Logging in to let you all know that the Palestinian Relief Bundle is now officially live after a few delays. You can get games like A Short Hike, Anodyne, Wandersong, Coffee Talk, Zero Ranger, They Bleed Pixels, A Monster's Expedition - and more indies for $8. (Also, my artbook Pocket Goods is there).
Fundraising goal as of writing is $100,000 - let's smash it! Live updates on the bundle are on @vgforpalestine.
distracted from watching anime (lord! we cannot find the command- oh……will not interfere)
Hey everyone, please consider buying the 2024 itch.io Palestinian Relief Bundle- it's 373 games, game-making assets, tabletop roleplaying games, zines, and comics for a minimum of just 8 USD! They have a goal of 100,000 USD, and as of the time I'm writing this post, they have 8 more days to reach it.
Link will be in the reblog!
Some of y'all are more upset about which fictional characters are kissing each other than about a literal genocide that's happening right now.
Instead of sending that anonymous message go do your daily clicks for Palestine. While you're there do your clicks for the other causes on Arab.org too.
Instead of being rude to someone on the internet, check out this list of evacuation fundraisers and donate if you can.
Instead of sharing some hateful comments, amplify the voices of the people in Gaza who are just trying to survive.
Who are the Shompen?
The Shompen are an indigenous culture that lives in the Great Nicobar Island, which is nowadays owned by India. The Shompen and their ancestors are believed to have been living in this island for around 10,000 years. Like other tribes in the nearby islands, the Shompen are isolated from the rest of the world, as they chose to be left alone, with the exception of a few members who occasionally take part in exchanges with foreigners and go on quarantine before returning to their tribe. There are between 100 and 400 Shompen people, who are hunter-gatherers and nomadic agricultors and rely on their island's rainforest for survival.
Why is there risk of genocide?
India has announced a huge construction mega-project that will completely change the Great Nicobar Island to turn it into "the Hong Kong of India".
Nowadays, the island has 8,500 inhabitants, and over 95% of its surface is made up of national parks, protected forests and tribal reserve areas. Much of the island is covered by the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, described by UNESCO as covering “unique and threatened tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. It is home to very rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, among others. In terms of fauna, there are over 1800 species, some of which are endemic to this area. It has one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world.”
The Indian project aims to destroy this natural environment to create an international shipping terminal with the capacity to handle 14.2 million TEUs (unit of cargo capacity), an international airport that will handle a peak hour traffic of 4,000 passengers and that will be used as a joint civilian-military airport under the control of the Indian Navy, a gas and solar power plant, a military base, an industrial park, and townships aimed at bringing in tourism, including commercial, industrial and residential zones as well as other tourism-related activities.
This project means the destruction of the island's pristine rainforests, as it involves cutting down over 852,000 trees and endangers the local fauna such as leatherback turtles, saltwater crocodiles, Nicobar crab-eating macaque and migratory birds. The erosion resulting from deforestation will be huge in this highly-seismic area. Experts also warn about the effects that this project will have on local flora and fauna as a result of pollution from the terminal project, coastal surface runoff, ballasts from ships, physical collisions with ships, coastal construction, oil spills, etc.
The indigenous people are not only affected because their environment and food source will be destroyed. On top of this, the demographic change will be a catastrophe for them. After the creation of this project, the Great Nicobar Island -which now has 8,500 inhabitants- will receive a population of 650,000 settlers. Remember that the Shompen and Nicobarese people who live on this island are isolated, which means they do not have an immune system that can resist outsider illnesses. Academics believe they could die of disease if they come in contact with outsiders (think of the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after Christopher Columbus and the way that common European illnesses were lethal for indigenous Americans with no immunization against them).
And on top of all of this, the project might destroy the environment and the indigenous people just to turn out to be useless and sooner or later be abandoned. The naturalist Uday Mondal explains that “after all the destruction, the financial viability of the project remains questionable as all the construction material will have to be shipped to this remote island and it will have to compete with already well-established ports.” However, this project is important to India because they want to use the island as a military and commercial post to stop China's expansion in the region, since the Nicobar islands are located on one of the world's busiest sea routes.
Last year, 70 former government officials and ambassadors wrote to the Indian president saying the project would “virtually destroy the unique ecology of this island and the habitat of vulnerable tribal groups”. India's response has been to say that the indigenous tribes will be relocated "if needed", but that doesn't solve the problem. As a spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories. The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”
On 7 February 2024, 39 scholars from 13 countries published an open letter to the Indian president warning that “If the project goes ahead, even in a limited form, we believe it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”
How to help
The NGO Survival International has launched this campaign:
From this site, you just need to add your name and email and you will send an email to India's Tribal Affairs Minister and to the companies currently vying to build the first stage of the project.
Share it with your friends and acquittances and on social media.
Sources:
India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe, 7 Feb 2024. The Guardian.
‘It will destroy them’: Indian mega-development could cause ‘genocide’ and ‘ecocide’, says charity, 8 Feb 2024. Geographical.
Genocide experts call on India's government to scrap the Great Nicobar mega-project, Feb 2024. Survival International.
The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island, 20 July 2022. Mongabay.
[Maps] Environmental path cleared for Great Nicobar mega project, 10 Oct 2022. Mongabay.
for people who don’t know what’s happening in congo, here is a good thread explaining the abuse people of congo are experiencing daily.
https://x.com/nightowlnikk/status/1802830952940380545?s=46
if you care about palestine’s genocide, i believe you should care about congo’s genocide too.
since the thread is gone i’d recommend reading this instead: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/11/rwanda-militias-drc-goma
thank you msilverstar!
this as well: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/a-guide-to-the-decades-long-conflict-in-dr-congo
Israeli soldiers are conducting a series of invasive operations across the West Bank, abducting numerous Palestinians, killing and injuring civillians, and engaging in destructive raids on homes and Palestinian property.
At dawn - Israeli soldiers launched a widespread operation in various parts of the occupied West Bank, breaking into homes, damaging Palestinian properties, and detaining at least 26 Palestinians, including two young women.
At day - The aggression continued as soldiers proceeded to assault Adli Rayyes and his son, Hashem, resulting in various injuries to both of them. Palestinian medics had to transport them to Jericho governmental hospital for treatment.
Afternoon - The Israeli Occupation Forces moved to the central West Bank where they entered the town Deir Ballout (west of Salfit city). There, they confiscated a telecommunications car that was being used for repair and maintenance work.
Evening - Dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded the Ein Al-Sultan refugee camp (north of Jericho). They stormed and ransacked homes within the camp and abducted a young man named Nayef Abu Dahouk, taking him to an unknown destination. At the same time an Israeli military jeep rammed into a young Palestinian woman in Jenin (northern West Bank). She was taken to the Jenin governmental hospital, and is currently suffering from fractures and severe bruising.
The Palestinian Detainees Committee reports that over 40 Palestinians were abducted by Israeli soldiers TODAY alone, from various parts of the West Bank, with a concentration of these abductions occurring in Nablus, followed by operations in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho, Hebron, and Jerusalem.
Two homes belonging to Mohammad and Ahmad Zeidat, who have been kidnapped since January, in the town Bani Naim (near Hebron) were also demolished.
(Source: IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center)
TRY MY NEW DONATION ASK GAME!!! (COMING SOON)
This is a collection of links to various posts concerning fundraisers I've vetted and instructions on how to submit fundraisers to me. These are primarily ones for Ghazzan families although some fundraisers for Sudanese families are also listed (I'm more familiar with my own country's politics and dialect and am more capable of vetting fundraisers for Palestinians as a result). Each post will have a time stamp indicating the latest date of update. And fundraisers will have colour-coded disclaimers according to the particularities of their case.
I know that people do not like clicking on links or navigating between posts, but please actually look through these posts and choose a fundraiser to donate to. Please.
Instructions on how to submit a fundraiser. (for those not Ghazzan) تعليمات لتقديم طلب توثيق و نشر حملات التبرعات الخاصة بالغزاويين و عائلاتهم (للغزاويين فقط)
ملاحظة خاصة نشر الحملات.
List of fundraisers for my direct contacts from Ghazzah & Sudan. - PRIORITY.
Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 1. - Particularities Listed.
Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 2. - Particularities Listed.
Unvetted but highly likely legitimate fundraisers.
Additional fundraisers for various purposes.
Wander Among Us
Please share because alot of people think this is a War it’s not
Via MohammedElKurd