Pursuing Political Defiance

by C.A. Matthews

Political Defiance is nonviolent struggle (protest, noncooperation, and intervention) applied defiantly and actively for political purposes… “Defiance” denotes a deliberate challenge to authority by disobedience, allowing room for submission. “Political defiance” describes the environment in which the action is employed (political) as well as the objective (political power). The term is used principally to describe actions by populations to regain from dictatorships control over governmental institutions by relentlessly attacking their sources of power and deliberately using strategic planning and operations to do so… Political defiance, nonviolent resistance and nonviolent struggle [can be] used interchangeably… the later two terms generally refer to struggles with a broader range of objectives. --From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp (The New Press www.thenewpress.com)

It’s time for Americans to be defiant. It’s time to stop cooperating. It’s time to nonviolently resist all the crap that is being thrown at us.

First off, let’s talk about how to become a conscientious objector. It might become a necessary option for American males between 18 – 26 years of age. It’s best to be prepared with your reasons for not wanting to be conscripted into the army in case a draft is reinstated.

If you’re not sure you want to exempt yourself from military service, ask yourself the following: Do I want to risk my life fighting to increase the profits of the CEOs of the oil companies and the military-industrial complex? Do I wish to become complicit in the ethnic cleansing/genocide of Palestinians by forcefully removing them from Gaza and the West Bank? Do I long to round up asylum-seekers at the border and force them back into possibly deadly situations in the countries they have fled from? Would I be willing to hunt down, capture, kill or imprison my fellow citizens who don’t agree with the current regime’s methods or policies?

If you answered no to any of the questions, watch the following short video: https://youtu.be/wLoUu_YIV3s?si=mcGuAkA5lHIn0-6Y

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The Moral IQ

 

The Moral IQ 

(The US isn’t in any position to lecture anyone about morality. It's time to kick the moral idiots out of office.)

by C.A. Matthews

“How can they do such a thing!” is a phrase I’ve heard more than once over the past twelve months, closely followed by “That’s insane! They’re acting like sociopaths! They’re immoral!”

I agree wholeheartedly. Israel’s genocide of Gazans, trapped in an open air prison, on what are basically made up excuses to steal their land and resources qualifies as insane, immoral, and sociopathic. But it’s happening now to the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank, and the evil is spreading into Lebanon with the blessings (and armaments) of the USA.

Americans can’t deny it. US tax payers are arming “The World’s Most Moral Army (TM)” with our tax dollars. We’re arming them in spite of Israeli soldiers videoing themselves committing war crimes such as looting and shooting innocent civilians and children in cold blood.

So how is it that Israel claims to have a “moral” army when its soldiers are anything but? How can the US claim to be moral when it has broken its own humanitarian laws that say it's unlawful to arm a country that is breaking those same humanitarian laws? How can what the US military is doing in the Middle East be considered moral when they don’t even live up to their own standards?

“Because we say it is,” is the typical reply given by US and Israeli government spokespersons. “We say our actions are moral, and you are mistaken if you think otherwise. We are superior in our wisdom.”

Do you believe them? I don’t...

 

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Priorities, People! Priorities!

 

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." —Voltaire

Priorities, People! Priorities!

by C.A. Matthews

Everyone probably has had a teacher, professor, coach, boss, or parent who has shouted, “Priorities, people! Priorities!” whenever you seemed to lose focus or got distracted by something not as important as you thought it was.

I can still hear my 9^th grade Algebra teacher repeatedly telling us to do our assignments first or we wouldn’t be able to pass the chapter test.

“Did you do the even numbered exercises last night? he’d challenge us. “You want to pass the test and pass this class, don’t you? Priorities, people! Priorities!”

Of course, not everyone did their homework. Not everyone passed the test or passed the class. They got distracted by something more fun than working math problems. In my era, that meant watching too much TV or listening to your latest rock LPs for hours on end instead of doing your homework. And the results of their distraction showed—in their grades then, and possibly in their lives later on because of the type of jobs they were able to get without passing Algebra. Not the good paying kind.

Becoming distracted from what is really important can lead to serious consequences. “What happened?” these distracted folks whine in confusion. They’ll blame everyone but themselves for making poor decisions by following a false priority down a dead end path.

I want to help you focus on what should be your top priorities, not because I enjoy scolding people, but because I hate seeing people suffer later, angry, because no one warned them from wandering far from what really matters.

 

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The Fight

 The Fight

by C.A. Matthews

 

Nowadays there are so many things coming at us all at once—climate disasters, political disasters, personal disasters—that it sometimes becomes so overwhelming that all you want to do is shout, “ENOUGH ALREADY! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Only once you’re free from the stress will you be able to walk away from everything with your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed as you curl up with your favorite blanket in a corner of your bed like you did when you were three years old and then forget that the world even exists.

Too bad the world never forgets about you.

The world has a way of finding us no matter how much we try to hide from it, like it or not. It won’t leave us alone if we have half a brain cell or even a tiny gram of integrity. It will call to us and plead with us to take part in its happenings. It will call to us saying, “Help me get rid it of these evil and immoral elements and replace them with just and moral ones.”

And we’ll feel obligated to do so, until it all becomes too much for us again. Then we’ll curl up in a fetal position and sob, “Enough! Please?”

I’ve been hovering over the “Enough!” cliff edge for quite some time now, so I really appreciated reading Caitlin Johnstone’s latest poem. Here it is in case you haven’t read it yet...

 

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Shutting Down The Bullies

"We Have Blood On Our Hands" (original painting by Caitlin Johnstone)

Shutting Down The Bullies

by C. A. Matthews

Israel to Punish West Bank After 3 More Countries Recognize Palestinian State https://truthout.org/articles/israel-to-punish-west-bank-after-3-more-countries-recognize-palestinian-state/

Blinken suggests the World Food Program could be defunded to protect Israel https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/blinken-suggests-the-world-food-program

Indeed, there is no comparison: Israel's crimes are far worse than Hamas' https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/indeed-there-is-no-comparison-israels

Israel Massacres Children, Which The Western Press Says Is Fine https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-massacres-children-which-the/

What do the above headlines (articles) have in common? If you guessed “Israel,” you’re partially correct. If you guessed “Israel’s Zionist actions”, give yourself a point. But if you said, “These articles show how Israel’s Zionist actions are used to bully, intimidate, and frighten others into giving into their unreasonable demands,” give yourself ten points and an aspirin.

Why the painkiller? It’s because you know just how much of a headache Zionists can be and how big a migraine their sycophantic lap dog, the US, is as it conspires with Israel in its genocidal rampage against the Palestinian people while providing cover for them on the international scene.

Notice how I’m not limiting Israel’s intentions to strictly wiping out the population of Gaza. The first article will tell you that no person of Palestinian heritage is safe in the West Bank as well, and the second article shows you that the US isn’t afraid to withhold food and starve people worldwide in order to protect their “ally”.  

Or is that the Americans’ “battleship” in the Middle East? One wonders how friendly any country can be with such a bully as the ethnostate of Israel. It certainly stinks of an abusive relationship with a side order of sadism thrown into the mix, especially when you considered what Israel did to the USS Liberty in 1967. Not a healthy relationship for sure.

I’ve given a new moniker to Zionists who use the antisemitism card to excuse their violent tactics: zio-bullies. It goes well with my term for those who suffer from “zionarcissism.” (Read all about it here.) The zio-bullies are led by Benjamin “I’m calling the shots when it comes to violently shutting down college protests” Netanyahu with major assistance from the de facto leader of the United States Antony “Get a load of my high up Zionist connections” Blinken.

Genocide Joe “the Butcher” Biden is only serving in a support role at this point in time, as his recent incoherent babbling while addressing a crowd demonstrates. He still thinks he saw photos of beheaded babies back in October, an incident proven to never have happened. Well, not until recently, that is, when mass graves filled with the bodies of patients—including tiny incubator babies—were discovered at the bombed-out Al Shifa Medical Center in Gaza. Perhaps Joe was given an explanation of what Netanyahu’s zio-bullies were planning, and he got confused into thinking it had already happened?

If you’ve ever dealt with bullies before—and anyone who has ever attended K-12 schools in person in the US probably has—you know there’s only one way to shut a bully down. You refuse to give in to their terror tactics. You don’t stay quiet about their abuse. You snitch on them to the authorities and inform the public what the bullies are up to and shame them for their violent actions. You don’t suffer in silence or pay the bully off to prevent them from attacking you again because that will only encourage the bully to keep doing what they have been doing all along.

What does this mean in regards to Israel and its “buddies” like Blinken who cover for their war crimes? It means that we keep sharing information about their zio-bully actions. We share this info as widely and as frequently as we can. We share it online and in person via discussions, demonstrations, and protests. (Last week's post was on this topic, “To Proclaim Loudly”.) We don’t hold back on not reporting their atrocities in hopes the zio-bullies will learn their lesson and have a sudden change of heart. That kind of tactic won’t work.

Why won't it work? Well, it's simple: A zio-bully doesn’t have a “heart” or a conscience to begin with. Face it, how can a greedy racist who intends on wiping out the entire indigenous population of Palestine and stealing their lands and resources possess a conscience? How can an IDF solider who shot a ten year old on a bicycle in the back of the head look at herself in the mirror? If zio-bullies had even the inkling of a conscience, it would bother them all the time, and they wouldn’t be doing such horrendous things.  

So, there’s no need to feel shy or guilty about snitching on these evil bastards. Keep sharing their war crimes and horrible policies with everyone you know and then some. The light of truth needs to shine into the zio-bullies’ darkest corners until it kills all the malevolence growing there like sunshine kills mold on contact.

Yeah, I just compared a bunch of murderous sociopaths with mold. Please forgive me, mold. I still enjoy bleu cheese crumbled into a salad from time to time.

American zio-bullies like Secretary of State/President de facto Blinken and most members of Congress are also in need of some bright lights shown into their despicable lives. I’d line them up under klieg lights and do a thorough interrogation until they confessed how much money AIPAC has given them and what other naughty things they might have gotten up to on Jeffery Epstein’s Lolita Express and private island that Mossad is holding over their heads. I’d also make them give back their Israeli passports before they pull a stunt like former US spy Jonathan Pollard did to flee justice and stop paying taxes. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard)

Of course, American zio-bullies Blinken and the others wouldn't be able to do the heinous things they're doing in the first place, like providing bombs to Israel to commit a genocide, if they didn't have henchmen. I'm talking about America's IDF-trained militarized police departments, cops who have been taught to crack open heads of protesters first and don't ask questions later. In fact, the cops are even allowing zio-bully vigilantes to do some of the head cracking for them. How “neighborly” of them!

And with the zio-bully cooperatives in the US mainstream media, all this violence is dismissed as easily as The Atlantic magazine can say “legally killed child” to describe the mass murders of children by the Israeli forces raining fire down upon a refugee camp in Rafah filled with families sleeping in tents.

Considering their love of violence, dare we consider fighting back against zio-bullies through means of physical force? Sometimes violence is the only language a bully understands. The last eight months have revealed how the zio-bullies aren't willing or able to stop their genocidal destruction of Gaza. The Netanyahu regime has always turned a blind eye toward Israeli settlers’ violence against the indigenous population in the West Bank as well. If exposing their war crimes and embarrassing them in public doesn’t stop zio-bullies, perhaps we will be forced to use their kind of bully tactics against them in return until they get the message.

However, fighting back doesn’t always have to be conducted through the use of military might. It can include intense economic sanctions and boycotts of Israel's products and services. The BDS Movement has been a thing for some time now, but it hasn’t shut down apartheid Israel yet. Perhaps the boycott/divest/sanction movement needs to be put on steroids to increase its effectiveness? Every country on the planet needs to quit doing business with Israel, not just a handful—no exceptions.

The student encampments in solidarity with the Palestinian people have been working hard to get their individual college campuses to divest from Israeli corporations, and it’s working. There have been some big successes within the University of California system. We need all Western schools of higher learning to do likewise.

Protesters with the group Palestine Action shut down Israeli military contractor Elbit Systems in Leicester, England, and were able to make their case to a judge and be let off charges. Think if we could replicate their success a hundred-fold. Good-bye zio-bully war machine!

Shutting down Elbit Systems and the like is going to make the military-industrial complex billionaires antsy. Israel is one of the biggest distributors of armaments in the world. Can you believe it? A place the size of New Jersey with a zio-bully population not much more than New Jersey is distributing killing machines and ordinance to everyone and anyone who will pay them hard cash.

That’s why I find it rather disingenuous of Israel to claim it’s “afraid” of everyone in the Middle East and needs to commit a genocide of the Palestinian people in order to “remain safe.” It’s been selling its Arab neighbors armaments for years! And tell me who has successfully invaded them since the Zionists took Palestine away from its original inhabitants in 1948? Buehler?

Zio-bullies are a strange lot. Manipulating others and hiding their motives about what they’re actually doing (not what they say they’re doing) seems to be their thing. They apparently enjoy causing endless chaos if it gets them what they want. And what’s that? At the end of the day, all they really want is the indigenous people dead or gone so white Israeli settler-colonizers can steal 100% of the Palestinians’ land to create the perfect apartheid ethnostate.

“All for me and none for thee,” sums up the zio-bullies' motives. I guess that’s why they appeal so much to the rulers of wannabe apartheid states like the US. Imagine how turned-on Blinken, Biden, Sen. Lindsay Graham and others must be thinking about getting rid of all us Americans who are the wrong race, wrong religion, wrong gender identity, wrong politics… They probably figure if their “ally” the Israelis can commit a genocide, why can’t they?

I doubt zio-bullies really know what to do with themselves if they aren’t constantly playing their zionarcissistic victim card. Theirs is not a mentally healthy society. Don't stand too close to them because their sickness is contagious. 

And ultimately terminal. It's time to shut them down. Permanently. By any and all means necessary. Today.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Israel Massacres Children, Which The Western Press Says Is Fine https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-massacres-children-which-the/

Norway, Ireland, Spain to recognise Palestinian state https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/22/norway-will-recognise-palestinian-state-pm-says

Biden’s Rafah ‘red line’ is a green light for 'death and destruction' https://www.aaronmate.net/p/bidens-rafah-red-line-is-a-green

 
No aid unloaded at US pier has reached Gaza: Pentagon https://thecradle.co/articles/no-aid-unloaded-at-us-pier-has-reached-gaza-pentagon

Israeli Military Accused of Genocide International Criminal Court https://lrna.org/israeli-military-accused-of-genocide/
 
South Africa vs. Israel: ICJ Orders Immediate Halt to Military Offensive in Rafah https://www.citizenschronicle.org/p/south-africa-vs-israel-icj-orders

'We're Fed Up With It': Survivors of the USS Liberty Look for Answers 55 Years Later https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/08/were-fed-it-survivors-of-uss-liberty-look-answers-55-years-later.html

Chris Hedges: The Slow-Motion Execution of Julian Assange Continues https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/21/chris-hedges-the-slow-motion-execution-of-julian-assange-continues/

Biden’s Response to Israel’s ICC Prosecution Is an Attack on International Law https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-response-to-israels-icc-prosecution-is-an-attack-on-international-law/

The ICC reaffirms it’s Jan 26 order & has ordered the following measures:Israel must immediately halt its offensive military action in Rafah, maintain open the Rafah crossing to allow aid in  unhindered & allow access to the Gaza Strip for any commission inquiry.  https://twitter.com/BeccaB44000status/1794011991834587203

PROOF Israel Is Not A Democracy! https://youtu.be/5TCK0FwfLmI

‘We’re next!’ US senator warns about ICC https://www.rt.com/news/598060-graham-senate-icc-israel/

Jury finds Palestine Action activists NOT GUILTY over Elbit occupation  https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/05/24/palestine-action-not-guilty-elbit/

Germany deports 7 Ukrainian soldiers for wearing Nazi symbols https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hydtdcxmr

Dr. Jill Stein interviewed on George Galloway's MOAT podcast
https://www.youtube.com/live/eeyZZKr1V6A?si=b3hik-auHUZ-u6F5

Biden fears ‘huge Jewish influence’ – White House aide https://www.rt.com/news/598009-biden-condemn-israel-veritas/

Jewish Scholar's Book Reveals Zionism's Fascist Roots & Close Collaborative Role With Nazi Regime https://mark192.substack.com/p/jewish-scholars-book-reveals-fascist

UN expert @FranceskAlbs- western media have manipulated language to build an unprecedented, sanitised cocoon around the #Israeli regime, to obstruct accountability.   https://twitter.com/timand2037/status/1792287671374540891

Harvard Students Stage EPIC Commencement Walkout https://youtu.be/oK7SqvNKSPs?si=e8o-r3a9WIE3qWIz

Inside USC Annenberg’s Commencement, Outside the “Free Speech Area” https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/22/inside-usc-annenbergs-commencement-outside-the-free-speech-area/

UCLA attackers exposed: meet the violent Zionist agitators LA police haven’t arrested https://thegrayzone.com/2024/05/13/ucla-attackers-exposed/

If You Can't Even Elect A Candidate Who'll End A Genocide, How Real Is Your "Democracy"? https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/if-you-cant-even-elect-a-candidate

Meanwhile, We're Still WAY Too Close To Nuclear Armageddon https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/meanwhile-were-still-way-too-close

Untenable investments: Nuclear weapon producers and their financiers https://www.icanw.org/untenable_investments_nuclear_weapon_producers_and_their_financiers

Republican bill aims to give Americans in Israeli military same benefits as US soldiers https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/republican-bill-wants-americans-israeli-military-have-same-benefits-us-soldiers

Like So Much Else, The Fuss Over 'International Law' Is Really About Narrative Control https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/like-so-much-else-the-fuss-over-international

The actions of the ICC and ICJ are useful only insofar as they help disabuse people of the delusional belief that western powers care one iota about international law, and in that they make it clear to the whole world that Israel and its powerful western allies are openly violating the rules they pretend to stand by.

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 230: Israel Lashes Out at West Bank in Wake of ICC Request https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/25/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-230-israel-lashes-out-at-west-bank-in-wake-of-icc-request/

It's Actually Amazing How Stupid The Propaganda Is Getting https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-actually-amazing-how-stupid-the

China & Russia strengthen friendship, blasting Western 'neocolonialism' & US militarism https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/china-russia-west-neocolonialism-us-militarism 

Fantastic Song: Jordan Smart -- Who Would Jesus Bomb? https://youtu.be/gMPAHL4K-FA?si=yZO2zWCA554TISFs 

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To Proclaim Loudly

I don't know if there has ever been a time comparable to this one, where we are seeing people for who and what they really are. There's nowhere to hide anymore. You're either with God or you're with the devil and his legions. You either support children being stripped naked, having their hands tied behind their back, and executed or you don't. There's no middle ground. And whatever side a person is on has become abundantly clear to everyone around them. The masks are off.  --Mike Stone

To Proclaim Loudly

by C.A. Matthews

As the weeks turn into months, and the genocide in Gaza continues unabated, you really start to wonder: “Is it worth it? Is it worth protesting to a (mostly) uncaring audience that ethnic cleansing is wrong? Is it worth doing march after march after protest after protest after informational meeting after informational meeting when you’re essentially reaching the same folks (who were already pro-Palestinian) time and time again?”

It’s draining, and it’s frustrating, but what is the alternative? To give up? To stop caring about the plight of two million souls who are enduring the worse that humanity has to offer? And this isn’t the only place on Earth where people are being indiscriminately killed because of… Well, simply put, greed and prejudice. The Congo, Sudan, and Haiti come to mind. You can see the “why” of how Westerners can forget about the suffering of darker-skinned peoples. It’s not like the Western nations have never been racist against non-whites, but now the West has adopted the racism of Zionism as well. How open-minded of them!

Giving up on saving the lives of others will not save our lives, in case you’re leaning that way. If we stop caring for others, we will eventually stop caring for ourselves and our loved ones. You can’t just turn off the tap of compassion for one part of humanity and expect love to flow to the rest. It doesn’t work that way. Ask an addict. When you use chemicals to kill the pain and stop feeling those uncomfortable emotions, it doesn’t just stop the negative feelings. It shuts down all your feelings. And how can you love others when you’re not even loving yourself through the abuse of substances or engaging in destructive habits? Answer: You can’t.

The United States of Israel is one such addict.

The US has become addicted to greed itself. We hoard others’ natural resources such as land, fossil fuels, copper, cobalt, platinum, uranium… The list goes on ad infinitum. Our powers-that-be have perfected the use of racism and fear of others in their quest to steal others’ natural resources. They promote racism and fear of others in their divide and conquer tactics within our country. With all of us at each others’ throats, we will never have enough energy to go after those who are truly our enemies, the capitalists and their minions.

You don’t have enough to eat? It’s those people down the block or the country across the globe from yours who are “stealing your food.” Go fight them for it, but forget all about blaming the rich and powerful who control food distribution. Forget who are manufacturing the false narrative that your fellow workers are at fault. Somehow it’s never the fault of the wealthy who own everything. Remember you should never tax the “job creators” and make them pay their fair share of taxes… Trust the Trickle Down Theory implicitly! It will eventually trickle down some wealth to you and yours in perhaps three to four hundred years.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t expect to live that long.

The bottom line is we can’t give up. We can’t give up on the Palestinians, the Congolese, the Sudanese, the Haitians...or ourselves. To give up on any part of humanity is to give up on the whole of humanity.

To give up on humanity is to give up on any chance we have of turning the climate crisis around. It’s to give up on seeing your children or grandchildren grow up to take the reins away from the greedy and prejudiced powers-that-be who are currently screwing us and the planet over.

So, what can we do on days when all we can think about doing is throwing in the towel? On days when all we want to do is to stop caring so much about others because it hurts? On days when we could just walk away from this struggle called life and not miss it? There’s only one thing we can do: We have to give ourselves new marching orders.

We take it to the streets again. And again. Because...

We keep proclaiming the truth of what’s happening—loudly. We keep marching in protest parades even when threatened with mace, rubber bullets, tear gas or a night in jail. We keep sharing the truth of things even when others refuse to listen and shun us or shame us. We don’t need their approval, after all. Our consciences approve of us and our actions. And these stone-hearted fools really do need to hear us.

They really do understand there is a genocide happening in Gaza, but they’re afraid of us knowing that they do. They’re scared of acknowledging their part in perpetuating the official narrative that there is no genocide. They have become slaves of the corrupt system. In their fear they’ve locked themselves into the cycle of Zionist lies thinking they'll stay safe, not realizing that losing their souls is a prison worse than hell itself.

Poor pitiful things! This is where the “proclaim loudly” part comes in handy.

We simply don’t shut up. We don’t shut down. We keep repeating the reality of our messed up world over and over again because these sell-outs to the Zionist lie are both stupid and stubborn. But we can act pig-headed, too. With so many innocent lives at stake, why should we waste precious time playing their silly “Shut up, you’re hurting our feelings” game?

Saving lives, the planet, and our souls comes well before anyone-who-is-okay-with-babies’-faces-being-blown-off-by-US-provided-bombs’ “feelings”. These narcissists need a wake up call to reality, not our coddling. Let me put it bluntly: F*** the feelings of all greedy zionarcissists! It time for you to grow up and think of the welfare of others, you self-centered morons!

It's freeing when you give yourself permission to keep marching with heads and flags held high. And no, not the flags of the military-industrial complex lackeys, better known as the US and its NATO allies. We fly the flags of truth, liberty, revolution, freedom and peace for all humankind. Wave those flags proudly and raise a fist and shout loudly!

Let’s keep encouraging one another as the days drag along and it seems like there’s no end in sight to the bombing, shooting, starving, and suffering of innocents. It is our duty. We are their witnesses. We are their bringers of hope. We may even be their bringers of salvation in time. And we’d want them to do the same for us when our time of suffering comes.

Power to the people!

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Chris Hedges: Israel’s Willing Executioners
https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/13/chris-hedges-israels-willing-executioners/

Please Stop Saying Israel Is an “Ally” of the United States — It Is Not.  https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/please-stop-saying-israel-is-an-ally

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/

Police Brutality “Made in Israel” https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/police-brutality-made-in-israel

US Army Officer Resigns Over ‘Unqualified’ Support for Israeli Slaughter in Gaza  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/05/13/us-army- officer-resigns-over-unqualified-support-for-israeli-slaughter-in-gaza/

Jewish Biden Appointee Resigns from Interior Department Over Gaza Slaughter https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/16/jewish-biden-appointee-resigns-from-interior-department-over-gaza-slaughter/

The Genocide Case Against Israel Before the World Court Just Got Much Stronger https://stevendonziger.substack.com/p/the-genocide-case-against-israel

Report: Israel Has Bombed Known Aid Worker Sites in Gaza at Least 8 Times  https://truthout.org/articles/report-israel-has-bombed-known-aid-worker-sites-in-gaza-at-least-8-times/

Biden’s Shifting ‘Red Line’ Allows Israel To Keep Getting Away With Murder https://popularresistance.org/bidens-shifting-red-line-allows-israel-to-keep-getting-away-with-murder/

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ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity https://www.nationofchange.org/2024/05/20/icc-prosecutor-seeks-arrest-warrants-for-netanyahu-and-hamas-leaders-for-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity/

'Dark Times' As Renowned Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé Detained, Interrogated By FBI https://www.commondreams.org/news/ilan-pappe  https://mark192.substack.com/p/alert-dark-times-as-renowned-israeli

The Nakba: All you need to know explained in five maps and charts https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-nakba-ethnic-cleansing-explained-five-maps-charts

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13% of 2020 Swing State Biden Voters Won’t Be in 2024 Because of Gaza: Polls https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/14/13-of-2020-swing-state-biden-voters-wont-be-in-2024-because-of-gaza-polls/

Booing of Israeli Singer Covered up by Eurovision https://rumble.com/v4uywkb-eurovision.html

The US Empire Deliberately Stokes Hatred And Violence In The Middle East https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-us-empire-deliberately-stokes

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Assange Wins Right to Appeal on 1st Amendment Issue https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/20/assange-wins-right-to-appeal-on-1a-issue/ 

 

Why You'll Never Achieve The American Dream https://youtu.be/vu7IJ-HDIos?si=zzYvS4vHxhy5C7Qk

 

“Unprecedented” – CO2 Rising 10 Times Faster Than Any Time in Recorded History https://scitechdaily.com/unprecedented-co2-rising-10-times-faster-than-any-time-in-recorded-history/ 

 

For those who think Biden is "soft" on immigration: 

"...The Biden Administration seeks to engage in the type of politically-motivated action that the Refugee Convention and 1980 Refugee Act sought to eliminate. For the above reasons, such action would violate the intent of Congress, our treaty obligations, and over two centuries of U.S. case law." Proposed Asylum Bar Regs Are At Odds With International Law (And Why That Matters)  https://www.jeffreyschase.com/blog/2024/5/16/proposed-asylum-bar-regs-at-odds-with-international-law-and-why-that-matters

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. 

How Do We Live With Ourselves?

 

In Lak'ech Ala K'in. "I am you and you are me. What I do to you, I do to myself." —Mayan Saying

How Do We Live With Ourselves?

by C.A. Matthews

In this season of supposed “Peace on Earth! Goodwill to All Humankind!” one would hope to see—and experience—some of this peace and goodwill for oneself.

But, of course, that’s not possible in December 2023 because there’s a genocide going on in Palestine, both in Gaza and the West Bank. There are also other genocides occurring elsewhere on the planet—such as in the Congo—but they’re not making the news cycle much, like the one in Rwanda a few years back didn’t. Africans are invisible to Western media outlets. The stacks of dead bodies of black people don’t register on their cameras or consciousnesses.

Criminal, isn’t it?

The fact that Netanyahu and Biden have teamed up to slaughter tens of thousands of Palestinians, including little children, babies in incubators, and the elderly, has caused many Americans to simply shut down emotionally and intellectually. That’s the only explanation I can give to explain the lack of responses I’ve received whenever I post an article, a video, or photo detailing what’s happening in Gaza on my Facebook page. I’m lucky to get one or two likes or comments from the same one or two persons, but mostly I receive zero responses. Crickets.

Even to a video that shows the destruction of Gaza that US tax dollars have paid for (Don't you feel proud?): https://youtu.be/k0pOaRsfxYc?si=CaOByrRvvMFpsJrR

I know it’s foolish of me to even think it’s worth my time posting anything on Facebook, but I feel that the public has the right to hear the whole story and not only the sanitized and twisted narrative the status quo puts out in the mainstream media. I keep hoping some of these posts will get through the blocks and shadowbans. I know a lot of what I’ve posted on X/Twitter has been censored as well, but enough of my X posts must get through because I do receive plentiful responses from online friends and strangers alike.

Of course, the strangers are often accusing me of being “antisemitic” because I voice that I am strongly anti-Zionist/anti-genocide. Somehow people are confusing these two radically different concepts, Semitism and Zionism. Semitic peoples are simply people originally from the part of the world that makes up Gaza/Palestine and the modern state of Israel and speak similar languages. That’s all it really means.

And I’ll admit that I’m very much for Semitic people living and thriving and not being crushed to death in the rubble of their homes while being bombed by the Israeli air force, bombs courtesy of the US military-industrial complex. I’m very much for tiny babies in incubators in hospitals in the Gaza strip to have access to electricity and clean water and to not be left to die alone in the cold and dark because Israeli soldiers forced their doctors and nurses out of the hospitals. I’m very much for Israeli civilians not being burned to death in their cars by missiles shot from Apache helicopters piloted by Israeli Air Force pilots who believe in the “Hannibal Directive”.

I simply want all signatories to the United Nations Convention on Human Rights to follow the rules. I don’t want them to commit war crimes. That’s not too much to ask now, is it?

So, obviously I’m far from being “antisemitic” by the textbook definition. As far as the political ideology of Zionism goes? Nah, I can’t get behind it since it has led to the creation of a horrible ethnostate that has slaughtered the indigenous peoples for decades now without mercy because the Zionists want to steal the natives’ land and natural resources. Any political ideology that supports anything like the 1948 Nakba, apartheid, second class citizenship for native peoples, carpet bombing, and outright genocide isn’t an ideology I can support in good conscience.

And that’s where the problem lies for me. My conscience tells me that genocide is wrong, and that I, as a professing Christian, must do all that I can to “Love my neighbor as myself.” I cannot simply turn a blind eye to the horrors happening to Palestinians since they are my “neighbor.” I  must “Do for others as I would like them to do for me.” I must walk a mile in their moccasins and learn what it’s like to be oppressed, to feel the pain of what is happening to them, and then do something about it. I don’t have a choice. It’s what I as a Christian must do.

My conscience says that if I simply ignore others being killed and injured with US provided military armaments then I, as an American citizen/taxpayer, am every bit as culpable as the party to whom we provided the weapons to that is actively doing the killing.

We Americans don’t get a free pass on this. We don’t get to deny that we’re causing untold suffering and agony to our fellow human beings just because we made a private deal with another country that wants to use our military aid to commit a genocide. We must accept the blame and take action to rectify the nightmarish situation before it gets even worse—although it’s already gotten worse, hasn’t it?

I can’t imagine a worse scenario than 1.8 million displaced, 7,000 dead children, 20,000 civilians dead or crushed under the rubble of Gaza, murdered simply for the crime of being born Palestinian. Once the "temporary pause" was lifted, over 700 Palestinians were killed within the first 24 hour period by IDF bombing. It bothers my conscience. It hurts my heart greatly. I can’t sleep sometimes. I remember my youngest daughter spending her first week of life in an incubator. How would I feel if she had been left to die alone or buried under a ton of rubble because Zionists wanted her dead?

But nobody wants to hear about my PTSD triggers. This strange concept of having a conscience isn’t going over very well with some Americans I’ve encountered, unfortunately. Here is my recent tale that illustrates this problem:

I was sharing information from one group to another group online, because I thought maybe a few people (not all, just a few) in the second group might be interested in using their musical skills to help out the folks in the first group. So I copied and pasted a request from the first group and sent it along in a group email to the second group. Honestly, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. I was in a hurry, and I didn’t edit the paragraph I’d received from the first group because I didn’t want to add words or take away anything from what they were trying to ask help for.

Imagine my surprise (shock, really) the next day when I’m totally blindsided by a heated response posted in the second group that I emailed. Only two persons emailed back on the loop, but their accusations of my “antisemitism” and the “legal ramifications” of assisting the first group this holiday season pretty much told me that they weren’t the decent human beings I’d thought they were. (And the rest of those on the email loop? They’ve remained silent—in agreement? In fear they could be attacked next? Who knows?)

Now here's the real kicker: the second group is a church group, and I’d assumed they were professing Christians as well as musicians. Wouldn’t they as Christians want to stop a genocide being committed with the help of our tax dollars? Don’t their consciences bother them about the genocide going on against the relatives of the first group? Are my friends in the first group seen as being less than somehow because not all of them are the same kind of Christians or aren’t seen as American as the persons in the second group?

I’ll never know the answer to these questions. My emails asking for clarification (and maybe some words of comfort?) from the church's pastor were never answered. And I was apparently dropped from the church music group’s email loop as well.

Being ghosted by your pastor and others who you thought were your friends really sucks—especially during the Christmas season. I’ve always sung in church praise bands, choirs, and chorales. My favorite activity in December is going Christmas caroling. It’s the highlight of the year for me. It makes the cold and damp and the darkness of early winter bearable. Now it's ruined for me because I’m not welcome to sing with this second group because… Because I have a conscience? Because I don't support genocide?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to put my conscience to sleep—ever—even if I end up friendless. How could I live with myself knowing that I didn’t at least try to help others who are hurting? Why should I become a soulless sociopath just to fit in with present-day, bloodthirsty mainstream American society or a mainline American church denomination that backs those immoral values?

Since I've always followed the teachings of a radical Palestinian of the first century A.D. who preaches the Golden Rule, I think I’ll just walk on water and get the hell away from these hypocrites ASAP.  

I doubt I’ll ever be able to forget this upsetting experience or the unkind things my former church associates implied about the Palestinian Americans with whom I associate with through the local activism scene. I enjoy my current work with immigrants as a paralegal and have enjoyed my work as an ESL tutor and citizenship teacher for many years. I don’t see immigrants and newcomers as second class citizens or less than the people who have lived in the US all their lives. When a person or group has a reasonable request and asks for help, why can’t I share this ask with others without the risk of being attacked and accused of made-up charges of antisemitism?

Why are the people who actually support genocide by their actions and non-actions alike getting to call all the shots? I know—it’s because they’re capitalists, right? Money talks, especially in cash-strapped American churches. We can’t be upsetting the folks who write the big checks for the offering plate, can we?

It’s going to be a blue Christmas for yours truly. I get to suffer for putting my neck out there because I care about others. But a big thanks goes out to all those online who have supported me in the past and who will continue to support me in the future. You get me. You have a conscience. Bless you for being you.

Hey—maybe we can get together online and throw a Zoom Christmas carol party? I’ll bring the electronic cookies. (Ha-ha!)

How do we live with ourselves if we can’t even be open to showing love to our neighbor whose relatives are being wiped out in a genocide? We can’t. We die. Inside. Our consciences will be lost. Forever. And the warmongers and genocide supporters will win.

And we can’t let them win. Ever.

 

Liberationist theologian Herb Montgomery puts the whole Christmas story into a sharper perspective in A Christmas Story for the Marginalized

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2019/12/a-christmas-story-for-the-marginalized

Reclaimed interpretations of the Christmas story emphasize details that we can’t afford to miss. Jesus being born into immense poverty, being announced to the socially outcast, bypassing the politically, economically, socially and religiously of the day, and his parents becoming violence-fleeing refugees for the well-being of their child—there is an entire foundation here on which to build a framework for Christians who are working toward social justice today.

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