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Leaf Seligman's avatar

I read this in March and again now (July 21). I appreciate the candid recognition and reporting about your whiteness and privilege eliciting a response born of the experiences of indigenous people who associate your identity with that of oppression. As you note as a female, you have viewed male-bodied people as the Men who embody patriarchal oppression. It’s hard to distinguish between the visible resemblance of the individual and the collective identity of systemic oppression—and as a white person who is also a US citizen, I know my presence may represent the worst acts of oppression and genocide. Part of my work, my effort to repair the harm is to notice and acknowledge the ways I continue (however unintentionally) to embody white supremacy and Global North dominance. And then change my behavior. And reading about the Green Monster of sugarcane production reminds me of the limited nature of virtue. I have been a vegan for 13 years and I was a vegetarian for 34 years before that because I did not want to exploit animals in order to nourish my body and yet I am painful aware that I exploit human beings when I nourish my body because agricultural workers are among the most exploited on earth, and even though I buy only organic sugar, I know it is not fairly traded. Sometimes I do purchase fairly traded sugar, but I would never be able to eat or drink anything outside my home if I only consumed fairly traded sugar. So every day I have the destruction of the earth and the crushing of cultures on my hands. Acknowledging complicity and grieving the ways I cannot practically escape it is part of the work—and also acknowledging that we are all co-constituent cells in body of earth is part of the process. I am part of the destruction and part of the generative ongoing creation. I can exude tenderness and joy and that’s important to embrace. Otherwise, I would not know how to bear the weight of being born white and in the US. It helps knowing I am part of the whole and not just part of problem.

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Barry Carter's avatar

They’re 10 calories of fossil fuel in 1 calorie of food, goodness knows how much goes into our clothes, and all the other paraphernalia we surround ourselves with, but I’m sure there’s a place in heaven for you Leaf, apologies if you’re an atheist🤔

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MonkeyBalancingBuddha's avatar

Huge appreciation reading this. Sensitive and responsive, detailed and balanced 🙇🏼‍♂️ go steady with this work 🏄🏼‍♀️

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Rachel Donald's avatar

Thank you so much. We’re grateful to be doing it.

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Peter Todd's avatar

A long and wonderful read, thank you.

Delving into to burden of race and history was really enlightening.

I'm looking forward to seeing the film.

Take much care.

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Rachel Donald's avatar

I’m so glad it was of value, Peter!

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Leon S's avatar

So glad you've shared this backstory. Thank you.

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Rachel Donald's avatar

Thank you for being here.

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Aaron N Gray's avatar

We need to establish solar desalination plants on the both shores of Africa and the Eastern shores of South America to reirrigate the land while incrementally replanting and restoring rain forests and food sources. In conjunction we need to do ocean rain cloud restoration with saline water spray n order to offset the massive reductions in sulphur emissions from shipping. Given increases in land based evaporation and rebooting of the coupling of rain forests and local weather systems the half page Copernicus paper that stamped on low level cloud seeding should be nulled

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Barry Carter's avatar

Maybe I missed it Aaron, but what has this to do with the above article, just asking.

With regards to desalination plants, you don’t say what type of plants these would be, are they for instance hi tech industrial plants, and what energy sources would they use, flammable fossils perhaps or REbuildable energy sources, or maybe you were thinking of something simpler like solar stills, again just asking🤔

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Andy's avatar

Keep them

🍁 Elbows UP! 🏒

The next big national protest this summer is in FIVE days:

Families First

Saturday July 26th

https://www.familiesfirstnow.org/?utm_source=moveon

Get ready to show congress that FAMILIES come first, and not the cruel cuts and attacks on them that we’re seeing from the White House.

Nationwide Anti-Trump 'Families First' Protest Planned for July 26

https://www.newsweek.com/nationwide-anti-trump-families-first-protest-planned-july-26-2100685

Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson ('Film Noir' Style Cover) ft. Aubrey Logan

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRJIUI6-tY

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Juzzie Smith - SUPERHEROS Offical Video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=37J2vb81Z8o

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Keep protests peaceful.

Don't kill anyone.

Here are resistance related guides from around the world:

🇺🇸 Fundamentals of physical surveillance: a guide for uniformed and plainclothes personnel

https://archive.org/details/fundamentalsofph0000silj

The RCMP has its own publications including:

🇨🇦 GCPSG-022 (2025) - Threat and Risk Assessment Guide

GCPSG-010 (2022) - Operational Physical Security Guide

🇨🇦 GCPSG-019 (2023) - Protection, Detection, Response, and Recovery Guide

https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/physec-secmat/pubs/index-eng.htm

The non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation also has excellent guides on:

🇺🇸 Street Level Surveillance

https://sls.eff.org

🇺🇸 Surveillance Self-Defense

https://ssd.eff.org/

🇪🇺 🇸🇪⚠️ Resistance Operating Concept

https://jsou.edu/Press/PublicationDashboard/25

🇺🇦 🇺🇲 Radio Free Ukraine Resistance Manual

https://radiofreeukraine.com/3d-flip-book/resistance-manual/

⚠️ John Hopkins University:

Assessing Revolutionary And Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) Studies

This one is used a lot by ICE, so the Trump Regime keeps suppressing it. Here are alternate links as it keeps getting moved around by the good guys:

Small Wars Journal

Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) Project

https://archive.smallwarsjournal.com/blog/assessing-revolutionary-and-insurgent-strategies-aris-project

Author's website:

On Resistance, Revolutions, and Insurgencies

https://zimmerer.typepad.com/resistance/

Free PDF download of the book from the original author:

Casebook on Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare, Volume II 1962 - 2009

http://zimmerer.typepad.com/Documents/ARIS%20Casebook%20Vol%202%202012%20s.pdf

⚠️ Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System

https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/civilian-based-defense-a-post-military-weapons-system/

🏁 Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States Office of Strategic Services

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184?ref=404media.co

⚠️ Library of Congress

Revelations from the Russian archives: documents in English translation

https://www.loc.gov/item/96024752

🏁 Robert Reich/Resistance School

Communicating Across Difference

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaT8gjnOmQl3dguy0_E0vVCL5ZYEyCTzu

🏁 Bernie Sanders:

https://m.youtube.com/@BernieSanders

🏁 CPJ Committee to Protect Journalists:

Safety Kit

https://cpj.org/safety-kit/

🏁 Activist Handbook:

https://activisthandbook.org/introduction

(⚠️ These are USA sponsered websites. Some publications may have been removed by the Trump regime)

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