#women in the service of the empire

[cienie-isengardu]

#star wars #darth vader #birra seah #women in the service of the empire #vader's servants #imperial officers

[gayvampyr]

Do you support prison abolition /paying prisoners a living wage / making being able to vote more accessible to everyone?

I like your stances and opinions and your jokes but I'm genuinely curious on this one.

(This is inspired by some of the comments under one of your posts talking about how we should just make democracy more livable under capitalism, and while I disagree with that being the ONLY thing we need to do, it does kinda make me think about how many people think we need to get better without abolishing prisons or at least treating our prisoners better than we are treating them currently.)

hi! i'm not sure which post you're referring to but I'm actually anti-capitalist. I think we need to dismantle capitalism as a system because it is inherently inhumane, working exactly as intended and therefore cannot be "fixed" without restructuring it entirely from the ground up; the devaluation of human labor and environmental destruction for profit is not a bug, it's a feature. i could delve into the kind of economic system that i think should replace it after dismantling it, however it's more of a thought exercise and until it becomes a plausible reality, i would rather focus on how we can make capitalism livable for the time being because we have no other choice. for example we could start by lowering rent, instituting a 4-day work week, and establishing support networks for homeless people. i'm not an economist so it's not like i have all the answers but according to the results from other countries who have applied these practices, it improves quality of life and the economy significantly.

as for prisons, i'm pro-abolition. you can check out my prison abolition tag for more information, but essentially prisons exist in this day and age as an industry that profits off of slave labor. many of our laws and their enforcers unfairly target minorities and lower class people, and the denial of convicts the right to vote is just another way our government strips vulnerable communities of their political power, autonomy, and supposedly inalienable rights. aside from the conviction of innocent people and people who did commit a crime but ultimately did no harm, i don't think it's the right of any individual (or government, for that matter) to imprison others. i think people tend to forget that "criminals" are human beings and deserving of the same rights as everyone else, and it is human nature to make mistakes. the important thing is the opportunity to do better. militarist propaganda has done an incredible job of convincing us that convicts are amoral and undeserving of our sympathy, turning society in general against them and destroying any sort of safety net they might have had or needed otherwise. and people are too busy clinging to the notion that criminals are subhuman and deserving of whatever punishment is dealt that they can't see that this is a slide into fascism, and that they can just as easily become "other" should they find themselves on the receiving end of the system. we are very close to living in a surveillance state, which means any minor offense or slip-up has the potential to completely decimate your chances at getting a job, applying for college, getting a loan, receiving housing, and especially being able to have a say in elections. it also makes you more likely to be arrested again on account of "suspected illegal activity", so your record follows you around for the rest of your life.

sorry this got so long but yeah, essentially capitalism and the prison industry are inhumane and should be abolished.

#voter suppression #prison abolition #militarism #capitalism #52018 #racism #classism #1312 #also before anyone brings up r/pe or other genuinely awful crimes that endanger people i have to posit the question: #how can we account for those crimes when the people arrested for them are are mainly minorities? #need i remind you that white women used to accuse black men of assault just to weaponize their white privilege? #to exert power over them out of fear or hatred? people convicted for violent crimes are disproportionately trans poor and POC #while the rest of people actually committing those crimes walk free because of the privileges of being cis/het/white/upper-class #and like. thats not to say that those crimes should go unrecognized. but the system we have and the people enforcing it are just not #capable of doing so fairly. they look for signs of abusive behavior in race. gender. sex. age. class. sexuality. religious beliefs. #very little investigation is performed and hardly any empirical data is used in ruling. if they cared about victims at all they would focus #on preventing abuse before it happens and giving us support and access to people and services who can help. as a victim and survivor #the gov did not give a shit about my abuse. we cant make a system built on suffering care about any of us. #and like. yall are so confident you'll be able to decide who is 'good' and who is 'bad' but you can't. its like the shit with amber heard. #everyone was so caught up in defending their favorite actor they disregarded a woman's account of her abuse and made her out to be crazy an #evil #and i know you think youre different and we can do it differently but it happens over and over and over again #tldr we cant use a system to prosecute the ''evil people of society'' that is built on defining those traits through a racist misogynistic #etc lens #if we could we wouldnt even be in this mess

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Canadian Army Women to Train As Anti-Aircraft Gun Operators," Toronto Star. April 30, 1943. Page 27. ---- BRITISH WOMEN TERRITORIALS OPERATE "A.A." GUNS ---- Ottawa, April 30 - (CP) - Members of the Canadian Women's Army Corps will be trained as "plotter telephonists" and will eventually take their place with men manning anti-aircraft artillery, defence headquarters has announced.

Women in Britiain's auxiliary territorial service - the British women's army - have been used on similar duty for some months. Some have helped operate London's guns during air raids.

Women selected must have grade 10 in education, have ability at map-reading and mathematics and possess a "keen interest" in artillery, the statement said.

#canadian women's army corps #artillery plotter #anti-aircraft guns #aa guns #air defence #auxiliary territorial service #canada in the british empire #canadian army #women at war #women in uniform #world war ii #canada during world war 2

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

Quarterfinals, Match 2

expand to see all propaganda received! (wall of text warning oh my god this is a severe cautionary message)

Lauryn Hill:

"she paved the way and was hot as fuck the whole time"

"Girl c'mon. Look at her. You're gonna try and tell me that isn't the most beautiful and attractive person alive? Okay. You're lying but okay."

"if u freaks don't give ms. lauryn hill the respect she deserves..."

"actually one of the prettiest women ever I'm such a lesbian for her. like irl I'm already a lesbian but she is helping"

Damon Albarn:

"Don’t think Damon should be here? Why don’t you get your head checked by a jumbo jet? Maybe you’ll feel heavy metal and calm down."

"If Damon is in the “some guy” category, he’s the heavenly and heartbreaking version. Damon is the sort of significant stranger I’d see on the train out of Colchester but could never speak to, just a face seen in passing yet too radiant to be real. I’d fall in love for an hour and carry the ache for a month."

"Damon sets the standard for me. I think he’s the most fascinating man alive. What I find attractive in Damon is not just his gorgeous bone structure and boyish charm, but how wholly he’s committed himself to music. Damon is an artist who walked the walk: in one of his roughest years with some of his rawest songwriting, he said he was no longer excited by anything except the creative process. He was disillusioned with the celebrity of it all, with his relationships suffering for it, and only wanted to make art: nothing more, nothing less. He would go on to compose film scores, write operas and stage musicals, produce other artists’ records, form collectives to fulfill his passion for world music, and create some of the most globally successful music of his career in a completely innovative format that placed him as the phantom behind the characters. Whenever one band takes a break, he makes a solo record or puts together a supergroup to stay busy. He’s uniquely collaborative and still writes personal letters inviting artists to record with him, and yet can function as a one-man show, acting as a multi-instrumentalist, a singer-songwriter and a producer. He’s been a constant voice of bringing British music to the world *and* bringing world music into Britain. Sure, he’s won Brit Awards and a Grammy among others, but he also has a Guinness World Record and was named an Officer of the British Empire for his services to music; his long work with Africa Express earned him respect even from peers who’d previously dismissed him, and his commitment to support his Malian collaborators in the face of violence earned him the title of Local King in Mali. There is so much talent in the world, but there is truly no one else with a career that looks like Damon Albarn’s. Damon is far more than just a prettyboy to look nice on a magazine cover, but looks are the ultimate point of this tournament, so make no mistake: he was terribly, terribly pretty. You watch him performing in the 90s, you sift through photoshoots and interviews and documentaries, and it feels *cruel* how beautiful he was. If his talent was god-given, so was his face. To put a bow on this thesis: I don’t know if Gorillaz and Damon’s musical universe would be the experimental, globe-trotting, boundary-pushing community affair it is if Blur hadn’t become such a central figure in Britpop and if Damon had not been made such a media spectacle, and I don’t know if Damon would have been that spectacle if he wasn’t so ungodly pretty. The domino effect is that Damon’s cherubic face launched a thousand multimedia art school projects for decades to come."

"I wish I was basically any bloke in the 90s so I could tongue Damon Albarn down. Damon will see a man and ask “is anyone gonna kiss that?” and not wait for a response."

"I have a pillow with his face on it. I sleep with it every night 😊"

"“I’m more homosexual than Brett Anderson, always have been. As far as bisexuality goes, I’ve had a taste of that particular fruit, or have been tasted you might say…” is just the rawest most Shakespearean statement ever"

"he is the ultimate Pretty Boy ™. his glorious golden locks, his electric blue eyes. he is if Princess Diana was a Britpop Dude. he is the Regina George of Britpop. he is if Aphrodite took male form. Zeus would come down to earth to fuck him if he knew. he is a caffeinated orange cat let loose. he is deranged. he is unhinged. you never know what will come out of his mouth. he had sexual tension with every single man who knew him. he pulled justine fucking frischmann. his aura knows no bounds. he is a siren. he is a weird guy. but being so gorgeous stunning ethereal didn't stop him from also being one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation"

"THE MAIN BLUR"

"literally where do i even begin. i could write entire essays on this man. a good place to start would be the beetlebum music video, i suppose. i'll never forget the first time i watched that music video. something in me changed, my brain chemistry was altered, my life was never the same, i view the world a lot differently now. and a lot of the viewing i'm doing is of pictures of damon albarn's face because of boy do i have a lot of those saved. every time i try to look for a photo of something on my phone i can't find it because there's so much damon. okay that's maybe an exaggeration but this man has the most unfathomable beauty ever. his eyes? HIS EYES. god dammit i love his eyes i want to stare at them until the end of time like nothing else exists. i'm so normal about this man (lying) and while i'm usually very shameless about my interests i'm actually incredibly glad this propaganda is anonymous because otherwise. yeah. but the world deserves to see damon albarn's beauty and also hear his fantastic voice because what the fuck. his voice is literally the most gorgeous sound ever produced like bro sounds like that and expects me not to fall in love? i want this man to sing his silly songs and talk absolute nonsense to me until the sun eventually blows out and the world ends. cmon damon girlies let's demolish this tournament i know there are a lot of you."

"He’s beautiful. He’s a little rat. He’s a sweetheart. He’s a dickhead. He’s a musical genius. He’s a dumb bitch. He’s a jock. He’s a weirdo. He’s real. He’s an illusion. He’s everything. He’s just Damon."

"DAMON DAMON DAMON where do I begin oh jeez I've hyperfixated on this man for a solid 4 years and still going strong. Damon makes me wish that British people are real. That says A LOT. This man created a whole ass ANIMATED BAND WITH A SHIT TON OF LORE as a SIDE HUSTLE??? Not to mention, what other man has collaborated with Stevie Nicks, MF DOOM, Del the Funky Homosapien, Snoop Dogg, AND Beck?! People, we're literally in the presence of a god. And he's STILL GOING. Anyways, TL;DR, damon is so so so neat and cool and he should definitely win this competition. Thank you."

"Okay 90s Damon is The Perfect Boy yes yes, but the people who parrot the Daily Mail and say "he's ugly now" will never understand. I would still suck every drop from him on his deathbed."

"Vote for whoever you want to. But Damon is so pretty."

"i did not spend hours admiring this beautiful man's face on pinterest just to see him lose."

"Damon Albarn just brings me joy. When I'm watching him perform, following along as the camera lingers on and adores his pretty face, I get butterflies like I'm 15 again. It's nice to still feel that totally unguarded giddiness sometimes."

"God let the intrusive thoughts win making Damon. What if he's a beautiful blond twink with eyes like saucers and dick to his knees, he reads Herman Hesse and plays footie and is insufferable about both, he'll be the most prolific musician of his generation and write operas and seminal albums in 5 different genres and also he's gonna be the dumbest bitch alive? He'll also be kinda bi, but only kinda. And send."

"when i found out about his existence, my life was changed forever. i wish i could use him like the hannah montana boot milk pillow and chuck him at the wall so he makes a loud thud"

"Think of the drama and anon fights it'll cause if Damon wins it all! And think of how quiet it'll get after Damon's out. You'll miss him when he's gone, like memories of a noisy house years after it's grown silent. Choose Damon, and keep the messy train chugging."

"Even the Gallagher brothers have the hots for him."

"Kiss kiss I love him also you can't vote for any of the Seattle men they're literally copy and paste it's not fair. We need Brit representation"

"I want to take care of him, I want to provide for him. I need to gauge his baby blue puppy dog orbs out to I can clean them with wood varnish, paint shades of Pantone 320 C in his eyes, spray eau de parfume by dior in them and sew it back into his eyes like that scene in Toy Story 2."

"Seeing as simply filling the page with ‘Damon’ written 10000000 times isn’t going to cut it 😅 may I admit/submit: I DO have him tattooed on my being (no descriptive, is this anon?); he’s inspired somewhat unhinged late night/early morning fandom conversations in which I’ve served as ‘parish’ priest hearing confessions from all manner of folk about what they’d like to do to him/receive from him; sadly I lost an essay where I detailed why the letters that make up his name suit him so well, and described him as the hot caramel sauce to Graham’s cool vanilla ice cream. He’s a faerie princess with a nose that makes people weep and a voice that feels like the warmest home and he gives amazing hugs. He loves trains and chickens and his tuxedo cat. He’s annoying and sweet and somewhat unhinged and his music saves people and all this is on top of that fantastic dick. He’s a dream yet very real and we’re fucking blessed to be on earth at the same time as him, amen"

"Damon Albarn was a beautiful, beautiful boy. The world saw that, regardless of if every individual reading this has the same taste in men; it felt like a truth of the universe at the time. They don't make celebrities that angelic in face and erratic in personality anymore."

"I need to touch his eyebrows, nose and prostate just one time JUST ONE TIME COME ON"

#most attractive 90s musician #poll #polls #lauryn hill #fugees #damon albarn #blur #90s music #tournament

[deblklesb]

OMG IMAGINE CAM GIRL READER X CAMGIRL ABBY

OMG IT WOULD BE SO GOOD, ANON YOUR FUCKING MIND?!?!?!?!!!!{£{€{`×¥=¢{€[[£%©©]¢=©[!]][][?!?!?!@((#)$_! (MDNI)

I imagine both of you would have twtt accounts for the streaming service, like interacting with ppl, posting some stuff there too like clips and photos, tweeting horny stuff, etc., and you would comment on each other's photos ALL THE TIME. Flirting and shit, you would be a hazard to society.

@/AAndrsnStuff • your boobs would look so good with my hands around them ☝🏻

It's what Abby comments on a photo of your boobs not at all covered by your white top.

@/nsfwmanace • i just know you're right but i would like empirical proof

On another day she posts a video of herself in boxers and tank top, her hand sprawled on her strong thigh as she fixed herself on a chair and the muscles of that insane body made themselves clear.

@/nsfwmanace • please lord and savior jesus christ forgive me for i have sinned. i just squirted watching this video and i hope to be completely demolished by this woman 🛐

@/AAndrsnStuff • don't go wasting your juices when i should be tasting it 😔😔

And so it goes. One day you even watch one of ger streams and vice-versa, untill the time comes and you are the one texting her about a collab. She immediately agrees.

Being the type to go on absolutely whore mode when making collabs, you weren't ready for the reactions of your body to Abby. Of course you had pleasure with other women and camgirls, it was mostly very good, but goddamn you weren't ready for Abigail Anderson.

Not for the way your mind went completely blank with the size difference between you both, or her strength and the fact she could carry you around like a ragdoll, or for the lack of words when contemplating her features as she kept fucking your brain out.

She made you ride her fingers and then you got too lost on a 69, tasting her moistures as she lapped your cunt so good. Head between her thighs got you whiny and unhinged. She liked to grope your flesh just too much, to kiss your boobs and pull your hair.

"That was too good", she murmured against your neck when you were done, biting slightly there.

"Yeah", you answered, heavy breaths and tired muscles. "Too good", her skin felt good under your palm. "I would do this anytime soon without the recording situation"

"Agreed"

And oh, little does your viewers know but you both repeat that situation many, many times...

#asks #ask #anon #abby anderson #abby tlou2 #deblklesb #abby x reader #abby tlou #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson x reader headcanon #abby x reader headcanon #abby x reader smut #headcanon #abby anderson headcanon #au: camgirl abby x camgirl reader

[najia-cooks]

[ID: First image is a plate of stuffed grape leaves, zucchini, tomatoes, and lamb chops next to a bowl of yoghurt, seen from the top; second image is a close-up on the grape leaves and stuffed zucchini, seen from the side. End ID]

كوسا محشي مع ورق العنب / Kusa muhashshi m'a waraq al-'anub (Stuffed zucchini with grape leaves)

"كُوسَا" ("kūsā"), meaning "zucchini" or "courgette," is from the Persian "کوسه" ("kūse"), meaning "shark" or "beardless man"; it is so called because of its smooth skin. "مُحَشّي" ("muḥashshi" or "maḥshshi") means "stuffed"; مَعَ ("ma'a") is "with"; "وَرَق" means "leaf" (or "paper"); and "عِنَب" (Levantine pronunciation: "'ineb") is "grape." (Grape leaves are also sometimes called "وَرَق الدوالي," "waraq ad-dūwāli," in Palestine). Thus: stuffed zucchini with grape leaves! Stuffed grape leaves themselves date back to Medieval times, and are popular amongst various regions throughout what was previously the Ottoman Empire; however, each cuisine has slight variations in how they are cooked, and what they are called.

To prepare Palestinian duwali, one stuffs grape leaves with one of two types of filling: a meat one, using rice, ground lamb, and a variety of aromatic spices; or a vegetarian one, including rice, herbs, tomatoes, and peppers. A large pot is then prepared, sometimes lined at the bottom with meat—usually rack of lamb, but sometimes chicken, or whatever else is to hand. The meat is topped with sliced tomatoes; sometimes, with hollowed baby zucchini or eggplant ("بَاذِنْجَان"; Levantine pronunciation: "bātinjān") stuffed with the same filling; and, finally, with the grape leaves. The whole is simmered in an aromatic broth before the finished dish is tipped out of the pot into a large platter. It is usually served with plain yoghurt, which plays beautifully against the mild sweetness of the zucchini, the slightly sour grape leaves, and the savory, tender spiced rice filling.

This dish is usually made in large batches, with the women of the family sitting in a group around the kitchen table rolling tiny grape leaves. It was traditionally made in the spring or summer, when zucchini and grape leaves were in season—but it is now often made as one of the centerpieces of a Christmas meal, with frozen grape leaves that are thawed in hot water.

Christmas (Arabic: عِيد الْمِيلَاد‎, "ʕīd al-mīlād," "feast of the Nativity," or "mīlād," "Nativity" for short) is a Christian festival and feast day commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. The largest meal of the Christmas season is usually eaten on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated on the 24th of December (in the Gregorian Calendar) by Palestinian Catholics. Large families travel across Palestine to come together for a dinner featuring bread, several vegetable salads, meat dishes (such as stuffed lamb or chicken), grape leaves, topped flatbreads and other savory pastries, and an assortment of cookies. Chocolates are often given to children.

Christmas festivities are observed in Palestine during Advent ("مَجِيء المَسِيح," "madji' al-masīḥ": "the coming of Christ") and Christmastide, and at different times by different sects of Christians. One of the most common destinations for Christian tourists is the ancient city of Bethlehem (بَيْت لَحْم, "bayt laḥm," lit. "house of meat"; related to the Aramaic בֵּית לַחְמָא "house of bread"); pilgrims flock from around the world, and from other locations in Palestine, to attend church services and festivities and to visit holy sites. The Church of the Nativity (كَنِيسَة المَهْد, "kanīsa al-mahd"), so called because it is built on the place where Jesus was believed to have been born, is a particularly popular destination.

Bethlehem also has an ancient history as a home to many of Palestine's grape orchards; after the widespread destruction caused by the Crusades, some of the only vineyards in the area were in Bethlehem. Christians in Bethlehem have tended these grapes since Medieval times; today, farmers and companies in Bethlehem (such as Cremisan) make wine from several ancient varieties.

Despite hosting one of Christianity's most important sacred sites, Bethlehem's population of Christians has been continually shrinking for the past century. Arab Christians comprised an estimated 84% of the population in 1922, but by the end of the British Mandate years (1948) this number had dropped to 75%. By 1998, Christians made up a minority, at 33% of the population, and by 2007 this had dropped again to 28%. This dramatic decrease is a microcosm of the situation in Palestine overall, where the Christian population dropped from an estimated 20% in 1948, to just 2% in 2007, to less than 1% in 2017. Statistics from the Gaza Strip look similar. Bethlehem, however, remained a significant part of Palestine's Christian enclave: nearly half (49.4%) of all the Christians in Palestine in 2017 lived there.

As of 2004, an estimated 56% of all people with Palestinian Christian ancestry were living outside of Palestine. The trend shows no signs of slowing down: a 2020 survey found that a much higher proportion of Christians than Muslims wished to leave Palestine. Respondents cited dire economic circumstances, the dangers of military and settler violence, and religious intolerance, including job discrimination and difficulty having church marriages legally recognized.

Bethlehem is nearly completely surrounded by Israeli settlements, which hem residents in and threaten to cut off connection to other Palestinian territories. Israel has used its military codes, as well as its control of private companies, to annex nearly 2,000 acres of land in Bethlehem's immediate surroundings since 2004. Residents of Bethlehem's villages are subject to violent assaults by West Bank settlers, as well as destruction of property (such as uprootings of crops).

The economy within Bethlehem is also threatened by Israeli occupation. Income that could previously be made through tourism has dropped significantly due to settler violence, and to Israeli control of all borders and crossings into and out of occupied Palestine. In 2013, Israeli travel companies used this latter advantage to provide various services to 1.16 million pilgrims to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity alone, starving Palestinian companies and tour guides out and leaving many in Bethlehem unemployed. Tourism to various holy sites injects billions of U.S. dollars per year into Israel's economy. Israeli winemakers, who had previously sourced grapes from Palestinian farmers in Bethlehem, have also started cutting Palestinians out, turning to growing grapes themselves on expropriated land.

The Palestinian Authority has stated an intent to try to keep Christians in the West Bank by promoting Christmas festivities. In 2022, a Nativity scene and Christmas tree were publicly displayed in مَيْدَان المَهْد ("maydān al-mahd"; Manger Square) in Bethlehem: the Catholic Church in Bethlehem lights the tree for Advent, beginning four Sundays before Christmas. A Christmas parade, with brightly lit floats carrying Christmas trees, people dressed as angels and Santa Clauses, and Nativity scenes with live actors, took place again for the first time after having been interrupted due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and was broadly attended by Muslims and Christians.

Another parade marched through streets near the Church of the Nativity for Christmas Eve in 2021: musicians beat drums, played bagpipes, and waved Palestinian flags while onlookers ululated and cheered. Bethlehem's Catholics attend a قُدّاس مُنْتَصَف اللَيْل (quddās muntaṣaf al-layl; Midnight Mass) service in St. Catherine's Church, with prayer, carol-singing, and the burning of incense; another service is held in the Church of the Nativity on January 6, where Christmas falls on the Orthodox calendar.

During the first and second اِنْتِفَاضَات‎ ("intifāḍāt"; singular اِنْتِفَاضَة "intifāḍa," "uprising" or "rebellion"), the tree in Bethlehem was no longer lit due to widespread mourning—Masses continued, but not the public festivities. Instead, private celebrations would take place within the home. Some families began buying artificial Christmas trees rather than real ones, since they were easier to tuck away from windows where they would not be seen from the outside. Even after the lights returned, Israeli military border walls, checkpoints, and curfews hampered Christmas celebrations for many: Christians from Gaza need permits from the Israeli military to take pilgrimages to, or visit family in, Bethlehem and other places in the West Bank, and the majority of those requested are not granted. كنيسة المِيلَاد الإِنْجِيلِيّة اللوثرية ("kanīsa al-mīlād al-ʔinjīliyya al-lūthri"; Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church) referenced the ongoing genocide in their Nativity scene, in which a baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian كُوفِيَّة (kūfiyya) lies amidst a pile of rubble.

Mayor Hana Haniyeh expressed that the local economy's "crash" was "nothing" compared to "what's happening to our people and Gaza." In 2021, the Catholic community in the Gaza Strip comprised 133 people, or 0.0056% of the population (out of 1,017 Christians of all denominations; 0.043% of the population). The sole Catholic parish in Gaza, overseen by the كَنِيسَة العَائِلَة المُقَدَّسَة ("kanīsa al-'āʔila al-muqaddasa," Holy Family Church), faced the destruction and partial destruction of several buildings by Israeli airstrike in 2014, and again in 2021.

During the 2023 genocide, parish buildings including the church, monastery, school, orphanage, and مَرْكَز تُومَا الأكُوينِي ("markaz tūmā al-ʔkoni"; Thomas Aquinas Center) have sheltered hundreds of Christians and Muslims. On the 16th of December, 2023, and amidst heavy bombing of the surrounding area, Israeli soldiers, claiming that the parish hid a missile launcher, opened fire on anyone leaving the church, killing two women.

Help Palestinian Christians evacuate Gaza

Support traditional woodworking and glass-blowing in Bethlehem

Try Cremisan Palestinian wine

Equipment

Large, thick-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven

Vegetable corer (مأورة "maʔwara"), or thin teaspoon measure

Ingredients

For the dish:

About 300g grape leaves

2kg baby zucchini (كوسا صغير)

2 large beefsteak tomatoes

Zucchini should be about 1" in diameter and 5" in length. If you don't have access to baby zucchini, use the smallest you can find. I halved my zucchini lengthwise to get the correct size.

If you happen to have a grape vine, harvest grape leaves early in the spring for this recipe, and freeze them for use throughout the year. Otherwise, you should be able to find jarred grapeleaves in a halal grocery store. You will want the smallest, earliest-harvested (say, March-May) grape leaves that you can find.

For the filling:

600g (3 cups) Egyptian white medium-grain rice

300g (about 1 1/2 cups) ground beef substitute (to replace minced lamb)

1/4 cup good olive oil

5 tsp allspice, or Palestinian 7-spice / mixed spice (بهار مشكل)

1 Tbsp turmeric (optional)

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Large pinch ground cardamom, from 2-3 green cardamom pods (optional)

Salt, 1/4 tsp, or to taste

Spices used in this dish may be as minimal as salt and black pepper. Allspice or 7-spice are almost always included. Cinnamon and turmeric are the next most common additions; occasionally, cardamom is added. I have gone for a maximalist, aromatic approach here, because the taste of other ingredients (e.g. zucchini) is quite mild.

You will want a medium-grain white rice for this dish—the rice should become extremely tender without being fluffy or sticky. Egyptian medium-grain rice can be found at a halal grocery store from a brand such as Baraka. If you can't locate any, another kind of medium-grain white rice will do.

To cook:

Vegan lamb chops, or other meat substitute of your choosing

Juice of 1 lemon, or 1/4 tsp citric acid (if using jarred grape leaves that don't include citric acid)

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup good olive oil

Salt, black pepper, and 7-spice

Vegetarian chicken bouillon cube or stock concentrate

Water to cover

Chicken stock from making another dish is sometimes used in place of water here; or else a chicken boullion or Maggi cube may be added. You could also use a vegetarian beef stock concentrate, or a bit of soy sauce, to mimic the stock that would result from lamb being simmered at the bottom of the pot.

Instructions:

Prep work:

1. Prepare the rice. Place a strainer in a closely-fitting bowl and add the rice into the strainer. Fill the bowl with cool water and rub the rice between your hands to remove excess starch. Lift the strainer out of the water to strain the rice, and pour the starchy water out. Repeat this process 3-4 more times, until the water comes away mostly clear.

(Starchy water from the first 2 or 3 washings can be saved and used to thicken soups and stews. If you're not sure of the cleanliness of your rice—i.e. if it came in a container that was not airtight—only use water from the second washing onwards.)

2. Return rice to bowl and pour cool water to cover. Soak for an hour.

3. Prepare the zucchini. Cut the tips off of both sides of the zucchini, only taking off as much as you need to. (If your zucchini are over 6" / 15 cm or so long, cut them in half widthwise).

4. Starting from the tip (or, if it's the 'bottom' half of the zucchini, the cut end), hollow out each squash with a vegetable corer until a ring of flesh about 1/8" (1/3 cm) wide remains around the edges. If you don't have a vegetable corer, use a small teaspoon: make a small divot in the center of the zucchini and then deepen it, constantly rotating the zucchini as you push the spoon in, to hollow the zucchini.

(Save the zucchini flesh to use in a soup or stew later!)

5. Soak the zucchini. Place zucchini in a large bowl of salted water and let soak while you prepare the grape leaves.

6. Prepare the grape leaves. If using grape leaves from a jar, pull out a group (they will probably be rolled together) and lay them flat on a plate. Go through grape leaves to find leaves of appropriate size; anything too much larger than 4" in diameter should have its outer leaves shortened with a sharp knife; anything larger than 5 or so inches should be halved down the central vein, and then flled "sideways." Lay the grape leaves out in the bottom of a large bowl or tray.

7. Soak the grape leaves. Pour just-boiled water over the grape leaves and let sit 10-15 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, remove zucchini from soaking water and place on a wire rack, hollow-side-down, to drain while you make the filling.

To make the filling:

1. Drain the rice and shake the strainer to remove excess water. Combine all spice ingredients together by kneading well with your hands. I recommend toasting the spice for a minute or two in a small, dry skillet on medium-low hest, until fragrant.

To stuff the vegetables:

1. Stuff the zucchini. Once the zucchini are drained, use your figners to push filling down into the hollowed openins. Don't fill them up all the way, or the rice will come out as it expands; leave about 3/4" (2 cm) between the top of the filling and the edge of the zucchini (about the length of a finger up to the distal knuckle).

2. Remove grape leaves onto a wire rack to drain for 4-5 minutes. They will be easiest to roll if they are still slightly damp.

3. Stuff the grape leaves. Add a very small amount of filling (a bit more than 1/4 tsp and less than 1/2 tsp) in a horizontal line towards the bottom edge of a grape leaf.

The leaves will be rolled much like burritos: fold the bottom edge up once or twice to cover the filling, fold the sides in over that, and then roll away from you, folding the tip of the leaf inward as well if needed to avoid having any spikes sticking ourt.

Roll tightly enough that the leaves will not come undone with jostling, but loosely enough to give the rice some room to expand. I did this by leaving a tiny bit of space on each side of the filling as I folded the edes in. Leaves can be stuffed by laying them flat on the counter, or by holding them in your non-dominant hand.

Keep going until you run out of grape leaves. Keep any extra filling to stuff tomatoes, eggplant, etc.

At some point during this process, taste a bit of a grape leaf and determine if it is sour enough that you will not need lemon juice later in cooking.

To cook:

1. Coat the bottom of a large stockpot with a couple tablespoons olive oil. Slice a large tomato and arrange the slices on the bottom of the pot so that they do not overlap.

2. Add stuffed zucchini, either standing up (filling-side-up) or arranged horizontally in a single layer, depending on the size of your pot.

3. Top with stuffed grape leaves; just pour them in and give the pot a good shake, or arrange them in concentric circles.

4. Mix just-boiled water with spices, stock bouillon or concentrate, tomato paste, olive oil, and lemon juice (if using). Pour water into the pot until it comes up to the bottom of the stuffed grape leaves.

5. Choose a heavy plate that fits inside your pot with an inch or so to spare (to allow steam to escape) and weigh the grape leaves down.

6. Raise heat to return water to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and keep at a low simmer for an hour, until zucchini is very tender, rice is fully cooked and a bit mushy, and there is almost no water in the pot. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

To serve:

1. Cover the top of the pot with a large, upside-down platter and turn over the whole to empty the contents of the pot into the platter. Lift the pot straight up.

2. Shake the platter slightly to encourage the stuffed vegetables to spread out. Remove any grape leaves that have burst or come unfolded, if you want to. Some blackening of the pieces that had come into direct contact with the bottom of the pot is not a problem.

3. Arrange seared lamb chop pieces among the stuffed vegetables.

Serve warm with lemon slices, yoghurt, pickles, and side salads.

#Palestinian #long post / #vegetarian recipes #vegan recipes #zucchini #tomatoes #ground beef

[ystrike1]

Just a Contract Marriage - By Dalseul (8/10)

Marriage, heirs, and land. All of that is complicated enough without dragon blood, which kills the mothers and children that attempt to carry it. Our protagonist is a condemned princess. Willing to sacrifice anything to live on. A secret admirer can save her, but his service comes at a cost.

Elise was a weak and pathetic princess. She was protected and coddled by her special older brother. That brother was The Emperor. The strongest Emperor. The Emperor everyone feared the most, but he was too powerful. A larger than life force with too many enemies. The Emperor could control all kinds of magic. He was crazy powerful and benevolent until his final battle, but he had no children. His sister, Elise, was born weak without a drop of magic. Magic is a rare gift, and The Emperor had no other sorcerers to rely on.

He died alone, protecting his nation. He served his people, until he was overrun by jealous enemies. The amazing and perfect magical Emperor brought riches to his land. He spoiled his worthless sister. He was worshipped like a God, but in the end he wasn't one. Envious, crafty, and strong enemies hit him over and over. Until he died with no real heir, because people with magic aren't like regular people. If you have blond hair, your child probably will. Magic doesn't work like that.

Kyrstan is a slightly different case. A half dragon. The ceremonies required to birth a half are too nasty to describe here, and it ends in death. Most of the time the mother dies with the mutant fetus. In this case the birth is successful. Kyrstan was able to claw out of his mother's corpse as a newborn infant, because he grew claws in the womb.

Most Halves throughout history were born this way. Women with magic are just as rare as men. Experimenting on regular women to get dragon babies is the only viable option.

The Emperor knew he would die. He knew his perfect Empire was a glass castle. Held up by his reputation, and his beautiful magic. He knew it was over...for him. He wants Elise to return someday, to bury him and take back her rightful place. Maybe that perfect Emperor was secretly arrogant all along.

The Emperor places his magic inside his sister. It's possible because they share blood. She becomes a sorcerer, and she doesn't figure it out until later.

She accidentally kills a man with her new magic. When he explodes before her eyes she's in shock. Kyrstan is easily able to capture her. He's not on her side. His brother is in power now. He must deliver Elise to the capital city, where she will be killed off before a crowd.

She may have magic, but she has no Empire or training. Also Kyrstan is trained and boosted by magical strength.

She has no hope.

Kyrstan takes her to the capital. Elise is wrecked. Destroyed. She lost it all. She has no family. No home. No money. No friends. No safety. No freedom. Only death awaits her.

She tries to seduce Kyrstan to save herself.......and it doesn't work.

Kyrstan seems cold. Reptilian. Unfeeling. He occasionally speaks with Elise, even though her future is set. She sees holes in him, but they don't make sense. He's willing to watch her die....but he refuses to sire an heir.

Kyrstan is half dragon. The woman he marries is doomed to die. He's been refusing to marry for years. Elise is confused by his mercy. He's so cold to her plight, but he refuses to continue the deadly breeding cycle.

Kyrstan really admires Elise. They were never friends. They were never close, but he used to watch her at parties. He sort of idolizes her. He sort of loves her. He just knows there's no point. He is one strong man. If he runs away with her they will be caught.

He hides his devotion well.

Elise pieces together his twisted admiration. Death draws closer. Kyrstan will be alone for the rest of his life..

...unless she makes him an offer.

Her body.

A contract marriage.

A child, in exchange for her life.

She will not die, with The Emperors magic within her.

Kyrstan cannot resist, and his brother agrees.

He wants more weapons that look just like Kyrstan.

#yandere #male yandere #yandere male #yandere boy #recommendations #recs #rec #recommended #webtoon #Just a Contract Marriage

[txttletale]

because ana mardoll has sadly resurfaced i’ve really been thinking lately about how there’s a Really prevalent discourse of disability/queer politics that implicitly excludes anyone outside the first world white middle class from Disability or Queerness Activism. ie when people excuse mistreatment of app delivery drivers or amazon workers on the grounds that they’re disabled and Need Their Services—as if ‘disabled people’ and ‘app delivery drivers’ are two discrete demographics whose needs are in opposition—as if disability isn’t often a huge factor in the precarity that forces people into those awful jobs.

when people defend ana mardoll by saying ‘queer and disabled people have a right to survive’ as if lockheed martin does not kill queer and disabled people in the global south. as if lockheed martin bombs do not in fact cause lifelong disability for many people. and ik this is not a new and novel observation and Black women particularly have been saying this about e.g. white feminism for decades but Fuck is it depressing to see these people lay out in such clear terms that their view of disability and queerness is one that Must be ultimately subservient to empire & capitalism and that everyone outside that little delineation is fundamentally excluded from

[perpetual-ash]

the romanticisation of gideon's tendency toward self-sacrifice disturbs me given how gtn is essentially one long look at her being groomed into the role of a cavalier, with the outcome being her justification of committing suicide in the name of saving harrow that—while indeed an act of devotion and love—is also a supreme cruelty toward harrow and aligns exactly with the design's of the empire re: the expendability of cavaliers and the expectation of them having absolute loyalty to their necromancer. btw did you know that the concept of the five love languages, including acts of services, was created by gary chapman, who in a post from August 2013 entitled Q&A: My Child is Gay, wrote, “Disappointment is a common emotion when a parent hears one of their children indicate that he/she is gay. Men and women are made for each other—it is God’s design. Anything other than that is outside of that primary design of God”?

#the locked tomb #cavaliership #something to think about! #this isn't really a serious criticism or anything i just find it funny

[cienie-isengardu]

Star Wars Ladies / Women in the service of Empire: Reva, the Third Sister

#star wars #reva #third sister #women of star wars #star wars ladies #women in the service of the empire #obi wan kenobi tv show #imperial inquisitors #star wars spoilers #just in case #it took me long to gather pictures for this set sadly sw.com did not provide that much heh #i know what i said about this show but there is always a free space on my blog for sw ladies

[radicalcoffeeclub]

You can be Queen of the biggest empire in the world, one of the most powerful and wealthy people in the world, a mother and grandmother, and live to be almost 100 years old, and men will STILL only think about how well you could service them sexually. That's the level their brains are at. And we're supposed to think men are so great and smart and perfect leaders? And that sexism isn't an issue anymore, that this is just a joke instead of a deep reveal of what this man, and others, actually thinks of women. I'm so done.

#i dont stan the queen and the british empire is fucked up okay

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Voici trois jeunes filles d'un groupe de 13 recrues du Service territorial auxiliaire britannique qui viennent d'arriver au Canada de Trinidad afin de recevoir un uniforme de l'entrainement de base du C.W.A.C., à l'école no 3, de Kitchener, Ont. Elles seront ensuite attachées à l'état-major de l'armée britannique à Washington. Ce sont, de gauche à droite: Kita Lastique, Cynthia Henderson et Aldyth, toutes de Trinidad." - from Montreal-Matin. July 24, 1943. Page 6.

#auxiliary territorial service #canadian women's army corps #canadian army #british army #women in uniform #women at war #trinidad #british empire #british caribbean #canada in the british empire #world war ii #canada during world war 2 #kitchener

[hundredthousandtimes]

PERIODDRAMA APPRECIATION WEEK 2023

Day 4: Favorite time period/era:

Tang dynasty:

The Tang dynasty, or the Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. The Lǐ family (李) founded the dynasty, seizing power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire. (source: wikipedia) In general, garments were made from silk, wool, or linen depending on your social status and what you could afford. Furthermore, there were laws that specified what kinds of clothing could be worn by whom. The color of the clothing also indicated rank. During this period, China's power, culture, economy, and influence were thriving. As a result, women could afford to wear loose-fitting, wide-sleeved garments. Even lower-class women's robes would have sleeves four to five feet in width. (source)

Wu Zhou dynasty:

Zhou, known in historiography as the Wu Zhou  was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty that existed between 690 and 705, when Wu Zhao (commonly known as Wu Zetian) ruled as empress regnant. Despite Wu's infamous rise to power, there is evidence that suggests women were granted more privileges during her reign, and China was in a state of great prosperity during her rule.  Wu Zetian greatly enhanced the prestige and effectiveness of the civil service recruitment tests, filling government positions by skills demonstrated in written examinations, and opening them up to men of all classes. (source: wikipedia)

#luoyang #wind from luoyang #court lady #weaving a tale of love #the empress of china #jiu liu overlord #stand by me #cdrama #asian drama #stuff:mine #perioddramaweek2023

[molsno]

there's a troubling tendency in feminist spaces to rehabilitate radical feminist theory. this isn't surprising coming from actual radfems, most notably terfs, but this tendency exists even among trans people - most often tme (transmisogyny-exempt) trans people, but also occasionally among tma (transmisogyny-affected) trans people as well.

I fail to see the need to use feminist thought put forth by, for example, adrienne rich or andrea dworkin, as the foundation for further theory. both of these authors, while very influential, both contributed to or supported janice raymond's book, "the transsexual empire", in which she infamously asserted, without exaggeration, that trans women's passive existence constitutes an act of rape.

as a disclaimer, I have not directly read any of the three authors that I named above, as the research I've done about them indicates that reading their extended works would be psychologically harmful to me as a trans woman. I have tried to learn as much as I can about their beliefs and worldviews, but I admit it is possible that I may be misrepresenting them at some points. regardless, this post is not specifically about them anyway. unless I name them, this post is about general trends I've noticed in feminist circles.

now, whether or not a given radical feminist author claims to be trans-inclusive is ultimately meaningless, as radical feminism inherently relies on biological essentialism as its explanation for the oppression of women by men. if simply being born with a penis means that one is biologically predisposed to perpetrate acts of gendered violence, including rape, then what does it mean to be "trans-inclusive" with this worldview? most often, the answer that I find to this question among radical feminists is that they only support people on the transmasculine spectrum, while still essentializing them as women who transition to escape the oppressive forces of misogyny.

I dislike this perspective for many reasons. most obviously, I believe it's blatantly transphobic to reduce transmasculine people to their assigned gender at birth, even while paying them lip service by using the correct pronouns for them. but moreover, I find that it's predicated on largely white and tme perspectives on femininity.

perhaps femininity may seem innately traumatizing for white people who were afab. after all, it's essentially forced upon them from the moment of birth. but this experience is not universal. women of color, most especially black women, are routinely and systematically denied femininity in a violent act of degendering that seeks to protect the gender binary, which itself is a white supremacist, colonialist invention. however, for the aforementioned women of color, reclaiming the femininity they've been denied and making it something all their own can be highly empowering.

I find it ironic that adrienne rich, for example, is cited in feminist circles that uphold (whether knowingly or not) this radical feminist belief, as she was quite vocal about how her perspectives were taken more seriously than her black counterparts due to her white privilege. yet, the feminists today who parrot the beliefs of her and her white contemporaries largely ignore the perspectives of nonwhite, and especially tma feminists.

my previous paragraph about femininity is not new information; it has been written about extensively by feminists of color - tme and tma alike. and yet, there is very little discussion of these works in white- and tme-dominated feminist spaces. yes, we've all heard praises of leslie feinberg's "stone butch blues", but where are the quoted passages from, for example, "women, race, & class" by angela davis, or "decolonizing trans/gender 101" by b. binaohan?

in case I haven't made it clear, I, as a white trans woman, am more than happy to read works written by tme feminists. however, far too often, I find that the writings of tme feminists that are most widely circulated represent a very narrow understanding of feminism, mostly feminism put forth by white radical feminists and their allies in the 20th century. these perspectives very frequently leave behind, and often outright exclude, people of color and transfeminine people, whose struggles are inherently linked. not only are many people of color transfeminine and vice versa, even the mechanisms which are used to deny tme women of color femininity are also used against trans women - julia serano, a white trans feminist, says this in her book, "whipping girl"!

attempting to rehabilitate radical feminist thought, even the kind put forth by feminists who claimed to be allies of people of color and colonized peoples, seems futile to me when those same feminists gave janice raymond their full support in writing one of the most violently transmisogynistic works in the feminist sphere. personally, I have no faith in people who find transmisogyny anything other than absolutely abhorrent to say anything meaningful about women's liberation. the fact is, when the only feminism that receives widespread discussion is the kind written by these people, then women of color, trans women, and ESPECIALLY trans women of color will continue to suffer under a white supremacist, transmisogynistic, colonial regime.

#my writing #transmisogyny

[contentment-of-cats]

More Chiss head canons

Why, yes. I am geeking out.

1: The Chiss came from a 'sleeper ship' that missed its target world around 30,000 years ago after being launched from the Ratukan Empire. The ship spent 3,000 or 4,000 years in transit. The Humans who reached Csilla found not a welcoming world, but a planet that experienced periodic ice ages.

2: The Chiss skin color evolved from minerals in the hydrosphere, and were later found to be a silica-based life form that acted as a symbiont, allowing rapid evolutionary changes. The life form is now extinct, but slotted itself into the genes of the settlers and has remained in Chiss DNA and is outwardly reflected in their iridescent 'freckles' - which are a silicate similar to mica. The freckles will shed from time to time over the course of a Chiss' life. It was debated at the time that this was a sapient life form that was dying out, and 'invaded' the settlers to survive. Others argued that it was a type megavirus or even a hive virus with no sentience. Many settlers died from the 'infection' in a time called 'The Interval' before Ancient Chiss evolved into Modern Chiss about 5,000 years after the founding.

3: The Chiss terraformed Csilla over tens of thousands of years, turning it into a garden world, settling other worlds in the same time period. Before the Intergalactic War where they allied with the Sith, the Chiss governed an empire. After the Intergalactic War and the use of the Starflash along with Ratukan weaponry, the Chiss never terraformed another planet as penance for their sins.

4: Hundreds of Chiss colonies were lost to the warfare that created the Chaos. What is not mentioned in any modern history course is that the Chaos was created deliberately to confound both Sith and Jedi. The Chaos interfered, as as seen in Alliances, with the ability to find other Force users in the Chaos. Palpatine could not find the Sky-walkers until they were taken beyond the borders of the Chaos.

5: Chiss history is heavily redacted. After the Intergalactic War, they changed even their system of writing to make it incomprehensible to outsiders. Cheunh is not allowed to be spoken in the presence of outsiders, and communication instead relies on trade languages like Minnisiat. Meese Caulf, and Sy Bisti.

6: There are Chiss intelligence agents in 'Lesser Space' and even in the Empire and Rebellion itself. Candidates must be smaller than average and undertake extensive surgical remodeling to pass as other species. It includes eye transplants, and only the most dedicated (fanatical) of intelligence officers will undergo the years-long process. The program is top-level clearance, with six people at a time knowing about the program and allowed to read the briefs. The Supreme Admiral, the Supreme General, the UAG Chief, the Speaker of the Syndicure, and two civilians who are kept anonymous.

7: The histories of many planets speaks of blue warriors, or even blue gods who disappeared 5,000 years back. Chiss ruins can be found on Hoth, though nobody can now read the language.

8: There are Chiss who live outside the Ascendancy, descended from exiles and those who fled in other ways. If any Chiss of the Ascendancy happens on the Outlanders, they are instructed to report immediately, detain if possible, terminate in extreme cases only. In some cases, these Outlanders have hundreds of years outside of the Ascendancy and are not keen on going back.

9: Yes, there are a number of women in the CEDF, and nobody would stand in their way. As with Lakinda/Ziinda, it's a way for girls of Common and Lesser families to move up and secure their future outside of making a good match and having children. Blood-born girls like Ziara are heavily pressured not to join.

10: Upon leaving service, Sky-walkers are not encouraged to talk to others about being Sky-walkers, even to other former Sky-walkers. They are largely isolated by the Ruling Families, and pushed to marry within their adoptive or an allied House. Many do marry within their adopting House as it is well-known that the little girls of Ruling Houses are seldom chosen as Sky-walkers.

#chiss ascendancy #chiss #headcanon #thrawn

[fatehbaz]

Thinking about the Holocaust in Africa.

Here, European notions of anti-Blackness and antisemitism became intertwined.

There was a fusion between the dispossession and racism of European imperialism and colonization projects of the late nineteenth century, and the prison regimes imposed by European fascism in the early twentieth century.

Scholars Sarah Abrevaya Stein and Aomar Boum have recently written much about the importance of recognizing the trauma of labor and internment camps in North Africa during the second world war.

And I want to express my gratitude for their work. I want to share some of what they’ve written in a couple of recent articles.

In their words: “Nazism in Europe was underlaid by an intricate matrix of racist, eugenicist and nationalist ideas. But the war – and the Holocaust – appears even more complex if historians take into account the racist and violent color wheel that spun in North Africa.” [1]

France's prison camps in North Africa were filled with Algerians, local Jews, deported European Jews, Eastern European refugees, domestic political dissidents from France, people fleeing fascist Spain, Moroccan residents, Senegalese subjects of French rule, other West Africans displaced by French occupation, and more.

The anti-Blackness and antisemitism that had fueled Europe's colonial expansion was finding new expression in fascist Europe.

---

Seems France is a central antagonist in the story of evolving approaches to empire, racism, and resource extraction.

After their 1940 alliance with the Nazis, the Vichy French government maintained technical control of French colonies across Africa. Beginning in 1940, the French government “alone built nearly 70 such camps in the Sahara.” [1] This was in addition to another six labor camps which the French government built in West Africa (in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali).

---

By the beginning of the twentieth century, French-influenced or -controlled territory in North Africa was home to around 500,000 Jews, many of whom had been living in the region for centuries or millennia, speaking many languages, “reflecting their many different cultures and ethnicities: Arabic, French, Tamazight – a Berber language – and Haketia, a form of Judeo-Spanish spoken in northern Morocco.” [1] The Vichy French government officially stripped North African Jews of formal citizenship and seized their assets.

Then, deporting residents of Europe and political dissidents in “early 1941, the Vichy authorities transferred hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish refugees, including women and children, to the Saharan labor camps.” [2] Under French rule “in Algeria [...], it was estimated that 2,000-3,000 Jews were interned in camps [...] resulting in a total prisoner population of 15,000-20,000.” [2]  France pursued an “unrealized dream of the nineteenth century” [2]: the completion of the Mediterranean-Niger railroad line in the Sahara, a transportation route across the vast desert to connect the prosperous West African port of Dakar with the Mediterranean coast of Algeria.

Meanwhile the “Vichy regime [...] continued racist policies begun by France’s Third Republic, which pushed young Black men from the empire into forced military service,” including forced recruitment from “Senegal, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger and Mauritania; [...] Benin, Gambia and Burkina Faso; and Muslim men from Morocco and Algeria. In these ways, the French carried on a wartime campaign of anti-Blackness and Islamophobia, pairing these forms of racialized hatred from the colonial era with antisemitism. Antisemitism had deep roots in French and colonial history, but it found new force in the era of fascism.” [1]

---

In late 1942, during the Nazi occupation of Tunisia, the SS “imprisoned some 5,000 Jewish men in roughly 40 forced labor and detention camps on the front lines and in cities like Tunis.” [2] The fascist Italian government had been experimenting with racist and anti-Black policy in their colonization of East Africa; these policies were expanded in Libya. Here, “Mussolini ordered the Jews of Cyrenaica moved” as “most of the 2,600 Jews deported [...] were sent to the camp of Giado” while “other Libyan Jews were deported to the camps of Buqbuq and Sidi Azaz.” [2]

---

Stein and Boum describe the diversity of prisoner experience: “In these camps, [...] the complex racist logic of Nazism and fascism took vivid form. Muslims arrested for anti-colonial activities were pressed into back-breaking labor” and “broke bread with other forced workers” including ‘Ukrainians, Americans, Germans, Russian Jews and others [...] arrested, deported and imprisoned by the Vichy regime after fleeing Franco’s Spain. There were political enemies of the Vichy and Nazi regime too, including socialists, communists, union members [...] overseen by [...] forcibly recruited [...] Moroccan and Black Senegalese men, who were often little more than prisoners themselves.” [1]

As Stein and Boum describe it: “Vichy North Africa became a unique site [...] where colonialism and fascism co-existed and overlapped.” [2]

They write: “Together, we have spent a decade gathering the voices of the diverse peoples who endured World War II in North Africa, across lines of race, class, language and region. Their letters, diaries, memoirs, poetry and oral histories are both defiant and broken. They express both faith and despair. All in all, they understood themselves to be trapped in a monstrous machine of fascism, occupation, violence and racism.” [1]

---

[1]: Sarah Abrevaya Stein and Aomar Boum. “80 years ago, Nazi Germany occupied Tunisia - but North Africans’ experiences of World War II often go unheard.” The Conversation. 15 November 2022.

[2]: Sarah Arbevaya Stein and Aomar Boum. “Labor and Internment Camps in North Africa.” Holocaust Encyclopedia online. Last edited 13 May 2019.

#holocaust remembrance day #swana