It's possible to be anti-war *and* still support the Ukrainian people in their struggle for existence against a genocidal regime.

It's possible to stand in opposition to the Israeli apartheid state *and* be horrified by the recent human rights abuses by Hamas.

Seventeen years ago, I was on a break from tech and working in the knitting shop, and I decided the time had come to get my Australian citizenship. When I told one of the older women in the shop, her eyes sparkled. “Thank you,” she said. “I really mean that. Thank you. I think it’s wonderful when people decide to join us.” I felt so welcomed and so proud, and, like, filled with the spirit of mateship and the ANZACs and all of it. I am, you are, we are Australian, right?

Eighteen months later, Kevin Rudd was about to issue the first national apology to Australia’s Aboriginal peoples for the Stolen Generations. I found myself speaking to that same woman, and happily remarking what a momentous and long overdue day it was. “Don’t even get me started on THEM,” she spat, to my utter shock. She launched into racist invective about the many crimes of Aboriginal people, as she saw it. “You don’t really believe that,” I said, trying to rescue the situation and my opinion of her. The scornful look she gave me… I remember being utterly floored by it. It was clear then that while she was happy to grant me - a white, affluent Westerner who had been in the country for just over 6 years at that point - the status of Australian, other people who had been here a whole hell of a lot longer had not earned it. Our friendship ended that day.

So I’ll be voting YES in the referendum this Saturday. Because I want to live in a country that recognises 65,000 years of Indigenous culture in our constitution. Because enshrining the Voice will make me proud to be an Australian.

And yeah, sticking it to a racist asshole will feel pretty good too. #yes23

Strong words from climate scientist Peter Kalmus (@ClimateHuman)...
_______________________

There is now no conceivable way we can stay under 1.5°C of mean global heating. We probably still had that chance a few years ago, but it has been squandered out of political cowardice, media distraction, apathy, a steady diet of false hope and false solutions, and above all a continued stream of disinformation and legalized bribes from the fossil fuel industry.

The more fossil fuel we burn, the hotter the planet will get. This is basic, incontrovertible, unassailable physics. It's a dead certainty. And the people currently in charge are still doing everything they can to expand fossil fuels.

Just this year, for example, President Biden approved the Willow Project in Alaska and forced a construction restart on the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia. These two "carbon bomb" projects, and many, many others occurring all around the world, ensure a hotter, less habitable, and far more dangerous planet.

As a scientist studying extreme heat, I dread the first time we get a heat wave that kills more than a million people over the course of a few days, something I now feel is inevitable. But — if we continue to burn fossil fuels, it won't stop there.

If we continue burning more fossil fuels, it will get hotter, until at some point heat waves kill 2 million people, and then 3 million, and then 10 million. And that's just extreme heat. Wildfires, floods, migration, food system collapse — it's all driven by increasing global heat, so it will all get worse as well. All at the same time.

I don't know how to be any clearer: This is why we must get off this path as soon as we can. And because the fossil fuel industry is the cause of the global heating that's driving all this, the only real way to make a change is to ramp down and then end the fossil fuel industry.

We will not solve things by direct air capture, nuclear fusion, or any other whiz-bang technology. We must accept that these are distractions. We must directly confront this system of deeply inequitable and deadly fossil-fueled capitalism, which has become a planet-sized runaway diesel engine.

We are in a war. It's a real war, not a figurative one, although it's not like any other war in human history. People are dying, all over the world, because of decisions made by fossil fuel executives. And I can confidently state that many more people will die from climate impacts in the coming years.

Fossil fuel executives knew their decisions would lead to loss of habitability and death, but they made them anyway, and then colluded to block mitigating action and increase their profits. These "scorched earth" tactics are now leading to the collapse of ocean currents, the death of coral reefs and tropical forests, including the Amazon.

If allowed to continue, they will lead to uninhabitable tropics, mass migration, and more frequent and severe catastrophes all over the world. Meanwhile, governments are bringing harsher charges against climate activists. In some places, they are even being murdered. Against this backdrop, climate civil disobedience is perhaps the least we can do.

Once enough of us start to fight, we will win. The only question is how long it will take to get to that point, and how much we will irreversibly lose before we do.
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FULL ESSAY -- https://www.newsweek.com/sadly-its-not-just-another-summer-we-must-end-fossil-fuel-industry-opinion-1832188

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateAction

If you're Aboriginal (actually, if you're Black, Indigenous, a Person of Colour) you might want to vote in the #referendum early.

Considering that the #VoiceToParliament question is the only thing we're voting on, it's likely that the entrance to polling places are going to be lined with racists spewing their hatred of us.

It's ok to protect yourself and go vote early to dodge them.

You'll be asked if you're eligible for early voting - just say yes. They shouldn't ask you specifics, but if they do, just tell them you're travelling on Saturday (travelling is a valid reason to vote early).

#AusPol #Aboriginal #Indigenous #Decolonise #SovereigntyNeverCeded #Treaty #TreatyBeforeVoice #FuckRacism #FuckWhiteness #FuckColonisation

Anybody confused why people still listen to turntables or CD players forget that they never:

- stop working because they can't connect to WiFi
- stop working because they need a firmware update
- stop working because the manufacturer dropped support
- say "if you like Bach you might like Taylor Swift"
- play ads
- recommend "turntable premium"

What is #legal

#justice

Source: Hannah Müller (via Tumblr)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ3581PsJDg