History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities. — Marsha P. Johnson
Queens started being filed out and being put into police cars, and guns had been drawn. Molotov cocktails were flying. And I’m like, “Oh my God, the revolution is here. Thank God. You’ve been treating us like shit all these years? Uh uh. Now it’s our turn.” — Sylvia Rivera
THEFIRSTPRIDEWASARIOT HAPPY PRIDE | BLACK LIVES MATTER
justin colby has been taken into custody by chicago police, and his family hasnβt heard from since. the police is now lying that they have him in his custody.
[image description: the first tweet is by user trillxmomma and reads, in all caps, βHF STUDENT JUSTIN COSBY TAKEN INTO POLICE CUSTODY LAST NIGHT AND NOW HE IS MISSINGβ. attached are to the tweet are two photos. the first photo is a screenshot of a facebook message from user grace tosi. it reads βJustin Cosby is missing. He is one of ours. He is apart of the HF community. HE IS MISSING. He was arrested, and from what I heard, also beaten because he squirted CPD with water guns at last nights protest. That should not result in being beaten and arrested. If you hold any type of power, use it for good now. Right now. Make your calls. Help his family find him. He was arrested around 8:30 pm and that was the last time he was seen. His date of birth is 8/14/2000. Are you still wondering how you can help all thatβs going on? HERE IS YOUR ANSWER.β the second photo attached to the tweet is a photo of justin cosby. he is a young black man with short textured hair. he is wearing a dark blue zip up jacket that has a blue βMβ on the chest.]
[image description: the second tweet by user βimyagirlevaβ and reads βJustin Cosby was detained by the police last night at the protest, and no one has heard from him since 8:40pm. THIS WAS THE LAST TIME HE WAS SEEN. His mother needs help finding him. She has called around and heard nothing. Please help!β attached to the tweet is a photo of a large group of chicago police men, at least ten cops, surrounding and restraining justin cosby. justin is looking at the camera in the photo, and he is slouched over while the police have his hands tied and are holding him up.]
[image description: the third tweet is by user jehanpatterson. it reads in all caps, βCHICAGO POLICE IS TELLING HIS PARENTS THEY DO NOT HAVE HIM IN CUSTODY. THEY ARE LYING ABOUT HIS LOCATION. WE HAVE NOT HEARD FROM IN 17 HOURS.β]
On May 29, the Philippine Congress approved the senate version of the the Terror Bill which posses as a major threat to freedom of speech, especially during this times when dissent in media platforms is becoming a trend for the modern-day Filipino.
(Credits to College Editors Guild of the Philippines, CEGP)
Now, you might think that this bill just happened to come around but the timing is all too convinient. The reason why dissent is rising among the masses is because the executive branch of the government has frankly done a piss poor job at handling the Pandemic. They have continued to keep us quarantined, with only those considered essential businesses allowed to remain for months. It is only now in June that they have allowed people to work as long as they keep at a skeletal system. The main problem comes down to the fact that the government has yet to implement mass testing and even contract tracing for the matter, making the quanratine lose all meaning in the first place. To add up to all this, the administration continues to accumulate debt toΒ βfight the pandemicβ but claim they do not have the budget for mass testing.Β
And to make matters worse, the head of the administration decides to fight a virus the only way heβs been fighting things, with machismo and guns. There have been cases where the police overstepped their bounds under the banner ofΒ βkeeping the quarantine safeβ wherein they broke into a private residential building and also a homeless shelter because these places allegedly did not follow quarantine protocols. There was also a case of a soldier killing a veteran having an episode despite the residents of the area shouting he had PTSD and to leave him be. We cannot also discount the rapid increase of the Extrajudicial Killings fueled by the executiveβs drug war that pretty much rampedΒ up police brutality in the Philippines by quite a lot.
Now, this bill is giving them more power to by-pass the Judiciary which is the only thing keeping them in check. As per Rappler:Β β the bill would allow the Anti-Terror Council (ATC), made up of top cabinet officials, to do functions otherwise reserved for courts, like ordering the arrests of people it has designated to be terrorists.βΒ
Here are some as cited by CEGP. Below are some of the sections of Bill 1083, aka Terror Bill, although it feels rather more approriate to be called Martial Law 2.0. Below are some of the questionable provisions in the bill.
These two provisions are quite questionable as their vagueness could allow tagging of dissenters as terrorists. The head of the executive branch is actually quite fond of using mixed words and blurring the lines between dissenters who only criticize in hopes of improvement of the system as opposed to terrorists who seek to destroy it. This only adds oil to the fire, really.
Here we see that included in the wiring tapping are those individuals accused solely upon mere suspicion that would allow the police to invade our privacy just because we criticized the government a little too much more than they like. Now, there have been restrictions here either like between lawyers and clients or doctors and patients but this still stands that this is an invation of privacy,
Now Sec. 29. Detention Without Judicial Warrant of Arrest that takes the cake out of them all. Persons again tagged as terrorists by the ATC under mere suspicion can be detained for up to 24 days without a warrant, which is the first line of defense you have against a police violating your human rights. Although, if you do look up the entire provision, included is a follow up action of reporting to a court JudgeΒ βimmediatelyβ, there lacks a specific timeframe around the wordΒ βimmediatelyβ that again could allow the police advantage via vaugeness of this bill in their favor.Β
The purpose of this bill is so obvious that National Union of Peoplesβ Lawyers chair Neri Colmenares even spoke up, stating that β This isnβt really to go after the Abu Sayyaf or terrorists, or whoever they call as terroristsβ¦ I think the reason they actually need this bill is for the dissenters, the opposition.β (translated from Tagalog).
Save the voice of the Filipinos. Do not let them change the narrative. Hold the governement accountable for their lapses. Dissent is not terrorism. Dissent is duty. #JunkTerrorBill
(Since tumblr eats up links, links will be provided with with a reblog. Included there is a petition to junk this bill. Please sign!)
OKAY BITCHES LISTEN UP as you can probably see my dear country happens to be trending rn and if you look at the tag you'll mostly see vacationy stuff and beautiful beaches! Well ERASE THAT CAUSE I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT SUMMER AINT THE REASON WHY THE TAG IS TRENDING. There is so much bullshit happening here in the Philippines and it can all be summarized to some dick trying to establish a dictatorship here by proclaiming the martial-law-without-a-label that is the Anti-Terrorism Bill. With this bill, the police are allowed to arrest without warrants on the basis of suspicion so basically if you're a filipino and you criticize the president on social media or in rallies YOU CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT WARRANTS AND IT WILL BE LEGAL and this infringes on Section 4 of our Bill of Rights which is our Right to Freedom of Speech. There are other laws that this bill directly violates but all in all the safety and lives of many Filipinos will be endangered. Check the hashtag #JunkTerrorBill to find out more and help spread the news. Things are definitely not as happy go lucky as the tumblr trend algorithm portrays.
Reminder that Stonewall wasn’t about marriage equality. Stonewall was about police brutality. It was about systemic abuse and subordination. Stonewall was spearheaded by black trans women. As we celebrate Pride 2020, within the context of the Black Lives Matter riots, it’s imperative that we remember that.
Riots in protest of police brutality are the reason that we have more rights today. Do not forget your roots.
You can’t celebrate Pride while simultaneously condemning the Black Lives Matter riots and protests that are happening right now. Know your history.
Happy pride month, don't lose focus on the movement going on tho. Be gay, do crimes. Be gay, protest. Be gay while supporting black lives matter. You have the range