Category: Uncategorized

Cal Poly Students Target Zionist Groups

eshusplayground:

eshusplayground:

tikkunolamorgtfo:

So! Allow me tell you why I’m seething over this in two parts! 

Part I

First of all, let’s get specific about what this means: They explicitly want to exclude Hillel. To vaguely phrase it as “all Zionist-related groups” is just a dogwhistle for Hillel. And look, there are legitimate reasons to be opposed to Hillel as a national organisation, especially when it comes to their stance on Israel. I personally do not believe Hillel should have any stance on Israel at all, because it’s meant to be a home for all Jewish students, and that includes Jews of varying political and religious opinions. I would love to see Hillel abandon its present stance, and I know there are Jewish students all over the place working on making that more of reality as I sit here typing this. 

But here’s the thing: Regardless of Hillel’s bad policy on this issue, it’s still overwhelmingly the centre for Jewish life at nearly every college and university in the United States. It just is. So the message quickly becomes an ultimatum—from gentiles—that any Jew who wants to be considered progressive must completely divest themselves from the existing Jewish community and only engage with other approved Jewish individuals in order to be considered ideologically pure. It doesn’t matter if Hillel is your only option for getting Kosher food, attending services, being with other Jewish people, etc. It’s #bad and if you engage with it, then so are you. 

Now, would be bad enough just on the principal that gentiles shouldn’t dictate how Jews access Jewish life and Judaism, but in light of all the drama with the Women’s March Organisers, this whole thing becomes even more offensive and absurd. Because when Tamika Mallory (along with Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez) refused to denounce Louis Farrakhan’s comments about Jews and LGBTQ+ people, the following was said: “I don’t agree with everything that Minister Farrakhan said about Jews or women or gay people…[but I hope that Jewish and LGBTQ+ people] will also take the time to understand why I have partnered with the Nation of Islam and been in that space for almost 30 years.” Basically: “He has some bad ideas, but I think his group does enough good for my communities at large that I am willing to overlook it.” So then why aren’t Jewish groups afforded the same nuance? Why is it only Jews who are being held to a standard of unattainable perfection, while everyone else gets to be messy and flawed? 

They’re so quick to say “It’s not anti-Semitism because opposing Israel isn’t the same as being anti-Semitic!” and like…it’s not always the same as being anti-Semitic, but you have to fucking do it right, and my goyim, you ARE NOT. Gentiles holding Jews to different standards from everyone else, asking Jews to prove themselves from cutting ties with campus Jewish life, and generally just trying to define anti-Semitism as non-Jews? Like, it doesn’t even matter what your Israel stance actually is; your praxis is already inherently anti-Semitic all on its fucking own. 

Part II

The article notes that the statement calling for Hillel to be excluded said the following: 

“Black folks and other People of Color have a long-standing history of standing in solidarity with Palestinian folks,” the statement reads. “The quotidian experiences of Palestinians include a long history of dealing with violence, colonization (particularly through land dispossession), and oppression. We cannot in good conscience advocate for our own liberation without being mindful of the current and historical liberation struggles of others locally, nationally, and globally.”

Later on, the statement added that The Drylongso Collective was focused on “anti-Black and anti-Brown racism at Cal Poly.”

“To attempt to decenter Blackness from our discussion by focusing on an accusation of anti-Semitism based on a false equivalency of Zionism and Judaism is deeply disturbing and speaks of not only the lack for anti-Semitic acts committed by non-Black/Brown students but also of the coalition work that remains to be done,” the statement reads.

Okay, so let me stop y’all right fucking there with this reminder: 

JEWS OF COLOUR EXIST
JEWS OF COLOUR EXIST
JEWS OF COLOUR EXIST 

Like, not only does this statement completely overlook the fact that over half of all Israelis are either Black or Brown, which demonstrates a total lack of understanding about who Israelis are, thus utterly disqualifying these students from really having any opinion on the state as an entity all, but FUCKING HELL, does it really go out of its way to way absolutely erase Black and Brown Jews existing in their own corner of the diaspora. They mention the ‘struggles of others locally, nationally, and globally’ in the same breath that they imply that Black and Brown people are a wholly separate entity from Jews, and then go on to preemptively accuse Jewish people of derailing the conversation to be about themselves, shifting the focus away from Black and Brown people, when again JEWS OF COLOUR EXIST. 

How much chutzpah does one have to possess to be able to simultaneously erase all Black and Brown Jews whilst also demanding that they stop engaging with Judaism unless it’s entirely on your uninformed gentile terms?

I am so sick of discourse that paints Judaism as whiteness, not only because it misses the point of how anti-Semitism has operated as a racial hatred for centuries, but also because it always ends of with Jews of Colour being attacked and harassed by people who claim to fight for, well, People of Colour. Just like how the CDM organisers revelled in the “white tears” of the Iranian Jew they ejected from their march, and the trans Indian Jewish reporter they got fired from her job, these organisers would have you believe that Jewishness, in and of itself (and unless otherwise proven on an individual basis through a series of loyalty tests), is whiteness, perhaps even whiteness in its very worst form. And I don’t know how much of that outlook is due to ignorance and how much of it is due to blatant hatred, but it’s anti-Semitic no matter which way you spin it, and I’m so fucking tired of watching people who think they’re progressive swallowing conspiracy theories from the pages of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as if it wasn’t already trite Jew-hating bullshit when it was first published in 1903. 

I am so sick of discourse that paints Judaism as whiteness, not only because it misses the point of how anti-Semitism has operated as a racial hatred for centuries

[…]

these organisers would have you believe that Jewishness, in and of itself (and unless otherwise proven on an individual basis through a series of loyalty tests), is whiteness, perhaps even whiteness in its very worst form.


Not going back to reblogging critical stuff, but there’s a paper about this phenomenon that you can read right here. It’s long, but a worthy read, even though I don’t agree with everything it says about Jews and whiteness.

Edited to link to the paper, which is here: https://www.academia.edu/33816464/White_Jews_An_Intersectional_Approach

Cal Poly Students Target Zionist Groups

myencephalonjourneys:

Satana was born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi in Hokkaidō, Japan. Her father was a silent movie actor of Japanese and Filipino descent, and her mother was a circus performer of American Indian (Cheyenne) and Scots-Irish background. After the end of World War II and a stint in the Manzanar internment camp in Lone Pine, California, she and her family moved to the Westside of Chicago. She developed breasts very early and, despite being an excellent student, was constantly harassed for her figure and Asian heritage. Walking home from school at the age of nine she was gang raped by five men. According to Satana, her attackers were never prosecuted and it was rumored that the judge had been paid off. She tells how this prompted her to learn the martial arts of aikido and karate and, over the next 15 years, track down each rapist and exact revenge. “I made a vow to myself that I would someday, somehow get even with all of them”, she said years later. “They never knew who I was until I told them.”

Because of the rape and the bribed judge, she was sent to reform school as a teenager and became the leader of a gang. In an interview with Psychotronic Video, she said, “We had leather motorcycle jackets, jeans and boots and we kicked butt.” At 13, she was married in Hernando, Mississippi, a short-lived union arranged by her parents and the family of her 17-year-old groom.

Satana then came to Los Angeles at age 13 with a fake ID and tried her hand at blues singing. When that failed, she started modeling as a bathing suit photography model and posed nude for the silent screen comic Harold Lloyd, who did not know she was underage. Lloyd told Satana she should be in films because she was photogenic. While working as a photographic model, Satana contracted makeup poisoning and could not wear any makeup due to the ensuing skin erosions. She returned to Chicago to live with her parents and started dancing. Satana danced at the Club Rendevouz in Calumet City, Illinois, where she was known as Galatea, the Statue that Came to Life. She was offered a raise to become a stripper. She eventually became a successful exotic dancer, traveling from city to city and working with Rose Le Rose, Maxine Martin, The Skyscraper Girl, Tempest Storm, Candy Barr and Stunning Smith the Purple Lady. Satana credited Lloyd with giving her the confidence to pursue a career in show business: “I saw myself as an ugly child.” Mr. Lloyd said, “You have such a symmetrical face, the camera loves your face, you should be seen.” Because of her dancing, her face, and her figure, she was ultimately voted one of the 10 Best Undressed Burlesque Dancers of the 20th Century by Bill Hanna of Hanna-Barbera.

At 19, Satana got pregnant, but continued dancing for the next eight months, earning a typical weekly salary of about $1,500.

Satana’s most noted screen role was as “Varla” in the 1965 film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!—a very aggressive and sexual female character for which she did all of her own stunts and fight scenes. Renowned film critic Richard Corliss called her performance “the most honest, maybe the one honest portrayal in the Meyer canon and certainly the scariest.”

Originally titled The Leather Girls, the film is an ode to female violence, based on a concept created by Russ Meyer and screenwriter Jack Moran. Both felt at her first audition that Satana was “definitely Varla.” The film was shot on location in the desert outside Los Angeles during days above 100 degrees and freezing nights, with Satana clashing regularly with teenage co-star Susan Bernard, because of Susan’s mother disrupting the set. Meyer said she “was extremely capable. She knew how to handle herself. Don’t mess with her! And if you mess with her, do it well! She might turn on you!”

She was fully responsible for adding key elements to the visual style and energy of the production, including her costume, makeup, usage of martial arts, dialogue and the use of spinning tires in the death scene of the main male character. She came up with many of the film’s best lines. At one point the gas station attendant was ogling her extraordinary cleavage whilst confessing to a desire to see America. Varla replied “You won’t find it down there, Columbus!” Meyer cited the extreme tension on the set caused by Satana as the primary reasons for the film’s lasting fame. “She and I made the movie”, said Meyer. Meyer came to greatly regret not using Satana in his subsequent productions.

Satana dated Elvis Presley but turned down his marriage proposal, though she did keep the ring. Satana married a retired Los Angeles police officer in 1981, and remained married until her husband died in October 2000. She has two daughters from a previous relationship.

Satana died on February 4, 2011, in Reno, Nevada, United States. Her long-time manager, Siouxzan Perry, stated the cause of death as heart failure.

politicalsci:

An estimated 5000 people marched in memory of the 72 people who died in the Grenfell Tower fire, and in solidarity
with their loved ones who are still fighting for justice.

Hisam Choucair, who lost six members of his
family on the 22nd floor, said during a public inquiry last month: “I have to live with my family ripped apart for the rest of my life. I
don’t see this as a tragedy; I see it as an atrocity, because
essentially there is segregation between the rich and the poor… Everything has just been a fight for us.
One thing after another. And we’re going to fight it to the end. I’m not going
to shut up, I’m not going to allow this to be brushed beneath the
carpet. As long as I have a breath in my soul I will not let that happen
because I’d be letting my family down, the community down, everybody.”

starfleet-louvelune:

armitageadoration:

maaarine:

@MariliaSavvides

And men make fun of women for travelling in packs. Sighs.

Seriously, if you see this happening and you can speak up…do. If you are unable see if you can find someone who will help.

Yup, his anger shows he knew exactly what he was doing was unwanted and creepy, he was just counting on nobody exposing it.

Fuck this sort of asswipe all the way to hell. :/

Minimum wage doesn’t cover the rent anywhere in the U.S.

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

A minimum-wage worker would have to put in lots of overtime to be able to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country. And downsizing to a one-bedroom pad barely helps.

Even with some states hiking pay for those earning the least, there is still nowhere in the country where a person working a full-time minimum wage job can afford to rent a decent two-bedroom apartment, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Even the $15 hourly wage touted by labor activists would not be enough to make housing affordable in the overwhelming majority of states, the coalition found. Nationally, someone would need to make $17.90 an hour to rent a modest one-bedroom or $22.10 an hour to cover a two-bedroom place.

Minimum wage doesn’t cover the rent anywhere in the U.S.

ultraviolet-techno-ecology:

daloy-politsey:

daloy-politsey:

Disabled people deserve a living wage

This means there shouldn’t be ridiculous limits on how much someone can make while on disability benefits

I’d like to add that this also means acknowledging that being disabled is often expensive, and thus should actually be given proportionately more to ensure they can afford expenses like wheelchairs, medically prescribed diets, prosthetics, modified vehicles, and accessible housing as needed for their condition.