#About why they should boycott companies that support the genocide as much as they can

[mageofminge]

REMINDER TO BOYCOTT EUROVISION

Here's a quick run down of everything they've done + why you should boycott

Despite banning Russia for its actions in the Russia-Ukraine war, Israel is still in the contest (despite committing war crimes, attacking Gaza with genocidal intent etc)

"But Hamas attacked first on Oct.7" - Then why is Israel also bombing southern Lebanon if Hezbollah and the Lebanese government aren't involved?????

Israel often uses ESC as a platform for propaganda

One key example is their promotions for their 2019 broadcast, where they tried to turn attention away from the occupation and portray the country as a liberal haven of democracy, with the lines "... it's a land of war and occupation. But we have so much more than that!" and pointing out its the only place in the middle east where "gays are hugging in the street". (as if the rest of the Levant INCLUDING PALESTINE isn't actually relatively chill when it comes to gay rights)

Another example is them sending an Ethiopian Jewish singer to perform a song called "Set me Free" the same year they stormed Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, which seemed to be very intentionally trying to shift the narrative away from Israel as a colonial occupier, and more as a persecuted people who have finally found safety

As well as the issues with Israel as a competitor, ESC is SPONSORED by MoroccanOil, an Israeli company (ik the name is misleading, but speaking as a Moroccan Israel just really loves to steal our culture while treating our people they stole like shit [I could go on an entire rant ab this but I won't])

So what this means is we can't just boycott this year and then forget about it the next. Until Israeli presence is completely removed from EUROVISION, your views and your money will be funnelled to support an Apartheid regime. I already know people who are still watching Eurovision despite not supporting the occupation, because they love the artists and the spectacle. But no spectacle is worth supporting an Apartheid regime. The best way we can help the Palestinians is by making Israel a pariah state, and pressuring politicians to cut all their funding. That way they won't be able to put down uprisings and maintain the brutal police state they have - at which point they can only resolve the conflict peacefully and end occupation, or find themselves in the throw of a violent revolution. It was these strategies that ultimately helped end the apartheid regime in South Africa, and it is these strategies which can help end Israeli apartheid.

#eurovision #esc 2024 #palestine #israel #free palestine #apartheid #moroccanoil #eurovision 2024 #eurovision 2019 #set me free #europapa #joost klein #eden golan #hurricane

[yutaholic]

Thank you for even making that post because I honestly feel like I’m going to explode!! Championing every issue is EXHAUSTING. I have such empathy fatigue. Bombardment of “rules”, behavioral guidelines, services, companies, networks + food brands & PEOPLE to boycott ALL THE TIME. Fandom is space many of us come to unplug from reality…it’s certainly my hyperfixation & ppl be like “well then get another one because you shouldn’t support–” IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT. Fuck. I can’t take it anymore. Calls to action being in EVERY single place have weakened my mental state even more than it was before which was already on “pending disability” level of severe & now I’m just. burned t-absolute-f out….at everything!! I can literally FEEL myself unraveling. Kpop stans & their toxic activism can go to hell. They’re so worried about making sure to condemn others for “not doing enough” or being bad people, that they don’t even realize their actions are making them into bad people. This shit takes a toll on mental health, there is science behind this, it is real and what happens to human beings when inundated with constant terrible news, and it’s not just being ~too privileged to care~ but these performative mfs have no concept of blacklisting anymore and just want to assume the absolute worst about someone, call them names & wish harm on folks who are at the end of their ropes! It’s maddening! So even if compassion fatigue isn’t why you didn’t go out of your way to Denounce and Drag™️ him (bc you totally have the right to simply not want to do that on a fanfic blog!) I’m just glad someone else stated that this is supposed to be an ESCAPE. fuck.

Baby, burnout will fuck you up. Don't do that to yourself. Take the time you need and recoup. Life is a constant war and you can afford to lose a battle here and there to focus on your own health and well-being. Getting yourself back into a good place mentally will be a huge win. We both know the ppl obsessed with performative activism aren't doing anything from a place of compassion. The real ones are out there making change, not sending people death threats online from the comfort and safety of their mommy's basement.

When I posted the pic of NCT Dream and Big Time Rush, I wrote in the tags how BTR was something my sister and I loved and bonded over. We watched the show even though it was obviously a kids show and we were both adults. It was just something that gave us joy. My sister passed away years ago and anything BTR-related will make me teary because I think about how much we laughed together over it.

So the first thing I get are messages over how problematic BTR is, that I should delete the post or I'm pro-genocide if I don't dislike them. Ngl that made me so upset because I got a bunch of faceless people trying to taint some precious memories of me and my sister. If they came at me trying to educate me on things I didn't know that would be different, but it's straight to judgment and hatred toward me over something I posted that was totally innocent.

Meanwhile I get criticized for posting about a kpop group instead of reblogging every call to action post. I donate my money to these causes, but I don't post about it because I don't need my ass kissed for doing what I know to be right. I am 1000% sure the anons in my inbox that try to police me have never given a dime to anything, but are policing people's blogs for not reblogging posts or talking about it more.

I feel bad that I haven't been very active on here this year so I try to come on when I have some free time to interact with you guys. I make a silly post about Doyoung and get anons tearing into me for it like I'm his social media manager. Okay so because the world is going to shit we aren't allowed to enjoy anything?? Can't make jokes about anything. Can't show support for anything. Just wrong on every fucking count.

Believe me I am so goddamn aware of how lucky I am that I can sit here and say I'm very privileged that I live comfortably in the life I have. I know what's going on in the world and I do my part to help where I can, but I also have to keep functioning. I don't want every minute of my life to be seeped in anger, I did that for a long time and it not only eats away at you, it makes you ineffective in actually changing the things making you angry in the first place.

This was just supposed to be a blog where I posted my stories. One of the few places I could go and not constantly be reminded of how fucked up the world is. I've always said that people who told me reading a fic of mine made their day a little better or helped them escape for a bit were always my favorite. That was what I came here for and I loved being able to share the tiniest moments of peace and quiet with others through stories with guaranteed happy endings.

I'm frustrated because I have 4 drafts ready to go next year. I got the story posts done and made all the headers. But I don't want to post them. I have no problem admitting I'm selfish and spiteful. Even though I can turn off anon, I can't block these miserable people and I don't want them reading my stuff. They don't get to consume my content and then tell me to off myself right after.

A massive fuck you to those of you that ruined this blog for me.

#empathy fatigue is real #and the reason these shitheads arent getting tired #is because theyre not doing any of it from empathy

[dearweirdme]

Regarding the hybe boycott, it is very important that we push scooter braun away from this company. Apart from the fact that all western celebrities cut off contact with him and he is now miraculously working in the k-industry and the fact that he stole all of taylor swift's music, he is also a known zionist and this boycott is just a way of getting the company's attention and kick him out. Why would we ever want someone like that being associated with the boys.

There are thousands of palestinian children and people dying out there and I am definitely not platforming someone who supports that neither should anybody else. BTS are not above my morals. We can stream and buy the album later as well, but right now, people are dying and that needs more of our attention. Not streaming right now doesn't make you an anti, it makes you human. Like think about it, is an album more important than people literally dying??

And of course, we cannot do much in this situation, the least we could do in our position is de-platform anybody who funds or supports this genocide.

Hi anon!

I’m all for getting rid of him (in a non murderous way).

The not streaming comment I made regarding Hobi wasn’t about this though, it was people (quite a few) talking about not streaming because it was Hobi and people who specifically said they were still streaming Golden to go against Hobi.

I totally respect political reasons for not streaming. I do not respect people being nasty to members on a personal basis.

#fandom shenanigans

[extraaa-30]

PJO, Disney, and Palestine

I'm seeing some nonsense in the PJO fandom rn about how to support Palestine. And, though I'm by no means an expert, I am super super done seeing all the nastiness and bad takes. So I'm gonna try to clear up some confusion.

Long post ahead, bear with me <3

First, let me be real clear: Free Palestine.

I'm not getting into it more than that. You either know already or should know about the ongoing genocide. If you don't know, there are plenty of resources available.

Obviously, we should all be doing everything we can to support Palestine. There are lots of ways to do this. One of those ways is to observe boycotts called for by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement.

BDS has a policy on Disney. But it does not mean what most of this fandom thinks it means.

Here is the official list of BDS targets as of three days ago (1/17/24):

(source)

You'll notice there are four types of targets. Let's go.

1.) Consumer boycott targets

This is the category most people think of. BDS has asked for a total consumer boycott of these brands. In other words: do not buy from these brands.

[List from image: AXA, Puma, HP, Chevron, Ahava, Carrefour, Caltex, Siemens, RE/MAX, Texaco, SodaStream]

Worth noting: Sabra hummus is also a major part of this list. Not sure why it was left out of the graphic.

Here is more info from BDS about the reasoning for these choices. You'll notice that Disney is not in this target category. Let's move on.

2.) Divestment and exclusion targets

This category is about pressuring governments and institutions to end their dealings with these brands on a large scale.

It's really important to note that BDS is not asking consumers to boycott this category. The best way we can support is to put pressure on our institutions (e.g. local governments, universities).

Obviously, if you personally want to stop buying from these brands, you can! But that is not the ask from BDS right now. That is your personal choice.

[List from image: Elbit Systems, Intel, Chevron, CAF, Barclays, JCB, CAT (Caterpillar Inc.), Volvo, TKH Security, HD Hyundai, Hikvision]

Still don't see Disney, right? Moving on.

3.) Pressure targets

And here we have arrived!

✨✨ This category includes Disney. ✨✨

BDS is asking us to conduct pressure campaigns against these targets.

This can include boycotting ("when reasonable alternatives exist")! It can also include:

lobbying (sending letters, emails, petitions...)

peaceful disruptions (nonviolent direct action, protests)

social media pressure ("hey followers, go sign this petition! go call this number!" "@ slimy corporation, why do you support genocide?")

[List from image: Google, Amazon, Booking.com, Teva, Expedia, AirBnB, Disney]

Again, if you personally want to boycott these brands, go ahead! That is a valid and worthwhile choice that you can make. It's worth noting though that boycotting does not mean just pirating a show on a different platform.

Boycotting is about ending our support as consumers completely.

That means ending subscriptions, canceling accounts. It also means not consuming any products from these companies or their subsidiaries. For Disney that includes Marvel, ABC, ESPN, Pixar, National Geographic, and literally a billion others. For Google, it's not just the search engine but things like Google Docs and YouTube.

As you can imagine, a complete consumer boycott of these brands would be complicated. That is why, strategically, BDS is not asking for that at this time.

It is imperative that the movement to free Palestine is strategic and organized.

The BDS movement has been doing this work for a long time. Following their lead is a good idea. Directing our energy into the actions they recommend is efficient and vital.

I've seen a lot of people in this fandom saying to boycott Disney as if it's a top priority, or even harassing others for continuing to engage with Disney content. That is nonsense and unhelpful.

There is too much to do, urgently, for us to waste time.

That said, let's briefly go over the last category:

4.) Organic boycott targets

These are boycott campaigns that developed independently. While BDS is not diverting official energy towards fighting these brands, it does support the public in that fight.

In other words, don't buy from these brands.

[List from image: McDonald's, Domino's Pizza, Papa John's Pizza, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Wix]

Not listed but worth noting: people are also boycotting Starbucks

In conclusion,

This? Still true.

Just be strategic and informed about it. And don't be an asshole. There is too much work still to do.

[Also, before someone gets on my case about Rick Riordan, I made a whole separate post about it here.]

#pjo #pjo tv show #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo series #pjotv #palestine #bds movement #boycott disney #<<for visibility #percy jackson and the olympians #idk other fandoms probably could benefit from this info #i'm just #if i see one more person being holier than thou about a boycott that bds has not asked for #when there are other ways for us to direct our energy to actually help palestine #and all this is just about boycott as an option i mean #there are so many other ways to plug in #there is so much to do #you don't need to pirate a silly little show. go call your representatives. donate to an organization. buy an e-sim for someone in palestin #if you want to hurt the mouse then smear disney publicly- that falls under social media action #stop spreading incorrect info about this #it is TOO IMPORTANT #extraaa

[misfit-mania-the-first]

I was looking for anticapitalist Christmas activities to do this season(and yes, that may sound like an oxymoron) and…woof. Many many people are decidedly not celebrating, but it sounds like its for the wrong reasons.

Some were saying it was overconsumptive, and some were saying it was completely capitalistic. Which I do Not agree with at all.

Holidays can and do exist completely separately of capitalism, and were born before they were noticed by huge corporations. Christmas has existed for a long time and was originally celebrated much differently to now. In some places its still very different from now americans celebratr.

There are multiple genocides going on right now. That is awful, and that is deplorable of so many companies to support that. But that doesn’t mean we should stop celebrating any holidays altogether.

The reason holidays exist is because as human beings, we have cultures and traditions and religions that have special days. And we have a desire to gather on those holidays. Its a great time for a community to create lifelong wonderful memories.

Which is why we should celebrate christmas. But we should also boycott. We should gift handmade items, baked goods, recipes, things like that. We should spend time together and strengthen our bonds so we are stronger together.

If we want any chance of actually beating these companies and making the world better in a way that WE want, we HAVE to have community.

And just for me? I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. So i may be a bit biased in my take, but this is my huge recharge for the year. I also have a lot of storm anxiety, so Winter is the one time where I live where I can feel fine about the sky being dark and cloudy.

I don’t know if this makes sense, but I hope it does

#free palestine #free congo #free sudan #anti capitalist #anticapitalist christmas

[turtledovenycx]

This post is in no way created to target or promote hatred towards Stray Kids, Other K-pop groups, or their agencies. It is to raise awareness and share my opinion.

Let's talk about the "K-wave" Coca-Cola x K-pop campaign. The fact that Stray Kids is one of the faces of it bothers me a lot. I haven't been online much so I didn't know about this till a few hours ago.

It's been four months since I have been boycotting (as much as I can) major food, fashion, and skincare companies that fund and aid the Genocide of the Palestinian people and will be continuing to do so.

I've been supporting Stray Kids for almost three years now and though I love them. I will not stand by this decision to advertise this campaign.

I am against them or any other idol endorsing the Coca-Cola brand.

The increase in Brands on Boycott reaching forward to Idols trying to get them to advertise, use, or be photographed with their products should be concerning. Big agencies like JYPE should have a political stand and try to at least do/show what's right. Unfortunately, this is not a utopian world and at the end of the day, they have to do what major investors and bosses want.

Saying that however we also have to understand that they lack the freedom of choice. Let me be clear I do not hate Stray Kids. I will also not stand by the statement that they support genocide and I'll explain why. Throughout the years the members have secretly and non-secretly shown us how each of them is involved in charitable and humanitarian organizations that help humans and animals, and I applaud that. They are good people with enough knowledge and a conscious. There is no room for doubt there. Idols are trained to not be involved in controversies. They are not allowed to show support for either side and sometimes this backfires. Like how they have to do ads for companies that may be directly or indirectly in said controversies.

Now, the reason: Stray Kids and all other idols work on contracts and once signed they are indebted to their agencies or labels to get the work done. Now, of course, they can say no. But with the system by refusing they are liable to huge financial losses which could land them in debt or worse Hiatus/Termination of their contracts.

I am a Stay, I will always be a Stay. I have so much to be thankful for to Stray Kids but just because they are my favorite idols does not mean I will support all of their content blindly. And neither should you. They might not be able to express their choice but we can.

So for now I've decided I will not be viewing or engaging in any content released by them as a part of this campaign (like the JYPE family M/V) or any advertisements that involve big fashion/ non-fashion brands on the boycott list. I encourage you not to spend money on merchandise and albums that put money directly in the pockets of record labels and Agencies.

I like to believe that they are not completely oblivious to what is happening in the world no matter how much the mainstream media try to cover it up. I sincerely hope whatever money they get from this campaign is used well for humanity.

Boycott Coca-Cola. Boycott brands that support the Genocide.

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸

(if my post has any mistakes or any incorrect information I'm open to constructive criticism as I am still trying to educate myself more on current affairs right now. I hope my point was clear. I love Stray Kids and Their music and I will continue to love them. I do not support this particular campaign. That's it)

Please take everything I said in a positive light. I do not want a wave of hate from strangers for me.

We are all Humans trying to do what's right.

#nyx talk serious matters.☽༊˚ #stop making idols advertise controversial brands #skz #stray kids

[intoxicatedfae]

the world is burning… and so are we

this may feel very weak and stupid to say at a time like this, when genocide is happening. but i feel like i’m biting my tongue and not saying much? i can’t fully identify the reason why i am holding back. why can’t i fight for freedom? i don’t want to look back and feel guilty because i was silent and complaisant. i can’t sit on my feelings anymore but i also feel that i’m not educated or informed enough to say all the things i want to say. and i think that is what has been holding me back.

what i do know is that there are 3 major genocide’s happening right now. the genocide of Palestinians, at the hands of the American and Israeli governments.as well as the genocides happening in the Congo and Sudan (which I know less about and wish to seek more information about these situations). many governments have anti-trans/ anti-lgbtq laws in place. some areas that don’t have laws that restrict the freedoms of queer and trans people are looking to implement them. in america affirmative action was overturned, i believe ICWA was also overturned this year. and reproductive rights have been violated. also, cop city, a militarized police training facility being built in atlanta to train police all over the world in the best ways to “police” their citizens. i put the word police in parentheses because their main goal is no longer to maintain the law and serve and protect citizens from danger. no, they think they are above the law and they want to control us through fear.

all politicians and their governments are corrupt. one of their main goals is to isolate citizens from each other, drain us of our energy, and make us turn on each other. if we’re lonely and tired and angry at our fellow man, how could we ever fight our oppressors? there is power in numbers, so they have chosen to separate us and create a divide. we should be choosing community, unity, and solidarity. you may be afraid to speak out in support of Palestine because you think you don’t know enough about the situation, or nobody else you know is speaking out, or because you think you’ll get hate for antisemitism. however, if you’re staying silent you’re choosing to stand by the decisions your political leaders are making. if you don’t know about the situation research and find out enough to form a solid stance. if nobody else’s you know is speaking out, why not be the first one? maybe everyone in your community needs that push. and remember being pro-Palestine was never and will never be anti-semitic. this is something that is said to scare people into not speaking out but just because you’re against Apartheid, and wrongful colonial occupation does not mean you hate Jewish people at all, rather it means you’re just against corrupt governments trying to get away with sick and twisted actions in the dark.

as an american i believe the american people need to rally together and put an end to this. how can the us treasurer say there is plenty in the budget for at least 2 wars but the country is trillions of dollars in debt? we can’t keep letting the white supremacist that run our country use our tax paying dollars to fund a genocide that largely nobody is in support of. boycott all companies that in support of Israel not just McDonalds and Starbucks and Disney. if you can try honestly i would recommend just not buying anything that isn’t a necessity at all period. if we stop funneling money into the economy 1) there will be no money to fund Israel’s endeavors, and 2) the economy will eventually collapse. if the economy collapsed a new economic structure would have to be built to replace capitalism. this is hella extreme but i think an eventual radical response that we should get prepared for. the government does not care about you so why should you spend your hard earned barely livable wage dollars on anything at all? aside from just boycotting, i’m still trying to find a solution for taxes? if anyone knows how americans can prevent their taxes going towards this plz share.

overall not sure if i said everything i wanted to say here, but i will definitely be writing more of my thoughts so i can further go into detail. for now i can sat do what you can to help Palestine. contact your representatives, donate, protest, share the posts of the surviving citizens remaining in Gaza as they document these ongoing terrors. keep your eyes on Gaza, stay alert, and stay safe.

(also i would like to state i’m just expressing my thoughts not trying to spread information, ((if anything i’m asking to be informed)), but trying to speak about what’s on my mind and in my heart). (also sorry for spelling and grammar errors, not focused on format focused on message)

#palestine #israel #free palestine #liberation #end occupation #ceasefire #spilled thoughts #capitalism #socialism #change #the world is burning #personal essay #politics #radicalize #radicalization

[235uranium]

CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT AND DEMAND A CEASEFIRE FOR PALESTINE

For Eu look up:

Voices in Europe for peace

For Usa look up:

US campaign for Palestinian rights

BOYCOTT FOR PALESTINE

FOA (Friends of Al-Aqsa) have organized a boycott in support of palestine. Here are the key companies to boycott:

HP (Hewlett Packard)

Coca-Cola

PUMA

Any produce labelled 'made in Israel'

(Please help to spread the word by sending this copypasta to as many blogs as you can OR going to FOAs website where you can find posters to download and print out)

This message is well meaning, but seems a bit messy IMO.

I'm not going to pretend I know about the EU and UK, so I'm not going to comment on that.

In the US, your best bet is to directly contact your state representatives and search for what organizations are active locally. If you live outside one of the major population hubs, it's quite possible it won't be one of the major organizations.

(I am physically disabled so fuck if I know what's going on with protests)

Looking at FOA, they seem to be specific to the UK. That doesn't mean those outside of the UK shouldn't look at their goals and consider them- but I do think it's important for people to know that! What is a relevant and practical for one country might not be for another. I'd still highly recommend reading their site! But know their main goal is communicating to people in the UK.

In general, though, if you want to participate in boycotts the main place you should be looking is BDS. They were founded through the collaboration of Palestinian civil unions and many other professional, resistance, and civil groups in Palestine. There will likely be additional boycott targets important on the local level, but (as they explain!) boycotts are most effective when they are directed and specific. They also have detailed explanations as to why they choose the targets they do, with one of them being chance of success.

BDS does not currently have Coke on their list, although this does seem to be a good idea to do.

My final take here is that if you're a leftist on Tumblr, most people you follow are probably also pro-Palestine. I understand feeling desperate to do anything, and frankly the biggest things to do atm are protest, strike, and support organizations and individuals documenting + challenging the Israeli narrative.

But, as I mentioned, I'm someone who generally can't go to protests, doesn't work, and doesn't have money. So what have I been doing? Harassing the shit out of my representatives. Looking at what people in my immediate community are supporting Palestine. That might not feel like much, because frankly it isn't. None of it is much, the idea is pressure. Build pressure, and build it sustainably. Keep documenting, and send that documentation to politicians. Because, especially in the US, that's what's needed. The more the American public refuses to let our so-called ""representatives"" get away with supporting genocide, the more costly it becomes. Their careers need to be ruined, and you do that by showing that their voter base thinks they're scum of the earth.

#☢️.txt #this is not meant to make you feel like a bad person anon. every good person is currently scrambling to do anything they can #and if youre anything like me thats often a fraction of what you feel you should be able to #but we do also need to be specific and clear! #idk whats relevant for non-americans and frankly i think everyone should focus on methods that #are best for their specific country #but really. just start sending your representatives videos tweets ect from palestinians. make palestine something they can never escape

[s-c-l-n]

It’s not just Noah tho. It’s him, Brett Gelman, the duffers and Shawn levy

wasnt aware of this when i made that other post but i do wanna say for the duffers and shawn levy - not in defense - but as a statement on all celebs about that one letter.

when it came out it was at a time of a lot of mixed media and lies. of course the notion to free palestine has always been there, but there was a crazed push for like 4 days to support israel support israel support israel, which is when that letter was signed. many people already knew they shouldnt have signed it, and more people followed up on that idea, but i dont think many of them really knew what they were signing or - and this goes for celebs - had pr people sign for them. does this excuse all celebs ? no, because there are definitely zionists who signed it. but i think we have to consider some who had pr people encourage them to sign it without knowing the outcome - or to keep them out of danger due to hollywood and other big industries blocking or removing people from work because they support palestine.

again, im not excusing every celeb ever. in this case noah and brett are definitely in the wrong. the duffers and shawn probably are too, but i fear we may never know since they havent done much of anything that i can find since the signing.

i just kinda used this ask as a general speak on my thoughts because i see a lot of people shaming celebs (fair !!!!!), but i dont think many people thought about why they might have signed it.

i know theres that boycott on stranger things but that show is so far into the future it seems silly to me to be so focused on boycotting it now. instead i think we should spend out time boycotting brands that the BSD is calling us to boycott

#stranger things #free palestine #🍉🍉🍉 #boycotts

[chiseler]

Israel and the Far-Right American Left

Presidential elections are, for the most part, psychic events. Chimeras. Deceptions. Or, as Noam Chomsky calls them, “personalized quadrennial extravaganzas.” But Chomskyites are often puzzled to hear their anarchist role model, one election cycle after another, touting the mainstream Democrat.

So why does Chomsky, with a saddened, syllable-dragging and demoralized voice, encourage voters to participate in their own exclusion – i.e., the electoral process? His under-read Goals and Visions holds some answers. The essay, dating back to Dr. Chomsky’s heyday, makes a beautiful (and deeply counter-intuitive) case for anarchists supporting strong centralized government in the near term.

Voting is a provisional bulwark against absolute corporate tyranny, which must, so the argument goes, be defeated first – I’m not persuaded that Chomsky’s theory illuminates his latest White House hopeful, Bernie Sanders. If, as Chomsky argues, our American Democracy is some terrifying variety show, beamed into politically atomized brains, then certainly he's able to see the emperor has no clothes here. That is, Bernie (pardon the image): a butt naked cipher. I recently asked the MIT linguist a simple question.

"What has Bernie Sanders ever done to help Palestine?"

For years, international activists have been putting Palestinian dignity at the center of their program. And Chomsky's laconic response — "Not much" — won't surprise them. No stranger to equivocation where BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) is concerned, I hoped to tease out whatever nuances might have created this strange contradiction on the American Left, in essence to answer my own query: "How can otherwise principled boycott supporters drop the ball and say 'oops' as historical Palestine experiences a genocide?"

If that word frightens you, you're in good company: Bernie Sanders, Noam Chomsky, and even Norman Finkelstein refuse it — despite a growing chorus that includes Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, who coined “incremental genocide” to define The Holy Land's occupation/annexation/extermination agenda. I'm sitting here in Brooklyn firing off emails in a chair designed by Ray and Charles Eames (so, please, don't call me an "armchair activist") — criticizing figures in my own personal pantheon.

Forgive me for what I do.

Stoop shouldered, he gazes out over his audience like a tortoise, half as old as time, in vain and reflexive search of the shell he left behind somewhere. Now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if this self-styled socialist were running for President? Sure, but Senator Bernie Sanders’ deportment and general appearance constitute a sadly instructive, big old honkin’ “tell” – only chumps and chuckleheads could possibly miss it. Outward displays of Hard Leftism fall away whenever Bernie aids and abets the Democratic Party in strange, stentorian Brooklynese.

Remember that solemn promise he made at the outset of his 2016 campaign not to run as an independent? And another obvious tip-off: pledging support for the Party’s foreknown nominee — i.e., the Monsanto shillaber with whom Sanders was so nauseatingly flirtatious. I keep these facts firmly in mind as I await honest responses to my pestering missives. Critical of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, Noam Chomsky also fails to advance any feasible alternatives.

Nor, by his own admission, has Bernie lifted a finger: "He’s moved towards support for Palestinian rights, more so than any other candidate, but he’s focusing on domestic policy." To wit, Bernie "knows very well that any word on the topic will let loose the familiar and cynical litany of ‘anti-Semitism’." But isn't it even more "cynical" to suggest, as Chomsky does, that ordinary citizens be held to a higher standard than his pick for US President? Some of us risk opprobrium, and worse, every day because party politics are obtuse to suffering in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders exploits disaffected voters by herding them back into the Democratic Party fold, under a primary assumption about their malleability, laziness and glib call for “revolution.” Though he claims to be a serious socialist, he actively supports a murderous wingnut Zionism. Take his resounding stamp of approval on “Operation Protective Edge,” which killed over 550 Palestinian children in 2014, serving Israel’s long-term agenda of land grabs, water theft, indefinite detention... a nigh endless atrocities list which includes the systematic torture of little kids (see UNICEF's Children in Israeli Military Detention, available as a PDF online).

I next decided to bother Chomsky’s old friend and political ally Dr. Norman Finkelstein, son of two Holocaust survivors and decades-long champion of the Palestinian cause. In recent years, Finkelstein has become something of a pariah on the Left thanks to his anti-BDS stance: "I think Bernie should be let alone in the primary to focus on his domestic agenda." This was getting monotonous.

Finkelstein unintentionally loops back to his mentor's essay, Goals and Visions, torpedoing its thesis as our half-assed interview progresses — acknowledging, for instance, that if Bernie couldn’t tax Jeff Bezos, and instead funded New Deal economics with attempted military cuts: “It could literally trigger a coup plot.” Responding to that same question, Chomsky answers with a devastating blow to his own theory: "Even if he were elected — a long shot — he would not be able to do much without a supportive Congress — an even longer shot.”

In plain language, Sanders and the rest of Congress are tied to the defense industry. So what about Uncle Noam’s (imagined) boundary line — the one supposedly separating captains of industry from democratically elected representatives? It’s a sham, though possibly a well-meaning one, like some avuncular bedtime story offered in lieu of reality-based hope.

Genocide kind of rubs me the wrong way.

I’m not sure there’s anything particularly “revolutionary” about pulling a bloodstained lever for state-sponsored carnage in slow motion. But, hell, that’s just my opinion. So let’s listen to Bernie himself — the old Bernie, who spoke a modicum of truth about our so-called electoral options. "Essentially, it's my view that the leadership of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are tied to big-money interests and that neither of these parties will ever represent the people in this country that are demanding the real changes that have to take place."

It’s axiomatic that we don’t launch revolutions in the ballot box. And yet, here we have Sanders fans, crowding around a Smurf with dyspepsia as if he were Big Bill Haywood. To his followers, I’d say: If you’re counting on some latter-day Dem to save you from capitalism’s war-mongering and general rapaciousness, then listen to Bernie’s earlier, slightly less dishonest incarnation. “You don’t change the system from within the Democratic Party.” Now there’s a sentiment I can agree with.

Bernie’s sheep-dogging dovetails with his oft-stated support for pugnacious Israel, since both positions coincidentally strengthen Monsanto. The agribusiness colossus, known mainly for genetically modified crops, produced Agent Orange during America’s illegal assault on Vietnam, and now makes white phosphorous doted on by the Holy Land and that (surprise!) melts human flesh. Israel routinely and, yes, illegally drops the stuff on civilians in Gaza, since... well, a bunch of Arabs live there... Go ahead and Google the images – if you can stomach them – of civilian “collateral damage” roasted by Bernie and his newfound Democrat pals.

Who needs an American Left that parses us into a hopeless corner of complicity with the ghouls over at Monsanto; or into an equally occult alliance with Bernie Sanders’ favorite arms manufacturers at Lockheed Martin: death-peddlers spanning generations which, to the surprise of no one, have their own rollicking relationship to The Holy Land’s psychopathic ethno-nationalism. The same corporations profiting on Israel’s crimes are destroying the biosphere. So what's an impressionable, idealistic soul to do? It's either make common cause with an artlessly compromised left, or enter a nihilistic hellscape populated by the likes of Ben Shapiro, or Dr. Jordan Peterson. Some choice.

Israeli talking points, a species of American PR industry-calibrated blather and Labor Day Telethon sanctimony, relentlessly fuse democracy and religious statehood – two distinct conditions which will never mesh -- into grotesque synonyms. But as of this writing, 97% of the water in Gaza is contaminated; electricity has been cut to 4 hours per day; Israeli courts convict 99.74% of Palestinian defendants (not that many people are guilty); 85% of Israel’s “security fence” (The Apartheid Wall) is on land rightfully and legally belonging to the people of Palestine.

Standing opposed to it all -- and indeed ridiculed by America's preeminent professional anti-Zionist, Dr. Norman Finkelstein, whose sole income these days derives from working the college lecture circuit where he finds himself harangued night after night by 20 year old corn-fed Methodist William Henry Harrison High School Irgun-wannabes, for daring to suggest that the state of Israel might possibly have its own problem with mass-murder -- the amateurs in BDS, wielding the kind of principled Internationalist vision which helped bring down Apartheid in South Africa, chase one last hope.

It is a movement which has become beautifully amorphous, internalized by artists who refuse to perform in Tel Aviv, or inspiring students to tell the truth. Again. Finally. Without fear. Meanwhile, courageous young people within Israel are choosing prison and the death of their social lives over a collusion so easily embraced, and even sought, throughout the rest of the industrialized world. In a Land of Soldiers and unceasing bloodshed, this requires the kind of backbone and resolve that once inspired folk tales.

Ahed Tamimi, to whom this editorial is dedicated 

by Daniel Riccuito

Special thanks to R.J. Lambert

[celebrateher]

Improving the Black Lives Matter Movement

All lives will matter when Black lives matter.

Through this blog, I will attempt to identify some ways to improve the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, as it operates today. We will discuss the origins of the BLM movement, fraud on the part of perverted activists within the BLM movement, the missing pieces of the BLM movement, and why the BLM movement is ineffective due to its one-dimensional nature. Juxtaposed to the Civil Rights Movement, BLM cannot even equate to the status of a legitimate movement. BLM proponents always hit the streets to protest whenever an unarmed Black person is shot and killed. What else stimulates the movement though? The BLM movement has been in existence for five years, but innocent Black people continue to lose their lives as if they mean nothing. No real change has been realized. Not only are people still being killed, but guilty police officers are not being charged or convicted at the same rate they are killing Black people.

There are many exciting things about the BLM movement. I think that in many cases, people get excited whenever protests spring up. In my personal experience, after the Parkland school shooting, my high school participated in the national school walkout. Due to safety concerns from our administration, instead of walking out, we remained in the gym for the designated fourteen-minute protest. A lot of people were upset by this. They believed the purpose of the protest had been stripped away. Conversely, I think the message of the protest was still felt despite remaining in the gym. I do not believe the location of a protest matters as long as its message is accurately portrayed. Later in the afternoon, on the same day, some very “politically driven” students initiated their own walkout. They left the school building, went outside on the sidewalk and began to protest. Before I continue with my personal anecdote, I think it is important to establish the importance of knowing who stands with you in the midst of a protest. There are many people who try to blend into a movement with the sole intention to feed on the energy a protest provides. That cold day in March, there were many people outside on the sidewalk protesting the Parkland shooting, but I do not believe they were all gun control advocates. I think many of them were drawn to the excitement of protest. They were drawn to the opportunity to skip class and be a part of something that was much larger than themselves.

I wish more people were aware of the harsh realities of the carceral state. There are many forces working against the Black family, but what are they?  To what extent do these forces work against the Black family? Where did Black oppression begin? To answer these questions, I look to Ta-Nehisi Coates, a Baltimore native and a columnist for The Atlantic. I have studied him extensively for the past month and I think it is important to analyze his work, as well as to reference it as a source to unfold the carceral state, as it engulfs the black family. Coates wrote an article in 2015, that addressed the historical failures of the American government in the support of Black men. I recently finished reading the article. I have studied it, annotated it, and written blog posts in response to the bold claims it presents. One of the key points in Coates’ article is identifying where the divide or mistrust came from between Black people and law enforcement. For me, I think it began with the release of Birth of a Nation. At the time of its release, it was an unprecedented cinematic work. The sitting president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, had an exclusive viewing in the White House. It was one of the first movie screenings in the White House. Birth of a Nation heavily criminalized the Black man. It depicted him in such a way that was animalistic and perverse. There is one particularly stirring scene in the movie, where a white woman throws herself off a cliff to avoid being raped by a Black man. I think it begins here, with the release of this movie, the widespread criminalization of the Black man. But I do not believe anyone could have been able to predict to what great extents it would expand to in coming years. The results are seen today when I walk down the street. The white response is to immediately become uncomfortable and assume I will harm them, only because I am dark and have 4c hair. Since white people fear black people so much, they will act on that fear in unsubstantiated ways, such as police brutality. As a result, Black people like myself will call into question white authority figures and Caucasians at large.

The BLM movement is lacking organization. It is also missing a prominent figure and an equivalent system to civil disobedience featured in the Civil Rights Movement. It was these three things that made the Civil Rights Movement so effective. Yet still, there were some shortcomings. The presence of a prominent figure can be both a good and a bad thing. In the case of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Huey Newton unified the people involved in the movement. After Dr. King’s murder, the movement did lose some traction. In the same way, the absence of a central leader in the BLM movement has its advantages and disadvantages. There are some historians who recognize BLM as a faceless movement. It is one of the reasons why it cannot be stopped. There is no one person that can be eliminated, causing the movement to stop. There is no address the police can raid. BLM is global and in some ways intangible. That is important because there is no way to stop a movement that cannot be located. However, there is an absence of a central figure that is able to “rally the troops”. There is no one person that people can look up to for inspiration.

The BLM Movement is lacking boycotts. I continue to see calls for boycotts on social media however, most of the time the great majority of BLM supporters are never upset enough to withhold their money from white businesses. If the Civil Rights Movement taught us anything, it is that true power is in the money. The bus boycott was not an overnight demonstration either, it lasted for fifteen days. It was a united effort. It was organized in such a way that everybody participated. The bus company needed to feel the absence of the Black dollar. If you revoke the Black dollar from any industry, that industry will plummet. There are many Black people that make up the middle class, which fuels America’s economy. If the Black dollar is subtracted from places like the gun industry, convenience stores, and other places involved in the genocide of Black people, I think then we will see real change. Business leaders and capitalist-driven Republicans would be forced to do something about the senseless killings of innocent Black men and women. Police killings of Black people are not the only problem facing the Black community.

The BLM movement is lacking protest of intraracial violence in the Black community. Police brutality is important, but we must also consider violence within the Black community, perpetrated by other Blacks. Black lives should not only matter when it is taken by a white police officer, but they should also matter when it is taken by another Black person. Activists within BLM movement have turned a blind eye to the intraracial violence that occurs in their communities every day. Nobody ever says anything to address this phenomenon. In many cases, these activists have become numb to the deaths of their own neighbors. That is a problem. The black community has to get away from this way of thinking. When this happens often they say, “Oh another Black person died”. That person could have easily been me or you. That is something I recognize every time I hear any news that somebody was murdered. I think it is important to consider, what if that was me that was shot and killed by my fellow brother or sister. I would want someone to care. I would want somebody to do something so that my death would not be in vain. I am not referring to retribution either. I would want guns off the streets, gangs to put aside their petty differences, and have the Black community reconciled and unified once again. I truly believe there is strength in numbers. Where there is unity there is strength. I think once Black people come back together, we will not have to worry about being oppressed from the outside anymore. That is how powerful we are as a unified force of Black people.

In its current state, the Black Lives Matter Movement is ineffective due to its one-dimensional nature. It is important to extend the movement to the issue of intraracial violence, as it pertains to the Black community. Black lives do matter, as well as Black deaths. Black deaths matter both when the perpetrator is white and when they are Black. If Black people want to see the manifestation of Black Lives Matter, they must adopt proven techniques from the Civil Rights Movement because of its success. Ideas like civil disobedience, boycotts and the presence of leading figures contributed to this success. Those same aspects need to be applied to the Black Lives Matter movement. That is how police brutality will be dismantled. That is how racist and abusive law enforcement officers will be brought to justice. When Black people are liberated, all people will be free. “For we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”. Well, how come, my Black brother, Michael Brown laid dead in the street for four and a half hours? He lay there with a bullet lodged in his body with his blood pooled on the street. This bullet that was put there by the same man that was supposed to protect him but hated him because of the color of his skin. There have been too many times when white police officers blatantly abused their power to racially profile Black people and got away with it. It ends now with the improvement of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Thank you for reading! Hit that follow button, like and comment.

[rabbiandrewrosenblatt]

McGill's BDS Judenrein

The Book of Genesis could have been titled the Book of Displacement. Adam and Eve are displaced from the Garden of Eden. Cain is doomed to perpetual displacement. Noah is displaced from dry land in the Flood. Abraham is displaced from his homeland. Jacob is displaced from that homeland as a refugee. Joseph is displaced both from that homeland and from his freedom when he is sold into slavery.

Our history makes the Torah’s statement, “my father was a wandering Aramean” eternally poignant. Judaism gave birth to a people adapted to displacement. We adapted to displacement under the Babylonians for more than a century. Five hundred years later we adapted to displacement at the hands of the Romans. That set off 2000 years of residence under Cross and Crescent, when we were citizens of no country, at best merely tolerated guests.

Life for Jews under the Cross was often harsh. We were expelled from England (1290), France (1306), Spain (1492), parts of the Netherlands (1444), and Lithuania (1495). We were massacred in Poland in 1648, and Germany in 1096. As perpetual strangers in those lands we were forced into ghettos and falsely blamed for the ritual killing of gentile children for their blood to bake Matzah. All of that displacement culminated in systematic genocide in Europe.

By comparison, life under the Crescent was a little better. We only had to live by the rules of the Pact of Umar, which were only tolerable for as long as our hosts felt tolerant. For centuries, the remnant of Jews in Jerusalem could pray at the Western Wall – while the Arab governors used its courtyard as a landfill. 1948 brought about the mass expulsion and/or murder of Jews in Arab countries from Morocco to Iraq. In 1948 there were over 75,000 Jews in Egypt; today there are six. In the 1920s Baghdad was 40 percent Jewish; today there are effectively no Jews living in Iraq.

The conquest of the New World promised those who came here the best of opportunities. The dominant populations of Canada and the United States are all transplants from countries and cultures outside of the continent. As the doors of Europe, Asia, and Africa closed to Jews, North America offered us better terms of residence than we had seen since before Rome. The Jew could be a voting citizen. The Bill of Rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms also granted us immunity from displacement. However, these laws and freedoms could not grant us the acceptance or tolerance of our fellow citizens in a culture that values assimilation over any non-dominant form of religious expression.

There can be a world of difference between having a home and having a homeland. Following World War 2, Jews and Arabs have come to understand this deeply.

In 1948, after 2000 years of wandering, Jews re-established a legally recognized homeland in the land of Israel. We were first offered land in central Africa – but we are not colonialists, and the Western Wall is not in Uganda. We held out for our historical homeland.

While evidence of continuous and historical Jewish connection to the land is buried under every valley and hilltop, including Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, there is a concerted effort by anti-Israel people to displace Jewish history in the Jewish homeland. The PLO and much of the UN would have the world believe that Jews never built the Temple on the other side of the Western Wall.

In Western universities the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel – a program that has been sponsored and evangelized by Hamas – constructs every narrative that it can to frame Jews as foreigners. It is a narrative that attempts to displace the Jew. University faculty teach their students an Arab narrative that Zionism is Colonialism. This false equation frames Jews as being as foreign to Israel as Lord Kitchener was to India and Africa. Universities host Israel Apartheid week to equate South Africa’s racist Afrikaners with all of the racially, ethnically diverse Israelis.   

SFU is soon to host a conference that will promote BDS as a “ productive form of resistance” and Palestine as a “solidarity movement.” The invitation for participants says the following.

[The] West Bank and Gaza have been described as the world’s largest open-air prisons, where [the] logistics [of prisons] permeate all forms of life on a daily basis. Across the globe, refugee camps, immigrant detention centres, and mass incarceration projects have targeted racialised and marginalized communities.

There will be more about this in a future discussion.

In the meantime, on Monday night my son told me about how a Jew had been displaced from McGill student government in much the same way his ancestors were displaced from Spain and Germany. A young man named Noah Lew was elected to be Vice-President of Finance for the Arts Undergraduate Society of McGill. The standard protocol is to ratify the election of all the directors as a block. It is an affirmation of solidarity. However, at the Student Society’s first general assembly, a BDS group under the banner of “Democratize McGill” tabled a deviation from the standard protocol. They passed an exception requiring a separate vote for each individual director. Democratize McGill orchestrated the removal of only one student: Noah Lew – specifically because he had been associated with Jewish organizations on campus. He was barred from office on that basis. Democratize SSMU later admitted that it had been “insensitive to anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish people as corrupt and politically powerful.” However, admissions aside, they achieved their goal of displacing a Jew from serving in the government.

Perhaps the members of Democratize SSMU don’t realize that they join the company of the Jew-persecuting Cossack Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the false accusers of Alfred Dreyfus, King Ferdinand of Spain, and the Inquisition. Do they understand that they serve the interests of today’s anti-Semites who seek to displace the Jews?

After centuries of anti-Semitism, Spain, Portugal, and Poland are all trying to recruit back the Jews they once expelled. Might the social justice activists of BDS turn around and discover that they have acted no more justly than Khmelnytsky, and King Ferdinand?

I see what is happening on campus in the broader currents of North American politics and discourse. On the left, success and power have been equated with evil. On university campuses it seems like there is a hierarchy of victimhood, with the prize going to the most victimized. When beliefs or actions disagree with the narratives of BDS and the PLO, they are termed micro-aggressions. Faculty, and students coached by faculty, attempt to sanitize the classroom of subjects that might be emotionally challenging to anyone who is offended by the ideas of three millennia of Jewish history.

If ideologically motivated academics want to challenge Jewish history – let them bring it on. That’s intellectual freedom, and we have the documentary and archaeological evidence to support our side. However, when they suppress our voices and participation in the name of micro-aggression, they are atrophying resilience and allowing the mindset of victimization to dominate the intellectual landscape. Their discourse is far more destructive than even the false history they promote, because they push far too many into a reactive intolerance and identity politics – which are taking hold from Hungary and France to Washington and Alabama.     

I wonder why Israel is singled out in the social justice war. Is the active genocide in Myanmar against the Rohingya not worthier of the social justice movement’s outrage? Is the wealthy Gulf Arab countries’ refusal to accept Syrian refugees not a human rights disaster? Who bore the culpability and the brunt of the casualties to occupy Raqqa and Mosul? What would the world’s outrage have been if Israeli jets had carried out the airstrikes on Syrian cities? The world would have been outraged if it had been Israel, but is silent when there is no opportunity to leverage an atrocity to promote the denial of Jewish identity.

I do not expect members of BDS to be able to appreciate the difficult job of self-defence in the Middle East. I don’t expect them to understand what it takes to survive thousands of years of displacements, blood libels, ghettos, and pogroms. I do urge them to take pause, to think about the place in history they create for themselves by emboldening the next iteration of Judenrein. If they are not familiar with that term, they should look it up – because they are creating a Judenrein at SSMU and they still have some homework to do.