This is not normal. We are seeing the early stages of the settler colonial genocide of an indigenous population. Native leaders who have visited Gaza say its refugee camps look eerily like reservations. We can stop this. For the first time we are able to see wide scale accounts from the hands of the people suffering the genocide, and Israel is so scared of it they have cut all communications in Gaza.
This is our litmus test. I think we have never seen more clearly, with Palestine, Armenia, Congo and Sudan how colonialism has made our world a rotten place to live in.
The South African apartheid collapsed due to boycotts. We have to do everything in our power to stop Israel’s hegemony. Even talking to a group of friends about Palestine changes the status quo. There’s no world where we can live peacefully if Israel accomplishes their goals.
You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Don’t be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. BDS explicitly targets only a few brands which have bigger impact. You can stop consuming from as many brands as you want, though, and by all means feel free to give a 1 star review to McDonalds, Papa John, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Starbucks. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting the following:
Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing direct actions to stop the shipping of wars to Israel. Follow them.
Educate yourself. Read into Palestinian history and the occupation. You can’t common sense people out of decades of propaganda. If your arguments crumble when a zionist brings up the “disengagement of Gaza”, you have to learn more.
Verso Book Club is giving out free books on Palestine (I personally downloaded Ten Myths about Israel by Ilan Pappe. If you still believe in the two states solution, this book by an Israeli professor debunks it).
every politician who claims israel has a right to ‘defend itself’, every celebrity who reposts israel-sympathetic statements, every hand-wringing liberal who refuses to take a stance because 'it’s just too complex’, every zionist who fearmongers about this turning into a second holocaust, every western journalist who insists on asking their palestinian guests “but do you condemn hamas?” — in fact any person who wants to comment on the situation at all should be forced to read this article in full before they’re allowed to voice their opinion.
at the end of the article, there is a 338-page list of the names of the palestinians who have been killed by israeli forces from october 7th-25th. the first six pages are for the age '0’.
One thing about researching world around you is that it becomes a bit friendlier once you know it better. If you see a random spider- you get scared. You see plants and consider them just weeds. You look at night sky and see a bunch of stars.
And then, you learn names.
Now, it is an orbweaver, and you consider them a friend. The greenery around is a laurel, or an alium, or osmanthus, andyou know which of them to keep away from, and which of them are great herbs for tea. Now, you look up and see a whole parade of Venus, Ursa Major, or Orion. You now know their names, and, if you respect them- they become allies of yours.
Kozanów, Wrocław, Poland, 1997 Central European flood of the Oder and Morava river basins in July 1997 affected Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany.
if you are lucky you will love someone and their hair will thin and their breasts will sag and you will kiss them everywhere over and over again
I was having a conversation with someone who was lamenting over how to maintain attraction to our partners as their bodies change and age and feeling self conscious herself about that process and I was like. we should be so lucky as to see them through these many years as we are seen ourselves. Hope that helps u understand
