As I chanted “No Trump. No KKK. No Fascist USA,” I looked into the faces of the marchers around me, and I got my answer: Americans are not accustomed to this. Most of these hundreds of thousands of people had probably never been to a protest before, and never marched with their children and their parents and screamed at the top of their lungs in the middle of a metropolitan road. This was their first time, their introduction to taking the streets. What I assumed was a lack of passion turned out to be something equally important: a first step. The million people: women, men, children, and allies who marched on Washington, did not have the experience of fighting against overt oppression, but they knew they needed to show up; they knew they must be united in the face of a new era that will have them fight for the rights they have long taken for granted. On this day, the American Woman showed up, she rose to the occasion, and though she was hesitant, she was determined.We arrived at the White House, filling the National Mall with pink pussy hats and chants of “my body, my rights”, and made our presence known. Soon after people started to scatter, but for the rest of the day, one could not go anywhere without running into someone with a sign or a pussy hat. This may not be the desperate protest that started a revolution against a Middle Eastern dictatorship, but it is the American woman beginning her fight. The movement has begun.
All posts by nedhamson
The Day I Turned from a Victim into a Survivor. | Rebelle Society
I’ve been married since, and have been grateful enough to find husbands who understand that my legs can’t be pinned down. That there are times when my PTSD flares up and I. Just. Can’t.The emotional part is the hardest. Like I said, I use sex as a tool to protect myself from rejection. I use sex as a tool to protect myself from the rejection of this man I love.He is the first and only one who has ever called me out on my daddy issues, and he’s also the first to honestly make me think that I really do have them. But, at the very least, I am a survivor. I prevented another child from being molested. I prevented another child from losing her childhood to my piece-of-shit stepdad. While he rots in prison, I survived. Daddy issues and all.
Source: The Day I Turned from a Victim into a Survivor. | Rebelle Society
MASSIVE INSPIRING AND UPLIFTING PROTESTS WORLDWIDE | Jane Fonda
Never pass up an opportunity to Dance with the one and only Debbie Allen! Debbi also spoke reminding us that “freedom must prevail!”
Source: MASSIVE INSPIRING AND UPLIFTING PROTESTS WORLDWIDE | Jane Fonda
Growing up in fear of men – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.
I was 14 the first time a boy kissed me. It was during a Math class. I needed to use the washroom, and he came out a minute after I did. I didn’t want it. He wasn’t gentle about it. I still remember his nails digging into my arms. I remember how long it took. I remember his hand grabbing my waist, his grip in my hair, his tongue in my mouth, and his teeth scraping my lips. I remember how hard his grip was when he was grabbing my breasts.This was the same boy who became the face of my nightmares for two years. Sebastian made jokes about it in class: about my body, about what he wanted to do to me. The boys laughed; the girls rolled their eyes. The Math teacher ignored it all. I smiled along with the girls who insisted that he liked me. I cried when I was alone. I cried a lot over those two years. Fourteen-year-old me didn’t even know that I had the ability to cry so much.The first boy I was ever infatuated with was in the same Math class. I liked him. He was nice to me. He made me laugh. I was happy when he was around. Sebastian didn’t like that. He made it his mission to become friends with the boy I liked. I never knew in detail what it was that Sebastian said to him; what it was that made him ashamed to be around me. I didn’t know if Sebastian even told him about the kiss, or if he made it sound consensual. My crush started avoiding me, making me feel like I wasn’t good enough. After a while, I didn’t think I was good enough for anyone either.Looking back, I’m not disappointed in myself anymore. After a while I told people. I told teachers, and I told other girls who had been through similar experiences. The teachers were the biggest disappointments. It isn’t reasonable to expect children to protect other children. Teachers are supposed to have a duty towards the children they teach. The adult figures in my life failed me. It shouldn’t have taken me screaming and crying in class one day for a teacher to actually remove him from the class. That same male teacher shouldn’t have told me, when I raised my voice because Sebastian wouldn’t stop, that ‘it took two to tango.’
Source: Growing up in fear of men – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.
Five Pacific islands lost to rising seas as climate change hits – “Don’t tell the Sweet Potato Head kid… shhh!”
Five tiny Pacific islands have disappeared due to rising seas and erosion, a discovery thought to be the first scientific confirmation of the impact of climate change on coastlines in the Pacific, according to Australian researchers.The submerged islands were part of the Solomon Islands, an archipelago that over the last two decades has seen annual sea levels rise as much as 10mm (0.4in), according to research published in the May issue of the online journal Environmental Research Letters.The missing islands, ranging in size from 1 to 5 hectares (2.5-12.4 acres) were not inhabited by humans. But six other islands had large swaths of land washed into the sea and on two of those, entire villages were destroyed and people forced to relocate, the researchers found.
Source: Five Pacific islands lost to rising seas as climate change hits – Arid Zone Afforestation
Has Iran been sending Afghan children to fight in Syria? | Afghanistan Analysis
It is difficult to estimate the number of underage Afghans fighting in Syria, but former fighters have described the number of Afghan combatants as being in the thousands.Iranian authorities deny they are sending Afghans to fight in Syria in any official capacity. The Afghan foreign ministry promised last year to probe reports of Iran recruiting Afghan refugees, but it has not said anything since. However, former fighters have told the media and human rights organizations that IRGC trained and deployed them. Stories on the social media accounts of some of these fighters speak of battlefield visits they received from Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, which is responsible for international military operations. Iranian officials are also frequently seen attending funerals of Afghan fighters killed in Syria.
Source: Has Iran been sending Afghan children to fight in Syria? | Afghanistan Analysis
When a Palestinian girl is shot and killed ‘by accident’ | +972 Magazine
Samah’s father, Abed, finished his work in the field at around midday, informing his daughters that he would pick them up from Nablus. The mother, Halleh, and younger brother A. also came along for the ride. After some shopping in the city they started back home. After an hour the family’s car reached Hawara checkpoint. They passed the checkpoint without any other cars ahead of them; soldiers were present, but they did not try and stop the car. Then shots rang out. The front windshield was smashed. After that came the screams.Abed shouted for the passengers to duck. The car lurched on for a short distance, and then stopped. When Abed looked back, Samah was bleeding from her head. The hospital will later determine that a bullet went through her forehead, having found an exit wound.A Red Crescent ambulance in the area evacuated Samah to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. The rest of the family members hopped in a cab, and the two vehicles headed north back toward the checkpoint, where they were delayed. The soldiers refused to let the ambulance pass to Nablus. Abed, heated, asked the soldiers “Why did you kill my daughter?” “She had a knife,” they answered. He screamed at them: “A knife, what knife? She was holding a knife while sitting in a car with her mother and her siblings?”
Source: When a Palestinian girl is shot and killed ‘by accident’ | +972 Magazine
CNN Doesn’t Know How to Talk about the Women’s March on Washington Without a Manel – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger
I spent my Saturday night and Sunday morning watching videos of the Women’s March on Washington. Every conversation with friends was about how exciting it was that many of the women speaking at the march were non-white women, each of them talking from where they came — just before this, we’d each shared the ‘Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles’ document released by the organisers of the march.But of course, while all this was happening, it turns out the CNN couldn’t refrain from covering the Women’s March on Washington — with eight men and one woman.
Humans of New York
Source: Humans of New York
Lebanon’s Parliament Ridicules And Votes Down Anti-Sexual & Racial Harassment Law | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares
If you needed anymore proof that the current batch of patriarchal parliament members are no good, look no further than their constant ridicule and systematic decimation of women rights. Even the law they passed to “protect” women from domestic abuse a few years ago was passed in a near stillborn form after decades of labor.A few days ago, that parliament struck again when MP Ghassan Moukhaiber’s proposed law from 2014, aimed at criminalizing sexual and racial harassment, came up for a discussion and a vote. Instead of behaving in a civil manner and actually discussing the many merits of the law, which is of vital importance for the betterment of any society, our parliament members met the proposal with uproars and ridicule.












You must be logged in to post a comment.