ICE is coming to a city near you: things you should know from a tumblrina on the ground in the twin cities
i know i am usually pretty hehe haha on this app and here to generally mess around and have fun about television however, the circumstances of the last few weeks in my city and state have been truly so dire that it feels impossible to even pretend like that is an option right now. and i like to help so here is what i know:
yesterday, january 12th, border patrol commander greg bovino gave a very weird interview to the minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO, in which he lied repeatedly but importantly noted that once they “[get] bad things off the streets, we’re off to the next city.” we have seen increased immigration enforcement since day 1 of the new trump administration with many cities pushing back against operations already but, as what has been highly reported, nothing as large as the scale of the current operation in MN. plus with the pushback they have received here, these freak individuals will certainly have new motivation to incite violence wherever they go. use this as a little cheat sheet to prepare yourself for when it is your turn or, to jump in to the action rn and help out our immigrant communities in MN.
WHAT MN IS DOING TO PROTECT OUR NEIGHBORS
following ICE vehicles, observing their arrests and interactions with the public <- this is obviously not without risk. many people are being harassed, physicallyinjured, tear gassed & pepper sprayed, arrested, and as we know, killed when doing this. however, it is still the most useful tactic in intervening with these operations.
donating, collecting, and distributing food & household necessities for vulnerable families so they don’t have to leave their home. there are some incredible operations going on in the twin cities and the surrounding suburbs in order to get this done. if you want to help minnesotans i’d recommend looking into the work of places like smitten kitten, wrecktangle pizza, the immigrant defense network, MIRAC, and MN ice watch. if i were in a vulnerable city (aka blue state) i’d start thinking about groups, organizations, churches etc in your area that could run similar networks and prepare stockpiling donations.
businesses are operating with reduced (or even fully closed) hours to protect patrons and staff. many havesigns in their storefront windows indicating that ICE can not enter. the one i linked is from etsy however organizations in your area will likely have them for free.
finding out which hotels (usually near a major airport) agents are staying at and protesting all night long being loud as fuck. + boycotting these hotels in the future
3D printing whistles! using these whistles in order to alert when ICE is near.
notes for VULNERABLE/UNDOCUMENTED PEOPLE and their families
get an action plan in place. i know it sucks to talk and think about. i know it is unfair but figure out worst case scenarios and what to do in them. even if you’ve been here for decades and have felt relatively safe in that time, i do suggest communicating with family and making a plan regardless.
for PROTECTING MINORS: in minnesota we have something called a delegation of parental authority (DOPA). this is a notarized legal document that delegates the authority and care of minor for one year if their parent or legal guardian can not. i would highly suggest looking into the steps of declaring parental authority in your own state and starting the process asap. (it is relatively easy here in mn! you just need to have one parent present to sign the document and get it notarized)
prepare as best you can for time off work, a lot of time spent in the house. get little stuff done like tabs for your car renewed, any insurance issues taken care of, doctor’s appointments done etc. start talking with your church or immigrant organizations in your area about getting supplies delivered to your home when needed.
PEOPLE WANT TO HELP! they really do. i know it is so fucking terrifying but there are so many people who do want the best for everyone in their community. if you need help please ask for it.
other general notes: they’re arresting literally anyone in MN, citizen or not. they’re harassing kids at school (minneapolis schools have allowed for children to learn from home until february 12th). they’re arresting people at work. it does not matter. a lot of people here are carrying their passports and other documentation to avoid this. you don’t have to give anyone your identification even when asked but unfortunately many who refuse have been met with violence. they’re going into hospitals, homes, schools, businesses and they don’t have warrants. of course know your rights but be aware they really don’t give a fuck. they’re arresting first and asking questions later.
most importantly people working for ICE and border patrol have something deeply wrong with them. they’re disgusting, immoral people whose “work” will be a stain on their lives and this country until the end of time. and i can not stress this enough, they are so fucking stupid. they are not stronger than us. they are not smarter than us. they are not more righteous or justified in any of their actions and eventually the day will come that their most prized leader turns on them, dies, or both. they will never be forgiven.
with that i leave you with two videos of agents eating shit on the ice that i can’t stop watching. fucking pussies.
I write this with a heavy heart… My friend is going through the hardest days of his life. Yesterday he lost his uncle, and today his mother is still in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy.
On the third day of her treatment, his mother sleeps most of the time from sheer exhaustion. Each chemotherapy session lasts a full 22 hours, and she’s connected to it without a break.
Between the grief of loss and the pain of illness, they can no longer afford the costs of continuing her treatment
I write to you today pleading for compassion and humanity… Any donation, any help, any contribution could make a real difference and help save a mother’s life.
Whoever can help, please don’t hesitate.Support now means so much 💔
Do I deserve all this pain? Don’t I have a heart to feel what you’re going through? 💔
I share this with you with a broken heart… My mother is suffering terribly and is still in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy. She is in excruciating pain, and I stand helpless before her suffering, able only to pray. Amidst this pain, I also lost my uncle and his wife… loss after loss, and unbearable sorrow.
Since late September I’ve been living in Czechia. I will say that I’m still willing to take living in Ukraine over a nice life abroad, but that’s a life. And lately, I’ve started to get really tight with money, and now I’m basically empty, if not counting humanitarian help from the Czech government, which is still not enough to pay for the room. So if you want to help me with some money, I’ll really appreciate it.
Sadly, in Gaza even basic food and medical supplements are hard to find or impossible to afford. My sister condition could deteriorate at any moment due to malnutrition and anemia. Her body is growing weaker day by day and can no longer endure any delay. I will not forgive anyone who scrolls past this call and keeps browsing without even sharing my post.
Her condition is worsening, the lack of vitamins and blood is threatening her life, and urgent nutrition and treatment are now critical. I am a sister in Gaza with no medicine, no proper food, and no answers, watching time steal my sister piece by piece. Please donate to save MY SISTER.
I refuse to let my sister fade quietly while the world scrolls past. If you are reading this, you are part of her story now. Share, help, donate now—be the reason my sister gets another tomorrow.
If you’re at work in a retail or hospitality environment and you see a sex worker with a client… no you didn’t.
If your boss asks you if you think that person’s a sex worker, you tell them you do not believe that. You don’t report their presence to anyone. You don’t joke about it with a coworker. You don’t eavesdrop or bother them.
We’re working the same as you are. Leave us alone!
Some examples of situations where you might need to keep your mouth shut about a potential sex worker:
You see someone you don’t recognize walk past reception at your hotel to head directly for the stairs or elevator or towards the rooms without acknowledging you at the reception desk. Yes, this includes when the person is wearing revealing clothing or a nice dress and heels. This is not your business.
You notice multiple men going to the same hotel room during the same evening, each only staying for an hour or so at a time. This is not your business.
You seat two customers for dinner and work as their waiter/waitress for the night. You see one give an envelope of cash to the other. Yes, this includes when there’s a huge age gap between the two and they’re being affectionate. This is not your business.
You overhear one customer ask another how much they charge for a night, whilst making drinks for them. You heard nothing. This is not your business.
I do not care what kind of retail or hospitality setting you work in. If you see a sex worker, no you didn’t!
if the cops get involved, you know who gets punished? not any of the clients, only the sex worker. not a pimp, not the hotel manager, only the worker; and the cops are liable to sexually assault them as well.
if you have any qualms about sex work, you can start by improving workers’ rights as a whole. demilitarizing police. increasing comprehensive sex ed for all ages. battling misogyny in the workplace. under the boot of capitalism, we all suffer - the most vulnerable, such as sex workers, suffer worst. leave them be.
As a young boy in school, Masaki Sashima would be dragged out of his classroom and beaten by his fellow students.
Masaki, now 72, was different to the other kids.
He was Ainu, an Indigenous people from the country’s northern regions, most notably the large island of Hokkaido.
“During recess, the hallway door would open, and several guys would yell at me to come out,” he said.
“I clung to my desk in the classroom and kept quiet.
"Everyone would surround me and beat me.”
Japan has long portrayed itself as culturally and ethnically homogenous, something that some have even argued is a key to its success as a nation.
More than 98 per cent of Japanese people are descendants of the Yamato people.
But the Ainu are distinct, with their own history, languages, and culture.
But, as the victims of colonialism, assimilation, and discrimination, much of that identity has been lost.
An Ainu woman named Chiri Yukie wrote down some of her people’s oral traditions into Japanese because, as a child, her people were being displaced by Japanese settlers in Hokkaido. Her language was disappearing, so she (ironically) saw translating the stories into Japanese as a way to preserve them. She died at age 19.
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Some of the objects from the Ainu exhibition at Japan House in London this year, showcasing traditional Ainu skills and culture. There is a campaign to get Ainu recognised as an official language, at least in Hokkaido, and small steps are happening, for example, bilingual bus stops. It reminds me of the struggle for Welsh to be revived after suppression for centuries.
second image ID: the cover of The Song The Owl God Sang: The collected Ainu legends of Chiri Yukie, Translated into English by Benjamin Peterson. end ID
Also, this is a good short ~25 minute documentary that shows Ainu people fighting to recover their ancestral bones and bodies from Hokkaido University that’s worth a watch.
This is something which it is extremely important to understand about Japan as a nation. It has a national and international narrative about itself as a unified, geographically and culturally consistent polity, but from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, to the Ryukyuan island chain near Taiwan (and well beyond at various times), the Japanese have undertaken imperial conquest and colonization of their nearby territories, and have attempted brutal assimilation or eradication of the indigenous people of those places, and the Japanese government has historically been wildly resistant to recognizing those minority groups as minority groups, likely in part because it would commit the country to offering them appropriate legal protections.
Japan IS ethnically diverse, Japan IS linguistically diverse, it IS culturally diverse, and the portrayal of Japan as a homogenous society is a portrayal which serves the political aims of particular groups, often the far right and conservative wings of Japanese society, and certainly the apologists for empire.
Initially, to justify Imperial Japan’s conquest of Continental Asia, Imperial Japanese propaganda espoused the ideas of Japanese supremacy by claiming that the Japanese represented a combination of all East Asian peoples and cultures, emphasizing heterogeneous traits. Imperial Japanese propaganda started to place an emphasis on the ideas of racial purity and the supremacy of the Yamato race when the Second Sino-Japanese War intensified.
Fuelled by the ideology of racial supremacy, racial purity, and national unity between 1868 and 1945, the Meiji and Imperial Japanese government carefully identified and forcefully assimilated marginalized populations, which included Okinawans, the Ainu, and other underrepresented non-Yamato groups, imposing assimilation programs in language, culture and religion.
This poster introduces the basics of security culture—a set of shared practices designed to minimize risk for everyone. Please distribute these at demonstrations and post them in community spaces.
A declassified World War II-era government guide to “simple sabotage” is currently one of the most popular open source books on the internet. The book, called “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” was declassified in 2008 by the CIA and “describes ways to train normal people to be purposefully annoying telephone operators, dysfunctional train conductors, befuddling middle managers, blundering factory workers, unruly movie theater patrons, and so on. In other words, teaching people to do their jobs badly.”
Over the last week, the guide has surged to become the 5th-most-accessed book on Project Gutenberg, an open source repository of free and public domain ebooks. It is also the fifth most popular ebook on the site over the last 30 days, having been accessed nearly 60,000 times over the last month (just behind Romeo and Juliet).
sometimes I talk about disliking copyright/IP on here, and I always try to stress that the reason these conversations matter is because copyright law is used in real life to hurt real people. I want to highlight a current example of this happening which I haven’t seen talked about on my dash yet.
Solar Being is a small business run by two natural hair sculpting artists. their art has gone viral online a few times, and one of their most recognizable creations are their shaped hair puffs:
on Solar Being’s legal defense page they say they “believe [geometric hairstyle] designs should remain free for others to use, reinterpret, and express through their creative and commercial endeavors”. and if these copyright infringement complaints are held up, it will likely affect the rights of other natural hair sculpting artists to create designs like this.
if you’d like to support Solar Being’s legal fund they’re accepting donations now, and I’d recommend supporting them through social media as well. I’m not personally associated with Solar Being and am just repeating what they’ve already said through their website and social media.
lots of people around copyright/IP discussions like to talk about supporting artists, and if you want direct that supportive energy somewhere productive I feel this situation is one that deserves your attention.
I’m going to be scratching at the surface of this, but when I use the term “calculated” when describing Israel’s genocidal tactics, I’m not using it arbitrarily. Military violence is in fact based on a lot of calculations, and here I don’t mean figurative estimations but rather actual mathematical formulas.
The first example that comes to mind is from the Iraq war, where “the number of anticipated civilian deaths was carefully appraised beforehand in a calculation known as the collateral damage estimate”.
A mathematical calculation was needed in order to determine the extent of casualties following US attacks. “The magic number was 30”, meaning if the number of expected civilians killed in a US attack was ≥30, Rumsfeld or Bush had to sign off on the attack. Whereas if the number was less than 30, it was an automatic go-ahead.
This degree of dehumanisation is basically seen as setting a threshold so that military lawyers and humanitarian law can be able to determine what’s “lawful” and what’s “collateral civilian death”.
Now of course this is something applied by Israel as well, where, for instance, formulas are created to predict the number of people necessary to be killed by Israel in order for a Palestinian organisation to be eliminated. One equation was created by Itzhaq Ben Israel, then chairman of Israel’s space agency, in 2002. It goes: Q=1–(q ln q + 1/q ln 1/q), where Q stands for the probability of the collapse of the Palestinian organisation and q is the percentage of killings necessarily done by Israel. You can find the breakdown of it here.
Israel doesn’t stop there. With its siege on Gaza since 2007, it relied heavily on daily calculations to enforce its blockade. You’ve likely heard about the Red Lines documents, in which Israel calculates the amounts of food allowed into Gaza through rationing calories using the following formulas:
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These calculations usually use a “humanitarian minimum” threshold determined by lawyers, scientists, engineers, humanitarian experts, etc. Based on these thresholds, the formulas and equations also seep into things like the amount of electricity Gaza would receive. For example, in 2008 Israel would reduce the current supplied by each powerline by 5% every week for months to test how low the minimum threshold can be.
When Gaza’s power plant required 3.5 million litres of diesel to work at full capacity, Israel’s high court decided that the “humanitarian minimum” was 2.2 million litres, reducing the plant’s operation to 68%, forcing Gaza to undergo routine blackouts (details here). Israel then reduced it to 1.5 million litres which affected fresh water supply, crops, and decreased sewage pumping, resulting in the sewage treatment plant to overflow and for millions of litres of raw sewage to pour into the Mediterranean for days, after which of course Israel decided to increase the amount of diesel allowed in as that started to affect Israeli beaches.
So yea, they may call it “calculating the economy of the violence” or “proportionality principles”. But it’s murder. It’s genocide. It’s incremental and it’s grotesque.
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