(⌒▽⌒)ノ

On the hundredth day after the new year the heralds come to the doors of the city, announcing the arrival of the Golden Caravan at the farthest stop of its route ; like every year, citizens and travellers will surely gather at the western door to see it come to pass.

Cold close.

--

The mood is bittersweet. There's celebration:

But so much destruction:

So many dead :

I won't attach the multiple pictures of skeletons, some unidentified in the streets, some with bullet holes in the skulls left in family homes.

This is the first day of a very, very long journey, still perilous because Trump can't be trusted either. Please continue to boost Palestinians and donate to fundraisers.

Leaving you with Jehad Abu Shamala raising the call to prayer in Gaza this morning.

In capitalism’s eyes, everything is but a tool or resource to make profit. Workers and nature alike. A forest is not inherently “valuable” to a capitalist; individual people are treated as “human resources” and labour for 8 - 13 hours per day, most days of their life, until they’re physically too old to continue.

My friends, my loves, my darlings. Hold my hand. Squeeze as tight as you need to. (Or we can just sit here together and you can squish this stress ball.) Cry if you need to. Scream if you need to. We'll let it out together, all the anger and fear and worry that's scraping us raw on the inside. It's okay if it's ugly and messy and incoherent and crude. Doesn't matter. Just us here.

I've got a hug if you need one. If you need an encouraging word, I've got lots. And there are thousands of others out there, standing behind you and beside you in spirit. We can't fix everything, but we will do our damndest, bit by bit, to try and make things better.

I want you to promise me that you'll try. Doesn't need to be a lot, doesn't need to be life-altering. Taking care of yourself is enough. Getting through the day is enough. If all you can do is survive, that counts. If you can do more, whether it's standing up or speaking up or helping out in whatever way you can, then you do it with all your heart and know that I'm over here doing the same.

One more big squeeze. And even though it's over a silly post on the internet, I hope you can feel the love and the solidarity that I'm sending your way. I hope it gives you something to hold onto. I hope it lightens your load, even if it's just for a moment.

I want to see you on the other side of this. Doesn't matter how long it takes. I want us to sit together again when things are better, so we can laugh and cry and celebrate. I promise you that I'm going to try. I am living for that day when we don't have to be afraid anymore and I truly hope that you'll be there with me. And if you aren't...or if I'm not...let's both have faith that we tried our hardest and never backed down.

You're here. I'm here. We are HERE.

and the original graphic novel is phenomenal:

I highly recommend them both

1) lewis prothero as a rush limbaugh/glenn beck/bill o’reilly type is both more applicable and way funnier than a 1940s radio propagandist 

2) it has stephen fry as gordon detriech, and makes him explicitly gay and pretending to be attracted to evey as part of being closeted than actually attracted to evey and having sex with her while she hides in his home.

3) the movie came out in 2005; that is, only four years after 9/11, while the Iraq war was still in full swing, and while xenophobia and Islamophobia were not just acceptable, but tacitly encouraged by the administration at the time. which makes the following exchange even more poignant and sweet:

Evey: [seeing a book in a glass display case] What is that? Gordon: It’s a copy of the Qur’an, 14th century. Evey: [shocked] Are you a Muslim? Gordon: No, I’m in television. Evey: But why would you keep it? Gordon: I don’t have to be a Muslim to find the images beautiful or its poetry moving.

It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years, I had roses, and apologize to no one.

I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An Inch, it is small and it is fragile, but it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.

I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you. -Valerie”

Just reminder:

Fuck ICE

Death to Trump and his billionaire buddies