#have we committed and are still committing crimes against the palestinians? absolutely | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fortunatelychaoticphantom · 6 months

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The current situation is Israel is very confusing to a lot of people, and the word "colonizers" is thrown a lot in conversations, social media and protests. If you are not sure whether you can or should call Israel a colonial state, here is a handy guide divided by origin-country of the speaker:

The UK: OUR INDEPENDENCE IS LITERALLY FROM YOU!

Italy: THIS IS LITERALLY ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT!

Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Greece, North Macedonia, Turkey, Mongolia: Every single one of you has conquered us at least once, so keep your mouth shut or start talking about reparations. (Yes, even the Mongols. Did you know that? I only found out a couple of years ago. Isn't that cool? I mean bad. Very bad...)

Every single country in the American continent + the surrounding islands, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, India, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia: LOL. Don't even fucking look at us.

Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Japan: Let me check a history book for a sec. Yeah, no.

Every other nation in the world: I don't know enough about your history to put you in another category, but no.

Liberia: Literally the only nation in the entire world that knows even half of what we’re going through. They’re not colonizers, and neither are we. Stop trying to force your Western terminology on our history.

North Korea: I think you need to deal with some other issues right now darling...

Hope this helps.

#you know nothing about jews or our history #stop pretending like you do #a native people coming back from exile to their ancestral homeland are not fucking colonizers #did we make every single mistake conceivable while doing it? hell yes #have we committed and are still committing crimes against the palestinians? absolutely #does that mean we don't belong here? fuck no #either open a fucking history book or shut your fucking mouth #jewish things #jumblr #israel

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heritageposts · 3 months

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By Haidar Eid, associate Professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza.

Now that we have heard the interim judgement the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, we can confidently say a new world order is in the making. The World Court confirmed today that South Africa’s charge under the Genocide Convention that “Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza” is “plausible”. It has further ruled that Israel must “take all measures” to avoid acts of genocide in Gaza. The court has stopped short of calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, which has already been demanded by an absolute majority of world nations. Still, most of the “provisional measures” called for by the Republic of South Africa have been endorsed by the court. It is difficult to see how Israel can implement these measures and fulfil its obligations under the Genocide Convention, without agreeing to a ceasefire. There is no indication, of course, that Israel has any intention of heeding the Court’s provisions. In fact, since the ICJ heard South Africa’s case two weeks ago, Israel has doubled down on its genocidal acts in Gaza. In the past 24 hours alone, it carried out 21 mass killings, murdering 200 and injuring 370 civilians. So Israel’s message to the Court, and the world at large, is clear: It does not care for the opinion, demands or “measures” of any international institution – legal or political. It will do as it pleases. [...] Israel may not heed the court’s rulings and provisions, but South Africa’s historic stance will still have consequences. As stated by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa after the ICJ’s interim decision: “Third States are now on notice of the existence of a serious risk of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. They must, therefore, also act independently and immediately to prevent genocide by Israel and to ensure that they are not themselves in violation of the Genocide Convention, including by aiding or assisting in the commission of genocide. This necessarily imposes an obligation on all States to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions, which are plausibly genocidal.” With this case, South Africa has put not only Israel, but the entirety of the global justice system on trial. This case is a major turning point for humanity, because it marks the first time in history when a Global South country bravely crossed a red line drawn by the colonial West and demanded its favourite settler colony, Israel, be held to account for the crimes it has long been committing against an Indigenous people. Today, thanks to South Africa, the entire colonial West, and its centuries-long history of theft, dispossession, and injustice is on trial at the World Court. Future generations will remember January 26, 2024, as the day on which the world has finally decided to hold a genocide state, and its powerful backers, accountable for repeated, longstanding violations of international law. Yes, a new world order is in the making.

. . . full article on al jazeera (26 Jan 2024)

#palestine #israel #gaza #icj trial #south africa

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mueritos · 2 months

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i hope we continue to see more protests within the US military. i see a lot of leftists and folks who are anti-military who have such an open disdain for the people who are in the military, yet neglect to considering the conditions this country makes to produce ideology, poverty, and the illusion of choice to make all kinds of people choose to enlist in the military. You ever see those videos of ROTC kids recording each other asking why they joined the military and everyone's like, "healthcare", "it helped me go to college", "I was bored" or "free ptsd lol". I hate to remind everyone but folks who are in the military are people, too, and they are the same victims and perpetrators of violence as the rest of you, we have all been shallowly conditioned to view each other as enemies just because one person is wearing army greens and the other is not.

some of the biggest anti-war advocates are those who engaged in war. Veterans who genuinely believed they were protecting the US against "terrorism" come back with blood on their hands, and they choose to realize that it was US imperialism that forced them to carry out violence, instead of doubling down and shielding themselves from the fact that they too are capable of atrocities... This is a class of people who are intentionally conditioned to be as poor and as ideologically aligned to US imperialism so that the military has a never-ending pool to send their youth to destroy other country's youth. The only people I have ever heard say "do not join the military" are those who ARE military.

This is in no way to ever excuse or explain away any of the atrocious war crimes and violence this industry and its people have committed against others. What I am saying is that we absolutely cannot cast aside the individuals who have been victimized within US imperialism, even if they are wearing army greens. I was speaking with my Palestinian classmate last week and another classmate--a member of the US air force-- walked up to me and struck up a conversation. My military classmate showed me her new bird, bid both of us goodbye, and left. My Palestinian classmate asked me if I was close with her, and I said we talked quite often, and she said, "I never met a person who's in the military. I still hate the military, but I never knew that they did, too. I didn't realize that they were also victims."

If my Palestinian classmate--one who is actively watching her own community die--can understand that it is not individuals who are the problem but it is in fact systems, US imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism...why can't we all? And she has EVERY reason to hate any individual military member. A lot of online activism just creates more barriers. if your optics look bad, complicated, or contradictory, you are cast aside. Everyone has got the be the perfect activist, you can never make a mistake or share a half-baked thought, you should always believe every word from a marginalized persons mouth (because being marginalized doesn't mean you're not entrenched in white supremacy too!) and you should never question what you see...Do you know what you sound like? The very imperialists who are convincing poor whites to vote against themselves. Perfectionism is white supremacy. Black & white thinking is white supremacy.

I'd rather have a military member who genuinely believed in the US imperialism machine but was disillusioned after being deployed as my comrade than some leftist who cherishes the performance of "being a good person". I don't want "good people" in our movements. I want humans who care. I want humans who make mistakes and who learn from them. I want humans who accept the messiness of a person. I want humans who hold others accountable and allow themselves to take responsibility for their actions. I want people who change for themselves and others.

fight systems, not individual people. we can change each other, but if we're too preoccupied looking like the World's Perfect Activists, we will only consume each other alive. Connect to your fellow humans, forever and always.

#muertotalks #a mind dump after seeing so much come out after the self immolation of the us air force member #i know hes not the first one to self immolate for palestine #and he might not be the last #i hate the military #i really fucking do #but i choose to see the people within them as victims within the overall system just like the rest of us #i will never go through what they did to make them choose to enlist #i never struggled with poverty homelessness healthcare or social acceptance #i wont shame them #shame is not productive #i want them to know there are civilians who support their protests #i want them to know that we their allies too #a note on my palestinian classmate #if youre arab or also a colonized person impacted by the us military feel free to hate every member of the military #i dont intend to police yall in how you choose to feel your anger #im angry with you #the point i mean to make is about understanding and compassion #someone who has every right to hate these people still chose to see them as the people they are #yes i even want the best for the “bad” people in the military too #i dont want these people to continue the ideology but we cant stop that without dismantling these systems #and we cant do that without creating spaces for healing and reform and growth #so many thoughts so many thoughts #none of this is easy #i fight daily against impulsively hating the world #everyday is a fight to choose compassion and understanding #but being a leftist and doing leftism is not fucking easy #if you genuinely think it is it isnt #and you may be missing the point of what leftism is #anyway

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decolonize-the-left · 6 months

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You are literally going to get people killed by pushing them to vote third party. People voting third party is why Trump won in 2016, which allowed him to stack the Supreme Court with conservative garbage which is going to negatively affect us for DECADES to come (already has, since it led to the repeal of Roe v. Wade which has LITERALLY killed people). I'm baffled, because you've done so much good work on this website (like I still go back and regularly reread your posts on whiteness etc because they're so informative), but advocating for voting third party going into one of the most important elections in recent memory is actively harmful.

Like have you heard of Project 2025? In case you haven't it's literally like a 1000 page manifesto for the Republican party to reshape the federal government to essentially let the President become a dictator. It also expressly mentions plans to roll back rights for women, the LGBT community, and pretty much any other minority you can think of. I know things are bad now - not arguing that at all - but if Republicans win next year, things will get EXPONENTIALLY WORSE.

You can sit there and yell about Democrats being "just as bad" until you're blue in the face, but it's literally not true. The Democratic Party itself is obviously just another problematic institution and there are definitely Dems who showed their entire asses with supporting Israel, but like... Progressive Democrats do exist and while they're obviously not perfect, it's absolutely a step in the right direction. Not to mention Republicans literally need to cheat by gerrymandering and attacking voting rights for minorities in order to even get elected in a lot of places, whereas Democrats tend to win when more people are registered and actually show up to vote. They are not the same, and the harm they do is not the same.

Again, I have a lot of respect for the work you do, especially with your recent posts on the Palestinian genocide. But I vehemently disagree with your stance on voting third party in this upcoming election. Ideally I would love if we could vote third party and actually have multiple options that more accurately represent us as a population, but our current system is a two party one and unfortunately we literally do have to vote for the lesser of two evils, because one option sucks but preserves what little democracy we have (and gives us a chance of making it better) and one will literally bring genocide against trans people. I would personally rather not see that happen.

How can you say this and mention the Palestinian genocide in the same ask.

Democrats are getting people killed. In fact they're committing one of The worst crime against humanity possible and then only thing you're worried about is that things might get worse for gay people if a Republicans wins.

I'm the biggest queer I know. I'm native. I'm brown. I'm almost definitely on a watch list. And listen to me and understand the depth of my words when I say: my people have been oppressed the way Project2025 outlines.

And maybe you personally cared or helped us protest that. But most people didn't. In fact I can't remember the last time the US supported native rights at all.

But now that YOURE under threat I'm supposed to risk my life because the queer community can't be bothered to stop discoursing about neopronouns long enough to actual give an shit about saving the community?

Y'all got a lot of damn nerve, let me tell you.

Go bark up some other tree cuz this is not the one.

Also I'm not pushing anyone to vote 3rd party. I'm laying out facts. Facts are a Gallup poll says 63% of people would vote 3rd party. Facts are my Tumblr poll says that number is STILL at least 45% on the hellsite.

And since people are interested in voting 3rd party they should know their options. The people who say "I would vote 3rd party but they don't have support" also deserve to see the articles that said 63% of people would join them.

They deserve to know that 3rd parties currently hold a not insignificant amount percentage of support from the two main parties. 20% of votes. When 33% is an even split are good odds. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry, blue Fascists, but this country is in fact still a democracy and just because you Want people to vote blue doesn't mean they have to and you feeling they're the best doesn't make you right!

Other people aren't "wrong" for not wanting your conservative Jurassic party in power anymore.

They can vote how they want.

And if you see a poll that says 63% of people would rather NOT vote for either major party and your first thought is not: wow 63% is enough to elect someone we want, I'll support that.

And instead you go: how can I force them to vote for my party instead.

Then please understand it is not THEM splitting the vote. Biden will get MAYBE 40% votes. You gonna force 63% of the country to vote for someone they don't even want?

There's a name for that yeah?

How'd it work out in 2016 when y'all "forced" us to vote for Hillary by putting her on the ballot? She lost and she wasn't even actively commiting a genocide.

But you think Biden will not only earn votes from that 63% but he'll also win the election. Against trump. Which less blatantly shitty democrats have struggled to contend with?

Democrats are legitimately delusional.

Your problem is you see Democrats as being better than Republicans. While the rest of us see less and less of a difference every year. And you can only say you're "better" if you're different enough.

See this is what happens when you vote for the "lesser evil." Eventually that evil balances back out and you're left with the truth that your two main options are just evil.

Now the only people actually different enough to make that argument are third parties.

Coincidentally, that's what people are drawn to right now.

I know, go figure. It's almost like it makes sense to lose support when you consistently prop up shitty candidates nobody asked for every 4 years.

We do not have a two party system and you know that, that's why you sent this ask.

Cuz you're stressed dems might lose. Cuz you KNOW people have other options.

Good. Cuz they will lose if Biden is the democrat's nominee and Claudia de la Cruz stays in the race, which she will since she's running with PSL not democrats. So there's no competition. Her party is organized and chosen her and a VP already, she's guaranteed every one of their votes because her party works like a union does.

It's a wrap.

Biden can't use his "lesser evil" script with Claudia De La Cruz on the ballot actively challenging his genocide and imperialism.

Vote Claudia De La Cruz cuz you are a scooping water out of the Titanic trying to get 63% of Americans to think voting for a Genocidal warmonger is what's best for any of us, let alone the planet. And we didn't want him BEFORE he did any of this.

#asked #answered #voting

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hard--headed--woman · 3 months

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I briefly talked about it with someone here and it made me think so much that I had to make a post about it - why don't misandrist men get as much hate as misandrist women ?

They are men who think men are horrible and say it. Yet they do not receive the same amount of hate as a feminist saying "I hate men".

There's an example that I find interesting and that I thought I'd share : some decades ago, a very famous leftist french singer, Renaud, made a song that quickly became very popular and loved. It's called "Miss Maggie" and it basically says that men are trash and that women are superior. The thing is, absolutely everyone praises him for it and loves that song. I guess there are some conservatives and incels who hate it, but the vast majority of the country, men and women, loves it ; people say Renaud is amazing and a genius for writing it and that the song is wonderful. Here is a link if you want to listen to it :

(He also criticizes Margaret Tatcher in that song but I won't talk about it in this post because it's not the point).

Here are some lyrics (with the english translation) just so you understand what I'm talking about :

(Bourgeois women or whores

Who are often the very same

Normal women, stars or uglies

Females of all kinds, I love you

Even to the worst moron

I dedicate these few verses

Born of my disgust for men

And their warrior morality

Because no woman on the planet

Will ever be more stupid than her brother

Nor prouder nor more dishonest)

(Woman I love you because

When sport becomes war

There are no chicks, or very few

In the hordes of fans

Crazy fanatics

Drunk on hate and beer

Defying the morons in blue

Insulting the bastards in green)

(The atomic bomb

Didn't come from a female brain

And no woman has on her hands

The blood of Native Americans.

Palestinians and Armenians

Testify from their graves

That genocides are a male thing

Like SS, bullfighters

In this fucking humanity

Murderers are all brothers

Not a woman to compete)

(Woman I love you, above all, at last

For your weakness and for your eyes

When a man's only strength

Is his gun or his cock

And when the last hour comes

Hell will be full of morons

Playing soccer or war

Playing who pisses the farthest)

Everyone loves that song and Renaud didn't receive any hate for writing it. Now imagine if a woman had written it? Just imagine the amount of hate a female singer would receive if she wrote a song like this. That could ruin her carreer and I am not exaggerating.

Renaud is also known for saying other misandrist things. I remember watching an interview with him, in which he's said that "Women are always there to heal wounds, repair damage, get things done... Unfortunately, there are still too few of them in important positions where they can participate in decision-making", "The oldest form of discrimination is discrimination against women. They are the first group we decided to hate and oppress", "Politicians and religions don't want to let women be more than virgins or whores. They don't want to let them be human beings, women, fulfilled people, with a personality, who work...", "It's not long since women have had the right to vote in France. And what's more, when I see women voting for a man, it gives me the same feeling as if I saw a crocodile going to a leather shop of its own free will...".

And in the comments, absolutely everyone was praising him, calling him a king, an angel and what not. No one to call him names or to tell him horrible things. No one to act as if he's said the craziest thing ever, no one to act as if he committed a crime. Sure some people disagree and insult women, but there is not a lot of hatred against him. Again, a woman would have received a lot of hate if she had said things like that. Just read what men have to say about Delphine Seyrig criticizing the patriarchy and the "indifference of men".

The point of that post isn’t to say that Renaud is The Feminist Ally, that he's perfect and one of the good guys or whatever. I just want to point out that a man criticizing men, saying he hates them, calling out their behaviour (and even saying women are superior!) will never receive the same amount of hate as a woman barely saying "I hate men" or ever way "nicer" things. Sounds like everyone knows why we hate men and even agrees with us deep inside, and just hate when women speak up about it. Sounds like they don't have a problem with misandry but with women 🤷🏽‍♀️

#radblr #radical feminism #misandry #anti misandry #misandrist #proud misandrist #men are trash #radfem safe #radfem #radical feminist safe #radical feminists please touch #renaud #miss maggie #french music #Spotify

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hero-israel · 7 months

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But how can you just tell Palestinians to move south. Israel is committing war crimes by denying water to civilians, it’s collective punishment and they don’t want Gaza to exist. What on earth is Hamas going to do with water other than drink it, how can you defend this position, how is Israel at all heroic. All you can say is for Palestinians to get over the past and fight Hamas, but how? Half of Palestine are children and there are few resources. You can’t just offer some weak critiques of Netanyahu; the right wing Israel political machine is still Israel; you can’t separate some ideals from what is happening now.

"Weak critique", seriously? I have repeatedly said that the Babi Yar, Rwandan Genocide style atrocity inflicted against Israel was made possible by the dysfunctional government Bibi built to legalize his own crimes and that tore society and military readiness apart as a side effect. Hamas would ALWAYS have done it, I've known they are genocidal fascists for quite some time, it is the job of the Israeli govt to watch Gaza and they didn't. How is literally "You made this possible" weak?

Israel re-allowed water as of 2 days ago and is now re-allowing food.

Palestinians are horribly oppressed by Hamas, if they tried to rise up against Hamas they would surely be killed on the spot, and I am not so far out as to say "these are the brutes who they support so bomb them all." But if I don't want the civilians bombed, and you don't even want them moved so they dodge the bombs aimed at facilities, then what is there left for Israel to do at all? How do you imagine a country of Jews, shaped in memory of historic persecutions and genocides - many of them by Arab and Muslim regimes that oppressed and massacred them for 1,000+ years - ought to respond to having the very worst of those events re-staged in their own homes, against their children, their grandparents, the helpless? If any possible action in Gaza is "collective punishment," is Hamas simply to be left unscathed? What would stop them from doing it again, plus a dozen copycats? What do you want, and what country do you imagine would meet your wishes?

There is no government in the world - in the history of the world - that would tolerate a Hamas on their border after what it just did to them. If a Mexican drug cartel seized control of Tijuana and said it was going to "liberate California" in the name of all the Hispanic Catholics who are TRULY indigenous to California instead of White Protestant colonizers, occasionally firing missiles at random into the U.S., then snuck in a death squad and raped and butchered 40,000 people in their homes (and that's the count, adjusted for population), what do you think America would do to Tijuana?

This is why I said previously - as terrible as a full military commitment absolutely would be, "alright, well, don't do that again you meanies!" very well could be worse. People need to deeply and honestly confront whether any retaliation for crimes against humanity is allowable, or whether we are in a perverse mirror image of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" gun law, where the man standing atop a corpse said "he scared me!" and gets away with it. In this case, violence is so forbidden that whoever commits a violent crime first wins.

#israel #palestine #jumblr

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joey8song · 6 months

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Genocide is bad.

It really is that simple and to anyone who says otherwise: your brain does actually have a purpose how about you use it for one fucking second.

Frankly, I am out of patience, this is ridiculous. I have a degree in history, I regularly have to read about the atrocities in our history. There are way too many instances of genocide, and you’d think we would have learned by now, but instead it is done again and again. It is absolutely sicking and there is no excuse or justification for what is happening.

I have seen a lot of people say that the situation is complicated. It is not complicated. It’s actually extremely simple.

Right now genocide is being committed. Israel is committing crimes against humanity and war crimes. Palestinians are being murdered, denied basic necessities, and now phone and internet has been blocked off.

If you do not support Palestine: think it over, look at the facts of the situation, and have a shred of basic decency. And if you still don’t support Palestine, hate to break it to you but you are a piece of shit who has the critical thinking skills of a toddler.

#palestine #free palestine #free gaza #gaza strip #gaza #I don’t have the patience to sugar coat my words

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stark-stiel · 5 months

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i am absolutely angry and devastated. if you’ve seen the things i’ve posted on my story recently, you’re probably aware about the genocide happening in Palestine right now.

as of today, november 21st 2023 there are:

- 14 000+ deaths, 5 600+ of those being children

- 33 000+ injured, 75% being children and women

- 6 000+ are still missing under rubble

- let’s not forget the 60+ journalists who are being targeted for spreading the truth in both Palestine and more recently, in southern Lebanon

- at least 5 premature babies out of 39 of them have died either due to the lack of electricity, food, water and medicine as most of the others have

- 21 out of 35 of Gaza’s hospital are completely out of service, which one of their largest hospital, Al-Shifa, was targeted and is now not operational, and they plan to do the same to the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza, which is, might i add, an INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIME on top of many other israel has committed

- there are also 7 000+ palestinian prisoners captured by israeli military forces including children, in which the israeli government is deciding whether to execute them, or exchange a release for their own prisoners taken

and that is just the damage in Gaza, not including the destruction in the West Bank:

- which killed 217 people, including 50 children

- injuring more than 2 750 others

these lists only contain the bare minimum of what has happened.

to give you an idea, today, i saw a doctor who was being consoled by others, as he had just performed an amputation on HIS OWN CHILD, which has happened before, but this surgery was done WITHOUT anesthesia, and the child couldn’t survive the pain.

let’s just let that sink in for a minute.

they don’t have the proper medical supplies to provide the care they need because Israel and the United States will not allow a ceasefire. Biden has stated so himself. and Trudeau hasn’t called one either.

they can’t even grieve their dead in peace. they capture all their sorrow, tears, anger, and screams of despair on screen for us to see because no one is listening as their people are slaughtered. whole lineages of families killed, children orphaned, parents carrying their dead child’s body parts in bags, children pleading for us to help them, speaking out IN ENGLISH so we can understand them, that this is what they are going through. please listen to them.

the things you will see on social media are graphic, you might feel sick to your stomach. you should. because this is happening across the world as we speak, and has happened for the past 75 years! and it must stop now. after october 7th, more outrage has emerged from the people, adding pressure on their governments to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

people will try to devalue social media by saying its a “place where people are dumb on camera” but without it, it would NEVER had known what was going on, and i have never been so outraged by what i have seen.

if you don’t know what to do, you can start by not being silent. silence only allows the lies the Zionists are spreading to propagate, and deafens palestinian voices.

you can also educate yourself on what the palestinians have been going through. a very good site i’ve found is decolonizepalestine.com which i’m still learning from. other resources can be found online such as:

- a click a day to help:

https://arab.org/click-to-help/palestine/

- there is also a petition to Trudeau to call for a ceasefire at this link: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4649 it closes Nov 23, 2023 at 3:20 p.m. so as many of you, please sign before the deadline! if you have already signed, thank you 🙏

- support palestinian voices online

there are also boycotts happening against the companies that are profiting and/or benefiting and supporting the genocide in Gaza. Some include:

- puma

- starbucks

- mcdonalds

- disney+

- burger king

- amazon

- chapters

- squishmallows

- HP

- sabra hummus

- Walmart

- israeli produce and items

etc etc i could go on and on. the point is, to not fund the israeli military.

this website has a complete list and shows which companies have been selected as part of their targeted boycott, to make a more effective boycott: https://bdsmovement.net/economic-boycott

and if boycotting these places is too hard for you, you are definitely not god’s strongest soldier 🫡 (and hey, you can also do it for selfish reasons, to save money by not buying out!)

if after reading all this you still want to turn a blind eye, i can’t stop you. but i hope you can live with that decision

as always, FREE PALESTINE & Ceasefire Now 🇵🇸🫶

links in order of appearance:

http://decolonizepalestine.com

https://arab.org/click-to-help/palestine/

https://bdsmovement.net/economic-boycott

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4649

#free palestine #ceasefire #ceasefire now

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avikats66 · 1 month

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Today I am on hunger strike again with thousands of other Canadians in solidarity with and protest for the Gazan people and the way Israel is intentionally starving them with genocidal intent in direct violation of international law while the world watches. It is little more than a symbolic gesture and yet another reminder of the inhumane suffering being imposed upon the Gazan people still to this day after months of genocidal assault, and decades of illegal occupation and blockading before that.

I will experience some mild hunger and cravings for a day. In Gaza, there are people literally starving. People who have been living off of scraps, meagre rations, literal animal feed, and dirty water for months, who risk and often lose their lives in attempt to find more food for them and their hungry families. Children are experiencing acute malnutrition at record-breaking rates of acceleration, and some have already died directly from this malnutrition and starvation. Mothers are struggling to breastfeed their babies, and the insufficient amounts of formula available often can’t even be safely used due to lack of clean water.

All this in addition to people dying and suffering from sickness and grievous injury - horrific third degree burns, limb loss, infection, chronic illness, gunshot wounds - with a decimated healthcare system struggling to provide the most basic care to as many people as possible with the barest and scarcest of resources. And of course the countless bombs and bullets being indiscriminately and deliberately rained down upon men, women, and children alike, again in flagrant violation of international law and humanity by Israel. The horrors and egregious human rights violations taking place in Gaza and throughout the rest of Palestine to her people - and those which have been occurring for decades now - are so innumerable and vast in scope it’s absolutely numbing.

War crimes are not a new phenomena, nor are Israel the only perpetrators of them even in this moment as you read this. The focus on Israel and Palestine right now is for a number of reasons. The scale and severity of which these crimes are occurring. The support and direct aid Israel is receiving to commit them, especially from western governments - Canada included (thankfully we are starting to take steps against that - after six months of war crimes and annihilation-phase genocide). The impunity with which Israel commits these crimes and then flaunts and celebrates them. The existence of Israel itself as a colonial state forcibly established on Palestinian land through ethnic cleansing and maintained for decades by apartheid and illegal military occupation and settlements.

I encourage you to take action - no matter how small - and stand up for the people of Gaza and human rights. Stand on the side of humanity, of decency, of morality. Free Palestine.

#real stuff #free palestine #israel is committing war crimes #israeli war crimes #israel is committing genocide #boycott israel #stop arming israel #israel

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perfectlyvalid49 · 2 months

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Hey, I don’t mean to come across as confrontational or rude at all. I am not Jewish or Palestinian, but I would like to know a bit more about what you mean by “I’m a Zionist depending on your definition” thing.

As far as I’m aware, the definition (or at least a piece of it) is someone who thinks Israel is a valid country and that we shouldn’t bring back Palestine as a country. I also am very aware that many Jews who aren’t Zionist have been accused of being so by people who are upset about the Jews defending themselves from antisemitism.

So, I wanted to know what your definition of Zionism is and if you are a Zionist by your own definition. Just because I’d like my context on what you’re trying to say.

Again, not trying to rude and I’m really sorry if I ever came off that way in this ask. I also know that some anon asks are often cowardly, so even tho I didn’t mean anything bad by this ask, I’m also not doing it anonymously.

I hope you have a wonderful day and please, don’t rush to answer this, I understand you probably have a lot on your plate right now between usual responsibilities and the antisemitism that’s been going on

This did not come across as rude or confrontational at all, so no worries there! And I’m always happy to share information with people, so I like answering things like this.

There are a few problems with defining the word Zionism. The first, as you alluded to, is that some people will use the word “Zionist” to mean either, “Jew I don’t like,” “Jew who disagrees with me,” or “Jew who complains about antisemitism.” This is not what the word actually means, and I want to be clear, when it is used in this way it is absolutely a slur.

The other is that Zionism is a political ideology with a lot of sub-branches. Different branches hold different beliefs, so some Zionists are in favor of a two state (Israel AND Palestine) solution and some are not. It’s kinda like leftism that way – you can be an anti-capitalist leftist, a post-colonial leftist, an anarchist leftist, etc. People ascribing to those different types of leftism will disagree on a lot, but they’re all still leftists.

But that doesn’t give an actual definition of Zionism. I would say that to start, we should look at the origins of the political movement. You say that you are not Jewish, so I’m going to get into some history here that you may or may not be familiar with. I apologize if you know this already, but I don’t want to assume. I’ll keep it high level and you can google or ask me if you need more info.

Antisemitism has historically ALWAYS been a problem for the Jewish people. Sometimes it meant that Jews were treated as second class citizens, and sometimes it meant that Jews would be rounded up and killed. Back in the late 1800s things were getting particularly bad across Europe. In particular there were a series of pogroms against Jews in Russia, and there was the Dreyfus affair (basically a Jewish army officer was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, and when evidence came to light that he was innocent, he was re-tried and *checks notes* found guilty again. Don’t worry, he was declared innocent 12 years after the original trial) in France.

Jewish intellectuals in Europe responded to all this by forming some new political ideologies. One was Bundism, which basically said that if we assimilate hard enough into the culture of the countries we live in, then they will stop bothering us. It was a very popular movement in Russia, Poland and Germany, but lost steam for some reason in the 1930s.

The other major Jewish political ideology formed at that time was Zionism. In its original form, Zionism was simply the belief that Jews should have their own state – a place where Jews could live with a guarantee that there would be no state sanctioned violence against them for being Jewish. And if you look at all the different sects of Zionism, that’s the one idea that they all have in common. Originally the Jewish state being in what is now Israel was not included in the definition of the movement, but it was added not too long after.

As for my definition of Zionism? I would say it goes something like, “The right for Jewish self-determination in their ancestral homeland.” And by that definition, yes, I am a Zionist. Having said that, I also believe that the Palestinian people also should have the right for self-determination in their homeland. The fact that these homelands overlap means that these two peoples will have to find a way to share the space – that’s the only way for a real, meaningful peace to be achieved.

#zionism #history #asks and answers #please let me know if you want me to clarify anything here - I was trying to keep it short(ish)#also I couldn't make this fit into the flow of the response but #fuck netanyahu #seriously - fuck that guy #zionism supports the idea of the state of Israel but not necessarily its current leader #or its current actions #to give a comparison #most people who hate Trump did not think that the united states should cease to exist because he was president #or because of the things that his administration did

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speedyposts · 3 months

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Palestinians demand international inquiry after mass grave found in Gaza

Palestinian authorities have demanded an international investigation after a mass grave was found in Gaza with the decomposing bodies of Palestinian detainees who were blindfolded and handcuffed.

At least 30 bodies were found in “black plastic bags” near the Hamad school in northern Gaza, with Palestinian officials accusing Israeli soldiers of killing the civilians “execution-style”.

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The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for an international investigation on Wednesday into what it described as Israeli “massacres”, demanding that a team visit Gaza “to find out the truth and dimensions of the genocide to which our people are exposed”.

Witnesses told Al Jazeera that the deceased were blindfolded, tortured and killed before being placed in the bags.

“As we were cleaning, we came across a pile of rubble inside the schoolyard. We were shocked to find out that the dozens of dead bodies were buried under this pile,” one witness told Al Jazeera.

“The moment we opened the black plastic bags, we found the bodies, already decomposed. They were blindfolded, legs and hands tied,” the witness added.

“The plastic cuffs were used on their hands and legs and cloths straps around their eyes and heads.”

Hamas said human rights organisations should “document” the mass grave.

“This heinous crime and others committed by the neo-Nazis against our Palestinian people will remain a curse that haunts them, and the day will come when they will be held accountable for their brutality and crimes that exceed the most horrific violations known to humanity in our modern era,” the Palestinian armed group said in a statement on Telegram.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza, said the “condition of these bodies ranges from severely decomposed to mere skeletal remains … making it hard to identify them”.

“But people still come to the site, searching for closure in this place of tragedy,” he added.

Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu told Al Jazeera on Thursday that this incident was “precisely why Israel was taken to the ICJ“.

Buttu added that the discovery of the mass grave was “clearly a war crime” and urged that it must be investigated.

The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to take “all measures within its power” to avoid Palestinian casualties and acts that could amount to “genocide”.

The Foreign Ministry said the discovery of the mass grave was evidence of the forms of “genocide committed by the occupation forces against our people in the Gaza Strip without accountability or oversight”.

Palestinian detainees are routinely abused by Israeli forces in the enclave, subjected to weeks of imprisonment in unknown locations, beatings and verbal abuse.

Last month, a United Nations human rights official called for an end to Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinian detainees and said he had met men who had been held for weeks and were beaten and blindfolded.

“These are men who were detained by the Israeli security forces in unknown locations for between 30 to 55 days,” Ajith Sunghay, a UN human rights representative, told reporters by video link from Gaza, who met released detainees in the enclave.

“There are reports of men who are subsequently released, but only in diapers without any adequate clothing in this cold weather,” he said, adding that it was not clear why they were made to wear diapers but that “they were clearly visibly shocked and even shaken when I met them”.

Several videos shared by the Israeli army since the war began show hundreds of Palestinian men stripped to their underwear, sitting outdoors in the cold, sometimes blindfolded. In a few videos, women and children were also seen.

Much of the densely populated Gaza Strip has been destroyed after four months of intense Israeli bombardments and ground offensive.

Gaza’s health authorities have said at least 26,900 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7, following Hamas attacks in Israel that killed at least 1,139 people.

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smokeybrandcompositions · 3 months

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Jonestown

My kid brother posted this thing on Facebook asking what feels like a cult but isn’t seen as one. There were a lot of your common responses; Scientology, Herbalife, Christianity (which is a cult because all religions are, technically, cults), but my response was Republicans. There is this palpable, disconnected, zeal shared by every Republican in office right now that can only be described as cult like. Even the f*cking moderates are out of their minds and I cannot move past the fact they’ve effectively, as a party, stalled out the entire Government with all the bullsh*t going on in the House right now. It is absolutely staggering to me how inept the Right is, and how those who claim the GOP are just fine with that, as long as the Left doesn’t do anything, too. It’s like their whole platform is just playing spoiler for anything Democrats want and that’s it. That’s the agenda. Never mind doing right by the people. Never mind supporting their constitute. None of that matters in the face of sabotaging anything someone who even slightly looks Left, from trying to get legislation passed. The Republican party has devolved into a cult of dangerously Christian trolls. A friend of mine disagreed. He considers MAGA a cult, but not Republicans as a whole. His reasoning is that there are still “good” Republicans out. I had to sit on that for a while and think about it before responding. I came to the conclusion that we, as a people, conflate Republican and Conservative too freely and that distinction needs to be made in this case.

Now, MAGA is a full-on cult. That’s how Fascism is a thing. They NEED a cult of personality for the dictator to take power. Every Republican in office right now, has hitched their wagon to said would-be-Dictator, in order to drag along their political fortune in his wake. Donald Trump wants to be President for Life and has been saying as much for the last four years, ever since he got booted from office. This man looks up to Strongmen and wants that kind of power. He’s literally said he would be a dictator “for the first day” if re-elected and has basically said he’s immune to prosecution if crimes were committed during his presidency, up to murder or selling State secrets. This is Putin’s game plan. This is Kim-Jong levels of barbarism. This is the sh*t Netenyahu is doing in Israel to both Palestinians AND his own people who dare speak out against him. This is the type of iron clad power Trump wants and you have to be absolutely transfixed by that, in order to advocate for it. These MAGA assholes actively committed treason on this man’s word and attempted an insurrection. If that’s not a cult, I don’t know what is. MAGA is definitely a cult and they are leading the entire Republican party by the nose. Those who speak out, who actively call out what MAGA is even when staunchly denying they are a part of it, are effectively assassinated politically. It happened to Liz Cheney. It’s probably going to happen to Chris Christie. It’s happening in real time to Kevin McCarthy. It would have happened to Mitt Romney if he hadn’t decided to retire. The people who lift their heads out of the sand about this dangerous rhetoric, are targeted and then decapitated by the overwhelming influence MAGA has on the entire Party and that, to me, is why there are no “good” Republicans. They move, lock step, with whatever benefits Trump, not the Nation, and it’s absurd. If you align yourself with this party and do not speak out against its bullsh*t, then you are still part of the problem. It’s not just a MAGA issue, it’s a Republican issue, which is why I make that distinction because there are an absolute f*ck ton of Conservative minded individuals who speak out against this sh*t pretty regularly.

Being a Conservative means living by those values. Taking them to heart but also understanding that life is about growth. You can look back, but understand that we, as a people, are constantly moving forward. You have to have a certain amount of decency to be a Conservative, in my estimation. It’s the difference between BEING a good Christian and performatively “being” a “good Christian.” Something like standing in front of a church for a photo op, while holding the bible upside down or locking your congregation out of your megachurch which used to be a whole ass basketball arena, during one of the worst hurricanes in decades, as opposed to, you know, not doing that stuff. I imagine there has to be some order of tolerance and properly living by those tenants in the bible. You know, love that neighbor, turn the other cheek, all that sh*t. Basically just treat people with respect and tolerance. Know that your values are yours , alone, and shouldn’t be unilaterally forced upon anyone else. There is merit in looking back to a simpler time. I wholeheartedly believe it is necessary for Conservatives to exists out in the wild as their nostalgic often tempers the rush most Progressives have toward the future. They need each other to find a genuinely comfortable pace for our evolution as a society. Without that counterbalance, Progressives would have us run right off a cliff in the name of progress. We need both to be reasonable and dynamic in the human experience. Just to be crystal clear, everything I said pertains to the international political scale, not the one here in the US and that’s the problem.

Everything here in the States has shifted sharply to the Right. It feels like, since Kennedy’s head got Pollock’d, everything has just been out of step with the rest of the world. People like Biden and Obama would be considered Republican, firmly on the Right, anywhere else in the world but here? Here in the US where being progressive and just generally a decent human being is frowned upon, those cats are touted as true Liberals. People like AOC and The Squad would be considered moderate Progressives anywhere else but, according to their absolutely cartoonish adversaries across the aisle, they are “Radical” and “communists”. There is a difference between wanting Democratic Socialism and being a straight up Commie. It’s in that lack of nuance where so much miscommunication has bred. That mire of ideologues and ideology is why there are so many problems here. When you stand by and let a crazy person with a bad tan basically tell you he’s running to be El Presidente for Life, as a means to avoid doing time for felonies he openly admits to committing, who has preached retribution for anyone who has opposed him since being kicked out of the big chair, how can you not be in a cult? How can you not have drank that Kool-Aid? Even tacitly endorsing this f*ckery gives it life. Passing the buck in terms of accountability, Mitch McConnell, is siding with a history rife with violence and bloodshed. The Republican party is a cult in everything but name and they got there by allowing the actual zealots to take over.

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smokeybrand · 3 months

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Jonestown

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bintturaab · 3 years

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Seeing what's happening in Palestine, for the thousandth time, my words have run dry. For years and years and years Muslim blood has been flowing and the world has been watching silently and the Muslims have been nothing but passive about it and I'm no longer surprised. History has proven time and time again that Muslim blood is cheap in the eyes of the world.

But with Allah the lives of His slaves aren't cheap;

{فَانتَقَمْنَا مِنَ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نَصْرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ}

{then We took vengeance from those who committed crimes, and incumbent upon Us was support of the believers.} [Qur'an 30:47]

It is to our Lord عز وجل that we entrust our affairs, and He is sufficient for His slaves. But that does not relieve us from our responsibilities as Muslims and as an ummah. Being passive is never going to solve anything. What have all these thousands of petitions and protests and dialogues ever done for us? We still wave the flag of Palestine, the flag that these disbelieving oppressive forces created in order to separate the ummah and divide up the holy land of Ash-Shaam and rest of the Muslim nation. We want liberation in the name of the flag created by those who welcomed and funded the apartheid? Nationalism is never going to get us anywhere, singing and chanting slogans will never resolve our issues, any other means except what Allah has legislated for the believers will never, ever get us victory.

The only path to victory is to turn to Allah. The only path to victory is the path of Tawheed. Only when we stand up with honour and dignity that Islam gave us - and not with empty slogans and placards - that is when we'll get victory. When we stop demonizing the only people willing to stand up for Al Quds and rest of the Muslims, when we stop betraying the only people in the entire Muslim world with enough spine to defend Al Aqsa, when we stop trying to appease the West and emulate the ways of the disbelievers, that is when we'll get victory.

I'll take a moment here to call out one of the biggest traitors to this ummah - the madkhalis and the pseudo-salafis who STILL parrot the nonsense that is "Muslim country rulers are our wali ul amr who must be obeyed". These munafiqeen don't care that their masters seek to normalize relations with Israel. Islam's 3rd holiest site is constantly under attack, and these scumbags want us to emulate "leaders" who have abandoned the Palestinians and who have abandoned Bayt al Maqdis and instead want to normalise relations with the Zionist state of Israel. These munafiqeen don't care that their beloved rulers have been murdering Muslims and allying with their killers for decades. You guys DISGUST me. Your crocodile tears mean nothing when you have betrayed the ummah at its most vulnerable state. Know, that every time we ask Allah to destroy the oppressors and their allies, you are included in every single one of those duas.

May Allah guide the people of Palestine towards tawheed, towards the path of victory, and aid them. May Allah be with the people of Palestine and aid them against their enemies and our enemies. May Allah strengthen their hearts and their imaan and absolutely annihilate the oppressors and their forces and their allies. Ameen Ya Rabb.

#txt #Palestine #sheikh jarrah #save sheikh jarrah #masjid al aqsa #al quds

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skiplo-wave · 3 years

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Think I might know where that one simp got the idea that we thought the fascist cunts of the old Reich were better that Scamber: Eve Barlow.

See, Eve Barlow some time ago recently made a tweet calling out celebs who supported Palestine around the time before the cease fire was called out. See, Israel was doing it's asshole thing and taking Palestinian land, bombing houses and mosques and hospitals and shit again and it was in the public eye and at the end of Ramadhan so everybody got to hear about it. She proudly declared herself as a Zionist and started attacking people who didn't agree with her views, tried to educate her on it, or just plain out call her out on her bullshit. Even fellow Jews who were in support of Palestine and we're against what Israel was doing called her out on her shit and she kept biting back calling them all sorts of names and shit. It was a mess. There's screenshots all over Twitter and eventually a tag started trending that was jab at her name and her takes: Eve Fartlow. Because, y'know, aside from being Amber's lapdog and slandering celebs (without @-ing them of course) and Deppheads alike, her takes are legit garbage and she vehemently supports mass genocide and the frankly blatant colonialism happening at Palestine at the moment. She has that radical main take that anyone supporting Palestine, supporting victims of over a decade of bombing and a myriad human rights violations, is an antisemite and that any critique of the Israeli government and their conduct is antisemitism.

But now onto Turd. So Fartlow made a tweet, another garbage take, which was then replied to by Seth Rogan, who is a Jewish man and actor himself, with a fart emoji. Again, a jab at the tag. Turd responded with some sarcastic shit like "oh here's Seth, solving problems in the middle east" which, of course, set a few more people after her but that isn't the point. The point is, that throughout the time Israel had been absolutely demolishing the Gaza Strip and the Banks and taking Sheikh Jarrah, when others have come out in support of Palestine, signal boosting the events and atrocities happening there and donating and doing fund raisers, Turd said nothing. Nada, not a peep. So this one time she piped up meant two things:

1. She really doesn't care about humans rights at all and doesn't take her UN appointed title seriously. She said nothing when it's her literal job to talk about the issue, address it, or y'know, do the activist thing that the title implies.

2. She supports Fartlow and her radical zionists views. They're still friends on Twitter. Her stans are in Fartlow's notes.

TLDR: Friend of AH gets attacked on Twitter for being a shit and pulls the antisemitism-nazi card. AH defends, more people come to despise her, and her stans are now deflecting with the 'Nazi Supporter' bullshit. I don't know who's tweets that OP was reading, but they sure ain't the folks I follow.

Oh and for the record just to clear things up: I abhor antisemitism. Jewish people aren't a monolith. The Israeli government using religion as an excuse and a cover up to commit heinous war crimes against Palestinian citizens - that is children, women, and men alike, does not mean all Jewish people are to blame. You pull that card, you're just as bad as the people doing the bombing because you're feeding their little narrative of "Ah the world hates Jews we must attack for our homeland!" Judaism as a whole is not to blame for Palestine, but rather the people weaponizing it to further their own violent agendas are.

In other Depphead news: docs came out and in turns out that the ACLU helped Turd in not only covering up the fact that she did not donate the money, but also in writing the Washington Post Opinion Edition she claimed wasn't about Johnny but was, in fact, about Johnny. Also she tried to get the case dismissed, again, but was told off by the new judge.

(This was a long rant and I am so sorry Skip, how's life?)

( I jut woke up but doing going been while I can sleep in until 11am lol)

#asks #long post

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whiteliesuk · 4 years

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White Lie: Churchill is a wholly good war hero; we should continue to endlessly make the same WWII movies about him as the grumpy, difficult, irate, but oh-so-loved Prime Minister

The reality:

Anyone who’s followed me on any social media platform for any period of time will know how much I despise Churchill. In fact, I sit here restraining myself from launching into a massive tirade… In the interest of keeping some level of decorum and in the hope that readers will take me with some level of seriousness, I’ll refrain from calling him a shithead.

It instils a sense of rage knowing that Churchill was posthumously voted by Brits as the greatest Briton when you know his true colours. The removal of his bust from the White House was enough to create a political scandal on both sides of the pond. Dear god spare us from yet ANOTHER movie/TV series about the man saving Britain in the Second World War. Last week I watched the Darkest Hour to get over a sudden and frustrating break up. Did the movie add anything new? Absolutely not. But note to all womenkind: watching movies about reprehensible men will help you get over reprehensible men.

Politicians have scrambled to be equated to Churchill as though it’s a mark of pride and honour: Blair was compared to Churchill after dragging us into the 2003 Iraq war; Johnson has identified as Churchillian. To be fair, in both these instances, the comparison to Churchill is not entirely misplaced: the former was warmongering and terrorised innocent civilians in an illegal war while the other is a racist reprobate.

You can’t learn about the true nature of British colonialism and not be disturbed by the British obsession with Churchill. An obsession that’s driven by an insistence to see him as a one-dimensional war hero who saved Britain from fascism. This is not to say that Churchill didn’t play a part in saving Britain from fascism (I plan to dispel the myth that Britain alone won the war, without a MASSIVE helping hand from its Empire), but that there is so much more about Churchill that makes him deplorable.

Churchill’s well-documented white supremacism & bigotry

It takes a simple Google search to clue oneself up on Churchill’s racism. There was no two ways about it, Churchill was a white supremacist. Born in 1874, educated at Sandhurst and a Harrovian (always be wary of this lot), he was brought up believing the simple story that superior white men conquered people of colour and brought them the benefits of civilisation.

An explicit example of his beliefs in white superiority was recorded in US Vice President Henry Wallace’s diary: in 1942, Wallace challenged Churchill’s beliefs on Anglo-Saxon superiority during a meeting. Wallace wrote in his diary that Churchill had drank ‘quite a bit of whiskey’ and said in retort: ‘why be apologetic about Anglo-Saxon superiority, that we were superior, that we had the common heritage which had been worked out over the centuries in England and had been perfected by our constitution.’ And neither was this merely a drunken slip. Churchill was never shy to utter some of the most racist and vile things: he hated people with ‘slit eyes and pig tails’; people from India were ‘the beastliest people in the world next to the Germans’; he admitted that he did ‘not really think that black people were as capable or as efficient as white people’; and that ‘Aryan stock was bound to triumph’.

But he only said racist things, right? Even Johnson admitted that Churchill sometimes expressed opinion that would be ‘unacceptable to us today’, but it’s what he did, namely his defeat of the Nazis, that matters. To many, Churchill is the equivalent of the racist, old, white boss/manager/CEO who belonged to an older generation, who of course believed and therefore said those things. As long as he didn’t act upon them, then it’s all fine. This prevailing belief explains why the country voted for our currently unashamedly racist prime minister (lest we forget Johnson once referred to ‘cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies’; to African people as having ‘watermelon smiles’; and saying that Muslim women in burqas looked like ‘letter boxes.’)

I would challenge the notion that it’s fine for your boss/manager/CEO, let alone Prime Minister, to be racist in what they say. In fact, Paul Weston, Chairman of the Liberty GB party (a far-right anti-immigration, Islamophobic political party), was arrested in 2014 on suspicion of racial harassment after reading aloud from Churchill’s own book The River War: ‘How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is dangerous in as many as hydrophobia [rabies] in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce and insecurity of property exists wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.’ Clearly, simply saying what Churchill did could be considered a hate crime.

But I’ll humour those that take the ‘actions speak louder than words’ line and set Churchill’s diatribes against his context and actions:

Churchill was not merely an armchair aristocrat who waited to achieve his political ambitions, but a soldier who set off as soon as he could to take his part in ‘a lot of jolly little wars against barbarous peoples.’ And kill Churchill did: Churchill raided and laid waste to the Swat Valley (now part of Pakistan), destroying houses and burning crops; in Sudan, he bragged of personally shooting at least three ‘savages’. In South Africa, where ‘it was great fun galloping about’, Churchill defended British built concentration camps for white Boers, saying they produced ‘the minimum suffering.’ The death toll was almost 28,000, and while at least 115,000 were swept into British concentration camps, Churchill wrote only of his ‘irritation that Kaffirs should be allowed to fire on white men.’ (Shock, horror, the British were guilty of using concentration camps too. A blog post on this to come.)

On that note, we return to Churchill’s bust in the White House: George W Bush had left the bust near his desk in an attempt to associate himself with Churchill’s heroic stand against fascism (Bush joins the ranks of politicians who deserves an association to Churchill, but not in the sense he intended). Barack Obama had it returned to Britain because his own paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was one of the 150,000 rebellions Kikuyus forced into detention camps during Churchill’s post-war premiership: when the British government began its campaign to suppress the alleged 1952-60 Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, all to protect the privileges of the white settler population. Approximately 11,000 Kenyans were killed and 81,000 detained. In that light, we’ll allow it, Obama.

In 1920, as Secretary of State for War and Air, Churchill advocated for the use of chemical weapons on the ‘uncooperative Arabs’ involved in the Iraqi revolution against British rule: in an official memo he stated that he ‘[did] not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas… I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes. It would spread a lively terror.’ Historians have bent over backwards to excuse this particular comment: Warren Dockter, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and the author of Winston Churchill and the Islamic World, said that Churchill was only ‘proposing to use in Mesopotamia… lachrymatory gas, which is essentially tear gas, not mustard gas.’ Don’t worry all, he wasn’t actually intending to kill people, just to commit a terrorist act. Oh, and Churchill was in favour of using mustard gas against Ottoman troops in WII, Dockter admits, but that was at the time when other nations were doing it too, so it was obviously alright for him to actually intend to kill the masses then.

Finally, as Colonial Secretary, Churchill offered the Jews Israel, although he thought they should not ‘take it for granted that the local population will be cleared out to suit their convenience.’ Simultaneously, he dismissed the Palestinians already living in the country as ‘barbaric hoards who ate little but camel dung.’ In an address to justify why Britain should decide the fate of Palestine to the Peel Commission in 1937, Churchill was again outspoken about his white supremacist ideology. Specifically, he sought to justify the British displacement of peoples throughout history: ‘I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly-wise race to put it that was, has come in and taken their place.’

In thoughts, words, and actions Churchill was racist, and his position as a politician meant that his white supremacism had real, tangible effects. Many of which still has relevance today. Despite this, Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s most revered biographer, said that in writing Churchill’s story: ‘I never felt that [Churchill] was going to spring an unpleasant surprise on me. I might find that he was adopting views with which I disagreed. But I always knew that there would be nothing to cause me to think: ‘How shocking, how appalling.’ History is not only written by the victors, but also by historians who are willing to excuse those victors’ vile and abhorrent behaviour.

And I’ve not yet mentioned how Churchill’s so-called heroic actions during WWII killed an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people. Part 2 to follow.

#blm #blacklivesmatter #churchill #britishhistory #worldwarII #racism

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