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clarabosswald · 1 month

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"Win all the Battles, Lose the War" by Yuval Noah Harari

Who wins the Israel-Hamas war? It depends, of course, on how you define victory. In a soccer game, the side that scores more goals wins. In a war, the winner is not necessarily the one who kills more people, takes more prisoners, destroys more houses, or conquers more territory - the winner is the side that achieves its political goals. In the Iraq war, for example, the Americans won all the battles, occupied the entire country, captured Saddam Hussein and completely toppled his regime - but the war ended in a crushing political defeat for the USA and Iran becoming the "proprietor" in Iraq and the most powerful country in the Middle East. The existential threat that hovers over our heads today is partly a consequence of the American "victory" on the battlefields in Iraq. It could happen again. If we don't get our policy goals right, we could win all the battles and lose the war. So in the current war, who is closer to achieving their political goals? To answer this question, one must first know what the political goals of the parties are. Hamas' goals are quite clear. In the immediate term, Hamas's goal on October 7 was to sabotage the agreement that was being forged between Israel and Saudi Arabia. It's a bit hard to remember, but in the weeks before October 7 it was reported that Israel came very close to the possibility of a historic peace with Saudi Arabia, which would normalize relations between Israel and most of the Arab world and fundamentally change Israel's position in the world. Hamas stopped that.

In the longer term, Hamas' goal was to sow seeds of hatred in the minds of millions, to ensure that for generations to come there would be neither peace nor normalization between Israel and the Arab world. Hamas planned to carry out a particularly cruel massacre, and even took care to photograph and document the atrocities, in order to cause the Israelis as much pain as possible. Hamas assumed that Israel would respond to this massacre with tremendous force, which would also cause immense pain to the Palestinians. This was all a conscious part of the plan. The name that Hamas gave to its attack indicates its intentions. The attack was called "Tupan" - the flood. Like the biblical flood that destroyed humanity, Hamas intended to wreak havoc on a biblical scale. Does Hamas not care about the suffering that this war has inflicted and continues to inflict on Palestinian citizens? Hamas supporters certainly have different feelings and opinions, but the organization's basic worldview does not attach importance to human suffering. The highest goals of Hamas are dictated by religious fantasies. For Hamas, Palestinians who are killed in the war are martyrs, who now enjoy heavenly pleasures in heaven. As more people die, there are more martyrs who enjoy heaven. And as far as our physical world is concerned, from the point of view of a fundamentalist organization like Hamas, human society on earth can have only one goal - uncompromising loyalty to heavenly principles of purity and justice. Since in order to make peace one must always compromise on justice, organizations like Hamas reject any opportunity for peace, and demand that people will fight at any cost for absolute justice and absolute purity.

This, by the way, explains the apparently strange phenomenon of radical left-wing organizations in Western democracies that absolve Hamas of any responsibility for the atrocities in Israel and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, and lay the full blame on Israel alone. The connection between the radical left and Hamas is the belief in absolute justice, the unwillingness to accept the complexity of this world, and the division of the world into pure good facing absolute evil. Justice is a noble goal, but the claim to absolute justice inevitably leads to endless war. There was not a single peace treaty in the history of mankind that did not require compromises, and that provided absolute justice.

Finally, Hamas' actual grand plan was that its surprise attack and the Israeli countermeasures would set the West Bank on fire, lead to an uprising of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and also drag Hezbollah, Iran and other forces into the war, who together might land a blow on Israel that would shock and perhaps even destroy the country. This is the flood that Hamas wishes for. So how close is Hamas to achieving its goals?

As far as preventing an Israeli-Saudi agreement and destroying any chance for future peace and normalization between Jews and Arabs - then Hamas is very close to victory. As a matter of fact, Hamas has already achieved far beyond what it hoped for, because it has succeeded in sowing hatred not only in the minds of millions of Israelis and Palestinians, but also in the minds of hundreds of millions more people all over the world. Antisemitism is on the rise, while Israel's international standing is at an unprecedented low, even in the Western democracies that have been our allies for years. Every additional day in which Palestinians are killed or starved in Gaza advances Hamas another step on its path.

As far as dragging more forces into the war, so far Hamas' success is much more limited. But time plays in their favor. Hamas has already bet the whole jackpot, and even if so far they have not won the big prize, the roulette is still spinning. Every day a battle between Israel and Hezbollah, and every confrontation on the Temple Mount, are another round of the roulette. One wrong decision or a rocket that hits the wrong place may realize Hamas' grand plan and bring forth the flood.

And what about Israel? Do our tremendous sacrifices and the IDF's achievements on the battlefield bring us closer to our political goals? Even if Hamas has achieved some of its goals, perhaps we have also achieved some of our goals, so that a draw can be declared? These questions are very difficult to answer, because the Netanyahu government manages this war is without defining political goals. The government repeatedly says that the goal is to eliminate Hamas. Israel of course has a full right and even obligation to protect its territory and its citizens. The elimination of Hamas' military capabilities is also essential in order to open the way to future peace and normalization, because as long as Hamas possesses significant military power, it will use it to thwart any serious attempt at an arrangement. Whenever we get close to an agreement, Hamas will attack, as it did on October 7. But even if Israel succeeds in disarming Hamas, that is a military achievement, not a political goal. As stated before, the Americans in Iraq eliminated all the military power of Saddam Hussein and collapsed his regime, and still suffered a crushing political defeat. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to eliminate the threat of Fatah. The threat of Fatah was successfully removed - and in its place we got the threat of Hezbollah. Does Israel have an orderly plan that explains how defeating Hamas leads to saving the peace treaty with Saudi Arabia, to a sustainable arrangement in Gaza, to the restoration of our international status, or to some other desired political goal? Without such a plan, it is impossible to make military decisions such as whether to attack Rafah or to cease fire.

When we have to choose between an attack in Rafah and a ceasefire, it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland who came to a crossroads and wasn't sure whether to turn right or left. She asked the Cheshire Cat which way she should go. The cat said to her: "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know," replied Alice. "Then," the cat decided, "it doesn't matter which way you choose." If we don't know where we want to go, how do we know if the road there leads through an attack in Rafah or through a ceasefire?

So does Israel have political goals in the war? It seems not. Some of the members of the government are captive to their own biblical visions and dreams of divine revenge and absolute justice. The prime minister, for his part, has not given a single speech since the beginning of the war in which he articulates his political vision, and it seems that this vision is summed up in one and only one goal: to retain his seat. The October 7 War extends by a month and another month, and the Hamas-ian flood threatens to drown the entire region in blood. It is impossible to wait until after the war to establish an alternative government that does have a political vision. The war is only a tool to achieve political goals. Letting a policy-less government lead a war is a sure recipe to defeat. No matter how many victories are achieved on the battlefield, and at what cost, it is impossible to translate a military victory into a political achievement if there is no policy.

Political goals are also essential for Israeli hasbara. If Israel chooses to initiate a certain military action, there are three main ways to justify it. It can be argued that this is revenge for October 7. That won't convince anyone but ourselves, because even our greatest friends think we've had enough revenge. It can be argued that everything we do is to free the hostages. It no longer convinces even the families of the hostages, certainly when only three were released militarily. The alternative is to present a political plan to the world, and explain why additional military operations are necessary to realize it. As long as the Israeli government does not present a political plan, Israeli hasbara has no chance of convincing world public opinion. And who knows, if we finally define political goals, maybe we will discover that there is no need at all for more military operations to fulfill them?

For all these reasons, it is necessary to immediately establish a government that has a political vision, based on striving for a sustainable compromise and not on biblical fantasies and demands for absolute justice. And if you insist on some biblical fantasy, then here is one: at the end of the flood, a dove with an olive branch in its beak arrived. Of course, after the October 7 massacre, compromise and peace seem completely impossible. But such things have happened before.

30 years ago, in 1994, a terrible massacre took place in Rwanda reminiscent of the horrors of October 7. In one day the Hutus tortured, raped and murdered thousands of Tutsis - men and women, elderly and children. Entire families and villages were wiped off the face of the earth. It was a horrifically brutal killing spree, with machetes, hatchets, hoes and clubs. The next day, it happened again. And the next day, it happened again. And the next day, it happened again. What the Israelis experienced on the terrible Saturday of October 7, the Tutsis experienced for about a hundred consecutive days between April 7 and mid-July 1994. It is estimated that during these hundred days the Hutus murdered about 800 thousand people and raped hundreds of thousands of women. The massacre ended when the Tutsi resistance movement defeated the Hutu army, and took control of Rwanda. About two million Hutus fled the country. 30 years later, peace reigns between the Tutsi and Hutu. The Tutsi leadership led a process of reconciliation and healing, and accepted back to Rwanda the vast majority of Hutus who fled. Today Hutu and Tutsi live together in peace in Rwanda, which is considered one of the most peaceful and prosperous countries in Africa. Recently it has even become a popular tourist destination. People fly on vacation to Rwanda and visit picturesque villages in the hills where Hutu and Tutsi live together, and the tourists are unable to believe what happened in their vacation spots just 30 years ago. If they succeeded, maybe we have hope too.

Jewish history can also teach us similar lessons. On October 7, many Israelis, including several members of my family and friends, experienced horrors reminiscent of the darkest moments of the Holocaust. But eight decades after the Holocaust, Germans and Israelis are now good friends. It is important to emphasize that healing processes such as those between the Tutsis and the Hutus and between the Jews and the Germans are not based on achieving absolute justice. How is such justice possible? Can anyone bring the corpses back to life, or put the scream back into the throat? As a historian, I know that the curse of history is the attempt to save the past. This attempt stands no chance. We cannot save the past. We must focus on the future. We need to heal the wounds of the past, instead of using them as an excuse for more and more new wounds.

After hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes in 1948, Arab countries expelled hundreds of thousands of Jews from their territories. Since then, wound haunts wound in a seemingly endless cycle of blood. But we don't have to continue this cycle indefinitely. There is a possibility of stopping it, as can be learned from the behavior of Palestinian citizens of Israel. When Hamas gave the signal for the flood, it hoped that the Israeli Palestinians would join the circle of blood and attack their Jewish neighbors. Many Jews - and quite a few Arabs - lived in fear that this was exactly what was going to happen. In practice, the behavior of the Palestinian citizens of Israel since October 7 is a ray of light in the darkness. On October 7 itself, some of the Palestinian citizens of Israel were murdered by Hamas while trying to help the Jews, such as Abd al-Rahman Al-Nassara of al-Kasifa, who was murdered by terrorists when he came to rescue survivors from the [Nova] party, and Awad Musa Darawshe of Iksal, who was killed near Kibbutz Re'im while helping the wounded. Every day that has passed since then, tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens have continued to serve faithfully in all the institutions of Israeli society, from hospitals to government offices, while their friends and relatives in Gaza face death, refugeehood and hunger. The chairman of the Joint List party, Iman Odeh, denounced the October 7 massacre, saying that these were "horrific scenes that cannot be described. I cannot accept that in the name of the Palestinian people innocents are being killed in this way," and Ra'am Chairman Mansour Abbas called the massacre "an inhumane and unjustifiable act that goes against the values of Islam," and said that "the armed Palestinian organizations should lay down their weapons" and strive for peace with the State of Israel.

In order for all of us to have a real chance to get out of the cycle of bloodshed, the first step is to define a clear political goal for this war. Hamas has such a goal: to eliminate any chance of peace between Israel and the Arab world and the Palestinians. Israel's goal should be no less clear: to maintain the chance for peace. If Israel succeeds in disarming Hamas at the military level, but is left without a political horizon, then Hamas has defeated us.

#ישראבלר #been sitting on this opinion piece for a couple of days and finally got around to translating it #once again i'm glad that i don't waste time on writing my own pieces here #first and foremost because nobody cares as i've come to learn #but secondly because israeli peace activists just do it so much better than i ever could #anyway here's the daily prayer that bibi and his coalition end in prison as soon as possible a fucking men

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jewfrogs · 1 year

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one antizionist jew to another: does the community ever feel lonely? my community is small and won’t even allow for antizionism in the most subtle sense; it can be an isolating situation.

yes, very much so. i wasn't raised religious, so i've never really had a strong sense of belonging to a particular jewish community—i decided i wanted to be jewish in practice when i was 12 or 13, and i'm still working towards that dream! slowly! and a very real part of that struggle is that i don't want to be in community with people who don't share my moral values. i've been to services at my college's hillel, mostly for the high holy days, and it is miserable to be immersed in the beauty of prayer and then be reminded that i don't belong here, i can't feel comfortable here, i can't build community here.

and i don't really know how to reconcile this, because the truth is that zionism is incredibly widespread in jewish communities—which is not to deny that there are individual antizionist jews and larger antizionist jewish organizations, but religious jewish spaces in particular just do tend towards zionism regardless of their other political leanings. and sometimes i feel like it's either i can be jewish or i can be antizionist, but i can't put both into practice.

but i know that's not true, because i refuse to believe that. i know that zionism is not intrinsic to judaism; and i know that there are jews out there who share my ethics, who believe in palestinian liberation, who know that we can be better; and i know that neither you nor i are alone; and i know that we can build community with each other, if nothing else. one antizionist jew to another: i love you. i wish you well. you are not alone. it is better to be lonely on the side of justice than to be accompanied on the side of injustice.

#ask #anonymous

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chilope · 6 months

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re: dogwhistles everywhere: ok, but also there is a wave of statements to the tune of "oh, you say [real aspect of the ongoing ethnic cleansing]? what bullshit lie, you are obviously only saying that bc you believe in [antisemitic dogwhistle]".

i dont. care? like. okay. im going to get on a box real quick and then not talk about this at all anymore.

israel is doing an ethnic cleansing. thats bad. israeli nationism is bad. us support for israel is bad. as us citizens, we have an obligation to oppose our governments support for israel. we have an obligation to call our representatives, to protest, to vote for politicians who will fight back. nothing that anyone says on tumblr about anything that is happening matters at all even a little bit. real time updates about the war crimes dont stop the war crimes from happening. long posts about israels right to exist dont stop the war crimes from happening either.

im frustrated both by the antisemitic dogwhistles and by the jews on this site who insist on making really long posts about how people are being mean to jews as a result of the war crimes. like, antisemitic tumblr posts arent in the same hemisphere as an ethnic cleansing, it feels gross and unnecessary to focus on it. but also, we live here!!

like. this isnt important. im gonna start with that. in the grand scheme of things its just not important. but the little circle of people who exist 1 or 2 degrees from me on tumblr is so chock fucking full of bald antisemitism its mind boggling to me. and it just sits there, all the time, completely unchallenged and unchecked. its normal, its fine, its good even. and then the conflict gets out of hand again and i sit here and watch a bunch of people that i like and respect hold hands with antisemites and talk about how bad israel is. and theyre right!! israel is bad!!

so on the one hand you have a bunch of people saying that the ethnic cleansing isnt happening, or is fine actually, or talking about it is antisemitic. and theyre wrong, and i want them to stop, and also nothing they say matters. but most importantly, i dont actually know them. i dont interact with anyone who says that stuff. i know theyre out there, ive seen screenshots of their posts. but they arent holding hands with anyone i care about.

on the other hand, you have a bunch of people who hate jews, who openly hate jews, who have hated jews for years, who have openly stated they dont want jews to exist, who keep sneaking antisemitic dogwhistles into anti-israeli posts. and theyre getting reblogged by people i like. and again, nothing they say matters. none of these posts impacts actual policy or public sentiment in literally any way. it just doesnt matter!

the only thing that gets impacted by any of this is the the willingness of the people i associate with to tolerate ethnic cleansing apologism (a thing that i have not seen happen) or antisemitism (a thing i have watched happen in real time over the last few years).

so one post slipped through. one. i reblogged *one* post about antisemitism.

like. i *get* that it doesnt fucking matter. some guy on tumblr making a post about how jews should be exterminated isnt on the same level of anything as an actual, literal genocide. it isnt even on the same level as anti-black hiring discrimination, or police violence, or homophobia. but man it sucks that a bunch of my friends are friends with that guy! wish that wasnt true! wish i didnt have to see his posts because people still think hes so cool and insightful!

but it doesnt matter, it really doesnt, and neither do the "actually you only oppose israel because youre antisemitic!" posts. its all just a bunch of powerless angry people yelling at each other to feel better. it doesnt accomplish anything. call your senator, donate to palestinian relief, start a fight with your uncle over thanksgiving.

and leave me alone. that too.

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queerprayers · 3 years

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Hello. This might be a bit of an unorthodox ask, or maybe not. I’m also fully aware no one can make this choice for me, but it’s also not a choice I want to make alone.

So I’m a Latine Catholic. My family was never all that religious. They never had a problem with my queerness or been all too bothered by what I actually believed. We are already somewhat out of the box- my father doesn’t believe in going to church and he doesn’t believe in an afterlife. My mother believes in reincarnation and an eventual, inevitable Heaven. I told my mom once that I was considering paganism and she was just interested in what I could tell her about the theology. So the problem is me. I have ocd and a deep fear of hell and of G*d’s judgement. I spiraled so badly into scrupulosity two years ago that I consider it a religious trauma. I relaxed, eventually, but not without having learned a lot about religion, including about Judaism. It shaped a lot of what I believe, and I deeply, deeply want to convert and be truly Jewish. I’m in love with the religion in a way I have only found pieces of in my own. But that’s the problem. I do love parts of my religion- the saints and Jesus and the mysticism. and deep down Im still terrified of a hell I don’t believe in. But no matter how many times I resolve to stay Catholic, the desire to be Jewish doesn’t leave, and I feel guilty for it. Terrified G*d will punish me for it. But do you think it’s possible to be called to follow another religious path? That, perhaps, I was born to make this choice?

Sorry if this is a lot. I’ve just been confused for like two years now so I thought I’d give asking someone else a shot. Hope you’re well

Hello beloved,

I'm finally answering this! I did not forget you, and have been thinking about your ask and praying for you in the past couple weeks. I've just been dealing with my own stuff—the delay was not because it was too unorthodox or too much, neither of which exist in my inbox :)

I wanted to start out by saying that I'm so proud of how far you've come and am so sorry you've had so much trouble. Your problems might be more internal than external, but I promise that doesn't make you a problem. You are not the problem—just thought I'd make sure you know that.

I just wanted to note that "I'm still terrified of a hell I don't believe in" is such a true and raw statement and I connect with it so deeply.

Trauma can change our lives in terrifying ways, and it's usually not what we had in mind for ourselves. The very existence of trauma implies a life-changing event(s), and so the fact that your life is changing is perfectly reasonable. Many others more knowledgeable and articulate than I have spoken about trauma, but just know that you're not alone in feeling confusion and pain.

Your relationship to faith sounds beautiful and meaningful as well as painful, and it makes me so happy that you've found beauty in religion even after experiencing trauma. There are many people for whom multiple religious traditions affect their theology—you're not alone and it's not weird.

I connect immensely to Judaism—check out my tag! Judaism is an absolutely beautiful, holy religion that any Christian with any knowledge of their history should support and affirm. We worship a traditionally Jewish god. I affirm that a Palestinian Jew brought us salvation.

Yes, I believe it's possible to be called to a religion. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus is the true Messiah, but I also believe everyone is called to serve God in different ways, and that I don't know everything. I wrote in this ask about whether only Christians would be saved, and how I look at other faiths.

I'm a Lutheran Christian not because I believe wholly in everything Christians preach, or because I don't feel connected to other traditions, but because for me, right now, this is the way I am closest to God and serve Them. Being a part of a faith community doesn't mean you agree with everything 100%, and converting doesn't mean you let go of everything you've believed in the past. You can stay connected to saints and Jesus and mysticism while pursuing a life in the Jewish tradition. Obviously different traditions look at things like this differently, but ultimately, don't let anyone take those connections you have away from you. Whether you're a Jew with connections to Catholicism or a Catholic with connections to Judaism—you'll end up kind of unorthodox either way, but you'll be you.

You were definitely born to do this. I don't know exactly what this is, mind you, but you're here and you're asking these questions for a reason, and I believe there is an existence out there for you full of peace and holiness.

Questions to ask yourself/things to think about:

In what faith space/tradition do you see yourself most able to serve God, your neighbor, and yourself?

Is the religious tradition you're in right now accepting of your connections to other faiths? Would the tradition you convert to be?

Imagine being a Catholic for your entire life. What emotions come up? Are you satisfied/fulfilled? Will you spend every moment wondering what your life would be like if you made a different choice?

Is the only reason you're still a Christian fear? Is that something you want to build your faith on? What could you build your faith on instead? What would that look like?

God will always be there. To come back to, to call by a different name, to pray to in a different language, to be angry at, to be scared of, to worship. No matter how far you think you're running or where you go, God is with you.

I wrote this ask about choosing a denomination, but some of it applies here too.

Let me know if there's anything I can do for you! Sending you so much love and keeping you in my prayers.

<3 Johanna

#asks

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mmagazinemoment · 3 years

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Why my past loves make me want to look into nihilism as a lifestyle.

Good morning, midday, afternoon, or evening to you my fellow queers and allies and plain and simply gorgeous humans. You see I have already written another version of this edition but instead I have a pure heroine filled piece instead, and you may not be ready for it because it covers a few serious points but it’s also the (fuck your ex) vibe, not literally…unlesssssss * insert meme*. Thanks for joining me again my loves

Why my past loves make me want to look into nihilism as a lifestyle

You ever just meet someone and fall completely into their arms and become almost a complete and utter 3rd leg of the other? What I mean in all seriousness is, don’t you ever feel like the love game grows on you like a drug addiction and I know some of you will see this and be thinking? What do you mean “the love game” I know it’s not a game, a figure of speech as such. Basically, what I’m trying to say is have you ever loved someone so much that you didn’t see the signs of detrimental dysfunction.

Wow that all sounds so serious, let me dial it down a little, I’m just trying this new thing called being uncensored and not caring about preconceived notions of myself from external eyes. Months ago, I was shattered into a million pieces and I won’t blame just him because it was my fault for thinking every relationship or whatever it was, was going to end up like a tv romance, no that’s a lie. I over invested and blamed him for hurting my own self, sure he had something to do with it, but he wasn’t just to blame. Can’t tell me I don’t know how to take accountability (wow I’m funny).

For instance, in a movie you meet and lock eyes with someone and the breeze grasps your hair, when I met said person, I was like ‘omg he’s tall, I’m going to fall in love with a giraffe’ and then I tried to build a home in him, without the investment and time taken to be careful with my time and words of affirmation in efforts to receive reciprocation I never got unless it was backhanded or what I wanted to hear. So how did you perceive your first love? Did he/she/they look pleasing? Or was it the scent of their perfume or cologne? Did they dress in a floral vintage outfit or was it a suit and tie? Ballet flats or sneakers? Tell me? I want to know all of the juicy details!

I know some of you probably didn’t ask or ever want to know but my first love happened in a series of me closing doors journeying through my uneasy sexuality labelling and let’s be real, fuck labels am I right? (unless you find comfortability and closure under a label and with that you’re perfectly valid), Love to me was like heroine and in some senses it still is. When I first learnt of love, it didn’t feel like love, it felt like obligation, perhaps a trend. Love felt like learning all he moves to a Tik Tok dance as fast as possible before the hype disappeared, and it became irrelevant again, questionable reference point but blame social media not me. I was never satisfied.

Keep in mind this was 15-year-old me, trying to gain some sense of validation to seem a little less repressed and not confused because before 15 year old me realised that 12 year old me wasn’t as weird as I thought. I was under this veil of non-transparency and speaking on the subject of transparency I must tell you 12 was the year of age I realised that I wasn’t like the other boys at school, just swooning for girls and getting scared of cooties, I was just begging to be seen by whoever had eyes to care. Sounds dramatic I know.

Nobody was ever there to tell me at such a young age that there were others like me, “different”, the type of boy who watched rebel without a cause and felt weird when James Dean was looking so gorgeous and composed in that leather jacket or admiring Tim Curry when he dressed like no man I’d ever seen on a movie screen in or even real life in the Rocky Horror Show, something sparked in… me. I started on the smallest step I knew, acknowledgement, I knew I could find a home in the fact that there were more people like me, and wow I was right. I was finding comfort in what I knew, I found a few gorgeous women and obviously because of my age we thought that holding hands and a peck on the cheek was all we needed in life from the label of ‘relationship’, but it was only ever a weekly process. Anytime I found ‘love’ I wouldn’t know what to do with it without the chase, like a dog chasing a bone. Even to this day I have never had a successfully long relationship but at least these days it’s not because of my toxic traits, I like to think I’ve grown a considerate amount since I was 15. Don’t get me wrong, neither of those experiences were love? How could they be?

Ironically love happened even ‘after’ I was in a relationship. I had another relationship when I was 17, it lasted a little longer than the prior, it went for a month and a half, I was convinced I loved her, so sappy but you wanted transparency right? I have a lot of it. After that, my ex brought to attention after she cheated on me that I was using her as a sort of beard to cover up the truth about myself, I never knew how to perceive myself until then and that was only the second step, there was so much more to cover.

Skip forward past a few experiences leading up the near current, I met someone, a sort of fleeting romance, now (forewarning, this gets sappy) we talked for a few weeks if my memory isn’t hazy, and we quickly developed something no short of a connection. FaceTime after FaceTime I’d gather more and more pictures of his goofy face and at one stage, I thought I was going to be happy for the foreseeable future, then came reality. You can’t be loved by someone who doesn’t want to face themselves and you can’t help them anymore than what you’re capable of giving out. I didn’t listen to that, naturally things just got worse, and I hated everything…

He would apologise, I would validate his actions to friends who were concerned and realising that I was getting too soon attached and it wasn’t going to end well and I copped the consequences, I still have only recently not found regret in messing up this badly because if I didn’t make that mistake then I would’ve just witnessed those mistakes I made in the lap of somebody else and this is where the saying goes, better the devil you known then the devil you don’t. let me tell you it did more than a number on my mental health before I added up the reasons as tallies against us and internalised what I should’ve subtracted (hehe see what I did there). In all seriousness I wanted the thrill, I sure as hell got one.

Your mental health is amplified by your lifestyle choices and the people you choose to keep in your circle, friendship, or relationships regardless, the whole thing was out of whack and a tornado was nothing less than the accurate definition of where I was at, and it hurt a lot but sometimes it’s best to leave that situation if that person who you thought was going to be there for a while and a necessity to your life ends up being the detriment. (as Ashley Frangipane said) “its crazy when the thing you love the most is the detriment, let that sink in”.

If there is one piece of advice that I want whoever sees this to take with them it’s this, Keep your space sacred baby, you only have one life, but also please do not criticize yourself for getting caught in the motion sickness, sometimes you just can’t avoid it and that’s ok. Life is not a movie, life is more like the behind the scenes extra that puts everything into perspective, it’s rational and shows the hard work put in place to make the art and you should remind yourself as such. Remember also that if you cannot cope with all of the stress that presents itself in your life, that there are people that are equipped to help you hold some of the baggage for you until you are ready to take it back and analyse it. Whatever your grief is, I assure you, you’re not alone.

As always, stay healthy and strut your shit and I cannot stress this enough but keep raging against the machine and the super straights xoxo without the gossip girl, farewell until the next piece of The Mantra Magazine. *keep this in mind* next issue will be a little forward, it will include themes of segregation and war regarding the families of the Palestinians and Israeli conflicts happening right now. So, bring some tissues and an open mind. Farewell.

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Thursday, February 25, 2021

COVID-19 cases falling (nearly) everywhere (Foreign Policy) New COVID-19 cases and deaths have dropped worldwide for the sixth consecutive week, according to figures compiled by the World Health Organization. The WHO recorded 2.4 million new cases last week, a drop of 11 percent compared to the previous week. The 66,000 deaths last week represented a 20 percent decline. Five out of the six WHO regions now show a consistent downward trend in new cases, although the trendline in the Eastern Mediterranean region remains flat due to continued case increases in Iran and Iraq.

Not to be sniffed at: Agony of post-COVID-19 loss of smell (AP) The doctor slid a miniature camera into the patient’s right nostril, making her whole nose glow red with its bright miniature light. “Tickles a bit, eh?” he asked as he rummaged around her nasal passages, the discomfort causing tears to well in her eyes and roll down her cheeks. The patient, Gabriella Forgione, wasn’t complaining. The 25-year-old pharmacy worker was happy to be prodded and poked at the hospital in Nice, in southern France, to advance her increasingly pressing quest to recover her sense of smell. Along with her sense of taste, it suddenly vanished when she fell ill with COVID-19 in November, and neither has returned. Being deprived of the pleasures of food and the scents of things that she loves are proving tough on her body and mind. Shorn of odors both good and bad, Forgione is losing weight and self-confidence. “Sometimes I ask myself, ‘Do I stink?’” she confessed. “Normally, I wear perfume and like for things to smell nice. Not being able to smell bothers me greatly.” A year into the coronavirus pandemic, doctors and researchers are still striving to better understand and treat the accompanying epidemic of COVID-19-related anosmia—loss of smell—draining much of the joy of life from an increasing number of sensorially frustrated longer-term sufferers like Forgione.

Biden to order sweeping review of U.S. supply chain weak spots (Washington Post) President Biden on Wednesday will formally order a 100-day government review of potential vulnerabilities in U.S. supply chains for critical items, including computer chips, medical gear, electric-vehicle batteries and specialized minerals. The directive comes as U.S. automakers are grappling with a severe shortage of semiconductors, essential ingredients in the high-tech entertainment and navigation systems that fill modern passenger vehicles. Biden’s executive order, which he is scheduled to sign this afternoon, also is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the shortages of personal protective gear such as masks and gloves experienced last year during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. The president’s order, which had been anticipated, represents the partial fulfillment of a campaign pledge. But mandating a government study will be the easy part. Extensively modifying U.S. supply lines and reducing the country’s dependence upon foreign suppliers—after decades of globalization—could prove difficult and costly.

U.S. seeks to return to U.N. human rights body (Reuters) The United States will seek election to the U.N. Human Rights Council later this year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, marking the Biden administration’s latest international re-engagement. Blinken, addressing the council by recorded video, said that President Joseph Biden’s administration would work to eliminate what he called the Geneva forum’s “disproportionate focus” on U.S. ally Israel. The council, set up in 2006, has a stand-alone item on the Palestinian territories on its agenda every session, the only issue with such treatment, which both Democratic and Republican administrations have opposed.

Freedom of speech the real issue in Spain (Washington Post) Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in some of Spain’s largest cities every night for a week, often clashing with police. In Barcelona on Saturday, authorities said they detained 38 people and recorded injuries among 13. The anger of the young protesters is centered on the arrest of a man who until recently was an obscure figure: Pablo Rivadulla, a rapper better known by his stage name, Pablo Hasél. But the demonstrations are about far more than one man’s arrest, speaking to growing concern inside and out of Spain about the effect of the country’s anti-terrorism laws and lèse-majesté statutes circumscribing the freedom of expression.

Covid inspires 1,200 new German words (The Guardian) From coronamüde (tired of Covid-19) to Coronafrisur (corona hairstyle), a German project is documenting the huge number of new words coined in the last year as the language races to keep up with lives radically changed by the pandemic. The list, compiled by the Leibniz Institute for the German Language, an organisation that documents German language in the past and present, already comprises more than 1,200 new German words—many more than the 200 seen in an average year. It includes feelings many can relate to, such as overzoomed (stressed by too many video calls), Coronaangst (when you have anxiety about the virus) and Impfneid (envy of those who have been vaccinated). Other new words reveal the often strange reality of life under restrictions: Kuschelkontakt (cuddle contact) for the specific person you meet for cuddles and Abstandsbier (distance beer) for when you drink with friends at a safe distance. The words also capture specific moments during the pandemic. For example, Balkonsänger (balcony singer) is someone who sings to people from their balcony, which was popular during the spring lockdown. Hamsteritis, referring to the urge to stockpile food, was also commonly used at the start of the crisis.

China uses patriotism test to sweep aside last outlet for Hong Kong democracy (Washington Post) Serving as a district councilor in Hong Kong means addressing everyday concerns such as pest control, traffic issues and helping elderly residents pay bills. One of the few perks of the modest office is having a say, alongside tycoons and Beijing loyalists, in choosing Hong Kong’s leader. On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s government announced that anyone running for these local positions will need to be a “patriot”—meaning they must swear loyalty not to their constituents but to Beijing and the Communist Party—as China moves to quash the territory’s last avenue of democracy. The changes, which are expected to be introduced to the legislature—where there is no viable opposition—next month and become law soon thereafter, will trigger the expulsion of several young pro-democracy councilors, even if they read the oath as instructed. Disqualified candidates will be barred from running in any elections for five years. With Tuesday’s announcement, the councils, the only fully democratic body in Hong Kong, fall in line with China’s broader reshaping of a city once known for its boisterous political culture as democratically chosen representatives are replaced with Beijing loyalists.

The Mekong River (Nikkei Asia) There are 60 million people who live along the lower Mekong River, and they were in for a rough surprise in early January when China drastically cut the discharge from the Jinghong Dam in Yunnan Province. The “tests”—which were slated to end January 24—entailed cutting the flow of the river from 1,900 cubic meters per second to just 1,000 cubic meters per second, but the final day of tests came and went and the volume is still down. That this occurred in the middle of the dry season was particularly rough for Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, countries that depend on the river. China has begun to draw international ire over their management of the river, which it has built 11 large dams on.

A Digital Firewall in Myanmar (NYT) The Myanmar soldiers descended before dawn on Feb. 1, bearing rifles and wire cutters. At gunpoint, they ordered technicians at telecom operators to switch off the internet. For good measure, the soldiers snipped wires without knowing what they were severing, according to an eyewitness and a person briefed on the events. The data center raids in Yangon and other cities in Myanmar were part of a coordinated strike in which the military seized power, locked up the country’s elected leaders and took most of its internet users offline. Since the coup, the military has repeatedly shut off the internet and cut access to major social media sites, isolating a country that had only in the past few years linked to the outside world. The military regime has also floated legislation that could criminalize the mildest opinions expressed online. So far, the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, has depended on cruder forms of control to restrict the flow of information. But the army seems serious about setting up a digital fence to more aggressively filter what people see and do online. Such a comprehensive firewall may also exact a heavy price: The internet outages since the coup have paralyzed a struggling economy. Longer disruptions will damage local business interests and foreign investor confidence as well as the military’s own vast business interests.

Iraq’s struggling Christians hope for boost from pope visit (AP) Nasser Banyameen speaks about his hometown of Qaraqosh in the historical heartland of Iraqi Christianity with nostalgia. Before Islamic State group fighters swept through the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq. Before the militants shattered his sense of peace. Before panicked relatives and neighbors fled, some never to return. Iraq’s Christian communities in the area were dealt a severe blow when they were scattered by the IS onslaught in 2014, further shrinking the country’s already dwindling Christian population. Many hope their struggle to endure will get a boost from a historic visit by Pope Francis planned in March. Among the places on his itinerary is Qaraqosh, where this week Vatican and Iraqi flags fluttered from light poles, some adorned with the pope’s image. Francis’ visit, his first foreign trip since the coronavirus pandemic and the first ever by a pope to Iraq, is a sign that “You’re not alone,” said Monsignor Segundo Tejado Muñoz, the undersecretary of the Vatican’s development office. “There’s someone who is thinking of you, who is with you. And these signs are so important. So important.”

Syria’s economic woes (NYT) In a private meeting with pro-government journalists, President Bashar al-Assad was asked about Syria’s economic meltdown: the currency collapse that has gutted salaries, the skyrocketing prices for basic goods and the chronic shortages of fuel and bread. “I know,” he said, according to two people with knowledge of the discussion. “I know.” But he offered no concrete steps to stem the crisis beyond floating this idea: Television channels should cancel cooking shows so as not to taunt Syrians with images of unattainable food. As the 10-year anniversary of Syria’s civil war looms, Mr. al-Assad’s most immediate threats are not the rebel factions and foreign powers that still control large swaths of the country. Instead, it is the crushing economic crisis that has hobbled the reconstruction of destroyed cities, impoverished the population and left a growing number of Syrians struggling to get enough food. Food prices have more than doubled in the last year. The World Food Program warned this month that 60 percent of Syrians, or 12.4 million people, were at risk of going hungry, the highest number ever recorded.

The Deadliest Middle East Construction Project Since The Pyramids (The Guardian) On December 2, 2010, FIFA announced that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup —- a first for a Middle East nation. Over the next ten years, thousands of migrant laborers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka came to Qatar to work on the elaborate preparations for the world’s biggest football tournament. Sadly, during that period at least 6,500 of those workers died, according to an analysis by the Guardian. The findings were compiled from government sources, and mean that an average of 12 migrant workers from the five South Asian nations have died each week since the announcement was made. The total death toll is significantly higher because the figures don’t include deaths from other countries like the Philippines and Kenya that send large numbers of workers to Qatar. Also not included are deaths occurring in the final months of 2020. More deaths have undoubtedly occurred since preparations for the 2022 tournament continue.

The value of housework (Foreign Policy) In a landmark ruling, a Beijing divorce court has ordered a man to pay his wife for five years of unpaid housework during their marriage. The award does not amount to much, roughly $1,100 dollars per year, but marks a new era in Chinese divorce law after the government introduced a new civil code. Under the new code, an aggrieved spouse is entitled to seek compensation if they shouldered more domestic responsibilities—with no prenuptial agreement necessary. The case follows a similar one in Argentina in 2019, when a divorce court ordered a husband to pay his wife of 27 years $179,000 in recognition of her unpaid domestic work. According to Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) figures, Chinese women spend roughly four hours per day on unpaid work—with their U.S. counterparts clocking in nearly the same amount. American men are closer to closing the gap than Chinese men, however. American men spending about 2.5 hours per day on unpaid labor, while Chinese men spend just 1.6 hours.

#headlines #news

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nataliesnews · 3 years

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Politics and when I came to Israel 22.4.2021

21/4/2021 I really suggest you watch the short movie on Netflix….The present…….and I endorse every scene in that movie. It could be a documentary. It is hard to watch. But believe me it represents every aspect of the lives of Palestinians. One example I always remember….Azzun…a man told he can only take one chicken through the checkpoint. He says it is for his family of 12. No he is told only one. Also a case when a soldier told a man that he was wearing an army jacket and forced him to take it off and the Machsomwatch person heard him saying, “Wow, my brother will really like this jacket”

The political situation. No comment. I cannot listen to Netanyahu on the tv. He is given prime time and primes himself. Easier to read and keep my blood pressure under control. I had an MRI for the brain as so often in the mornings when I wake up my left is absolutely stiff. They found no explanation but at least they found the brain. I will now speak to Michal, my orthopaedical friend if there is anything to be done. I take plenty magnesium and drink tonic so it can’t be that.

We (machsom) were at the DCO and twice men came up to us to say that they had been prevented from entering Israel for some time and just when the ban ended, without their knowing it, had been slapped on for an extra few years. No reason has to be given by the Shabak. All we can do is tell them to contact Sylvia and her team who deal with these cases. So often they tell us that they have already been to Israeli or Palestinian lawyers, paid them an arm and a leg, with no results. Sylvia has lawyers who are honest and often have very good results to deal with the problem. We are well known as sometimes, even when we stop at the grocery shop near there, people come up to us or the shopkeeper tells us of problems.

It is very worrying about this evening. Attacks from both sides but the problem is that while Palestinians are often arrested immediately, nothing is done about the Jewish extremists and even if the latter are arrested, the revolving door takes place almost immediately. I am wondering what to do as Tag Maier has written about it and there may be a decision to go to the city also to see and report on what is happening there. I am invited to a family in Hebron for the end of the fast day to share their meal with them but may decide not to go so as to go to the Damascus gate or the centre of town. Tomorrow also I am going with Anat, from Machsom, to the Old City as there has been a lot of trouble there. It is Ramadan and Palestinians come from all over Israel and the West Bank (for those who are lucky enough to get permits) to pray.

Jewish extremists plan rally in Jerusalem’s Old City amid rising tensions

Police to deploy in force as Lehava head says members of anti-miscegenation group will march Thursday to Damascus Gate 'without fear'; report of plans by activists to bring weapons

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-extremists-plan-rally-in-jerusalems-old-city-amid-rising-racial-tensions/

4 arrested, 1 ‎hurt, in Jewish-Arab clashes in Jerusalem; reporters assaulted

TV crews attacked by mobs, shoved to ground and beaten; violence comes amid rising ethnic tensions in capital

https://www.timesofisrael.com/4‎-arrested-1‎-hurt-in-jewish-arab-clashes-in-jerusalem-reporters-assaulted/

I was listening to an interview that Idit Teperson sent me about her father and was reminded of when I came to Israel and the reception I received at the airport. I am alone and my aunt and uncle, Bessie and Joe, took me to the airport. Those were the days when you walked to the plane. I remember the tarmac as being deserted except for me and my small suitcase…..or was is the lonesome feeling I had inside me. I arrived in Israel and got off the plane completely confused. I knew I was to be met. I don’t know if it was by someone from the SA Fed or the Jewish Agency. All I know is that I stood there not knowing where to turn. The first time I had left SA, the first time I had flown. I went to a policeman and said that I was to be met there but I did not know whom to look for.

He must have helped me because I remember going to Tel Aviv in a taxi with two men. One was evidently a local and the other was more evidently a big macher. All I know is that neither of them addressed a word to me all the way to Tel Aviv, hardly a welcome, nothing. Looking back on it again I think what a pair of shits. I was going into something completely unknown. They dropped me off at what I think was then the South African hostel and I don’t think that the man even took me inside. I was taken to a room where the other girls were not present but found a note from them welcoming me and telling me to help myself, also in the morning, to anything that was in the fridge. I don’t remember much about the next day or two but then another woman and I were put into a taxi and sent to Beit Hashita to the ulpan. The woman was Tanya. I am not sure what her surname was but she was very different from anyone I had ever known.

She had been in the theatre scene in South Africa as far as I remember where she had had a non-Jewish boyfriend. I don’t know that had brought her to Israel. But a few weeks after we arrived on the kibbutz it turned out she was pregnant by him. Looking back now I ask myself if I asked her what had brought her to Israel but I know that the boyfriend was the father. They were very good to her on the kibbutz and eventually she gave birth to a little boy, also like her a redhead. He was adopted and I often wonder what happened to him. Today he must be nearly 60.

She continued what was a very different experience. On the kibbutz we had a lovely woman who looked after the ulpaniestiem. We learned Hebrew half day and worked in the fields or wherever half day. I started writing this and find that it opens up so many memories. What a pity we did not have internet in those days. Ruthie Shemi. I think that when we arrived she was not yet divorced and she was very good to Tanya. Her husband, Aaron, afterwards left the kibbutz and married Tanya but then I lost contact with her.

How I came to Israel

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/wife-of-mk-elkin-verbally-accosted-by-likud-supporters-near-her-home-665667Natanya Natalie Ginsburg

Henrietta Szold 2

Migdal Nofim Room 708

Kiryat Hayovel

Jerusalem 9650230

Israel

Tel 0528-375593

Nofim Tel 972-(0)2-6580222

Home 972 (2)6418387 no messages

Cellphone preferable

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ruminativerabbi · 6 years

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Learning to Listen

The Israeli-Palestinian dispute has many unique features, by which I mean qualities that it specifically does not share with similar geo-political disputes and which are features particularly of the parties to it. But there are other features that it does share with other disputes between nations or peoples, into which category I would put those aspects of the problem that are specifically not especially unique to the players involved. I suppose there are probably many different aspects to the endless sikhsukh between Arab and Jew in the Holy Land that could be included in that second category, but I think probably the most prominent of them all—and paradoxically both the most difficult to resolve and, in other ways, also the simplest—is the inability both sides show with remarkable regularity to see the people on the other side of the fence at all clearly. Or to hear them when they speak. Or to listen without prejudice to what they wish to say.

There are circles, as I am well aware, in which even the suggestion that the responsibility for the situation as it has evolved to date could or, worse, should be shared by the involved parties is anathema. I have fallen prey to that line of thinking myself. And although I find some scant comfort in the fact that I was in excellent (and famous) company in that regard, the reality of the situation no longer affords anyone who longs for peace in the region the luxury of listening only to his or her own voice. To describe those willing to listen to dissenting opinions as terminally gullible seems beyond childish at this point: it seems counterproductive and morally indefensible to imagine that peace can ever be made between people who are not prepared even formally, let alone intently, to listen to each other and to respond honestly and genuinely to what the other party has to say. It is certainly so that lots of what people say about the Middle East is nonsense, their arguments baseless blather and their positions intellectually and morally indefensible. The problem is that there’s no way to weigh the worth of other people’s opinions without listening to them carefully, and doing so generously and without prejudice. To do that, however, requires that you at least occasionally stop talking yourself. But that inability to fall silent with someone else speaks turns out, more than slightly paradoxically, to be one of the major things Israelis and Palestinians actually do have in common.

All this by way of introducing to you a very interesting book I finished reading earlier this week, Yossi Klein Halevi’s Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. Published just last month by HarperCollins, the book is remarkable in several different ways and I would like to recommend it as serious, thoughtful summer reading for anyone who wants to understand—and on a particularly intelligent, reasonable plain—the underlying reasons that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute seems so intractable.

Halevi has framed his book as a series of letters to an unidentified neighbor living in Iswiya, the Arab town on the other side of the separation fence that blocks access to French Hill, the modern Israeli neighborhood adjacent to the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University in which Halevi lives. For readers unfamiliar with the geography of Jerusalem, the basic principle is that, with certain famous exceptions, most Arab villages—including ones inside the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem—and the Jewish communities almost adjacent to them are sealed off from each other, if not precisely by law, then by custom: my own apartment in Arnona is not half a mile from the Arab village of Jabel Mukaber, but I’ve never been there and wouldn’t think of going there—it would be unsafe and unwise—and neither do I know anyone who has ever gone there. That’s just how it is. Yet I see Arab families all the time in the shopping malls in Talpiyot, the neighborhood directly to our west, and no one seems to notice or care. It’s all a little hard to explain, but Halevi’s idea—which I think he manages to carry through successfully—is both to notice and to care…and also to imagine that where people shop contiguously and eat at adjacent tables in restaurants, they could also speak to each other honestly and from the heart…if they felt that there was someone actually listening. A little bit, he’s tilting at windmills. But he’s also taken the remarkable step of having his entire book—this book that I’m writing to you about—translated into Arabic and posted for free download on a website that should be easily accessible to all Israeli and Palestinian Arabs.

The author writes frankly and from the heart. To the Palestinians, he offers the clear message that they are doing themselves a disservice and more or less guaranteeing that almost no Israelis will listen seriously (or even at all, really), when they speak as though the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel began in the nineteenth century and refuse on principle to take the preceding millennia into account, millennia which included centuries of Jewish autonomy in that place and of ongoing spiritual, emotional, and intellectual attachment to it. Indeed, when Palestinian leaders insist—passionately but ridiculously—that the entire Bible is a falsification of history, that there never was a Temple on the Temple Mount, that the Davidic kingdom never existed, that all the archeological evidence that ties the Jewish people to the Land of Israel is bogus and phony, they are more or less guaranteeing that no Israeli with any sense of pride in his or her nation will still be listening after the first sentence or two. But when Israelis, and particularly religious Israelis, wave away the Palestinians as mere interlopers because their ancestors only arrived on the scene a mere twelve centuries ago, they are guaranteeing no less surely that no thoughtful Palestinian born in that place and whose whole sense of identity is tied to his or her national sense of self is going to continue listening after the first few words either.

In other words, what both sides have accomplished magnificently is the discovery and honing of precisely the right kind of code words to use so as to be able to guarantee that no one will actually be listening when you finally do stand up to speak.

Halevi addresses painful, difficult topics in the course of his letters to his unidentified neighbor across the security fence. He talks openly—and passionately—about the way that terrorism has taken its toll not only on the specific individuals who have died as the result of Palestinian terror attacks, but on the national consciousness of Israelis as well. And he also writes, in my opinion remarkably openly, about the specific reasons so many Israelis do not feel themselves able to believe truly that their Palestinian neighbors wish to live in peace. Indeed, when he asks, not guilelessly but sharply and acidulously, why the Palestinians have turned down so many different offers of statehood—at Camp David and at Oslo, but also on other occasions as well—if they truly wish to negotiate a settlement and get on with the work of nation building, he is merely doing his part to hold up his end of the dialogue honestly and candidly.

One review I read suggested that the best way to read this book would be first to read an entirely different one: Hillel Halkin’s Letters to an American Jewish Friend, published in 1977 and still in print. I was in my final year at JTS when that book came out and I remember reading it and feeling both inspired by its argument, yet unjustly marginalized by its conclusions. The book angered me—which I’m sure was exactly the response the author hoped to provoke—but also challenged me to revisit my feelings about living in the diaspora and about my personal relationship to Israel. I recommend the book highly to all my readers, however: here is a truly passionate argument for aliyah that all who wish truly honestly to engage with the Zionist ideal should read.

For most, it will not be pleasant reading. But political writing at its best is not meant to soothe, but to irritate—somewhat in the way sand irritates oysters into producing pearls—and to allow readers to confront their complacency and address the logical flaws or moral sloppiness in the way they approach the philosophical or political issues that engage them the most passionately. I see that reviewer’s point and second the motion: to read those two books, one after the other, would truly to engage with the twin axes of Israel life: the x-axis of Jewishness which connects Israelis with Jews in all the lands of our dispersion, and the y-axis of rootedness in the land which ties Israelis, whether they like it or not, to the Palestinians who self-define in terms of their own rootedness in that same soil. And for those of us whose hearts beat with Israel, that kind of engagement with the grid can only produce insight into what we all understand is a very complicated situation. Anna Porter, who wrote a very intelligent review of Halevi’s book for the Toronto newspaper, The Globe and Mail (click here to read it), wraps up her appraisal by noting that “Israel is a very complicated country.” That, surely, we can all agree is true. But books like Halevi’s are attempts to shed more light than heat on the precise issues that make life in the Holy Land so complicated…and to inspire a dialogue, for once, that is rooted in reality rather than rhetoric.

Since I am not a Palestinian, I am presumably not the intended audience for a book entitled “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor.” Nor will the large majority of people reading this be. Nonetheless, I recommend this to you all wholeheartedly as an opportunity to look out at the world, and the Middle East in particular, through Yossi Klein Halevi’s eyes. Particularly for young people eager to understand their parents’ deep commitment to Israel but unsure of where they personally stand, this book will be an eye-opening, inspiring read.

#Yossi Klein Halevi #Palestinians and Israelis #Hillel Halkin

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palestinianliberator · 7 years

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As I've said before, it can be exhausting being a Palestinian.

So as I was walking in the mall and distracted on my phone, I noticed two people staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I ignored it and kept walking, until I got closer and realized they were still staring. I looked up, and sure enough, they were glaring right at me, and started speaking loudly in Hebrew. As I got closer, the Hebrew got louder, and I instantly realized that the at least one of the two people [one man and one woman] must've been a former Israeli soldier [after dealing with so many of them, it's easy to discern their posture and presence]. They singled me out because I was wearing a shirt that read "Palestinian Defense Forces" and was carrying my laptop that has a sticker that reads "Free Palestine, end Israeli Apartheid" and “there is no occupation!”.

I mostly ignored them and remained on my way [and was super sad to find that they'd closed Tommy's Burgers in the food court]. On my way back, I passed the two again, and sure enough they were still staring. This time, the man I'd figured was an Israeli soldier begins jeering at me "Palestine? That's next to Narnia right? Neither of them exist!" and he asks me for a selfie while jeering. Against my very nature, I say nothing and keep walking. Sure enough, he begins following me, asking me to stop and talk to him while berating me with taunts of how "you don't understand apartheid, it is Israelis who are under apartheid. Palestine doesn't exist, you don't know what you're talking about!".

Against my better judgement, I respond to him as he continuously asks me to stop walking and talk to him, and I say "we're not in the West Bank, you have no control over me here". He tells me again that there's no Palestine, and that I'm a liar who "must be getting paid well" [funny, considering the Israeli government has a program that pays people to spread Israeli propaganda around the globe]. He accuses me of "not knowing what it's really like over there, because you've never been". Again, against my better judgement, I respond to him as I continue making my way towards the exit, telling him that I've actually just returned from Palestine and have spent a significant portion of my life there. He confirms my suspicions by telling me that he was in the Israeli Defense Forces, and therefore knows the "truth" about what's happening. He asks me how I knew he was in the IDF, and I tell him that they're easy to spot after being surrounded by them for so long & his posture gives it away. He responds by telling me he can tell from my posture that I'm a "liar".

He immediately asks me what village I'm from, what my name is, and where I'm going to university here. To the average person, this would be freaky enough. Take into account that the Israeli government, through the help of Zionists & Israelis here in the US, catalogue Palestinians in the US and do everything in their power to intimidate and shut us down for any speech or actions we take critical of Israel, exemplified in my recent post of the David Horowitz and how he spreads racist flyers targeting Palestinian students around the US. And here I am - a Palestinian who has been previously hounded by the Israeli government being followed by an Israeli soldier in freaking central California, half a world away from the brutal military occupation I've just recently returned from, with a soldier who has the audacity to treat me as if we're at a checkpoint in Palestine and he has any authority over me here demanding my information.

All the while, he has his phone out and I catch that he has a note open and is typing. He continues to goad me as he follows me out of the mall, trying to get under my skin and trip me up. One of his questions was "If your parents are Palestinian and born in Palestine, what are you doing here? Why did they come here?" to which I responded "If you're an Israeli soldier, what are YOU doing here?"

Whatever few things I'd say in response to his incessant barrage, he'd simply ignore and call "lies against Israel", while he continued to lob fantasies of his own, from "there is no occupation", to "there is no Palestine", to "Israelis are the only ones truly oppressed", to "You're not even from there, you're just being paid by someone to spread lies about Israel", etc.

In Palestine, we can't even leave our homes without the approval of the Israeli military, have frequent curfews and roadblocks preventing us from even leaving our towns, and are barred from visiting friends and family in neighboring villages simply because the "soldiers" at the checkpoints don't feel like letting you through, and these are just a tiny sample of what life under Israeli occupation is like [ignoring the violence, the terrorist Israeli settlers that are protected by the Israeli military (IDF), or their frequent harassment and random detainments, control of our water and electricity, and just their general control of our entire lives.

Here I am, a world away from Palestine in Central freaking California, minding my own business at the mall before class starts, and sure enough, I'm still hounded by an Israeli soldier who follows me as I'm leaving the freaking mall attempting to exert his control over me & dehumanize me, all while trying to get my info and calling me "paranoid" as I ignored his requests [which, as people who know me personally and know the BS I've been through with this stuff, will know how hilarious that is].

It's funny how bothered this grown man, this ~former soldier~, was by my mere open existence as a Palestinian. I didn't goad him to start this, I didn't pass by him waving a Palestinian flag in his face, and I didn't stand around to jeer at him when I figured he was a former Israeli soldier. I kept walking, leaving the mall, as HE followed ME and continuously asked me to stop walking. Further, he kept asking "to have a discussion", and yet whatever few things I said to him were immediately dismissed as "lies", while he'd berate me as claiming to be from a place that doesn't exist.

When people ask us as Palestinian why we don't "engage" with Zionists or Israelis or the like, this is precisely why. How are you meant to "engage" with people who, for starters, serve in the very force that continues to terrorize your people, or who absolutely refuse to even recognize that you exist. The funny thing is that my parents were born in Palestine, which apparently doesn't exist to these people. So if Palestine doesn't exist, where are we from? They won't say Israel, because as Palestinians we're legally barred from entering Israel. So we're not Palestinian, and we're not Israeli, and it's this dilemma that frightens Zionists so much. Our mere existence, let alone our proud embrace of our culture and nationality, threaten the narrative that they've so carefully weaved, threatens them to the point where they'll stalk and harass a Palestinian halfway across the world for having the audacity to openly embrace their Palestinian identity.

It's for this very reason that I fly the Palestinian flag from my car. There was a period where in Palestine & Israel, it was a criminal activity to fly the Palestinian flag or simply show its colors [red, black, white, and green], punishable by beatings carried out by Israeli soldiers, arrests, or being shot and killed. Civilians were killed for the mere act of waving our flag, because again, our very existence is threatening to Israel and Israelis. This ban lasted for nearly 30 years, and also punished those who'd create artwork featuring those colors.

As such, I continue to fly the Palestinian flag wherever I go, in defiance of these Zionists who still refuse to acknowledge the basic fact of our existence.

#A more coherent post than yesterday's #Palestine #Israel

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the-record-columns · 5 years

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May 15, 2019: Columns

Green Stamps and a Mother’s love…

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

As I wrote last month, my mother, Cary, died 24 years ago this spring.

In my oft mentioned enjoyment of company coming by the offices of The Record, as I give the famous $2 tour of all the old things, I often work in a story about my Mother or Father.

Among my most treasured possessions in the eclectic collection of things here are items from the old Wilkesboro grocery store owned and operated for many years by the late Clegg and Dessie Culler. When I learned of their plans to close, I went by mainly to get the sign off the building which proudly read Culler’s Specialties with an “Enjoy Coca-Cola” panel on each end. It still hangs proudly on the wall above my office area.

As time went on and the closing sale began to wind down, Clegg gave me a beautiful Sauer’s Spice display rack, some clocks, a couple of beer signs, and a wooden boat oar that he said belonged to Daniel Boone. When I cautiously asked him how he knew the oar actually belonged to Daniel Boone, he smiled his little half-smile as only Clegg could, and said, “Why Kenny, he told me so himself.”

Well, that certainly settled that, didn’t it?

But on to today’s column, the sign on this page is a two-sided electric S & H Green Stamp beauty which also was a gift from Clegg and Dessie. Many of you remember S & H Green Stamps, a premium given away when you bought groceries, gas, and some other retail items. The gummed stamps were then placed in premium books and could be saved up and traded in for merchandise listed in the rewards catalog.

S & H really became big business, at one time claiming to print three times more stamps than the Postal Service, and that their rewards catalog was the largest publication in the United States. By the late 80’s, the stamp redemption business was basically gone, but much memorabilia remains.

And, better than that, memories.

S & H had many competitors as the years went by and the one I remember around here was the Family Stamp program which was in the Lowe’s Food Stores when the chain was being expanded by its owner, the late J.C. Faw. There were several Lowe’s Foods locations in Wilkes and apparently that qualified us for a redemption center, which was located in the space now occupied by Teresa Allred’s Carousel Cafe. In those days, there was a Lowe’s Food right next door.

I looked through the premium catalog all the time and had spotted a basketball and goal set that I thought might be in reach for the number of complete stamp books we had. When I checked with my mother, Cary, I was right, and my brother, T.A., took me over to the redemption center (sounds like a tent revival, doesn’t it) to get my ball and goal. Mark Goodman and I had already cut a tree and built a backboard out of scrap lumber, so, in no time, we were playing basketball. Before that summer was out there wasn’t a blade of grass alive in the yard around our goal.

Some time later I was again looking through the Family Stamp catalog when I noticed a page corner turned down and an electric frying pan circled. It took two more books of stamps than my ball and goal. My heart sank as I realized that my mother was saving up for that frying pan and instead gave me the stamp books go get what I wanted. When I asked her about it, she hugged me and said she had plenty of frying pans and that I didn’t have a basketball.

It is all I can do not to cry as I type this.

The year I was 15, 1964, I got a job working at the Thrift Super Market for the Ball family. A guy came around with the Thomas and Howard Wholesale Company and he had an electric frying pan in his big catalog. I saved up and ordered the best one he sold for my mother’s Christmas present. An odd memory of that present is that it cost $19.16—which I never forgot because my mother was born in 1916.

I honestly cannot remember what other presents I may have given my mother throughout her life, but none touched her like that one. She remembered the story about my ball goal, and she remembered me feeling guilty about her not getting her electric frying pan. She used that frying pan as long as she lived—literally—and every time it would need repair, she would call my brother, T.A., to fix it. He once told me he had rewired the control on that old frying pan five or six times, but mother would never let him buy her a new one.

It is always something different that will take you back 40 days or 40 years. Today it was an old S & H Green Stamp sign given to me by two of the kindest people I have ever known–Clegg and Dessie Culler.

Thanks guys, you are the source of many fond memories as well.

When Disaster Relief Hurts

By Rep. VIRGINIA FOXX

U.S. Congress 5th District N.C.

People here in North Carolina are asking: “What is the hold up with disaster relief funding?”

Hurricane Florence happened eight months ago, and within two weeks of the storm, Congress passed $8.8 billion in regular appropriations to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund as well as supplemental appropriations including $1.7 billion for the Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR). As disaster-struck communities wait for this CDBG-DR funding to be disbursed, people continue to suffer, in some cases, depleting their savings and taking on debt to cope with the disaster’s aftermath.

Even more shocking is that many North Carolinians are not just talking about the last major storm to sweep through the state. They are referring to Hurricane Matthew, which hit on Oct. 8, 2016. As late as last week, some victims of Hurricane Matthew finally received CDBG-DR funds allocated to repair homes rendered unlivable over two and a half years ago. Other victims are still waiting. This delay is unacceptable. The CDBG-DR program and the entire process for disaster relief appropriations are broken, and the solution is not to spend more money that won’t assist the communities that are in need now. That is misguided policy at best and disingenuous political fodder at worst.

The CDBG-DR program is supposed to fulfill the unmet needs of disaster victims after FEMA funds, SBA loans and private insurance payments are taken into account. Once supplemental appropriations are made (unfortunately often without regard for FEMA’s cost estimate), HUD issues a Federal Register Notice that specifies eligible grantees and criteria for allocation. Accordingly, grantees submit plans and allocations are made to the grantees that HUD approves. This entire process is known to take as long as 18 months. Yet, Washington continues to pass off “disaster relief” supplemental as the immediate answer to every natural disaster.

Even if CDBG-DR funding was intended solely for long-term recovery, the program is far from the right approach for sustained economic revitalization efforts. CDBG-DR is not authorized in statute and HUD does not have consistent personnel or standard models for handling the supplemental appropriations it uses for disaster recovery. Neither has the department adequately overseen the administration of grants once they are allocated, which resulted in $700 million unaccounted for CDBG-DR funds for Hurricane Katrina alone.

Furthermore, during a 2017 Congressional hearing, now Deputy Inspector General at HUD, Helen Albert, testified that over $11.5 billion CDBG-DR funds appropriated for disasters between 9/11 in 2001 and 2016 have gone unused, remaining parked in HUD coffers. Worse yet, under present law, these appropriations cannot be recovered and made available for ongoing or upcoming disaster relief. If this discrepancy doesn’t demonstrate Congress’s thoughtless reaction to natural disasters, then the findings of our government’s own independent, nonpartisan agency confirm that supplemental appropriations do not keep our promise of immediate relief to hurricane victims.

This March, GAO published a study that cites numerous suggested reforms to improve CDBG-DR. Most notably, the report states, “Congress should consider legislation establishing permanent statutory authority for a disaster assistance program administered by HUD or another agency that responds to unmet needs in a timely manner and directing the applicable agency to issue implementing regulations.” None of GAO’s reform proposals are included in H.R. 2157, the Supplemental Appropriations Act before the House today nor will any meaningful reforms for genuine disaster relief be considered in debate.

It’s said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Congress has a record of insane spending, but this time it will cost more than taxpayers’ bottom-line. Maintaining the status-quo hurts disaster-struck communities and prolongs their road to recovery. Since being in Congress, I have voted consistently, and often conspicuously, against disaster supplemental appropriations and plan on continuing to do so until reforms improve timeliness, efficiency and oversight of disaster relief funds. I encourage my colleagues to join me in rejecting the Supplemental Appropriations Act and to re-examine our whole approach to disaster relief.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, which includes Wilkes County, and is Senior Republican of the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Changing hearts and changing minds

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

If you’re having a dinner party and your guests are staying a bit too long, one sure way to clear the room is to begin a conversation about Israel. Whether Christian, Jew or other, I can’t think of a topic that divides people quicker than a discussion on Israel and their Palestinian neighbors. Often this subject pits brother against brother and friend against friend. Much of the reason for this is the misinformation continually disseminated by the media. Gone are the days when news anchors and news networks reported using verifiable facts. Today the public is fed a steady diet consisting of artificial ingredients flavored to the liking of the anchor and/or the philosophy of the owners of the various news networks.

According to Wikipedia, in the United States, “data on ownership and market share of media corporations is not held in the public domain.” While this makes tracking actual ownership difficult, we do know that there has been a significant merging of media outlets meaning that fewer companies now own a greater share of various television and radio networks and print media corporations. As America continues its leftward turn, news gets reported from a very liberal and anti-Israel perspective. Promoting the liberal agenda has become more important than reporting actual and factual news.

Many reading this article may not be computer savvy so if someone were to say, “do a Google search,” this would seem like a foreign language. For this segment of the population, television, radio and the newspaper are the primary sources of obtaining information. The entire situation relative to Israel, the Palestinians, and the Middle East in general, is rather confusing as there are long, complicated histories and many moving parts. Add fake news to this mixture and clear understanding becomes virtually impossible requiring many "Google searches." Conversely, while younger people live on the internet, liberal educators have a great deal of influence over the lives of our youth who often want only quick sound bites and are in favor of just about anything if it is marketed under the banner of “social justice.” This is what contributes to Israel being such a hot topic. Let me try to put some things into proper light.

In 1967, Israel, which had been a sovereign nation for less than 20 years, was attacked and forced to defend herself from her surrounding Arab neighbors in Syria, Jordan and Egypt. These Arab countries had stockpiles of munitions and well-trained armies. Israel, on the other hand, had few munitions and virtually no trained military but they had plenty of determination and God-given favor. This war lasted only six days hence its name, “The Six Day War.” It was a bloody conflict but, against all odds, Israel prevailed. These Arab states went running to the U.N. crying for help to stop Israel. A U.N. brokered ceasefire was established but the map of the Middle East was changed perhaps forever. Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Please see the map below for a better understanding. Israel gave the Sinai back to Egypt but retained possession of Gaza (until 2005), the Golan Heights and the West Bank which Christians and Jews know as Judea and Samaria. Again, this was not a war where Israel was the aggressor. It’s worth repeating that Israel fought this war in self-defense. By international law, when a country goes to war, particularly in self-defense, any land gained is rightfully retained by the victor in order to prevent future invasions and attacks from the same territory. Simply put, Israel “occupies” the West Bank and the Golan Heights because the Arabs lost the war they started and Israel won.

Armed only with a pioneering spirit, Israelis began to build communities in these conquered territories although the Jews had previously possessed these lands for thousands of years. However, to the left-leaning modern world, Israel is viewed as newcomers, but this is a false narrative and a distortion of history. The “settlement” of Ma’ale Adumim is a case in point. Referenced in both the Old Testament in the Book of Joshua 15:6-18 and in the New Testament in Luke 10:25-37, Ma’ale Adumim has been a part of Biblical history in Judea and Samaria for thousands of years. In fact, the inn of the Good Samaritan is located in Ma’ale Adumim. Referencing this act of mercy and compassion is a good note on which to conclude. To this day the people of Ma’ale Adumim strive to live up to this example of neighbor helping neighbor.

This coming Saturday and Sunday, the people of Wilkesboro will have an opportunity to hear personally from the Mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, Benny Kashriel. On Saturday, May 18 at 4 PM, Mayor Kashriel will speak at the Wilkesboro Baptist Church on Main Street. On Sunday morning, May 19, the mayor will speak at The Gathering Church located at 976 West Meadows Parkway, Moravian Falls, NC 28654. This is a great opportunity to hear from an Israeli official who lives in the largest “settlement” in Israel located in the West Bank. It’s also a great opportunity to change hearts and minds through education and show our love as a community and people of faith to our Jewish brothers and sisters who, as Israelis, often experience nothing but hate from the world at large.

The Fiddle Maker

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

I have had the opportunity to witness and document on many occasions the results of the creative energy that flows through the Carolinas. Many creative gifts to the world come from people who were born in the Carolinas and some from people who move to the Carolinas.

Such is the case with fiddle maker Bob Kogut, who was born in Philadelphia, Penn.

There is no doubt that Bob’s earlier life events prepared him for what one day would happen. It’s easy to see the steps now however when the journey started, he had no idea where it would lead him.

When Bob was in his late 20’s his younger brother John invited him to attend a Bluegrass Festival in Maryland. At the time Bob played guitar for a rock and roll band and had never been to a bluegrass event.

By the time they arrived the only seats available were on the front row. Making it just in time, the announcer introduced Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. Having no idea who they were, when Kenny Baker, a former coal miner played Bill Monroe’s “Jerusalem Ridge,” Bob was amazed and moved by the performance and by the end of the song he knew he had never heard such beautiful fiddle playing.

This was a profound moment in Bob’s life, and a seed was planted that would one day grow and open the door for himself to not only play but make beautiful fiddles and violin’s that would entertain countless numbers. But at that time Bob had not even dreamed that dream.

Eventually, work and the allure of Orlando, Fla., would bring Bob south. While in Florida Bob would meet a man that would teach and share with him the wisdom of fiddle making.

Hearing the story from Bob, it reminded me of the 1984 movie The Karate Kid. If you remember Mr. Miyagi’s “Wax on Wax off.” You will understand. In any event, Bob’s time with his mentor paid off, and those lessons and trade secrets have helped shape who Bob is today.

Some years would pass, and in the early ’90s, Bob was invited to the Carolinas to play at MerleFest.

It was on that trip and others to follow that would create a yearning for the Carolinas that would become far too strong for Bob and his wife, Roberta, to resist. The day did arrive, and the decision was made to move to the Carolinas, the only question was, where?

It was on an extended trip to North Carolina for job interviews that the Kogut’s found themselves in Lenoir where Bob was offered a job.

He somewhat expected Roberta would rather live in a larger city like Asheville or Raleigh, however when Bob shared the news, they both concluded that the area just felt right. Bob said, “There was something about Lenoir. I felt like I belonged here.”

In 1998, Happy Valley would become their new forever home.

Once settled in Bob was soon inspired to put on a fiddler’s convention in Happy Valley. The only problem being, Bob had never produced a fiddler’s convention, and on top of that he did not have the budget to do so. Happy Valley is a small place and as soon as the word spread, Bob received a phone call from a local preacher who offered to help by providing a large tent for the event, complete with a stage, chairs and a generator and all to be set up and taken down at the end by his crew. His only payment was the opportunity to share his message for anyone who may want to attend a Sunday morning service.

Encouraged with this development, Bob knew he needed an excellent headliner to help draw people. He approached the Kruger Brothers who he knew from MerleFest. Bob shared the idea, he asks them how much, after the brothers talked, they told Bob they would do it. When Bob again ask how much? They told him that this is now their home and they believed in what he was doing. They wanted to and did support him.

They would do the event and bring their sound person to handle the entire convention and that’s what happened. A lot more people were involved, and that’s the way the Happy Valley Fiddlers Convention got started.

Bob would lead the charge for 10 years, and now it continues under the administration of the Caldwell Arts Council. Bob attends, talks about his fiddles and enjoys setting in with other players.

When I ask Bob if he makes “Fiddles” or “Violins”. With a chuckle, he said I make fiddles and sell violins. At the time of this writing and our production of a broadcast segment, Bob is making number 225, and her name is “Shambala.” They all have female names and they all end with an “a.”

Bob is on a quest to make the perfect fiddle for himself, one with the ideal tone. I ask what he will do when he finally makes His perfect one. He said, “That will be the last one I make.”

The man from Philadelphia is finally at home in the Carolinas where he now shares his talents with the world.

Wax on wax off…Fiddle Maker, we love the sounds you make.

Carl White is the Executive Producer and Host of the award-winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In The Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its 10th year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturday’s at noon and My 12. The show also streams on Amazon Prime. For more information visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com. You can email Carl at [email protected].

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gcintheme-blog · 7 years

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Liberal Feminists: Either the Hijab is a Choice or It Isn’t.

There was a controversy a couple months ago that I found very funny. Keep in mind, I live in Iraq where murdering a your daughter because you think she had sex is guaranteed a limited sentence legally. So partially I think addressing this is silly. Another part of me thinks Western liberal feminists and Western Muslims need to hear this.

So a few months ago, Vogue released its first Vogue Arabia edition with Gigi Hadid on the cover. There are definitely annoying things about this magazine. The editor of Vogue Arabia at the time (who is now changed) was Deena Abdulaziz who is literally a princess in Saudi Arabia. Walking around in fashionable Western clothes and editing a magazine about a lifestyle that maybe 5% of Arab women can afford while the Saudi royal family is committing crimes against women, Yemeni people, and religious minorities in the Gulf is really obnoxious. I don’t like this magazine and I don’t think it accurately represents the average Arab woman at all, though it isn’t meant to.

I had this entire post formatted with pictures, but probably because of my bad internet connection they’re not working. So, here is a link to the cover of the magazine and here is a link to a photograph inside with Gigi Hadid and her hair covered.

Almost immediately, as they do, the liberal feminists started saying angry things about the images. I had saved some screenshots and again added them here, but tumblr is not allowing me to use photos, so here is a link to a Buzzfeed article with some tweets.

Now, let’s clarify some things about Gigi Hadid. Her father is a Palestinian Muslim who moved to the United States when he was a child. Her sister Bella has said she is “proud to be a Muslim” and that her father “was always religious, and he always prayed with us.”

Here is a photograph of the Hadid sisters protesting Trump’s Muslim ban in New York City.

So these accusations of Gigi Hadid “not being a Muslim” are not completely true. It seems she does has a Muslim family background and was raised (at least partially) in the religion. She is also not completely politically inactive on behalf of Muslims or Arabs as these people are claiming.

She cannot “appropriate” Palestinian or Arab culture because she is Palestinian-American, and the last time I checked, political activity is not required to have an ethnicity. Neither is walking into every room and saying “I am X ethnicity” to warn everyone if you want to do something cultural.

I don’t want to focus too much on Gigi Hadid though, because this post isn’t about her as a person. It is about the contradictions and hypocrisy of liberal feminists regarding the hijab.

Liberal feminists and Western Muslims shout, very loudly, that the hijab is a choice. They love to shut down any criticism of the garment by condemning those who criticize that choice. I’ve never said and I don’t believe that women should be forced to wear or not wear something. I will defend the right of women to wear or not wear what we want to around the world. We’re subjugated no matter what we wear, though differently in difference places. Wear what you want. Make your own choices. Just don’t expect me to defend everything you do or call it empowering because you, a woman, decided to do it.

So, if the hijab is a true and free choice then why are liberal feminists criticizing Gigi Hadid for choosing to wear it? Either it is a choice that women can make at will, or it isn’t. You can’t have it both ways. Once you start drawing limits on women who can and cannot wear the hijab, you remove your argument that it is a woman’s choice to cover or not cover as she chooses.

Now, I understand the annoyance with your religious garment being used on the cover of a hyper-capitalist magazine. Like I’ve already said, I’ve got a lot of problems with an elitist publication like this. However, once you say that wearing the hijab is a choice, and demand criticisms of that choice to be silenced, you have also lost your ability to criticize others who make that choice.

If it’s really a choice, then Gigi Hadid’s motivations don’t matter. Nothing about her matters. If someone has the true free will to make a choice and we respect that choice, then we don’t have the luxury of examining her motivations.

If you believe women should be allowed to do something because they have a bodily right to it, then you cannot place stipulations on that choice. For example, you cannot call yourself “pro-choice” regarding abortion for women if you think that abortion should only be permitted under some circumstances or some motivations. If abortion is really the choice of the woman, then it should be completely irrelevant if she was raped, if she is married, if she cannot afford a child, or if she just does not want to carry that pregnancy. Her choice is her choice and once you put requirements or stipulations with that, you remove the choice.

If the hijab is truly a choice, and a choice that women make freely and must be respected for, then it cannot matter whether they cover in order to please God, or their families or communities, or whether they feel it’s culturally important, or whether they’re afraid of getting attacked, or whether they’re trying to sell magazines.

If the hijab is a personal decision, then it doesn’t matter who does or does not wear it, or why. You cannot place arbitrary rules on the practice but then demand the rest of us go along without examining them. As soon as you say that other women must wear the garment for certain reasons, or must make a certain commitment to wearing it all the time, you are admitting that it isn’t an open choice. If your clothing is a personal choice then its meaning can only be important to you. The actions of other people cannot change that.

It’s wrong that women who wear the hijab are “attacked, shamed, and threatened” in some parts of the world. It’s also wrong that women who don’t wear the hijab are attacked, shamed, and threatened in other parts of the world. And, it’s wrong that women are attacked, shamed, and threatened for wearing clothes that reveal certain parts of their bodies. It’s wrong that women are blamed for being raped if they are wearing revealing clothing just as it’s wrong to blame a hijabi for an attack on her because of her clothes.

But, we see revealing clothing on magazines and advertisements all the time. Where are the comments on how strippers and prostitutes are shamed for what they wear? Where are the comments on how women dressing like that and walking alone would be attacked, and then blamed for the attack? Where are the comments on how women could be arrested or even killed for dressing like that in some parts of the world?

If the hijab can be “liberating” and “empowering” just like wearing showing skin can be (according to liberal feminists) then you cannot have the double-standard. Either women should be unquestionably celebrated (or at least left alone) for how they dress, or they should be open to criticism for how their clothing reflects on other women and the state of society. Either women can wear the hijab as they choose, or they can’t. You cannot have it both ways.

You also cannot use the phrase “actual hijabis” without admitting that there is some set of rules and requirements for wearing the hijab, and therefore it is not a free choice. I am assuming here an “actual hijabi” is a woman who always covers in public or when there are men around who are not part of her family, which is the commonly-accepted obligation. A free choice cannot include such a limiting and un-free ultimatum.

Again, if women must wear the hijab on all of these occasions (which are importantly male-centric) in order to wear it at all, then wearing the hijab is not a choice. If women cannot set their own conditions for how, when, and why they choose to cover then you admit that the hijab is not a complete choice but a set of social requirements that must be specifically followed. If the hijab is a choice, then there can be not set of requirements to make that choice legitimate.

To the hijabis who insist they wear the hijab as a personal choice and do not criticize other women for their personal choices: good for you. I do support your choice to wear what you want (though I don’t consider this empowering) and I hope you can support me in doing the same.

But you need to realize that Gigi Hadid is not a threat to you. I am not a threat to you. Women who criticize sexism within cultures that demand women dress a certain way are not a threat to you. Patriarchy is the threat and by refusing to acknowledge this patriarchy and its effects on how women are forced to behave in society, you are enabling the threat.

I live in Iraq, where women who remove their veils can be beaten to death by their families, and the government allows this. Part of my country is occupied by ISIS, which requires women to cover head-to-toe and rapes, enslaves, and murders women who don’t follow every rule or their specific type of Islam. My country borders Saudi Arabia and Iran, where women are forced to cover and sometimes even stoned to death for “adultery” if they are raped.

To me, the hijab is a symbol of extreme patriarchy, the possession of women, male violence, jealousy and domestic control. I fear every day that as political Islam grows in Iraq, I might be forced to legally cover tomorrow. In some parts of my country I have to cover to blend in or I could be raped or killed.

And still I defend your right to wear it. I might question your motivations for doing so, but I don’t believe that the hijab is a free choice. I don’t think most things that we as women do are free and uninfluenced choices away from patriarchal control or immune to criticism, including many of the things I do. In a patriarchal system, the choices we do have are still subject to that patriarchy and we should examine them, the same way in a capitalist system, the choices we do have are still subject to capitalism and we should examine them. We don’t have to like patriarchy or capitalism to acknowledge they influence us.

Either the hijab is a choice, or it isn’t. If you want the right to wear it without criticism, you must give every other woman the chance to do the same thing. If it is really a personal choice, then what the rest of us do with it should not change its meaning for you. If you don’t want me to question that choice for you, then you can’t question it for other women.

#iraq #hijab #criticism #feminism #gender critical #gigi hadid #vogue arabia #womens rights #middle east #patriarchy

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pocinperioddramas · 7 years

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Some of the things you said in reference to Wonder Woman - Gal Godot specifically - really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not Jewish, but it's my understanding - re a post by a Jewish person on the way antisemitism crops up in discussions of Israel and how to avoid it - that 'Zionism' is just the belief that Israel should EXIST, not something that has any connection to support/lack thereof of Israeli politics/military action. (1/2)

Unless you really do think Israel shouldn’t exist - in which case, please be clear on that so I can unfollow. If it was a case of mistaken terminology (I’ve been there too!) please clarify or edit. I’d be happy to send you a link to the post in the messaging or something if you’re interested, or reblog it and tag you! (Also, it might be good to look into the Godot thing a little - she may be problematic, but a lot of the criticism I’ve seen of her is actually anti-Semetic dogwhistling.) (2/2)

Hello there! I am finally getting around to answering your question, after around 2 weeks of being absent from this blog. As you said that you don’t mind me posting my response publicly, I will do so in order for people to be clarified about my views regarding the issues on the table.

I understand your reservations. You linked me to the post you were referring to in your response to my own ask to you (the link did go through BTW). I actually saw that post a few years ago, I believe, and while the OP’s concerns about anti-Semitism cropping up in the process of defending Palestine are definitely valid (and they have every right to be concerned, as there have been some infamous figures who were pro-Palestine but also turned to be very anti-Semitic - there were at least 2 people I remember reading about, but I can’t remember their names at the moment), not every Jewish person shares their particular view about Israel/Zionism. There is, in fact, a website known as the New Jewish Resistance founded and run by anti-Zionist Jews (and they explicitly identify as such) through whom I learned a lot about anti-Semitism and Zionism and how to fight both forms of oppression (in this article, they discuss about what they stand for and in this other article, they tackle about how being anti-Zionist isn’t equivalent to being anti-Semitic). But understand that this definitely shouldn’t excuse from any possible anti-Semitism (as citing that could make me sound like one of those “I’m not racist, I have [insert race/ethnicity being discussed] friends” or in this case, “I’m not anti-Semitic, I have Jewish friends” and I definitely don’t want to be like that), so please do call me out if I have been anti-Semitic, whether subtle or explicit.

But you do bring up the issue of whether Zionism can be considered a legitimate ideology that started out with good intentions (a la how communism and socialism can be interpreted by many people too), which is the view held by the OP of the post you shared, or if it is an inherently flawed or oppressive ideology. To be honest, I’m still very conflicted about that. The important thing here has always been to center both Jewish and Palestinian voices speaking out on the issue, and while most Palestinians identify as anti-Zionist and anti-Israel, Jewish people are divided on it. Of course I definitely think that people who actively support the policies and actions of the Israeli government and Israel Defense Forces are reinforcing oppression, but Jewish people who bring up the point about Zionism being interpreted as an ideology with good intentions should be taken into account too, as people do think that Jewish people, despite centuries and even millennia of being in the diaspora, have an ancestral claim to their homeland in the Middle East.

But that also begs the question: if you support the ideology of Zionism while opposing the oppression of Palestine, do you think the two can be brought to life (i.e. Israel - or at least a Jewish state - and Palestine coexisting peacefully) in a way that do not contradict each other? Because as far as I know, Zionism is founded on the belief that the Jewish people have the right to a state of their own in the region of Palestine, where millions of Palestinians have lived for centuries too. Could a Jewish state exist where it does not have to oust these Palestinians from their own lands and it does not have to be a colonizer, and how can it be (realistically) put into practice? Or does Zionism and the right of Palestine to exist as a state directly contradict each other and thus you cannot actually support both? I would in fact hope for a two-state solution, but I do not know how it could be truly brought to life without involving any oppression or bloodshed. (Most of these questions are actually brought up too in the post you shared, but I am still curious about them and now that you asked me about it, it’s made me realize how sorely lacking my knowledge is on the issues and has made me want to learn more now actually. This is actually a good wake-up call for me, so I thank you for that, as your criticism has made me realize it’s important to evaluate my knowledge about issues in social justice - Zionism included - before speaking out.)

Now, with regards to Gal Gadot, most of the criticism I’ve read about her - from the people I follow on social media who have been vocal about being anti-Gal - with regards to her support of the IDF seems valid to me, but as it is said, anti-Semitism can still insidiously seep into conversations where people are defending Palestine, so maybe there truly was anti-Semitism there but I didn’t notice it. I did recently read an article from a Palestinian woman that discussed Gal’s Zionism/support of the IDF that might have had anti-Semitic undertones, though the author did make very good points about other aspects like the cruelties inflicted by the Israeli government and the IDF and the oppression that the Palestinians face from them, so maybe that’s an example of criticism that has anti-Semitic dog-whistling. What other examples have you seen of such criticism with anti-Semitic undertones?

But my point about Gal still stands: she may be a good actress and apparently progressive in other aspects, but her active support of the IDF and her praise of Shimon Peres alone are enough for me not to want to support her in any of her work, even “Wonder Woman”, despite my admiration of the character, her importance as a strong female superhero presence in pop culture and media, and the appeal of the movie due to the rave reviews it received, and I firmly believe that she wasn’t the one best suited to the role as there are plenty of other female actors who are even more progressive and whose personality, behavior, and views embody Wonder Woman and what she stands for more than someone who is an IDF supporter. I hope you understand.

Maybe you know more about these subjects, so if you have any more information, you can share with me so that I can learn too and if I am wrong in my views, I can rectify them and become more understanding and careful on these topics.

I am in no way an expert on Zionism, Israel’s oppression of Palestine, anti-Semitism, and Jewish and Palestinian experiences, as I am neither Jewish nor Palestinian. In fact, I only heard about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict relatively recently (I might have heard about it earlier had I been living in the West, but I don’t and I learned about it entirely through social media - that’s no excuse for me though, and I’m trying to catch up). I have conflicted feelings about Zionism and Israel in general, as I am not always certain about all the information I learn about these topics. But in recent years, I have tended to think along the lines of ‘Zionism is oppressive’ and ‘Israel (at least the way it was created and the state in its present form) is a colonizer/colonial state’, thanks to the articles I have been reading and whose views make sense to me. However I do get that I may have unconsciously appeared to be making assumptions with regards to the issues of Zionism and Israel, despite not being super knowledgeable about it as I’d want to be (although I definitely do think that what the Israeli government is doing to Palestinians is wrong). So I apologize for that, and please do not be afraid to criticize me for any faulty information or stances that I hold, when I air such information and stances. I actually encourage my followers and even non-followers to do so, so that I may continue to learn too (but that doesn’t mean I should rely entirely on other people to call me out - I am trying to educate myself as well by reading up on more articles, thinkpieces, and books discussing such issues as well as listening to the voices of the people at the center of such issues - I’m simply saying that it’s perfectly fine to call me out too in addition to me calling out myself while I am learning in my own way).

(Now, I will tread more carefully and be more specific when referring to Zionism and Israeli colonialism and make less assumptions as well.)

You are still free to unfollow me if you want, of course. I do hope we can reach an understanding, and thank you once again for your thoughtful ask. I really appreciate it.

-Admin Dawn

#theserpentsadvocate #answered ask

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cocainaenvenenada · 5 years

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* You are not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy!

Another week of #boycott brings another week of harassment with it! But it is fun though … Last time I updated about the shit-storm with the strangers following me around stinking like a rotten corpse, just to distress me with the smell. Well, it happens now that they want to play a little more with me.

I edited and posted this week a marvellous article written by Justin Raimondo at GROUND in which he explains the (well grounded) reasons to boycott the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. After that I received a “love message” from these criminals saying they will eat me alive … But hey, you know I am not easy to scare, first of all. Second, I think they already ate the messenger who gave me the message. And third, I already know who want to eat me and the police is informed since 2017.

But back to the “hasbara,” the way they work is really pathetic. These strangers who engage in the harassment follow you around, learn your routines and try to disrupt your normal life with micro-aggressions which on the long-run accumulate and trigger in the victim stress-related health problems. My advantage in this situation is that: I don’t smoke A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G (neither tobacco nor cannabis), I don’t drink alcohol; I find it pointless to waste money in a substance which is only eroding your health. And I keep up with a light fitness-routine, like walking to school every morning, biking to my office at the Fichtebunker in Kreuzberg, and doing 50 weight-lifting and 100 abs. That’s all. Just like the micro-aggressions these idiots try to make against you, these micro-exercises accumulate in the long-run to keep you healthy and fit, without becoming a gym-rat.

These strangers not only follow you and try to distress you with smells and noises, they also chase you around in the train, and look at you intensively to make you feel supervised, they speak inarticulately and loud to interrupt your inner monologues and make you pay attention to their pathetic conversations, and even come around your house pretending to be joggers or dragging noisy suitcases along the sidewalk. They even park in front of my flat and start opening and closing the car doors energetically to try to make me nervous. And before you start to think I am paranoid, let me just say that I have several years living in this city, and many years angemeldet in my Kiez, so I can tell who really lives here and who is coming to these stupid cafes on Hufelandstraße. Or which of my neighbours are engaged in this stupid harassment as well.

My main questions have always been (they started the hasbara in March of 2018); from where do they get the time and money to invest so much energy in chasing me around? Who are they and why do they get angry when one try tell the truth about the Nazi-Jews? The last episode of this harassment took place on the corner of Danziger Straße and Bötzowstraße when I was just crossing to wait for the Tram and go to my appointment with the masseur on Frauentag. When I was crossing the street, what seemed to be a married coupled with a baby-trolly was coming on my direction, I politely switched to the left to give them room to pass, but then they switched again to come against me. We didn’t collide, but the man wanted to make a drama with me …

This man came from behind and tried to grab me, MISTAKE NUMBER ONE! I immediately called the police. This dude started to accuse me of touching his “wife” and said that I was on drugs! MISTAKE NUMBER TWO! They were not alone, though. There were also 2 more strangers pretending to be pedestrians saying that I was an actor in coordination with the “BoBo family,” all this to just try to set me up and get me into trouble with the law; MISTAKE NUMBER THREE … The man even pushed me on the ground! MISTAKE NUMBER FOUR!

When the Polizei arrived (in less than 3 minutes), I rose my hand to signal that it was me who called them. They came fast to my rescue and asked me what happened. I told them everything and they asked me for my ID, then I told them that this man and that woman don’t live in the Kiez. I mean, when this ugly woman with the baby-trolly tried to speak, her Minnesota accent was just way to obvious, THEY ARE ACTUALLY AMERICANS PRETENDING TO PASS BY GERMANS! And the funny part is that when I told the Polizei that these idiots were doing all this together, and that I have a Strafanzeige (that is a police report filed) against people that want to hurt me because of my journalist work, the four strangers turned into stone. There was no baby in the trolly, I am sure they weren’t even a real couple, so three of them, the “wife” and the two pedestrians vanished amid the conversation with the officers, leaving the man who attacked me alone.

I told the officers the man offended me saying I was on drugs, so the officer asked me to take off my sunglasses to confirm my eyes were normal, and even complimented me about their colour, I blushed a bit … Then I requested the officers to identify these idiots, because I was 100% certain that they were part of the harassment I’ve been target of ever since I was publishing critiques against Israel. The officers told me to calm and just let all in their hands, they recommended me to just forget about the incident and go have a relaxing massage as I planned to do because they would take care of it all.

So, people! If you are being going through weird shit-storms don’t hesitate and go to the Polizei, they are your friends and will protect you. Don’t let yourself be enslaved by these idiots, they aren’t many; they are just a few but they do corrupt many! … And Remember that there is no need to be scared; “Angst isst Seele Auf / fear will eat your soul out." So the decision to stop being harassed remains in your hands, don’t let yourself be corrupt, don’t let yourself become a slave … Call the Polizei Berlin!

#Hasbara #Israel #Nazi #Jews #Berlin #Polizei #harassment #journalism

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roguenewsdao · 7 years

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Did Mandalay Bay Attack Itself?

"Jim Murren is donating MGM shareholder money to CAIR. They were named by the Justice Dept. as 'an unindicted co-conspirator to Muslim terrorism....' CAIR was created to support the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. " -- Wayne Allyn Root, August 29, 2017, Townhall.com

How many times have we said it? Repeat after me: Follow The Money! While the Sheeple and the MSM are "mystified" by the apparent lack of motive of Las Vegas Shooting patsy Stephen Paddock, neither the enlightened readers of Rogue Money nor anybody else who can do 15 minutes' worth of internet research, need feel so handicapped.

Casinos Are a Perfect Source for Terror Financing

Let's start with the parent company of Mandalay Bay. This is a casino property that sits within the portfolio of MGM Resorts International. The current CEO of the parent company is Jim Murren. He is a deflated Hillary Clinton supporter. Less than two months ago, with an announcement apparently fueled by the the post-Charlottesville racist hysteria, Murren sent a letter to his employees and announced a company donation-match program to funnel money to so-called "anti-hate" groups. By "anti-hate" groups, we of course mean Soros-backed groups, various terror-related groups, and miscellaneous non-profits.

As reported by Casino.org back on August 21, 2017 [linked here]:

MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren condemned “hate mongers and white supremacists” in a letter to his more than 77,000 worldwide employees last Friday, and encouraged them to donate to anti-hate groups by explaining contributions would be matched.

Murren finished his letter by telling his workers that if they donate to one of seven organizations MGM deemed to be working towards the anti-hate cause, the corporation would match it.

Those nonprofits include the Southern Poverty Law Center, National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Campaign, Council on American Islamic Relations, OCA National-Asian Pacific American Advocates, and League of United Latin American Citizens.

Controversial conservative radio host and blogger, Wayne Allyn Root, posted an article on August 29th to bring these facts to the public's attention regarding one of those seven groups, the Council on American Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR [linked here]:

No CEO has a right to involve his company in controversial politics, let alone the funding of extreme and radical organizations. But Jim Murren wins the award for "Reckless CEO of the Century." Murren has just put MGM in bed with an organization with ties to Islamic terrorism.

Murren announced in response to what he sees as the racism, bigotry, intolerance and violence seen at the Charlottesville disturbance, that MGM will donate company money (and match employee contributions) to a collection of extreme leftist civil rights, human rights, and Muslim advocacy groups. A strange and partisan decision to make with company funds and shareholder money.

Instead Murren announced MGM company (and therefore) donations to extreme leftist groups, some backed by controversial radical Marxist George Soros.

It gets much worse. Jim Murren is donating MGM shareholder money to CAIR. They were named by the Justice Dept. as “an unindicted co-conspirator to Muslim terrorism.” The FBI produced charts showing CAIR was created to support the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.

Already we can see a picture emerging that places the dreadful Vegas Shooting incident within the context of what I have elsewhere described as "the summer of our discontent." Then along came the posted prediction of a well-planned "high incident project" to be unleashed upon a Las Vegas venue sometime on, or around, September 11, 2017.

Anonymous 4Chan User Predicts Vegas Shooting Event

Many thanks to Squawker.org [linked here] for remembering the anonymous post by a 4chan user back on September 11th. He warned residents of Las Vegas and Henderson to "stay inside tomorrow." He (or she) further went on to say:

"It's called the 'high incident project'. They want to make the American public think that places with extremely high security aren't' safe.... You will see laws proposed within the next few years to put up more metal detectors and other security devices.... I can’t guarantee anything will happen tomorrow but Las Vegas is on their minds."

Squawker goes on to comment:

He states this “project” will be done with an endgame goal of passing new laws in Nevada regarding casino security. Making pricey new security screening machines mandatory for all guests. With even further more ambitious plans to follow suit in our schools and other public buildings if the public goes along with the casino machines easily enough.

He also specifically names former head of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Casino owner and billionaire Sheldon Adelson as the two men set to profit most off the wave of new regulations set to spring up in response to the Vegas incident. It’s not all that unreasonable even to believe that Mr. Chertoff might seek to profit from a new security panic in the wake of Vegas. Given that the man has already been accused of abusing the public trust by raising security fears among average American’s in an attempt to sell his companies body scanners before, all the way back in 2010.

So it sounds like somebody in the Deep State is about to see a profit windfall. Well, never let a good (manufactured) crisis go to waste. Furthermore, in his own diabolical way, even George Soros warned what was coming.

George Soros Warned Against Conspiracy Theory

In a follow-up blog posted today, Squawker noted that George Soros was whining about anti-Soros hate and us tin-foil-hat nut jobs only one day before the Vegas incident. Squawker also noticed that the stock price for OSI Systems Inc. (whose ticker symbol is ironically coded as OSIS) is now at an all-time high for the year.

Squawker says [linked here]:

"Our mysterious [4chan] poster specifically mentioned two corporations set to make bank in the political aftermath of Vegas. First up is OSI Systems, Inc. A company who develops and markets security and inspection systems such as X-ray machines, metal detectors, and other expensive security related devices. As of this morning the company’s stock price is now at an all-time high for the year. Potentially even more interestingly, after a recent low on the day of the 4chan posting in question 9/11, the stock has been on a steady climb upwards ever since."

I am wont to repeat this phrase with reference to many of my blogs: Stand back and look at the forest rather than the trees. The information above about the MGM donations to terror organizations and the security system corporation who now stands to profit from the Vegas terror attack represent the "forest." Below, I will leave you with this morning's analysis by "V" of the specifics, the "trees," of the incident. The physical evidence from the scene would tend to support the idea that this act of terror in Las Vegas was executed by more than one person.

As always, level-headed critical thinker Lionel of Lionel Nation Youtube channel reminds us to accept nothing you hear from the sock-puppet MSM as gospel when examining this criminal act at the Mandalay Bay resort.

At the very least, questions need to be answered about the gunfire flashes seen emanating from the 4th floor as reported on the police scanner by an officer who, from his position, couldn't even see the 32nd floor. Consider this blog as "open" territory and feel free to post your comments and questions about this entire event down below. I don't need to tell you that the "situation is fluid" and there will be many theories and many questions over the days to come.

My contact information with link to my Karatbars portal are found at my billboard page of SlayTheBankster.com. Listen to my radio show, Bee In Eden, on Youtube via my show blog at SedonaDeb.wordpress.com.

#LAS VEGAS #MANDALAY BAY #CONCERT #STEPHEN PADDOCK #MGM #JIM MURREN #CAIR #George Soros #SPLC #TERRORISM #OSIS #ISIS #CHERTOFF #SECURITY SYSTEMS

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communicants · 7 years

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A Year In The Audience

My year in watching films.

I couldn’t think of what else to say, I’m just dreadful at explaining movies and books to my girlfriend. “It’s a movie about the director’s dying mother. And the director killed herself shortly after the film premiered” was my pitch to get my girlfriend to see No Home Movie with me this past Valentine’s Day during the annual Portland International Film Festival. As the film opens on a 10 (?) minute shot of a tree, I began to worry. My girlfriend has excellent taste in movies, but knowing there were 2 more hours of this had me worried that I was ruining her weekend. Within fifteen minutes, the walk-outs began, totaling nearly 60 people by the time the credits rolled.

The film is remarkable, Chantal Akerman doesn’t so much make a film about her mother, either of their of their illnesses, anything concrete really. The film seemingly exists alongside these two women, documenting a relationship for unclear reasons. Akerman leaves the camera rolling as her mother walks out of a room, as if to imagine the space without her, and the camera often feels like it has been left without Akerman’s touch. Even if it has a great deal more humor in it than I had expected, it is an extremely lonely movie. That it wouldn’t be an ideal Valentine’s movie isn’t surprising, but the thought of walking away from it seems astonishing to me. For my girlfriend’s part, it was her favorite film that she had ever seen at PIFF.

I had planned to meet up with my girlfriend the day after the election to watch Moonlight, but neither of us felt emotionally capable of that experience, so a week later we finally made it. Another astonishing film: the tripart narrative from Barry Jenkins has so many wonderful aspects that I’m sure you are all aware of by now. For me, the look actor Ashton Sanders as Chiron in the film’s second part gives his friend Kevin during their fight, followed by his bloody gaze into the mirror, were almost overpowering; I had to choke back the tears from what I was watching, from a national situation that I couldn’t forget when the theater lights dimmed, from fear of what was to come from each of those situations. It wasn’t cathartic, but it felt nice that I could enjoy such a beautiful moment. Moonlight was the precise opposite of escapism; an incredible film that feels like it needs to exist in our present world, not separate from it.

I rarely take days off of work, the two sick days I took this year may be the most I’ve ever taken in one year. With heavy breathing and an endlessly runny nose, I watched The Second Mother followed by Koreeda’s Our Little Sister and After Life. I wasn’t able to hold back any tears during the final scene of After Life, and I have no doubt the same will happen next time I see it.

I never want to see a movie as much as right after I see a movie. I watched Pink Narcissus, a fascinating film that James Bidgood made over the course of 7 years in his New York apartment, during which time he alienated everyone else involved, including the main actor. It was a marvelous experience, watching campy, fantastic imaginings of a person alone in an apartment. I knew I wasn’t ready to go home afterward, so I headed to the nearest theater which was playing Finding Dory. Finding Dory is garbage. Likewise, I recently saw Arrival, a film with a fun premise that until the final half hour is never much more than Bradford Young’s Interstellar, but so nice a time I had that I sauntered into a showing of Doctor Strange, drunk on the power of cinema (and alcohol). Fuck Doctor Strange.

I came into an interest in movies relatively late, I hadn’t even heard of a director like Kurosawa until I was 20. From that point, every year since has been more and more exciting as I discover more and more about filmmakers across the world. My favorite discoveries this year were Michel Khleifi and Yuri Ilyenko. Khleifi is a Palestinian filmmaker, whose debut Fertile Memory was the first feature film ever made in the occupied West Bank. So far, my favorite of his films is Wedding In Galilee (which is currently streaming on FilmStruck). I highly recommend Dreams of a Nation, a collection of essays on Palestinian cinema edited by Hamid Dabashi for more on Khleifi’s work (and Palestinian cinema in general). Ilyenko is probably best known as the cinematographer on The Color of Pomegranates, but later became a prominent director in Ukraine’s poetic school of filmmaking. His delirious White Bird Marked With Black and The Eve of Ivan Kupalo are filled with such incredible energy and the most astonishing visuals I saw from anything this year (there is at least one scene in each of these movies that I cannot for the life of me even imagine how they were shot).

Finally, there was the highlight of the year: my free trial of Pureflix, the bizarre evangelical alternative to Netflix. Especially odd is how many of these movies are/were on Netflix at some point. I watched a movie on this service called Pickle Pickin’, a documentary about the life lessons the director learned from picking cucumbers one summer, which he never doesn’t call pickles. The films of mainstream Christianity are endlessly fascinating to me; a project to for a section of the white middle class to marginalize themselves and feel aggrieved by their marginal status. I refuse to watch TV, because I can’t stand it, but I will watch Pickle Pickin’. I don’t know what that means about me.

Here’s to another year of discovering movies new and old.

Here’s a list of my favorite first time viewings from 2016:

#personal #film

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