Monday, May 13, 2024

Changing The World

Changing The World

by C. A. Matthews


“If you think we can’t change the world, it just means you’re not one of them who will.” --Jacque Fresco

The last two hundred plus days have been difficult. But, every once and a while, there is a glimmer of hope. There is a light shining through the haze of the seemingly endless bombing in Gaza. Not everyone supports this genocide. Not everyone buys into the sociopathic narrative of the Israelis and their bought-off Zionist agents in the West.

In fact, every day there are more and more people who are speaking out against the war crimes the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) are perpetrating against innocent Palestinian civilians. Our university students are leading the way in protest against the entrenched, bloodthirsty establishment. Cops are using rubber bullets, mace, and nightsticks against them, but the students are holding fast. They truly are heroes in these dark times.

BGSU students protest in downtown BG

And we should follow their lead.

Change is scary, but sometime it’s necessary. This is one of these times. The world cannot remain the way it is, stuck in the sickness of capitalism’s endless wars to steal resources (oil, land, rare earths) from native peoples. The world cannot remain under the control of full-fledged psychopaths who’d rather foul our air, land, and waters to generate another billion dollars in profit than to preserve what remains of our beautiful Earth by practicing prudent and fair methods of resource management. The world cannot remain in the hands of sociopaths who believe that ethnic cleansing and immigrant-scapegoating are legitimate, moral activities to handle human conflict.

The world will not remain a livable place much longer if these activities continue. And so our university students—our heroes—are taking the lead at pointing out the evils of the status quo at the risks of their studies, their careers, and their lives. We should do all that we can to promote their cause and boycott the industries, institutions, and individuals that are selfishly driving our planet toward its death throws.

One student eloquently summed up the meaning of the student protests in a short interview:

University Of Chicago Student States: "There Are Things That More Important Than My Academic Future" https://youtu.be/BJpML0QBcMk  and also  https://youtu.be/vAZIMWNOa7w

Another student gave testimony to her school’s board of trustees on how their investments into the military-industrial complex aren’t what the students and faculty want:

Speaking Truth to Power: Rutgers Student Confronts School Leadership Board https://www.indiemediatoday.com/p/speaking-truth-to-power-rutgers-hdwmt-112

And Columbia University social work graduates got their points across during their graduation ceremony: https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1789827109470224418

Bold, aren’t they? I
find them refreshing in their moral courage, don't you?

More nominees for an "Aaron" award!

This is what I mean when I say these university students are our heroes. They valiantly clear away the cobwebs of the fascistic narrative spin offered up by government spokespersons and present the facts to us in a rational and moral fashion. Genocide is no longer to be considered an “option” or a “choice” or a “defense tactic” or a way for your university to make money. It’s just plain mass murder. It’s horrific ethnic cleansing. Anyone who can’t intuit that profound truth is a very sick individual and needs to be locked up for their own good as well as for the good of society.

Perhaps we should install padlocks on all the doors and rubber mats on the floors and walls that line the Capitol Building and the White House to keep all the AIPAC-owned lunatics inside to prevent them from starting World War III?

BGSU students and others on Main St.
After seven months, one would hope that more celebrities would come crawling out of their golden bubbles to protest the criminal actions of Israel. But being threatened with dropped contracts for their music or having their juicy parts in big Hollywood productions axed are considered more important to most entertainers than helping save thousands of innocent lives from being butchered by the Israeli military. 

Rapper Macklemore is an exception. He has written a rap song declaring the reality of what the students are protesting about while simultaneously exposing the shallow narcissism of celebrityness. (All proceeds from the song are being donated to UNRWA, too. Nice touch, Macklemore.)

audio only https://youtu.be/wmg6vbt04TY
video https://youtu.be/fgDQyFeBBIo


HIND'S HALL
Written and Produced by Macklemore

The people they won’t leave
What is threatening about divesting and wanting peace?
The problem isn’t the protests it’s what they’re protesting
Cause it goes against what our country is funding
Block the barricade until Palestine is free
Block the barricade until Palestine is free
When I was 7 I learned a lesson from Cube and Eazy E
What was it again? Oh yea fuck the police
Actors in badges protecting property
And a system that was designed by white supremacy
But the people are in the streets
You can pay off Meta you can’t pay off me
Politicians who serve by any means
AIPAC, CUFI and all the companies
You see we sell fear around the land of the free
But this generation here is about to cut the strings
You can ban Tik Tok take us out the algorithm
But it’s too late we’ve seen the truth we bare witness
We’ve seen the rubble the buildings the mothers the children
And all the men that you murdered and then we see how they spin it
Who gets to the right to defend and who gets the right of resistance
Has always been about dollars and the color of your pigment
But White Supremacy is finally on blast
Screaming free Palestine until they’re home at last
We see the lies in them
Claiming it’s anti-semitic to be anti-zionist
I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and riding
In solidarity and screaming free Palestine with ‘em
Organizing, unlearning and finally cutting ties with a
State that’s gotta rely on an apartheid system
To uphold an occupying violent
History been repeating for the last 75
The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied
If some kids in tents, posted on the lawn occupying the quad is really against the law
And a reason to call in the police and their squad
where does genocide land in your definition huh? destroying every college in Gaza and every mosque pushing everyone into Rafah and dropping bombs
The blood is on your hands Biden, we can see it all
And fuck no I’m not voting for you in the fall
Undecided, you can’t twist the truth
The people out here united never be defeated when Freedom’s on the horizon
Yet the music industry’s quiet complicit in their platform of silence
What happened to the artist what do you got to say?
If I was on a label, you could drop me today
And be fine with it cause the heart fed my page
I want a ceasefire fuck a response from Drake
What you willing to risk?
What you willing to give?
What if you were Gaza? What if those were your kids?
If the West was pretending that you didn’t exist
You’d want the world to stand up
And the students finally did
Let’s get it


The title of Macklemore’s song, Hind’s Hall, comes from the “renamed” Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University. Here’s a short bio of who Hind was in case you don’t know:

Hind Rajab was a 6-year-old girl from Gaza. In January 2024, she and her family were shelled by the Israeli army while in their car. Hind and her 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamadeh, were the only survivors, trapped within the car. They called the Palestinian Red Cross Society, with Layan saying, “They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We're in the car, and the tank is right next to us.” The PCRS sent a team to rescue them. However, after 12 days, on February 10, when the Israeli army withdrew from the area, Hind Rajab and her six relatives were found dead in the car, along with the two paramedics sent to rescue them, who were also found dead nearby, victims of Israeli snipers.

The Columbia students renamed the building in honor of a frightened little girl left to die of her injuries and starvation all alone beside the corpses of her family members who earlier succumbed to their wounds. The perpetrators of this heinous crime will probably never be charged or prosecuted for what they did, but the students of Columbia immortalized Hind Rajab by renaming a building in her honor. Macklemore is spreading Hind’s story worldwide through his gift of music. May Hind’s remaining family and friends find some solace in knowing that she will never be forgotten, and that not all Westerners were oblivious to their suffering.


This is heroism. This is changing the world for the better. These are the people we should follow and imitate.

Block the Hollywood celebs and the Grammy winners online who can’t even be bothered to hold a concert to raise money for UNRWA. They won't even bring about public awareness to the genocide in Gaza by chatting about it on the red carpet or the talk show circuit or their X feeds.

To quote Macklemore: “I want a ceasefire! F*ck a response from Drake!”

The students are changing the world. Follow their lead. Free Palestine.


Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Blood on Biden’s Hands: The invasion of Rafah MUST be stopped
https://youtu.be/sovQJfZL-jw

University Of Chicago Student States: "There Are Things That More Important Than My Academic Future" https://youtu.be/vAZIMWNOa7w

University Students in Mexico Launch Gaza Solidarity Encampment, Call for BDS https://truthout.org/articles/university-students-in-mexico-launch-gaza-solidarity-encampment-call-for-bds/

MACKLEMORE - HIND'S HALL https://youtu.be/fgDQyFeBBIo

'HIND'S HALL' OCCUPATION / Hind Rajab’s Mother Reacts To Student Protests https://mark192.substack.com/p/hinds-hall-occupation-hind-rajabs

Opposing The War Machine Is Cool Again, And The Empire's Getting Nervous https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/opposing-the-war-machine-is-cool

Students Demanding Divestment: You’re On The Right Side Of History https://popularresistance.org/students-demanding-divestment-youre-on-the-right-side-of-history/

Speaking Truth to Power: Rutgers Student Confronts School Leadership Board https://www.indiemediatoday.com/p/speaking-truth-to-power-rutgers-hdwmt-112

Thousands of U.S. Students Arrested While Israel Invades Rafah https://youtu.be/RzMueJ4OpsI

Chris Hedges: The Nation’s Conscience  https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/08/chris-hedges-the-nations-conscience/

Campus Protests Are Fighting Militarism and Corporatization at Home and Abroad https://truthout.org/articles/campus-protests-are-fighting-militarism-and-corporatization-at-home-and-abroad/

USC President and Provost Censured After Faculty Senate Vote https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/10/usc-president-and-provost-censured-after-faculty-senate-vote/

Empire Managers Explain Why This New Protest Movement Scares Them https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/empire-managers-explain-why-this

Listen to the Students  https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/08/listen-to-the-students/

Universities Have Failed Their Democratic Mission by Repressing Gaza Protests https://truthout.org/articles/universities-have-failed-their-democratic-mission-by-repressing-gaza-protests/

Israel Shuts Down Al Jazeera Operations In The Country https://popularresistance.org/israel-shuts-down-al-jazeera-operations-in-the-country/

There’s Only 1 to 3 Days’ Worth of Food Left in Gaza, World Food Programme Warns https://truthout.org/articles/theres-only-1-to-3-days-worth-of-food-left-in-gaza-world-food-programme-warns/

Israeli Prisons Subject Palestinians to Constant Torture, “Revenge” https://truthout.org/articles/report-israeli-prisons-subject-palestinians-to-constant-torture-revenge/

Jill Stein EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - Why Ending the War on Gaza Means Breaking From Biden https://youtu.be/NXSZUtt4kYE

Why 9 in 10 American Zionists Are Actually Christians  https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/why-9-in-10-american-zionists-are

Support for a Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza Increases Across Party Lines https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/5/8/support-for-a-permanent-ceasefire-in-gaza-increases-across-party-lines

When Opposing Genocide Is Seen As Radical, Radicalism Becomes A Moral Imperative https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/when-opposing-genocide-is-seen-as

Every single hostage exchange Hamas offered Israel since October
https://twitter.com/cynthianna3/status/1788687035424735544

Over 100,000 Gazans flee Rafah as UN warns 'no aid in sight' https://thecradle.co/articles/over-100000-gazans-flee-rafah-as-un-warns-no-aid-in-sight

Jill Stein on an Egyptian TV news program (with an endorsement) https://youtu.be/kuIJt73t9aQ?si=LZthWo7QNBDB4fDb

The CIA and Zionism: A Complex History https://www.spytalk.co/p/the-cia-and-zionism-a-complex-history

USA & Israel defy world in vote to make Palestine full UN member https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/us-israel-un-vote-palestine-full-member

Can No One Tell Me the Name of an Israeli Woman Who Was Raped by Hamas on 10/7? https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/can-no-one-tell-me-the-name-of-an

Using A Fictional Antisemitism Crisis To Support A Real Genocide https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/using-a-fictional-antisemitism-crisis

When Your Rulers Ignore Voters But Are Terrified Of Protesters, That Tells You Something https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/when-your-rulers-ignore-voters-but

Subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack today. Go to https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com and subscribe at the link at the end of the article. You'll enjoy having each week's post automatically sent to your email box or reading it at the Substack site. Many thanks for your consideration. 

Monday, May 6, 2024

All Cops Are [Expletive Deleted]



All Cops Are [Expletive Deleted]

by C.A. Matthews

I really hate slapping a label onto a particular group of people, but sometimes the label just fits.

After watching videos and reading stories about what the police of various cities/countries have been doing to university students and faculty members who are attempting to hold down peaceful anti-genocide encampments, I can’t come to any other conclusion. The cops are not our friends. The cops are not there to protect and serve the public. The cops are there for one reason and one reason only.

That reason is to protect and serve their non-empathetic, zionarcissistic, capitalistic masters who are afraid that We the People are getting close to taking them out and shutting down the war machine to make endless profits.

Their tactics give them away. Teresa Watanabe observes:

https://twitter.com/TeresaWatanabe/status/1785575610469007471

200+ pro-Israel counterprotestors are attacking the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment. They started beating on one student and stomped another under a plywood board per LA Times’ Safi Nazzal on the scene. Where is UCLA security?

Good question. Campus security and the city cops seem to be working side-by-side on allowing vigilantism to terrorize the students. The cops are definitely not on our side but, even worse, they’re actually aiding and abetting acts of violence against peaceful protesters.


From Natasha Lennard’s article I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/nyc-gaza-college-protests-police-outside-agitators/:

A lone Trash can lay on its side at the intersection of W. 139th St and Amsterdam Ave in Harlem, in front of the gates of the City College of New York.

At around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, this was the extent of damaged property that I witnessed outside the college campus. At the same time, New York Police Department officers in riot regalia had amassed in their hundreds, including members of the Strategic Response Group — a unit dedicated to public unrest and “counterterrorism.”

More police had stormed through the school’s neo-Gothic gates less than an hour before, at the behest of the college’s president, to arrest protesting students en masse.

Twenty blocks south, police had locked down and barricaded all streets in a two-block radius of Columbia University, brutally arresting students inside the inaccessible campus.

Between Columbia and City College, over 200 protesters — almost all students — were arrested before the night was out.

There are many more examples of “unhinged police” actions that have taken place on college campuses across the country. Why would peaceful protesters trying to do a good deed by bringing justice and awareness to the plight of the Palestinians invoke such violent responses? Why are cops allowing Zionist vigilantes to beat and injure students with their blessing? Who is calling the shots here?

I think you know who. (Watch a video with Bibi giving the orders.) Netanyahu ordered the cops to squash the American campus encampments, and his puppet Joe Biden went along with it willingly. Biden's campaign staff is trying to make him look like a “kinder, gentler genocide-enabler who is also tough on crime” in this an election year. It’s better to let Netanyahu take the heat and pretend it’s all his idea than let Geriatric Genocide Joe draw more attention to the fact that he hasn’t been calling any shots lately.

But it’s even worse than a demented commander-in-chief not leading compassionately when it comes to policing campus protests. Treasonous Americans are actually causing violence against our students with the blessing of the police and perhaps even a foreign government. I bet you know which foreign government that is, too.

From The Grayzone:

Rebecca Weiner is a Columbia U. professor who also serves as intelligence director of the NYPD. Mayor Eric Adams credits her with spying on anti-genocide student protesters and directing the militarized raid that dislodged them from campus. (...)

During a May 1 press conference, just hours after the New York Police Department arrested nearly 300 people on university grounds, Adams praised adjunct Columbia professor Rebecca Weiner, who moonlights as the head of the NYPD counter-terrorism bureau, for giving police the green light to clear out anti-genocide students by force. (...)

Weiner “develops policy and strategic priorities for the Intelligence & Counterterrorism Bureau and publicly represents the NYPD in matters involving counterterrorism and intelligence.”

The NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau currently maintains an office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where it coordinates with Israel’s security apparatus and maintains a department liaison. Weiner appears to serve as a bridge between the Bureau’s offices in Israel and New York.

The Zionist government of Israel obviously is in charge of American security—particularly when it comes to policing college campus protests. The New York Police Department even maintains an office in Tel Aviv, Israel—that’s not a neighborhood in Brooklyn, either. Strange how the NYPD bows so easily to the wishes of a foreign government without a care to the welfare of its own citizens. Then again, most large city police departments throughout the US have had their officers trained by programs either conducted or originated by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

Perhaps that explains how the cops in New York and Los Angeles had no problems with pro-Israel vigilantes beating up on peaceful college students. The Israelis aren’t known for objecting to the abuse and torture of others or for protecting free speech. They’re experts on the use of deadly violence against civilians as we’ve seen these past seven months in Gaza and the West Bank.

It’s probably part of the IDF’s training to teach American cops like Rebecca Weiner to see their fellow Americans (such as the college students) as lesser beings, such as animals, who are only fit for abuse and imprisonment. It’s how the Israelis see the Palestinians. Israeli government officials have said as much on camera more than once.

American cops trained to think of pro-Palestine protesters as less than human. What could go wrong?

Indie journalist Michael Tracey adds: 

Rebecca Weiner, head of the NYPD "counter-terrorism" bureau, identifies one of the threats that supposedly necessitated the Columbia raid: "Mainstreaming of rhetoric associated with Terrorism." No question this is recasting political speech as "Terrorism." She also blames TikTok. https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1785707101676773621

Rebecca Weiner, an adjunct professor that the students at Columbia would have trusted spied upon them, then turned over the information to the police units that violently stormed their symbolic occupation of Hamilton Hall, a building which was also taken by students in a 1968 protest against the Vietnam War. The students trusted Weiner, and she consequently betrayed them and had them beaten and arrested.

Judas Iscariot looks like your favorite great-auntyou know the one, your auntie who makes your favorite chocolate chip cookies and knits you warm fuzzy sweaters for Christmascompared to this Weiner woman. How can a traitor like Weiner live with herself knowing how much she has hurt these kids and their futures? And for what? To further the Zionist plans of Israel in the USA? Or is it the United States of Israel now?

Fortunately not all professors are as traitorous or vicious as undercover cop Rebecca Weiner. Annelise Orleck, Head of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth, was banned from campus for six months for trying to protect her protesting students from riot police. (Watch it here: https://twitter.com/Zephyr_8______/status/1786149558625382830 )

So, for every traitor like Weiner, there’s a hero like Orleck. Of course, Professor Orleck has been harshly punished for her compassion, but somehow I doubt she regrets her actions. The students at Dartmouth were lucky to have her on their side.

Is there anything the students of Columbia can do to fight the injustices that their pro-Israel university directors have inflicted upon them? Yes, there is.

From the Twitter/X thread that starts here:

https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786103595277992177

BREAKING: The Department of Education has announced that Columbia University is under federal investigation for anti-Palestinian discrimination and harassment. Palestine Legal is representing four Palestinian students and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.

“The law is clear— if universities do not cease their racist crackdowns against Palestinians and their supporters, they will risk losing federal funding” said senior Palestine Legal attorney Radhika Sainath

This comes less than 48 hours after Columbia President Shafik called in the NYPD, which violently arrested and brutalized dozens of student protesters, some with guns drawn, using sledgehammers, batons, and flash-bang explosives.

“Palestinian students at Columbia deserve justice and accountability, not only for Israel’s decades-long oppression and violence against our people, but for the racism and discrimination we’ve experienced here on Columbia’s campus,” said Mayam Alwan.

Palestinian students have dealt with immense repression and a hostile campus environment. A complainant received a conduct notice for stating her family was bombed in Gaza. Read the full complaint here: https://palestinelegal.org/news/2024/4/25/columbia-students-file-civil-rights-complaint-after-nypd-arrests-national-guard-threat

The owned-and-operated-by-Israel Columbia University and the racist, traitorous cops of the NYPD aren’t going to get away with their crimes if the justice system allows the students to sue. That’s a very big “if” considering how infiltrated the US apparently is by Zionists. Who really knows how many American judges are under Israel’s direct control?

A silent coup d’etat of the US by Israel has occurred, and it didn’t happen overnight. This shows you just how long the Israelis have been setting things up to guarantee America’s support before they started in on their genocide of the Palestinian people. This so-called Israel-Hamas War is premeditated mass murder. This is exquisitely planned ethnic cleansing. Nothing was left to chance. 

The Zionists knew then and know now what they're doing in Gaza is illegal under international law as well as being utterly heinous and immoral. They knew it would more than likely cause huge protests around the globe, but they still keep doing it. Bombs are raining down on Rafah and thousands of innocent Palestinians are running for their lives from this supposed "safe place" even as I type this sentence. Shutting down student encampments won't change anyone's mind who has already determined that this is a genocide.

Natasha Lennard sums it up well:

Israel’s decimation of Gaza has — at least for millions more people — given lie to the redemptive myths of the post-World War II political liberal order. Young people, even the children of the elite, even children of Zionists, are standing with Palestine. Their peaceful acts of protest count as disruptive because they count as un-American — which should be a badge of honor amid a US-backed genocide.” —I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years.This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged.

Are all cops in the US working for the Zionists’ agenda? Maybe not. There is at least one outlier.

Denver’s Police Chief Ron Thomas declined to clear the students’ pro-Palestine encampment at Auraria University because he felt to do so was a violation of their rights to peaceful protest. Chief Thomas’ refusal to arrest the students is impressive. He actually sees the protesters as human beings, not animals, and worthy of having the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment of Constitution to free speech. We can only hope his actions are copied by others.

But if we continue to see police violence against peaceful students and flat-out refusal to honor the pro-Palestine protesters’ rights of free speech on university campuses—or street corners—across the US, then the old saying will still apply. The label will stick. You know the one I'm alluding to:

ACAB

Seen on Twitter/X from Fadi Quran:

https://twitter.com/fadiquran/status/1787065255677378638

Every student protesting should know these three things: 1. You are a ray of hope for Gaza: Every person I’ve spoken to in and from Gaza has told me they were losing hope in international solidarity, until these protests started. They said the encampments are their main (for many the ONLY) source of hope now. 2. Your pressure is working: Despite what the US government is saying publicly, under the table these protests have forced them to urgently pursue a ceasefire, including significantly increasing pressure on the Israeli war cabinet. 3. Boards of Trustees across campuses are now divided, with some shifting towards divestment, and asking themselves the question of: Why risk everything to protect weapon companies and war criminals? Given this rising impact, different tools of deception and oppression are going to be used to shut down your momentum. Maintaining your eyes on the prize, your unity, coherence of messaging and the moral high ground are central. You are at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and dignity. Millions across the world have your back. Until Victory.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK, and Copenhagen University in Denmark have also set up Palestine solidarity encampments.
 

Related Articles and Interesting Links

Columbia crackdown led by university prof doubling as NYPD spook https://thegrayzone.com/2024/05/02/columbia-crackdown-university-nypd/

I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged. https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/nyc-gaza-college-protests-police-outside-agitators/

Students in Cuba Stand with U.S. Student Encampments for Gaza https://youtu.be/hCn1jtHSj8E?si=wDX_KUWkhComRJNq 

Bipartisan Bill Would Create ‘Antisemitism Monitors’ at College Campuses
Pro-Palestine protests have been falsely labeled as 'antisemitic' even though many Jewish students are involved https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/29/bipartisan-bill-would-create-antisemitism-monitors-at-college-campuses/

Israel Orders Evacuation in Rafah, Hours After Raiding Al Jazeera Offices https://truthout.org/articles/israel-orders-evacuation-in-rafah-hours-after-raiding-al-jazeera-offices/

The Press Freedom Clock is TikToking https://www.projectcensored.org/press-freedom-clock-tiktoking/

Israeli Finance Minister Denounced for Calling for 'Total Annihilation' of Gaza https://www.commondreams.org/news/smotrich-gaza-annihilation

The 'Antisemitism' Moral Panic Has Officially Jumped The Shark https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-antisemitism-moral-panic-has

The Bizarre Gymnastics Of The Gaza Aid Pier https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-bizarre-gymnastics-of-the-gaza

Sermon for Gaza  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/sermon-for-gaza

Support Palestine. Boycott Israel https://boycott.thewitness.news/

Israel planning ring of checkpoints to prevent men from fleeing Rafah, source says  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-israel-planning-ring-checkpoints-prevent-men-fleeing-rafah

State Dept. Claims it Upholds Laws, but Won't Acknowledge Israel's Nukes, Flouting Law Requiring Funding Cutoff to Proliferators
https://husseini.substack.com/p/state-dept-claims-it-upholds-laws

How Israel Violates International Law in Gaza: Expert Report https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/01/how-israel-violates-international-law-in-gaza-expert-report/

"Vote Biden to save democracy" is not going according to plan, is it? https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/what-happened-to-vote-biden-to-save  (Good links to articles on the student protests and Zionist vigilantism.)

Pro-Palestine Protesters Occupy University Hall After Columbia Refuses to Divest https://truthout.org/articles/pro-palestine-protesters-occupy-university-hall-after-columbia-refuses-to-divest/

America is Rising for Gaza: What Should We Expect? https://www.mintpressnews.com/america-gaza-protests-what-should-we-expect/287313/ 

FIND THE PRICE OF YOUR CONGRESSIONAL MEMBER'S SOUL: Website Tracks AIPAC Campaign Cash Pay-Outs  https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-find-the-price-of-your-congressional

CNN Compares Campus Protesters To Nazis In Stunning Propaganda Segment https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/cnn-compares-campus-protesters-to

Remember, All This Fascism Would Feel Way More Fascismy Under Trump  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/remember-all-this-fascism-would-feel

Thank you for your support following the cancellation of my show on The Real News. https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/thank-you-for-your-support-following

Yemen Braces For Impending Massive US-Led Air and Ground Campaign https://www.mintpressnews.com/exclusive-yemen-braces-for-impending-massive-us-led-air-and-ground-campaign/287342/

Matthew Hoh & NC Green Party WIN in Court https://youtu.be/SB4IMfRw8Pc?si=xA_e8EvF8hKI94sg

The United States is the world’s terrorist. (An exhaustive list of all the military interventions the US has been involved in.)
https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/its-not-russia-its-not-china-the

Subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack today. Go to https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com and subscribe at the link at the end of the article. You'll enjoy having each week's post automatically sent to your email box or reading it at the Substack site. Many thanks for your consideration. 

Monday, April 29, 2024

The Grift of Eternal Victimhood

  

We've apparently reached the "University arresting its own professors" stage of decline. Edward Snowden https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1783626709364797896

Zionarcissism: The Grift of Eternal Victimhood
by C.A. Matthews


I fell down a long, surreal rabbit hole this past week. I bet you did, too. I even learned a new word to describe what it was exactly that I was witnessing. You might know it already, but if not, allow me describe it to you.

First off, I want to share what I learned from a talk given by three local doctors who served a two week mission in Gaza this past month. They flew to Egypt, fought with customs officials there to bring in desperately needed medical supplies, and then finally they were able to get past the miles and miles of parked trucks at the Gaza/Egyptian border to make it to Gaza European Hospital, the only remaining hospital (more like a homeless shelter at this point) located in the southern area of the occupied territory near Khan Yunis.

Photo warning: Wounded people (click and expand to see details)

The three doctors are members of “PAMA” (Palestinian American Medical Association), but medical professionals from all around the world—including Jewish doctors—have traveled with PAMA to Gaza. The doctors shared their slide presentations containing some rather graphic photos of people (many of them children) they operated on, knowing full well that 80 to 90 percent wouldn’t make it because of the lack of medicines and the astronomical rate of infections running rampant in the overcrowded hospital.

Gaza European Hospital is a modest building that was built to house 215 patients, tops. Today it is housing about 6,000+ persons. The  families of victims camp out in the all the hallways, closets, and public areas. They have nowhere else to live and assume the hospital is a safe place from the bombings. The doctors said they had to be very careful where they were walking whenever they turned a corner so they didn’t accidentally run into a person sleeping on a mat behind a sheet or old rug as a privacy screen.

Photo warning: Surgery shots

The three doctors related stories of horrific injuries caused by shrapnel and bullets to the back of the head. Many have been blinded and maimed, losing one or more limb and/or their eyes. The doctors operated on men, women, and children without sufficient pain-killers, antibiotics, or even sterilized instruments. They all marveled at the bravery of Palestinian doctors, nurses, medics and other health professionals working 24/7 and without pay for the last half year doing their best with what little they have and without their loved ones who have been slaughtered by Israeli bombings and sniper attacks.

I could sense the American doctors felt guilty that they eventually had to leave and return to a (relatively) safe country. But they knew they had to leave so that others could come in after them.  They couldn’t risk angering the Israelis who barely allow the United Nations or member organizations like PAMA to have any presence in the territory. The doctors voiced concerns that Gaza European Hospital might become the next Al-Shifa, totally destroyed and its occupants brutally murdered and thrown into mass graves.

From this sobering experience—which actually made me glad to know that there are Americans who care about the plight of the Palestinian people so much as to put their own lives at risk—I fell down the rabbit hole further. My eyes became glued to my Twitter/X feed as I witnessed the videos and photos of the student-led solidarity with Palestine and divestment from Israel occupation of Columbia University campus. Within hours, similar solidarity-divestment camps sprang up like wildflowers on college campuses across the US, spreading around the world like wildfire.

To understand more about why the students are protesting and how it compares to other protests in the past (namely against apartheid South Africa), read Joe Brunoli's excellent article Students v. Apartheid: I have Witnessed a Struggle That Spans 40 Years

The students are brave. They aren’t to be bullied, and they aren’t taking no for an answer. But it came as no surprise when IDF-trained police “terrorism squads” were deployed to quell the “uprisings” at the request of none other than United States’ de facto leader—Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yes, that Netanyahu, formerly of Philadelphia. Bibi actually is giving your local police their marching orders to arrest peacefully protesting college students now.  (Here’s a video showing him doing so.) And good ol’ Genocide Joe Biden is going along with Bibi and this unnecessary cruelty to his own countrymen because… Lockheed Martin stock has more than quadrupled in the past twenty years?

As I viewed videos of students and faculty standing up to the police-thugs while being beaten, hosed, and gassed, memories of National Guardsmen shooting students at Kent State in 1970 came to mind. This surreal, corrupt version of academia is hellbent on repeating the horror of Kent State more than fifty years later because of…? The universities’ boards of trustees all enjoy investing their schools' money into the military-industrial complex because of…?

Because of…? The only thing that remotely ties the horrible atrocities of the genocide in Gaza that the three PAMA doctors witnessed firsthand to the beating/arresting of university students protesting to stop their schools from funding that same genocide is a sickness known as “zionarcissism.”
Zionarcissism is a disease related to the racist-political movement of Zionism. The saddest thing is that it robs those who succumb to it of their sanity. It turns the zionarcissist into a self-centered prick who will make outlandish claims on others’ time, money, and efforts. The most common claim is that to prevent the zionarcissist’s desire to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people from their settler-colonial project will somehow transform zionarcissists into “eternal victims.”

While this may sound like a terrible fate, most zionarcissists quite enjoy victimhood and its benefits. A strange side effect of zionarcissism is that anyone who blocks the zionarcissist’s attempts to commit a genocide of Palestinians instantly becomes a  “terrorist.” Terrorists, according to zionarcissism, are evil agents who need to be beaten and locked up for protesting for the rights of oppressed people. You see, there are no such things as oppressed peoples—except for zionarcissists. (Catching on now?)

Alas, there is no known cure for zionarcissism other than a raw dose of reality. A textbook case of zionarcissism appeared within a day or so of the first university encampment being set up.
The female zionarcissist positioned herself in the middle of the Yale encampment. The woman is not known to be a current or former university student. She apparently entered the school’s grounds upon the instruction of her husband who videotaped her actions for posterity. (He later took the video down, but you can still see it here.)

Wearing a white t-shirt with the word “JEW” painted on the front and the word “ISRAEL” on the back, the zionarcissist stood in the middle of the public square and began to frown and stare hard at the students. They ignored her and went about their own business.

Ignoring a zionarcissist is dangerous. This wasn’t what the zionarcissist at Yale expected or wanted. It greatly upset her because no one paid any attention to her. No one called her names or pushed her or attempted to beat her up. No one spit on her or teased her or called the cops on her. She simply was not allowed to “play the victim.”

Without being able to profit from victimhood, zionarcissists can become very agitated. They must extract money, armaments, attention, blood, sweat, and tears from others "who owe it to them," or else the zionarcissist will label those who owe them attention “antisemitic.” Citizens of white-ruled, settler-colonized Western countries like the US can be labeled as either “antisemitic” or “terrorist” depending on the needs of the zionarcissist, but all non-white, non-Western people are automatically considered to be antisemitic terrorists without exception.

Westerners are forever in the zionarcissist’s debt for not being labeled antisemitic. It is a faux pas of the highest order. This is true even if the zionarcissist accusing others of antisemitism isn’t technically Semitic, but of European ancestry. If Westerners don't make payments (give in to the blackmail), they're in big trouble. The zionarcissist’s sense of eternal victimhood has been threatened. It forces her to up the odds by taking impulsive actions in order to gain what she desires.

(This could be the reasoning behind zionarcissist Netanyahu’s impulsive bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Murder a few Iranian generals and diplomats, threaten World War III, and suddenly everyone is talking about you. They can’t help but notice you. Possibly starting nuclear war is well worth the risk to a zionarcissist.)

Frustrated that she wasn’t allowed to call the shots, the Yale zionarcissist began shouting at the students: “Look at me! Film my face! Dox me!” The result? The students continued to ignore her while hanging up a Jews for a Free Palestine banner and dancing to the groovy beat of a tom-tom drum. Eventually, the zionarcissist walked away, unharmed.
Horrible, isn’t it? No one hurt her or taunted her at all. She believed her victimhood fantasy to be reality and was embarrassed to find out it was all made up. (Watch another good example of a zionarcissist in action, here. This "Karen" called the cops on a nonexistent threat while walking her dog near a campus protest at Northwestern University.)

Zionarcissism is the number one mental illness infecting the US government. Zionarcissism is spread through influencers such as AIPAC (American Israel Political Action Committee). AIPAC is the number one lobbying organization in the US, regularly contributing large sums of money to the vast majority of Congress members and Senators who do their bidding. The all-time recipient of AIPAC money is none other than Joe Biden.
Maybe that’s why Netanyahu decided to start the genocide in Gaza while Biden was in office? He knew Biden would cooperate and cover for Israel—and Biden has. The US has vetoed several ceasefire resolutions in United Nations Security Council, withdrew its support from UNRWA (the UN refugee agency for Palestine), and continues to send armaments to Israel even after the International Court of Justice and the UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese labeled what the Israelis are doing in Gaza as a “plausible genocide.”
To sum up, zionarcissism is a terrible disease that motivates corrupt US government officials to continue material and political support of Israel's genocide in Gaza. Israel has murdered over 42,000+ people with another 76,000+ injured so far. The US is currently allowing the Israelis to deny water and electricity to Gaza as well as block all the entrances that could transport food and medicines into the open-air concentration camp.
The college students are calling attention to this horrific situation caused by zionarcissism by demanding their universities divest from or take their money out of the military-industrial complex that is fueling this genocide (as well as other military excursions). Without armaments being made, bought, and sold, civilians stand a much better chance of staying alive, and the risk of a nuclear war starting is lessened. It’s that simple.

Don’t let zionarcissism destroy your university, your community, your country, or your world. Keep pointing out its manipulative, selfish machinations to others. Expose its carriers to the sunlight of reality. It’s the only way to eliminate it for good. 

Keep talking about Palestine and its people and what they’re suffering and have suffered. Don’t let up until we’ve rid our world of all of these narcissistic sociopaths. It’s our only chance for a peaceful planet.

U.S. College Campus Encampments:

Washington University in St. Louis * (Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested at a protest there on April 27.)

University of New Mexico
University of Michigan
California State Polytech University Humboldt
Emory
University of Texas
Indiana University
Emerson
Harvard
MIT                                                                                                                              Penn State
UNC Chapel Hill
University of Maryland
Ohio State
Auraria
Northwestern University
Rice University
University of Houston
Cornell
UCLA
University of Southern California
Florida International University
University of Minnesota
Vanderbilt
Yale
Berkeley
The City College of NY
Columbia
The City University of NY
NYU
Evergreen State College
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
Princeton
Brown University
North Carolina University
University of Texas
University of Rochester
University of Washington
Florida State University
University of Arizona
Georgetown
George Washington University
Purdue University
Stanford
Temple University 

***If you live near any of these campuses, the students need food, water, blankets. Drive by and drop off these basic essentials.***

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

These students watch, like most of us, Israel’s live-streamed slaughter of the Palestinian people. But unlike most of us, they act. Their voices and protests are a potent counterpoint to the moral bankruptcy that surrounds them.  --Chris Hedges: Revolt in the Universities https://scheerpost.com/2024/04/25/chris-hedges-revolt-in-the-universities/

I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Don’t Believe What You’re Being Told About ‘Campus Antisemitism’  https://zeteo.com/p/i-am-a-jewish-student-at-columbia

Crackdowns on Protests Are Exposing Higher Ed’s Complicity in Israel’s Genocide https://truthout.org/articles/crackdowns-on-protests-are-exposing-higher-eds-complicity-in-israels-genocide/

Zionist TROLLS Student Protesters, FAILS To Provoke Response  https://youtu.be/nUsdyKNQ-sI?si=TVScGh1YPTZsFRdA

NETANYAHU HAS GIVEN THE ORDER: The Crackdown Of Protest On US Campuses Has Begun https://mark192.substack.com/p/netanyahu-has-given-the-order-the

Are US campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza going global?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/26/are-us-campus-protests-against-israels-war-on-gaza-going-global

It Is Everyone's Responsibility To Help Save Gaza  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/it-is-everyones-responsibility-to

Jill Stein released from St. Louis County Jail after Washington University arrest https://youtu.be/ifINLTzGD30?si=nxE4jdDSodfiq6fu

Biden Wanted To Sanction An Israeli Battalion But He Didn’t Because Israel Said No https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/biden-wanted-to-sanction-an-idf-unit

Biden’s campus crackdown—the Democratic Party bares its fangs, again https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/04/27/ktft-a27.html

Empire Managers Say Russia, China And Iran Are Tricking Students Into Opposing Genocide https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/empire-managers-say-russia-china

Israel & The Cloak of Victimhood https://generalgrievance.substack.com/p/how-zionist-bullies-victim-wash-their

In This Dystopia, Opposing A Genocide Is Considered Worse Than Committing One https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/in-this-dystopia-opposing-a-genocide

Stopping The Slaughter In Gaza Is More Important Than Your Feelings https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/stopping-the-slaughter-in-gaza-is

Columbia Faculty Walk Out Over Student Suspensions, Arrest for Gaza Protests https://scheerpost.com/2024/04/23/columbia-faculty-walk-out-over-student-suspensions-arrest-for-gaza-protests/

Will the Freedom Flotilla Sail to Gaza? https://consortiumnews.com/2024/04/24/will-the-freedom-flotilla-sail-to-gaza/

UN report demolishes Israeli propaganda campaign against UNRWA https://thecradle.co/articles/un-report-demolishes-israeli-propaganda-campaign-against-unrwa

Cruelty of Language: Leaked NY Times Memo Reveals Moral Depravity of US Media https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cruelty-of-language-leaked-ny-times-memo-reveals-moral-depravity-of-us-media/

Jesse Welles (Song) "War Isn't Murder" https://youtu.be/8E9l_i6HPYM?si=mttQhazMgCzrUVBp

War Parties, the Peace Candidate, and the November Election
https://www.other-news.info/war-parties-the-peace-candidate-and-the-november-election/

American Spring? https://denniskucinich.substack.com/p/american-spring

How Israel Facilitated the Guatemalan Genocide https://jacobin.com/2024/04/israel-guatemala-genocide-gaza-imperialism/

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