Strike

Bisan made a smart move extending the global spending strike from the 21st by seven days more, until the 28th.

From what I heard, it means:

1. Minimize spending or banking to emergencies only
   
2. No work
3. No school, at least physically, but I suggest you completely avoid going to school altogether
4. Don’t go outside, except for protesting and emergencies (but even if it's for emergencies, show your support for Palestine physically and actively)
5. Even if you don't have Palestine badges, shirts, etc, or a keffiyeh, or anything in hand to make a peaceful protest item, show your activism verbally. Explicitly call out the west and Illegal Israeli Occupation and the IOF. Don't whisper, don't talk, you must yell.
6. I say don't go outside and don't spend money, except for emergencies. However, me, you should "boycott" the need of an emergency as best as you can. Take care of your health as much as you can as fast as you can.
7. No shopping, movie theater movies, or even streaming movies. That counts as spending. I'm putting those in front just in case I forget.
   
8. No social media scrolling unless it's for Palestine. Do not like (some people like but don't repost but some don't), post, repost, reply, follow, etc. unless it is about Palestine, which in that case, like and retweet, and comment if you'd like. You may need to mute people who don't apply.
   
9. Don't get mindlessly sucked into social media.
   
10. Remember to keep boycotting! Primarily boycott the ones BDS say to boycott (including the grassroot boycott section), as well as the popular McDonald's-Disney-Starbucks boycott in the West. There's a reason there's a focus on Starbucks and their $11 billion dollar loss in December and their Stanley Valentine's Day cup collabs.
• There's a reason why the boycott focus is on those 16 companies (and Israeli produce). It's simple, it's easy (unlike some of BDS' pressure targets, which own tons of subsidiaries or are monopolies), and it's organized. There are more companies that support Israel than you think. Looking at the BDS boycott list, I think the hardest to boycott as a consumer might be Carrefour (Idk I'm stupid), Chevron/Caltex/Texaco depending on your area, and Teva if you take their medicine but still decide to boycott. It's definitely not McDonald's though.
  

For eight days in a row, you will send messages from the martyrs and living people of Gaza and Palestine, just like you did in November. Your priorities and ideals should lie there.

I heard it can also go for as long as it needs to, as it should.

Unfortunately I’m not sure if I can participate to an effective ability as 1, most of the stuff they’re asking for (besides social media scrolling and a Notion and Bard addiction) I don’t do much anyway, and 2, I just started going to in-person college classes last week. If I strike so early, especially if online studying is off the cards, I’m not sure what would happen.

I use an ad-blocker, but taking a break from entertainment social media period will be my biggest contribution to the strike.

 

Also Click to Help! I think it doesn't count as spending as much as real spending does, I seen it promoted among other fundraisers during the strike. I think Click to Help uses the money from the ads on the site, so turn off your ad-blocker!

Note (January 24): There is also a boycott on K-Pop streaming in tandem to Bisan's global strike. K-Pop in particular, as it's ran by the K-Pop community. It started late, but there are probably others like this. The original plan was to boycott YG, SM, JYP, and HYBE for five days, but it has recently been updated to include all K-Pop (because people were using the strike as an excuse to promote "underrated" groups), and, since it's a consumer boycott, it will last as long as it needs to. The global strike, for the most part, is economic. Music streaming is not a necessity, and it especially doesn't need to be legal. If you're really concerned about where your money's going on streaming services, boycott Spotify and download your songs to a private place.

Some say the K-Pop boycott has been extended to end on February 1st (though some people are saying the boycott creator is against that), but I don't think that will do anything as much as last week did. Some are saying the boycott has been extended to February 29th, let's see how it plays out.

A desicion

I am worried about art programs using generative AI creation in their programs. Many tablet and art companies have been using gen AI lately:

Tablets:

• HUION and Gaomon (the tablet I use) have promoted an AI art class. They have apologized and blamed it on a third party, an independent art platform called JiDan.
• UGEE and XPPen have used AI to generate images for promotion of their tablets. They have apologized for using AI in October, blaming it on a third party supplier. However, the former, the parent company of XPPen and Xencelabs, has still kept AI promotion images in their Amazon listings as early as November.
  
• Wacom has used AI generated dragons for their Chinese New Year sale. They blame this on buying stock images and only using machine detection to see if it is AI. Machine detection is no better than generative AI. The only thing it's better at is not (blatantly) stealing from artists.

I'm not trusting anyone else to not use AI, sorry Artisul and Parblo. Next time I buy a drawing tablet, it will definitely be secondhand.

Art Programs:

• IbisPaint announced a premium only feature where you can generate an AI version of your work so you can use the AI version as reference and "experiment with different styles". They have reversed it the next day.
  
• In 2022, CLIP STUDIO PAINT added an AI art feature in its program, and reversed the decision three days later.
• Adobe has an AI art generation program called Adobe Firefly, and these images can be added to the Adobe Stock shop. Despite controversy, they show no intention of backing down.
• Microsoft, creator of MS Paint, is going heavy with AI by acquiring ChatGPT and making a Bing and Windows 11 AI with it. They are also using DALL E for making AI generated images with their own studio. The Windows 11 version of MS Paint has an early access feature called Cocreator. If I remember correctly, the future of gen AI is Microsoft's primary goal at the moment.

Non-Art:

• Duolingo has been promoting AI for years, removing the forums for a translator chatbot, but not until the latest layoffs of its translators has it gotten people's attention.
  

Unlikely:

• GIMP and Paint.net are unlikely to follow this route, I think. They have better things to do.
• Procreate has stated they are against AI. This was not for an apology, they have not used it before. The apps they have made don't connect to wi-fi besides for importing or exporting (I don't know how it works actually) so it seems like it's technologically impossible for Procreate or Procreate Dreams to even have gen AI tools, at least the 4k prompt kind.
• Krita is open source. Not in a million years, and if they do, there will be a new version with the same code made by a third party to replace it.
• Medibang and FireAlpaca? I don't keep up with them. They either will or will not.
  

Helping Palestine

 Note: Reposting and boycotting is good, but it is NOT the bare minimum.

Calling your reps ON A DAILY BASIS and protesting IN THE STREETS is the bare minimum as well.

Dear diary

I just got apps that "declutters" YouTube and Twitter, the primary social media platforms I waste my time on besides Pinterest.

If my pop culture knowledge goes up to the Stephen Hawking Epstein memes, I am sorry.

The Wonderful Pretty Cures are out and it's not a leak!

 The Cures are:

• Komugi (Inukai)/Cure Wonderful
• Iroha Inukai/Cure Friendy
• Cure Nyammy
• Cure Lillian

Four new characters are introduced as well:

• Satoru Toyama
• Daifuku
• Mayu Nekoyashiki
• Yuki

Mayu will likely be Cure Lillian and as Yuki is her pet, she will likely turn into Yuki Nekoyashiki and become Cure Nyammy. Technically not confirmed but it's obvious.

A preseries theory has come around that Satoru and Daifuku will be the midseason Cures! After all, why else would this supporting character have a rabbit in the Pretty Cure fairy style? (Well in this series Komugi and Yuki are not born magical, so there's no complete guarantee Daifuku won't transform)

For some reason I'm weary that he will become a Cure because his name is in kanji. Albeit, it's only one kanji, but it's the first time since Aguri, I think!

Something about the zodiac signs

I don't think my zodiac fits me. A witty badass who loves the color red is nice, I guess, but I don't think the stars simplified me right.

That is an over-simplified version of what I want to say. I'll edit this when I have something better to say about what I think about my Aries tropes.

Notes to self about boycotts

Because of the Gaza Genocide, the BDS Movement have decided to call for boycotts for these products:

Slightly outdated, no companies have been removed from the picture above, but Chevron was added to the consumer boycott, Intel added to the divestment targets, and Teva was added to the pressure targets.
The "NON-BOYCOTT" text is also removed from the new image, boycott the companies in the pressure targets if you can!

This is the official link: https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide

I will be copypasting it in alphabetical order.

Consumer Boycotts

The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands:

Ahava

Ahava Cosmetics (Israel) has its production site, visitor center, and main store in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory.

AXA

When Russia invaded Ukraine, insurance giant AXA (France) took targeted measures against it. Yet, as Israel, a 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid, wages a genocidal war on Gaza, AXA continues to invest in Israeli banks financing war crimes and the theft of Palestinian land and natural resources.

Carrefour

Carrefour (France) is a genocide enabler. Carrefour-Israel has supported Israeli soldiers partaking in the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with gifts of personal packages. In 2022, it entered a partnership with the Israeli company Electra Consumer Products and its subsidiary Yenot Bitan, both of which are involved in grave violations against the Palestinian people.

Hewlett-Packard (HP)

HP Inc (US) provides services to the offices of genocide leaders, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Financial Minister Smotrich. HP directly owns HyperX, so boycott them too.

Puma

Since 2018 BDS has called for a boycott of PUMA (Germany) due to its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association, which governs teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land. In a major BDS win in December 2023, PUMA leaked news to the media that it will not be renewing its contract when it expires in December 2024. We continue to call for #BoycottPUMA until it ends its complicity in Israeli apartheid.

RE/MAX

RE/MAX (US) markets and sells property in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land, thus enabling Israel’s colonization of the occupied West Bank.

Siemens

Siemens (Germany) is the main contractor for the Euro-Asia Interconnector, an Israel-EU submarine electricity cable that is planned to connect Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory to Europe. Siemens-branded electrical appliances are sold globally.

SodaStream

SodaStream (Israel) is actively complicit in Israel's policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev) and has a long history of racial discrimination against Palestinian workers.

Israeli produce

Fruits, vegetables, and wines misleadingly labeled as “Product of Israel” often include products of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. Israeli companies do not distinguish between the two, and neither should consumers. Boycott produce from Israel in your supermarket and demand their removal from shelves.

 

BDS has also once called a boycott on Sabra, a hummus co-produced by Pepsi and Strauss Group, the latter being an Israeli company, but it's not part of this list.

It has also called for a boycott specifically of Marvel and its upcoming movie Captain America: Brave New World until it drops the character of Ruth Bat-Seraph/Sabra, an Israeli spy superhero. But it is also not part of this list.

Chevron, Caltex, & Texaco

As of January 5, 2024, Chevron (US) has been added to the BDS consumer boycott list as it is the main corporation extracting gas claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron generates billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system, exacerbating the climate crisis and Gaza siege, and is complicit in depriving the Palestinian people of their right to sovereignty over their natural resources. Chevron has thousands of retail gas stations around the world under the Chevron, Caltex, and Texaco brand names.

Divestment Targets

Barclays

Barclays Bank (UK) holds more than £1 billion in shares of, and provides more than £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology have been used in Israel’s armed violence against Palestinians.

CAF

Basque transport firm, CAF, builds and services the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), a tram line that serves Israel's illegal settlements in Jerusalem. CAF benefits from Israel’s war crimes on stolen Palestinian land.

Chevron (and Chevron-owned Noble Energy)

US fossil fuel multinational Chevron is the main international corporation extracting gas claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron and Chevron-owned Noble Energy generate billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system as well as exacerbating the climate crisis.

Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems is apartheid Israel’s largest arms company. It “field-tests” its weapons on Palestinians, including in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza. On top of building killer drones, Elbit makes surveillance technology for Israel's apartheid wall, checkpoints and Gaza fence, enabling apartheid. The US and EU use Elbit's technology to militarize their borders, violating refugee and indigenous peoples' rights.

HD Hyundai/Volvo/CAT/JCB

Machinery from HD Hyundai (South Korea), Volvo (Sweden/China), CAT (US), and JCB (UK) has been used by Israel in the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians through the destruction of their homes, farms, and businesses, as well as the construction of illegal settlements on land stolen from them, a war crime under international law.

HikVision

Amnesty International has documented high-resolution CCTV cameras made by the Chinese company Hikvision installed in residential areas and mounted to Israeli military infrastructure for surveillance of Palestinians. Some of these models, according to Hikvision’s own marketing, can plug into external facial recognition software.

TKH Security

Amnesty International has identified cameras made by the Dutch company TKH Security used by Israel for surveillance of Palestinians. TKH provides Israeli police with surveillance technology that is used to entrench apartheid.

Intel

As of January 5, 2024, Intel (US) has been added to the BDS consumer boycott list as it has recently announced that it will invest $25 billion in apartheid Israel as Israel’s #GazaGenocide continues, signaling its commitment to bolstering apartheid. The company’s first development center outside the US was opened in Haifa in 1974. For decades, Intel has invested in apartheid Israel. Its plant at “Qiryat Gat” is built on Palestinian land within the boundaries of the Palestinian village of Iraq al Manshiya, which was ethnically cleansed and razed to the ground and then replaced by the Israeli settlement of Qiryat Gat.

Pressure Targets

The BDS movement calls for pressure against these companies, including boycotts, if reasonable alternatives exist.

 

Too big to fail, but if possible, you should do an individual boycott of the following companies.

Airbnb/Booking/Expedia

Airbnb (US), Booking.com (Netherlands) and Expedia (US) all offer rentals in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. While the campaigns targeting these corporations have not called for boycotts, yet, other forms of pressure have been adopted to force them to end their complicity.

 

Disney

The Disney-owned Marvel Studios (US) is promoting in the next Captain America film a "superhero" that personifies apartheid Israel. Both companies are therefore complicit in "anti-Palestinian racism, Israeli propaganda, and the glorification of settler-colonial violence against Indigenous people," as Palestinian cultural organizations have stated.

Note there is an actually boycott placed for the new Captain America film until they drop the character of Ruth Bat-Seraph/Sabra from the movie. I think it goes for all of Marvel, actually, so no Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Google and Amazon (US)

As the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened to push Palestinian families from their homes in occupied Jerusalem May 2021, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By supporting Israeli apartheid with vital technologies, Amazon and Google are directly implicated in its entire system of oppression, including its unfolding genocide in Gaza. Join the #NoTechForApartheid campaign. While the campaigns targeting these corporations have not called for boycotts, other forms of pressure have been adopted to force them to end their complicity.

Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Israel) is an Israeli pharmaceutical company and the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer. Teva benefits from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands allowing the company to exploit the captive Palestinian market. I believe this company, as well as Chevron and Intel, were added to their respective categories of the list on January 5, 2024.

Organic Boycott Targets

Boycotts not started but supported by BDS.

 

McDonald’s (US), Burger King (US), Papa John’s (US), Pizza Hut (US), WIX (Israel), etc. are now being targeted in some countries by grassroots organic boycott campaigns, not initiated by the BDS movement, because these companies, or their branches or franchises in Israel, have openly supported apartheid Israel and/or provided generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the current Israeli offensive against 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip–described by leading international scholars of international law as an “unfolding genocide.” If these grassroots campaigns are not already organically active in your area, we suggest focusing your energies on our strategic campaigns above.

 

Note 1: I'm not sure what the others companies' subsidiaries are that don't have their name plastered on them (ex. CosMc's or Ronald McDonald House Charities), but Wix has owned DeviantART since the mid-2010s.

 

Note 2: In the US, there is a popular campaign boycotting McDonald's, Starbucks, and Disney, particularly Disney+. That is what you should be boycotting as well.

 

Note 3:  McDonald's has said it will buy back its 225 restaurants in Israel because of boycotts, but it seems to not have happened yet. Also, there's this.

 

Don't just follow this list! These are what BDS listed out, but do what you can! Squishmallows is being boycotted because their parent company's owner is very visibly pro-Israel and pro-IDF (this also means the Miraculous dolls, the Fortnite minifigurines, and the sleepy Pokemon plushies are also being boycotted). Canva and Archive of Our Own are being boycotted for removing pro-Palestine posts, bios, etc. K-Pop as whole is being boycotted because of things like the NewJeans x McDonald's collab, showing that companies like HYBE still work with pro-Israel companies. If you're a BDS list purist telling people to stick to one or two boycott lists, you're just saying you don't really care about Palestinian people, you just like being told what to do and telling others what to do in order to look progressive.

Note 3: From February 18 to February 25, there is a global strike! Mostly the same, but please donate if you can to Palestinian families, groups, and organizations!

Note 4: It looks like since at least March 20, 2024, BDS has been calling for a consumer boycott of Intel. It's not on the image yet, but the image doesn't matter. I heard AMD and most if not all tech companies support Israel, so if you want a PC, buy it secondhand, but Intel is one of the biggest Israel supporters in the tech industry along with HP.
Also, BDS has called for a boycott of Eurovision.

Note 5: As of July 26, 2024, BDS supports boycott calls for Adidas after dropping the Palestinian model Bella Hadid, for speaking up about Palestine.