The Wetʼsuwetʼen are a First Nation who live on the Bulkley River and around Burns Lake, Broman Lake, and François Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia.

They speak Witsuwitʼen, a dialect of the Babine-Witsuwitʼen language which, like its sister language Carrier, is a member of the Athabaskan family.

Their oral history, called kungax, recounts that their ancestral village, Dizkle or Dzilke, once stood upstream from the Bulkley Canyon. This cluster of cedar houses on both sides of the river is said to have been abandoned because of an omen of impending disaster. The exact location of the village has been lost. The neighbouring Gitxsan people of the Hazelton area have a similar tale, though the village in their version is named Dimlahamid (Temlahan)

The endonym Wetʼsuwetʼen means “People of the Wa Dzun Kwuh River (Bulkley River)”

The Wet’suwet’en First Nation was formerly part of the Omineca Band. However, in 1984 the Omineca Band split into the Broman Lake and Nee-Tahi-Buhn bands. The Skin Tayi band later split off from Nee-Tahi-Buhn. Today, the Skin Tyee Band, Nee Tahi Buhn Band, Wet’suwet’en First Nation, Moricetown Band and Hagwilget Band make up the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

Like most First Nations here, Wet’suwet’en never signed treaties with the Canadian or provincial governments. Nevertheless, the latter took the land and leased forested acreage to logging companies. Today just 20% of British Columbia’s old-growth forests remain.

In 2020, after decades of activist pressure, the province identified about a quarter of the remaining old growth as at high risk for logging and recommended a pause while deciding their fate. Yet today, logging has been deferred in less than half of the high-risk area.

Another conflict with the settler state has been the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which seeks to transport liquefied natural gas from northeast BC to a terminal on the coast near the town of Kitimat.

The 670-kilometre (417-mile) pipeline will cut across traditional Wet’suwet’en lands that cover 22,000sq km across northern BC.

The hereditary chiefs, who under Wet’suwet’en law claim authority over those traditional territories, said they never gave their consent for the project to move forward. They have raised concerns about the pipeline’s potential effects on the land, water, and their community.

In late July, Amnesty International took the extraordinary step in naming Dsta’hyl Canada’s first ever designated prisoner of conscience, and now demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

“The Canadian state has unjustly criminalized and confined Chief Dsta’hyl for defending the land and rights of the Wet’suwet’en people,” Amnesty International’s Ana Piquer stated in a press release. “As a result, Canada joins the shameful list of countries where prisoners of conscience remain under house arrest or behind bars.”

In October 2021, Dsta’hyl was arrested and charged with criminal contempt after confiscating and decommissioning heavy equipment utilized by Coastal GasLink to construct its LNG pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. Dsta’hyl said he was enforcing Wet’suwet’en laws as the company did not have the free, prior and informed consent of hereditary chiefs to build the pipeline.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • joaomarrom [he/him, comrade/them]English
    8•6 months ago

    This video is frankly baffling to me, how do people get this fucking good at improv? It blows my mind.

    Edit: okay, I got this one in the recommended videos and WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK he can’t keep getting away with this… HOW DOES HE DO THAT

    • ryepunk [he/him]English
      8•6 months ago

      Ross is insane at what he does, which is musical improv, and the game changer episode where he and his Shakespearean improv troupe improv a play with prompts from Sam is completely insane at how good they are.

      I imagine these comedians spend a lot of time focused on simply practicing a variety things that don’t work. Also who knows how much gets left on the floor, maybe they do get prompts that they can’t come up with some worthy of making it into the episode and we don’t see that because they just want to showcase the good stuff. They do show some cut content that is completely amazing as well so there has to be some flubs as well.

      Edit, I recall reading Lewis’s black’s autobiography and he states he spent years of doing terrible terrible standup before he eventually got even halfway decent enough to consider leaving the one open mic event he practiced at initially. So I assume there is a river of failed routines behind all improv and stand-up comedians and only by practicing away the bad stuff do they reach mostly good stuff we see.

      • joaomarrom [he/him, comrade/them]English
        6•6 months ago

        Absolutely, this kind of incredible skill can’t come on its own without a ton of flubs and failures. I think it’s admirable how much background work goes into something as silly as an improvised ad for a made up sandwich. I wish I had 10% of that ability to come up with funny shit on the fly just like that

        • ryepunk [he/him]English
          7•6 months ago

          I mean it’s important to remember that the people on dropout are professional comedians who have spent considerable time cultivating their craft, they probably attended some improv classes or did open mic stuff.

          We can’t feel bad because aren’t as funny when we work jobs and play fun videos instead of finely sharpening our funny bones.

          I’m being handed a note now… Most of the performers on dropout are also working side gigs because they don’t earn enough to live in the LA area so they functionally work two jobs… and now I think I may just not be funny and I shall have to be okay with that. Stealing bits from other people will be my mainstay.

          • joaomarrom [he/him, comrade/them]English
            4•6 months ago

            Most of the performers on dropout are also working side gigs because they don’t earn enough to live in the LA area so they functionally work two jobs

            Man, that’s criminal. Bunch of talentless hacks out there making a fortune and these incredible performers are out there barely scraping by…

  • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]English
    11•6 months ago

    Today that disability staff i mentioned before for saying controversial things but being otherwise great at her job called covid “the hong kong virus” and honestly the racism there was so stupid went over my head for a solid minute before it hit

  • vertexarray [any]English
    11•6 months ago

    I hate scribbling down a concept for a narrative and realising it has a pinch of homestuck in it

  • WhyEssEff [she/her]English
    5•6 months ago

    i’ll try to give naruto a fair shot. maybe I rag on it too hard for something I just could not get into initially. we’ll see.

  • WhyEssEff [she/her]English
    9•6 months ago

    Snippet from a fuckass short story/writing exercise idea I had that I’m writing. sucks ass but in a way that specifically appeals to me. Kinda Omelas-core but shittier, just trying to stress-test my writing ability a bit by navigating this nightmare proper-noun prosaic maze

    If it helps, imagine it as a place. Let’s capitalize it: Somewhere. Maybe I used to be there. If I was, I don’t remember. If I will, I won’t remember.

    What does this place have?

    It’s where It still Happens. It takes a lot of Work, but I’m told when It Happens, Greatness Happens. Many have to be Working to make It Happen—because if Many aren’t Working, It is not Happening. Many People Work for Some People, because Some People have Ideas, and Some People have Money. They say that Ideas and Money make It Happen. Many Others say that Work is how It Happens, and that the Greatness that Some People want from It Happening isn’t worth It. There are Many Others who leave Somewhere.

    It’s got People who care. I’ve seen a few. Some occasionally show up. Some try to bring us back with them. There are Others. Others stay here. And Some Others—They usually don’t get over it. They tend to go back. Many Others don’t. And there’s Some of Everyone Else: each One, drawn to Somewhere. I’d rather not, but to each their own. People don’t tend to leave. Others do, but I’d imagine they’re tired of People. Everyone’s tired of People.

    No, no more capitalization. I don’t imagine it’s pleasant to read. Here, I’ll make it simple: there’s somewhere with people where it still happens, and everyone else isn’t there—somewhere, many people work to get money from some people who have money and ideas, and some people really want it to happen so that greatness happens, which is why many people have to work to get money—everywhere else, there are some that try to bring us there, and maybe they bring one another from the crowd, but many others stay.

  • WhyEssEff [she/her]English
    9•6 months ago
    gathered thoughts on Hunter x Hunter now that I'm no longer sick and decrepit

    Really good. Nothing quite like it. Refreshing.

    To get my criticisms out of the way first, I’ll make a list of them:

    • The beginning of the Yorknew City arc is tedious. It takes a bit too long setting up Kurapika’s job and the Phantom Troupe. It pays off in the end, yes, but I was really bored up until the point where Gon, Leorio, Killua and Zepile went on their upselling escapade. Around that point was where I got hooked.
    • Succession Battle is too wordy. It’s a bit overwhelming to see a whole page of a novel’s text stapled-on to a few panels. Eyes were glazing over at a certain point.
    • Inconsistent art. Some of it looks like sketch work, some of it looks pristine and evocative. I am aware of why specifically Togashi may have this problem, and speaking of–
    • I am not confident this work will finish, and I am saying that as someone who has full confidence that both JoJoLands and One Piece will come to proper conclusions under Araki and Oda respectively.

    Criticism over. I am going to glaze the hell out of this now.

    Chimera Ant is one of the best arcs in all of shōnen. Outstanding. I’m struggling to think of arcs that stand out as masterworks in their own right across manga like this and I’m flailing. Kino absolute-cinema

    The complete deconstruction of Gon’s mentality and character is really well-written and takes Gon from Goku/Luffy-archetype ADHD wunderkind to a refreshing “hey what, realistically, would happen if we made this teenager into a walking bomb. teenagers are a little fucked, are they not?”-take that adeptly toes the line to not regress into edgelord “what if Goku SNAPPED and KILLED EVERYONE” territory, nor regressing into the Sasuke archetype. I really really liked how it’s very clear that he’s lashing out and revenge-seeking in grief, so much so that he irrationally snaps at Killua for merely (not-so-)straight-manning him when he’s freaking out at Pitou, hurting Killua in the process in his anger. I’ve seen very harrowing fates/injuries/developments for characters across manga. Very few have made me feel the level of ‘oh no’ that Gon’s rapid-age Nen contract made me feel. It’s not even gruesome, the design is utterly comical, and yet the mere implications that it communicates—purely visually—leave a sinking feeling that “oh, Gon might be killing himself with this” in a way that words do not do justice.

    The juxtaposition of the two gangs of four are great. It kinda falls off for me after Meruem and Pitou for comparison, but it’s a good bit. Meruem and Gon both learn at an absurdly rapid pace and have a nagging curiosity whilst being walking weapons, and Pitou and Killua are both cat assassins with undying loyalty towards their groups and callous indifference towards killing. Shaiapouf is too eccentric compared to Kurapika’s paladin-avenger nature to be a foil (they’re more Hisoka-like, if anything) and I don’t see the parallel between Youpi and Leorio. Maybe unintended to draw the parallels, but the first two read well and the designs sort of communicate this idea.

    I also love how it makes sure to highlight the devotion and care and curiosity of the Ants, and in the same breath highlight the brutality and callousness of the Hunters, only to swap those portrayals when you get too comfortable in seeing one side as such. It turns what otherwise would be a Heinlein’s Starship Troopers ‘kill bugs glory to humanity’ plot into a genuine attempt to empathize with the beasts and deconstruct the institution of Hunters in the same breath, while maintaining a reason to still root for the hunters in the end. This arc is so well written that I literally barely give a shit about the cartoonishly-evil Kim Jong-Un expy, where I otherwise would be raising a pointed brow at it. I love the whole Komugi plot and I felt like shit (in a bittersweet way) when they chose to die together after Meruem is contracts the Rose’s poison.

    Aside from that—really good worldbuilding given a map that for two separate landmasses rotates Africa and calls it a day. Nen is fun but I’m still confused but that’s ok.

    Alluka is handled in the best possible way that a character who does not look you in the eye and say “I am transgender” can be which is the clear demarcation of those who misgender her as actively uncaring. A step further in that the manga actively states that part of the reason those that misgender her do as such is because they view her like an object. Surprising depth considering the egregious transphobic moment in YuYu Hakusho. Actual growth on Togashi’s end.

    Love Killua. still don’t like Hisoka but he’s hot when he’s not got his clown on. Killugon may not be intended but it is effectively-canon because I didn’t even know shit about this and I’m not usually a shipper outside of explicit romance and I could only-barely read their relationship in a strictly bros fashion. This is a narumitsu-esque situation for me in terms of intent and clear reading.

    Medium-to-strong 9. This is the highest rating I am willing to personally give a work that I personally believe will not have an ending. I say this as a point of immense praise.