what they see as being in their own interests.’’

NO. 3

From “Climate Change and Planned Relocation in Oceania.” Sicherheit Und Frieden (S+F) / Security and Peace, vol. 34, no. 1, 2016, pp. 60–65: ‘‘The sinking islands have become a symbol of the consequences of manmade global warming. The foreshadowing of climate change-related environments and social developments that will affect other parts of the world sooner rather than later. In the current academic and political discourse, migration figures prominently among the social effects of climate change, and climate change-induced migration-conflict nexus, and research and findings have become ever more complex and sophisticated, trying disentangle the ‘long and uncertain casual chains from climate change to social consequences like conflict.’’

NO. 4

In conclusion, the Guna Yala tribe will not be the last island community to relocate because of the rising sea level, thanks to climate change. In fact, billions of people are going to be fleeing, and forced to relocate because of the threatening climate, and the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change understands (UNFCCC). From Climate Change and Planned Relocation: HOW CLIMATE RESETTLEMENT CAN WORK FOR COMMUNITIES. Danish Institute for International Studies, 2017: Entire cultures and societies will have to cope with the ‘‘ability to foster broader resilience-oriented solutions driven by the livelihood needs and strategies of the communities in question. When relocation is found to be necessary, [like in the Guna Yala tribe’s case], it should be approached as an expansion of existing livelihood strategies and mobility patterns, not an end to them.’’

AWWWWWW😍😍😍😍😍

imagine (6 or so years after Gaea): Will takes Nico out to dinner like before sunset and he’s unusually nervous. After dinner, Nico asks Will why he’s so fidgety because he notices him looking up at the sky while they walk through a park. Finally Will’s face brightens up as a huge flash of light...

Avengers: Age of Ultron

"Shit." "Language, Tony!

The Inconsistencies of Race and Class

   NO. 1

  Class is primarily an economic measure, of course, based on wealth and income. This is explained more in Karl Marx’s and Max Weber’s ‘The Communist Manifesto, where Marx touches on Capitalism, an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than the state's need to expand throughout Markets. The three main groups in class society are 1) The Aristocracy, 2) the bourgeoisie, which owns most of society’s wealth and production. And 3) the proletariats, or the working-class people. These terms are even more present today than during the Industrial Revolution. The bourgeoisie thrives off alienation and false consciousness, which is the way of thinking that prevents a person from understanding the true nature of their social or economic status.

NO. 2

Patricia Hill-Collins writes in Toward a New Vision, ‘’Each group identifies the type of oppression with which it feels most comfortable as being fundamental and classifies all other types as lesser importance. Oppression is full of such contradictions. Errors in political judgment that we make concerning how we teach our courses, what we tell our children, and which organizations are worthy.’’ (Collins, 1993).  Oppression of education and fundamental voting rights happened exclusively to minorities, especially black people. During the ’50s and the ’60s, Brown vs. The Board of Education was one of the most iconic moments in history when the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that the segregation of public schools between blacks and whites was unconstitutional.

NO. 3

Basically, proving that separate is not equal. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, and of course, the Civil Rights Movement that led up to it, was a landmark civil rights and U.S. labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Now, with the Civil Rights Movement passed, it makes it seem that all people have rights, but it’s not true. Minorities alike do not have the same rights, no matter the changed laws and how much we think we’ve changed. White privilege is the societal belief that benefits white people over non-white people. It makes it almost impossible for all minorities to overcome the system. White privilege is the belief that there’s nothing wrong with being a white nationalist and that the removal of our nation’s past physical examples of racism, ex. The erasure of Confederate statues, affirmative action, and other such policies is an attack on white heritage.

NO. 4

Whether they want to admit it or not, the overlap between race and class has a great impact on society, and it intersects in complex ways, and simply focusing on one aspect alone may not lead to comprehensive solutions. Affirmative action was used to bridge the gap between racial and class disparities, and now that it is being threatened and taken away, we must carefully consider the impact that it has had and continues to have on marginalized communities. Carol Anderson, the author of White Rage, talks about the definition of white rage, which is how their anger fuels hatred, and that hatred fuels violence which has caused the deaths of black people, men, and women alike, ever since the first boat brought the slaves. It touches on white privilege and the indifference white people feel for black people, sort of like colorblind racism, a ‘toilet assumption’, the naivety that all people are created equal, when that’s far from the case. 

The Train Derailment in Ohio

NO. 1

On February 3rd, dozens of cars belonging to Norfolk Southern train went off track in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling gigantic amounts of toxic chemicals into the soil, water, and air, killing over 3500 fish have died; locals of the town affected are experiencing nausea, headaches, burning eye sensations and more. Residents have also reported that foxes, chickens, cows, and house pets are dying as a result of the toxin chemical release. The chemical released from the crash, vinyl chloride, is extremely toxic and can severely affect an individual’s liver, kidney, lung, nervous system, and blood. It is highly dangerous and can lead to cancer.

New York Post

Scientists warn of potentially serious health risks following Ohio train derailment

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, may have been exposed to serious health risks — including cancer — from toxic materials carried on a trai

NO. 2

The government-controlled burned the hazardous chemicals, since left untouched could cause an even bigger explosion, and residents were asked to leave at first on February 6th. On February 8th, residents were asked to come back, with officials claiming the area was safe to come back to. Except, residents are claiming that this is not only a government and corporation issue but a massive ecological disaster from which we might not return. The derailment has caused massive environmental problems because scientists and scholars fear that the toxin waste will spread throughout the Ohio River, as it is connected to rivers and basins in 14 states, providing drinking water to over 5 million Americans. The smell of chlorine was reportedly lingering in the air days after the controlled burn and when residents were returning. When vinyl chloride burns, it decomposes into hydrogen chloride and phosgene, with the latter highly poisonous, used in WW1 as a choking agent. Hydrogen chloride is irritating and corrosive to any tissue with which it comes to contact. The viral video of a local news reporter quietly talking about the event and being arrested for doing his job has sparked state outrage.

NO. 3

So, how did this happen, and who is responsible? The horrible disaster is nicknamed Chernobyl 2.0 as residents feel fear and anger over Norfolk Southern and the government’s response to the devastation, which they feel is inadequate. Rail workers tried to strike over unsafe conditions but were forced back to work by the government back in 2011. Norfolk Southern announced a $10 billion stock in March last year while cutting their workforce down to the bones rather than investing in better equipment, more workers, and allowing sick days. Stricter environmental laws and regulations should be at the forefront, instead of the allowance of corporate greed, not to mention the blatant disregard for public safety. More attention should be devoted to this topic, not only for public awareness but to shed light on the role big business plays in increasing pollution and environmental degradation.

What happened to Haiti?

I wrote an earlier piece on Haiti, mostly on the revolution and its leading founders Toussaint L’Overture. But the missing parts, like what happened after the revolution, who became president after L’Overture’s capture, and why Haiti still looks and is, impoverished must be answered.

So, independence day for Haiti from French rule is January 1st, 1804, when General Jean-Jacques Dessalines led his forces against Napoleon’s colonial army. Upon achieving liberation, Haiti became the first independent black republic and the first leading state to abolish slavery altogether. Except, in 1825, France’s government, alongside the U.S and other Western powers placed an embargo on Haiti unless they paid the French government $36 billion dollars as reparations to end slavery and keep their independence, and ever since, Haiti has been exploited for its natural resources and has fallen victim to international trade crimes by European and American ‘world powers’, putting the country in extreme economic decline.

‘‘Haiti has had a long volatile relationship with the United States and other foreign countries. For the past century or more, reforms have been imposed largely by outsiders, leaving the country with little ownership of the development of economic and political systems. Haitians were left with a ‘prickly nationalism’ distrust of foreigners, and an economy largely dependent on foreign assistance.’’

Haiti, last weekend, has had another major earthquake, this one’s magnitude at least 7.2, which destroyed ‘more than 7,000 homes and damaged 5,000 leaving about 30,000 families homeless, not to mention the death toll was up to 1,200, and over 6000 plus injured. Hospitals, schools, offices, and churches were decimated and badly damaged.’ The tropical storm that came before battered the southwestern side of the country and the earthquake made it worse. The country sits on a fault line between two tectonic plates, the North American and the Caribbean plates, which slide past each other over time. There are two other major faults along the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the southern one is known as the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system., which the U.S Geological Survey says caused this one and the January 2010 earthquake.’’

Because the country has been in economic decline, and with the recent political unrest (the recent assassination of their former president, Jovenel Moise) its people have been unable to bounce back from the damages of previous earthquakes and are currently living through extreme humanitarian crises. There are thousands of people who are now homeless, in desperate need of aid, food, fresh drinking water, clothes, and socks. It is our responsibility to help, as the privileged who benefit from the exploitation of Haiti, to help and give back what we can.

P.S. Do not donate to the Red Cross. Instead, find and donate to trusted organizations whom you know your money is going directly to the Haitian citizens who will hopefully get basic needs and funding. If you cannot donate, then volunteer at organizations that are sourcing those basic needs. Read and research and spread the word to help.

1) https://batischool.org

2) About Us - Sow A Seed (sowaseedonline.org)

3) Responding to the Major Earthquake in Southern Haiti - Hope for Haiti