Thank You for all you Do! Your Courage to Speak Truth to Power is appreciated immensely by the Muslim Community!
'Israel' & its Death is guaranteed. It's pursuit of Genocide & Ethnic Cleansing LIVE has made this inevitable. As a Global Pariah, it is only a matter of time till the Noose tightens & the Beast is starved to Death!
Yes, I thank you so much too, Chris, for your courage and for tirelessly speaking truth to Power. This talk does my heart good and I feel grateful to be part of your community.
I am especially touched by the personal stories you share from your own experience, as painful as that must be. It made me happy to hear that you are studying more Arabic. It brought to mind my own dear Palestinian friend for just a short while, Salam Khalili, who was a journalist, peace activist and artist arrested after the 1967 Nakba in 1973 for writing the truth, and imprisoned and tortured for 7 years until freed by the efforts of Amnesty Int. He and his Israeli wife and two children ended up in California near where I live. He died early from his wounds. But before that he showed me his paintings of his experiences and was just beginning to teach me Arabic calligraphy. I am a calligrapher, artist and trauma therapist among other things, and to me Arabic is the most beautiful written language in the whole world, where each of its 28 letters reflects the phases of the moon. One can feel that flow in their script. The Arabs are deeply connected to the natural world and to all of the rhythms of Heaven and Earth by nature, which makes this genocide and destruction of all life in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank all the more terrible.
I wanted to share this site that shows a few of Salam's many paintings of the endless destruction he lived through. He was such a beautiful soul, dedicated to peace until the day of his death and beyond:
I hope you get to see this post, and I thank you again. It is so important that the personal stories be told that make what we see from far away more real, more heartfelt, because through their lived stories and images we know and feel in our blood and bones that we are of course one intertwined human family and that what happens to them is happening to us, in us, as well.
What a privilege to be here at this time to listen to Chris. His words move me in all directions, in a contradiction of feelings - the despair and pain of the reality, the feeling of impotence, and the marvel at his poetic way of telling the most atrocious events. There is beauty on his words and this makes the message so much more powerful
Yes. I have no idea how he does it. He refuses to let the horror make him recoil and interfere with his ability to put it all into words. It's a talent, for sure.
Chris you are a great man. Thank you for this wonderful speech, which had me in tears. As an aging American I thought we as a civilization had overcome our genocidal nature. How naive of me. I pray for Gaza everyday and it sickens me that my government and many of my countrymen support this horrendous genocide.
Vote NO on Genocide Joe is in everything I write and not far from my lips at any moment. This Attempted Genocide by joe lowercase biden can not go unpunished. I will never again vote for the lesser of two evils. EVIL must go and that is the Monopoly party. Stein 24 West 24 or better yet Stein/West 24
The biggest recipient of US foreign aid in the last 50 years has been Israel. To the tune of $350 billion. That is precisely the amount calculated to be required to end world hunger - see the Guardian.
Even so this is a tiny fraction of what it has cost the US to support unblinkingly the international racist-apartheid scofflaw that is Israel. Much of that is incalculable but surely it includes much if not all of-the invasions of Iraq, Libya, Syria and other countries, devastated by the US and its allies. The position of the Israel lobby has been uniform and predictable . Kill, maim and destroy. Memorable among these war crimes has been the killing of 500 k Iraqi women and children “worth it” to the hideous Madeleine Albright and her sidekick Hillary C. (We came we saw, he died).
But by far the biggest expenditure was the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan where the uninvited thugs stayed 20 years claiming to be searching for Bin laden who of course wasn’t there. But giving them an opportunity to bomb weddings and commit savage war crimes along with their Australian mini- me wannabe Oz allies, who unsuccessfully tried to cover them up.
So what does Afghanistan have to do with Israel? Everything. The WesterN MSM has tried very hard to suppress it . but BinLaden explained his terrorist acts in a public letter entitled Letter to America published by the Guardian but in no American papers that I could find. He makes it explicit that the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel and its schoolyard bully protector was behind it. Indeed there is nothing to contradict this.
Cost of Afghanistan? $3 trillion! At least another trillion for aid if Intel , American troops and arms are included , this plus the cost of the other invasions must bring the total into the $5 trillion range.
So for ten million Israelis, this comes to $500k or half a million per Israeli Jew , dwarfing the personal worth of the average American. Just for Israel! I’m reluctant to put a dollar figure on the million plus deaths from the invaded countries, not to mention the deaths of American and allied soldiers.
So what of this was ever it to a vote? Nothing but 24/7 propaganda. That’s why not one American in a hundred is aware of these data.
A detailed accounting must be in front of the American voter for the coming election.
Wow, hard to like that but.............. ha. I wrote a story about the Great, great, great Grandson of Maximilien Robespierre and what happens to those 1% via a Cryo Guillotine ha. The French had a very good idea needed every generation or so.
Leech no, ungrateful yes. So much so israel rubbed our faces in the murder having mike lowercase pence sign a bomb and the Genocide continues. Vote NO on Genocide Joe.
The enormity of the current genocide in Gaza is enough to stop the beating of my heart. And yet the beat slowly proceeds. Hearing Chris’ deeply moving speech here provides rare sustenance for me to join in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the world and speak loudly in one voice “Cease Fire Now”, “Free Palestine Now”.
All the people who have been regularly criticizing Chris Hedges with bogus claims on Substack are part of a deep state propaganda campaign organized by a US government agency or the Israel lobby to discredit him to his followers.
I don’t agree. A man with his level of intellect and life experience while living in a country with obvious, serious problems, problems which themselves have major moral dimensions, such as man might reasonably be expected to address them occasionally while diverting his attention from a small, far-away conflict.
This is a reasonable criticism, but genocide is such a heinous act that it seems appropriate to spend most of your time and attention in stopping it especially if your country is a co conspirator. Every day hundreds of people are being murdered through bombing, starvation and disease. In addition many people are suffering. What do you think of the young women who lost both legs and a hand amputated without pain killers.? Do you think it would have been appropriate during the Nazi against the Jews to spend most of your time and effort to save them?
Thank you , Chris! Your courage and your intellect, and your eloquence, coupled with your unparalleled first hand experience, make you one-in-a-million. I wish we had a million of you.
No matter how many weapons they wield, no matter how many people they kill, ethno-states, theocracies and monarchies are of the past. They are on the wrong side of history.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
"But the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property, only taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the natural affections of the human mind....Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise."
Just read on X, someone suggested to combine the 'campaigns' of the outsiders (Ms Stein, Mr West, Ms Williamson) to break this stupid and deadly (for us) race Trump/Biden ... (as a non citizen I would love to see this!)
Chris Hedges you are a treasure. Your insights, and analysis are so welcome in trying to understand the underlying reasons for the barbaric treatment of civilians in Gaza, and the US involvement in these atrocities. Sending you all the best .
No question in my mind that Biden should not be in the executive office for another 4 years. Unfortunately, neither should Trump. So what to do. Jilll Stein of the Green Party is running on a platform that works for me. She's a long shot but if folks can't vote for the 2 horrible candidates the DNC and RNP are giving us I think Jill could pull this off. THe Green Party is registered in all 50 states so even though the 2 party system makes it almost impossible for a 3rd party to junmp thru all the hoops the Green Party has successfully done so. Give them a look and you decide.
Chris.....thank you for your compassionate voice where many refuse go. Sociopaths all of them.
Yes, I have voted for her in the past. Chances for winning are minimal but to be green is to love our planet and, in any case, it is a good way to criticize the two rotten political parties.
I will not be voting lesser of two evils ever again. Vote NO on Genocide Joe and sleep well. My hope, everyone who votes for Genocide Joe hears the screams of Palestinian child in their dreams.
I stand with you, I refuse to vote Genocide Joe no matter who. The Monopoly party will do everything to keep her voice from being heard. I love Cornel but after a donation not a word about ballot work. I like Stein/West 24 come out and say it now, build the momentum as traitor bernie did. Genocide bernie who would have thought. Vote NO on Genocide Joe.
Electoral politics at the federal, executive level is currently functionally broken. Look up instant runoff voting and ranked choice voting. It's the only way out of lesser evilism.
I suggest paying attention to your hyper-local politics, tho. Voting, volunteering for good people running, etc can do a lot of good there.
I too will vote for Jill Stein. As Chris Hedges said: a red line has been crossed and so we most not vote for a candidate who has literally been complicit in a genocide. The thing is that I don't think the Democratic leadership realizes yet that they will lose the Presidency to Trump due to this disaster of a foreign policy that has brought shame on our country. Biden won't lose because of third and fourth political parties, or because of Russian or Chinese interference in the election: he will lose because he aided and abetted a genocide.
Thank you Chris Hedges for your, strong. compassionate, courageous, voice in supporting the Palestinian people in order to stop their repression and the genocide in Gaza.
Thank you for sharing this message by Chris Hedges, as well as your own, in support of the peace and freedom of the Palestinian people. I wish I were there with you, but I am grateful for the opportunity to join with you online.
Thank You for all you Do! Your Courage to Speak Truth to Power is appreciated immensely by the Muslim Community!
'Israel' & its Death is guaranteed. It's pursuit of Genocide & Ethnic Cleansing LIVE has made this inevitable. As a Global Pariah, it is only a matter of time till the Noose tightens & the Beast is starved to Death!
(For those interested)
If you wish to read (& listen!) to more of My commentary, here is my Main Stack:
https://thefallofthewest.substack.com
Thank You Kindly to everyone!
Yes, I thank you so much too, Chris, for your courage and for tirelessly speaking truth to Power. This talk does my heart good and I feel grateful to be part of your community.
I am especially touched by the personal stories you share from your own experience, as painful as that must be. It made me happy to hear that you are studying more Arabic. It brought to mind my own dear Palestinian friend for just a short while, Salam Khalili, who was a journalist, peace activist and artist arrested after the 1967 Nakba in 1973 for writing the truth, and imprisoned and tortured for 7 years until freed by the efforts of Amnesty Int. He and his Israeli wife and two children ended up in California near where I live. He died early from his wounds. But before that he showed me his paintings of his experiences and was just beginning to teach me Arabic calligraphy. I am a calligrapher, artist and trauma therapist among other things, and to me Arabic is the most beautiful written language in the whole world, where each of its 28 letters reflects the phases of the moon. One can feel that flow in their script. The Arabs are deeply connected to the natural world and to all of the rhythms of Heaven and Earth by nature, which makes this genocide and destruction of all life in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank all the more terrible.
I wanted to share this site that shows a few of Salam's many paintings of the endless destruction he lived through. He was such a beautiful soul, dedicated to peace until the day of his death and beyond:
https://www.arteidolia.com/the-paintings-of-salam-khalili/
I hope you get to see this post, and I thank you again. It is so important that the personal stories be told that make what we see from far away more real, more heartfelt, because through their lived stories and images we know and feel in our blood and bones that we are of course one intertwined human family and that what happens to them is happening to us, in us, as well.
Liana, thank you for this beautiful comment.
I would add, appreciated by more and more people from around the world.
Much love and many hugs. Free Palestine will never again be far from my lips again.
What a privilege to be here at this time to listen to Chris. His words move me in all directions, in a contradiction of feelings - the despair and pain of the reality, the feeling of impotence, and the marvel at his poetic way of telling the most atrocious events. There is beauty on his words and this makes the message so much more powerful
Yes. I have no idea how he does it. He refuses to let the horror make him recoil and interfere with his ability to put it all into words. It's a talent, for sure.
Chris you are a great man. Thank you for this wonderful speech, which had me in tears. As an aging American I thought we as a civilization had overcome our genocidal nature. How naive of me. I pray for Gaza everyday and it sickens me that my government and many of my countrymen support this horrendous genocide.
Vote NO on Genocide Joe is in everything I write and not far from my lips at any moment. This Attempted Genocide by joe lowercase biden can not go unpunished. I will never again vote for the lesser of two evils. EVIL must go and that is the Monopoly party. Stein 24 West 24 or better yet Stein/West 24
Chris I hope you read this
The biggest recipient of US foreign aid in the last 50 years has been Israel. To the tune of $350 billion. That is precisely the amount calculated to be required to end world hunger - see the Guardian.
Even so this is a tiny fraction of what it has cost the US to support unblinkingly the international racist-apartheid scofflaw that is Israel. Much of that is incalculable but surely it includes much if not all of-the invasions of Iraq, Libya, Syria and other countries, devastated by the US and its allies. The position of the Israel lobby has been uniform and predictable . Kill, maim and destroy. Memorable among these war crimes has been the killing of 500 k Iraqi women and children “worth it” to the hideous Madeleine Albright and her sidekick Hillary C. (We came we saw, he died).
But by far the biggest expenditure was the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan where the uninvited thugs stayed 20 years claiming to be searching for Bin laden who of course wasn’t there. But giving them an opportunity to bomb weddings and commit savage war crimes along with their Australian mini- me wannabe Oz allies, who unsuccessfully tried to cover them up.
So what does Afghanistan have to do with Israel? Everything. The WesterN MSM has tried very hard to suppress it . but BinLaden explained his terrorist acts in a public letter entitled Letter to America published by the Guardian but in no American papers that I could find. He makes it explicit that the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel and its schoolyard bully protector was behind it. Indeed there is nothing to contradict this.
Cost of Afghanistan? $3 trillion! At least another trillion for aid if Intel , American troops and arms are included , this plus the cost of the other invasions must bring the total into the $5 trillion range.
So for ten million Israelis, this comes to $500k or half a million per Israeli Jew , dwarfing the personal worth of the average American. Just for Israel! I’m reluctant to put a dollar figure on the million plus deaths from the invaded countries, not to mention the deaths of American and allied soldiers.
So what of this was ever it to a vote? Nothing but 24/7 propaganda. That’s why not one American in a hundred is aware of these data.
A detailed accounting must be in front of the American voter for the coming election.
Median worth of the average American is $191.000. Average worth is highly skewed by the 1% ers is ~a million.
Wow, hard to like that but.............. ha. I wrote a story about the Great, great, great Grandson of Maximilien Robespierre and what happens to those 1% via a Cryo Guillotine ha. The French had a very good idea needed every generation or so.
I don't recall seeing Israel helping USA in Afghanistan?
Israel is an ungrateful leech?
Leech no, ungrateful yes. So much so israel rubbed our faces in the murder having mike lowercase pence sign a bomb and the Genocide continues. Vote NO on Genocide Joe.
Yes and well documented. One of the reasons that base was struck in Iraq the other day. Same people.
The enormity of the current genocide in Gaza is enough to stop the beating of my heart. And yet the beat slowly proceeds. Hearing Chris’ deeply moving speech here provides rare sustenance for me to join in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the world and speak loudly in one voice “Cease Fire Now”, “Free Palestine Now”.
I am praying with my feet as long as I can keep going.
Thanks Chris.
All the people who have been regularly criticizing Chris Hedges with bogus claims on Substack are part of a deep state propaganda campaign organized by a US government agency or the Israel lobby to discredit him to his followers.
I don’t agree. A man with his level of intellect and life experience while living in a country with obvious, serious problems, problems which themselves have major moral dimensions, such as man might reasonably be expected to address them occasionally while diverting his attention from a small, far-away conflict.
This is a reasonable criticism, but genocide is such a heinous act that it seems appropriate to spend most of your time and attention in stopping it especially if your country is a co conspirator. Every day hundreds of people are being murdered through bombing, starvation and disease. In addition many people are suffering. What do you think of the young women who lost both legs and a hand amputated without pain killers.? Do you think it would have been appropriate during the Nazi against the Jews to spend most of your time and effort to save them?
Thank you , Chris! Your courage and your intellect, and your eloquence, coupled with your unparalleled first hand experience, make you one-in-a-million. I wish we had a million of you.
No matter how many weapons they wield, no matter how many people they kill, ethno-states, theocracies and monarchies are of the past. They are on the wrong side of history.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Jefferson got that right. Herzl got it wrong.
Jefferson got a few things right.
"But the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property, only taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the natural affections of the human mind....Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise."
https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s32.html
Thank you~! You are a better scholar than I! I can only semi-quote a couple of words here and there...
You are right, Chris has that voice that is so powerful in speeches.
Vote NO on Genocide Joe.
Just read on X, someone suggested to combine the 'campaigns' of the outsiders (Ms Stein, Mr West, Ms Williamson) to break this stupid and deadly (for us) race Trump/Biden ... (as a non citizen I would love to see this!)
That guy never met a war he didn't like.
relevant and timely review of the conflict by someone who possesses the history to summarize the
facts into common acceptance. mr. hedges is to be commended for what he does and his contribution to finding the answers.
Chris Hedges you are a treasure. Your insights, and analysis are so welcome in trying to understand the underlying reasons for the barbaric treatment of civilians in Gaza, and the US involvement in these atrocities. Sending you all the best .
Arlene Dunkelbarger
Yes. His understanding of the historical record is fantastic.
No question in my mind that Biden should not be in the executive office for another 4 years. Unfortunately, neither should Trump. So what to do. Jilll Stein of the Green Party is running on a platform that works for me. She's a long shot but if folks can't vote for the 2 horrible candidates the DNC and RNP are giving us I think Jill could pull this off. THe Green Party is registered in all 50 states so even though the 2 party system makes it almost impossible for a 3rd party to junmp thru all the hoops the Green Party has successfully done so. Give them a look and you decide.
Chris.....thank you for your compassionate voice where many refuse go. Sociopaths all of them.
Yes, I have voted for her in the past. Chances for winning are minimal but to be green is to love our planet and, in any case, it is a good way to criticize the two rotten political parties.
I will not be voting lesser of two evils ever again. Vote NO on Genocide Joe and sleep well. My hope, everyone who votes for Genocide Joe hears the screams of Palestinian child in their dreams.
I stand with you, I refuse to vote Genocide Joe no matter who. The Monopoly party will do everything to keep her voice from being heard. I love Cornel but after a donation not a word about ballot work. I like Stein/West 24 come out and say it now, build the momentum as traitor bernie did. Genocide bernie who would have thought. Vote NO on Genocide Joe.
Electoral politics at the federal, executive level is currently functionally broken. Look up instant runoff voting and ranked choice voting. It's the only way out of lesser evilism.
I suggest paying attention to your hyper-local politics, tho. Voting, volunteering for good people running, etc can do a lot of good there.
I too will vote for Jill Stein. As Chris Hedges said: a red line has been crossed and so we most not vote for a candidate who has literally been complicit in a genocide. The thing is that I don't think the Democratic leadership realizes yet that they will lose the Presidency to Trump due to this disaster of a foreign policy that has brought shame on our country. Biden won't lose because of third and fourth political parties, or because of Russian or Chinese interference in the election: he will lose because he aided and abetted a genocide.
Thank you Chris Hedges for your, strong. compassionate, courageous, voice in supporting the Palestinian people in order to stop their repression and the genocide in Gaza.
Accurate, insightful reporting and fearless, truthful commentary
are the clean fresh air a healthy democracy breathes. Thank you Chris Hedges!
Thank you for sharing this message by Chris Hedges, as well as your own, in support of the peace and freedom of the Palestinian people. I wish I were there with you, but I am grateful for the opportunity to join with you online.
I also know what a PITA is! Those whom I knew talked a lot but did nothing.
And what they talk about are idiocies and what they do best is bothering people.
This "war"...like shooting fish in a barrel.