Fergus *FREE PALESTINE* Zapata

anti-AI “credo” I have a religious exemption from using all generative “A.I.” I am not a member of the Silicon Valley sect. Their beliefs and practices are an affront to my sensibilities. The tech is trained on stolen intellectual property. The output is riddled with mistakes, and it is incapable of comprehending the weight of its errors. It is not even an “it.” But sometimes, it is filtered and massaged by unaccountable human sweatshop workers and bad actors. I am not required to use “A.I.” any more than I am required to join Amway, buy black market rhino horn, or attend the Fyre Festival. As a human, I have a duty and right to limit my carbon and water footprint and protect my fellow human. As a union worker, I have a duty and right to oppose tech that is used to threaten workers or cheapen our product. As a tech consumer, I have a duty and right to oppose scams that lower the quality of our tools. As a scholar, I have a duty and right to oppose anti-intellectualism. As a taxpayer, I have a duty and right to oppose the misallocation of public funds and data. As a grown up, I have a duty and right to protect young people from predators. As a person with a conscience, I am appalled at the decadent disregard for user safety, the callous dismissal of responsibility for lives ruined and slaughtered. My religion is related to my identity, geography, and family, making it an irrelevant accident of birth. What matters is that I was born. I have an exemption from their digital rapture, their cultural austerity, their intellectual poverty. I practice wholesome hedonism and First Do No Harm. CS 12/9/2025

i included this in my syllabi this year

A watercolour painting of a person dressed in Biddy costume (white clothing, ornate straw headpiece, red sashes) holding a straw Brídeóg doll, against a background of colourful Irish spring-blooming wildflowers. #SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #Ireland #Art #Imbolc #Biddy #February

The Biddy is an Irish folk tradition linked to Brigid’s Day and Imbolc, where groups wear white and handmade straw headpieces to travel around playing music while carrying a Brídeóg (a model Brigid in child form), warding off evil and bringing luck.

Prints: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

Sharing again, because we still haven't passed the threshold.
We are at 77%.

This petition is really important. Sign, share and make sure others sign, please. 🙏

eci.ec.europa.eu/055/public

#Speirgorm #Speirghorm
#JusticeForPalestine

Alt text: Screenshot of a post on X (formerly Twitter). At the top, Elon Musk’s verified account (@elonmusk) posts the single word “Absolutely.” Below, his post quotes a tweet from J.K. Rowling’s verified account (@jk_rowling), posted 3 hours earlier, which reads: “I’ve signed. This is an unethical experiment on children who can’t give meaningful consent.” A truncated link to a UK Parliament petition follows. The interface shows a dark theme, a “Follow” button near Musk’s name, and at the bottom the timestamp “1:15 PM · Jan 11, 2026” with “6.8M Views.”

The guy in charge of producing endless AI CSAM cheerleading Rowling while she pretends to care about kids.

The Gist: The Abuse Factory X, the child abuse imagery app, revealed our state has no red lines. This is the Gist.

In Dublin, on Fenian Street, there's a factory that makes child sex abuse material.

You can pay it money, as a subscription, and that's one of the services it offers. This doesn't happen by mistake or because you've tricked or hacked the system.

It’s a feature.

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...

The United States is bombing Venezuela while the people are asleep!

Venezuela produces less than 1% of the world’s illegal drugs. But they do have the world’s largest proven oil reserve.

Still think this is really about stopping the cartels?

Save The Complex in Dublin I'm getting behind the The Complex Cultural & Arts space. Stop the eviction! Please sign & share

I'm getting behind the The Complex Cultural & Arts space. Stop the eviction! Please sign & share my.uplift.ie/petitions/sa... @uplift.ie

Pointing out when a state or an institution is guilty of racism isn't bigotry. It's the opposite, it's doing the service of opposing racism.

NAZI MOB ASSAULTS MAN AT HUNTINGTON BEACH CHARLIE KIRK VIGIL | Left Coast Right Watch Neo-Nazis attacked a man who came to a vigil to mourn Charlie Kirk yet didn’t welcome the Nazis presence at it.

Neo-Nazis in Huntington Beach assaulted a conservative activist mourning Charlie Kirk on Saturday and have taken to Telegram to claim that the victim was "ANTIFA."

leftcoastrightwatch.org/articles/naz...

Irish film workers among 1,800 refusing to work with Israeli firms ‘implicated in genocide’ The pledge makes clear that it does not prohibit those involved from working with Israeli people and is instead aimed at institutions.

This is serious solidarity with Palestine and it's great to see Irish film workers here. No cooperation with Israeli apartheid and genocide. #BDS #FreePalestine
Irish film workers among 1,800 refusing to work with Israeli firms ‘implicated in genocide’ www.thejournal.ie/irish-film-w...

Multiple A-list filmmakers, including actors, are pictured, alongside headline text that says: “BREAKING: In a historic declaration, 1,200+ film workers launch pledge to not work with Israeli film institutions implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

Film Worker Pledge to End Complicity: “As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognize the power of cinema to shape perceptions. In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror. The world's highest court, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and that Israel's occupation and apartheid against Palestinians are unlawful. Standing for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore. So too, we must speak out now against the harm done to the Palestinian people.”

“We answer the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism, and dehumanization, as well as to "do everything humanly possible" to end complicity in their oppression. Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa, we pledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions-including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies-that are implicated* in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people. *Examples of complicity include whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.”

Signed, Adam Bakri / Adam McKay / Aimee Lou Wood / Aki Kaurismäki / Alana Hadid / Alex Winter / Alia Shawkat / Alyssa Milano / Amanda Seales / Ambika Mod / Angeliki Papoulia / Annemarie Jacir / Arian Moayed / Asif Kapadia / Ava DuVernay / Ayo Edebiri / Bassem Yousef / Beatrice Dalle / Benedict Wong / Boots Riley / Brian Cox / Brian Eno / Carice Van Houten / Caveh Zahedi / Cherien Dabis / Crystal Moselle / Cynthia Nixon / Deborah Eisenberg / Debra Winger / Denise Gough / Emma Seligman / Eric Cantona / Esther Acebo / Eyal Sivan / Fernando Meirelles / Gael García Bernal / Gbenga Akinnagbe / Geeta Gandbhir / Hannah Einbinder / Hany Abu Assad / Harriet Walter / Ilana Glazer / Indira Varma / James Wilson / Janicza Bravo / Javier Bardem / Joe Alwyn / Joel Kim Booster / Josh O'Connor / Joshua Oppenheimer / Julie Christie / Juliet Stevenson / Kathleen Chalfant / Ken Loach / Khalid Abdalla / Lena Headey / Liam Cunningham / Lolly Adefope / Lukas Dhont / Mahdi Fleifel / Mai Masri / Marcia Cross / Mark Ruffalo / Maxine Peake / May Calamawy / Melissa Barrera / Mike Leigh / Miriam Margolyes / Morgan Spector / Nan Goldin / Natasha Rothwell / Olivia Colman / Olivia Williams / Paapa Essiedu / Paul Laverty / Peter Kosminsky / Peter Mullan / Poppy Liu / Rebecca Hall / Rebecca O'Brien / Richard Eyre / Riz Ahmed / Rob Delaney / Robyn Slovo / Ronan Bennett / Saleh Bakri / Samuel West / Sara Driver / Seamus McGarvey / Shirin Neshat / Susan Sarandon / Swann Arlaud / Taraneh Alidoosti / Tatiana Maslany / Terence Nance / Tilda Swinton / Tobias Menzies / Tracey Seaward / Tunde Adebimpe / Wallace Shawn / Xavier Dolan / Yorgos Lanthimos / Zawe Ashton... among many, many others. To join the pledge and see the full list of signatories, go to filmworkersforpalestine.org

Breaking! Film workers
across the globe are answering the call of our Palestinian colleagues, who urge the film industry to "do everything humanly possible" to end our complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza. Film workers: Join the call, sign the pledge: filmworkersforpalestine.org
#endingcomplicity

GFY

Pat Brodie and I have a book coming out in October. Really hoping it can be useful for analysing the imperialist political ecology of big tech and the energy transition.

Big thanks to @kaiheron.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social, Anne Pasek (and others) for their generous words and engagement.

Israeli soldiers are war criminals, and impudently and shamelessly document their war crimes for consumption by the Israeli public who cheer this genocide and mass starvation campaign on.

Israeli soldiers have filmed themselves tormenting a Palestinian boy who they arrested in the occupied West Bank, accusing him of throwing stones.

Some critics say that America's rapid decent into fascism is unfortunate.

Trump dying and taking MAGA (in its current form) with him would be good. Just so we're clear. The things that made MAGA happen would still be there and would make something else happen instead, but MAGA has a successful alchemy that it would be good to see expire.

Trump dying will have a huge effect. The Republican Party is MAGA now, MAGA grew inside it and took it over, and MAGA is - among the other things it is - a cult of personality. This is not rational but it is materially true.

More than 10 years ago I remember reading stories about Palestinian soccer players being shot in the feet by snipers. International sports competitions, FIFA, the Olympics, etc matter because they’re spaces where the world comes together peacefully but also with pride to represent our many cultures.

I don't see anyone else being able to unite that collection of loons the way Drumpf's been able to

Israel’s athleticide in Gaza is a deliberate attempt to erase a culture. It is an essential part of the larger genocidal project.

Time to cancel your #Office365 subscription

Microsoft fires staff who protested its role in Israel’s Gaza genocide <article data-history-node-id="427773" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/microsoft-fires-staff-who-protested-its-role-israels-gaza-genocide" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/microsoft-fires-staff-who-protested-its-role-israels-gaza-genocide" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Microsoft fires staff who protested its role in Israel’s Gaza genocide</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p data-end="501" data-start="298">Microsoft has sacked two employees who staged a sit-in at company president Brad Smith’s office to protest its collaboration with Israel as it wages a genocidal war on Gaza and ongoing apartheid in the occupied West Bank.</p> <p data-end="875" data-start="503">The workers, Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli, were among seven protesters arrested on Tuesday after occupying Smith’s office.</p> <p data-end="1080" data-start="877">“We are here because Microsoft continues to provide Israel with the tools it needs to commit genocide while gaslighting and misdirecting its own workers about this reality,” Hattle said in a statement.</p> <p data-end="1467" data-start="1082">No Azure for Apartheid has called for Microsoft to sever all business with Israel and compensate Palestinians.</p> <p data-end="1467" data-start="1082">Investigations by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call have revealed that Israel’s surveillance apparatus relies heavily on Microsoft’s Azure cloud to store vast quantities of intercepted phone calls and data from Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.</p> </div> </div> </article>

Microsoft fires staff who protested its role in Israel’s Gaza genocide - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/microsoft-fires-staff-who-protested-its-role-israels-gaza-genocide

UN rights staff demand Gaza war be called genocide <article data-history-node-id="427789" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/un-rights-staff-demand-gaza-war-be-called-genocide" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/un-rights-staff-demand-gaza-war-be-called-genocide" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">UN rights staff demand Gaza war be called genocide</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p data-end="609" data-start="394">Genocide. That’s the word more than 500 staff at the United Nations human rights office say their boss must use to describe Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in less than two years and pushed the besegied Strip into famine.&nbsp;</p> <p data-end="825" data-start="611">In a letter sent Wednesday to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, employees said Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal threshold for genocide and accused the organisation of failing to speak out.</p> <p data-end="1044" data-start="827">“OHCHR has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide,” the letter said, Reuters reported. “Failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the UN and the human rights system itself.”</p> <p data-end="1206" data-start="1046">The letter compared the UN’s inaction over Gaza to its widely criticised failure to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which killed more than a million people.</p> <p data-end="1752" data-start="1477">Rights groups including Amnesty International, along with UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, have already called Israel’s campaign a genocide. However, the UN itself has stopped short of using the term, insisting genocide determinations are for international courts.</p> <p data-end="1897" data-start="1754">South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in 2023, but a ruling on the merits could take years.</p> </div> </div> </article>

UN rights staff demand Gaza war be called genocide - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/un-rights-staff-demand-gaza-war-be-called-genocide

Israel kills Palestinian athlete as he looks for aid in southern Gaza Over 774 Palestinian sportspeople have been killed during Israel's nearly two-year long genocide

Israel kills Palestinian athlete as he looks for aid in southern Gaza - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-kills-palestinian-running-champion-while-seeking-aid-south-gaza

Genocidal Israel should be banned from all international sporting competitions. #Olympics #WorldAthletics #EuropeanAthletics #FIFA #UEFA

People in the Greek port of Heraklion are protesting against the docking of an Israeli cruise ship. John Psaropulos reports that the ship has already been turned away from Syros, Rhodes and Piraeus ✊

Every word of this