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Waled Al-Qatrawi's fundraiser is vetted at #480 on our verified fundraisers list. Him and his young children have been struggling to survive out of a tent made of scrap. They are exposed to the elements and the local fauna, and they are worried about snakes attacking them. They have no access to sanitation facilities, and Walid is looking to construct one urgently. Without regular access to clean water and soap, his children could get severely ill.

Please consider helping Walid and his family.

yeah this is something i've really come around on just in the last few years. unfortunately it's just something that's incredibly easy to not think about too hard, especially when you're really in deep in those kind of artist spaces where like. the prevailing belief system underpinning the standard practices is that the deck is so far stacked against independent artists trying to make a living that anything you do to bring up your bottom line is justified, insofar as it is being done with your own artwork. and nothing about the difficulty and insecurity of being a working artist is exaggerated either! so the kneejerk response to be defensive to critiques of your business practices is one i understand even if i am no longer sympathetic towards it.

for me a big part of how i think about these sorts of things is. i know i'm never going to be any kind of political activist. i'm just not really a stable, confident, or educated enough person to functionally be in that position and don't see that changing any time in the near future. choosing where my money goes is pretty much one of the only avenues i have to actually live by the principles i claim to hold. so if i am going to genuinely believe that it's wrong to profit off of the underpaid labor of foreign workers in unsafe conditions, then i need to not use my money to have foreign workers in unsafe conditions do underpaid labor for me. that is the bare minimum.

you would hope that all of the labor concerns artists and other creative workers are currently experiencing regarding AI would result in them trying to develop solidarity with other groups' pre-existing labor concerns, but it seems for the most part that that's not the case. instead, it seems as if the most vocal and prevalent cohort of independent artists is closing rank, becoming even less receptive to scrutiny of their practices now that they feel the very essence of art itself is on the line. everything has been retroactively legitimized by the introduction of an existential threat to their way of life.

i think its not likely artist alleys themselves will improve, but i think instead we're going to see a split between the people who are okay staying the course on artist as Small Business Owner with all the baggage that entails, and those who find we can not maintain the cognitive dissonance necessary for that. It feels like the covid years signed the death warrant for Fandom as subculture and now it's just the culture. which means it's about time for the new subculture to splinter off. i think the divide between people who enjoy the legitimacy that comes from the mainstream commercialization of these previously niche transformative spaces and those who are detested by it instead is where that splintering will originate from.

I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the rescheduled Mass Lobby at Parliament, now on Wed Sept 9th, 1pm-5pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.

The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It became statutory guidance in the UK on August 5th, 2026.

Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.

A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Our demands have changed. Ask your MP to:

Write to Ministers and Prime Minister Andy Burnham to say they are profoundly concerned by the rolling back of trans rights, and that they believe that it is time for Parliament to legislate to protect equality for trans people.

Ask parliamentary questions focused on protecting trans people’s rights and defending trans people’s abilities to live safe and dignified lives.

Speak up both inside and outside Parliament in defence of trans people’s rights.

Meet regularly with trans constituents to understand their lived realities. 

Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.

I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.

We have already had some wins because we took action. The 2026 EHRC guidance has already rolled back its most harmful elements because of mass campaigning by individuals like us, and groups like The Good Law Project. This summer, 166 MPs signed the Early Day Motion 240 to reject the EHRC Code of Practice, because of our campaigning. That is 1 in 4 MPs.

It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut: