2025: The Year Truth Becomes Hate Speech

 

2025: The Year Truth 

Becomes Hate Speech

by C. A. Matthews

At the end of the year, most bloggers/columnists compile a round-up of worldwide events that stood out to them as making a significant impact on human society. This year the detrimental events came at us all so fast and furious, one right after another, that there’s almost no way to rank them in order of horridness because they were all so… well, horrid. Where to start?

I tried to find a common thread among the happenings which sums up what the year 2025 was all about. An idea grabbed me as I read one astute observer’s comment on the recent arrest of activist Greta Thunberg. Greta was arrested in London for holding a sign pleading for the release of the Palestine Action hunger strikers. This comment has become the theme of this year's round-up: Truth has become hate speech.

In the year 2025, this theme was present in most earth-shattering events. It can be summed up in a formula reminiscent of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: Truth = Hate Speech. (Or possibly Hate Speech squared.) And just as revolutionary as Einstein’s breakthrough in physics, this Truth = Hate Speech axiom opens up a whole new way of understanding how our lords and masters (a.k.a. the billionaires/oligarchy and their henchpersons/political puppets) want to manipulate and use us from here on out—that is, if we let them.

Let’s start with Greta’s and thousands of other British protesters’ example...

 

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Truth Is Never Out of Style

by C.A. Matthews

I enjoy listening to my friend DJ Amjad’s Deep Mix Music and More radio program while I’m writing. The other day I found myself singing along with a catchy chorus from a 1990’s rap song:

Now I know you're sayin'
Well why don't he stop beating around the bush
Well I'll get there when i get there
So there ain't no need to push!
Because the point I'm trying to make contains my whole philosophy
So listen to what I tell you and repeat it after me

Truth is out of style (out of style)
Truth is out of style (out of style) (say what?)
Truth is out of style (say what?)
Truth (say what?) (is out of style)
Truth (is out of style)
--from Truth Is Out of Style by DJ Zero & MC 900 ft. Jesus

Thirty-four years later, and the words still ring true. The “philosophy” that MC 900 sung in his rap has become the motto of many Western governments: Truth is out of style.

If you don’t believe me, how do you explain the following?

Richard Medhurst, an independent British journalist was arrested at Heathrow airport and held for nearly 24 hours under the UK Terrorism Act because of stories he featured on his podcast.

Mary Kostakidis, known as “the face of television news in Australia,” has been accused of supporting ethnic cleansing of Jews because of two retweets about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Sarah Wilkinson, UK activist/journalist and supporter of Palestinians, has been banned from using her phone or her laptop because of her tweets. (Yes, just for posting on the X platform!) She is effectively under house arrest.

Sharmine Narwani, who founded The Cradle, an online journal of news and comment, was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram. Narwani now stands accused of “praising terrorist organizations” and engaging in “incitement to violence.”

Professor Danny Shaw was detained by the FBI for three hours in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport after returning from a Free Palestine film festival in London. His computing devices were seized. He had been fired from his job back in April when he was falsely called “antisemitic” for his pro-Palestine comments.

 and, of course, Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame...

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When Is A Ceasefire Not A Ceasefire?

If you still have any doubt that we live in a profoundly sick dystopia as deranged as anything that’s ever been imagined in fiction, take note of the fact that the most powerful empire in history is currently trying to propagandize you into thinking an obvious genocide is fine. -- Caitlin Johnstone

When Is A Ceasefire Not A Ceasefire?

by C.A. Matthews

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? Recent headlines in the mainstream media confused me, so I did some research to find the answers.

US steps aside, allows 'non-binding' ceasefire https://youtu.be/wvuTyGROBZQ?si=gk82n6pl7hs6ZW9i

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the United Nations, emphasizes that the Security Council’s vote to approve a ceasefire in Gaza is “non-binding,” so that is why the US decided to abstain from voting no to a ceasefire resolution this time around. In her opinion, this ceasefire resolution is not really a “ceasefire,” and it can and will be ignored by the US and Israel.

Meanwhile, this is what the rest of the Security Council thinks about it:

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday characterized the United Nations Security Council resolution 2728 demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict as “non-binding,” a phrase also used by US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

 The US was rebuked by China, according to Akmal Dawi at VOA: “‘Security Council resolutions are binding,’ Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday.”

 Beijing is correct on the law, and the Biden administration is being disingenuous. If President Biden did not want a ceasefire resolution to pass, he should have vetoed it. By abstaining and letting the world community vote on the matter, Biden has elicited a binding decision, and his officials should stop dancing around it.

 The law here is clear.

 Article 25 of the UN Charter, to which the US, China and Israel are all signatories, says, “The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.”

Moreover, we could consider the actual language of the resolution, in which the UNSC:

“Demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain”

You’d have to twist yourself into a pretzel to avoid concluding that the Security Council sees the ceasefire as binding, given the use of the verb “demand.” The UNSC isn’t suggesting. It isn’t hoping. It isn’t imploring. It is demanding. --From Naked Hypocrisy: The US Cited UNSC Resolutions to Invade Iraq, Now Call Gaza Ceasefire Demand ‘Non-Binding https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/28/naked-hypocrisy-the-us-cited-unsc-resolutions-to-invade-iraq-now-call-gaza-ceasefire-demand-non-binding/

Even more confusing, Ambassador Greenfield-Thomas complained that this particular UNSC ceasefire resolution doesn’t mention the “mass rapes by Hamas on October 7,” although these lurid allegations have all since been dismissed due to lack of evidence. In fact, there is now ample evidence that these false rape charges were concocted by the Israelis to discredit Hamas while simultaneously downplaying Israeli soldiers’ own sordid war crimes—many of which IDF troops proudly have uploaded to TikTok and other social media platforms.

Israeli “commission” on 7 October rape claims exposed as fraud https://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-commission-7-october-rape-claims-exposed-fraud/45401

State Dept downplays reports of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing, slaughtering Palestinian women https://thegrayzone.com/2024/02/23/state-dept-israeli-soldiers-sexually-abusing-slaughtering-palestinian-women/

Apparently a “non-binding ceasefire” to the Biden administration means that the US will supply arms to Israel in defiance of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution that just passed. Israel can continue to bomb, shoot, maim, torture, rape, and starve Palestinians with impunity, all because their good friend the United States of America will continue running interference for them in the United Nations and elsewhere.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza and block aid in defiance of UNSC ceasefire resolution https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/03/27/israel-continues-to-bomb-gaza-and-block-aid-in-defiance-of-unsc-ceasefire-resolution/

If no other countries are willing or able to take on the US and Israel, this UNSC ceasefire resolution won’t be able to make Israel cease firing bombs/weapons at the innocents in Gaza. It won’t stop war crimes from being committed by Israeli troops. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinian civilians will continue unabated.

So, when is a “ceasefire” not a ceasefire? A ceasefire is not an actual ceasefire when there is no way to back it up (with the use of force, if necessary) to make the parties involved in committing war crimes stop. The bad guys will continue to do what the ceasefire resolution explicitly tells them to stop doing, that is firing upon a civilian population. Worse yet, the bad guys will continue doing what they’re doing without any fear of being charged with, convicted of, or locked away for their war crimes.

When is a “genocide” not a genocide then? You should be able to follow the logic of this conundrum easily enough after the first example.

United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Francesca Albanese, submitted her “report on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” this past week. She gave brief remarks in person about the report as well.

The official name of her report? “The Anatomy of a Genocide”. (You can download the report in full as a PDF file here.)

Independent UN Expert Alleges Israeli Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza https://youtu.be/3XrwNGWF108?si=JenHXmT3HLdyA5iX

Here’s the scenario: We have a United Nations human rights special rapporteur calling what is currently happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza a “genocide”. The International Court of Justice at The Hague in January made a preliminary ruling that Israel is committing “plausible genocide” against the Palestinian people while it continues to weigh more evidence. Many human rights organizations and aid groups, such as Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, who have witnessed similar situations up close and personal previously have also called what is happening to the Gazans a “genocide”.

ICJ Hearings to Examine 57 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine https://www.commondreams.org/news/israeli-occupation

ICJ Rules in Favour of South Africa and Against Israel https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/icj-rules-in-favour-of-south-africa

International Court of Justice Rules That Israel Must Stop Killing Palestinians https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/24/international-court-of-justice-rules-that-israel-must-stop-killing-palestinians/

Even Israeli government officials and ministers have made public statements indicating that they are committing genocide: 22-Minute Speech Details Israeli Officials' Genocidal Statements at ICJ https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-genocidal-statements-2666930604

During Holy Week, a US State Department employee, Dr. Annelle Sheline, resigned her position in protest to the “genocide” occurring in Gaza. In her statement, she uses the word genocide to describe what is happening there.

I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy https://youtu.be/nRI-MtoSD_E?si=Msrr5qLuEicKt5yF

With a United Nations human rights rapporteur and the assembled justices of the International Court of Justice calling the ethnic cleansing of 32,000+ Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli military a “genocide,” along with a US State Department employee with a conscience and many respected human rights agencies, how could anyone doubt that a genocide is indeed occurring in Gaza? All of the 13,000+ dead Palestinian children just didn’t run into those US-provided bombs dropped onto their homes on purpose, did they? This argument is a no-brainer, isn’t it?

Not to the brainless US government officials and mainstream media it isn’t!

A US State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, insulted Ms. Albanese, calling her “anti-semitic” because of her report findings. How diplomatic is that phrasing coming from an employee of the State Department!

Miller said they oppose mandate of this rapporteur, accused her of antisemitism and rejected allegations of genocide: https://twitter.com/AssalRad/status/1773039432867749927

Simply put, a genocide is not a genocide when the fact of legally designating it as such gets in the way of implementing US foreign policy. The Biden administration has enthusiastically aided Israel in the commission of genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza by providing it with arms and political interference at the United Nations, but it doesn’t like the negative connotations of the word “genocide.” So the US State Department simply won’t use that word to describe what is happening in Gaza.

Let’s be honest. If the current administration could get away with calling what’s happening to the human beings currently trapped, starving, and dying in Gaza a “picnic”, then that is what it would be called. A picnic. And the public would believe it! Which leads us to our next question:

When is “journalism” not journalism?

What the mainstream media is putting out for public consumption recently cannot be defined as journalism. What they’re doing doesn’t even fit the basic definition of journalism I learned way back in high school. It’s all rather pathetic, isn’t it?

Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges laments how American mainstream journalism has become one big propaganda machine for the US and Israeli governments:

PEN America is a sock puppet of the U.S. and Israel… [It has] accepted funding from the Israeli government — which routinely censors and jails Palestinian journalists and writers in Israel and the occupied West Bank and assassinates them and their families in Gaza — for the literary group’s annual World Voices festival in New York. From PEN America Self-Destructs https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/26/chris-hedges-pen-america-self-destructs/

I was taught that a journalist must answer the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of the situation in their reporting. This example shows how the “who” or the instigator of the famine in Gaza (the government of Israel) has been completely left out of the articles:

An entire Economist article on famine in Gaza doesn’t say the word “Israel” once. Not even when describing damage to farmland and water facilities or severely restricted aid deliveries. Saying *who* is destroying the farmland and restricting aid seems like basic info to include. https://twitter.com/AssalRad/status/1772862382462636150

The Western mainstream media is happy to manipulate the narrative in order to make their corporate owners (and our paid-off public officials’ biggest donors) happy. Jonathan Cook shows this to be the case in his article, We were lied into the Gaza genocide. Al Jazeera has shown us how: https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/we-were-lied-into-the-gaza-genocide

Basic information is ignored or cut out of reportage of events in Gaza altogether. One would think we’d witness some feeling from Western journalists for the tremendous loss of life of their fellow journalists in Gaza over the past six months (more killed than in the entirety of the Vietnam War), but there isn’t any. Many big name Western journalists are perfectly fine with not fully reporting the who, what, where, when, why and how of the situation. They’re making lots of money acting as “stenographers for the oligarchy.” Why let the truth or morals get in the way?

This sad fact leads us to this question: When is “censorship” not censorship?

If a so-called “journalist” working for a big news network has no problems with not reporting the entirety of what’s happening in Gaza, has no problems with repeating US or Israeli propaganda and talking points, then why would they care if the US government (or one of its private agents) shuts down social media platforms or bans freelance journalists from posting? It makes for less competition and fewer embarrassing situations when the "stenographers" are caught out in a lie. Who really needs free speech? (Answer: You don't.) Learn more at:

I was banned from Elon’s ‘free speech’ X app for offending power https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/19/banned-elons-free-speech-x-app/

Israel’s Shadow Over Free Speech: The Truth Behind the TikTok Ban Bill https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-shadow-free-speech-truth-behind-tiktok-ban-bill/287113/

Last but not least, when is a “terrorist” not a terrorist? Maybe it’s when the terrorists are actually agents of the governments of the United States of America and Israel. These two nations are busily trying to shut down social media platforms for their own benefit, lying to, manipulating, and terrorizing people both at home and abroad in order to advance their agendas. They’re literally getting away with a genocide in Gaza. Don’t these nefarious actions fit the very definition of what makes a nation a "terrorist state?"

by Mark Taylor, DeMOCKracy Ink

Worse yet, these terrorists, these censors of free speech, these manipulators of the media, these murderers of children, they think they’ll get away with it. They don’t see any need to curtail what they’re doing. Ever.

Perhaps it’s time We the People who still possess a conscience and morals rise up and lock these war criminals away once and for all. 

But how? It won't be easy, but remember: We outnumber them. We are the workers and the consumers that make this corrupt imperialist-capitalist regime tick. We can shut the system down if we organize and act. But first we must decide that today's the day to end the terrorism.

Keep speaking out. Keep marching. Keep protesting. Keep striking and supporting the BDS movement. Don’t make life comfortable for the terrorists who won’t call themselves what they really are and use the correct terms to describe the evil they're really doing. 

Words are powerful, and we have the best ones on our side. We can and we must speak truth to power.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Download the PDF of the Anatomy of a Genocide - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese (A/HRC/55/73)  https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/anatomy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-palestinian-territories-occupied-1967-francesca-albanese-ahrc5573-advance-unedited-version

Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/27/gaza-ireland-joins-battle-to-include-the-blocking-of-vital-aid-in-definition-of-genocide

Imagine If Russia Or China Did The Things Israel Is Doing In Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/imagine-if-russia-or-china-did-the

Stella Assange on the Assange Appeal Decision https://youtu.be/FMaLgiX-8a0?si=npBLwYVObXpJLDHH

VIPS MEMO: The French Road to Nuclear War https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/25/vips-memo-the-french-road-to-nuclear-war/

Israeli “commission” on 7 October rape claims exposed as fraud hhttps://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-commission-7-october-rape-claims-exposed-fraud/45401

Released Hostage Reveals Oct 7th TRUTH! (It's Not What You Think.) https://youtu.be/NnJM9q6EHwA?si=LGRA5Ww9qR2RX5Cp

The Empire Slowly Suffocates Assange Like It Slowly Suffocates All Its Enemies https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-empire-slowly-suffocates-assange

Should Biden be tried for genocide crimes? https://youtu.be/HhyIxP7DTyg?si=gjyuaVQpYe1WQeEe

Israel lodges proposal with UN for dismantling of Palestinian relief agency  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/31/israel-plan-un-dismantle-palestinian-relief-agency-unwra

US State Dept’s favorite celebrity chef builds Gaza aid dock with stolen rubble https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/27/us-state-depts-chef-gaza-aid-rubble/

Dead and Divine and Brother of All https://matthewhoh.substack.com/p/dead-and-divine-and-brother-of-all

CARTOON: ISIS-K? Wake Up To The Many US Connections To Moscow Terror Attack!  https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-isis-k-wake-up-to-the-many

Israel Lies About Being A Victim So That It Can Victimize
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-lies-about-being-a-victim/

Violent Extremists Get Called "Moderates" By A Violent Extremist Empire https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/violent-extremists-get-called-moderates

Liberal Finger-Wagging At Netanyahu Is A Phony, Cynical Charade https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/liberal-finger-wagging-at-netanyahu

The Plan Is To Turn Palestine Into A Historical Footnote So It's Too Late To Save It https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-plan-is-to-turn-palestine-into

A Genocide Foretold  https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/31/chris-hedges-a-genocide-foretold/

The Nuclear Explosion That Makes US Aid to Israel Illegal
(Israel’s nuclear program has been in violation of international law for decades, rendering it ineligible for American assistance.)
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/israel-nuclear-weapons/
 

A Human With A Conscience Award nominee Caitlin Johnstone has a new painting and video called "The Self-Immolation Of Aaron Bushnell" https://youtu.be/kAEc3qQloeQ?si=9N7UI1hSt4-0ftlT

On Easter Sunday, active-duty Air Force Senior Airman Larry Hebert began a hunger strike to highlight the plight of the starving children of Gaza.

Larry Hebert, age 26, from New Hampshire, and a member of Veterans For Peace, took authorized leave from his assignment at Naval Station Rota, Spain to participate in demonstrations demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to visit Congressional offices to press for stopping weapons shipments to Israel, which violate several U.S. laws.

Hebert said, “I was deeply touched when I saw that Aaron Bushnell took his own life at the Israeli Embassy for the people of Gaza and knew that I had to raise my voice in opposition to the U.S. government supplying Israel the bombs and rockets to commit genocide in Gaza. Active-duty members are afraid to speak out and I hope that my example and that of others, like Aaron, can change that.”

 * * *

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Free Free Palestine!

UPDATE: Israel bombs Gaza hospital killing 500, ignites protests across Middle East: Israel accused of committing a 'crime of genocide' after hospital massacre

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-gaza-invasion-live

photo by Amjad Doumani

Free Free Palestine!

words and some photos by C.A. Matthews

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! Free, free Palestine!”

I had thought about writing a piece this week about war propaganda after being inundated with the stuff (almost to the point of overdosing on it) via the mainstream media. I would have talked about how I once wrote a paper for a college sociology class on the effects of propaganda during World War I, and how these very same propaganda techniques carry on today with our government’s selling of the Ukraine proxy war and now this current ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Then I attended a local peace demonstration—and then another a day later—to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people who are being bombed and starved out of existence by the Israeli government, and I changed my mind. The following photos and memes tell their story better than my words could break through the Western pro-war propaganda.

A picture paints a thousands words—and engenders empathetic feelings that only sociopaths can deny. Alas, the United States of America is a country run by sociopaths and their followers.

But propaganda alone cannot wipe away unforgettable images from the human brain. That’s why the mainstream media and many Western governments—France and Germany leading the way—are banning protests and any mentions of sympathy with the Palestinian cause on online platforms to keep the public away from seeing inconvenient photos and videos. Watching the Israeli Defense Force wipe out entire apartment blocks and destroy hospitals and schools doesn’t quite sell the Western viewpoint that Israelis are “innocent” occupiers of the Palestinian homeland.

Those little Palestinian boys and girls lying in morgues in Gaza just “accidentally” ran into an IDF bullet or bomb, right? They deserve what they got coming to them according to the Israeli defense minister with the laughable name of “Gallant.” He ungraciously labeled the Palestinian people “human animals.” Animals that needed to be put down, in his opinion.

The racism doesn't stop there. In the US, MSNBC suspended three Muslim anchors during Israel’s Gaza assault because it didn’t want Muslims reporting on the violence against the Palestinian people. Can you imagine why an American propaganda outlet wouldn’t want a Muslim face talking about how the IDF is committing genocide? Maybe MSNBC thought it would upset their Islamophobic American audience?

Being forced to live in a concentration camp like Gaza should bring back painful memories to Americans. Unfortunately, it doesn’t for the white majority. Unless your immediate relatives or ancestors have been forced to live on a reservation like Native Americans, or been locked up in an internment camp like Japanese-Americans were during the 1940s, or held in the bonds of slavery for over two centuries because you came from Africa, then you’ve probably no real idea what it means to be held prisoner with members of your ethnic group. You lucked out because of your skin color, religion, money, and/or connections with power. You should be eternally grateful that such great fortune has smiled upon you and yours.

I’ve noticed sometimes it’s those who have been blessed with the most “freedoms” who are the stingiest and meanest when it comes with sharing freedom with others. I wonder why is that?

The modern state of Israel isn’t yet one-hundred years old, and already it’s made a mess of the Middle East by attempting to exterminate indigenous peoples. The modern state of Israel was created by those who survived the Holocaust and then discovered that their governments didn’t particularly want them in Europe anymore. These survivors decided to guilt-trip the powers-that-be after the war to allow them to take over the British Mandate of Palestine, and it worked. Europe was free of Jews, and the Palestinians’ worst nightmare had just begun.

Excuse me for thinking this was a terrible idea from the start. The Europeans who harmed their Jewish citizens during WWII should have made reparations to them and given them their original homes, lands, and businesses back in their home countries—not just send them into another people’s country on another continent. The Holocaust survivors were Europeans after all, not Middle Easterners.

White European powers are always looking for some “empty land” (like North America in 1492 or Palestine in 1947) to give out to those they’ve hurt. It helps to kick out people you don't want to see anymore so you don’t have to keep looking directly into their hurt faces and feel guilty for what you did. Sending those you hurt off on a boat to a far distance shore is a convenient way out of dealing with your crimes against your fellow countrymen and women, isn’t it?

It’s not so convenient for the innocent people whose lands and resources are to be taken away by those you hurt though, is it? The survivors, the hurt ones have taken on the role of European colonizers now, and they don’t want to see the faces of the indigenous peoples they’re displacing because it’s only adds to their guilty feelings. It’s best just to wipe the indigenous peoples off the map completely so their faces will be no more. Once the Palestinians are gone, the Israelis can rest easy knowing that they’ll never come back to haunt the land.

But they will come back to haunt you… Those faces should haunt you if you possess an ounce of humanity. The sociopaths and psychopaths of the modern War Machine aren’t particularly haunted by those they’ve slaughtered unfortunately. There’s simply too much money to be made in armament sales. Once you mix European colonizers’ enthusiasm for stealing land from indigenous people with the psychopathology of the Endless War crowd, then you have the perfect recipe for ethnic cleansing or genocide.

Caitlin Johnstone states it succinctly:

Stop calling it the “Israel-Hamas war”. It’s the Israel-Gaza massacre. Calling it the Israel-Hamas war creates the false impression that this is a war that is directed exclusively at Hamas when it’s really an ethnic purge that’s directed at all Palestinians in Gaza.

The child body count alone makes it clear that this isn’t a war against Hamas; I saw an anonymous account point out on Twitter that the number of children killed in this onslaught after one week already exceeds the total number of children killed after a year and a half of fighting in Ukraine, per the United Nations.

Laying complete siege to a civilian population and bombing anything that stands would be an extraordinary abomination in any war. And this is not a war, it’s an enclosed shooting range with military explosives and human targets. --It’s Not the Israel-Hamas War, It’s the Israel-Gaza Massacre

Guess what’s not happening in the modern state of Israel? They’re not following the human rights laws of the United Nations. Worse yet, they’re not even following the commandment, “Thou shall not kill,” either. No one can convince me the modern state of Israel is based upon religion and morality. Recent surveys show how modern Israelis are extremely prejudiced against Palestinians and wouldn’t dare let their son or daughter date or marry one. Kill a Palestinian to take his homeland, yes, but marry one? No.

So, don’t kid a kidder who was born in the South and has witnessed racism up close. Israel is all about racism and white European settler colonialism, pure and simple. It's not about the Jewish religion. My American Jewish contacts support the Palestinians and their desire to have their homeland back, and they don’t disown their family members who marry outside the faith. That’s not was being an observant Jew is all about, I’m told.

I’m not falling for the cultish propaganda circulating on the internet about how Israel's massacre of the Palestinian people is all about “The End Times” or Armageddon and Jesus returning. As if! The Netanyahu government is taking their cues from the Ku Klux Klan or the Third Reich, not the Bible. After all, the book of Genesis states all human beings were made in God’s image. Why should we destroy God’s own handiwork--our fellow human beings-- if we truly believed in what the Bible says? Wouldn’t that make God sad and angry?

The saddest part of all is the US military helping Israel commit war crimes and not helping save the innocents. Not only are the US “Ministry of Truth” propagandists tasked with convincing the public that “Ukraine is winning the war against Russia,” they’ll have to convince us that simultaneously starting a war with Iran (that says it backs Hamas) is a good idea. Billions of dollars of armaments sent to two hot spots on the globe that is raising the risk of setting off a nuclear world war…

Settler colonialism seems to be at the root of many problems in the world. Diplomacy and peace talks could help solve these problems. Bombing innocent children, starving them, preventing them and their families from getting to safety, and then stealing their homeland won’t solve anyone’s problems.

When has genocide ever solved anyone’s problems?

Chris Hedges says it well:

This is not a war. It is the obliteration of civilians trapped for 16 years in the world’s largest concentration camp. Gaza is being leveled, flattened, destroyed, reduced to rubble. Hundreds of thousands of its impoverished residents will be killed, wounded or left homeless without food, fuel, water and medical help. Nearly 600 children are already dead. (As of today, it’s 1250 Palestinians killed.)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been forced to close 14 food distribution centers leaving half a million people without food relief. Gaza’s only power plant has run out of fuel. The United Nations says 12 of its staff have been killed by Israeli air strikes, 21 out of 22 UNRWA health facilities in Gaza have been damaged and hospitals lack basic medicines and supplies.

 Israel, as it has in the past, will block the dissemination of independent reporting and images once some 360,000 soldiers launch a ground assault. It cut internet service in Gaza on Saturday. The brief glimpses of Israeli atrocities that make it out will be dismissed by Israeli leaders as anomalies or blamed on Hamas.

The West refuses to intervene, as 2.3 million people, including 1 million children, are deprived of food, fuel, electricity and water, see their schools and hospitals bombed and are butchered and rendered homeless by one of the most advanced military machines on the planet.  – This Way for the Genocide, Ladies and Gentlemen

 Free, free Palestine! NOW. Tomorrow may be too late.

From Twitter/X:

RECAP #Israel #Palestine (as of 21:00 GMT, 15 October) 1. The death toll in Gaza has exceeded 2,450 people with over 60% of the victims being children and women 2. At least 1,000 are still missing under the rubble and over 9,600 have been wounded 3. In Israel, the death toll has reached 1,400 people while 3,400 are wounded, with scores of captives still being held in Gaza 4. At least 12 journalists have been killed since the start of the war, 10 of them Palestinian and one Israeli, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists 5. Israel dropped equivalent to “a quarter of a nuclear bomb” according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor 6. 47 families have been “entirely wiped out from the civil registry” 7. Gaza’s healthcare system is “taking its last breath amid Israeli massacres” 8. Gaza’s hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded patients which they can no longer cater for, and people seek shelter in the hospital corridors. 6 hospitals in Gaza have shut down after being bombed 9. Fire exchanges between Israel and Lebanon have escalated, as Hezbollah vowed to react if Israel’s aggression on Gaza does not end 10. The Palestinian health ministry says one Palestinian is killed every five minutes in Gaza, while an emergency mass grave has been established to cater for the high number of dead 11. Israel is seeking to close down Al Jazeera’s bureau in the country, with their journalists facing harassment 12. Palestinians in Gaza are in danger of mass ethnic cleansing, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, warned

 

Related Articles and Links

MSNBC Suspends Muslim Anchors Amid Israeli War in Gaza https://www.arabnews.com/node/2391271/media

This Way for the Genocide, Ladies and Gentlemen https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/this-way-for-the-genocide-ladies

I Wish Americans Could See the Humanity of Palestinians as They Do With Israelis https://truthout.org/articles/i-wish-americans-could-see-the-humanity-of-palestinians-as-they-do-with-israelis/

Israel’s Colonial Revenge Genocide in Gaza is only the latest in a Long History of such Massacres https://www.juancole.com/2023/10/colonial-genocide-massacres.html

Big Lies and Gaza https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/big-lies-and-gaza

Source of Dubious ‘Beheaded Babies’ Claim is Israeli Settler Leader Who Incited Riots to ‘Wipe Out’ Palestinian Village
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/12/source-of-dubious-beheaded-babies-claim-is-israeli-settler-leader-who-incited-riots-to-wipe-out-palestinian-village/

Palestine Today https://palestinetoday.quora.com/Baby-beheadings-and-Rape-are-All-Israeli-Lies-Repeated-by-West-to-Justify-Genocide-in-Gaza-and-Incite-Rage

 ‘A Massive War Crime’: Israel Begins Total Blockade Of Gaza Strip
https://popularresistance.org/a-massive-war-crime-israel-announces-total-blockade-of-gaza-strip/ 

re Obscuring Settler Colonialism in Their Gaza Coverage https://truthout.org/articles/corporate-media-outlets-are-obscuring-settler-colonialism-in-their-gaza-coverage

Palestinians Speak the Language of Violence Israel Taught Them
https://unac.notowar.net/2023/10/09/palestinians-speak-the-language-of-violence-israel-taught-them/

'Genuinely Shocked They Aired It': CNN Interview Cuts Through Pro-Israel Propaganda on Gaza https://www.commondreams.org/news/cnn-interview-palestinian

Who is responsible for the violence in Israel and Gaza? https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/10/ytol-o10.html

What Preceded the Killings in Israel and Gaza Was Not “Peace” — It Was Apartheid https://truthout.org/articles/what-preceded-this- bloodshed-in-gaza-was-not-peace-it-was-apartheid

The US Is Just As Culpable As Israel For The Atrocities Committed In Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-us-is-just-as-culpable-as-israel

People Have A Serious Case Of 9/11 Brain Right Now, And It's Scary https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/people-have-a-serious-case-of-911

Built on the Bodies of Native Californians https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/10/built-on-the-bodies-of-native-californians/

Boston Demands Indigenous Peoples Day! https://popularresistance.org/boston-demands-indigenous-peoples-day/

John Kiriakou: A Victimizers’ Memorial https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/12/john-kiriakou-a-victimizers-memorial/

“An Irreversible Torture”: The Global Call to End Capital Punishment on 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/10/an-irreversible-torture-the-global-call-to-end-capital-punishment-on-21st-world-day-against-the-death-penalty/
 

Seen on X/Twitter:

Israel is one of the most racist countries in the world.

While Israel works hard to play the victim, it’s actually a racist, Jewish supremacist state that aims to ethnically cleanse Palestine.

BT’s @KeiPritsker explains how racism is the core of Israel’s national identity pic.twitter.com/71JY6OggEv

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) October 12, 2023

https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1712606372813066586

 

Today was one of the worst days in Gaza

So far:

—2,800 Palestinians, incl 800 children and 900 women, killed by Israel. That's double the israeli death toll.

—1,200 Palestinians, incl 500 children are missing, suspected to be under the rubble.

—Over a million Gazans displaced

— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) October 16, 2023

https://twitter.com/richimedhurst/status/1714036369058635897

 

This Is What Empire Looks Like

 

This Is What Empire Looks Like

by C.A. Matthews

...Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan, and all those early anti-imperialists understood America had a choice: It would be empire abroad or democracy at home, but it could not be both. The choice is now bitterly obvious.

This leaves Americans with nothing left to believe in, nothing worth lifting a finger or even raising a voice to defend. As our militarists mull whether to reinstitute the draft to fill the ranks of the reluctant, we should consider: This is what empire looks like. --Patrick Lawrence: The Dialectic of the Draft

What does “empire” look like to you?

When you spot a homeless person wandering the streets of an urban setting, bags in hands and perhaps pushing an old shopping cart full of their earthly possessions, does the word “empire” and all that it implies spring to mind?

Whenever you encounter a crumbling bridge or a pot hole the size of the Grand Canyon as you commute to work, do you think: Wow. Isn’t it great that the US has invaded so many other countries and forced them to give up their resources so we can enjoy the best of everything here?

After you’ve gifted your last twenty bucks to a friend’s GoFundMe to help him pay for an operation he desperately needs, but he can’t afford since he has no health insurance, do you jump for joy upon reading a headline stating that Biden has given another $24 billion dollars to an endless proxy war?

Are you anxiously awaiting your turn to join or be drafted into the army so you can experience “survivable nuclear warfare” up close and personal in Ukraine, Iran, China or...?

Do you still call Juan Guaido “el presidente” of Venezuela? Did you support the blowing up of the Nordstream 2 pipeline, because you believe the US should keep it’s European allies dependent on us for the fuel to heat their homes and run their factories?

Whenever you read how Israel just blew up a home in Gaza full of little children does it bring tears of joy to your eyes because you figure all Palestinian nine-month olds are terrorists?

Are you ecstatic whenever you see the price of gasoline has jumped by another fifty cents? Are you happy to pay significantly more for the same bag of groceries that you purchased last month? Is paying your landlord yet another rental increase the most beautiful thing in the world to you?

Do you think the “Climate Emergency” is completely made up? “Global Boiling” or warming isn’t even a real thing? That there’s never going to be a day of reckoning for what we’ve done to our planet?

Can’t wait to lock up all the “homos, drag queens, and rapist migrants”? Can’t wait to put women back in their rightful place—in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, with no access to abortion care or birth control? The world would be a happier place with everyone in their proper place, wouldn’t it?

Are you gathering up books right now for a good ol’ fashioned book burning? Are you keeping your kids out of the socialist public school systems that teach how all people are equal (CRT) when it’s more than obvious some just aren’t?

Do you believe in active censorship of social platforms, broadcast media outlets and the press? Can’t wait to shut down all opposition groups that defy those in power? Do you get a thrill out of kicking alternative party candidates off the ballot?

Voting? Really? It’s for the birds! Let the billionaires run the show outright from now on. It would save a lot of trouble holding pretend elections every so often, right?

Did you learn that freedom and capitalism go hand in hand? Do you still believe it even after you’ve been laid off from your job and thrown into debtors’ prison through no fault of your own?

Deep down, do you feel it’s gotta be your fault if you can’t make it in an economic system that favors those who are born in the “right” zip code with the “right” last name and the “right” network of friends and family members? Anyone can “get ahead” if they do capitalism right, right?

What’s your excuse? Oh, yeah, it’s those migrants who keep “stealing” our jobs by working for pennies on the dollar and the union members who keep insisting on a living wage. They’re making the bosses hire the “wrong” type of workers, right?

Have you figured out yet that agreeing to any or all of the above demonstrates you have no problems living in an empire?

This is what empire looks like. If you were born in the US, you’ve been living in one your entire life. You’re used to the harsh treatment of both yourself and your neighbors. That’s because an empire will try to pass itself off as a “representative democracy” or some related thing and tell you that you’re stupid if you think it’s otherwise. You’ll take the denials of your human rights and be satisfied.

It’s the ultimate Stockholm Syndrome. A co-dependent relationship where you feel you’re deserving of abuse. Bend over and take it and be happy that you don’t live in… wherever it is the propagandists are telling you where you don’t want to live in this moment in time because they don’t have “freedom and democracy” like Americans all think we do.

It’s easy letting your betters in the empire do all the thinking for you, isn’t it? Just nod and do as you’re told and you’ll be all right—that is, until they figure out you’re not worth keeping around anymore.

That’s the true beauty of running an empire. An empire can just ignore the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the unemployed, and the sick without the means to get well. Eventually they just die off from neglect by the state. By the hundreds of thousands, even millions. They call it, “Survival of the fittest.”

Are you “fit”? Are you sure? Do you really want to find out when the US military drafts you and ships you out to another war for oil or uranium or lithium or whatever it is the Empire is interested in this time around? When they neglect you in your time of greatest need?

This is what empire looks like.

The alternative to empire is practicing true democracy and equality for all. Folks caring for one another. Putting social programs and the needs of the people before the greed of the military-industrial complex. Putting the health of our planet and the well-being of our children above killing and stealing from fellow human beings in order to make a quick profit.

Dr. Cornel West promotes this better way of living. If you’re interested in leaving the US empire behind and building a democracy instead, check out his platform. But don’t wait. We don’t have long. The wildfires caused by our empire’s neglect of the planet and its people are burning everywhere. It’s time to help put them out by squashing the oxygen to the empire builders once and for all.

 

One huge obstacle to revolutionary change is that people can’t really see the depravity of the empire, because they’ve been conditioned not to look at it too closely, and because they’ve been habituated to it their entire lives. It’s possible to help them see it with fresh eyes. --Caitlin Johnstone, The Most Important Election Of All Time

 

Related Articles and Interesting Links:

It's Never About The US President, It's About The US Empire
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-never-about-the-us-president

Patrick Lawrence: The Dialectic of the Draft  https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/10/patrick-lawrence-the-dialectic-of-the-draft/

Biden Asks Congress for Additional $24 Billion to Spend on Ukraine War https://news.antiwar.com/2023/08/10/biden-asks-congress-for-additional-24-billion-to-spend-on-ukraine-war/ 

 

Capitalist Greed And Imperialist Policies Fuel Migrant Housing Crisis https://popularresistance.org/capitalist-greed-and-imperialist-policies-fuel-migrant-housing-crisis/

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - The Israel Lobby’s Useful Idiot

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/robert-f-kennedy-jr-the-israel-lobbys

Ohio voters reject referendum measure backed by anti-abortion forces https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/08/10/lxej-a10.html

The Illusory Truth Effect And The "Unprovoked" Invasion Of Ukraine https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-illusory-truth-effect-and-the

Defense Contractor Funded Think Tanks Dominate Ukraine Debate https://quincyinst.org/report/defense-contractor-funded-think-tanks-dominate-ukraine-debate/

How Swedish Love for the US Turned Deadly https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/10/how-swedish-love-for-the-us-turned-deadly/

New York Times Helps Marco Rubio Push Persecution Of Antiwar Leftists https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/new-york-times-helps-marco-rubio

More People Die Young in US Due to Health Care and Welfare Cuts, Study Findshttps://truthout.org/articles/more-people-die-young-in- us-due-to-health-care-and-welfare-cuts-study-finds/

Building Grassroots Power For National Universal Health Care
https://popularresistance.org/building-grassroots-power-for-national-universal-health-care/

The UN’s Vague ‘New Agenda for Peace’ https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/08/the-uns-vague-new-agenda-for-peace/

Survivors Of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test Are Still Fighting For Justice https://popularresistance.org/survivors-of-oppenheimers-trinity-test-still-fighting-for-justice/

109-year-old Tulsa Massacre Survivor Becomes Oldest Woman in the World to Release a Memoir https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/08/109-year-old-tulsa-massacre-survivor-becomes-oldest-woman-in-the-world-to-release-a-memoir/

In A Summer Of Record Heat, Striking Workers Are Making Climate Demands https://popularresistance.org/in-a-summer-of-record-heat-striking-workers-are-making-climate-demands/

Maui’s deadly wildfires burn through Lahaina – it’s a reminder of the growing risk to communities that once seemed safe https://theconversation.com/mauis-deadly-wildfires-burn-through-lahaina-its-a-reminder-of-the-growing-risk-to-communities-that-once-seemed-safe-211317

Congress ADMITS U.S. Has Invaded Hundreds of Other Countries!
https://youtu.be/AEiSiozBHmM

New Study Finds Fracking Is Linked To Seismic Tremors https://popularresistance.org/new-study-finds-fracking-is-linked-to-seismic-tremors/

3-Year-Old Dies En Route to Chicago Under Abbott’s Anti-Migrant Bussing Program https://truthout.org/articles/3-year-old-dies-en-route-to-chicago-under-abbotts-anti-migrant-bussing-program/

Seen on (formerly known as) Twitter:

Joe Biden just announced another $13B to Ukraine. The total is now ~$130B. For that price Americans could have:

Ended Homelessness permanently ($20B)
Universal Pre-K ($35B)
Free Community College ($30B)
Fix all 45k structurally insufficient bridges ($42B)
= $127B

Priorities

— Robert (Durden) (@realrobdurden) August 10, 2023

https://twitter.com/realrobdurden/status/1689693557869674497 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

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