#Uyghur diaspora

[ammg-old2]

How do you protect a culture that is being wiped out?

For Uighurs, this is more than just a hypothetical. Repressive measures against the ethnic minority have progressively worsened: The Chinese government has corralled more than 1 million of them into internment camps, where they have been subjected to political indoctrination, forced sterilization, and torture.

The targeting of the Uighurs isn’t limited to the camps. Since 2016, dozens of graveyards and religious sites have been destroyed. The Uighur language has been banned in Xinjiang schools in favor of Mandarin Chinese. Practicing Islam, the predominant Uighur faith, has been discouraged as a “sign of extremism.”

Beijing frames these moves as its way of rooting out terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. But the aim of China’s actions in Xinjiang is clear: to homogenize Uighurs into the country’s Han Chinese majority, even if that means erasing their cultural and religious identity for good. What is taking place is a cultural genocide.

The repercussions bear heavily even on Uighurs living outside the country. Their burden is more than just raising awareness about what is taking place in their homeland—a task many have taken up at great cost to themselves and their families. It’s also about preserving and promoting their identity in countries where few people might know who the Uighurs are, let alone what the world stands to lose should their language, food, art, and traditions be eradicated.

In an effort to understand what this kind of cultural preservation looks like in practice, I spoke with seven Uighurs residing in Britain, France, Turkey, and the United States. As chefs, poets, singers, filmmakers, language teachers, and musicians, each of them is contributing to this work in different ways. All of them are passionate about ensuring that their heritage will be passed on to future generations. None of them is under any illusions about what’s at stake if they fail.

“Every Uighur now is under very big psychological pressure,” Omer Kanat, the director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit, told me. “We cannot sleep at night.”

[noneedforbloodpressure]

Hey, just for the record vandalizing Synagogues/Jewish schools/Jewish community centers or boycotting Jewish businesses just because they’re Jewish not only doesn’t help Palestinians and isn’t activism, but rather looks an awful lot like nazi Germany. In other words, it’s just antisemitic.

Stop harassing Jewish people and go do something to actually help Palestinians. Donate (I’ve talked about ANERA, World Central Kitchen, and the Palestine Red Crescent Society before). Protest at government offices and pressure policy makers. Boycott war profiteers and defense contractors (Lockheed Martin and Boeing, for examples) or companies that have otherwise provided support to the Israeli government and/or military (see, for example, why Google and Amazon are on the BDS pressure targets list). Raise awareness and emphasize Palestinian humanity – and for the love of all things holy stop portraying Palestinian and Jewish safety as diametrically opposed.  

[welcometoteyvat]

ahaha you're so sexy please don't buy into ccp rhetoric

[gender-fluid-weirdo]

Ireland is not anti-Semitic, c'mon. The Irish have good reason to be against Israel's treatment of Palestinians. What the Israeli government is doing reminds us too much of what the British did. We got our freedom, and unlike Israel or Indonesia, we choose not to perpetuate the same crimes done to us. I want no harm to come to you, only sense. I and many others don't believe this is the path to peace in any region, I'm sorry. x

This isn't about Israel or Palestine. This is about the treatment of Jews IN IRELAND by IRISH PEOPLE. Why is it that every time ANYONE points out the existence of antisemitic hate crimes in the diaspora goyim fall over themselves to justify it by pointing to the undeniable harm caused by the Israeli government?

The Chinese government is CURRENTLY engaged in genocide against the Uyghur people, but no one is using that as an excuse to harass and attack random people of Chinese decent in Europe or America, nor should they. I am simply asking, BEGGING at this point, for the same.

[xclowniex]

I am very disappointed in the Try Guys and especially Zach for their livestream.

I want to preface this by saying that I have no issue with raising money for aid for Gaza. Gaza needs more aid. What i have issue with is Zach's speech he made at the start + a few other things.

He said "on a personal note, I am a jewish man, I wanna tell you crucially, it is not anti-Semitic to critize the actions of the Israeli government or to stand up for the Palestinian people i was raised learning the dangerous history of how othering and dehumanization can lead to persecution and genocide. Its not something I will allow and my identity to be weaponized to harm others and so today we stand proudly in solidarity with the people of Palestine"

Whilst i agree with half of his statement, it all still rubs me the wrong way.

I agree with the fact that genuine criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitic and I also actively encourage genuine criticism. I myself have a lot of criticism about the current Israeli government.

The but about that half which rubs me the wrong way, is the failure to acknowledge that there are those which do not give genuine criticism and are genuinely antisemitic and hide their antisemitism behind the mask of critiquing the Israeli government. And its not like its a small amount of people do that or that those who participated in the live stream just were not antisemitic as they were.

Which also sucks as they said they were moderating the chat yet let multiple antisemitic comments stay up.

Another thing which I completely disagree with is Zach saying "Its not something I will allow and my identity to be weaponized to harm others"

I also do not like the whole "not in our name" or "I don't like my identity being weaponized to harm others" as like…. not all jews are Israeli and not all Israeli folk are jewish. Like there is a difference of nationality between Israeli jews and diaspora jews. Israel being at war is not weaponizing the jewish identity. You wouldn't say what Russia is doing is weaponizing the Russian identity for diaspora Russians, or what the Chinese Government is doing to the Uyghur people is weaponizing the Chinese identity for diaspora Chinese folk. Why is Israel's actions different?

Another issue I had is with the creators who are part of the creators for Palestine.

Hasan "antisemite" Piker is part of it. To sum his bad things up, he has called all jews white, got mad at and threw a tantrum at a trans person for telling him not to speak over trans people about trans issues, and is a rape apologist and said that rape is only dome by rich white men to rich white women so people don't need to worry about rape.

Not to mention Stanzi also was apart of it too. Stanzi made this tweet:

Which is very fucked. Imagine saying that those going through war and needing aid and help are just "yapping" and that they now must focus on Palestine instead of, ya know, not dying????

Overall i am very disappointed in the try guys and wish they did better with their live stream.

[peacereturnedtothevalley]

getting into the fatt fandom on this site means being adjacent to many kinds of leftists and I just want to say preemptively: if you believe the uyghur genocide is a hoax please don’t come anywhere near me.

I haven’t seen anyone do so on my dash, and more often it is unrelated posts people are reblogging and me checking out the op to find that they’re engaging in genocide denial.

I guess I’m available for good faith questions but like. I’m Uyghur and have been in the diaspora for my lifetime. My personal experience and my family’s direct experience is what I have. If you want to counter that with official statements of denial from the state I have nothing to say to you.

[musicboxgoth]

(WIP) Resources Masterlist

*Note: a lot of these are geared toward American and/or English-speaking populations, my apologies, but plenty of them are global!

GENERAL

End Global Genocides Master Document | Another Master Doc | Tumblr Post - Links to Informational Articles/Websites

Donations: Fundraisers - Gaza, Sudan, Congo, and more | Doctors Without Borders | Care.org | World Central Kitchen | Operation Olive Branch | Islamic Relief USA

Discord: Global Strikes Against Genocide Discord Server

SUDAN

Eyes on Sudan | Sudan Solidarity Collective | Linktree - Sudanese Diaspora Network

Info: 500 days of war... | Sudan War Explained - Interview

Petitions/Letters: Stop Sudan War | Justice for Human Rights Abuse Victims in Chad and Sudan | Stop Arming Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop the Sudan genocide

Donations: Sudan Funds | Tumblr Masterpost - Sudan Orgs/Fundraisers | Water for South Sudan

ROHINGYA

Free Rohingya Coalition

Info: CNN - Hundreds of Rohingya face drone strikes / ethnic cleansing in Myanmar

Spotify - Rohingya Culture Interview

Petitions:

Donations: Mutual Emergency Aid 4 Rohingya | Emergency Aid for Rohingya Orphans and Disabled Families

TIGRAY

Tigray Action Committee

Info: Omna Tigray - What's happening in Tigray? | Tghat News | UN Article from Sept 2023

Petitions/Letters: Petition - Demand Aid to Tigray | Stop the Tigray Genocide

Donations: Places to Donate for Tigray Tumblr Post | Ahwatna Relief

DRC

Friends of the Congo | Focus Congo | Congo Resources Tumblr Post

Info: DRC: Inside the world's forgotten war | Congo Genocide Explained - Interview

Petitions: No Tax Dollars to Fund Congo Genocide | Halt the Ongoing Genocide in Congo

Donations: SOS Congo (organized by Goma Actif) | IRC in Congo | Action Kivu

KASHMIR

Stand with Kashmir | Kashmir Masterlist Tumblr Post

Info: Kashmir - Paradise Lost (BBC)

Petitions/Letters: Stop Arming Indian Occupation of Kashmir

Donations: KASHMER

EAST TURKESTAN

Campaign for Uyghurs | Uyghur Truth Project | Camp Album Project

Info: Persecution of Uyghurs in China - Wikipedia

Petitions/Letters: Change.org - Uyghur Muslims

PALESTINE

Jewish Voice for Peace | USPCR Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit

Info: Wizard Bisan, a Palestinian journalist

Petitions/Letters: Not Another Bomb | Amnesty - Demand a Ceasefire | Tumblr Post with Petitions | Ceasefire Now | (JVP) Tell Congress - Arms Embargo Now

Donations: Gaza Funds | Low on Funds Palestinians Fundraisers | Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraisers | Arab.org Daily Click | Middle East Children's Alliance

ARMENIA

Learn for Artsakh | Help Armenians Carrd | Artsakh Genocide Action Toolkit

Info: Denying Your History - Armenian Genocide

Petitions/Letters: Petition - Stop Erasing Armenian Culture | International Recognition of Artsakh

Donations: Fund for Armenian Relief | Armenia Fund | CARITAS Armenia | ARS of Eastern USA inc.

INDIGENOUS AMERICANS

MMIWG2S | Indigenous Action | NDN Collective

Petitions/Letters: Stop sterilizing Indigenous women without consent | Free Leonard Peltier

HAWAII

Info: Tourism's Negative Impact on Native Hawaiians | Noho Hewa Film (2008)

Donations: Hawaii Community Foundation

HAITI

Haiti Liberation Google Doc

Donations: Hands Together for Haitians | Haiti Outreach | Hope for Haiti | Twitter Thread of GoFundMes/Donation Links

WEST PAPUA

Free West Papua Website | West Papua Resources/Info Tumblr Post | We Need to Talk about Papua Carrd (last updated 2021 but has good info)

Info: United Nations - Indonesia: Shocking abuses against indigenous Papuans | Twitter Thread of Helpful Articles

Petitions/Letters:

ALSO:

The Kurdish Project

KEEP BOYCOTTING, PROTESTING, AND DOING EVERYTHING YOU CAN! FREE ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLES OF THE WORLD!

If you can't donate, share!

If you have any concerns with the links I've posted, please share! I tried my best to verify everything but please let me know if you are doubtful of something! Also, please please share other resources from people who are directly impacted by these genocides!!

LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 16 2024.

[vexillology-for-brains]

Beautiful Non-National Flags, Part 1

So many people see and love the flags of the 193 UN recognized nations, but I want to take a look at a few of my favorite regional/provincial/people group flags around the world.

One of my favorite flags, and I think one of the most beautiful flags, is the banner of East Turkestan

The Kökbayraq, or sky flag, represents both the geographic region of East Turkestan, and the Uyghur people, a Turkic people group located in what is now Xinjiang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China (PRC). The flag was flown by the short lived (one year) reign of the Republic of East Turkestan (1933-34), and has been used by the diaspora of the Uyghur people as they flee the authoritarian rule of the PRC. In the modern day, it serves as symbol of protest against the ongoing genocide being conducted by the Chinese Communist Property.

The beautiful simplicity of the flag and its striking blue color make the flag instantly eye-catching. It's similarity to the Turkish flag is no coincidence, it was designed to harken back to the Turkish flag. The beautiful sky blue represents all Turkic people. While the crescent and star can represent Islam, in this flag the crescent represents the idea of being victorious, and the star represents the nation itself.

The flag follows a 2:3 ratio and all of the design aspects follow the same guidelines as the flag of Türkiye. It was formalized and adopted in 1993 and the East Turkestan Government in Exile claims it at the official flag of the Republic of East Turkestan

As this is a flag I personally own, I'm more than happy to fly it when I can and speak about it. This flag is easily in my Top Ten list because of it's beauty, and I've used the the exact shade of blue in a couple of flag designs.

I highly recommend anyone interested research the culture and history of the Uyghur people, and learn about their plight as they're subjugated under the iron fist of the Chinese Communist Party.

[probablyasocialecologist]

As overseas Hongkongers and Tibetans based in the US, UK, and Canada, we wholly condemn the Israeli apartheid state’s settler-colonial occupation of Palestine and support Palestinian liberation. We call on the US, UK, and Canadian governments to withdraw military support to Israel, demand Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza, and end the genocidal siege. We also call on our fellow exiled and diaspora communities to stand in solidarity with Palestinian liberation.

Solidarity does not entail conflating different experiences of oppression and suffering. However, we hope to point out that colonizers often share the same tools. The People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s elite police academies have sought to “explore the successful experience of Israel’s anti-terror strategies” to apply to East Turkestan. China’s Minority Ethnic Commissioner has suggested the state should draw upon Israeli settler strategies—as well as historic American and Russian expansionism—in its own colonization of Uyghur and Tibetan land. As our oppressors and colonizers borrow tactics from each other, we, as the oppressed and colonized, lend each other our understanding and solidarity. It is in this vein that we urge fellow Hongkongers and Tibetans to understand Palestinian suffering in its own context. 

[mental-mona]

Are you legitimately criticizing Israel or antisemitic? Questions to ask yourself:

What is antisemitism? | IHRA (holocaustremembrance.com) Let's start here. Does whatever you're saying, writing, or drawing go against the basic definition laid out here, or clearly fall into one of the examples given? If it does, you should almost certainly rethink your statement completely; even though this definition isn't legally binding, it's still a pretty darn good metric.

If you replace the word "Zionists/Israelis" in your statement with "Jews," does it sound antisemitic? ❌ If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck, even if it's wearing a dog costume. Your statement is antisemitic; please rethink it and probably also your general attitude.

Are you questioning the Jewish connection to Israel? ❌ Jews have an archaeologically confirmed, continuous history in Israel going back 3000 years. We pray for a return to Jerusalem and a rebuilt Holy Temple multiple times a day. Many of our religious practices are based around Israel's agricultural cycles. Even genetics supports our claim! It is our homeland, period, end of discussion. Claiming that we have no right to be there is antisemitic, except maybe if you also question the rights of other religious and/or ethnic groups to their homelands.

Are you implying that Israel should cease to exist? ❌ Would you say that about literally any other country that gained independence within the last century, regardless of demographics? If the answer is no, then saying it about Israel is antisemitic. If you want to see an independent Ukraine, Tibet, and/or Taiwan, you don't get to turn around and claim that specifically Jews aren't allowed self-determination. In any case, where precisely do you expect all the Jews currently living there, the majority of whom are from countries that persecuted them and/or outright expelled them, to go if Israel suddenly ceases to exist as a Jewish state? Hamas' charter explicitly calls for the genocide of Jews, and "from the river to the sea" Israel would be ethnically cleansed if they had their way.

Are you implying that all Jews are responsible for things happening in Israel? ❌ If so, this is antisemitic. Diaspora Jews don't have much if any influence over Israeli politics, and plenty of them disagree with various Israeli policies and politicians. The word "Jews" simply refers to an ethnoreligious group with tons of variation in beliefs and practices, not some kind of powerful monolith. If you don't blame Chinese immigrants for the genocide of Uyghurs or all Muslims for Islamist terrorism, you don't get to blame all Jews for whatever's going on in Israel.

Do you view all Israelis as legitimate military targets for rockets & attacks? ❌ Even if you're going with the theory that they're all culpable because they all served in the military, you're still way off base. 1) They don't actually all serve in the army, and 2) by that logic, all veterans in your country are legitimate targets for nationalistic attacks. I'm pretty sure you don't think that. Also, you're forgetting about children and foreign workers; there are few if any places on Earth where those would be considered legitimate military targets. Rockets, bombs, and bullets don't discriminate in who they hit. There have been many cases, including in the current war, where they've harmed Israeli Arabs!

(1/2 cuz Tumblr won't let me post it all in one go)

[theyknowthatweknow]

Saying 'what about Syria/Yemen/Afghanistan/Sudan/uyghur' whenever there's Palestinian activism is islamaphobic and racist to Arabs because the pain of Arabs and muslims is used by people who don't care about them to suppress voices in calling for the repeated genocide and ethnic cleansing of a diaspora that has been suffering from it for longer. It also purposely ignores all the activism done by muslims and Arabs to help these other countries as well, such as calling on governments to end weapons sales to Saudi Arabia to stop genocide against Yemen and boycotting places which has used uyghur forced labour which have produced results such as there now being hope for peace in Yemen and corporations being forced to make statements they don't use forced labour.

It also ignores the on the ground charity work done in these places where important places hospitals and bakeries have been built or are running with our donations, as well as building houses and other important things like wells for them. It also ignores the many muslims and Arabs who risk their lives and in some cases citizenships to get help to these places.

Most importantly, it ignores the complicity of Israel, as well the roles of countries who fund that state like America, Britain and France being responsible for so much of the suffering in not just those countries, but also other African countries, many of which are Muslim countries. I've lost count of the number of times a bomb has been dropped in the middle east because of those countries and the only reason I know is because of the Arab and Muslim diasporas trying to spread the news. And the only reason these things are known or talked about, is because it's Arabs and muslims and Africans talking about this - the same voices those people asking 'what about' refuse to listen to.

[adelle-ein]

god knows there's a lot of antisemitic microaggressions from "friends" that i'm willing to let slide. genuinely my standards aren't that high. which is obvious based on the people i was friends with pre-oct 7th lol. but like i do have limits and those limits have been crossed by

expressing a desire to join hamas/the houthis

expressing open support for hamas and oct 7th

referring to oct 7th as "legitimate resistance/oppressed rising up/revolution/freedom fighting"

denying oct 7th happened at all

insisting shani louk is alive (she is not, while her family had hope at first they have since found pieces of her she could not have survived losing)

joking about october 7th

joking about the holocaust

saying jews didn't "learn their lesson" from the holocaust

denying the holocaust

denying other jewish genocides

mocking the hostages and their families

wishing death on the hostages

using "zio"

saying israelis need to go back to brooklyn/florida/poland/etc

saying jews were and have always been well-treated in MENA regions

openly fetishizing and lying about mizrahi/sephardic jews

saying antisemitism doesn't exist/is over

saying ashkenazism don't face antisemitism

saying judaism is a dominant world religion

saying zionists/AIPAC/israel are controlling companies/the government/biden/trump/US military/US police/hollywood

mocking hebrew and jewish culture

mocking jewish holidays

treating jewish holidays as inherently evil

saying that israeli government crimes are being done in "our [jews'] names" and we bear the guilt for it

saying "happy [jewish holiday/memorial day] now stop doing genocide!!!"

saying diaspora jews are okay but not israeli ones

saying all israelis need to die/deserve to die/are settlers who therefore deserve to die

saying jews have no culture/stole all culture from muslims/arabs/christians

open insane blood libel conspiracies about (for example) israelis kidnapping blonde palestinian children or digging up graves for organ/skin theft

referring to israeli "blood money"

spreading and endorsing neo-nazis

spreading and endorsing holocaust deniers and other bigots ie norman finkelstein

spreading and endorsing avowed tankies, NK/russia supporters, and deniers of the ukrainian/uyghur/armenian/syrian/etc genocides

spreading rhetoric from other hate groups ie neturei karta

sharing cartoons of octopi, big-nosed evil men, netanyahu and co eating babies, etc

spreading conspiracy theories about spotify or tumblr or what the fuck ever being controlled by """zionist""" CEOs (and even explicitly stating they're jewish when they often aren't)

belittling ANY anti-antisemitism movement as anti-palestinian

using terms like "zionist rats/pigs/filth"

"all zionists should die/kill themselves/aren't human/should be gassed"

"the zionist entity/zionist state"

"hitler loved israel/was a zionist"

"[x] is worse than the holocaust"/"the holocaust is the only genocide that's taken seriously bc it's a genocide of white people"/"get over the holocaust"

being creepy and ogling about the token good jews that meet your insane standards

weighing in on deeply personal intracommunity jewish discussions in horrible ways

telling Good Jews that you’re so sorry about how isolated they’re being by the majority of jews, which are Bad Jews

saying not to donate to palestinian aid groups bc it could make israel money bc israel controls all the aid groups apparently bc they're just so greedy and want so much money

did i mention je-isra-zionists really love money

movements against "zionism in medicine" and other witch hunts against "zionist" (jewish) people in professions

participating in mass harassment movements and callouts against random jews online asking people to stop being antisemitic

openly calling for violence against jews and/or israelis

claims of dual loyalty against diaspora jews

support the american south bc they're victims of their government too (true) but kill all the israelis bc they definitely support every action taken by their government (hm)

jokes and memes. the fucking memes. you're monsters

"but lace, this is hyperbole, surely nobody is actually saying these things " -- these are all literally, exactly, personally things my "friends" and mutuals have said and reblogged/retweeted since october 7th. if you're reading this now there is a 99% chance you are one of them.

and yes i fucking hate the israeli government. what is happening in palestine is evil. i'm a nonzionist jew.

but i know that's not enough. unless you're a token in "jewish" voice for """peace""" willing to say "kill every single israeli and the holocaust wasn't a big deal and 10/7 didn't happen and antisemitism isn't real and i have never been afraid as a jew in my life" you're one of Them. Being pro palestine or even antizionist isn't enough, you have to want your whole family dead and you can't say a fucking word about the way you're treated by your lovely leftist "allies". oh and you better post about it! constantly! 24/7!!!! or you're secretly a zionist who loves dead palestinian babies! probably personally killing them yourself! you filthy ki- er, zionist rat!

so, yeah, if you think i'm one of Them, that's fine. feel free to block me, i'd much prefer if you did. and let me be clear that jews are not exempt from this either. it's reprehensible regardless

i am not your fucking good jew. If you have ever thought of me as one, fuck you. You are not my good goy, either. Fuck your bugs bunny "i wish all my jewish mutuals a happy rosh hashanah." Fuck your "pictures of African Jews worshipping" tokenism and "jews fighting god" memes. Fuck your nazi punches and your Anne Frank headcanons. Fuck all your disgusting pats on the back and keep my fucking name out of your mouth. If you can't stop reblogging blood libel then I don't want to see another goddamn WORD of it.

[aprilflowers2040]

While I said in a previous post, I'd talk about my trip to Israel, I feel it's necessary to dive into issues when it comes to aspects of the Pro-Palestinian movement. So consider this as me swapping around parts 2 and 3.

While a majority of people in the movement are in it with the best of intentions, it shouldn't be ignored that there are those within it that are there for less then pure reasons. For starters, while not as prevalent as in the Pro-Israel, there have been neo-Nazis who have decided that their islamophobia and Arab-based xenophobia is secondary to their hatred of Jewish people.

I re-posted a video before talking about the subject so I will re-blog it after this is posted. In summary, it's how genuine anger towards the Likud led government of Israel is co-opted in certain circles to sneak in classic antisemitic talking points, such as Jewish people controlling the media, that the Jewish Diaspora and Israel are to be conflated with one another, by both antisemites, and extreme Zionists.

this goes into my next point, that there are those who proclaim support for Palestine, yet downplay the religious, ethnic and historical connections Jewish people have to the region in order to justify their own viewpoints, that extend to a denial of any nation-state representation. While I'm more for unity unless under certain circumstances, unfortunately, we live in a post-Balfour world, so we deal with the cards dealt. However, I digress.

Back to the matter of weaponized Pro-Palestinian elements. A trend I notice with far too much frequency in posts proclaiming Pro-Palestine is "Death to Israel" or referring to Israel as "IsNotReal" or "Israhell". This isn't even with any effort on my part, but seems to be baked into elements of the Pro-Palestine fringe. This is troubling given the above mentioned conflation of Jews and Israel. It seems downright hypocritical for people like this profess a desire to recognize Palestinian statehood, which it rightfully deserves and is now receiving, while denying Israel's own existence. While Likad propaganda isn't exactly in short supply on social media ,see the litany of porn bots on Tumblr and Twitter, there has also been enough disinformation from people who support Palestine that it should raise eyebrows. For example, footage of people in Ben Gurion Airport which was used to proclaim that people were fleeing back to places like the United States and that they were settlers, when in reality it was people returning home from Passover celebrations. However, it's not only those on the far-right that are spreading falsehoods. There are those in left-wing circles that ascribe to a "West = bad" mentality. While this isn't entirely wrong, as Western governments, including and especially the United States, have used their power for their own selfish interests, the views of Tankies are so black and white, that it borders on pure brain rot. This especially is apparent in their contrasting feelings when it comes to places like China and Russia compared to Israel. Each is currently enacting genocide, with China's CCP against the Uyghur people, Russia's Putin against the Russian queer population and the people of Ukraine, and of course Israel's Likud government on the Palestinians. However, while Tankies are quick to decry Israeli crimes, they remain slavishly loyal and excusatory about the crimes of Russia and China because they aren't "western powers" (looking at you, Hasanabi. Check out Lonerbox's videos on him and his Russian dick riding), which basically results in cutting your nose to spite your face, or in this case supporting one group of authoritarians to spite another group of authoritarians. Thus it extends to apologia towards Hamas and the actions of Palestinian groups both past and present, that used outright terrorism to get what they wanted. If these same people support Palestinian independence while preciously saying that Ukraine should kowtow to Russia's own territorial invasions, turn and run for the hills.

Which brings me to Hamas and previous Palestinian leaderships. Oh God, where do I even start. Firstly, I should clarify that I believe that armed resistance isn't an inherently bad thing. There are times where it's the only solution remaining. However, what you do with it can still be judged, and in this case, Palestinian "liberation" groups have shown a far too common trend of targeting civilian populations such as what happened on Oct.7th. It would be one thing if it was on military or government spaces, yet these actions on civilians screams of utter cowardice on the parts of Hamas. While both the IDF and Hamas have done these things, I've only noticed the IDF being called out, and although their blatant disregard for life should be decried, it's troubling how identical behavior by Hamas and other Palestinian leadership has been swept under the rug for the sake of "support". Hamas has its origins in the Muslim Brotherhood which is a very ultra-orthodox sect of Islam that has multiple bigoted aspects to it which include antisemitism, which Hamas inherited from its parent movement after separating, that wasn't "officially" removed until 2017 (I have their manifesto linked above twice just to be sure of any inconstancies given these are translations.). As for previous incidents, the Munich terrorist attack of 1972, where a combined group of the Palestinian extremist group Black September alongside West German Neo-Nazis killed eleven Israeli Olympics athletes and coaches. While it has been weaponized for darker purposes, it should be noted that while the Palestinian factions had every right to be upset by the destruction of their communities which was what led to this event, their way of dealing with it was horrifically misplaced.

For those who say that Hamas doesn't represent all Palestinians, then you are correct. They don't. They were elected in 2006 before a large portion of Palestine's current population were even born, and yet here they must suffer because the leaders they never elected, chose to break a ceasefire and murder 1,200 people and kidnap 240 more, that opened the gates of Hell upon them from an equally genocidal government with a trigger happy military, and a civilian population primed by 2,000 years of exile and (understandable) generational trauma at the hands of multiple countries and empires, mixed with propaganda and exposure to only the worst of Palestinian society in the form of terrorism to explode in anger with zero consideration for the innocent. That being said, there are Israelis and Jews who support Palestinian struggles that also point out that the Likud don't represent them either, yet those of bad faith are willing to blind themselves to this fact.

This went on longer then I meant it to, if I'm being honest. I wish this was more put together, but this was something I feel I needed to talk about. Still, for those wishing to learn more, I've linked to other sources that are more articulate. For now, I leave it here. Next time, I will get to my critiques of Israel outside of its "relationship" with Palestine.

I just want this to end. I want things to heal. All we can do is take action however we can, and cling onto hope for those who are gone, and those who continue on.

[obiternihili]

there's a class of shitbag that are incredibly wrong on some issues but happen to make noise for a just cause now and then by accident

and i kind of want to fully examine the ethics of boosting them when they're accidentally correct

twitter is just. "ignore them". ok. yeah they're liars. they'll use the audience they're grifting to weaponize against the good causes they're against.

but like

the victims in the conflict du jour have less power. the media is united in trying to manufacture consent against them. entire states are lining up to drink the blood. their supporters in their diaspora or just generally abroad are lynched, silenced, or disappeared. (am I talking about the Palestinian genocide, the Uyghur genocide, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine war, who? this should be understood as a generic situation with a generic problem).

can you really afford handicapping the just cause by not allowing it to use the shitbag class? death isn't a temporary setback you can just make up for with the power of anime and hardwork. being a better person isn't going to bring anyone back by itself. every death is an incredible loss, both in the human sense and the game theory sense of losing.

And like the reverse of the shitbag class exists too. Like, say you agree generically that the shitbags' usual supporting team is warmongering and evil, but on one of the situations they're accidentally correct, which makes a whole lot of people really against the shitbags take a wrong position? An example for a progressive leftist who sees the Ukraine as actually fighting against an invading fascist state might be the way people like Roger Waters or Jeremy Corbyn reacted to supporting Ukraine. shit like https://aeon.co/essays/settler-colonialism-is-not-distinctly-western-or-european but you could generalize the moral problem to other ideologies i think

so like

strategies, right?

you could do the right thing and just cut off the shitbags and litmus test away the people like corbyn or said or whomever and handicap a dialogue

you could do the wrong thing and just unquestionably support antisemites or racists or islamophobes or whomever

it seems to me that there's a third strategy

just block people knowingly speaking false information because that's a more immediate issue orthogonal to the bigger ethical issue I'm trying to get at

selectively support honest shitbags when and only when they're saying something important and worthy

attack them when they try to pivot to things they're wrong about

like the issue with platforming them is obvious. but it's a high stakes game and sometimes you need to say things you don't believe but your audience would believe in order to convince them of something.

like i don't believe the us government actually exercised due diligence to highest of international standards in our pursuit of alqaeda. I don't believe the monetary cost to the taxpayer supplied Israel with weapons is a major moral issue compared to the civilians being bombed. but if i'm writing a republican congressman trying to get him to call for a ceasefire I'm gonna have to use arguments he might be convinced by, like, "israel is being irresponsible with our money, they should be using a surgical tactic like we used against bin laden" even if i don't believe we were particularly surgical invading iraq or afghanistan or bombing weddings or torturing people without trial or the rape of fallujah or whatever.

but does it really matter if a ceasefire vote were ever to pass if the voter did so because of humanity or because of ghoulish solely-financial reasoning? do the dead care because the vote to ceasefire failed because one guy who might have been swayed by the ghoulish argument so beneath us didn't hear it? Would the dead really appreciate whether it were a social justice motivated politician or a financial responsibility motivated politician casting a vote for ceasefire?

the mixed strategy's problem mostly seems to be it's ability to failure mode into the "wrong thing"

but like. the "wrong thing" is going to happen anyways. some child or idiot is going to get wrapped up in shit, and respond by becoming a terrible person. the grifters are going to grift even if they always grift for good causes.

there is no litmus test for goodness. palestine doesn't work obviously. you can't just take palestine and ukraine or palestine and armenia or uyghurstan and tigraya or whatever.

there's no litmus test. alternatively every thing is yet another step in an increasingly terrible litmus test. every single issue at this scale is mind breaking and people are going to overreact to the trauma at some point, and learn things like "turks are untrustworthy fundamentally" as an armenian tried to tell me or "japanese things are disgusting" as a woman who lived through the japanese occupation of shanghai accidentally showed me.

is there even a way to soberly, analytically assess the danger of the mixed strategy? how do you quantify the number of lives saved by letting your pet bastard have a go at the podium? how do you quantify the number of lives damned by letting your pet bastard have a go at the podium?

etc