Palestine At A Distance 🇵🇸

I never carried a rifle on my shoulder, Nor did I pull a trigger. All I have is a flute’s melody. A brush to paint my dreams, A bottle of ink. All I have is unshakeable faith, And an infinite love for my people in pain.

Reject the male gaze by being an ugly old crone with long greasy hair and a hooked nose. Try dressing yourself exclusively in filthy rags, or, if those aren’t available, maybe just wrap a huge bed sheet toga-style around your body. What’s most important is that you’re comfortable and can move your arms easily to cast wicked spells. Dress for you and your needs, not for anyone else. Get yourself a set of iron teeth because why the fuck not, those are super metal. Like, literally metal. Remind yourself that you don’t exist to please men – you exist to be a terrifying witch who does whatever she wants.

I don’t get it when people cite international law as if it’s some kind of undisputed moral authority.

Haiti has the dubious distinction of being “the poorest country in the Western hemisphere” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012); yet, it was the richest of France’s colonies until the Haitian Revolution, the only slave revolution to ever found a state. This paradox can be explained by what/who counts as whose property. Under French colonialism, Haiti was a worth a fortune in enslaved human beings. From the French slave owners’ perspectives, Haitian independence abolished not slavery, but their property and a source of common-wealth. Unfortunately, history provides us with the exact figures on what their property was worth; in 1825, “France recognized Haitian independence by a treaty requiring Haiti to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs payable in 5 years to compensate absentee slaveowners for their losses”. 150 million Francs was the equivalent of France’s annual budget (and Haiti’s population was less than 1% of France’s), 10 times all annual Haitian exports in 1825, equivalent to $21 billion in 2010 U.S. Dollars. By contrast, France sold the Louisiana Purchase to the United States in 1803 for a net sum of 42 million Francs. The magnitude of these reparations, not for slavery, but to former slave owners, plunged Haiti into eternal debt.