Marcha apoyo a AMLO
Zócalo, México DF, Mayo 2012.
Ahí anduve yo :D
Disabled protesters clash with police over welfare demands — La Paz, Bolivia
Scores of disabled people on crutches and in wheelchairs fought police in La Paz, Bolivia’s capital, over demands for better welfare support, injuring several and fuelling anger against the state.
A caravan of about 50 adults and children ended a 1,000-mile, 100-day trek through Bolivia at the protest near government offices in La Paz on Thursday. Scuffles broke out and pepper spray was used after the group were blocked by riot police, who stopped them reaching the legislature and presidential palace to petitioning MPs and the presidential palace for a tripling of the £91 monthly state subsidy for disabled people. The protesters tried to break through the lines using their crutches and wheelchairs but were forced back in a melee in which several people were injured and four detained. The protest organisers then declared a hunger strike by 10 adults and a round-the-clock vigil by the rest.
The clashes were another public relations PR fiasco for President Evo Morales, who has seen his once-huge popularity plunge amid protests from coca farmers, indigenous rights activists and environmentalists. Bolivia’s first indigenous leader swept to power in 2006 promising to ease poverty and inequality, and was hailed a saviour in his first few years. But marches on La Paz – notably one over a controversial Amazon road in October – illustrate the level of disenchantment.
The disabled protesters relied on charity on their journey to the highland capital from Beni, bordering Brazil, in November. As well as higher subsidies, they want greater efforts to integrate them into a society that makes little provision for those with physical or mental disabilities.
Domitila Franco, a wheelchair-user, said she struggled. “It’s very hard to be a person with a disability,” she said. “Even our own husbands abandon us because they feel ashamed of us. … I look after my four children alone, washing and ironing clothes for people.”
The protesters to end their trek at Plaza Murillo, the heart of government, having seen other marches do so. “Why not us?” Camilo Bianchi, a protest leader, asked local media. “It’s a public space.”
Carlos Romero, a government minister, told a press conference that opposition groups had infiltrated the march and it was necessary to block it. “There are other groups trying to politicise this, trying to create a climate of disorder and confrontation,” he said. “Our obligation is to secure Plaza Murillo.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/24/disabled-protesters-clash-police-bolivia?newsfeed=true
Charter School Teaching Nahuatl & Danza Faces New Criticism
The LA Times ran a story Sunday on Academia Semillas del Pueblo, a Los Angeles charter school teaching Nahuatl and Danza Azteca as part of its curriculum titled “LAUSD charter elementary with low test scores gets a reprieve.” The article mainly focused on how the school has narrowly avoided closure while setting the goal of making language and culture accessible to its students. However, towards the end, the Times quotes Judicial Watch, an organization that calls itself a “public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.”
Here’s the quote: “The school ‘is not much more than a training ground for the Mexican reconquista movement, which seeks to conquer the American Southwest — by force or by ballot box — and return it to Mexico,’ concluded Judicial Watch…”
Why give such a misinformed group legitimacy, LA Times? Not only is there no such thing as a “Mexican reconquista movement,” but as pointed out in the article, such rhetoric has led to actual death threats.
Image: Juana de la Cruz Farias, a teacher at Academia Semillas del Pueblo, teaches Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico, to Anthony Rayo. See more photos here.
Photo Credit: Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times
i’m just going to keep reblogging this.
The Change.Org petition to have charges against CeCe dropped.
Reblogging again for the petition link AGAIN, because it makes me really angry that this has been going on for so long and the petition still has less than 10,000 signatures. I feel like everyone has to know about CeCe McDonald right now, but clearly not.
(Source: tal9000)
The petition is here. There’s only 6577 signatures. Sign it and reblog.
only 6985 signatures. let’s do more better with this.
please sign it.
I’d sign it again if I could. Get on it!
good info, I’ve always wondered how orgasms worked…just why is it called the *female* orgasm. this info definitely feels relevant to my body experience, it’s just like, oh well, women only (and I guess only the ones who match with these body parts :(… )
THE ELUSIVE FEMALE ORGASM
if you’ve ever seen a porn you know what a female orgasm looks like… but have you ever experienced one first hand? no? well, you should get off your computer and hop to it, because it’s fucking majestic. there are actually multiple types of female orgasms and 6 of them will be discussed here-
1. CLITORAL- the clitoris is the most sensitive and one of the most nerve rich areas in the human body. every woman is different, some prefer a gentler touch… while others like it rough, so test the waters a little bit. but for god’s sake- DON’T BITE IT. (unless you know for a fact that she’s into that ridiculously painful shit)
Clitoral orgasms can be very intense and are very pleasurable, they’re relatively easy to achieve through oral stimulation and/or with a toy
2. VAGINAL- now you may be thinking… but the whole thing is the vagina, right? wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong! take a moment to study this diagram. are we clear now? good. carrying on.
This kind of orgasm takes longer time to achieve and rhythmic thrusting is often the best way to it.
Many women describe this kind of orgasm as “less intense” then clitoral but more deeply felt. They feel it as a pressure that slowly grows and explodes deep inside of a woman’s vagina. But remember everyone is different…3. G-SPOT- During sexual arousal, the tissue surrounding the urethra becomes engorged with blood and the Paraurethral/Skenes glands produce and fill with prostatic fluid. This area on the front wall of the vagina becomes that same mysterious and sensitive spot… the G-SPOT…
In fact, this process is very similar to the process of male arousal. As a result, the urethral sponge becomes “erected” and if you touch, it feels firm. This is a kind of female hard-on. The only difference is that it all happens on the inside of a woman’s vagina.
There are different ways of stimulating the G spot. Rhythmic pushing or circular friction movements are the best for achieving this kind of orgasm. I use a lot special Tantric sensual massage techniques for stimulating this area of a woman’s body.
This orgasm may also lead to female ejaculation
*some women do not actually have a g-spot (unfortunately)
4. SQUIRTING- an instructional video on how to squirt
5. A-SPOT- This kind of female orgasm is achieved by stimulation of an area deep in the vagina (about 7-10 cm (3-4”) deep) on the front wall of it. It is the same wall as where the G spot is situated.
Many women find the feeling incredibly pleasurable while some may not like it at all. Keep it in mind when experimenting.
After an orgasm the A-spot does not become too sensitive because of different kind of nerve wiring in this particular area and you can easily continue stimulation bringing your partner to new heights of pleasure.
6. THE DEEP SPOT ORGASM (THE POSTERIOR FORNIX ORGASM)
Direct stimulation of the deep spot can cause very intense orgasms. Some women may feel as if they are having anal sex. This kind of female orgasm get responses like’ “I never felt like this before” or “What are you doing? It’s amazing!” This particular area is not widely recognized so very few women have ever experienced those sensations.
This kind of female orgasm can be given with a hand using “Come Here” motions. Use both long and short strokes and you can even use two fingers if you like.
hopefully this will help in your search for the elusive female orgasm.
Merry Christmas
“With chants of “We are the 99%” and signage to that effect as well, I was a little thrown off. I thought the purpose of this march was to bring awareness to the death of a young boy. Soon after the march started confusion was all around. Which way were we marching? Who was leading the charge? After we walked a few blocks members of the Occupy section of the march started running down the street knocking down trash cans. I was told later that some attempted to knock down police barricades and police scooters used to guide the marchers. I immediately became uncomfortable because that’s not what I signed up for. I wanted to speak out against injustice—just causing general destruction wasn’t on my agenda. Soon some Occupiers started chanting “F**k the POLICE,” one young white male wearing skinny jeans and a Justin Bieber haircut started yelling “THIS IS WAR, WE WANT WAR!” To which a hoodie-clad young black adult said “Hey, uh we don’t really want war, why don’t you tone that down. I’m about to graduate college in a few months.” The white male kind of laughed and kept moving forward yelling something else.”
For fucks sake, are you really going to antagonize the police at a rally for a dead black boy?
Like the author of this article, I went easy on the criticism of OWS from jump street. However, the fact that people act like OWS is for everyone when it clearly isn’t, when it overlooks the history of radical organization by POC, when it overlooks the sensitivity POC have about police and war…. I can’t co-sign you.
(via jamaican-supremacist)
jesus fuck white people
(via dumbthingswhitepplsay)
I hope you can all read this and understand why, especially at times like these, we often want to be together and NOT be with everyone. The white male that was yelling, he has that luxury. His life and well being are not and never will be at stake based on the color of his skin. The problem is, he DIDN’T CARE that his actions COULD affect those that DO have to worry about this. Of all times to make an effort to care about your actions, wouldn’t THIS have been that time?
This is our life. We have to worry about something that we do that COULD be perceived as wrong AND we have to worry about what YOU do that we COULD be blamed for and subsequently get a MUCH HARSHER punishment for.
Now can you understand?
(via racismschool)
They don’t understand. I don’t think they ever will. I’m starting to wonder if they’re physically incapable.
(via witchsistah)
![sonoftherifleman:
Fuck Stereotypes. Enough said.
“Gabriel Velasquez, a Southside Latino activist and District 3 representative on San Antonio’s Cultural Arts Board, has been removed from his position amid his protests of a city proposal to recreate a [RACIST] controversial mural on the façade of the historic Mission Drive-In marquee… The mural included [RACIST] controversial images of two men wearing sombreros — one sleeping against a wall, another posed with a burro.”
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/southside/news/article/Local-activist-removed-from-Cultural-Arts-Board-3386135.php#ixzz1ppKmh8CM
strike[s]: mine. emphasis on RACISM, mine.
4x5
Water color/ gouache](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m19yoaB7Ws1qc6awko1_1280.jpg)
Fuck Stereotypes. Enough said.
“Gabriel Velasquez, a Southside Latino activist and District 3 representative on San Antonio’s Cultural Arts Board, has been removed from his position amid his protests of a city proposal to recreate a [RACIST]
controversialmural on the façade of the historic Mission Drive-In marquee… The mural included [RACIST]controversialimages of two men wearing sombreros — one sleeping against a wall, another posed with a burro.”Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/southside/news/article/Local-activist-removed-from-Cultural-Arts-Board-3386135.php#ixzz1ppKmh8CMstrike[s]: mine. emphasis on RACISM, mine.4x5Water color/ gouache
Life life liiiiiiife
it has always been one of the most annoying things to me when people go around calling themselves an “ally” to x group of people like it’s as easy as signing a petition or wanting to be an ally.
i am always very hesitant to call myself an ally to any group of people to which i do not belong—not…
(Source: kitschyliving)
Not sure who this will reach…but my 13 year old COUSIN Fajr Abdul-Akbar is missing. It has been 26 hours since she was last seen.
If anyone has ANY sort of information on her whereabouts please call the number above. She resides, goes to school, and was last seen in Brooklyn, NY with some classmates. If you live in the Brooklyn area, please keep your eyes peeled. She was wearing a white scarf, but may have since taken it off.
PLEASE REBLOG AND GET THIS CIRCULATING. GODBLESS.
The New Zealand Government is running a poll on a placing a ban on Niqab.
Visit the official voting link below and Vote “No”. It would be a huge help to those Niqabis in New Zealand. JazakAllah Khair!
Reblog to spread the word!
do it, voting NO is quick and easy!
(via The Biyuti Collective)
According the San Francisco Trans March’s about page, this was part of the original callout that started the march:
to encourage more trans and gender-variant people to come out; to build connections among ftm, mtf, bayot, crossdressers, sadhin, hijra, transvestites, bantut, drag queens, drag kings, mahu, transsexuals, bakla, travesti, genderqueers, kathoey, two spirit, intersex
Speaking from my particular Bakla experience, I find this list very troubling. The impression you get from this list is that bayot, sadhin, hijra, bantut, mahu, bakla, kathoey, and two spirit are all trans identities. Now, I do not know about the other identity labels in this list (nor would I want to speak on their behalf), but I will say that I do not believe that Bakla is a trans identity. Or it isn’t necessarily a trans identity.
In my Filipin@ family ‘bakla’ was usually considered to be Tagalog for gay. This means, within my family, that bakla denoted sexuality and not quite a gender expression. Of course, being bakla sexually did have some interconnected gender norms that would appear to the Western gaze as gender variance or non-conformance. In other words, being bakla=gay in my Filipina context had different cultural meanings than being gay did in my larger Western context.
It has been and continues to be a challenge for me to resist the Western, imperialist constructions of gender. This conflict has been my *only* source of gender confusion and dysphoria. Before I was kicked out of my dad’s house, I was perfectly comfortable with my gender. But as I became entirely surrounded by the Western gaze, with no refuge, I began to feel discord with my gender and body. I have spent years struggling with my gender only to realize that the issue was not about my relation to my body but my relation to how the West views my body. My gender dysphoria was the result of Western imperialism.
When I started wearing skirts and make-up in high school, I was perfectly fine. I was also, to the surprise of everyone white person I’ve told, perfectly fine at home and with my family. I didn’t try to wear the skirts at my Catholic high school (but I did wear the make-up). And I actually got my dad to tell the school administration to stop bullying me about my gender non-conformance. Amazing, isn’t it? More important than these really great external circumstances, was the fact that I never felt like my body and gender were mis-aligned. I liked having this body. My gender expression was fine for bodies like mine. All was right in the world and with my gender.
After I got kicked out (for reasons unrelated to my being queer), I entered the big, white world. And in this world, suddenly my gender and its expression became a source of conflict and danger. Perhaps my most alarming experience was being followed home by this guy. I, unfortunately, lived in the ghetto at this point (my street was the street where the women sex workers conducted business). This meant that being followed home in this neighborhood was *not* a good thing. I also experienced other expressions of hate and discomfort with gender variance. Eventually, these experiences (and a toxic friendship) convinced me to throw my skirts away (lovingly hand crocheted by myself) and make up, so that I could be a ‘man.’
Trying to live up to this Western, gender normative notion of ‘man’ did a lot of damage to myself. I’m getting over it, but it hasn’t been easy. And as I exit this stage of my life I’ve been re-examining my relationship with the trans umbrella (and the cis/trans binary). Ultimately, I’m resisting this label too, partially out of mistrust and a fear that even trying out this better, but still Western, conception of gender will still do damage to me. And I think it would. Because accepting the trans label as a bakla means that I’m defining and understanding my gender within a Western context. It is an acceptance of the imperialism and continued colonization of my body by the West.
My gender identity, and its expression, exist outside of the Western construction of gender. It is the product of a culture that, while it has a colonial past, is its own. I do stand in solidarity, however, with my trans cousins because we are, ultimately, fighting for the same rights (I want the freedom to express my gender without consequence, just as much as they do). And as I stand in solidarity with my trans cousins, I ask that they recognize that appropriative nature of things like the SF Trans March callout. That they recognize that trying to include non-Western identities under the trans umbrella is imperialistic and wrong, even when individuals choose to stand under that umbrella. As a bakla, I do not belong to a monolith and my community is diverse. Some of us are trans and some are not. And, ultimately, this is *our* decision, not yours.
Forgive me for sending this as a submission and not an ask, but it’s way too long and I didn’t want to whittle it down and lose the nuance. Let me start off by saying that I’m happy that the fervor over your “die cis scum” tattoo has died down, and I don’t want to pile on for the sake of piling…
i think that when thinking about one’s own privilege it’s not necessarily the most useful to simply acknowledge you have *more privilege than any person of color*. this is very general statement and it disregards the complexity of oppression. yes, the first step is to acknowledge privilege, but then, going deeper, to try to learn, imagine, and understand all the nuanced ways it functions—the ways you are complicit, the ways you are integral to the whole system (both as someone with and without privilege in different ways and moments). anonymous insists on a definition of oppression where its strands are inextricably tangled. to get a sense of where you fit in as far as your own privilege and oppression, you must consider each relationship, each context, each variable in order to get a sense of your own role within whole picture.
