Tag: qed

class-struggle-anarchism:

danncove:

The Battle of Cable Street – October 4th 1936

In 1936, fascism was gaining ground across Europe. In Britain, Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirted British Union of Fascists (BUF) portrayed Jewish people as the cause of the country’s problems. East London had the largest Jewish population in Britain and the announcement that Mosley and his Blackshirts planned a provocative march through the area on October the 4th was greeted with anger and a determination that it should be stopped. A petition was signed and local politicians tried to have the march called off – but to no avail.

On the day, up to 250,000 people gathered to defend the East End. There was a fierce battle with the police when they attempted to clear a path for the march and a barricade was erected and defended in Cable Street. People in their houses threw eggs, milk bottles and the contents of chamber pots from upstairs’ windows, whilst at ground level, marbles were rolled under police horses’ hooves. The march could not proceed and Mosley was ordered to abandon his plans. It was a blow against fascism and that night there was dancing in the streets.

The anti-fascists were made up of communist, socialist, anarchist, Jewish, and Irish groups amongst the local residents and far outnumbered the Blackshirts, and indeed the Metropolitan Police. It was a significant factor in the decline of the BUF prior to the second world war.

NO PASARAN!

Happy Cable Street Day – when the people of London said ‘fuck you’ to fascism

Those hand wringing ‘its totally fine that I only focus on white guys in fiction cause preferences just happen/it’s feminist somehow/I’m dark and edgy and I only like complex characters (and white characters are more complex cause reasons)/freedom of expression as a last resort/etc’ posts are mostly people trying to convince themselves in the face of other people finally having a platform to point out that what they are doing is racist.

lj-writes:

It never sits right with me that Cassian is called a former Separatist. Cassian, as @attackfish pointed out, was born 26 BBY and was at most seven years old when the Clone Wars were over and the Separatists were officially defeated in 19 BBY.

I mean, child Cassian may have thrown rocks and bottles at the Republic military, maybe even tagged along with Separatists to give what help he could, but that alone does not make him an insurgent. It is factually, morally, militarily, legally, and humanly wrong to call a child a combatant when he was being a kid in a community under attack. That’s the kind of rhetoric that gets children murdered.

Flip the script, though. What if this was a story that Cassian spread about himself? What if he himself claimed to have been a Separatist and the story spread? What would he gain from telling such a lie or, at the very least, gross exaggeration?

Well, there’s an element of fear and respect, of course. Maybe his enemies would think twice before tangling with a battle-hardened insurgent. Maybe he wanted his comrades to take him seriously. Maybe he wanted to get into the Rebellion and forged his credentials. (”Oh hey, I used to kill Republic soldiers. Can I get in on this Alliance to Restore the Republic action?”)

You know what I think, though? I think he originally made up that story to lie about his age.

Imagine Cassian at fourteen or fifteen, with nothing more to lose and nothing left for him at home except ruins and grief. He wants to join the Rebels but they’re like, hey um, there’s a little problem. You’re underage, come back when you’re old enough to drink kthxbye

And Cassian, rubbing at a moustache that is totally not makeup and speaking in a falsetto baritone that is totally his natural speaking voice, tells them: HOW DARE U I’M NOT A KID I’M TWENTY-FIVE. I USED TO BE A DANGEROUS SEPARATIST AND I’VE KILLED CLONE TROOPERS FOR LESSER INSULTS IS THIS BECAUSE OF MY HEIGHT I’M SUING FOR EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION

And the Rebel recruitment officer is like… okay…? It’s not like they can pull records to check anyway, even if the records from Separatist planets were all intact.

So young Cassian joins the Alliance, head held high, and the story spreads and becomes part of his mystique. Sure it might not match with some of his other biographical details and his close friends might know it’s bullshit, but the story was useful on multiple levels and he didn’t bother denying it when people asked.

itsmurjana:

wldybbuk:

One day men are gonna be putting flowers in their hair and theyre gonna speak softly and be comfortable with open displays of affection for one another and they’re still gonna be violently oppressing and dominating women :+)

just wanna say that the american form of masculinity isn’t the only form there’s many cultures around the world where men already are soft spoken and openly affectionate towards other men and yes you guessed it they still dominate and oppress women 🙃