thepeoplesrecord: The Obama administration approved an additional $70 million for an Israeli missile defense program, also known as the “Iron Dome.”  …on top of the $200 million already set aside for Israel’s missile defense. …..and on top of the $3 billion in U.S. military annual aid.  Meanwhile in the U.S., schools are being closed, student debt has surpassed $1 trillion this year, thousands of homes are being foreclosed, 50 million Americans still don’t have health insurance & the list goes on. Instead, billions are going to Israel for weapons & tanks to terrorize Palestinians, destroy their homes, hospitals & schools, & imprison them without any formal charge. 

thepeoplesrecord:

The Obama administration approved an additional $70 million for an Israeli missile defense program, also known as the “Iron Dome.” 

…on top of the $200 million already set aside for Israel’s missile defense.

…..and on top of the $3 billion in U.S. military annual aid. 

Meanwhile in the U.S., schools are being closed, student debt has surpassed $1 trillion this year, thousands of homes are being foreclosed, 50 million Americans still don’t have health insurance & the list goes on.

Instead, billions are going to Israel for weapons & tanks to terrorize Palestinians, destroy their homes, hospitals & schools, & imprison them without any formal charge. 

(via karnythia)

3 days ago
i’ve tried these all, make up is such a fun creative outlet :)

i’ve tried these all, make up is such a fun creative outlet :)

(Source: sp00ktacular, via silvia-was-here)

6 days ago

mehreenkasana:

mehreenkasana:

Muslim Doodles by Mehreen Kasana - P2

On the niqab and the choice to wear it. I realize many women are forced to don the hijab and niqab but many wear it as a choice with deliberate thought invested in it. It is important to discern between both. Unfortunately you won’t find pseudo-liberal thinkers doing so. Therefore the choice of a woman to cover is ridiculed and disrespected by many who think it is “orthodox” and “retrogressive.” If you respect the choice of a woman to go nude, you should also respect the choice of a woman to cover.

I’ve seen pictures online where people make fun of women in the niqab taking pictures of themselves in public or even in private and it makes me think: Why should a person’s individuality be robbed from them simply because they dress differently? Let people be. It’s not that hard.

Someone asked about what I use for these doodles. A Wacom Bamboo tablet. (And thanks for the nice comments!)

(via ladypandacat)

6 days ago
deliciouskaek: funkysafari: Dik-dik by mikel.hendriks Omg, look at its lashes!

deliciouskaek:

funkysafari:

Dik-dik by mikel.hendriks

Omg, look at its lashes!

(via hamburgerjack)

6 days ago
”

I had to rethink my feminism when I felt like Western feminists treated brown women like me like as if we’re endangered species. My voice wasn’t important to them. They just wanted a picture to misunderstand and exaggerate about.

My mom - The first feminist and womanist I know.

(via mehreenkasana)

(via ethiopienne)

1 week ago
”

I have been stunned by the way Iraq has almost disappeared from public discourse in the US. The way in which the withdrawal narrative was packaged and sold to the American public sealed that fictitious “closure.” The discursive curtain is down (not that it was ever fully up anyway) and there isn’t much to discuss or bother about. The simplistic narrative goes as follows: “We” went there and tried to help build a democracy, but it didn’t work out for x reason. The x, of course, is usually some variation on an Orientalist myth. There is no serious debate about the war and no realization of the extent of its tragic effects on Iraqis and their future. Most importantly, there is no reckoning or recognition of the crime. The collective amnesia is horrendous. The architects of the war publish books and appear on TV shows as if nothing had happened.

As for the effects in Iraq, the damage is already done.

The Barbarian Has to Keep It Real: Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Sinan Antoon

by Nahrain Al-Musawi, al-Jadaliya

(via darling80m)

now we can simply ignore everything we did and the consequences of our actions. the same thing will most likely happen when the United States withdraws from Afghanistan as well. we can ignore the fact that the Iraq War was set up as a way to assert American dominance and interest in the region and was based on faulty and (in many cases) non-existent intelligence. killing what? hundreds of thousands of innocent people? we as a collective whole ignored the checkered history America had with Iraq before the war even started and many of us bayed for blood because of that ignorance.

now we hear the calls for war and economic/political pressure on other nations because our ignorance allows for such blatant displays of disregard for the international political system and the rules that supposedly govern it. we are a law unto ourselves, an entity that depends solely on ignorance and historical/political amnesia and suppression of knowledge and complete immunity from everything else that could (should) follow.

(via inautumn-inkashmir)

(via hamburgerjack)

1 week ago
”

Capitalism doesn’t inspire creativity, it stifles it. There are millions of geniuses that might be doing something brilliant, but instead are putting stickers on packets of biscuits they can barely afford for 12 hours a day so some lazy prick can play golf every Sunday with all the other impotent do nothing pricks.

Ourben:  (via theorthodoxheretic)

(via queergiftedblack)

1 week ago

jasmine, pochahontas and tiana though!

where’s mulan?

lookatmeimashark:

This is amazing.

(via itsthelesbiana)

1 week ago
WANT daghanaianchiq: The Renaissance collection

WANT

daghanaianchiq:

The Renaissance collection

(via devoutfashion)

1 week ago
mehreenkasana: My friend (who wears the Hijab) wanted a doodle just for her - and based on an experience she’d often have, in conversation and once in action about her headscarf when some Western feminists told her to “take it off.” It may not be the most original one (I’ve seen excellent doodles on Tumblr about this debate) but I made sure her expression remains genuine as it is. More power to you, babe.

mehreenkasana:

My friend (who wears the Hijab) wanted a doodle just for her - and based on an experience she’d often have, in conversation and once in action about her headscarf when some Western feminists told her to “take it off.” It may not be the most original one (I’ve seen excellent doodles on Tumblr about this debate) but I made sure her expression remains genuine as it is.

More power to you, babe.

(via racialicious)

1 week ago

(Source: talktothechicken, via itsthelesbiana)

1 week ago

racialicious:

Racialicious Crush Of The Week: Harry Belafonte

Of course, there’s the muuuuuuuuch longer version of why we’re so <3ing Mr. Belafonte this week. (Considering his incredible activism around racism and other human-rights issues, we could keep doing muuuuuuch longer Crush post for the rest of the month.)

But let’s get back to this vid that Latoya posted on 4/28 and to which I put in today’s post. Having reflected on a recent event about healing racism, Latoya stated that, “Of all the things I’ve enjoyed at this conference, watching Harry Belafonte transform the world through pop culture in his biopic has been my favorite.” And he has, with this video being one wonderful example.

I think what I love about this vid is the message itself, namely to “see one another clearly” instead of jumping to the false conclusion of, “I don’t see race/color” or worse, “You’re the racist for calling out racism!” or some other derailing foolishness that clogs too many conversations about race and racism nowadays. Also, the song, to me, says that each person’s differences has a definite function to propel society, not just aesthetic “diversity” that really centers one group at the expense of another. 

Looking at this—and his and some other performers of color struggles before and during Civil Rights Movement and and the hell they went through to use their celebrity to propel this world to a more just place…as Latoya and I said to each other this morning, “And folks want pop culture to still be all-white? Oh hell naw!”

2 weeks ago

annathemarmotqueen:

i didn´t even know i was hungry

(Source: ravenofwesteros, via ladypandacat)

2 weeks ago
”

When a man is homophobic or effemiphobic he is reminding us, in no uncertain terms, where he places women on the spectrum of power.

Son of Baldwin (via sonofbaldwin)

(via sexgenderbody)

2 weeks ago
trubr0wn: leptiir: Above is a picture of Omar Khadr, abducted at 15, now 25 years old, he has spent a third of his life at Guantánamo Bay for a crime he never committed. “Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in 2002 and conspiring with Al Qaeda. There is no credible evidence to substantiate the charges, some of which date to when he was 11 years old. Charges were not even brought against him until 2007. If convicted, the Obama administration will seek a life sentence for Khadr, prosecutor David Iglesias indicated. Army Col. Pat Parrish, the tribunal’s presiding judge, on Monday denied defense appeals to bar confessions Khadr made under torture. In hearings held in May an unnamed U.S. military officer admitted that his interrogation unit threatened to gang rape and kill Khadr if he did not cooperate with an interrogation session at Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram air base in 2002. A U.S. military psychiatrist has said that Khadr, who has now spent a third of his life at Guantánamo, is under extreme psychological stress after years of living through torture, abuse and appalling conditions. He has been subjected to stress positions, beatings, humiliations—including being used as a “human mop” to clean up urine, threatened attack with dogs, long periods of extreme isolation and sensory as well as sleep deprivation. (Read more here) How come we barely hear about cases like these in the news? If it happend to a white christian male, we would constantly hear about it, but when it happens to a muslim from Afghanistan, silence. Omar Khadr has himself said: Khadr wrote to his Canadian attorney Dennis Edney, on May 27. “And if the world doesn’t see all this, to what world am I being released to? A world of hate … and discrimination.” Lt. Col. Frakt has said: “It is appalling that the Obama administration is allowing charges to go forward in the military commissions against Omar Khadr. Clearly, Omar Khadr, as a juvenile of 15 at the time of his alleged offences, could not be tried as an adult in federal court, so they are allowing him to be tried as an adult in the military commissions, potentially making him the first child soldier to be tried and convicted as a war criminal in world history.” (Read more here) did you know that rape is considered a form of acceptable torture at guantánamo? you heard me. ‘questioning’ at gitmo includes sexually assaulting and torturing prisoners.

trubr0wn:

leptiir:

Above is a picture of Omar Khadr, abducted at 15, now 25 years old, he has spent a third of his life at Guantánamo Bay for a crime he never committed.

“Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in 2002 and conspiring with Al Qaeda. There is no credible evidence to substantiate the charges, some of which date to when he was 11 years old. Charges were not even brought against him until 2007. If convicted, the Obama administration will seek a life sentence for Khadr, prosecutor David Iglesias indicated.

Army Col. Pat Parrish, the tribunal’s presiding judge, on Monday denied defense appeals to bar confessions Khadr made under torture. In hearings held in May an unnamed U.S. military officer admitted that his interrogation unit threatened to gang rape and kill Khadr if he did not cooperate with an interrogation session at Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram air base in 2002.

A U.S. military psychiatrist has said that Khadr, who has now spent a third of his life at Guantánamo, is under extreme psychological stress after years of living through torture, abuse and appalling conditions. He has been subjected to stress positions, beatings, humiliations—including being used as a “human mop” to clean up urine, threatened attack with dogs, long periods of extreme isolation and sensory as well as sleep deprivation. (Read more here)

How come we barely hear about cases like these in the news? If it happend to a white christian male, we would constantly hear about it, but when it happens to a muslim from Afghanistan, silence.

Omar Khadr has himself said:

Khadr wrote to his Canadian attorney Dennis Edney, on May 27. “And if the world doesn’t see all this, to what world am I being released to? A world of hate … and discrimination.”

Lt. Col. Frakt has said:

“It is appalling that the Obama administration is allowing charges to go forward in the military commissions against Omar Khadr. Clearly, Omar Khadr, as a juvenile of 15 at the time of his alleged offences, could not be tried as an adult in federal court, so they are allowing him to be tried as an adult in the military commissions, potentially making him the first child soldier to be tried and convicted as a war criminal in world history.” (Read more here)

did you know that rape is considered a form of acceptable torture at guantánamo? you heard me. ‘questioning’ at gitmo includes sexually assaulting and torturing prisoners.

(via dumbthingswhitepplsay)

2 weeks ago