#in Arab countries! in Asian countries! in African countries!

[quotidianish]

Tell me if I’m being dramatic but I feel like trans Headcanons in fandom hardly revolve around anyone except young, skinny white people. It feels like a large reflection of how western trans communities view trans people who aren’t exactly like them; as nonexistent.

#I might be crazy or I might be exaggerating #but MAN. #for example I’m trans and Chinese and if I had a nickel #for every time I see someone say ‘why don’t eastern countries have a transgender problem’ #I’d have a bucketful of them #you’ve suppressed us so far people have to ask why we don’t exist #so far that zionists are using your lack of knowledge and focus on white queers #against Palestinians! because hey shocker there are trans people everywhere! #in Arab countries! in Asian countries! in African countries! #it doesn’t matter if our government doesn’t like it. we will grow in the harshest conditions #we will thrive whether you see us or not #quotidianish

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

Malcolm X on Palestine:

“The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is Zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.

Zionist Israel's occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.

And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people...thus, indirectly inducing Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.

‘They cripple the bird's wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.’

The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can't stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser's call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.”

Malcolm X: Zionist 'Logic', published in “The Egyptian Gazette,” Sept. 17, 1964.

#Malcolm X #Palestine #imperialism

[zvaigzdelasas]

South Africa’s genocide case has put the spotlight on a deeper fault line in global geopolitics. Beyond the courtroom drama, experts say divisions over the war in Gaza symbolize a widening gap between Israel and its traditional Western allies, notably the United States and Europe, and a group of nations known as the Global South — countries located primarily in the southern hemisphere, often characterized by lower income levels and developing economies.

Reactions from the Global North to the ICJ case have been mixed. While some nations have maintained a cautious diplomatic stance, others, particularly Israel’s staunchest allies in the West, have criticized South Africa’s move.

The US has stood by Israel through the war by continuing to ship arms to it, opposing a ceasefire, and vetoing many UN Security Council resolutions that aimed to bring a halt to the fighting. The Biden administration has rubbished the claim that Israel is committing genocide as “meritless,” while the UK has refused to back South Africa.[...]

As a nation whose history is rooted in overcoming apartheid, South Africa’s move carries symbolic weight that has resonated with other nations in the developing world, many of whom have faced the burden of oppression and colonialism from Western powers.

Nelson Mandela, the face of the anti-apartheid movement, was a staunch supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990: “We align ourselves with the PLO because, akin to our struggle, they advocate for the right of self-determination.”

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while South Africa’s case is a continuation of its long-standing pro-Palestinian sympathies, the countries that have rallied behind it show deeper frustrations by the Global South.

There is “a clear geopolitical context in which many countries from the Global South have been increasingly critical over what they see as a lack of Western pressure on Israel to prevent such a large-scale loss of life in Gaza and its double standards when it comes to international law,” Lovatt told CNN.

Much of the non-Western world opposes the war in Gaza; China has joined the 22-member Arab League in calling for a ceasefire, while several Latin American nations have expelled Israeli diplomats in protest, and several Asian and African countries have joined Muslim and Arab nations in backing South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ.

For many in the developing world, the ICJ case has become a focal point for questioning the moral authority of the West and what is seen as the hypocrisy of the world’s most powerful nations and their unwillingness to hold Israel to account. [...]

Israel sided with the West against Soviet-backed Arab regimes during the Cold War, and Western countries largely view it “as a fellow member of the liberal democratic club,” he added.[...]

“But the strong support of Western governments is increasingly at odds with the attitudes of Western publics which continue to shift away from Israel,” Lovatt said.

Israel has framed the war in Gaza as a clash of civilizations where it is acting as the guardian of Western values that it says are facing an existential threat.

“This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told MSNBC in December. “It’s a war that is intended – really, truly – to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization.”

So far, no Western countries have supported South Africa’s case against Israel.

Among Western states, Germany has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The German government has said it “expressly rejects” allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that it plans to intervene as a third party on its behalf at the ICJ.

An opinion poll by German broadcaster ZDF this week however found that 61% of Germans do not consider Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip as justified in light of the civilian casualties. Only 25% voiced support for Israel’s offensive.

But it is in Germany’s former colonial territory, Namibia, that it has attracted the fiercest criticism.

The Namibian President Hage Geingob in a statement on Saturday chided Berlin’s decision to reject the ICJ case, accusing it of committing “the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions.” The statement added that the German government had not yet fully atoned for the killings.

Bangladesh, where up to three million people were killed during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in the 1970s, has gone a step further to file a declaration of intervention in the ICJ case to back South Africa’s claims, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

A declaration of intervention allows a state that is not party to the proceedings to present its observations to the court.

“With Germany siding with Israel, and Bangladesh and Namibia backing South Africa at the ICJ, the geopolitical divide between the Global South and the West appears to be deepening,” Lovatt said.

Traditionally, the West has wielded significant influence in international affairs, but South Africa’s move signals a growing assertiveness among Global South nations that threatens the status quo, says Adekoya.

“One clear pattern emerging is that the old Western-dominated order is increasingly being challenged, a situation likely to only further intensify as the West loses its once unassailably dominant economic position,” Adekoya said.

19 Jan 24

[ayin-me-yesh]

US Americans have got to stop the "go back to New York" "settlers = Brooklyn landlords" thing. Are there American Jewish settlers in Palestine? Absolutely. Are there Israeli Jews in the U.S. who are still reservists? Absolutely.

The problem is that they are a small minority of settlers and Israelis. There are about 30,000 Israelis in the entire state of New York, including Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. [x] There are 1,600,000 Jews just in New York City. [x]

500,000 Israelis have U.S. passports, including Palestinian citizens of Israel. [x] There are 9,174,520 Israelis, again including Palestinians with citizenship. [x]

Saying this does not diminish what's happening in Palestine or the absolute U.S. government support for colonialism and genocide. Settlers do not need to be American or have direct ties to the U.S. to be settlers. Settlers do not need to be American for their colony to be a proxy state for imperial interests, as has also been seen in, say, South Africa.

When you do this shit you're also erasing millions of Arab, Persian, Amazigh, Kurdish, Ethiopian, Indian, Bukharan, and other Jews from outside of Europe who have largely ended up in Palestine as settlers due to colonial and imperial destabilisation of Asia and Africa and a racist "Western" agenda to keep African and Asian refugees of all religious backgrounds outside of "Western" countries as much as possible.

You're also erasing how much xenophobic anti-migrant policies contributed to "Allied" countries after WWII using Palestine as a means of removing Holocaust surviving refugees from mainland Europe without also themselves taking large numbers of refugees into their own countries.

Palestine has been at the centre of displacement of Jews from around the world through a process of ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. This is backed by "Western" not only to create or maintain white Christian hegemonic authority in their own countries, but also as part of a Cold War agenda to destabilise Asia and Africa and eliminate anti-imperial and communist movements.

Israel is a genocidal, fascist country propped up by the US, the UK, and other "Western" imperial powers while its settlers are largely from continental Europe, Asia, and Africa.

#settler colonialism #palestine

[matan4il]

Today is Erev Yom Ha'Shoah (Eve of Holocaust Memorial Day) in Israel. It will be observed by Jews outside of Israel, too.

The Hebrew date was chosen to honor the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It's also a week before Erev Yom Ha'Zikaron Le'Chalalei Ma'archot Yisrael (Eve of Israel's Memorial Day for its Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims), which is itself observed a day before Yom Ha'Atzmaut Le'Yisrael (Israel's Independence Day). A lot of people have remarked on the connection between the three dates. On Yom Ha'Atzmaut, we celebrate our independence, which allows us to determine our own fate, and defend ourselves without being dependent on anyone else, right after we remember the price in human life that we have paid and continue to pay for this independence, and a week before we mourn the price we've had to pay for not getting to have self defence during the Holocaust. NEVER FORGET that in one Nazi shooting pit alone (out of almost two thousand) during just 2 days (Erev Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur 1941), more Jewish men, women and kids were slaughtered than in the 77 years since Israel's Independence War was started by the Arabs. This unbreakable connection between the living and the dead, between our joy and our grief, is often addressed with the Hebrew phrase, במותם ציוו לנו את החיים, "With their death, they ordered us to live."

On this Erev Yom Ha'Shoah, I'd like to share with you some data, published on Thursday by Israel's Central Bureau for Statistics (source in Hebrew).

The number of Jews worldwide is 15.7 million, still lower than it was in 1939, before the Holocaust, 85 years ago (that is what a genocide looks like demographically).

7.1 million Jews live in Israel (45% of world Jewry) 6.3 million Jews live in the US (40% of world Jewry)

Here's the data for the top 9 Jewish communities in the world:

There are about 133,000 Holocaust survivors currently living in Israel. Most (80%) live in big cities in central Israel. Around 1,500 are still evacuated from their homes in northern and southern Israel due to the war (back in January, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, there was a report about 1,894 survivors who also became internal refugees due to the war. Source in Hebrew). One Holocaust survivor, 86 years old Shlomo Mansour, is still held hostage in Gaza. He survived the Farhud in Iraq.

I haven't seen any official number for how many survivors had been slaughtered as a part of Hamas' massacre, despite everyone here being aware that Holocaust survivors had been murdered on Oct 7, such as 91 years old Moshe Ridler. Maybe, as we're still discovering that some people thought to have been kidnapped during the massacre, were actually killed on that day, no one wants to give a "final" number while Shlomo has not yet been returned alive.

Out of all Israeli Holocaust survivors, 61.1% were born in Europe (35.8% in the countries of the former Soviet Union, 10.8% in Romania, 4.9% in Poland, 2.9% in Bulgaria, 1.5% in Germany and Austria, 1.3% in Hungary, 4.2% in the rest of Europe), 36.6% were born in Asia or Africa (16.5% in Morocco, 10.9% in Iraq, 4% in Tunisia, 2.6% in Libya, 2.1% in Algeria, 0.5% in other Asian and African countries) and 2.3% were born elsewhere.

Out of all Holocaust survivors in Israel, 6.2% managed to make it here before the establishment of the state, despite the British Mandate's immigration policy against it (up until May 13, 1948). 30.5% made it to Israel during its very first years (May 14, 1948 until 1951), another 29.8% arrived in the following decades (1952-1989), and 33.5% made Aliyah once the Soviet Union collapsed, and Jewish immigration to the west (which included Israel) was no longer prohibited by the Soviet regimes (1990 on).

The second biggest community of survivors in the world is in the US, the third biggest (but second biggest relative to the size of the population) is in Australia. I heard from many Holocaust survivors who chose to immigrate there that they wanted to get "as physically far away from Europe as possible."

For a few years now, there's been this project in Israel, called Maalim Zikaron, מעלים זיכרון (uploading memory. Here's the project's site in Hebrew. In English it's called Sharing Memories, and here's the English version of the site) where Israeli celebs are asked to meet up with a Holocaust survivor (it's done in Hebrew), and share the survivor's story and the meeting on their social media on Erev Yom Ha'Shoah (which is today). Each year, there's also one non-Israeli Jewish celeb asked to participate (in English. This time around it's Michael Rapaport, he's meeting Aliza, an 81 years old survivor from the Netherlands, who was hidden along with 9 other Jewish babies for two years. He uploaded a preview of his meeting with her here, where he asked her what it means to her to be a Jew, and from what I understand, he will upload more today to the same IG account). This year, there will be an emphasis on Holocaust survivors who also survived Oct 7 (with 6 of the 20 participating survivors having survived Hamas as well). Here's a small bit from an interview with one such survivor, 90 years old Daniel Luz from kibbutz Be'eri:

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack #shoah #holocaust

[psychotrenny]

Now I've received a few comments about the mass migration of Mizrahi Jews to Israel during the mid 20th century, specifically about Israel's lack of culpability towards it. And there's a few things I've said in response to this that I'd like to reiterate

For one, a number of commenters have attributed the time period of these migrations to the "30s and 40s" which I don't understand. Even Zionists usually consider the "Mizrahi Exodus" to date from the 50s onwards; a big part of how the process is portrayed by pro-Zionist sources is the framing as Israel as this land of opportunity and safety for Jews fleeing the violence and intolerance of the Arab world, something that couldn't exactly happen until Israel was actually established as a state in 1948.

Secondly as I've already stated multiple times the displacement, marginalisation and violent attack on Palestinians by Zionist European Settlers was already underway in Mandatory Palestine by the 1920s, as embodied by the existence of groups like Haganah and Irgun. So like even if we for whatever reason backdate the supposed mass exile of the Mizrahi to the "30s and 40s" it's still very easy to see the correlation between violence perpetrated by European settlers in the name of "Jewishness" and the development of conflict between previously peacefully co-existing communities of Jews and Gentiles in North Africa and West Asia.

And finally, the idea that the mass migration of Mizrahi Jews to Palestine was the result of intolerance from Muslim neighbors is essentially a Zionist distortion of a much more complicated situation. Soon after the establishment of Israel, the new government actively encouraged Jews from the surrounding region to migrate and worked with many of the surrounding governments (usually the European colonial governments that still controlled extensive tracts of the region) to facilitate this. Some Jews (such as those of Yemen or Morocco) were even essentially deported against their will by the wishes of the Israeli government. While there was an increase in inter-communal conflict between Jewish and Gentile populations in the region, this was both due to the general aftermath of Israeli's brutal establishment and in response to specific actions such as the Mossad terrorist attacks in Egypt in 1954 with some actions even being specifically undertaken in order to cause conflict (or even just the appearance of conflict) and induce migration such as Mossad's activities in Iraq through the 1950s. And while there was certainly a significant level of violence and maltreatment (both legal and extra-legal) directed towards Jewish people in various West Asian and North African countries in response to Israeli's invasion, the sheer degree that direct violence and persecution played in such migrations has also been greatly exaggerated by Zionists in order to justify their continued aggression against the people of Palestine and their Allies. The idea that you can draw any real equivalence between the population movements of the Mizrahi Aliyah and that of the Palestinian Nakba is a ghoulish distortion of history that only serves to justify Zionist atrocities both past and present. One was a more or less voluntary* migration that was only partially induced by fears (both hypothetical and actually realised) of conflict while the other was an incidence of direct and unambiguous ethnic cleansing. The factors that led to the Mizrahi migration has plenty of "pull" in addition to "push" and a great deal of said "push" was deliberately engineered by the Israeli government rather than being purely the result of some natural Islamic cruelty or antagonism

*while not an entirely fair thing to say, and its accuracy will vary a lot on a case by case basis, the Mizrahi migrants on the whole had a lot more freedom than the Palestinians in both the decision to leave and their choice of destination (as several of those linked articles mentioned, some Mizrahi migrated to Europe or the Americas rather than Israel)

#stella speaks

[yamishika]

have any other ethnicity headcanons for fairy tail characters?

Fairy Tail Characters Ethnicity HCs

I don’t have as much extensive proof as I do for my Erik headcanons post but I will explain my thoughts for why I think certain ethnicities.

Natsu Dragneel : Japanese + Greek? (Because of the clothing style in his past flashback with his biological family)

Erza Scarlet : British + ? - I say British because she reminds me of Lara Croft who in her older days had reddish hair, also English history is big on knights, which Erza is. The other half I can’t tell as I don’t actually know what to think of her father Rung as. He seems like a POC though. (Maybe Mexican?)

Lucy Heartfilia : British / American - Because Lucy’s heritage as a noble it reminds me more of English nobility, but then her characteristics remind me more of american for some reason (it doesn’t help that Lucy looks a lot like Ashley Graham from the original RE4 and she’s American so I am kind of biased there)

Gray Fullbuster : Canada or Serbia (I think that’s mainly because I am making the link of cold countries though). Also if with Serbian I can see Ultear and him coming from similar places)

Gajeel Redfox : Native American (His hair and features remind me of Native Americans and I don’t know he kind of reminds me and looks like of Ratohnhake:ton / Connor from AC3) Juvia Lockser : Spanish + Russian (Spanish as the name Juvia is Spanish origin and Russian since the ushanka she wears and her clothing style in general)

Jellal Fernandes : Mixed ethnic - Mixed Arab (mainly Levantine Arab) + Latino (Brazilian), but then in my HCs he’s also part Desi too since the name Jellal is most prominent in India (And I want Erik to have a desi bro in CS). And the Arab/South asian idea came from him wearing Kohl/Surma in S1 in the anime. 

Ultear Milkovich : Serbian with mixed Central Asian or Kazakh (Again cold countries but since Ultear looks Eurasian but with dark features these countries came to mind. Serbia because apparently the name Milkovich is Serbian origin)

Macbeth/Midnight :  English w/Scottish + Irish + Japanese - English/Scottish/Irish is a given since his name ‘Macbeth’ but since his aesthetic is alike to Visual Kei, I see Japanese influence. But I don’t know, I just can see Macbeth with a british accent, maybe that’s just me.

Sorano Aguria : French and Korean/Japanese (I don’t know why I have the French, it just fits me when discussing with my friend @acutemushroom. Korean/Japanese because despite having a Japanese name (her and Yukino) due to her features she gave me kind of Korean vibes for some reason)

Sawyer : English (I can’t explain other than the name. But I thought of Romanian too for some reason, so English + Romanian?)

Richard Buchanan : South African + Scottish? (My only thought for this was because Buchanan I knew it as a last name big in South Africa, and Scottish is probably because of the red hair and ruddy complexion that I know scottish people can have)

Meredy : Irish (I don’t know why, it was hard to think of anything for her)

Kinana : Desi (Since the name Kinana is an urdu name apparently - So Pakistani) 

Cana Alberona : Irish + Italian (Guildarts gave me tanned Irish vibes for some reason and Alberona is I believe an Italian name)

Minerva Orland : Chinese + Latina (She wears a Cheongsam and her hair reminds me of Chinese culture but then I see Latina too) BUT, maybe she has Egyptian too and Italian since Minerva (Italian/Latin) but the blue eyeliner/eyeshadow she always has is alike to Malachite powder that was used by ancient egyptians 

Laxus Dreyar : Ukrainian + Russian (He gives me eastern europe vibes and also his features) but also since he's Makarov’s grandson he’d have Russian in him 

Makarov Dreyar : Russian - (I think his full name is of Russian origin but I can't be sure.) These are the HCs I have off the top of my head, hope this answers your question!

#fairy tail #fairy tail ethnicity hc #ethnicity hc #natsu dragneel #erza scarlet #lucy heartfilia #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser #gajeel redfox #ultear milkovich #Macbeth (fairy tail) #sorano aguria #meredy fairy tail #jellal fernandes #Sawyer (fairy tail) #Kinana (fairy tail) #richard buchanan #cana alberona #minerva orland #laxus dreyar #makarov dreyar #yamishika's hcs #yami’s thoughts

[rooksamoris]

I just read your thoughts about Scarabia and Leona's arc development in game, and I got very interested.

There's very little info on Arabian culture online, at least that I've seen, and also African. A thing that makes me very curious is about their mythologies, folklore, and also music. We know a lot about food, since it's something so universal, but the rest is hard to get info on, unless it gets popularized or romanticized by someone else.

The scarabia arc is one of my favorites for a reason, and that is because I'm very sympathetic with Jamil, and very sad how his and Kalim's story together got so "twisted" so fast (ehe). Honestly there are so many layers to it that it would take many many chapters, and events, to close the situation. But I think it's good they left the future open like that, since it's something that can't be fixed overnight.

And also, *gets down* PLS PLS PLS PLS 🙏 I love the fluffy fics, are you going to also add Bolllywood songs? They are so good seriously it's so dancing and fun! I love Jamil so much and I MELTED with the headcanon short fic where we are taking care of him. I wanna hold his precious handsome face and just kiss it all over! He is so cute I will go FERAL-

hey qamar 💕 this was a pleasure to read! honestly, i feel like both the scarabia and savannaclaw chapters were too short? of course, we were introduced to the themes and then the whole conflict—resolution mountain for stories, however i just feel like they could have done more with the both of them.

also, i think the reason why the southwest-asian and african themes aren’t covered is because the source material is literally disney films 💀 like we get a warning before rewatching aladdin since they just now realized it was kind of racist (still a major part of my childhood though 😭 “a whole new world” in arabic is delicious). based on how yana has written other characters that are meant to be from south asia, there’s a big chance it would have been disappointing anyways.

plus, with scarabia in particular, there’s too many cultures trying to be represented due to how colonizers deemed all of the countries to be the same thing in different fonts 💀 you’d never confuse a nepali with an omani, but winston churchill sure did not care.

the original aladdin movie was meant to take place in baghdad, a city in iraq, but due to political conflicts at the time (george bush a war criminal regardless of saddam hussein’s crimes. the usa literally gave saddam weapons to kill kurds and then turned around and invaded when he wasn’t convenient anymore 💀). baghdad became agrabah—but the culture is still an amalgamation of west asian, south asian, north african, and like eurasian/turkish culture. im sure they’ve got stuff from central asia too 😭

the issue with this is that from ethnic group to ethnic group/country to country, the culture varies a lot. yemenis and palestinians are both arabs, but our cultures are vastly different, with yemenis having more eastern african influences and palestinians having mediterranean influences. i personally headcanon the scarabia duo as arab, but honestly, they could be from anywhere. for all we know, kalim is afghan and jamil is tunisian—it’s all up in the air due to the original source material. but i digress!! i rambled a lot 😭

ON THE BOLLYWOOD NOTE! omg this brought so many good memories back. we used to watch bollywood films with shitty arabic dubs 🥹 i miss those days. i love that idea and ive always wanted to write bollywood inspired fics, like based on the crazy and unrealistic romantic moments in bollywood. it’s just so much fun lmao. honestly, i think that’s a great idea especially when so many bollywood songs just lead the listener through a story anyways. im so glad you enjoy my fics!!! that’s very sweet 💕 have a great day, qamar, and take care of yourself

#🩷 — chats with amora #🌷 — politics #🧞‍♀️ — genie bottle asks #twisted wonderland #jamil viper #kalim al asim #orientalism #disneys aladdin #iraq #george bush is a war criminal #if the icc mattered he’d be on trial #twst x reader #jamil viper x reader #bollywood inspired fics 😭 my dream

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

Sonic Character Cultural Coding

Despite the fact that a good chunk of Sonic characters are anthropomorphized animals, a large amount of them have been given explicit or implicit coding that aligns with cultures that we see on Earth! I’ve found it hard to find a detailed list of it all online, so... I made one!

Disclaimers:

I am going to say: some of these may seem pretty obvious, but at the same time I’ve seen people miss them, so I’ll be including both the “obvious” and “obscure” coding.

If I accidentally said anything offensive, please let me know so I can correct it!

We are going to start with Sonic himself, and then do the rest in alphabetical order! Let’s go!

Sonic the Hedgehog (+bio fam) – Egyptian

We’re gonna start with Sonic the Hedgehog himself– who is very much coded as Black, specifically of Egyptian descent.

In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog 1x50, “Robotnik’s Pyramid Scheme,” Robotnik goes back in time to try and prevent Sonic from ever existing by keeping his ancestors from meeting. Sonic goes back in time to stop him and we meet Masonic and Penelope who are Sonic’s great-great+ grandparents and live in ancient Egypt. Masonic is specifically designed to look almost exactly like Sonic.

Later in the episode they end up inside a pyramid and meet yet another ancestor of theirs, who is an enchanted mummy hedgehog. He gives Sonic a chaos emerald to kick Robotnik’s ass. He also looks exactly like Sonic.

And SPEAKING OF enchanted mummy hedgehogs! In the Sonic Underground episode 1x22, “Mummy Dearest,” Sonic is AGAIN explicitly given ancient egyptian ancestry, when he and his siblings find a book talking about their family history. They use the book to find directions to a magic scroll which is protected by one of their ancestors, Aman-Rapi, who is again very clearly from Ancient Egypt and looks like Sonic. 

In this pic, they can be seen posing in front of a wall containing heiroglyphs, with a mummy behind them, Amon-Rapi is literally dressed as a pharaoh wearing a variation on a Khepresh, his name is obviously a play on Amun-Ra… yeah, they’re Egyptian. So, in two different adaptations Sonic has been given explicit African ancestry.

@ifirestone​ also pointed out to me that Sonic Adventure 2 has a lot of hedgehogs all over the pyramid locations, and @nonbinarycharmybee​ pointed out that his shoes are based off of Michael Jackson’s shoes in the music video for “Bad;” Jackson is a very celebrated African-American musician. And @killer-squirtle​ pointed out that his design is most likely based on an African Pygmy Hedgehog, which live in “west, central and east Africa.”

Then in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), there’s a scene where Sonic messes with his quillstyle and is seen experimenting with different styles. Before he settles on the mohawk (very much resembling his AoSTH-SatAM style), he tries out what looks like a Flat Top haircut and Natural Afro; in the latter, he specifically strikes a pose very reminiscent of the 60s Disco Era, which was suuuper associated with African-Americans.

Finally (so far), Sonic’s first english voice actor was Jaleel White for the first three television shows, who is Black; he set the standard for english!Sonic’s voice and what he should sound like. Sonic’s newest VA for Sonic Prime, Devon Mack, is also Black!

Edit 07/15/2022: @birdsareblooming​ noticed that in Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic is reading the Arabian Nights in Arabic, which is the official language of Egypt as well as several other African and Southwest Asian countries!

As we’ve established Sonic is Egyptian, I think we can also safely assume that his bio fam is as well– Sonia and Manic were in that Underground episode after all, and as Underground doesn’t seem to give them a father I think we can safely assume that the royal lineage is through Aleena. Metal Sonic is a robot but as he’s supposed to be near identical to Sonic, I think we can put Metal under the same coding (no pun intended).

Antoine Depardieu/D’Coolette the Coyote – French

Antoine is very very obviously coded as French, first in the SatAM television show he debuted in and then in the Archie comics. His original surname, Depardieu, is a French surname– I don’t believe D’Coolette is a real surname but it is supposed to sound French with the “d’[x]” structure.

Antoine speaks in an exaggerated French accent, which is spelled phonetically in the comics so that it can still come across. He often (at least in SatAM– I’m not as knowledgeable on Archie canon) needs help understanding English words and asks for translations or butchers pronunciation. He also uses the French phrases “qui” and “sacre bleu.” Unfortunately, in SatAM he also falls into the French Coward Stereotype, which seems to have begun in the 40s and shot into prominence in the United States in the early 2000s.

Babylon Rogues (Jet/Wave/Storm) – Iraqi

The Babylon Rogues are ABSOLUTELY Iraqi. How do we know this? They are literally called the Babylon Rogues. 

In case u didn't know, Babylon was an ancient empire that was p powerful in the BC years. Its capitol town– named, you know, Babylon– was an independent city-state and for a while the largest city in the world. They also had one of the seven wonders of the world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon The city of Babylon, whose remains are now a world heritage site, is now what is currently Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq.

The Babylon Rogues are clearly named after the Babylonian empire. Their home base is also literally named the Babylon Garden, a reference to the Hanging Gardens. I’m not super knowledgeable on architecture, but the design of the Garden seems to be similar to the Umayyad or Abbasid architectural movements of Iraq.

This all very much codes the Rogues as being descendants of the Babylonian empire, ie: Iraqi.

Bark the Polar Bear – Russian

This is gonna be one of the shorter ones, but a 1996 interview with Hiroshi Kataoka, head of SEGA AM2, says that Bark is “a Polar Bear who lives in Russia.”

I don’t believe Bark is given any specific Russian coding following that, but it should be noted that that was the original intention.

Blaze the Cat – Southern Asian

Blaze’s concept designs can be pretty South Asian-coded first off; in the middle bottom row in the pic above, you can see her wearing Shalwar, (maybe shalwar kameez? it's hard to tell what kinda top she has) which is a popular Southern and Central Asian fashion. 

Her final design includes a straight-up bindi– listed as such on the Sonic wiki. Bindi are a mark on the forehead worn by women in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and occasionally Islam (notably in Pakistan during Eid). While obviously anyone of any race can be of any religion, as the bindi originated in Southern Asia, it’s highly associated with that area and is worn by, well, a crapton of people in South and Southeast Asia, for both cultural and religious reasons.

Also, her kingdom: we don’t see it much in the games (in Rush Adventure, they’re mostly traveling through outlying islands and ruins), but we do see it in the IDW comics.

It seems very inspired by Mughal architecture, an Indo-Islamic style developed from Indian, Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian traditions.

In the mobile game Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Blaze is given a costume for Lunar New Year, as is Silver (see Elise’s section for more Silver info). Lunar New Year is associated mainly with China, but is celebrated in several other Asian countries, including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

We also got THIS tweet from the official Sonic account in November 2020, showing her having tea in her palace. @penosh-wom​ pointed out to me that the patterns in the room are “VERY reminiscent of India,” and that the scenery outside looks very much like the Asian coast. 

The caption is in Japanese, but translating it to English shows that the descriptive is literally “Indian summer with calm waves.” An Indian summer is a term for unusually long hot weather in autumn, but like. Come on.

With that, I would say Blaze is most likely Indian, though the coding is a little vague. She is at the very least Asian, likely South or Southeast.

Bunnie Rabbot – Southern American

Bunnie seems to be coded as coming from the Southern United States (or at least the Mobius equivalent); she has a Southern US accent, for instance, and similar to Antoine in written media it is spelled phonetically so that it continues to come across; using “ah” instead of “I,” often cutting off the “g” in words ending in “-ing,” etc. Many of her sayings– such as “oh my stars”– are distinctly Southern US as well. This was all established in her SatAM appearances and continued into the Archie comics.

Should be noted that also, very unfortunately, one early Archie comic had her say several things to reference support for the Confederacy as a way of tying into her Southern heritage. Thankfully, as far as I’m aware this has only appeared in this issue and has never occurred again.

Princess Elise (+Soleanna, possibly Silver) – Italian

Soleanna as a country is incredibly inspired by the city of Venice, Italy, to the point where Silver’s original name was Venice. The city is known for being built on 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges, with it often being called the “floating city.”

The amount of canals and bridges in Soleanna is definitely an intentional reference, as well as the very Venetian Architecture of the buildings.

Now, Silver– While it’s unclear if Silver is from his timeline’s Soleanna, he does have a bit of Italian coding as well!

Firstly, his original design was literally named Venice. (design in the pic, bottom left.) And there’s one other little detail– in Sonic and the Black Knight, when you play as Silver (Sir Galahad), his sword looks a LOT like a Cinquedea– an Italian dagger.

Silver being Italian is a bit less certain than the rest of Soleanna, though– the original name and dagger are the only implications and he hasn’t had much since. In Sonic Forces: Speed Battle he is given a Lunar New Year outfit, which could imply he is of Asian descent (see: Blaze); of course he could be mixed, or simply celebrating with Blaze (who also had a Lunar New Year outfit release at the same time). So while Silver isn’t certain, I will say the inclusion of the Cinquedea interested me enough to note him here.

Espio the Chameleon – Japanese

Espio is definitely coded as Japanese throughout his appearances. Firstly, and most obviously, his special interest in being a Ninja; ninjas were mercenaries or covert agents in feudal Japan, incredibly skilled in martial arts and ninjutsu, and they were often used as spies or bodyguards. Japanese legend would also often associate the ninja with invisibility, a major part of Espio’s powerset. Espio’s favor for the shuriken stars as a weapon also tie into this, as well as the fact that in the Japanese script he uses the old-fashioned formal pronouns “ware” and “onushi.”

That’s not all, though, of course: Espio has been stated in the Sonic City character profiles to be “a lover of traditional ways,” specifically referencing his ability to play the shamisen, a traditional Japanese instrument. He is seen playing this instrument in the Chaotix’s Sonic Heroes Team Blast.

@nonbinarycharmybee​​ also pointed out that in THIS official artwork from Sonic Channel in 2021, Espio is seen writing with an ink brush used in Japanese calligraphy.

Gold the Tenrec – Indian

Gold is specifically stated by creator Evan Stanley to be from “whatever the Sonic World equivalent” of India is. This is shown in her design as well: her outfit consists of a brown sari, which is a very popular and traditional style in India, as well as nearby Southern Asian countries.

Knuckles the Echidna (+Clan) – Jamaican + Mesoamerican

Oooh Knuckles is interesting, strap in everyone!

According to Sonic Advance 2: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, Knuckles was originally intended to speak with a Jamaican accent. As well as this, the green/yellow/red color scheme of his shoes was intended to reference the Rastafari flag, Rastafarianism being a religion developed in Jamaica. This heritage can also be seen reflected in his dreadlocks– his quill-style is referred to as such in many canon places. In real life, dreadlocks are a Black hairstyle; the 2011 official census of Jamaica listed 92.1% of the population as Black, and dreadlocks are often associated with the Rastafari movement, as Rastas regard them as a symbol of strength and it emerged as a traditional religious style in the 1940s.

This isn’t the only coding Knuckles gets, though; he is known to be descended from the Knuckles Clan, which are heavily inspired by Mesoamerican cultures.

The Sonic Adventure team traveled through Central and South America to get inspiration for Knuckles’s clan’s culture, which can be seen in basically every aspect of the Clan lore. For instance, clothing worn by the echidnas is very similar to the traditional styles of the Aztecs and Mayas. This includes the decorative feathers seen on Pachacamac and the filmverse!Clan, as feathers were popular and prized materials in pre-colonial Mesoamerca.

Their architecture is almost identical to the step-pyramid temples of the Aztecs, Mayas and Toltecs. The same architecture and clothing style can also be seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), with most of the echidna warriors seen with spears, including baby Knuckles. Throwing spears were used extensively in pre-colonial Mesoamerican battles.

There is also a large serpent that lives near the Mystic Ruins of the Clan, likely a reference to the Aztecs’ Quetzalcoatl and the Mayas’ Kukulkan.

Also, most obviously, the names: Pachacamac is named after a Peruvian archeological site, which itself was named after the Ichma creator god Pacha Kamaq. Tikal, meanwhile, was named after the archeological ruins of a Maya city, consisting of multiple pyramids.

As a sidenote, it should be noted that Ken Penders’ echidnas in the Archie Comics were definitely supposed to be English: @thankskenpenders​ laid it out very well in this post, but they were written to come from “Mobius’s equivalent of England,” named after the earliest name for Great Britain, and he wrote the species to be “seafaring colonizers.” Penders did write this before the release of Sonic Adventure, but obviously after Knuckles’s initial release with Jamaican-coding, so can we call this whitewashing? I don’t know enough to speak on the subject, but with the reset of Archie comics and its later cancellation, and the games’ Knuckles Clan being represented in several other mediums (such as Sonic X, Sonic the Comic, etc.) I think we can safely say that the Mesoamerican coding is a bit more canon.

Lupe the Wolf (+pack) – Indigenous American

Lupe the Wolf first appeared in the second season of Sonic SatAM, and from her first appearance was incredibly indigenous-coded, as was her wolf pack. This coding continued through the Archie comics. This will mostly focus on the SatAM coding, as Archie pulled from that and, once again, I don’t know a ton about Archie!Canon, but SatAM is pretty damn obvious with its coding.

Lupe’s pack is described as being a native tribe to the Great Unknown region, who live in “harmony with nature.” Their land was captured and culture destroyed by the invading Robotnik, with the survivors retreating into their civilization’s ruins. In order to keep themselves safe, they set up inscriptions near their cave threatening to curse anyone who wanted to come in; Lupe later readily admits this to Sonic, Sally and Antoine, the latter of whom was scared shitless by the idea of getting cursed.

So, for starters, Indigenous American culture is, in general, built a lot upon a reverence for nature, believing that humans are not masters of nature but merely a part of it and acting accordingly. The capture of their land is obviously intended to be reminiscent of American colonization by the Europeans, which was devastating to the Native tribes, with entire cultures and languages being wiped out and Indigenous people still facing serious oppression in modern times.

Much like the Knuckles Clan, the Wolf Pack’s ruins are reminiscent of many indigenous archeological sites, such as Mesa Verde, which is also built into a cliffside. The brief glimpse we have of the Wolf Pack’s pre-colonized land also shows them living in huts reminiscent of many indigenous tribes.

The room Lupe gives exposition in also has them all sitting around a smoking fire pit; many indigenous cultures will gather around fires for meetings and discussions.

Lastly, many people (mainly white people) hold the superstition that Indigenous people have the ability to curse them; just think about how much the “this place is haunted because it was built on a Native burial ground” trope is used. The “Magical Native American” trope tends to say that Natives are magical because of their closeness with nature and “lack of civilization.” This very much falls into the Noble Savage trope, making them appear exotic or inhuman to outsiders and trivializes their connection to the natural world.

SatAM does a pretty decent job subverting this trope, with Lupe very clearly stating there is no curse and they use it to make small-minded intruders keep out; this shifts the ridiculousness of the situation onto the non-Native-coded characters.

Sonic: Ant! Forget the curse. There is no stupid curse! Lupe: He's right, Antoine. We use the threat of a curse to keep out intruders. Antoine: No curses? Oh. Phew and phew again. I am so happy to hear that.

- SatAM S2e10, “Cry of the Wolf”

There have been a few other instances of Indigenous-coding with Sonicverse characters, unfortunately not all of them represented as well. The inhabitants of Speedster Island in the Sonic Underground episode “Head Games” are just as indigenous-coded in their appearance, the episode very much falls into the “Native people need the outsiders to come save them” stereotype, as well as the “Native people mistake outsiders for gods” stereotype. The Gogobas in Sonic Boom are also given indigenous-coding with their chief’s headgear, village huts, and jokes made referencing the “cursed burial grounds” trope and them replacing the captured indigenous children in the parody of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The Gogobas are not exactly shown in a positive light, though to be fair, neither is anyone in the show; specifically, the Gogobas’ “tradition” is to guilt trip everyone into doing what they want.

For other indigenous coding in major characters, see Knuckles and Rotor sections.

Marine the Raccoon (+Coconut Crew) – Australian

Marine is very obviously coded as Australian; throughout all of her dialogue, she uses Australian slang, most obviously calling her friends “mate.” She also uses the exclamation “strewth,” which is used often in Australia and Aotearoa. Other slang includes “sheila” (woman), “no drama” (no worries) and “ya mug” (friendly insult, usually for a gullible person). The other koalas on her island, who raised her, also use the same language.

Marine is also given pigtails shaped like boomerangs, a tool heavily associated with Australia, specifically Aboriginal Australian hunting. Koalas are also a species that is native to Australia– I believe only Australia but I can’t be sure. 

I don’t know enough about the coding of their architecture/etc to say if they’re coded as generally Australian or Aboriginal specifically, though I will say they definitely seem to be native to islands, which may imply they are of a Polynesian tribe near Australia or Aotearoa, such as Māori or Tahitian people. 

Should be noted though that Marine appears to be adopted; she was raised by the Coconut Crew, who are all koalas. She does have some serious tanuki coding that may additionally code her as Japanese; for more, see Tails’s section.

Mina Mongoose – Chinese

As far as I’m aware, Mina’s Chinese-coding isn’t super explicit. However, she is seen wearing a red qipao for formal occasions, designed by Jeff Axer.

The qipao, also known as a cheongsam, is a traditional Chinese dress inspired by the Manchu people (founders of the Qing Dynasty). In modern times, the cheongsam is very popular for festivities such as weddings and holidays (especially Lunar New Year), as well as school and work uniforms.

Mina’s qipao is also specifically given a green dragon design very reminiscent of the Chinese dragon as well as many other Asian dragon species. She also is given ornamental earrings and hair pieces that are very clearly inspired by Chinese fashion.

Nocturnus Clan + Voxai Aliens – Roman/Greek

Honestly, these clans seem to have coding in name only– they both have specific cultures of their own, with the Voxai architecture specifically being based mainly on the rock and plants of their home planet, and the Nocturnus clan being very futuristic. But it is interesting to note!

The Nocturnus clan army ranks are very similar to Imperial Roman ones, with titles such as hastatus and praetorian. Ix being called the “Imperator” is also a Latin word from which the word “Emperor” is derived, and referred to an army commander. Ix’s Gizoid prefects are also named Scylla and Charyb, a reference to Scylla and Charybdis, two sea monsters in Greek mythology which appeared in the Odyssey. The historian character Nestor the Wise is named after King Nestor of Gerenia, also from the Odyssey as well as the Iliad.

The Voxai names are also derived from Greek and Roman mythology: their name likely comes from the Latin noun “vox,” which refers to a voice and would reference the aliens’ telepathic powers. Most of the named Voxai are given Greek names as well: Thebes is an important city in Greek mythology, Croesus was the last king of Lydia, and Riadne, Leucosia and Ligaia are names of mythological Sirens.

Rotor the Walrus – Inuk

Rotor is not given any specific cultural coding in SatAM or Pre-Super Genesis Wave Archie; however, in Post-SGW Archie, he and his family are given Inuit coding.

In the post-SGW comics, Rotor is from Artika, a region covered in snow and ice, and we see that the residents live in igluit, traditional homes for inuit in the Central Arctic Canadian area, and the Qaanaaq in Greenland.

Rotor’s community also has an enemy named Akhlut the Orca– in Inuit mythology, the akh’lut is a wolf-orca creature that is known to be aggressive towards humans.

Surge the Tenrec – Japanese

Surge is a relatively new character to the IDW Comics, so we still have more time to learn about her past/potential culture; for the most part, at this point, her coding comes mainly in her appearance. Surge was designed by Mauro Fonseca and Evan Stanley, with Fonseca listing Japanese delinquents, specifically sukeban, as one of the inspirations for her design.

Sukeban are Japanese delinquent girls, the word usually referring to either an entire gang or the leader herself; they were gangs in the 60s-70s, and now the term tends to refer mainly to fashion inspired by them. Many “common signifiers” of this trend are bright hair and modified school uniforms (cut, decorated, etc).

Many fictional Japanese delinquents share design similarities with Surge, such as “excessive piercings and jewellery” and spiked hair.

Tails the Fox – Japanese(?) / Kitsune

I put a question mark here because Tails’s coding isn’t specifically on Japanese culture, but on a very specific aspect of its mythology. Tails is very clearly based upon a Kitsune.

Kitsune are mythological foxes with the ability to shapeshift; they have been portrayed in different myths as tricksters and/or guardians. The kitsune are noted for having multiple tails; they are said grow a tail every hundred years, growing up to nine tails. When they reach a thousand years of age, instead of growing a new tail, they ascend to the heavens. The kitsune are notable for their shapeshifting and ability to create illusions.

Tails’s second tail is clearly a reference to the kitsune legend, but while he relies more on technology than magic, there are some suspicious magical incidents around Tails; in Sonic Battle, his attack consists of summoning a giant hand to hit you with. @birdsareblooming​ pointed out to me that in Sonic: Lost World, when Tails stops pretending to be roboticized, his eye color literally shifts from gray to blue, possibly as a reference to the shapeshifting.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), the illusion power is referenced with Tails’s “Miles Multiplier,” which he uses to summon holographic copies of himself and others.

If you look on Tails’s desktop, you can also see something entitled “Kitsune” is running– @khamomile-kitty​ has informed me that it says Arms.Kitsune as a reference to Tyson Hesse’s early parody comic, Hedgehog the Sonic. You can see the file on the bottom left of his screen, though this isn’t a great pic lol.

There’s also the fact he shares many parallels with Infinite, who has the regular kitsune powers of illusion. Jackals are also very close on the family tree to foxes.

Another interesting thing is Marine– her being Blaze’s dimension’s Tails is interesting, as she is likely not a raccoon but a tanuki. She looks much more similar to a real tanuki, and in mythology tanuki and kitsune tend to be enemies with similar powersets. Speaking of Tanuki– Tails is also the first to be suspicious of Dodon Pa, a canon tanuki. He says specifically, “There’s something about this Tanuki I just don’t trust.”

Is he a kitsune in canon or is this just a reference to Japanese mythology? Pre-SGW Archie Comics gives Tails regular fox parents, so his tail seems to be a canon mutation there. However, every other canon has Tails completely oblivious to his past, seeming to not know his parents and likely having been abandoned. In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, for example, he has no memory of his parents and just says he’s “been alone for a long time” and is confused at the fact not everyone has two tails. So honestly, it’s completely unknown whether he’s a canon kitsune or simply coded.

Whisper the Wolf – Japanese

Whisper’s coding is very specific: her mask and her eyes. Whisper’s mask was chosen from a character customization option in Sonic Forces, and was specifically inspired by Japanese Kabuki masks. (Kabuki is a traditional Japanese dance-drama form known for its elaborate costuming, makeup, and masks.)

Whisper’s eyes being almost always closed is partially inspired by traditional depictions of kitsunes with “those iconic squinty-closed eyes.” (See Tails’s section for more kitsune information.) Sega of Japan approved her design as wolves serve the same roles as kitsune in older Japanese folklore.

Vector the Crocodile – Black American

Vector has had quite a bit of black coding over the years, in both positive and negative ways.

Vector is given an appearance shared with/stereotypical of a lot of Black American musicians, particularly in the rapper and hip-hop categories– specifically, his gold chain jewelry, leather clothing, and wireless headphones, esp their positioning in his models. As Vector is a musician, they definitely chose this specific musican-attire for him for a reason. Also, right now, his current English voice actor is Keith Silverstein, a black man.

A lot of Vector’s personality could be read as stereotypical, and at the same time those personality traits could be seen as inverted depending on the source material: he could fall into the “bossy overconfident” stereotype, or that could be seen as subverted due to the fact he is actually competent at his job. He could fall into the “money-hungry” and/or “always poor” trope, or this trait could be seen as relatable due to all of us hating landlords and rent with a passion. He could be “will do anything for money” or he could be presented as someone with strong morals who will always do what is right.

In some media he is seen as hotheaded and aggressive (”Angry Black Man”), while in others he keeps a cool head in times of danger and takes care of his team. You could see him as a “massive flirt” or as just someone who happens to be head-over-heels in love with Vanilla. Hell, his loud music interest could be seen as joking about Black music being “too loud,” or it could be seen as him, you know, just enjoying music!

All this depends on the medium. I don’t feel educated enough on the subject to make a call as to whether he’s a positive or negative stereotype overall, though I think I can say with certainty that Penders’ writing of him in the Archie comics was racist as hell. As @thankskenpenders​ explained in her article, “Vector was the jive-talking comic relief character. He was obnoxious, he was dim-witted, he was crude, he’d randomly bring up rap music. One time he started singing ‘Dem Bones’ to himself while held captive by the Dark Legion. He was also extremely misogynistic.” Thank God Penders is out...

Master Zik the Zeti – Chinese

Zik’s appearance and characterization are based upon early Chinese poets, who are given a lot of respect in their society, as Zik is given respect among the Zeti.

Zik can definitely fall into the Inscrutable Oriental trope, with his “reserved and stoic” personality. He is also part of the Old Master trope (though he is a villainous rather than heroic character, as is traditional), which tends to intersect with the Magical Asian trope in martial arts stories, most famously in America in The Karate Kid; this inspiration can be seen in most of Zik’s calm dialogue and past as Zavok’s mentor, and the emphasis on his position as a powerful master. His hair is likely a reference to the stereotypical Fu Manchu moustache, and his entrance music is stylized after traditional Chinese music.

Zik also spends his semi-retirement in the garden he tends; this could potentially be a reference to Chinese gardens, which are very important in Chinese literature and philosophy. His game profile also mentions he likes to water his Bonsai tree; while the Bonsai is Japanese, it is derived from traditional Chinese penjing art.

#sonic squad #sonic the hedgehog #sth #sonic meta #meta #mine #cultural coding #coding

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

Religion and the conflict- an excuse for antisemitism

Many users seem to use everyone's interest in the conflict to spread misinformation and antisemitic beliefs. Antisemitism today is being rebranded as antizionism.

Zionism is simply the notion that the Jewish people should have a state of their own, in Zion (AKA the historical and religious name for Israel).

Debunking some common musconcepti0ons about Zionism -It's not a new movement- This concept has been around ever since the Jewish people were first expelled from Israel. Jews have tried to immigrate to Israel ever since and were often met with refusal. They were then sent back against their will to nearby territories such as Cyprus.

But I’m not antisemitic, I’m just anti Israeli

-Antisemitic hate crimes rates have gone up globally:

from slurs, genocidal chants and violence in American college campuses, to hate crimes and violence spiking across Europe…

Take London for an example - there’s currently a 1,350% spike in antisemitism.

People are killed for being Jewish. Swastikas are drawn, and the hashtag “Hitler was right” is trending all over social media.

You can’t deny that chanting “gas the Jews” in protests in antisemitic…

It's not like what happened in Canada & the USA -Treatment of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel: To better understand the situation, you'll need to understand the difference between Palestinian territories outside of Israel, Palestinian territories inside Israel, and Israeli territories.

-Palestinians living in Palestinian territories Outside of Israel (The Gaza Strip) are governed by Hamas. -Palestinians living in Palestinian territories within Israel are governed by the Palestinian Authority and not Israel. *For further reading, you can read about the differences between A, B, and C zones.

-Arabic Muslims and Arabic Christians living within Israeli territories have the exact same rights as Jewish Israelis. There are many "mixed" cities in which Arabic people and Jewish people live peacefully, it's a nonissue.

Israeli people are European settlers \ white colonizers

Are they all white? I can't believe I have to write this, but contrary to popular belief, not all Jews are white, just like not all Christians are white ... Stop being ignorant: there are Jewish People from Asian, Arab, and African countries. Please stop telling Arabic\African Jews to go back to Europe, You are embarrassing yourself. The reason why there aren't a lot of them in those countries right now is that they were either killed or forced to leave them (often without any of their possessions) after years of discrimination and violence. *Are they collonsiers?

The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel. There is much historical, and archeological evidence for that. There is evidence that supports that the Jewish people have been here for thousands of years. The Jewish people all originated from Israel, and are an Ethnic group that originated from Israel. How can we be colonizers on our own land?

Most of the land of Israel was either given by the British mandate or purchased legally.

Obviously, some land was occupied- but that was during wars that were forced on Israel, after many terror attacks. -Many of the people claiming Israeli people are colonizers, are European, American, or Canadian.... AKA the biggest colonizers in history, who have 0 connection to the land they occupied. While Israel was a British colony until 1948-and Unlike popular belief, the conflict doesn't start there. That's what Hamas wants you to think. Your favorite Maps are a lie

They won't tell you about the Balfour declaration in 1917, the 1936 Peel Commission, or the 1947 UN partition plan which the Palestinian people rejected. Do you know what followed that rejection? Foreign armies from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attacked.

Many peace accords including the 1993 Oslo Accords (which since then were violated by the Palestinians)- were all initiated by Israel.

Not one of the wars in Israeli history was initiated by Israel. * Besides the occupation of the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula** Most of the lands that make up Israel were either given by the British after their mandate over the country had ended or purchased legally*. *Besides the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula**. **The Sinai peninsula was returned completely to Egypt in 1982. as part of the 1977 peace accords between Egypt and Israel. Further context and more information:

I suggest you read about the Suez Crisis \ The Sinai War of 1956, The Egypt- Israel Peace Accords, the Oslo Accords, the British mandate over Israel (especially the end of it), and different UN decisions made in the years before the founding of Israel.

#israel #israeli #jewish #jewblr #טאמבלר ישראלי #politics #human rights #Gaza #Gaza strip #Hamas is Isis #bring them back #bring them home

[lorcandidlucienwill]

Everybody talks about how SJM has terrible representation of African-Americans and Arabs, etc. and I'm not going to argue with that, but what about INDIANS??? We have over 1.486 billion people within the country alone, plus countless immigrants across the world. The most populous nation in the world. But there's not one Indian character. NOT A SINGLE ONE. Is there even a South Asian/Southeast Asian character at all? I don't think so! Ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.

#indians rise up #india love #more indian characters in books please #sjm critical #anti sjm #sjm universe #sjm books #is sjm racist? maybe #bombastic side eye

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Search movies by country of origin

North American United States of America | Canada | Guatemala | Mexico

South American Argentina | Brazil | Chile | Peru

European Austria | Czechia | Czechoslovakia | Denmark | Estonia | Finland | France | Hungary | Germany | Iceland | Ireland | Italy | Macedonia | Netherlands | Norway | Poland | Russia | Scotland | Serbia | Spain | Switzerland | Turkey | United Kingdom | Yugoslavia

African Morocco | Senegal | Tunisia

Asian China | Hong Kong | India | Indonedia | Iran | Israel | Japan | Jordan | Pakistan | Palestine | Philippines | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | South Korea | Taiwan | Thailand | United Arab Emirates | Vietnam

Oceanian Australia | New Zealand

#not a poll #tag list

[ladypeonies]

Mama Rom and Po.

Few days ago it was Mama Rom's birthday, and Apo posted HBD Mother on an old tweet, cute. They have started following each other and now this. Mama Rom wins she can finally publicly claim one Apo Nattawin and vice-versa.

I said publicly because behind closed doors she already has obviously. And today fans are going insane over the video of them at the airport interacting and even him teasing her: ‘Isn't Mom coming with Po?’

I know for westerners it is very unfamiliar to call another person’s mother ‘Mom,’ but for the rest of the world it isn’t, it’s a sign of respect. For Arabic, Asians, Africans (talking only about the cultures I know or/and I’m part of) being a mother is a title and we respect the fact that someone has given life, has raised children, has sacrificed for them, etc.

I don’t say Mama Rom to be cute, but because she’s older than me, she’s a mother and she could be MY mother. Calling her by her first name would be so disrespectful and insulting. I wouldn’t dare even if I don’t know her and we have never met. So if I meet her even if we are strangers, I would call her Mother/mama still. This is so engraved in us.

I could also call her mother and add the name of her firstborn. My friends, my mother’s friends would call my mom, mother+my first name (I’m her eldest child).

Same for grandmothers, grandfathers as well, and anyone older man or woman are aunties and uncles even if you aren’t related.

What shows for me, Apo’s and Mama’s Rom closeness and fondness for each other are the touches, the teasing, the smiles and the warmth between them, not the fact he calls her Mae. I mean it is the only possible thing he could call her without having the whole country and his ancestors come after him.  

PS: Of course every country has its own variants, but the core is still the same.

#mileapo #apo nattawin #mile phakphum

[doberbutts]

HOWEVER I scrolled by an article the other day that was basically “adding POC to fantasy stories that don’t have POC is more racist than those fantasy stories not having POC whatsoever” and I have been chewing on this for a while because it Bothered Me.

The argument was that, by changing nothing about the story except the skin color of various characters, you make something more racist by forcing POC into “white cultures”. The examples used for this were, of course, Rings of Power and Netflix Witcher.

Except... There are black people in Europe. There are Asian people in Europe. There are African people in Europe. There are Arabic people in Europe. There are even Native American people and South American people and Caribbean people in Europe.

And... as said before Witcher is not happening in our world but in a different world which humans were unwillingly transported to during the Conjunction of the Spheres, and multiple races and cultures were transported considering there are actually POC that exist within the Witcher books, which have trade and slaves and war that stretches across multiple countries and continents. Tolkien’s universe also has POC that exist within the books- albeit they are almost entirely Bad Guys Only- and it has other evidence of non-European items existing within it such as tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes, tea, and various spices meaning trade would have to exist because these plants do not originate in Europe.

Before anyone gets on me about tea- Bilbo mentions tea in PJ’s Fellowship of the Ring and the dwarves, in Bilbo’s house, offers Gandalf a cup of chamomile in PJ’s An Unexpected Journey- with first recorded use in Egypt [yes I know chamomile also grows in Europe, however it was not used as tea that we’re aware of until after Egypt taught the Romans how to do it]. If we want to say that it could be really any type of tea, the first recorded use of tea in general was in China. Either way, that’s a non-European invention.

The argument is, in itself, a racist one. People of color exist in Europe and have existed in Europe for almost as long as Europe has been around. War and trade and slavery will do that. The Vikings did it. The Moors did it. The Romans did it. The Mongolians did it. And others throughout history have done it. Whether they succeeded in holding ground longterm or had to turn back quickly, whether it was a nobleman on some world tour to stroke his ego or a merchant travelling on the silk road or a ship blown off course seeking exotic spices and products, people have always shown up in unexpected places. There was a black samurai in Japan in the 1500s. There were Native Americans being imported en masse to England in the late 1400s to show off as trophy wives and zoo exhibits. We have always existed in these places. Us being people of color doesn’t mean we don’t belong there or that somehow it’s not “actually” the culture of those who live and were born and raised in these countries.

And, in complete honesty- while I would, obviously, like to see more POC-originating stories being adapted into multi-million dollar franchise... the fact of the matter is that the few times it does happen no one goes to see it except for the race that it pertains to, no one talks about it, no one advertises it, no one supports it. POC authors and directors and producers and writers fight tooth and nail to show their work and then are told by the industry that their stuff is garbage that no one wants to see because people are too busy touching themselves to Famous White Guy’s Books.

[freeleyenrashespeakstruth]

To all the new people in the country...

The people of the United States of America do not hate you or dislike you, well most of us anyway. What we hate is how our politicians have deceived us by how they made your presence in our nation possible. Please read on and think about why you are here in the first place, and I don't mean your reason for coming to the USA, I mean the reason why so many people were allowed in from a certain date in time all of a sudden.

Let me explain. Please read on.

About 30 years ago our nations elected leaders did something that they don't even speak about anymore. They intentionally stopped manning the border, and pretended that it was an invasion of the southern border. Literally they cried "the Mexicans are crossing the border and we can't stop them!" It was all over the media. The greatest nation in the world and strongest most powerful military could not defend our southern border and they announced it on every tv station and every radio station. No internet or cell phone 30 years ago.

"The Mexicans are invading the USA and we cannot stop them" and "the Mexicans are taking our jobs and we can't stop them" were all we were hearing almost the exact same time that it was announced there would be mass layoffs all across the United States. Another thing that started almost immediately was the "dial 1 for Spanish, 2 for English" that quickly changed to "1 for English, 2 for Spanish" because the citizens were getting ready to riot.

Lots of things changed and quickly. Many of us were confused. Many of us were losing our jobs and businesses were closing up, and those who stayed open were replacing the workers with people who didn't even speak our language. It was happening so fast and more cries of "THE MEXICANS ARE STORMING OUR BORDER AND WE CAN'T STOP THEM!!!" Seriously (said sarcastically and truthfully.)

And who were the Mexicans? The Mexicans were every Latino from central or south America who came into the country regardless of what nation they came from. And every politician and media called all Latinos Mexicans, long before Trump was ever in the picture.

And was it only the southern border? Of course not silly. We were told only about the Mexicans so that we wouldn't pay attention to the massive amount of people coming in from India and Pakistan, on planes on the east and west coast. And there were almost as many Indians and Pakistanis as there were Latinos.

Any other nations coming in? Nope. Only Latinos down south and Indians and Pakistanis on the east and west, but no other nationalities. Europeans, very little, a few Russians, Oriental Asians only to work at businesses owned by Asians, and never many Africans. Israelis always had an open door, but not many Arabs at all because they were considered our enemies and not allowed in the USA. About 99% Latino or Indian only, with a 60/40 to 70/30 ratio being Latino. "THE MEXICANS ARE STORMING OUR BORDER AND WE CAN'T STOP THEM!"

Nothing racist said, I hope you see that. We The People were being deceived big time. I say this because most of the people here now don't know what happened. And that has been used to the politicians advantage. Most of the people who lost our jobs have all died by now. And our families were destroyed. Our people will never recover from that time period. But we do not blame you. It was our very own elected public servants in the White House, the Senate, and Congress who did this to us, not you, the people who came into the USA to have a better life for you and your family.

Now you understand why the Great Divide in this country from it's beginning.

[southpaw-99]

Zionist Logic

By Malcolm X

The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the "last days of this world" their own God would raise them up a "messiah" who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own "divine" government in this newly-gained land, this "divine" government would enable them to "rule all other nations with a rod of iron."

If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its "divine" mission to rule all other nations with a rod of irons, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even, than that of the former European Colonial Powers.

These Israeli Zionists religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism, so well disguised that it will enable them to deceive the African masses into submitting willingly to their "divine" authority and guidance, without the African masses being aware that they are still colonized.

Camouflage

The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more "benevolent," more "philanthropic," a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic "aid," and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties. During the 19th century, when the masses here in Africa were largely illiterate it was easy for European imperialists to rule them with "force and fear," but in this present era of enlightenment the African masses are awakening, and it is impossible to hold them in check now with the antiquated methods of the 19th century.

The imperialists, therefore, have been compelled to devise new methods. Since they can no longer force or frighten the masses into submission, they must devise modern methods that will enable them to maneuver the African masses into willing submission.

The modern 20th century weapon of neo-imperialism is "dollarism." The Zionists have mastered the science of dollarism: the ability to come posing as a friend and benefactor, bearing gifts and all other forms of economic aid and offers of technical assistance. Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly "independent" African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists...and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.

At the close of the 19th century when European imperialists wisely foresaw that the awakening masses of Africa would not submit to their old method of ruling through force and fears, these ever-scheming imperialists had to create a "new weapon," and to find a "new base" for that weapon.

Dollarism

The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is Zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.

Zionist Israel's occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.

And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people...thus, indirectly inducing Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.

"They cripple the bird's wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they."

The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can't stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser's call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.

Messiah?

If the "religious" claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel's present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of that prophesy: where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was [United Nations mediator] Ralph Bunche who "negotiated" the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messiah has not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah?

Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the "religious" claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation...where Spain used to be, as the European Zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?

In short the Zionist argument to justify Israel's present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history...not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?

—The Egyptian Gazette, Sept. 17, 1964

#palestine #Israel #malcolm x #black panther party