While Barbie continues to achieve box office success around the world, the film’s performance in South Korea has been lacklustre, with critics & activists citing a reluctance to embrace a feminist-themed foreign movie.

“The word ‘feminism’ has become a dirty word to a lot of individuals in Korea, & people are unwilling to recognise, & are uncomfortable confronting, the deeply rooted patriarchy that has driven society for so long,” said women’s rights activist Haein Shim

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/02/barbie-movie-flops-south-korea-feminism

Very depressing to believe I wrote this piece, about how the "leaders" of the #Muslim world were ignoring the plight of the #Uyghurs, 5 years ago.

And that nothing has changed, either in the Islamic world, or in #China.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/24/islamic-leaders-have-nothing-to-say-about-chinas-internment-camps-for-muslims/

Flexible work is feminist – and women won’t return to a system that hasn’t served them well to spare the feelings of powerful men

We’ve been stuck in the same corporate work norms since the late 1940s when many families could live comfortably on one paycheck and just a third of women worked outside of the home.

https://fortune.com/2023/05/14/flexible-work-feminist-women-return-office-power-men-careers-erin-grau/

Imagine fleeing persecution in Xinjiang only to be arrested & imprisoned in Kashmir & after years face deportation back to Xinjiang. Yet that has happened to 3 brothers.

They were described by India's paramilitary border force as “Chinese intruders” & detained in 2013... then in late Dec 22 a PSA (Public safety act) order came through suggesting their deportation back to Xinjiang.

Full story here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/6/uighur-siblings-in-india-jail-since-2013-face-deportation-threat

Related but very relevant to is this article in Made In China Journal by Prof Nitasha Kaul which looks at the parallels & similarities between the two regions & the oppression in them.

https://madeinchinajournal.com/2020/10/05/china-xinjiang-india-kashmir/

For many marginalised groups getting caught between state powers has severe consequences. Other examples are the Rohingya (Caught between Myanmar's genocidal Junta & India's anti-Muslim rhetoric), the Kurds (whom without a recognised homeland struggle for survival in the border regions of Syria, Turkey & Iraq is often desperate & more than once have been used as a tool by the west and then discarded) & many others throughout the world.

With an increasing "Multi-polar" world, this is a prime case study of how it's not going to make things "better" without significant ways of protecting those targeted by state powers otherwise even if said powers are in geopolitical competition, potential overlapping interests in maintaining power will mean groups are transnationally repressed which is already a problem to be honest.

For us as individuals. While our power maybe limited (in comparison to states). We can raise up the voices of those targeted (without siding with any states, like fuck the US, EU, ASEAN as well)

"DPP, Chinese Dissidents Accused of Wave of Sexual Assault Cover-Ups" by @brian_hioe

https://nomanisanis.land/dpp-sexual-assault-cover-ups/

As a personal friend of #ChowHangTung for many years, I feel so proud of her. She's so courageous to stage a hunger strike even in such difficult situation. Hope that more people can help to spread this message.
#NeverForgetJune4
#TiananmenMassacre
#鄒幸彤

https://twitter.com/jooeysiiu/status/1665057051431563266?s=12&t=UcRPQepY0wql5xi0aKlmcA

I first visited #Turkey & #Thailand on the same trip, back in '06/'07 - for 🇹🇭, it was a few months after a #Coup.

And at that time, I would never have imagined that it would be Thailand, not Turkey, that would, 15+ years later, be on a path towards becoming more democratic and progressive.

Very (cautiously) hopeful for 🇹🇭, but unbelievably disappointed and worried for 🇹🇷

#ThailandElection
#TurkeyElection

Elon Musk is diving deeper into delusion each day, and in a cringe-inducing interview on CNBC, he tried to use 'The Princess Bride' to justify his recent antisemitic tweets.

It's clear he is immune to shame or even, it would seem, the threat of reputational or financial harm he is causing himself and his companies.

https://secondnexus.com/musk-princess-bride-antisemitic-rants?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=toot&utm_campaign=2N