Matt is ______

  1.   kindelling: The Afghan girls who live as boys For economic and social reasons, many Afghan parents want to have a son. This preference has led to some of them practising the long-standing tradition of Bacha Posh - disguising girls as boys. When Azita Rafhat, a former member of the Afghan parliament, gets her daughters ready for school, she dresses one of the girls differently. Three of her daughters are clothed in white garments and their heads covered with white scarves, but a fourth girl, Mehrnoush, is dressed in a suit and tie. When they get outside, Mehrnoush is no longer a girl but a boy named Mehran. Azita Rafhat didn’t have a son, and to fill the gap and avoid people’s taunts for not having a son, she opted for this radical decision. It was very simple, thanks to a haircut and some boyish clothes. … Girls brought up as boys do not stay like this all their lives. When they turn 17 or 18 they live life as a girl once again - but the change is not so simple. Elaha lives in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. She lived as a boy for 20 years because her family didn’t have a son and reverted only two years ago when she had to go to university. However, she does not feel fully female: she says her habits are not girlish and she does not want to get married. “When I was a kid my parents disguised me as a boy because I didn’t have a brother. Until very recently, as a boy, I would go out, play with other boys and have more freedom.” She has returned reluctantly to her gender and says she has done it only because of the social traditions. “If my parents force me to get married, I will compensate for the sorrows of Afghan women and beat my husband so badly that he will take me to court every day.”

    Full image link →

    kindelling:

    The Afghan girls who live as boys

    For economic and social reasons, many Afghan parents want to have a son. This preference has led to some of them practising the long-standing tradition of Bacha Posh - disguising girls as boys.

    When Azita Rafhat, a former member of the Afghan parliament, gets her daughters ready for school, she dresses one of the girls differently.

    Three of her daughters are clothed in white garments and their heads covered with white scarves, but a fourth girl, Mehrnoush, is dressed in a suit and tie. When they get outside, Mehrnoush is no longer a girl but a boy named Mehran.

    Azita Rafhat didn’t have a son, and to fill the gap and avoid people’s taunts for not having a son, she opted for this radical decision. It was very simple, thanks to a haircut and some boyish clothes.

    …

    Girls brought up as boys do not stay like this all their lives. When they turn 17 or 18 they live life as a girl once again - but the change is not so simple.

    Elaha lives in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. She lived as a boy for 20 years because her family didn’t have a son and reverted only two years ago when she had to go to university.

    However, she does not feel fully female: she says her habits are not girlish and she does not want to get married.

    “When I was a kid my parents disguised me as a boy because I didn’t have a brother. Until very recently, as a boy, I would go out, play with other boys and have more freedom.”

    She has returned reluctantly to her gender and says she has done it only because of the social traditions.

    “If my parents force me to get married, I will compensate for the sorrows of Afghan women and beat my husband so badly that he will take me to court every day.”

    (via hamburgerjack)

    Source: BBC

  2.  

    batreaux:

    i’m not like most girls. my head snaps back and a giant pez candy emerges from my throat

    (via jerrymuffinbutt)

    Source: batreaux

  3.  

    Full image link →

    (via lord-kitschener)

    Source: pleatedjeans

  4.  

    angrybrownpeople:

    Black woman tears up Oakland City Council

    (in response to May Day repression of Occupy Oakland and a newly proposed law that would make it illegal for revolutionaries to carry shields and barricades during marches)

    “You’re asking why we need our shields for self defense? After a grenade went off behind my head at 12 in the afternoon and gave me something [PTSD] that soldiers coming back from Iraq have? …The policy don’t need to be changed. We’ve got reform crammed so far up our ass it’s clouding our judgement. The police need to be held accountable… and I’m not a nihilist, but I wish I could BURN EVERY FUCKING THING DOWN, except for the houses, so that people could begin to understand that we don’t need this system to survive… There are people being arrested for trying to start farms…!

    DON’T SILENCE ME, don’t you fucking DARE. I am SO TIRED… and if you cut off this mic, I’ll still have a mouth… what you’re dealing with is more than rage…

    As a black woman, I’m telling you… you’re not serving the people! You’re only serving capitalism. And if you take our shields, the only thing we have left is our second amendment rights— SO IF WE SHOOT BACK…!

    YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO ARREST ME!”

    (via sinidentidades)

    Source: angrybrownpeople

  5.   occupyallstreets: The U.S. Military Will Spy On Afghanistan Decades After The War Is Over America is supposed to wind down its war in Afghanistan by 2014. But U.S. forces may continue to track Afghans for years after the conflict is officially done. Palm-sized sensors, developed for the American military, will remain littered across the Afghan countryside — detecting anyone who moves nearby and reporting their locations back to a remote headquarters. Some of these surveillance tools could be buried in the ground, all-but-unnoticeable by passersby. Others might be disguised as rocks, with wafer-sized, solar-rechargeable batteries that could enable the sensors’ operation for perhaps as long as two decades, if their makers are to be believed. “Were going to leave behind a lot of special operators in Afghanistan. And they need the kind of capability that’s easy to put out so they can monitor a village without a lot of overt U.S.-made material on pathways and roadways,” says Matt Plyburn, an executive at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor. And they won’t just be used overseas. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol today employs more than 7,500 UGSs on the Mexican border to spot illegal migrants. Defense contractors believe one of the biggest markets for the next generation of the sensors will be here at home. Read More

    Full image link →

    occupyallstreets:

    The U.S. Military Will Spy On Afghanistan Decades After The War Is Over

    America is supposed to wind down its war in Afghanistan by 2014. But U.S. forces may continue to track Afghans for years after the conflict is officially done. Palm-sized sensors, developed for the American military, will remain littered across the Afghan countryside — detecting anyone who moves nearby and reporting their locations back to a remote headquarters.

    Some of these surveillance tools could be buried in the ground, all-but-unnoticeable by passersby. Others might be disguised as rocks, with wafer-sized, solar-rechargeable batteries that could enable the sensors’ operation for perhaps as long as two decades, if their makers are to be believed.

    “Were going to leave behind a lot of special operators in Afghanistan. And they need the kind of capability that’s easy to put out so they can monitor a village without a lot of overt U.S.-made material on pathways and roadways,” says Matt Plyburn, an executive at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor.

    And they won’t just be used overseas. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol today employs more than 7,500 UGSs on the Mexican border to spot illegal migrants. Defense contractors believe one of the biggest markets for the next generation of the sensors will be here at home.

    Read More

    (via arielnietzsche)

    Source: occupyallstreets

  6.  

    raise your hand if

    so-treu:

    wickedetiquette:

    you’re sick of the trope that men don’t know how to respect women until they have daughters

    and matter of fact, if you’re also sick of double standards between daughters and sons

    i was just talking about this yesterday.

    i think nas has a new song out that’s all about that?

    and it irritated the shit out of me, b/c it’s like, another example of how a woman’s entire being is reduced to being in the service of some guy. like, nevermind what’s gonna happen to that little girl growing up with a misogynistic-ass daddy. no no, as long as HE ends up respecting women in the end, that’s all that matters.

    and it still carries the idea of having a daughter as/is a form of punishment, just crouched within a narrative of salvation

    Source: wickedetiquette

  7.  

    President Obama didn’t make you a coward

    blackamazon:

    I need folks to define precedence for me?

    What did you think the Presidency is? What it does. What wanting that means?What you though Barack Obama was gonna do there in.

    When you want that power , that KIND of power with that intellect?

    You know what kind of decisions you are gonna make.

    You WANT to make those decisions.

    I find this usually view of President Obama as some kind of babe in the woods or pulled by polls milquetoast Infuriating and disrepectful at the same time.

    Infuriating because , really you in America? No matter how you got here what you feel about or DO WITH IT? You are operating in a river, on a land, in an atmosphere of blood , drone killings, successful genocide and international battle.

    Don’t be so fucking base disingenuous to pretend this is new or a ” shocking Obama turnaround”. This is your clean water, you cheap food, your clean air, you generally assured international travel. You get that on a DAILY if not MINUTE BY MINUTE body count. And that you would only now think it mattered cause fit goes against what you thought about your political god …

    is disgusting.  Collateral damage isn’t just when we drop the bombs but when we pretend they aren’t dropping or it’s not that serious. 

    Drones aren’t new, never ending warfare is not new, continual military presence fifty some off years after a conflict ( HELLO OKINAWA) . That’s the stuff that keeps this bad boy running . That it’s not as hidden or secretive is the new bit

    I’ve already said I love this man like family , but if you paid any attention besides the shiny ability to feel real progressive about what electing him meant. He has ALWAYS been ready, studied , willing and able to use ANY and ALL facets of his office to push forth his vision , while dazzling folks from actually paying attention to what it is. 

    It APALLS me that folks would rather think President Obama is some lost lamb or lying deviant or spineless wonder than a man taking a good hard look t the landscape and making choices .

    Whether he sleeps easy or hard doesn’t matter. And trust me whether you sleep easy or hard doesn’t matter to the people you helped hose over tomorrow.

    It’s SMART, it’s charm and cunning and charisma. You fell for it, I fell for it ,  but for the most part 

    He never lied. Don’t try and pretend he did , or he wasn’t who he was to justify that. That he’s not TALKING about it apologetically or bringing it up as something he has to defend?

    Is because he has guessed 

    CORRECTLY 

    that most of Americans, your friends , neighbors, YOU , ME and all our families .

    Won’t care.

    That’s realness.That’s intersectionality. That’s privilege and resource in action. That’s what the real shit is , when you hold things together that are opposites, irreconcilable and abhorrent to you on one level and beneficial on another.

    That’s not easy. That’s not cut and dry. 

    That’s the power.
    When I go in a voting booth and I pull Obama ( if I do ) I am telling someone somewhere UNEQUIVOCALY that in the decision between me and them 
    I chose me. When the chips are down if the push is a shove … I make a choice that puts my comforts, fears and imaginings about choice and safety above you.
    and if they HATE me for it . If they hate my privileged American self for be willing to make that choice , for having the OPTION to make that choice.. they have EVERY DAMN RIGHT TO. The very least , LEAST I can do is stop trying to pretend my moral outrage holds even a will’o the wisp as much weight as their MORTAL fear.
    IF i want to improve things , work on em, guide things to a better way I better find a way to let that be the glory and the goal.
    Because asking for ANYTHING ELSE is narcissism on the highest level and to try and blame my ignorance of that or my choice to stay happily uninformed on my belief that it could be solved by ONE MAN 
    is cowardice 
    and  I promise  you we had that before he was even THINKING about a Presidency.

    (via so-treu)

    Source: blackamazon

  8.  

    softlysweptaway:

    (via hamburgerjack)

    Source: foxintwilight

  9.  

    By supporting Israel, Hillary Clinton breaks US human rights law

    arielnietzsche:

    Guess which institution had the following to say about Israel’s human rights record in 2011:

    • “Arab citizens of the country faced institutional and societal discrimination.”
    • “Resources devoted to Arabic education were inferior to those devoted to Hebrew education in the public education system.”
    • “Human rights organizations reported that ‘physical interrogation methods’ permitted by Israeli law and used by Israeli security personnel could amount in practice to torture.”
    • “In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Israeli Civil Administration, part of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, continued to demolish homes, cisterns, and other buildings and property constructed by Palestinians in areas under Israeli civil control on the basis that these buildings lacked Israeli planning licenses. Compensation was generally not offered in these cases.”
    • “In East Jerusalem, under Israeli authority, displays of Palestinian political symbols were punishable by fines or imprisonment.”
    • “The [Israeli military] IDF continued its use of a 1967 military order that effectively prohibited Palestinian demonstrations and limited freedom of speech in the West Bank. The order stipulates that a ‘political’ gathering of 10 or more persons requires a permit from the regional commander of military forces. The penalty for a breach of the order is 10 years’ imprisonment or a heavy fine.”
    • “The Israeli government obstructed refugee access to [United Nations agency for Palestine refugees] UNRWA-provided humanitarian assistance in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
    • “Some Israeli settlers reportedly used violence against Palestinians as a means of harassment and to keep them away from land that settlers sought to expropriate … Settlers also exploited religious tensions to harass Palestinian villages by vandalizing, breaking into, or burning 10 mosques.

    If you were the typical member of Congress who believes that Israel is a shining beacon of light to humanity and the greatest thing since sliced bread, then you would probably answer one of the following: some anti-Semitic agency of the United Nations, an obviously biased Palestinian organization, or one of those self-hating Israeli organizations.

    Of course, you would be wrong.

    These quotations come from the US State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011, released on 24 May. Despite the muted language, the report paints a damning picture of Israel’s human rights abuses of the Palestinian people. From governmental and societal discrimination based on ethnicity (the international definition of apartheid), to flagrant violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention, the State Department scratches the surface of Israel’s atrocious policies toward Palestinians in this report.

    Read More

    Source: electronicintifada.net

  10.  
    The Afghan jihad was the largest covert operation in the history of the CIA. In fiscal year 1987 alone, according to one estimate, clandestine U.S. military aid to the mujahideen amounted to 660 million dollars—”more than the total of American aid to the contras in Nicaragua” (Ahmad and Barnet 1988,44). Apart from direct U.S. funding, the CIA financed the war through the drug trade, just as in Nicaragua. The impact on Afghanistan and Pakistan was devastating. Prior to the Afghan jihad, there was no local production of heroin in Pakistan and Afghanistan; the production of opium (a very different drug than heroin) was directed to small regional markets. Michel Chossudovsky, Professor of Economics at University of Ottawa, estimates that within only two years of the CIA’s entry into the Afghan jihad, “the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderlands became the world’s top heroin producer, supplying 60 percent of U.S. demand,” (2001:4). The lever for expanding the drug trade was simple: As the jihad spread inside Afghanistan, the mujahideen required peasants to pay an opium tax, Instead of waging a war on drugs, the CIA turned the drug trade into a way of financing the Cold War. By the end of the anti-Soviet jihad, the Central Asian region produced 75 percent of the world’s opium, worth billions of dollars in revenue (McCoy 1997).
    – Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism (via maozedongisnotcool)

    Source: maozedongisnotcool