plantlog2020

[plantlog2020]

Warum Gaza uns alle angeht

Gerade eben habe ich auf Instagram einen Post gelesen, der an die Genozide in Bosnien und Herzegowina erinnert. Die unfassbare Grausamkeit der Taten hat mich beim Lesen wirklich in die Knie gezwungen, ich konnte fast nicht mehr aufhören zu weinen! Laut einem Absatz in besagtem Post jedoch war sich die Weltgemeinschaft der Massenmorde bewusst. Trotzdem weigerte sich der Westen, mit den USA voran, einzuschreiten.

Man kann also behaupten, Gaza, der Congo, Sudan, China (re: Uyguren) oder Armenien und Azerbaidschan gehen uns wenig an, weil weit weg. Aber Bosnien und Herzegowina liegt mitten in Europa! Sieben bis acht Autostunden von München entfernt, genauer gesagt. Nicht weit. Trotzdem grausam und in unfassbarem Ausmaß tödlich.

Derweil betrachten wir den Holocaust hauptsächlich durch die Brille der Geschichte. Aber viele der Mitwirkenden und Verantwortlichen leben noch heute und sitzen oder saßen zu beträchtlichen Teilen in ranghohen Positionen. Auch das faschistische Gedankengut ist in Deutschland noch lange nicht ausgestorben. Gerade jetzt wieder beobachten wir in fast ganz Europa einen extremen Rechtsruck. Man denke allein in Deutschland an die AfD.

Und eines muss uns leider klar sein. Wenn dieser Rechtsruck institutionalisiert wird und irgendwann in systematischer Diskriminierung und handfester Staatsgewalt mündet, dann sind die Betroffenen: Wir. Wir Deutsch-VietnamesInnen. Schwarze. Schwule und Lesben. JüdInnen… Und das Schlimme ist, bevor es WIR sind, ist es jetzt schon die muslimische Bevölkerung Deutschlands. Das heißt, der Rechtsruck materialisiert und verhärtet sich bereits. Da wurden pro-palästinensische Demos von vornherein verboten und wenn sie genehmigt werden, dann mit übermäßigem Polizei-Aufgebot überwacht. Auf Social Media wird momentan pro-palästinensischer Content massiv zensiert. Deutschen StaatsbürgerInnen sollen die Pässe weggenommen werden und es droht Abschiebung…

Kurz gesagt reden wir im Westen immer viel von Demokratie und Freiheit. Aber Freiheit und Sicherheit für wen?!

Und wer oder was macht das möglich? Dieselben Mechanismen und Institutionen und Einzelpersonen, die auch den Genozid in Gaza stützen und schützen. Und das entgegen massiver und weitläufiger Proteste DAGEGEN. Und wenn wir diese Mechanismen und Institutionen jetzt nicht hinterfragen und jetzt zur Verantwortung ziehen, spricht nichts dagegen, dass sie dieselben Gräueltaten oder vielleicht Ähnliches nicht irgendwann auch an uns verüben oder verüben lassen.

In gewisser Hinsicht tun sie das sogar leider bereits. Der Klimawandel ist zu überwältigenden Teilen auf dem Mist einiger weniger gewachsen. Aber wer muss es ausbaden? Wir alle! Und wieder dasselbe. Entgegen zahlloser Proteste gegen industrielle Umweltzerstörung und fossile Energiegewinnung sind es auch hier dieselben Mechanismen und Institutionen und Menschen, die den Genozid in Gaza durchwinken, sogar begrüßen. Bedenkt immerhin, dass die westlichen Interessen im Nahen Osten schon seit jeher eng mit den Energie-Ressourcen dort zusammenhängen!

Deswegen denke ich, Gaza geht uns alle an. Denn was in Gaza passiert – die Gewalt, die Verletzung der Menschenrechte, die Entmenschlichung – kann uns allen passieren. Denn es sind ganz offensichtlich nicht wir, die hier am Steuer sitzen und Einfluss nehmen können. Sonst hätten wir den Massenmord an den PalästinenserInnen schon längst gestoppt und den Planeten gerettet. Aber wir sollten am Steuer sitzen, oder unsere Meinung immerhin respektiert werden. Und das erreichen können wir nur gemeinsam.

[plantlog2020]

How not to lose hope

Each news about air strikes killing yet more people in Gaza in the dozens or even hundreds, or settler violence in the West Bank going completely unchecked, or Biden advancing yet another military aid and weapons package for Israel, or vocal pro-Palestine supporters losing their jobs or positions at formerly reputable institutions, or… the list goes on and on, you get the gist. But each time I open my Instagram and that's what I'm seeing, it's difficult not to lose hope. Hope for a better future, hope for safety, hope for a world worth living in. Taking into account the dire results of inevitable climate change and the drastic surge of racism and right-wing thinking right here at home on top, then very soon I'm straight in the deepest pits of despair.

Here's where I have to remind myself: All these problems and issues have been around before, they're not new. So even though they feel urgent right now, these things have been known, and that means they're being worked on. Secondly, Rome wasn't built in a day. Even if things feel hopeless now, again, they're being worked on. And someday, who knows, they really may change! The path forward is staying on the path forward. Giving up is no option! Even if things feel hopeless, hope is all we have. So I keep going and going. That is my responsibility, my call.

[plantlog2020]

How not to despair

As the Zionist movement proceeds with its aim to violently "flatten Gaza", and new revelations about the decades long vile, brutal and inhumane treatment of Palestinians at the hand of Israel, aided and abetted by the US and our Western nations, come out in handfuls every single day, and as I think about how many people still think of all that has been happening as justified and just… I cannot help but feel utterly and thoroughly defeated and full of despair. The fact that we are many, maybe the majority, who oppose these atrocities, and still have not been able to stop it, makes me lose almost all hope. And it makes me afraid, that when the time comes and it's our turn to suffer, the world will stand helplessly, silently by, incapable, maybe unwilling, of changing our fate.

Turning off my social media and turning away from Gaza is a luxury I am fortunate to afford by pure luck. And I am grateful for that, as much as I am sorry for turning away at all. But doing so, even just for a moment, to recharge and keep my bearings, is a luxury I may not squander and let go to waste either. I must find hope in myself. I must find my way back to life and live it. There's no use in breaking way before it's all over.

I don't know what I can do. I don't know what anyone of us can do. But I'm doing, I'm acting, I'm speaking, according to my beliefs on what's wrong and what's right, in that tiny bubble I call my life and the life of my kids. It's the most power I have and I must not shirk it. I've to show up for myself and my family first, before I can show up for anyone else that needs me. I will do my best, even if it's not enough. But I'm doing my part. May you do yours. And together we put together the pieces, and maybe someday it's enough to turn the tide.

[plantlog2020]

This is

The Israel Project’s 2009 GLOBAL LANGUAGE DICTIONARY

A neat little step-by-step guide to how to win over the public for the Israeli cause. I have not read the entire manifest, but just looking over the first few pages, I recognize a number of talking points and strategies utilized by our governments and media! A truly cynical read.

What is The Israel Project?

The Israel Project was founded by Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, Margo Volftsun, and Sheryl Schwartz in 2003. Initially started to change US and European perceptions of Israel, it had worked in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese to reach a global audience. From the end of 2012, TIP decided to focus more on social media outreach and perceptions in both the U.S. and Israel. As of late 2016, its board of advisors included 36 Democratic and Republican members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. TIP operated offices in Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem, until it was reportedly shut down in 2019 due to a lack of funding.

From Wikipedia.

[plantlog2020]

Links

I've stopped reading the news ever since COVID, and it's entirely on our media! At the time, a huge majority of people had to be mobilized to get vaccinated. What our German media chose to do instead is feed the doubts of a minority and stoke fears of the vaccines' side effects.

Now, with the Jewish-Zionist state of Israel as the perpetrator and Muslim-Arab Palestinians as the victims, the same kind of selective reporting is skewing and obscuring the facts. I am deeply and irreparably disappointed in German mainstream media, most of all those I'd been reading, supporting and trusting for years! I'm afraid of them being successful in silencing productive debate and impeding peaceful solutions. The same way they did during COVID.

So after my utter disillusionment, new outlets had to be found. I will recommend those I will trustingly turn to because of their choosing to put Israeli war crimes on blast, on a volume and with the urgency that befits the slaughtering, because of their mediating and eye-opening analysis on the situation, and their willingness to point out the hypocrisies of the West!

One of the only mainstream publications that's still doing a better and more rounded job than most! Not 100 % agreeing with their opinions. But at least they're actually trying.

The English edition of Le Monde Diplomatique, a personal favorite of mine even before Israel's bombardment of Gaza. It has a global view and offers well-balanced perspective.

German leftist monthly with well written and insightful analysis that I found very helpful in shaping my own positions!

Radio station website, with a very humanity-focussed outlook.

Another mainstream publication that's still taking its job seriously, this time from the UK.

Send me your recommendations and if I like them, I'll add them here too!

[plantlog2020]

Writing, engaging, debating, bringing about change!

I'm writing in the hopes of finding my way through to you. It's been more than one month since the Hamas militant attacks on Israeli civilians on oct 7, 2023. More than one month of retaliatory bombardments of the Gaza strip and its 2.2 million inhabitants ever since then.

It's been a bleak 35 days.

I've been sharing video clips and short news from and about Gaza on my Instagram the past couple weeks, but now we're coming to a point where those who want to #freepalestine and those who invoke Israel's right to self-defence are opposing each other in an ideological stalemate. It's at this point that @khaledbeydoun's words recently have left a lasting impact on me:

1) Don’t just speak to the choir 2) Understand that most people are not fixed in their views 3) People are people, don’t let our differences become divisions (Audre Lorde) 4) Educated change doesn’t happen overnight, let people evolve and learn at their own rate without being dismissive or judgmental 5) Lead with intellect. Not emotion. If your arguments are driven by the latter you will be met with emotion on the other side and there will be a standstill 6) Don’t assume that people know what you know, and even more importantly, never assume that you know it all.

"Don't preach to the choir" basically means not to preach to people who already agree with you, and that's true. There's no point in shouting into our echo chambers, repeating things to each other we've all already been thinking or feeling anyway. It is time for us to go out there and change the minds of those who do not. It is time we learn how to productively debate.

For whatever it's worth, I'll learn to, and hope you do too. We don't have to do perfect, we just have to do it.