just a tankie girl 🎀

Born in 1921 into a poor Tibetan family in Jinchuan county, Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province, Wang endured a difficult childhood. She lost her parents at the age of 1 and was raised by her uncle until she was 5. She then worked as a child laborer for a local landlord, doing heavy farm and household work.

At the age of 14, she was deeply inspired by the disciplined and people-oriented conduct of Red Army soldiers after they arrived in Jinchuan in 1935. She volunteered to join the troops, undertaking logistical and medical duties, including guiding marches, cooking, transporting grain and caring for wounded soldiers during the Long March.

In March 1936, Wang became separated from the main force during fierce battles against Kuomintang troops in Danba county. Stranded with injured comrades, she tried to rejoin the troops by crossing snowcapped mountains barefoot and surviving on wild plants in freezing temperatures.

What in the xkcd/2071

hey anon!

to be fair, some still do. he still has loyal fans but most Brazilians either loathe him or are indifferent to him. he played well, he was a really good player but he deliberately let himself go by not taking care of his body. he's incredibly arrogant. he thinks he's owed to be in the national team although he hasn't played well since 2022. he and his management were not honest about his lesions. he always took time off from the clubs he played in around carnival or his sister's birthday, without fail.

these are all the times where he was lesioned around carnival, new years, birthdays and missed important matches.

he cheated on his pregnant wife. he promotes betting (that has left many Brazilians in debt.) he and his posse (parças) can't take criticisms. he is referred to as "menino ney" or "boy ney". it started out as an affectionate nickname when he was young but now it became a self fulfilling prophecy, he just can't grow up. he throws tantrums (like that shameful moment in the last world cup match Brazil had where he had to act arrogant and a spoiled brat to norway's goalie in a *losing* match.) he faced massive backlash for backing real estate projects linked to a controversial constitutional amendment aimed at privatizing public beaches. he backed Bolsonaro even after the disastrous pandemic management where 700 thousand people had died because the Bolsonaro government would NOT get the goddamn vaccines, minimized covid and actively sabotaged lockdown.

and his fans are really fucking annoying and misogynistic, not to mention delusional. and I could say more about him.

This is a highly sought-after workshop, particularly in Gaza, as many students aim to apply for scholarships in European countries to pursue their education in an inspiring and safe environment.

Today, for the second time, we are raising funds to host another free workshop for the many students awaiting the second part of the series. Sponsoring one student’s attendance costs $10;

your contribution will enable a student from Gaza to attend a free workshop led by specialists, where they will learn the details of the Duolingo English Test.

Fundraiser || PayPal || Vetting 1 || Vetting 2

Chile Víctor Jara - El derecho de vivir en paz

Week #2 2026/06/21

🇨🇱 Chile 🇨🇱 Víctor Jara - El derecho de vivir en paz About this project

World music day is here! I hope I’ll finish this review by its end. (Edit: I did :DDDDD)

This week I’m gonna talk about Victor Jara - his life, art and his tragic fate. Before starting this week, I was dead sure I would review El Indio by Los Jaivas. However, I dived a bit deeper into Chilean music and I found about Victor Jara and his impact on the society.

Los Jaivas is a band I came across 2 months ago and I was absolutely enchanted by their music. “Mira Niñita” and “La Conquistada” stand proudly as some of my favourite songs of all time. They are probably the most prominent band in the Chilean rock scene. They had a huge impact on the genre known as “Rock andino”, which blends progressive rock with traditional music of Andean people. This mix is honestly magical. Los Jaivas not only showed what traditional Chilean music looks like, but also created some prog-rock masterpieces which are absolutely on the level of Pink Floyd or King Crimson. This band is a national pride of Chile and I absolutely get why.

So.. why did I choose Victor instead of Jaivas? Well, mostly due to social reasons. Victor Jara’s life and music are an interesting showcase of Chilean society and politics. He was one of the most influential figures at his times, not only in music, but also in politics. He had become a face of change, equality and revolution due to his sincere lyrics and socialist views. Los Jaivas on the other hand were mostly doing their own thing. They were focused primarily on the music rather than the lyrics. “Tarka y ocarina” from El Indio is a great example - it’s a 13 minute long fully instrumental track (an insanely complex composition  by the way, which just shows how brilliant these people were). Their lyrics are thoughtful and poetic, but mostly abstract. “La Conquistada”, however, is believed to be about the fall of Chile under the military dictatorship. And this is a very important topic that I’m gonna talk about now.

In 1970 Salvador Allende won the elections in Chile. It is worth noting that Victor Jara had a huge impact on Allende’s political campaign. He was an artistic director of the legendary music group Quilapayún. They popularised a song “Venceremos” (“We will prevail”), which had become an anthem of Allende supporters. At that time Victor Jara had been made the cultural ambassador of the country. Allende is considered the first socialist president that was democratically elected. When we talk about communism, we often think of an “unelected leader” and “authoritarian regime”, but it’s not the case here. The people wanted Allende, and he was considered very pro-people. He made a lot of reforms that revolutionized the economy and decreased poverty. What’s important, he nationalised natural goods, such as copper, and therefore prevented US companies from exploiting Chile. Yeah, you can already see where this is going. As we all know, the US hates any socialist government that, in principle, would refuse to be exploited. Not long after Allende was elected, far-right US influences had spread throughout the country. It all culminated in the military coup on the 11th of September 1973 conducted by Augusto Pinochet. It started a US-backed dictatorship and resulted in the death of Salvador Allende, Victor Jara and thousands of other people.

Only a day after the coup, Victor was taken to a concentration camp, which was previously a national stadium, and was tortured in absolutely unimaginable ways. At some point, he started to sing “Venceremos”, the same song that once brought the now deceased Salvador Allende to the presidency. After hell on earth he went through, on the 16th of September, quoting Wikipedia, “he was shot dead, then his body was riddled with machine-gun bullets and dumped in the street”. All of this because he was a supporter of an anti-US government.

This story honestly broke me and I feel the need to raise awareness about it.

Now let’s get to the album - “El derecho de vivir en paz” (“The right to live in peace”), which was released in 1971. It starts with the title track, which is the most popular and the most culturally significant one. During Chilean social outbursts in 2019, this song was an anthem that united the protestors. This song is a commentary on the American intervention and genocide in Vietnam and a support of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of Vietnam. I think the power of this song lies in how specific it is. It talks about a certain situation and takes a side, rather than just speaking general knowledge. That’s my problem with many western anti-war songs - they are too general, safe and open to interpretation. A good example is John Lennon’s “Imagine”, which was, by the way, released the same year as “El derecho…”. It says something about peace, unity, and so on, but it’s about nothing specific, while at the same time certain people were dying in a certain country called Vietnam. Speaking of music itself, “El derecho de vivir en paz” is a song that’s just beautiful beyond words. It’s got a very simple, yet powerful melody, and it builds up - the instruments come in gradually. Victor sings it all in such a way that I feel there is still some hope in this world.

A desire to live in peace is something that will never die. It’s a pretty obvious thing - after all, safety is one of the most basic human needs. In a perfect world we wouldn’t even have to talk about it, but human rights violations happen all the time. Constant wars, genocides, atrocities done to nations considered “uncivilised” by the west, and the world's indifference to their suffering. 

Unfortunately, “El derecho de vivir en paz” hasn’t lost its relevance even a little bit. In Cuba there is an ongoing crisis deliberately caused by the US. The case of Salvador Allende showed us that the US would do any atrocity to overthrow a socialist government, and it’s the same story with Cuba. For a couple of decades, America has been depriving Cubans from their basic needs - such as food, water, gas and electricity - hoping that they will start a movement against their own government. Recently it has gotten worse than ever before. On 20th June 2026 (yesterday, as I’m writing this) the Cuban government, in hope to stop this crisis, has announced a reform that opens the country to the American market. Let’s be honest, Cuba is powerless compared to the US, so it will most likely end up in a tragic way. 

What concerns me the most is that the whole world is completely indifferent. Due to American propaganda, Cuba has a tragically bad reputation. Right-wing people take the side of the US, and left-wingers often simply don’t care, as the Cuban crisis is not a topic that’s talked about in the mainstream. The most important, supposedly leftist, Polish newspaper reacted very positively to that reform, saying that “Cuba is finally opening to a capitalist democracy”. 

Here are some sources about this reform and about the general situation in Cuba:

What about the other songs here? They are great too! Every single one of them is filled with hope and love, which shows both in the lyrics and in compositions. There are, of course, many heartwarming songs with a revolutionary message - a prime example has to be “Brigada Ramona Parra” (“Ramona Parra Brigade”), an upbeat march-like track.

There’s also “A Cuba” (“To Cuba”), a track close to my heart, which shows support for the Cuban revolution. It also mocks USA in a subtle way: “si quieres tomar ron pero sin Coca Cola, a Cuba iré!” / “if you want to drink rum but without Coca Cola, to Cuba I will go!”.

“Ni chicha ni limoná” is a fun and warm song that tells about people with double morality. Its bassline sounds oddly familiar.

“Abre la ventana” is my personal favourite, apart from the title track of course. Its lyrics are, surprisingly enough, not political. They tell about Maria, a girl that has undergone some cruelty. What’s interesting, this song has a strangely dark and psychedelic atmosphere. This song immediately reminds me of the film “La Casa Lobo” - a Chilean animated horror about Maria, a girl who escaped a religious colony. I honestly suspect that there might be a correlation between this film and the song - I feel like the creators of the film must have at least heard it. I even made an edit of “La Casa Lobo” with “Abre la ventana”, here it is :)))

Now, let’s talk about the musical genre of this album. The title track is some great Bob Dylan-like folk-rock. The rest of this album, however, belongs to a pretty interesting genre - Nueva canción chilena. It originated in the 60s and it’s a blend of Latin American rhythms and traditional Chilean music. It was intended to address social issues and was associated with leftist political movements. As you can imagine, Victor was one of the most important musicians within this genre. I noticed that this genre often uses Charango - it’s a traditional Andean guitar-like instrument with 10 strings and a pretty distinct sound. Check out Violeta Parra - she’s an absolute icon of Charango and of this genre as a whole.

I seriously didn’t intend to write such a long review, I spent almost the entire day writing it. However, once I learned about what Victor went through and what is currently happening in Cuba, I just couldn’t focus on anything else. I am deeply disgusted by what the American government has done and is still doing, and I feel that what I know is just the tip of the iceberg. However, there IS some hope left - Victor Jara and his fidelity to his ideals are a prime example of it. I feel that the hope for this world lies in the countries of the Global South. ¡Viva Chile, viva Latinoamérica!

Rest in peace, you legend.

“Victor Jara, tu canción Es fuego de puro amor Es palomo palomar Olivo del olivar Es el canto universal Cadena que hará triunfar El derecho de vivir en paz”

Here are some other artists and albums from Chile:

Los Jaivas (of course)

Quilapayún (Victor Jara’s band!)

Violeta Parra (check out the song Gracias a la vida)

Los Tres

Los Prisioneros

Niña Tormenta (I heard she’s good)

One of her family told us that she had given birth yesterday evening, but that Child Protection services had taken her baby away with no warning, claiming that she wasnt prepared to look after him. What had happened, is that she'd literally only just given birth -- hadn't even passed the afterbirth yet, is holding her blood-coated, crying, newborn baby to her chest -- and a nurse asked what her feeding plan was. She was tired from the birth and distracted by the brand new baby in her arms and thrown off by the timing of the question, but still, she managed to answer, and said she planned to breastfeed him whenever he was hungry.

Well apparently that wasn't enough of a plan for the hospital staff, who reported her and claimed that she was unprepared to look after the child, and claimed that had no social supports, and that the baby was at risk if left with her. All because a brand new mother, 30 seconds after giving birth, didn't have a PowerPoint presentation ready to go that cited the timing cycle she would feed her kid on, and instead simply said that she would feed him when he was hungry.

Child Protection services showed up, took her kid, and she was told to show up to court the next day to contest custody if she wanted her baby back.

So a woman who had given birth less than 24 hours prior was forced to rally her family and show up to court to prove that she a) had a feeding plan for the child, and b) had enough social supports to justify reclaiming her baby.

It was one of the most appalling things I'd ever seen. I don't even know if she won her case. They didn't know at the time we saw them, and after that brief interaction on the stairs, i never saw them again. I sincerely hope she got her newborn baby back.

That was about 5 years ago. And the exact same kind of thing is still happening today.

News broke today from a South Australian whistle-blower of the appalling treatment new mothers frequently receive, including hospital staff taking the baby away from the mother "for medical tests," only for the mother to then be told, with absolutely no prior warning, that the baby was not going to be returned to her.

Here's the article, and here are some excerpts: