must there be a title

A History of the Democratic Republic of Congo… From IG - @redstreamnet — Did you know that the CIA once orchestrated the execution of Patrice Lumumba by a firing squad? On the 17th of January, 1961, Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of the Congo, was executed by a firing squad following assassination plots concocted by the US and Belgian governments. Lumumba’s anti-imperialism and his vision of a united Congo made him an adversary of both Belgium and US imperialism. Although the CIA ordered his assassination, they weren’t able to carry it out themselves. Instead, Washington and Brussels secretly funnelled cash and aid to rival politicians who organized a coup and arrested Lumumba. He was then beaten, tortured, and killed. #BlackHistory #PanAfrican #AfricanHistory #AntiColonialism

Today, the colonialism has expanded to include China. Multiple Chinese firms carry out illegal foresting in the Congolese rainforest (called the “second lungs of the world,” similar to the Amazon) in order to meet the demand for mahogany in China.

None of which is even to mention the fact that the ongoing and bloody civil war happening in the Congo right now is being backed by Rwanda. Who is getting away with it because a) it has agreed to take on asylum seekers from multiple Western European nations, including Denmark and, if the tories have their way, the UK.

And b) because Rwanda is allied with Russia, from whom they are contracted to receive nuclear power plants.

Colonialism continues to fuck up Africa.

[image id 1: an image of patrice lumumba (a black man with short hair, glasses, a mustache, and a goatee, wearing a white, open chest shirt) staring to the right of the screen. there is text in the top left reading "red.", the word 'red' colored in white and the period colored in red.

there is a short, yellow arrow pointing right in the bottom right corner, above a horizontal, white line going off to the right side of the screen, ending near where the text in the image is, a white dot placed on its left end. there is white text towards the bottom left of the screen, reading:

"(bold) A CIA-backed coup killed (unbolded) Congo's first democratically elected leader, (bold) Patrice Lumumba (unbolded), today in 1961. (next line) The revolutionary Pan-African (bold) challenged (unbolded) the colonial status quo, making himself (bold) the mortal enemy of the global North." /end id.]

[image id 2: an image of King Leopold II (a white man with short hair connecting to a long beard and mustache) staring at the camera.

there is white text towards the bottom of the image, with a horizontal white line that turns upwards at a 90 degree angle when reaching to be near the text, ending at the top of the text with a white dot at it's end. there is also a horizontal, white line at the right side of the screen, ending on it's left side with a white dot when it reaches to be near the text. the text reads:

"The Us was an (bold) early ally of tyranny (unbolded) in Congo. The 1884 Berlin Congress granted (bold) Belgian King Leopold II (unbolded) colonial control and private ownership of (bold) the entire 2,600,000 square km Congo Basin region. (unbolded) The US had already recognized his claim to the territory months before the conference." /end id.]

[image id 3: an image of a black woman with short hair wearing a white head wrap, white dress, and white necklace, holding a white (or white passing) baby with a white dress, white hat, and white shoes. the woman is staring at the camera with a neutral (possibly tired) expression outdoors on a wide dirt path in front of a forest.

there are similar white lines as described in image id 2 surrounding the white text towards the bottom of the image, reading:

"After (bold) Congo gained independence (unbolded) from Belgium in 1960, Lumumba became the country's (bold) first prime minister. (unbolded) 60 years of Belgian rule in Congo was (bold) filled with terror and genocide, (unbolded) leaving up to (bold) 15 million people dead (unbolded) and plundering the country's wealth." /end id.]

[image id 4: an image of two young, black men, one with short hair and the other possibly bald, with flashlights on their heads, in a mud tunnel. the young man closer to the camera staring at it while the man farther from the camera, with a darker skin tone, holds something being motion blurred while he looks off to the right.

there are similar white lines as described in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image that reads:

"Congo's (bold) immense natural wealth, (unbolded) including uranium, became (bold) strategically crucial for US global hegemony (unbolded) and its nuclear weapons program. The US acquired its immense natural wealth and uranium to build (bold) the atomic bombs it dropped (unbolded) on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945." /end id.]

[image id 5: an image of Lumumba (wearing a black suit with a red bow tie) staring off to the left side of the camera, speaking. there are similar white lines as describe in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image, reading:

"When Lumumba became Prime Minister in June 1960, he (bold) promised to break imperialism (unbolded) and championed pan-African solidarity. Lumumba's rise to power (bold) threatened US corporate interets (unbolded) and triggered cold war paranoia." /end id.]

[image id 6: an image of Lumumba (wearing a white, open chested, short sleeve shirt, without his glasses) looking off to the left side of the camera, seemingly with furrowed brows. there appears to be more people next to and behind him, and he is in a large, white building with foundations seen at the ceiling. there are similar white lines as describe in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image, reading:

"A cable from (bold) CIA director Allen Dulles (unbolded) on August 25, 1960, read, (next line) 'We are faced with a person who is (bold) a Castro or worse.' (unbolded) He subsequently ordered the CIA station chief in Congo: 'Lumumba's removal must be (bold) an urgent and prime objective (unbolded)… and a high priority of our covert action.'" /end id.]

[image id 7: an image of Lumumba (without his glasses, in a white, slightly open chested shirt) with his arms reaching behind his back, offscreen, being apprehended by black soldiers as he looks off to the right of the camera. there is a soldier sitting down, talking to someone off screen, another soldier leaning above Lumumba, seemingly reaching behind him, another soldier offscreen with their face facing toward the screen, slightly visible, and a hand reaching from off screen, grabbing Lumumba's hair.

there are similar white lines as describe in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image, reading: "The US and Belgium (bold) supported rival politicians, leading to Lumumba's kidnapping (unbolded) and assassination by (bold) Colonel Joseph Mobutu's forces. (next line) Mobutu's rule, (unbolded) backed by the US and Europe, (bold) solidified the neo-colonial grip on the country." /end id.]

[image id 8: an image of Mobutu Sese Seko (a black man with glasses and short hair, wearing a beige coat with a white dress shirt and green tie underneath, the coat having various badges, along with wearing a gold watch) with his arms crossed, staring off to the right side of the screen with a serious expression. he is outdoors and there are trees and white wall/fence structures in the background.

there are similar white lines as describe in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image, reading: "During three decades of blood rule under (bold) the US and European-backed Mobutu, (unbolded) the dictator came to control over (bold) 20% of the DRC's assets, (unbolded) and (bold) his wealth ballooned to $5 billion, (unbolded) equal to the country's external debt." /end id.]

[image id 9: an image of a black child (wearing a green shirt and brown shorts, barefoot) covered in mud, their hands on the ground in front of them, slightly cupping the mud vertically. there are similar white lines as describe in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image, reading: "Today, (bold) the consequences of Lumumba's murder (unbolded) are still felt in the DRC. (next line) The country has (bold) approximately $24 trillion in raw minerals, (unbolded) including almost (bold) half the world's known cobalt reserves, (unbolded) found in batteries of nearly every standar electronic device, from phones to electric cars." /end id.]

[image id 10: an image of a black child (with short hair, wearing a seemingly dirt, pink dress patterned with small images of some sort) walking, staring off to the right of the screen with their mouth slightly open, holding something in both their hands. they are walking through dirt, outdoors, with a bunch of trash on it, with blocks of some kind closely in the background, sun shining on them from the back. there is also dirt/dust in the air. there are similar white lines as describe in image id 2 surrounding white text towards the bottom of the image, reading:

"While multinational corporations (bold) continue to plunder the wealth (unbolded) of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country is (bold) one of the five poorest countries in the world, (unbolded) with some 60 million people (bold) living on less that $1.90 a day." /end id.]

link to the ig post: https://www.instagram.com/leemerrittesq/p/C2NMMBVu2co/?img_index=1

Text in the info graphic:

Today is not statehood day because Hawai'i is NOT part of the U.S.A.

@ainamomona

January 1893

The Hawaiian League, an illegal oligarchy of American businessmen, conspired with U.S. Minister John Stevens to have U.S. troops land in Hawai'i. With threats of war, they proclaimed themselves the provisional government of Hawai'i.

Queen Lili'uokalani, the reigning monarch of the time, protested this illegal act and submitted word to president-elect Groover Cleveland. While Cleveland initially condemned these actions, he later allowed the illegal seizure to continue.

1897

Hi Aloha 'Āina launched the Kū'ē Petition, as a protest against the illegal annexation of Hawai'i by the U.S. In one week, 95% of the adult Native Hawaiian population signed in opposition to being annexed by the U.S.

After receiving the Kū'ē Petition, the U.S. lacked the two-thirds majority needed to approve annexation and the treaty was never signed.

To date, there is NO treaty of annexation between the United States of America and Hawai'i.

For the last 129 years the United States has illegally occupied the Nation of Hawai'i.

The "state of Hawaii" only exists because of American greed and the U.S.'s continued illegal occupation of Hawaiian lands.

End text.

I’ve not had time to write a post in a while. This post is probably somewhat confusing. But this discovery is so goddamn neat. We’ve just scratched the surface on something remarkable and I have so many questions. Here’s the study: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/17/2004805117 Other places to see my posts: INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / ETSY / KICKSTARTER    

@kedreeva

terraforming avians is EXACTLY the kind of weird shit and science content I am on tunglr.hell to see.

Transcription of images:

Okay, when birds eat seeds, some of the seeds get digested, but others make it out intact and take root where they land.

Forest [sic] and meadows spread on the wings of birds.

Image of bird eating red berries off a tree branch, accompanied by the text, “We know that the eggs of some insects work the same way, because of their tough shells.”

Amidst the panic of global lockdowns a group of scientists quietly made a discovery that would fundamentally change our understanding of the world.

They fed fish eggs to ducks, and while most of them were digested, a tiny percentage of the eggs made it out alive, and hatched into fish.

Fish eggs, as it turns out, can be passed through the bodies of birds and survive, the same way seeds can.

Image of a water habitat in which ducks are swimming on top of the water and fish are swimming below.

Since ancient times, we’ve known that fish seem to magically appear in man made lakes and people would have no idea where they came from.

Now we know.

This is an absolute game-changer.

Image of fish leaping out of the water.

It changes what we knew about birds.

Birds migrate vast distances, but they’re not planes flying across continents.

Instead they’re more like long-haul truckers that rest and recharge at rivers and marshes along their journey. They eat, but also deposit the seeds of plants and fish.

Image of map of North and Central America with arrows showing bird migration from the Boreal Forest in the northernmost part of the continent going southward to the rest of the continent and to South America.

It’s like how early sailors would stop at Islands [sic] where they would release pigs, goats and rabbits. That way, when they stopped there the next time, they would have food to eat. (This led to massive ecological changes to places like Hawaii and the Galapagos.)

But apparently birds have carried the seeds of forests and fish across continents and oceans, for millions of years, stocking their own rest stops with plants and animals that are already part of their diet.

Are birds terraforming?

Illustration of ships on the sea.

It changes what we know about fish.

In Star Trek, a humanoid ancestor seeded planets with their species, so that millions of years laer, the inhabitants of those planets are all humanoid, but look very different owing to the different challenges they faced over time.

Four by 2 grid of Star Trek characters’ faces.

Is it basically what fish are now? Are fish in completely different areas related by a common ancestor because they were spread by birds?

It changes our understanding of history.

This thing has been going on for millions of years without us knowing. It’s not new. The seeds of trees, fish and insects, pieces of ecosystems, flew on the wings of birds before the rise of the first civilizations.

If flying animals can transfer ecosystems, what kind of world flew on the wings of the azhdarchids?

(these guys were the size of a small aircraft)

Illustration of bird-like creatures.

On a different historical note, ancient people believed in spontaneous generation. In other words, life just appeared out of nowhere…… mold just appeared on bread. Plants just started growing out of rock. Fish just appear in ponds that somebody dug two weeks ago……

Knowing what we know, it’s understandable they might think this way. What other ancient wisdoms are are [sic] missing out on? What else remains to be known?

Illustration of a tree with animals sprouting as fruit.

What does this mean for our stories, and the kinds of stories we tell?

Are dragons a key species that spread entire ecosystems?

Illustration of a fantasy world with a humanoid figure standing next to a wolf and looking up at a dragon in the sky.