Kera O’Regan
@keraoregan
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» Kāi Tahu » Social Impact Strategist » Facilitator + Speaker » Climate activist 🌏 » Disability & Indigenous Rights ✊🏽 » Papatūānuku 🌿 Same @ everywhere
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I think a lot of people in social change spaces have a really colonial & extractive view of “community” where community = a group with shared characteristics that they can opt in or opt out of as it affords them utility and is a source of comfort.
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@CincytoDallas
@JoshuaPotash
As a New Zealand Māori (indigenous) woman who was at that protest and in that video - don’t compare our protest to what’s happening in the USA. We have no interest in being compared or put on a pedestal. We were there to tautoko (support) the anger of Black folks in the USA
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So I just ran into Greta Thunberg and I have some thoughts ...
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A reminder that for many Indigenous, Black, brown, queer, & disabled folks - online activism may be the only safe and accessible way to make change.
Not everybody has the privilege to physically protest safely.
Just think about that when you call people performative.
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To whom it may concern,
This is to inform you that I will be staying inside my house, indefinitely. I will not be able to attend X event, nor purchase coffee and brunches, nor attend X in person meeting.
I am disabled. So apparently I’m only allowed to exist on Zoom now.
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Disabled ppl are getting letters from their GPs asking them to sign DNRs so health services can be saved for the “young & fit who have a greater chance” with
#COVID19
.
This is why we call out shitty narratives & comms that exclude us bc this is where they land.
#DeadlyAbleism
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White people in this space do anything they can to avoid accountability. They will literally put all the pressures of the climate crisis on the shoulders of a teenager, rather than listen to Indigenous Peoples who are here with solutions, and the many other communities who are
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@CincytoDallas
@JoshuaPotash
While we have police violence here, we were not under imminent threat and we haven’t had the immediate and ongoing pain of Black folks in the USA. We support Black folks expressing their anger however they see fit. It just wasn’t our anger to enact.
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@CincytoDallas
@JoshuaPotash
So take your respectability politics elsewhere and get over your need to police Black peoples’ anger.
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I’m pretty sure the message I’ve heard clearest from
@GretaThunberg
is that adults (looking especially at white adults) need to listen, learn, and take action. How about you actually take her advice before you try take that selfie hmm?
#ClimateChange
#COP25
#GretaThunberg
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Kia ora Aotearoa 👋🏽
Just a wee PSA to say that masking if you can, even if you don’t “have to” is super rad 💜
Your disabled, immune compromised,
#HighRiskCovid19
friends are counting on you to keep us safe as our world continues to shrink.
So
#Mask4YourMates
!
Are you in?
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On that note, a sincere fuck you to anyone making fun of Greta or erasing her disability. Disabled folk have been working our asses off to make this COP more accessible and inclusive, and have amazing contributions that will address climate change for us all...
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People might not want to hear it but we as a society are not prepared for the long term impacts of post-viral illness & repeat infections. If you think inflation & cost of living is bad now what will it be like in another 5 or 10 yrs when half the population can’t work full time?
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Getting an ADHD diagnosis in adulthood is, at the same time, the most liberating validation of your unique brain, as well as the crushing realisation that you have decades of unhealthy and ableist coping mechanisms to unlearn.
I guess in 2021 we are doing the work! ☺️✊🏽
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But since we’ve been here, our indigenous women have been harassed, pushed off stage from speaking opportunities, and been shoved around. They’ve also had pins and tshirts confiscated for being “too political”. Where is the security support for our Indigenous People?!
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Kia ora NZ, Omicron peaking does not mean the pandemic is “ending”.
People are talking about preferring to “catch it early while things aren’t overwhelmed” as if it isn’t deadly & disabling, can only be caught once, and as if the pandemic ends once everyone has had it.
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86. I just counted 86 hateful comments on TVNZ’s post covering my inclusion in the
#BBC100Women
list.
It hasn’t even had much reach yet 86 comments questioning my Indigeneity, disability, claiming that I’m trans, or a “fraud”, or that climate change isn’t real.
This is NZ now.
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This is also the queue out the door of the press conference room she was going to be speaking in. The room was virtually empty when we held our press conference on indigenous rights the other day.
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I absolutely tautoko (support) Greta’s mahi, and I think the criticism she receives is unfair and inappropriate, so these thoughts are more directed to all the adults in the climate movement, and the UNFCCC Secretariat in particular...
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Yep. You can eat right, exercise right, be as fit as a fiddle and the nicest person on the planet and still become disabled. I wish we would stop framing potential disability and disabling events as morality issues and started dismantling systemic ableism instead.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but you can “do everything right” and still become disabled.
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Having to leave medical school bc it wasn't accessible while I was unwell (and apparently having students arbitrarily sit a course in one calendar year is more important than having Doctors with lived experience of disability)... and then seeing the Covid accommodations 🙃
Back in January one of my disabled pals made the difficult choice to quit her degree because her university wouldn't allow her to study from home. Then, two months later she watched the accommodations made so easily for thousands of others when lockdown happened.
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@BaileySeeking
@sbstewartlaing
@dearnonnatives
I wish that was the case, but as a medical student (potentially soon to be ex-medical student) with a disability, I have seen SO much of this throughout medschool AND in the profession. Don't tone police PWD calling medical abuse out. It's not cool.
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Neurodiverse people can make content and share our experiences for OURSELVES and our own joy, not for Neurotypical gaze and diagnosis.
Honestly I think the fact that our content is perceived as diagnostic is and extension of the harmful medical model of disability.
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A lot of environmentalists are really enjoying ablesplaining the plastics policy announcement so let me be clear - ANY policy that reduces disabled people’s access to plastic straws is inherently harmful and is eco-ableism.
This has been made explicitly clear & has been ignored.
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Yet y’all are still tied up erasing our ability to speak out, and making all your decision making so inaccessible we can’t even contribute.
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I don’t know whether the general public in NZ just doesn’t realise how many of us disabled people have suffered, gone without essential healthcare, lost work & social & mental health staying home because of Covid risk *under orange* or if they do know and just don’t care.
#nzpol
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Mind blowing that folks still believe that cycling, using solar & buying “eco” is really going to stop climate change.
Listen to the communities on the frontlines yo. When we said stopping
#ClimateChange
means dismantling capitalism, ableism & white supremacy we weren’t kidding.
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I will only be able to leave my house for critical healthcare services (so I probably won’t be able to access preventative care for the many issues I’ve been advised to follow up on, knowing that doing so will put my health at risk anyway from Covid);
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Firstly, no I didn’t really say anything other than “Oh hi” - security had blocked off access to our Indigenous Peoples Office because she was in the one next door, so we had to convince them we had a meeting in there and to be let in.
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Academics wonder why Indigenous Peoples and disabled communities distrust researchers - and then go and steal our literal years' worth of work, pass it off as their own, and then cut us out of the very thing we created.
Yes real life story as of today. Yes help pls.
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It really shows when they engage with those of us who are Indigenous or come from other backgrounds where community is not optional, and where we understand that it is not always comfortable.
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.
@GretaThunberg
supports Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice.
She uses her platform to call for us to be recognised and heard.
She amplifies our voices.
Greta is a good ally.
Be like Greta.
#IndigenousRights
#FixArticle6
#COP25
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Māori, Indigenous, Black & POC fam - which do you find harder to deal with?
A) Openly racist people
B) Regarded “woke” people who are racist in personal interactions, avoid you when they know you want to address it, but continue performative allyship in public & online
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I have invested extremely significant amounts of labour in supporting, educating, sharing opportunities and knowledge with people who I don’t necessarily like, who have caused me harm or offence, who have made that process extremely hard etc. bc they are a part of my community.
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I really need pākehā & abled allies to understand that when we call out oppression - like white supremacy and ableism - these things operate as systems.
We’re not saying that you are horrible people, we’re asking you to recognise the oppressive systems you are upholding.
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If you call yourself a leftist - wear a mask 😷
If you think that you’re an ally - wear a mask 😷
If you’re for collective liberation it needs no more deliberation
Support Indigenous & Disability rights and please wear a highly rated mask 👏🏽 👏🏽
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Kia ora friends,
If you’re heading in to
#COP27
today please show solidarity with your disabled, chronically ill & immunocompromised colleagues like me and wear a highly rated mask throughout the day.
Keep us safe.
We’re counting on you.
#DisabilityJustice
is
#ClimateJustice
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and to go to places where there are greater protections in place and more care taken to ensure my safe participation, compared to general New Zealand society.
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If a marginalised community is sharing that certain language or narratives harms them, listen.
It really isn’t that hard to take the feedback on board and adapt your behaviour. It doesn’t take away our freedom, it gives us freedom to make more considerate choices.
Thread 🧵
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We can’t solve climate change with the same systems & thinking that got us here in the first place.
When turning to Indigenous, disabled, and other frontline communities for solutions, remember that these are not going to look like Western solutions.
That’s the point.
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I don’t expect community work to always be sunshine and roses, and I expect that by being in community I will have people who disagree with me, who challenge me, and who call me on my shit. I appreciate when they do me the grace of sharing feedback even if it does sometimes hurt.
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Overseas friends pls amplify:
Indigenous Māori land protectors who have been occupying the sacred site of Ihumātao in Auckland, New Zealand, are being evicted and arrested to make way for a housing development. Our “compassionate” govt refuses to intervene.
#ProtectIhum
ātao
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Gosh, yes. Such Māori privilege. So lucky to have virtually all our land stolen from us, but hey pronouncing a few national park names correctly is just too hard right? 🙄
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Today I learned that structurally oppressed communities must be very nice to people who do them harm. We must have nice private chats to the people who harm us, expending our emotional labour to make them comfortable, before we are allowed to disagree *even slightly* in public.
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Yet I notice -particularly with white disabled and queer folks- that when we do have feedback or differences, these are seen as going against community rather than being a part of it, and an essential part of having genuinely diverse communities.
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New Zealand is a Pacific nation -our government should start acting like it rather than pandering to US Imperialism & capitalism.
I want to see an NZ that stands up in solidarity with Global South nations, with our Pacific relatives & neighbours, and for actual human rights!
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@falloutboy
@NationalBailOut
@BlackVisionsMN
Important solidarity, but how come you haven’t credited the Black woman who gave you this information and helped you put this plan in place? You need to pay her for advising & credit her. This is performative AF.
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As such, I expect that whether we get along or not, we will be in the same spaces and be taking action on similar things for many years to come. I do have boundaries to protect my mental health etc, but it takes a fair bit for me to put those up because I don’t expect comfort.
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So here’s the thing - you don’t owe people niceness, politeness or forgiveness when they harm you.
Indigenous People, disabled people, queer people & other marginalised folks don’t have to be nice or polite calling folks out on harm. That doesn’t make us the aggressor.
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👉🏽 Say no to them using your locations
👉🏽 Say no to hiring gear
👉🏽 Say no to being talent
👉🏽 Say no to being crew
👉🏽 Say no to interviewing them or promoting on your media platforms
👉🏽 Say no to “They Are Us” Film
#GiveNothingToRacism
#TheyAreUsShutdown
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When you call people performative for doing a lot of activism online, you are literally excluding the groups who MOST need change to happen, and who are most marginalised already.
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I hear and see a lot of sick people at
#COP27
. I see a lot of people not masking when Covid is circulating.
We cannot say we are for
#ClimateJustice
while prioritising our own ego and attendance at a conference over others’ lives & health.
#IndigenousCOP27
#DisabilityCOP27
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For many of us, learning how to do well on social media, or write op eds, or do media interviews is an essential activist skill to raise the profile of issues we’re working on, create leverage etc. and for some folks being visible publicly is essential for their safety.
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Being called on your racism, ableism, or other problematic behaviour is a privilege.
Marginalised folks know we will face pushback when offering this. The fact someone is willing to deal with that to bring it to your attention and trust you to do better is a GIFT.
Act like it.
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White lefties don’t get to complain about vote splitting losing the left. First of all, Labour didn’t even pretend to be left this election. They barely pretended to not be racist. If Labour didn’t want us voting TPM/Green they should’ve stood up for what they say they stand for.
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So if you want to dunk on marginalised people for being “performative” because their activism is very online, then you best be ready for the aunties to get up in your mentions to call you TF out for your racism and ableism.
Because that’s exactly what it is.
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Someone has been harming me and my partner for a long time with ableist, racist, manipulative and passive aggressive behaviour under a veil of “kindness”. I just stood up to them calmly & respectfully & told them how disappointed I am in them.
Not crying not crying not crying.
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I am extremely over ableism.
Over it. Exhausted. Done with it.
If you don’t support disability rights and disabled people, you are not progressive & it’s not our job to hand hold you through figuring it out.
Please sort your shit out.
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I have to disagree with this take. Many climate justice activists have concerns with these kinds of direct actions bc they make it harder for those of us on the ground, especially BIPOC. They are often privileged white people who want a channel for their panic but who are not
I have a feeling that environmentalist direct action is held to some weird standards by “the Twitter left” & I’m not sure why? Is it bc it’s seen as uncool? If the Van Gogh/soup action had been carried out by Sisters Uncut I don’t think people would be calling it a psy-op, etc
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Fucking bleak.
I’m sorry I know they’re disappointed but I’m angry at Labour. Instead of sticking to their values they tried to compete with Luxon on the right, backing down on policies that actually would have made a difference. Now we have fascists about to be in govt 😫
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Can we stop policing people complaining on social media?
We’re in a global pandemic with unprecedented levels of loneliness & so many people have lost their support networks. This is the one place some people *can* come for support.
Don’t shame them for it, just scroll on 🤷🏽♀️
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Those white folks will characterise us as too radical; uncooperative; or too rigid; or make out that we are just angry mean (brown) people or that we don’t “get it” when we have just invested so much time and energy specifically *to be kind*…
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To every Muslim in Chch & all of Aotearoa, you are loved and appreciated & welcome ❤️
I am so sorry that some vile ppl are making things unsafe for you & your whānau.
We commit to addressing Islamophobia & holding those who perpetuate this to account.
Ka nui te aroha 💕
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I implore EVERYONE in New Zealand to watch this interview with
@huhanahickey
on mask mandates, eugenics, and rights of Māori with disability.
Watch it. Immediately. I literally am begging.
#nzpol
#DisabilityRights
#CovidIsNotOver
"This is eugenics...disabled and immunocompromised will just have to run the gauntlet ..if they survive they survive and if they die, they die," Lawyer and Disability Advocate Dr Huhana Hickey blasts a potential move to Green and dropping of mask mandates
#NationNZ
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Pākehā allies, you need to do better.
Use the reo, learn about Te Tiriti, rawe! But *listen* to Māori, & back us when we highlight something problematic.
You don’t get a hall pass to do what you want with our culture just because you wear pounamu & pronounce names correctly.
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Most Indigenous and multiply marginalised folks I know get this. We all know what it’s like to be told off by aunties or the discomfort and sometimes anguish of being held accountable - but we don’t run from it.
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@PiersonOlivia
Mmmkay and how many international negotiations have you been to boo? Because every one I’ve been to has featured indigenous women with facial tattoos, piercings, and cultural dress literally on stage with heads of state and the UN Secretary General, and the diplomats love it 💁🏽♀️
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Today one of the babies at our marae asked me “Whaea can you write me some maths?”
She wanted me to give her sums to solve on the whiteboard. Within 5mins there were 3 tamariki jostling for my attention to write them sums.
These Moeraki babies are so clever 🥰
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And even if sometimes I know that we are coming from different but equally valid perspectives, so I’m never going to act exactly how they want me to.
That is because whānaukataka is important to me and my communities are not just labels and friend groups.
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If you are able to wear a mask, please, continue to
#Mask4YourMates
, your whānau, and yourselves. If the govt won’t require it, we can still show up for community care. Here’s why 👇🏽
#CovidIsNotOver
#DisabilityRights
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And because we know that it’s important for the overall well-being of the whole community.
For our efforts we are sidelined; not invited to opportunities; and uncredited or unacknowledged while they benefit from the “community” that we are doing the hard work of maintaining.
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I hope that when I am a dick, people feel safe and able to hold me accountable.
Accountability is a gift. I hope that I would have the grace and sense to treat it as one.
Don’t be the person who can’t take critical feedback from your community or those you’re in relation with.
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I’m just over it. I’m over our people struggling to make ends meet and keep their health in check yet still holding space for the most privileged members of our communities who make it abundantly clear that their ideal version of “community” excludes us.
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Just in case anyone is in doubt, pretty much all the serious Māori activists who actually work in community & dedicate themselves to Indigenous Rights and supporting our people also support Palestine 🇵🇸✊🏽
#M
āori4Palestine
#Indigenous4Palestine
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This is so disappointing and irresponsible. Many chronically ill folks like myself rely on locations of interest to judge our level of risk doing essential shopping etc. in a scenario where so many other supports have failed.
This feels like total abandonment 😩
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I’m over our people missing opportunities in community because they go to the most privileged ones; and never being able to then participate or be involved because we are shut out or because any critical feedback gets framed as being haters.
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It’s exhausting and so demoralising. And the irony is that the same people will say that lack of whānaukataka is our fault, or will claim to be for justice and equity, while ignoring the fact that they are surrounded by the most privileged members of our community for a reason.
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So we are just meant to sit and watch as it continues to operate this way, as those Māori or multiply marginalised members of community they tokenise to maintain their allyship cards get burnt. And they will never clock that this is racism or injustice & cry foul when we do
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@StefanMolyneux
Nah. We just see right through false equations of hate speech with free speech. You can say what you want- we just don’t have to listen to it or give you a platform. Calm down poppet.
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All Blacks are gonna keep losing til they apologise for doing Ka Mate on Kāi Tahu whenua 🤷🏽♀️
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I’m sick of seeing the same thing play out over and over again, but we can’t call it out because the second we name somebody or challenge them in public we are the bad guys “attacking” and our livelihoods and access to community is threatened.
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Something the last 6 months have taught me is that you can have compassion for people, but you don’t have to put up with harmful behaviour just because you can empathise or understand where it’s coming from.
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From what I’ve seen, this narrative that getting omicron is inevitable and that we’ll all just get it and in a few weeks the peak will be over so we’ll be back to normal faster is incredibly harmful and causing much riskier behaviours especially for young people.
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So one of the most impactful disabled activists on the planet (and one of our mates and mentors) is in ICU & there are environmentalists in their mentions complaining about their plastic use while in hospital.
White non-disabled environmentalists are the actual worst.
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This is how to deal to conspiracy theorist fascist politicians. USA media take note - she didn’t even let him get his coronavirus misinformation out there, and for good reason.
Absolutely iconic 👸🏽
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Just got blocked by a Karen in the USA for saying that it wasn’t cool to use peaceful NZ protest to tone police Black folks in the USA.
So just to make it clear: I 100% support Black folks expressing their anger & mamae however they see fit.
We don’t get to police their anger.
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Being Indigenous, Neurodivergent, queer, disabled, or another marginalised identity does not give you a pass to be Islamophobic or otherwise laterally violent.
And if your community members are consistently trying to call you in, be accountable and listen.
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This makes me so proud that in their moment of success and attention they made sure to platform Palestinian rights. THIS is the kind of politics and leadership that I’m here for!
Hello world, today Aotearoa New Zealand’s final election results were announced,
@Maori_Party
had their most successful win ever, & do you know how they chose to celebrate this big day on TV? They wore 🇵🇸 koufeyya 😍
Ngā mihi
@Maori_Party
& congrats for the huge win ✊🏾
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I’m lucky to have found a wonderful therapist who helps me a lot. However, therapy can harm a lot of folks especially BIPOC, disabled & neurodivergent folks if not done correctly, and it also doesn’t stop systemic issues causing a lot of our community trauma in the first place.
this whole “get therapy!” mindset is like cool to some extent but i feel like it just really ignores that therapy & psychiatry are still part of our *shitty* medical system, which by & large has no consideration for the needs of marginalized people & profits on our suffering
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Pals in film & media - please do your part for
#TheyAreUsShutDown
.
No excuses for supporting a Hollywood film that is not from community & uses the horrors of The ChCh Mosque attacks as a backdrop for Rose Byrne’s character development.
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Yep. I had respiratory infections / tonsillitis, and have now had fibromyalgia for almost 15 years.
Then I got Glandular Fever & it’s been worse for the 5 years since then.
Post-viral chronic pain & fatigue is not fun. We need to get serious about preventing long Covid.
As someone who has a post-viral chronic pain condition, I've been thinking about long COVID a lot.
My latest piece for
@TheSpinoffTV
is projections on what we can expect in New Zealand, from someone who knows what chronic illness is like.
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If I have learnt anything from the Indigenous elders I have had the privilege of learning from over the last few years, it is that decolonisation starts with whānaukataka. It requires us being in good relation and doing that work when it’s not easy or fun.
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“Just stay home” is eugenics. And it’s definitely not a strategy that should be coming from a govt & society apparently concerned with “kindness”.
“Just stay home” is saying that disabled people matter so little to you that you won’t take a minor inconvenience to save our lives.
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Finally decided to brave going out (carefully) to do some errands, only to see reviews that my usual hairdresser was antivax / not taking Covid seriously 😩
After a leisurely time where everyone was distanced and masked, I walked out of my *new salon* with this ☺️
Stoked ✨
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Literally bawling my eyes out I’m so relieved. If I’m honest I’d kind of resigned to dropping out of medical school at the end of this year. Having a choice to stay that doesn’t require me having to fundraise or hassle whānau for >$20k per year is game changing.
#letusfinish
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This wahine is the real deal. Slipped & mangled my ankle/leg pretty bad-
@MaramaDavidson
held me for >30mins waiting for ambulance and clears her schedule so she &
@RAZwaan
can spend ~4hrs looking after me/fussing over my cold toes. This is what real leadership looks like 💚🚑
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@Kevzin
@corinaknoll
@nytimes
Most of the people calling it murder are disabled Kevzin, they know what it’s like because they’ve been living it their whole lives!
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The floods, cyclone, and now quakes have really got me thinking about emergency preparedness and whether it’s only accessible for the privileged. We’ve bought a lot of gear lately & it’s not cheap.
Does anyone know if there are initiatives to get kits to whānau who can’t afford?
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