u/Tuotus

And if yes what wld be the correct way of doing so?

So was having convo with someone abt need of local greenery in our city instead of like whatever one variety that catches our dept fancy . The person agreed but the local trees they wanted to planted were fruit trees we already eat like oranges and mangoes.

Now obviously most domestic fruit trees in Pakistan are actually native but that doesn't mean they're necessarily local. If they were, its likely their wild counterparts wld already exist in your area. Second, I get why ppl want fruit trees in their neighbourhoods, they will bear fruits that ppl can collect, it's utilitarian. And yes, shld exist in urban spaces. But they still can't be a replacement to the actual local or let's say indigenous flora of your particular area.

There are a lot of wild species that don't serve some obvious purpose for us, mostly that wld be food or timber. But they're still living species who have a right to exist alongside us. And second utility isn't always just for you, a human, it's also for wildlife, land, air, atmosphere, everything.

A lot of times our care is often limited to species that we directly utilise and find pleasing. It happens for animals too, like ppl only like cats in particular, sometimes dogs, and we want more and more land for livestock but any other animal can just cease to exist within our communities urban or rural. But it is also a very colonial attitude to want everything to die and just push itself back to areas that are still free from our exploitation. Let's not do that and change how we see these plants. They're in fact your kin and you shld care for them like you wld your own.

Seeing Pakistani ppl being so bigoted and unscientific is disappointing but not surprising in the least. The patriarchal structure of our society has done a number on us all. I do worry abt the well being of your siblings, friends and relatives who will get affected by this rhetoric. But I guess DV is a family's internal matter and no outsider shld have any opinion on that. If your siblings do end up killing themselves, self harming or face any myriad of struggles that comes with dealing with bigoted family members, I'm trust y'all be able to handle yourself just fine and the victim in this case doesn't matter cuz they were being a deviant.

So let's talk abt lgbtq groups you don't have to be bigoted against even religiously and whom you can give some breathing space within the wider society and within your homes. I do hope y'all will show some progress in making their lives a bit easier in the future.

1- Intersex folks: Pakistani awams fav label rn to hate on the "fake transes". But do y'all know what the issues they face are or what intersex even means?

Intersex is a term to describe group of medical conditions that give ppl primary or secondary sex characteristics that do not fall into perisex body types. Being intersex doesn't define if one's trans or not, neither does it increase their validity to transition to another gender. And most importantly it has nothing to do with one's gender expression. Most ppl carry this assumption that intersex representation in indopak exist in the form of khwaja sra community when the reality is far from it. What does end up happening for most cis intersex population tho is that intersex ppls gender expression is often invalidated, they're discriminated against and their gender is called into question over the differences they have from most typical folks.

This can include degrading ppl for having "wrong" sexual/reproductive organs, performing gender "corrective" surgeries on them as kids and teenagers with only doctor's and parents input in the matter and objectification/demonistation of their bodies for being different.

It is infact very common for ppl to use the same slurs they throw around for trans folks on intersex ppl and gnc folks like ppl gynaecomastia/pmos etc and they can face pretty much all the same issues especially if they chose not conform to societies standards. So intersex and trans struggles are quite similar. This is why you find ppl tranvestigating intersex folks and calling khwaja sra community as not being true trans.

2- Khwaja sra community: An indigenous trans community of south asia that has survived centuries of invasions, suppression, and demonisation at the hands of colonisers. Khwaja sra or kinnar community was criminalised as part of Criminal tribes act of British Raj for being men dressed as women. It is also common for ppl now to call all community as intersex while also calling any form gnc/atypical expression of gender as khusrapn. You're a khusre/hijre for having "boy" haircut, having a "feminine" chal, wearing the 'wrong' clothes, speaking the wrong way, being a feminist etc.

Khwaja sra community today faces intense exploitation at the hands of society at large b/c they're not allowed to exist visibly in most of respected society. From workplace, to healthcare, housing, education, every space is closed off to them. And the few reprieves they have had such as legal recognition and inclusion are being taken away by the our sharia council today. Khwaja sra ppl deserve your respect, to be treated equal and for their gender and gender expression to not be questioned and demonised all the time. You infact don't have to compare them to qom e lut or call em western agenda. They have existed and will continue to exist here, the real question is how you will treat them?

3- Asexual/Aromantic (Ace/Aro) community: This includes ppl limited to no sexual or romantic desire or attraction. Asexuality and aromanticism define two different but intertwined aspects of intimacy it's sexual and romantic. An aroace person may not feel any attraction towards another person or they may be able to but only if a deeper bond is established b/w two ppl. While a person may be able to perform these acts for their partners or others. More often than not there is no real desire behind it aside from making your partner happy.

As such Aro/ace folks often perform their partners and it is often taken for granted by alloromantic folks to have their partners be willing and available for any kind of intimate activity. Not only that it is common for allo ppl to villify their partners for not providing these services. Rape and coercion in rs is common and still legalised. Consent is often disregarded when it comes to asking what your partner wants or not. And religious doctrine often forces ppl to be intimate with their partners even without their will.

Furthermore is the issue of making marriage mandatory aspect of society, arranging weddings for your kids even when they don't want to and berate anyone for showing distress for providing intimacy in a rs. Neither are ppl allowed to choose their compatible partners and then no accommodation exists by their allo partners to take other person's wants and needs into account too. You literally can change that by understanding that everybodies libido and desires look different and true partnership includes accommodation and care not just mandatory sex services from your partner

There is also an issue of there not being any framework for acknowledging and respecting platonic rs which are often sidelined, ignored and erased.

You don't like the rest of the community, atleast respect them

How much do the tests for HIV and hep etc usually cost?

And do you have to give any correct personal info to get the results?

Note:- I made this post as a vegan for fellow vegans, non vegan ppls thoughts are welcome but they're not the intended audience

A lot of vegan leftists rightfully ask leftists to be pro/vegan but I feel like not nearly enough effort is put in to purging the movement of reactionary elements. I wld hear vegan activists say how an avg vegan is more conscious of exploitation and injustice happening in the world than a nonvegan but I don't think that's enough for a leftist movement to be okay with avgs. And if we look at veganism being coopted by different reactionary movements which include Zionists themselves, one really need to start question if their ranks need reform. Yes veganism shld be as disciplined as other leftist movement if it does see itself as such rather than just dismissing the issue as a few reactionary vegans who make trouble, few racist vegans, few imperialist vegans, few classist vegans, few casteist ones, few misogynists, and we can keep going I guess. If your philosophy is gonna be like you can be vegan and reactionary or be indifferent to other injustices cuz you're focusing on this important cause, then it's not a leftist movement, it's just liberalism trying to coopt leftist politics. And if vegan leftists can't do something abt rw veganism, then the least they shld be doing is clearly delineating themselves from it and denouncing it vocally. I don't see any vegan organisations do that so how the fuck are you keeping up with leftism with this sort of politics

So a few days ago I posted abt the displacement crisis that is happening in Bari Imam, Islamabad. It is not an issue only limited to this particular area, other areas are being affected too currently and the issue is largely the same. I posted both in isl and in Pakistan sub, I feel like the conversations in r-isl was much more ghoulish. But in both places the issue keep turning into legality of these settlements, victims' response to the govt, defense of police response etc. The fact that many ppl, thousands of them were effectively being unhoused was the matter of least concern.

Which I think shld be at the forefront especially when we're talking abt low income communities who don't have much financial safety nets to even make it out safely from such losses. Now the legal issue of these communities being legal or not is a complex one. If anyone is interested you can look up cases going on, their history, how CDA purchased, how ethical it was and what promises were made etc. What I want to talk abt isn't legality but how it is often used to trump some very basic rights like housing. Rights that shld be more fundamental and even though not part of the law rn, they shld hold more priority for us quite frankly. Housing for conmunities is infact more important than any private business and especially when it's public land, like you can't have your main agenda be displacing ppl

Because things like housing are a very basic security that pretty much every creature needs including humans. It is not a luxury option that only highly developed countries get to discuss. And without it you can not actually have a developed community to begin with. Housing shld not be a private business to begin with. Everybody needs homes, even ppl living in joint family, and the best way to do it is by govt providing housing not razing already built ones.

So i do think it's very important to think from the perspective of is it even fair to raze ppls home and making them homeless. And this mostly happens to lower income communities like Katchi abadi residents being displaced or a high density area being razed. When it comes to colonies like Bani gala, many dha, Bahria towns and private real estate, despite being illegal or causing massive environmental destruction despite catering to far fewer ppl, they can be normalised and legalised easily.

So a class analysis of these issues is much more important rather than relying on legal frameworks only which can be highly flawed. And do basic rights like food, shelter, education, healthcare at the top rather than somethings that can be compromised on cuz of law or private interests. Ciao ✌️