Հիշում եմ և պահանջում is a phrase that echoes louder every year on April 24th, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

This is my first time posting about this tragedy, but every child in Los Angeles has grown up knowing of the 1.5 million Armenians systematically exterminated by the Ottoman Empire.

In a time when my own country is increasingly complicit in enabling atrocities abroad, and when my president refused today to call genocide what it is, I am struggling more than ever with navigating the dichotomy of living in the liberal capital of a fascist autocracy.

Հիշում եմ և պահանջում means “I remember and I demand”, and it feels now like something I have to share. Because recognition is not just about the past-- it's about what we tolerate in the present.

History denied is history repeated, and I feel the weight of everything I was taught in history class growing up repeating itself now.

For the lost. For the survivors. For those still fighting to be seen.

Հիշում եմ և պահանջում

#ՀիշումԷմևՊահանջում #HišowmEmEwPahanǰowm #IRememberAndIDemand #NeverAgain #ՄեծԵղեռնիԶոհերիՀշատակիՕր #MeçEġeṙniZoheriHišatakiÒr #ArmenianGenocideRemembranceDay #Montebello #LosAngeles #California #Photo #Photography #Politics #USPol #USPolitics

What happened to Greta Thunberg?
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As Greta’s politics have grown and evolved, they reached a point where they now make billionaire media owners, milquetoast executives of major non-profits, and more than a few politicians a little uncomfortable. All she’s done is follow the science, but over time the science has led her to see that the climate crisis doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There are massive monetary incentives to destroy the planet in this capitalist system.

ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP made over $100 billion in profits in 2023 alone. In following the science, Greta had to start examining the capitalist system if she wanted to get down to the root of the climate crisis.

But Greta kept going. When she published The Climate Book in 2022, the then 19-year-old activist had some words for the entire system we live under today:

"We are never going back to normal again because ‘normal’ was already a crisis. What we refer to as normal is an extreme system built on the exploitation of people and the planet. It is a system defined by colonialism, imperialism, oppression and genocide by the Global North to accumulate wealth that still shapes our current world order.”

That was two years ago, and it’s no surprise she hasn’t been given the spotlight nearly as often since. In fact, in the wake of that book launch, she’s been the subject of countless hit pieces, and her Palestine solidarity activism has been denigrated as well.

Greta went from a cute kid saying that climate change is bad to a young adult rightly charging global systems with not only fueling the climate crisis but also being oppressive and grossly harmful to life in numerous other ways. And, perhaps most importantly, she sees these systems as interconnected and knows that radical change is necessary for the future of life on this planet.
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FULL ESSAY -- https://www.jphilll.com/p/gretas-growth

#Politics #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange

IDF is literally destroying all buildings in Gaza.

The video shared by IDF showing the destruction of a mosque in Gaza by the engineering team of Israeli armed forces.

This wasn't a military target, nor was it a Hamas owed mosque, it was just the symbol of something israel wants to erase.

Every house, every university, every government building and every apartment complex is going to be destroyed, flattened and turned into robble to make Gaza uninhabitable.

This is not a war against Hamas, it's not even about just Palestinians, it is a war of dominance, war of eradication of all signs of what it was there before and the war of cleansing everything, people, buildings, culture, farms and even graves.

And in the mean time, the "world" is standing idle watching it happen again and again and if you dare questioning it, or god forbid if you dare to criticize it, you end up losing your job, your reputation, your rewards and in some cases even your freedom.

This, my friends, is the new, new, new world order.

Video of the whole "demolition" shared on telegram

#SaveGaza #StopIsrael #EthnicCleansing
#palestine #Israel #Occupation #Apartheid #Politics #PeaceNow #StopTheWar #CeasefireNow
@palestine group

So longtime friend of the Topless Topics community mrich (as we all know him by) and I have been tossing around a #podcast idea for a while (I know, I know...this one will be good though, I promise ;p) and I could use y'alls help in solidifying the concept before we jump in to making it.

Basically, the thought is to provide two different but respectful opinions on a variety of subjects--I'm a cis white woman "coastal elite" from California, he's a cis black man from the South, and we're both #progressive #leftists and huge nerds (especially #gaming !) We're also both #normalizeNudity (and of course #freeTheNipple / #topless #equality ) supporters, raised #nudist / #naturist though I reject the specific label these days (I got a whole video about it at toplesstopics.org/nomorenudism if you're curious), and #sexPositive - I'm #bisexual and #polyamorous , he's straight and monogamous, but totally cool with other models, as long as it's all #consensual . We also (so many commonalities!) are both quite #artistic - he's mainly into #portrait #photography while I'm into #illustration both #digitalIllustration and #traditionalIllustration .

While we're still figuring out the structure of the podcast, the idea is to have a few somewhat disparate sections to it - gaming/ #comics / #cosplay /etc, then brief reaction to current #politics / #news (like #feminism , #LGBTQ , #racialJustice , anti- #capitalism , and so much more), and (hopefully) an interview with someone interesting ( #sexWorker , #activist , #artist , etc...whoever we can find that seems like they'd be a good fit for the pod! Then finally, maybe an "ask us anything" advice/reaction section to round out the episode.

I'm thinking we aim for <= 2 hours, one episode per month, but if we really get into it, maybe an episode every other week. I'm still gonna have to edit it and I have a lot else on my plate so I don't want to overextend myself too much. If we happen to stumble into wild success maybe I could hire someone else to do that part in the future, then we could record more often 😛

On some subjects, of course I will defer to his expanded first-hand experience, like #racialInequality . And on other subjects, it'll be mostly my turn to step onto the soapbox, namely about what it's like to be a woman in this #misogynist #sexist world. We've chatted for many hours over the years and always gotten along swimmingly, so I don't anticipate undue friction in the longterm (a benefit of having so many like-minded opinions already). But I still think we have enough difference in life experiences to provide an interesting perspective on a variety of topics.

What do you think? Does any of that seem interesting to you? What kinds of things / people to interview would you like to see on a podcast created by a pair of different similar leftist nerds? Would you listen to such a podcast? Please, lay your feedback on me! All replies welcome, as long as you're not being a total jerk ❤️

I don't have any problem with a market economy, per se, but I do have a BIG problem with capitalism.

In my preferred version of state socialism, there is no accumulation of capital, and thus no capitalism. All large industries and large-scale services are socialized, owned by the people and managed by the state (or by worker cooperatives, where practical).

In my version of a market economy, people can own and run small companies, hire employees, set prices, make a profit... that's all fine. But they can't buy their competitors and either take them over or put them out of business. They can't open franchises, where they sell (or rent) the right to operate a different company with the same name. They're not allowed to buy their suppliers and create a conglomerate. They aren't permitted to grow so large that the market no longer operates fairly. And every business owner's wealth will be capped with a highly progressive tax structure (which is the price of using the commons to turn a profit).

So, the marketplace as such is not the problem. The problem is capitalism.

#Capitalism #Socialism #Economics #Politics

• usas GNU/Linux e outro software Open Source and Free;
  
• pensas com a tua cabeça;
  
• te preocupas com o teu bem-estar e o dos outros;
  
• te preocupas com o bem-estar da tua comunidade e te dedicas a ela;
  
• és contra a violência venha ela donde vier: pessoas, governos, instituições;
  
• és a favor da auto-determinação e liberdade de decisão dos outros;
  
• és a favor da cooperação para a construção dum mundo melhor para todos;
  
• só aceitas a violência para resistir à violência dos outros;
  
• te sentes livre e queres que os outros também se sintam assim;
  
• és a favor duma vida mais humana e sustentável;
  
• defendes que todos os seres humanos têm o direito a serem felizes e a ter as suas necessidades básicas garantidas;
  
• acreditas que todos os seres humanos têm o direito a terem as suas possessões, desde que elas não sejam adquiridas através da exploração de outros;
  
• acreditas que a comunidade tem de garantir o bem-estar individual de cada um dos seus membros;
  
• acreditas que todos temos a obrigação de melhorar, enquanto seres humanos, e de contribuir para que todos na comunidade melhorem também;
  
• as decisões pessoais e da comunidade sejam tomadas com base em árduo estudo, investigação e análise dos resultados e não em simples emoções ou "achismo"...