#and it wasn’t the Palestine protestors

[melonnade]

absolutely disgusting the way that the violence on my campus this morning is being talked about on the news. reading articles rn and they keep talking about violence on both sides & fighting breaking out ‘between’ the two groups. call it what it fucking was. it’s not two sides being violent, it’s one being attacked by the other. rhetoric matters.

[bugpill]

If I see any more misinformation about Kamala Harris to dissuade people from voting I will explode.

1. She did a lot of work as a prosecutor to dismantle the system. When she was DA in San Francisco she was labeled as being “soft on crime” which she in turn claimed was “smart on crime”. Harris made a program called Back on Track so that low-level nonviolent drug offenders could enroll in school rather than doing jail time. She has believe and continues to believe that supporting people prevents crime far better than criminalizing people.

Yes, she put people behind bars. I know she called herself the “Top Cop” and I fucking hate that. However, the number of people who served time in jail was significantly reduced due to her program. She’s not a saint, but she tried to reduce harm as much as she could in her position. Since then, she’s called for even more action in terms of legalizing marijuana and I believe recently fully endorsed it publicly.

2. She is not transphobic. Harris backed the state of California when it tried to deny gender-affirmation surgery to a trans prisoner, but as attorney general, she could not deny the state’s Department of Corrections as a client of hers. Essentially, she had no say in the denial of surgery herself, as she had to represent the department’s interests over her own. Once she realized what they were doing, Harris actually worked behind the scenes to get that very policy changed so that any inmate who needs that care could get it. Additionally, she has lead efforts to put an end to gay and transgender “panic” defenses in criminal trials.

3. Kamala Harris is Black. For some reason, people like to say that she isn’t, and that she’s Indian and pretending to be black… for what reason? Depends on who’s telling the lie to begin with. Kamala Harris is Black and South Asian. Her father, Donald Harris, is a Black man who was born in Jamaica. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India. Speculating about her race with so much evidence towards the contrary is so wrong. If anyone tells you shit about this, just send them her whitehouse.gov biography.

4. Harris (reportedly) has different opinions than Biden on Palestine. Whether or not she makes a clear stance against Israel, I don’t know. That hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll remain hopeful until further notice. She reportedly tried to push Biden towards “a policy on Gaza that was both more humane and in alignment with international law” but wasn’t listened to. The only reason why this is one of my points is that I’ve seen a lot of people stating that she is totally behind every decision and stance Biden made as president, which isn’t necessarily true. I don’t want to give her credit for being pro-Palestine if she isn’t, just to be clear. That is not what I’m trying to do here.

I desperately want her to stand for a free Palestine. I cannot make the promise that this will happen. All I can hope for is that her policy will be less harmful than Trump’s- who wants Israel to “finish the job” and promises to “throw (pro-Palestinian protestors) out of the country”.

Conclusion: the fact of the matter is that people make shit up all of the time. Sometimes it’s propaganda they accidentally absorb, sometimes it’s deliberate misinformation. People often take rumors as facts, and we need to be more vigilant about it. What I know is that some people will do anything for you to not vote tor Kamala Harris, when in reality she’s our only hope here.

Is Harris my favorite person ever? Absolutely not. Does she share my exact views and opinions? Nope. Would I rather vote for someone who more aligns with my personal views? Yes.

Is voting for Harris the only way to stop Donald Trump and Project 2025? Yes.

Disclaimer for the blog: To be 100% transparent, this is only my (Fanya’s) opinions. Although this is a shared blog, I cannot claim that my stance and my voice speaks for everybody involved in this blog. Some members are not American. Some may have different takes. All I know is that all of us are anti-Trump. Don’t go after my friends if you have beef with what I’m saying. I’m trying my best here.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Talia Emrani

Tensions have been rising across college campuses nationwide as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) groups have erected “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” in response to Israel’s conduct during the current Hamas-instigated war.

Hidden between demands for their universities to sever ties with Israel and all Israel-related products, these encampments have not stopped short of promoting violence and antisemitism. Unsurprisingly, UCLA has become a breeding ground for this current wave of Jew-hatred.

Early on the morning of April 25, 2024, UCLA’s SJP chapter set up tents on the university’s main quad, demanding that the university cut ties with Israel and allow them unrestricted protest, regardless of legality.

For eight whole days, these protestors freely expressed their antisemitic and anti-US anarchical rhetoric. Law enforcement eventually intervened, removing the protestors and dismantling the encampment.

But why was such hostility allowed for eight whole days? Why wasn’t this unlawful, hateful demonstration disbanded from the outset?

It’s hard to imagine that administrators felt handcuffed to arguments of free speech. Any other  members spewing hateful, violent rhetoric on campus would never be able to enjoy the same privileges that these encampment members did.

The anti-Israel protestors were allowed to spend their days shouting out antisemitic chants like “long live the intifada,” over a loudspeaker — all while representing their movement as a “student intifada” that needed to be “protected” by the administration.

The word “intifada” literally translates to “uprising” in Arabic, and represents two periods of mass violence and terrorism against innocent Israelis that included suicide bombings, public bus bombings, and the murder of infants.

Protestors also vandalized UCLA’s campus and held banners with antisemitic messages, such as writing in Arabic to ask Hamas’ military wing to “burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” and drawing a Star of David with directions to “step here.”

How can they honestly call for “justice” and “peace” while at the same time demanding the opposite? And yet, UCLA’s leaders felt no need to put an end to this malicious gathering.

If the barbaric rhetoric wasn’t enough, these protestors used their platform to repeatedly harass, and in some cases, even attack Jewish students suspected of being Zionist and peaceful pro-Israel activists.

During a pro-Israel counter-protest the following Sunday, April 28, when a student bent down to pick up a dropped Israeli flag, a pro-Palestinian mob surrounded her and kicked her in the head repeatedly.

In another shocking antisemitic incident that day, after an anti-Israel protester failed to destroy a pro-Israel protester’s sign, she violently tore his hat off and threatened to use her taser on him while brandishing the weapon in his face.

Again, the UCLA administration did nothing. This begs the question, are they afraid of being attacked themselves, or do they think any pro-Israel or Jewish students don’t deserve safety?

All of these instances clearly breach UCLA’s Student Group Conduct Code, which prohibits the “use or display of a weapon,” and “harassment in any form.” If administrators truly believe that assaulting and threatening to harm Jews does not violate the code, then it’s unclear what behavior would.

It took five entire days for the administration to simply recognize that Jewish UCLA students have undergone significant emotional distress, but then offering only a minimal gesture of care that amounted to little more than virtue signaling performative action.

We demand an explanation for why it took more than a week to remove these antisemites masquerading as peace activists from our campus.

We demand that such hateful protestors face adequate consequences for their actions, so that all students can once again feel safe.

UCLA administrators cannot continue to claim that they foster a safe and inclusive environment while barely lifting a finger to protect a vulnerable minority currently facing such unabashed hate.

It is time for the administration to prioritize the safety of Jewish students and take tangible steps to combat antisemitism on campus. The question is, will they?

[jewish-vents]

I lost a good friend of mine because of the stupid conflict.

It happened on the Day of Rememberance, you know, the day Holocaust survivors and their relatives march down the tracks leading to Auschwitz in Poland. There were Palestinian protestors at the sight basically heckling at these people trying to honor their lost loved ones and I got so upset. I was friends with the person in question for over 5 years, and I thought I could confide in them.

I mentioned how inappropriate it was to wave the Palestinian flag in the faces of survivors and their families because The Holocaust and the March of Remembrance has nothing to do with the conflict. These are people mourning the loss of friends, spouses, children. It’s tasteless to heckle at them for something they didn’t even do. I started contemplating if this was a hate crime and she snapped at me. My former friend then accused me of being a complicit Zionist, she insulted my family. “It’s how you were raised, you were raised to believe all this bullshit”, insinuating that Jewish families are so possessive we can’t grow outside them. I had previously mentioned to her that I was scared of the college protests going on at the time and she shamed me for that too. I’m Jewish and I’m psychotic, and it wasn’t the movement making me uncomfortable- it was the fact that randos on the street were on my campus commiting vandalism where I go to class that made me uncomfortable. It was paranoia inducing. My elderly aunt and other family members live in Los Angeles where a lot of the antisemitic hate crimes occurred. A Jewish man in LA was recently beaten to death around the time this happened. I was scared for my family, we’re very visibly Jewish. I was even almost assaulted on my college campus for being Jewish. But she didn’t let me explain and she blocked me without letting me talk to her.

She then told our other mutual friends (around 12 people) of what a shit person I am and how I spew hate speech and I support killing babies. I had a depressive/psychotic break mixed episode for around 2 months after all that where I contemplated ending it all. I’m fine now, and I realized how idiotic all those former friends are. They were antisemitic all along, they just had pretty wrapping paper to decorate their hatred with now. Said former friend said they support Palestine and boycott but they go to Disney monthly, they have a Disney account, they work at Starbucks. If they’re gonna be such an asshole to me about not supporting Palestine enough they should quit their job and stop being a fucking hypocrite. I’ve been boycotting Disney since I was a child, it wasn’t allowed in my house, and it STILL isn’t. Fuck those people I once called friends, because the moment I didn’t blindly agree with them I’m suddenly an evil jew who kills babies. I’m not sad about it anymore. I just wish the worst for them. Antisemites are lower than scum to me. Thanks for this account.

.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

During New York City Pride last Sunday, pro-Palestinian protestors blocked the parade route, spraying red paint onto a truck towing the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) float. Some protestors began distributing informational leaflets, others smeared themselves in red paint and unfurled Palestinian flags, and several sat in the street alongside a white banner that read, “No queer liberation without Palestinian liberation.” “Free, Free Palestine!” they chanted, and “Shut it down!”

“By taking blood money from arms manufacturers, @HRC has become complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” wrote the protest organizer, Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), in an X post alongside a video of the action. “Stop arming Zionism. Free Palestine.” New York City police quickly cleared the area of photographers while onlookers repeatedly shouted, “Shame!” Officers then zip-tied the protestors, arresting 10 and charging seven with disorderly conduct, told Gay City News reported. Pro-Palestinian protestors had criticized the HRC last February for accepting a “platinum” financial sponsorship from Northrop Grumman, a weapons manufacturer that supplies the Israeli military. HRC has issued previous statements sympathizing with those harmed by the conflict.

But WAWOG wasn’t the only group who disrupted a Pride event this year to protest for Palestine. In Boston, Massachusetts, over 100 protestors blocked the parade route, and over 60 pro-Palestinian organizations signed a letter calling on the parade’s organizers to stop accepting money from companies with financial ties to Israel. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pro-Palestinian protestors blocked the parade, facing off against a drumline. In Denver, Colorado, pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted a ska band performing on the PrideFest main stage to explain that the same conservative Christian nationalists who support the bombing of Palestine also regularly encourage violence against LGBTQ+ people. In San Francisco, California, over 1,000 people boycotted the main parade to attend a “No Pride in Genocide” Palestinian solidarity march, co-organized by Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT) and a local chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace. The march’s organizers accused SF Pride of accepting sponsorships from corporations “actively involved in the genocide of the people of Gaza” while noting Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinian queers.

“Palestinian queer people do not have the right of return, are subject to the dehumanizing and violent treatment Israel gives to all Palestinians at its numerous checkpoints, often do not have the ability to enter into Israel, even if in a relationship with an Israeli, and suffer the same persecution as all Palestinians,” a QUIT spokesperson said to LGBTQ Nation in a statement. Israel’s treatment of Palestine has long divided the LGBTQ+ community. Israel has spent millions to tout itself internationally as the most LGBTQ+-friendly nation in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Palestine grants nearly no civil rights to its own LGBTQ+ citizens. Pro-Palestinian protestors have long accused Israel of using its LGBTQ+-inclusive policies to “pinkwash” its human rights violations against Palestinians. As a result, anti-queer conservatives in the U.S. often resort to “homonationalism,” citing Muslim-majority countries’ anti-LGBTQ+ policies as a pretext for racism, Islamophobia, and violence against Muslims.

[...] Some members of the queer community, like Ethan Felson, executive director of A Wider Bridge, a nonprofit that connects LGBTQ+ communities in North America and Israel, say that the pro-Palestinian protests have made some Jewish queers feel unsafe and unwelcome at this year’s Pride events. Felson’s sentiments have been echoed by out gay Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who has taken a very pro-Israel stance in the conflict.

“The anti-Israel wing of the LGBTQ community is essentially telling pro-Israel Jews that if you wish to be a part of the LGBTQ community, then you have to be in the closet about your Zionism, you have to be ashamed of your Zionism,” Torres told NBC News, referring to the movement to establish a Jewish homeland. “That to me is not Pride. That’s a perversion of Pride.” But the stakes of not speaking up have never been higher. While Biden’s policies have upset pro-Palestinian queers, other LGBTQ+ people have also pointed out that Trump doesn’t support Palestine either. As president, Trump drafted a “peace plan” for the region without any Palestinian input. He also defunded the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees and moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem while closing the U.S. mission to Palestine in the same city, both of which heightened tensions in the region. Additionally, Trump has said he will reinstate his Muslim travel ban and oversee mass deportations of immigrants in the U.S., having accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country.” Overall, his stances threaten undocumented Arab families living in the U.S., increase hostility towards Arab Americans, and remove any pretense of the U.S. being a mediating force in Middle Eastern peace talks.

Pride Parades across the nation, including New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, have had pro-Palestinian protesters blocking and disrupting parades to protest sponsors of Israel Apartheid State’s genocide campaign in Gaza and their pinkwashing campaign against LGBTQ+ Palestinians.

[mogai-sunflowers]

Quick question: what is Donald Trump's policy toward Palestine?

it’s terrible. he is extremely pro-Israel. In terms of actual policy, it’s quite similar to honestly every president since ‘48, however he’s notable for a few things he did during his presidency. he moved the US Embassy from “Tel Aviv” to Jerusalem, which basically was a move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of “Israel”, which is deeply anti-Palestinian. Under the thawabit, the principles of Palestinian liberation, the first point affirms that Palestine should be a land free from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea with Jerusalem (Al-Quds) as the capital. Jerusalem/Al-Quds has always been very important to the Palestinian people, so legitimizing it as the “Israeli” capital was…. terrible.

also, the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory illegally annexed and occupied by “Israel”, has still long been recognized as Syrian by US policy, but Trump changed that and acknowledged it as “Israeli”.

he also approved an “aid” bill with $550 million going to “Israel”, and forged close relationships with Netanyahu and other prominent “Israeli” politicians. Many claim that he is kind of back-and-forth on the issues, and that they don’t know where he stand, but he is pro-Israel all the way. While he’s been relatively silent since October 7, he has made a few horrible comments- he said he would have all pro-Palestine student protestors deported, and recently in the debate called Genocode Joe a “bad Palestinian” in referencing that he thought Biden wasn’t being harsh enough on Hamas.

He hasn’t given any clear idea of what his policy would be towards “Israel” if he were to be re-elected, but it would be horrible no matter what he says. he would most definitely continue “aid” to “Israel”, and given his history of trying to literally ban Muslims, I wouldn’t be shocked if he pursued a policy on restriction of Palestinian refugees from coming to the USA. the US has also failed immensely to actually 1) issue, and 2) follow through on sanctions for “Israeli” settlers who participate in the ethnic cleaning of Palestinians in the West Bank, and I don’t see that changing at all under Trump.

[wheelie-sick]

good luck to you and yours at the encampment. I hope you continue to protest and remain safe. Our encampment wasn’t able to last the night because a police force in riot gear and a 30+ swat unit was deployed against our protest and used force and harassment to remove protestors. Free Palestine ❤️

thank you!!! and I'm sorry to hear about your encampment :(

[catdotjpeg]

More than one hundred University of Vermont students took to the university’s central campus on Sunday to form a Palestine solidarity encampment, joining many other campuses nationwide and across the world to force higher education institutions to divest from weapons manufacturers and Israeli investments directly involved in the occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.  The encampment began at 2:00pm with more than a dozen tents, but ballooned over the afternoon and evening. By late Sunday night — despite heavy rains and soggy grass — there were roughly thirty tents on the Andrew Harris Commons, the green space between the Davis Center and Howe Library, with more on the way. Along with echoing national demands of academic boycotts and divestment of Israeli institutions, UVM students also demand the withdrawal of UVM’s selection for its 2024 commencement speaker: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador to the United Nations. In three separate U.N. ceasefire resolutions, Thomas-Greenfield vetoed each of them, and casting the lone ‘no’ vote for two U.N. Security Council resolutions. She also voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire. These actions have enabled the continued genocide of Gaza, in which over 34,000 have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. As if her stance wasn’t clear enough from her actions at the U.N., during Thomas-Greenfield’s confirmation hearings in 2021, she called the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement (BDS) “unacceptable” and that it “verges on antisemitism.” 

[...]

Soon after students began assembling Sunday afternoon, UVM administrators and police started making a series of ultimatums and deadlines for students to disperse, lest they face potential suspension, citation, and arrest. With students collectively deciding each time to stay put, by around 10:00 pm the administration agreed not to take any actions against students at the encampment before 8:30 am Monday. By that time, the administration insisted that all tents be removed from the green, though students could remain assembled there. Shortly after word of UVM administration’s concession made it through the crowd, UVM police officers approached some of the campers to restate UVM policy in a manner that some students found contrary to what had just been agreed.

[...]

The students at the encampment have made the following demands of the UVM administration: 1. DISCLOSE all financial investments within UVM’s $800 million endowment. 2. DIVEST from all weapon manufacturers, Israeli companies, and companies involved in the occupation of historic Palestine. 3. ACADEMIC BOYCOTT of Israeli institutions. 4. CANCEL Linda Thomas-Greenfield as speaker for UVM’s 2024 commencement and revoke her planned honorary degree from UVM. 5. AMNESTY for all students engaged in protests for Palestinian freedom, and a guarantee of no charges for protestors.

“We have people talking to the administration to figure out what a conversation might look like to implement our demands,” James said. “But as of right now, it’s difficult because the administration seems generally unwilling to talk to us beyond telling us that we’re breaking the rules, or we need to disperse.”

-- From "UVM Students Build Solidarity Encampment for Palestine" by Matt Moore for The Rake Vermont, 29 Apr 2024

[dailyanarchistposts]

Yesterday an active-duty Air Force soldier named Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy. His last words were “Free Palestine.” Of the cops responding to the scene, some pointed guns at him while others sought to extinguish the flames; the image of a cop pointing a gun at a man on fire is the most American thing I have ever seen.

On June 11th, 1963, a Buddhist monk named Thích Quảng Đức set himself on fire in Ho Chi Minh City (then Saigon). In South Vietnam, Buddhists were an oppressed majority, ruled by a Catholic minority—the Buddhist flag was banned, Catholics were chosen for all the better jobs, and protesting Buddhists were being murdered in the streets or sent to concentration camps.

So Thích set himself on fire and calmly burned in front of hundreds of spectators on a public street. There’s a film of it, and I’m not big into “watch people die on film,” but some moments in history are worth seeing. He didn’t cry out; he just sat in lotus position, engulfed in flames. Afterwards, the cops tried to take his remains, but thousands of angry protestors took him back, and they re-cremated him for a proper funeral. His heart didn’t burn. It solidified in the fire. Today it is today a sacred relic. I have no explanation for this.

Other monks in Vietnam followed his example. By the end of the year, the CIA led a coup and toppled the Catholic dictator of the country. This isn’t “the US being good,” mind you, they’d been propping the asshole up in the first place. Thích’s sacrifice is often credited as what brought down that regime.

Two years later, the first American set herself on fire in protest of the Vietnam war. Alice Herz was a German Jew, 82 years old. She’d seen some shit. She’d fought for feminism in 1910s Germany, helped bring about the Weimar Republic, fled Germany to France only to end up in a Nazi concentration camp. Survived. Made it to the US. Lived in Detroit and became a Unitarian. Then one day she wrote a letter about how horrible the Vietnam war was, went out to the street, and set herself on fire. She wasn’t the last. In South Vietnam and the US alike, Buddhists and Quakers and Catholics set themselves on fire in service of the same cause.

When a 16 year old Catholic named Ronald Brazee set himself on fire in October 1967, a Catholic Worker named Father Daniel Berrigan wrote a poem for him called “In the Land of Burning Children”

He was still living a month later I was able to gain access to him I smelled the odor Of burning flesh And I understood anew What I had seen in North Vietnam I felt that my senses Had been invaded in a new way I now understood the power of death in the modern world I knew I must speak and act against death because this boy’s death was being multiplied a thousandfold

The Dutch resistance to the Nazi Occupation was characterized by a unique nonviolence, focusing primarily on hiding Jewish people and acts of sabotage. This wasn’t necessarily an ethical or even strategic decision, but one forced onto them by circumstance—according to one resistance fighter, since the Dutch government maintained a firearms registry before the invasion, the Nazis were able to acquire that list and go door-to-door to disarm the Dutch population.

But what the Dutch resistance lacked in firearms it made up for in mass participation. Roughly a million people were involved in sheltering people, secreting people away, striking, or helping those who were doing such things. The two most active groups were churches and communist organizations.

The Nazis responded with collective punishment. The occupiers cut off food supplies inside the Netherlands, blockading the roads between farms and cities. The entire population of the country went hungry during what’s called the Hunger Winter of 1944-1945. Between 18-22,000 people starved to death. Four-and-a-half million people were living off of something like 600 calories a day each. A whole generation of children born or living at the time suffered lifelong ailments. Audrey Hepburn grew up in Occupied Netherlands (and as a preteen performed ballet to raise money to support the resistance). Her time in the hunger winter left her with lifelong ailments like anemia.

In case the parallel I’m drawing is not obvious, Gaza is currently being starved by the Israeli government.

Quite notably, quite worth understanding in the modern context, the Hunger Winter persisted despite relief efforts until the Allied forces liberated the Netherlands from the fascists in May 1945.

Aaron Bushnell was twenty-five years old when he died. He sent a message to media outlets before his act: “Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

He posted on Facebook: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

His last words, engulfed in flames, were “Free Palestine.”

I know that what stopped US involvement in Vietnam was the military victory of the Vietnamese people against US forces, combined with the direct action action efforts of the American Left that made the war harder to execute. I know what ended the Nazi occupation was the Allied invasion. I know what stopped legal chattel slavery in the US was the deadliest war in our country’s history. I also know that what stopped Jim Crow was… nothing. Nothing has stopped it, not completely. The long, hard, thankless work of a combination of reform and direct action has mitigated its effects somewhat.

I can’t say I think others should follow Aaron’s example. I doubt he wanted anyone to. An act like this needs attention, not imitation. What we can follow is the moral courage. What we need to decide for ourselves is how to act, not whether or not to act. I don’t have any answers for me, and I don’t have any answers for you.

I can say that he shouldn’t be forgotten, that he ought to be remembered when we ask ourselves if we have the courage to act.

I can also say that it takes an incredible number of people doing an incredible variety of work to effect change. That poet, Father Daniel Berrigan, did a lot more than write poetry. He and others in the broader Catholic Left raided draft offices and burned records, directly impacting the US’s ability to send young men off to die in an imperialist war. A group of people who came out of their movement (but were primarily Jewish and/or secular) raided an FBI office and uncovered the spying and disruption that was done of the peace movement under the name COINTELPRO.

A vibrant and militant counterculture sprang up, drawing Americans away from the clutches of conservative propaganda. They built nationwide networks of mutual aid and they helped draft dodgers escape the country.

An awful lot of American soldiers in Vietnam directly defected, enough that “fragging” entered the English language as a verb for throwing a grenade at your commanding officer.

As for the Hunger Winter, it was not ended until the Nazi party was ended through force of arms, but its worst effects were alleviated by the bravery and thankless work of uncountable people who cobbled together meals from nothing or who organized to bring food aid in across German lines.

In the US now we’re seeing a growing movement opposed to our country’s collaboration with the genocidal regime in Israel.

It’s impossible to know if it will be enough. When you pile straw onto the proverbial camel, you never know which straw will be the last. We just keep piling.

And in the meantime, we remember names like Aaron Bushnell, Ronald Brazee, Alice Herz, and Thích Quảng Đức.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

By Scott Scheffer

Genocide Joe Biden flew into Los Angeles under heavy guard on Dec. 9. Well over a thousand protestors let him know that he wasn’t welcome in L.A. or anyplace else. The demonstration was organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, which has a strong following at nearby UCLA, and was supported by numerous other anti-war and progressive organizations.

Biden and his entourage had come to cash in at six fundraising stops over the weekend. His reelection campaign crew hoped that bolstering their war chest would make up for his ever-sinking poll numbers.

[dicapiito]

Leftists and antiblackness:

There’s so much antiblackness in the ‘ Free Palestine’ movement that I decided to make a post for the some of the extreme bullshit they have been pulling when it comes to Black People and the racism/antiblackness that just won’t stop happening because they want Republicans in charge of everything :

Leftists decided to attack Black activists in the name of “ Palestine” because why not? Of course they don’t care when it comes to Black Events because well hey; Black People don’t get attacked enough for simply existing ..oh I mean “ For Palestine”

Throwing blood at a Black Woman’s home? That’s not alarming at all. I don’t give a damn about how people feel about her; this should be considered a hate crime because throwing blood at Black People’s homes is some sinister and racist type of shit.

The watermelon symbol is antiblack. Don’t give me this shit where it’s used for another country when the watermelon stereotype for Black People TO THIS DAY stays being something yts love to use to insult Black People. The Palestine flag is right there so there’s no excuse since DSA socialists won’t listen to Black People. ( FYI, just because a Black Person says ‘ it’s okay to do so’ actually doesn’t make it okay to do so)

Let’s not forget what happened in 2015, also for leftists who decided to be disrespectful since it seems 2015 is ‘ long ago’

Oh but wait screw the memories of those who lost their lives to a white supremacist. It’s about ‘ Palestine!’. And oh wait, another event where they’re bothering Black People who deserve to feel safe in a place where a massacre happened to their loved ones.

So please miss me with this crap that it’s ‘ about Biden’ when in reality all this movement is is really just a way for mostly yt and nonblack leftists to harass and harm Black People since Black People mostly vote Democratic and that MVP Harris is the Vice President.

Leftists just want the GOP to be in charge in more than just SCOTUS and the House. They want a GOP back in office so they can cosplay being an activist until the fun is over and they can find a new movement to latch onto. As well as, there’s also been alot of antiblackness from nonblack leftists so yeah, sorry but at this point it really is just something for people to get antiblack which is sad to see but wasn’t surprising that it stays happening

I mean this is what that movement is filled with:

And since they stay can’t helping themselves with antiblackness

Here they are wanting to be antiblack on MLK Day

[readingsquotes]

"Where once the grass had been open in front of the encampment, a monolithic jumbotron now displayed a slideshow that alternated between Israeli iconography, and gory images from the October 7th attacks. The speakers blared electronic music and the counter-protesting revelers danced, giving birth to one of the most profoundly confusing scenes I’ve ever witnessed, which would come to be referred to in the area as the “Zionist Rave”. People danced and screamed and cheered in support of what most UN countries outside our own agree is a genocide. I really cannot stress enough how bizarre it is to see people moving and gyrating to generic house music while human gore shines on a screen behind them. The scene became so loud and so raucous that the entire area had to tighten up security.

...

Over the night of April 30th and early morning of May 1st, counter-protestors attacked the student encampment. They didn’t attack it with noise or with cruel pranks as they had in previous nights, but with weapons. Masked instigators arrived with the sole purpose of doing harm to the encampment and those within it. Fireworks were shot into the encampment, exploding at ground level. An older woman was beaten and harassed. I wasn’t present, but many journalists were on the ground and were able to paint a thorough picture of what happened. After holding the line against their attackers for over four hours, the police finally stepped in and dispersed the counter-protest (if it could truly be called that anymore.) Prior to that point, they had been either absent (having supposedly been called just before 11pm by the University) or observing in silence (having stood by while numerous assaults were committed in front of them.) To my knowledge, the attackers were dispersed without any arrests being made.

...The masked attackers the night before had finished the job they’d started, turning the situation on the quad into enough of a violent, public spectacle that the university could now feel justified in turning against the encampment that they had just days ago claimed to support.

...A night of tear gas, flashbangs, and rubber bullets followed a night of fireworks and fist fights and at the end of it all the encampment was brutally ransacked, and 43 students were arrested.

I returned early the next morning, hoping to see the interior of the encampment before it was fully disassembled, but found that a cleanup crew had made short work of it. What stung the most to see was the jumbotron. As all physical evidence of the students’ rebellion was being thrown out or power washed away, the screen that had served as a rally point for the people who had beaten, burned, and tormented these students was carefully disassembled and placed into crates so that it could be safely returned to whoever they’d rented it from. God forbid they lose their deposit.

...It appears that this generation understands that change does not come from marches zoned like parades, but from actual disruption of the status quo.

...After all, I’d seen the videos. I’d seen the videos of US-funded death and destruction in Palestine, and I’d seen the videos of police violence against the students protesting it here in the US. In watching those videos, where students were pressed against concrete and teachers were thrown down alongside them for daring to show concern, something had stirred in me. In a moment where so many political statements felt insufficient, inadequate, or like outright crocodile tears, what the students at these encampments were doing felt blisteringly real.

I suspect that in each of us there exists a number of awful videos you can stand to see happen on your computer before you have to do something, go somewhere. A point at which your brain processes the amount of horrible shit that’s been thrust into your eyes and finally registers that it’s real, but the screen isn’t. What happens once you reach that number is up to you but for the student protestors at UCLA, the answer was obvious: go outside.

They felt what so many of us feel right now: that something is very, very, wrong. They put their lives, health, and futures on the line because they knew that none of those things matter much when you think of what we stand to lose if we don’t act.

And as bombs fall on a defenseless Rafah and the US government continues to turn a blind eye, it becomes clearer that their conviction is not misplaced. These are not hot-headed young people shocked to discover the injustices of the “real” world. These are young adults who learned about that world from us and recognize a broken thing when they see it.

The government may insult them, and the police may brutalize them but, in a few decades, when this genocide is accepted for the atrocity that it was, they will be able to say that they tried. They’ll be able to say that while everyone argued about the “right” way to say that killing tens of thousands of innocents is wrong, they tried to divest from those responsible. They will be able to say that in the face of a machine that runs on death, they tried to build something, and even though the machine destroyed that too, they built it all the same.

[breawycker]

From UNC Charlotte student Mom who was arrested twice:

Watching narratives on the student protests on college campuses has been interesting.

Hearing that the campuses are run by outside agitators. Hearing that the protestors are being paid. Hearing that the protestors are somehow being led.

My son was arrested at UNC Charlotte on Tuesday, May 7th at 6:40am for protesting. He was the one person arrested. He was peaceful. He did not resist arrest and calmly went with the arresting officers.

UNC Charlotte repeatedly told the press in statements that it wasn’t clear if my son was a student since he did not give his name when he was arrested. This is an obvious lie on behalf of the university, as they suspended him and banned him from campus while he was in jail, via an email- so they definitely knew his name and status.

He was bailed out of jail by fellow protestors using a bail fund that the students had all contributed to. George Soros, unfortunately, did not provide any money for the bail fund, and it was a bunch of 18 year olds who managed it.

He returned to campus in order to go to his dorm room, his cell phone was dead and he did not have his laptop, so he had not seen the email from the university which suspended him and banned his access to campus. He was arrested for second degree trespassing at 6:40pm (same day,Tuesday, May 7th). Again, he was polite and did not resist arrest. Despite the narrative that campus police and the university have told to the press, he was no where near any protest when he was arrested for a second time.

He spent the night in jail, he was seen by the bail judge at around 11:30am the next morning, and his release took until nearly 4pm to process. During his bail hearing, the public defender pointed out that he was in jail for a crime that, if he received the maximum penalty, would only warrant a fine.

The protests were non-violent. Any argument that they are antisemitic, is heavily belied by the fact that Jewish Voice for Peace is one of the main organizing groups.

In the 1980s, university students protested apartheid South Africa and demanded that universities divest from South Africa. This is the SAME request that is being made today.

News articles are heavily weighted in favor of what the university says. How many students are the reporters speaking to? Yesterday, there were twenty students downtown in front of the Mecklenburg jail all day, waiting for my son to be released. No local reporter bothered to speak with them.

My son’s name is [REDACTED]. I am proud of his moral strength in standing up for what he believes in. Both of his parents are navy veterans. His father, who is his namesake, died on active duty. We are patriots in my house, and we are also believers in the need to do good in this world.

My son spent his childhood hearing me quote the following passage to him when discussing how we must live in this world and how we must care for each other: Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSVUE) 34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love God. Love your neighbor.

End the slaughter of the Palestinian people. Stop using US money to pay for Israeli bombs.

My son was arrested on a university campus, where he is a student, yesterday. Across this country, many students have been arrested for protesting the horrific destruction of Palestine and the senseless killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

There are no universities left in Palestine. Israel has destroyed them all.

I am proud of my son. A part of me certainly wishes that he was less willing to be thrown to the lions, but I am very proud of his moral strength and insistence on using his position of privilege to be a voice for others.

I am incredibly proud of my son.

I am ashamed of UNC Charlotte, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police, and every single reporter who uncritically simply quoted UNC Charlotte.

Feel free to share this post. It is public, and I believe that the best thing we can do is amplify youth voices and do our best to correct any incorrect narratives that we hear or see.

*this post has been edited to clarify the dates of both arrests as Tuesday, May 7th.

*There was a correction to Jewish Voice for Peace from the previously incorrectly named “Jews for Peace”. My apologies for the original error.

*the final statement telling people to feel free to share the post was also added on to the original post.

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

I am enjoying the parade of freaks and pricks all lining up to gleefully and vocally throw themselves onto the “Lee Anderson did nothing wrong and speaks for millions” fire, the latest being noted sack of shit Richard Tice.

I am enjoying it because the core of their argument – the pillar upon which the weight is bearing down – is that the (consistent, and consistently vast) protest marches in support of Gaza and Palestine more broadly, are seething, hate-filled marches of rage and sheet, unbridled, frothing Jew-hatred. Which they, uh, aren’t. Pretty obviously. Like, blatantly.

It makes you look crazy when you talk like this!

(There have been arrests (the stats of which bizarrely are not broken down between protestors and counter-protestors – why wouldn’t you do that?) but given that the marches regularly attract tens of thousands I’d kind of expect a couple. Not the hundred Lee Anderson lied about, mind. PS Those people who put pictures of the Hamas paragliders onto their coats? Tasteless, guys. Why would you do that?)

But their whole case hinges on it because if it wasn’t true, well, then they’d just be whining about protests. And they love protests! They love free speech! Just not this, obviously, because it’s gone too far. Too far! That a visible amount of those in the marches are obviously Muslim and that this is a cause with a strong Islamic connection (rightly or wrongly) and a strong resonance, well, that’s just a coincidence!

It’s not that they dislike Muslims! They just think they should be quiet. Also they all hate the Jews, clearly. Damn Muslims, dividing our communities – multiculturalism has failed!

Hmm. I’m not sure these guys are on the level.

Also yes, to clarify: Outright stating – not just implying, but just saying – that the Muslim mayor of London is controlled by Islamists? Not Islamophobic. If you’d rolled out a classic “Oh, Jews control the media!” you’d have been (rightly, let’s be very clear) drummed out of polite society, but since he’s just saying that a Muslim is in the pocket of Islamic extremists (also note the broad-to-the-point-of-uselessness ‘Islamists’ – a modern classic!) that’s fine. That’s not Islamophobic! It’s just what people are thinking!

Double standard? What double-standard?

To think a mayor dared to allow perfectly legal protests to go ahead. The nerve! We want our country back! Bring back hanging and then don’t hang them because it’s too good for ‘em! That’s what I say!

God you people are scumbags.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

So Rashida Tlaib has criticized Michigan’s Attorney General (who is Jewish) of being biased against pro-Palestine/anti-Israel protestors at the University of Michigan, leveling charges against them for trespassing and (iirc) not obeying orders from the police. Tlaib pointed out that the AG hadn’t leveled similar charges for protestors for other causes, and that therefore the reason why she had in this case was because she was somehow biased against propal/antiisrael protestors. She did not say this was because the AG was Jewish, although a lot of people feel like that may have been implied (or that various lefty types would make that connection on their own even if that wasn’t Tlaib’s intention). Personally I don’t like to make assumptions like that.

What I would like to point out however is a common attack point against criticism of the actions of Hamas, Hezbollah, and indeed of college student activists (including ones that aren’t Arab, Muslim, or Palestinian), is that such criticism is Islamophobic or racist against Arabs or Palestinians. I feel like I have seen Tlaib herself do this multiple times. To be fair there definitely are those who extrapolate the actions of Hamas et al to say something about Palestinians, Arabs, or Muslims as a whole, and that is racist, but many (and hopefully most) of the people I see criticizing Hamas et al go out of their way to make it clear they are only criticizing Hamas et al.

[bradleymarshall]

It wasn’t bad

I told him how Jordan’s parents knew me from the protests

And he said to me

It’s a killer pandemic and you were putting your balls on the table

I didn’t know what to say in response so I just changed the topic

But yeah from that it seems he thinks I was foolish obviously to risk natural immunity and he’s probably of the belief how bad and dangerous covid was And the essential need for a vaccine

I caught the train in

Saw the Palestine protestors

Lot of chem trails in the city the haze is everywhere

Someone killed themselves in Mordialloc train station

And I had a purple carrot today

Two of them

I like it

How was yours

Oh and im reading this tragic war book

Quiet on the battlefield

About nineteen years olds dying in war

The description saying most are too young to find a girl

Most don’t have lives to come back too like the older soldiers

All they knew was high school and homework and now were sent off to die

So I’m watching a war movie lol