Hi all,
It's been a while since I've been here. Maybe three years? It's been busy. I moved across two continents, COVID, a baby, new job.
And then last year, something else happened: the genocide. There are multiple happening, of course. I'm talking about the one in Palestine.
It took me a move to the West and this genocide to realize just how insanely propagandized people here are, and just how ingrained white supremacy is, and how widespread Islamophobia is.
I've alienated a few privileged friends who call the genocide "sad", and do not share my rage. Many who equate the violence of the oppressed with the violence of the oppressor. For them, the status quo is the occupation, murder, slaughter, dispossession.
There's definitely a correlation between privilege and apathy, or affinity to be silent or 'both-side" it. A close privileged friend pushed back on the notion that silence is complicity. I didn't even realize that was something debateable.
The lies on mainstream media, the gaslighting by Western politicians, and the daily stream of horror live streamed from Gaza has put the depravity of empire in front of us. I've honestly woken up like I never have before.
For context, I come from a previously colonized Muslim country. My home country still hasn't been able to recover. We are still colonized financially - and mentally. Many of us still measure our worth by our 'proximity to whiteness', believing in the moral superiority of the West and motivation to gain privilege the modern world order. I fell for the propaganda just by consuming Western media. I actually believed in Western democracy only to see, very clearly, that the choice is an illusion.
At work, someone complained about me to HR because at an afterwork event, I called Zionism white supremacy and a continuation of Nazism ("the Jews are different and they must be sequestered in another location far away from Europeans - for their own safety"), echoing views expressed by many anti-Zionist Jews. If only the actual genocide triggered my colleague more than the mere mention of white supremacy. If only Americans were more triggered by the holocaust in Gaza than the idea of some Jewish students "feeling unsafe" on elite college campuses.
We live in a dystopia. This is not normal. This is history repeating itself. If there is some comfort, it is that we are witnessing the fall of empire. Unfortunately, things will get worse and continue to get much worse as time goes on. As people in the West, we need to keep applying pressure on our politicians. We need to keep disrupting. This needs to grow. We need to contine building working class solidarity if we are going to rebuild something better after this empire falls.
Does any of this resonate? Has the genocide been a concern for anyone here?
empire
Re: empire
Hey maz, glad to see you again. Hope things have been generally going well for you and your family. I find myself sympathetic to your feelings here though.
I've been following the Palestine stuff a little bit and while I'm not super glued in (And frankly I'm still ignorant about a lot of the history of the Middle East and western imperialism in that region), even if only half of what I've personally read is true then Israel's actions- and U.S. government's support of them, seem pretty indefensible yeah. I really don't understand America's continued support of Israel or Zionism (Well beyond very specific niche of right wing Christian Republicans that believe Israel's current existence is a needed precedent for the return of Jesus and the beginning of the end times, but that's almost a whole other but not unrelated can of worms), or for maintaining Empire in general.
I suspect a lot of this is a generational differences. You mentioned anti-Zionist Jews and from what I can tell its mostly younger Jews that express those sentiments and see the parallel between the Holocaust and Israel's genocide of Palestine, while older Jews have stronger attachment to Israel and find their identity tied to that. Likewise I think its mostly my generation of Americans and the growing number of younger ones that see absolutely no value in American's imperial adventures and killing of countless Muslims.
I've been following the Palestine stuff a little bit and while I'm not super glued in (And frankly I'm still ignorant about a lot of the history of the Middle East and western imperialism in that region), even if only half of what I've personally read is true then Israel's actions- and U.S. government's support of them, seem pretty indefensible yeah. I really don't understand America's continued support of Israel or Zionism (Well beyond very specific niche of right wing Christian Republicans that believe Israel's current existence is a needed precedent for the return of Jesus and the beginning of the end times, but that's almost a whole other but not unrelated can of worms), or for maintaining Empire in general.
I suspect a lot of this is a generational differences. You mentioned anti-Zionist Jews and from what I can tell its mostly younger Jews that express those sentiments and see the parallel between the Holocaust and Israel's genocide of Palestine, while older Jews have stronger attachment to Israel and find their identity tied to that. Likewise I think its mostly my generation of Americans and the growing number of younger ones that see absolutely no value in American's imperial adventures and killing of countless Muslims.
The one that's gotten me here is the conflating of the worst actions of Hamas with the entirety of Palestine. Yeah Hamas seems bad, but that hardly justifies the bombing of random Palestinian villages and such. But it seems Hamas' existence poisoning the well of sympathy for Palestine may have been Netanyahu's strategy to begin with.The lies on mainstream media, the gaslighting by Western politicians
"[Cinema] is a labyrinth with a treacherous resemblance to reality." - Andrew Sarris
Re: empire
Yeah, my old American teacher who taught me in grade six is on my Facebook. She is an evangelical Christian and she seems... almost turned on by the carnage happening in occupied Palestine. She is excited for the second coming of Christ. She is also a Trump supporter. You get the picture. It's really bizarre how Zionists and evangelical Christians get along so well. The latter believe that Jews will all be killed when Christ comes back, and the Zionist Jews are... okay with that. I remember John Hagee was one of the guests invited to speak at the pro-Israel rally in Washington a few months ago. This is the guy who once said God sent Hitler to create Israel. Because any amount of murder is "justified" for their end of times. I don't care what your or anybody's religion says. You cannot morally use it to justify occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Yes, it looks like the younger generations are able to better distinguish between propaganda and fact. This is often because they do not get their information from traditional media. They are also not as heavily brainwashed into believing in any country's right to exist at the expense of another people. I commend all Jewish people who have done the heavy work to undo the indoctrination. I don't imagine it is easy work to begin distinguishing between your religion and a political ideology when they have been presented as one your entire life. But then again, if a year of genocide does not wake you up, nothing else will.
The rhetoric from Israeli leaders and mainstream Israeli society is quite clear that all civilians are considered Hamas. Hamas is, at this point,a dog whistle for Palestinians. Even if Israel wasn't carpet bombing one of the most densely populated places on earth, the act of cutting off food and water to 2 million people - including 1 million children - is in itself a genocidal act of collective punishment. For Israel, those 1 million children are future Hamas terrorists.
Simple facts that will never come out of the Western power structure: Hamas is a resistance movement. As an occupied people, international law grants Palestinians the right to armed resistance to fight their occupiers. On the other hand, Israel - as an occupying power - does NOT have the right to defend itself. It has the right to end its occupation. You cannot be pro-Palestinian if you do not support their resistance.
People who start by condemning Hamas would have condemned the Algerian resistance for violently fighting back against the French occupation. They would have condemned the violent black slave revolts against their white owners in America. They would have condemned the Vietcong for fighting back against the American army. They would have condemned the Jewish resistance who fought back against Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto massacre.
On a side note, there is lot of misinformation on Wikipedia regarding Israel-Palestine during the last year. About Oct 7 and about history, so I would double check the cited sources. At this point, unfortunately, mainstream media has shown its hand and it is covered in blood. In other words, if the cited source ultimately boils down to "the US or Israel government said so", I would look for another source to validate and get another take.
One of the biggest myths being circulated in the wake of Oct 7 as a misguided pro-Palestinian position was that Netanyahu intentionally created Hamas. That is a lie. It is meant to undermine what Hamas stand for. The truth is that Hamas (before it was Hamas) needed Israeli permits to open cultural and charitable societies, citing this influential, well-known Palestinian poet who was murdered in December. That is not wilfull support, as is falsely claimed. However, after Hamas did unearth the popular resistance movement, Israel did happily work with it to keep Palestinians between by the docile, normalizing-with-the-occupation Palestinian Authority and the beilligerent Hamas, and then of course using the latter as an excuse for "they don't want peace" propaganda.
Yes, it looks like the younger generations are able to better distinguish between propaganda and fact. This is often because they do not get their information from traditional media. They are also not as heavily brainwashed into believing in any country's right to exist at the expense of another people. I commend all Jewish people who have done the heavy work to undo the indoctrination. I don't imagine it is easy work to begin distinguishing between your religion and a political ideology when they have been presented as one your entire life. But then again, if a year of genocide does not wake you up, nothing else will.
The rhetoric from Israeli leaders and mainstream Israeli society is quite clear that all civilians are considered Hamas. Hamas is, at this point,a dog whistle for Palestinians. Even if Israel wasn't carpet bombing one of the most densely populated places on earth, the act of cutting off food and water to 2 million people - including 1 million children - is in itself a genocidal act of collective punishment. For Israel, those 1 million children are future Hamas terrorists.
Simple facts that will never come out of the Western power structure: Hamas is a resistance movement. As an occupied people, international law grants Palestinians the right to armed resistance to fight their occupiers. On the other hand, Israel - as an occupying power - does NOT have the right to defend itself. It has the right to end its occupation. You cannot be pro-Palestinian if you do not support their resistance.
People who start by condemning Hamas would have condemned the Algerian resistance for violently fighting back against the French occupation. They would have condemned the violent black slave revolts against their white owners in America. They would have condemned the Vietcong for fighting back against the American army. They would have condemned the Jewish resistance who fought back against Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto massacre.
On a side note, there is lot of misinformation on Wikipedia regarding Israel-Palestine during the last year. About Oct 7 and about history, so I would double check the cited sources. At this point, unfortunately, mainstream media has shown its hand and it is covered in blood. In other words, if the cited source ultimately boils down to "the US or Israel government said so", I would look for another source to validate and get another take.
One of the biggest myths being circulated in the wake of Oct 7 as a misguided pro-Palestinian position was that Netanyahu intentionally created Hamas. That is a lie. It is meant to undermine what Hamas stand for. The truth is that Hamas (before it was Hamas) needed Israeli permits to open cultural and charitable societies, citing this influential, well-known Palestinian poet who was murdered in December. That is not wilfull support, as is falsely claimed. However, after Hamas did unearth the popular resistance movement, Israel did happily work with it to keep Palestinians between by the docile, normalizing-with-the-occupation Palestinian Authority and the beilligerent Hamas, and then of course using the latter as an excuse for "they don't want peace" propaganda.
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose"
Re: empire
Hey, good to hear from you and congrats on baby and job! I, like most Americans, am quite ignorant when it comes to overall foreign affairs.