#tw anti SWANA

[felucians]

watching the newest captain america which is our FIRST movie with Sam Wilson as Captain America, be titled with a very loud antisemetic dogwhistle (New World Order / like who greenlighted that?) and have a Jewish man cast as the villain.

And have a zionist Israeli superhero who in the comics doesn't see arab people and children as real people and is actively named after a massacre committed that Israel has been OFFICIALLY NAMED indirectly responsible for (Sabra / see Sabra and Shantila massacre in Lebanon, with majority Lebanese and Palestinian victims. Occurred in late 1982). This massacre happened during my parents lifetime, even if the character was kept, a name change should happen as a bare minimum.

For a movie that I had hoped would strive for leaps in representation after the groundwork of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series did in addressing racism and setting up plotlines and plotpoints to take the next captain america series into several directions - the one this movie is going in is incredibly disappointing.

The message of criticism to Israel and it's corrupt government will be lost, along with anti-arab and antisemetic sentiments taking the forefront. This movie seems to be a cluster of anti-MENA/anti-SWANA motives, which is absolutely horrific considering yesterday was one of the dates of the year with the highest anti-MENA/anti-SWANA and islamophobic sentiments, alongside growing islamophobia in the western world with ISIS at the forefront of everyone's memories - as in the UK especially with the recent uncovering of Canadian forces grooming and smuggling young girls like Shamima Begum out of the country and into supremacist groups.

I can almost guarantee this movie will cement anti-MENA/anti-SWANA sentiments in the Western world and media, with repercussions to our diasporas. We can only hope they have the conscience to fix some of the highlighted problems receiving backlash or that they have enough Jewish and Arab people on the team that this movie won't be regurgitated propaganda.

(The only reason I'm even considering seeing the movie on my family's already paid for disney+ is because I want Anthony Mackie's first protagonist movie to be successful so he can continue to be positive representation within marvel and I don't wish for this movie to be his last as an active protagonist).

[horriblyunprepared]

So, I personally don’t like the term “islamophobia” because a) it makes the issue primarily about the religion of Islam rather than Arab/SWANA/Asian people and b) it gives racists an out.

And I’ve heard people talk about how much they hate Islam because they think it’s a bad religion or their “against organized religion”

But really the problem is that these people hate not just Muslims but people that are Arab/SWANA/Asian

When people in North America talk about Asians and anti-Asian racism, they’re typically ONLY talking about East Asian people, which I guess is fine

But what I’m saying is that we really need a way to talk about the experiences of and Arab/SWANA people without equating our very varied identities to Islam

I know that, according to the US gov, SWANA people are considered white, but the fact of the matter is that we aren’t treated as white, we experience RACISM not on the grounds of religion but on the grounds of appearance and culture.

Calling us white makes it really difficult for us to talk about our experiences of racism and excludes us from diversity initiatives and other initiatives that are meant to be corrective of racial injustice.

Using the word “islamophobia” racializes the religion of Islam, which can be practiced by anyone regardless of race. People use islamophobia to talk about racism against Arab/SWANA people, which I feel is inaccurate for that reason and because people tend not to use it where it actually does apply when East Asian Muslims are involved, because East Asian Muslims may not fit the stereotypical “Muslim” appearance which is...just Arab/SWANA people...

[paintedpineleaf]

TW: menton of JKR and anti-semtism. Also just to clarify, I’m not defending her or her actions, I just want to understand some things.

Okay, so I recently saw this video on tiktok that said JKR was anti-semitic because in the HP series, wizards consider themselves superior to muggles (true) and I think Voldemort’s supporters or pure-bloods consider themselves superior to other wizards/witches. 

The girl likened Voldemort to Hitler, and muggles to Jews. And ig the death-eaters are like nazis and the normal wizard folk like just normal citizens, where if a death-eater or voldemort does anything to a witch or wizard, people care, and if it’s a muggle, nobody cares. something like that, i probably got a couple things wrong. 

I think, theoretically i get that, but can’t the formula be applied to any group of people at all and doesn’t necessarily mean JKR’s being anti-semitic specifically on purpose?

the girl goes on to say that even though the actions of voldemort and the death-eaters are criticized in the books, it’s still anti-semitic because as a non-jewish woman, it isn’t jkr’s place to speak on it

like i could say israeli citizens are the wizards, IDF the death-eaters, non-jewish/Muslim citiziens of Palestine the muggles, and that JKR’s books criticize the actions of israel. can’t i? 

i don’t get how it’s anti-semitic, so idk if someone knows this better than me and knows whatever it is i’m missing, can you please explain better, i don’t get it.

 another point to show she’s anti-semitic is that the goblins work at the wizarding bank. this is because apparently (because i have literally never heard these sentiments in my life other than people speaking out against them, like fighting an imaginary enemy) some people think Jewish people hoard all the wealth in the world. and the goblins in the wizarding universe are symbolic of Jewish people because they have big noses.

Firstly, big noses are an Arab feature, any group of people originating in the SWANA region would have big or hooked noses among other features among them. They’re not actually a Jewish feature. not to mention the whole hoarding wealth thing is an actual sentiment I have heard for Arab people but not for Jewish people.

Second, Goblins are mythical creatures and have since always been greedy creatures and that’s it. Like elves and fairies and gnomes. elves are mischievous and tricky and cunning and kidnap people. fairies are tiny and cowardly and rarely seen. gnomes like to make mess, etc. goblins are similarly mythical creatures that are greedy and like to hoard wealth and that’s it. 

also isn’t like switching what they’ve traditionally symbolized exactly what jkr was doing, like goblins are very good caretakers of money that belongs to other people instead of stealing all their gold and hoarding it, elves are stupid and in the service of people rather than being tricky and kidnapping people?

how is including a specific mythical creature in a book about magical creatures that actually exist anti-semtitic? i don’t get it and i’ve genuinely tried to get it so maybe i have some internal biases due to which i think these correlations don’t work?

Can’t I just say that jkr was making fun of arabs when writing about goblins in a bank? I can basically fit an real world narrative into any box and make it anti-whatever can’t it? why is it specifically anti-semitic?