The genocide is almost complete. When it is concluded it will not only have decimated the Palestinians, but will have exposed the moral bankruptcy of Western civilization.
Agree. For me, first came the shock when Biden unconditionally supported Netanyahu, used our tax dollars to fund the genocide and lied about the particulars, e.g., “beheaded babies.” Then came the outrage, followed intermittently by a sense of helplessness when no actions by those who cared, including myself, were able to stop it. Now a sick feeling has set in, probably because the world-wide sickness that allowed this to happen has been exposed. I work with a small group that is trying in many ways to stop it. That, along with like-minded voices on this and other sites helps keep me going.
I agree with you, Jodi. We must never forget. That politics played Such a large part in our utter disregard for the almost total annihilation of a people is especially shameful. I am ashamed.
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Shelley’s “Ozymandias”. In 1990 I created for a Paris exhibition on Artists Are The Keys of Knowledge, a sculpture in 5 decomposing segments of bronze body parts indicating the hubris of Ramses ll and all tyrants. Engraved on the five sets of keys, five keys each set,were civilizations that had come and gone. I put The United States of America on the last key partially buried in sand.
Thank you for your classical symbolism Elizabeth. Perhaps this time it’s different and you need to bury the whole statue leaving nothing showing so that ‘The lone and level sands stretch far away’. This might be a fitting epitaph for the oppression of humanity in general (the disappearance) and the submission of the Palestinians (the sand) in particular.
I like the idea that it is the sand that prevails.
For some time now, I have believed that this poem, Ozymandius, is the epitaph of our species, which seems to be succumbing to the fatal disease of hubris.
Until France is able to go ahead with its planned recognition of Palestine. As long as this fails to materialize Israel will define the security environment and policy here (I, a Brit, live in France too). There might still be a République but the ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’ that supposedly underpins it is circumscribed by Zionist and pro-Israel Jews just like in the US. And the UK. And in most other Western countries. It’s just more subtly done.
I think they are even worse than the Nazis. The tortures they are able to inflict, their sadistic behaviour and their continuous need to defile everything. Nothing is enough to quench their thirst for destruction
As far as I am concerned, these are the last days of humanity, not just Gaza. What is going on in Gaza is coming for the rest of us sooner than later. Unfortunately a handful of insane folks who some call the broligarchs are happily making tons of money off of genocide and ecocide. And now they have fully taken over the government of the USA and many other nations as well. They are now making it illegal to criticize their insane game of who has the most money wins and their ongoing genocide and destruction of the government and planet. They will likely kill off not only the rest of us along the way of their amassing of artificial wealth, they will also take a massive amount of flora and fauna as well. And meanwhile short of a massive world wide uprising of 24/7 general strikes and boycotts the killing will continue. And to be truthful, I have doubts that even that will stop their insanity as so much damage has been done, especially with the runaway climate catastrophe that no one in positions of power seem to take seriously at all.
Ahh, " . . . the runaway climate catastrophe . . . " will solve all of our problems and kill every living thing including you, me and all of those we love. Indeed SC - " . . . these are the last days of humanity, not just Gaza." Thanks for telling it like it is.
As MAD magazine pointed out, rats, Twinkies, Tupperware, and cockroaches will survive the Bomb. I'd give the edge to the colony insects; they know how to live in co-ops.
Plants are intensely symbiotic; the interface between fungal hyphae and plant roots alone makes cooperation the dominant mode of life on Earth, not competition. Indigenous people haven't forgotten that. But the western powers, the destroyers, have.
You have a magic way with words Rafi - always appreciated in our household. My wife and I celebrated my 71st birthday yesterday on a hike in the Valles Caldera in the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico - it was a blessed day - I am very grateful for all of it. Be well amigo.
"Plants are intensely symbiotic; the interface between fungal hyphae and plant roots alone makes cooperation the dominant mode of life on Earth, not competition." thanks for this - I have a wonderful neighbor who has done extensive soil restoration on his property (not his first endeavor, he's a native Aussie and understands the science and has the know-how to make it happen) - his soil is alive again; he not only explained the methods and process of doing so, but, he showed me evidence when he dug into his soil and pointed at the living network thriving there - it blew my mind Rafi. When I stand in his yard now, I can actually feel the life force, it's like I've left the state (high-desert NM) left my own adjoining property - like I am someplace quite different than everything else around it - the birds love it too - bob-cats have used his roof to raise their young -- what do these things tell me - I am in a thriving living place that feels good to be a part of = emerges naturally thru cooperation not competition = harmony . . . it feels quite wonderful - thanks for the reminder RS.
"...no one in positions of power seems to take seriously."
Because the theoretical assumptions underlying the western econ system, forced onto much of the world, do not. Economists following the party line (dissenters receive the same treatment as truthful journalists) use their own climate models based on a gradual linear increase. So then costs are too great to disrupt an entire world economy for something relatively minor. (See alt. economist Steve Keen on this.) Besides, if ever needed, all that silicon brain power would be able to find a techno quick fix, right?
The history of this econopathy started as a deep hatred for the New Deal and for Keynesians by Milton Friedman and his U of Chicago school. There is little empirical support--it's merely a rigid belief system. Add the Austrian school, inspiration for ultra right wing libertarian techies. They're Social Darwinist winners opposed to helping lessers and losers as unnatural and as rewarding the wrong sort of behavior. (See Quinn Slobodian's books //Crack-Up Capitalism// and also //Hayek's Bastards.//)
This sick system maintains dominance as it's powerful enough to buy entire governments. The 1/10th of 1% expects to sail on through; they're buying megayachts and private islands in temperate climates. Surviving lessers can become serfs and domestics on their Neo-feudal estates.
We have failed the Palestinians so thoroughly I find it hard to breath. Every single day. There is nothing we can do now but scream and protest and boycott until we too are no more.
I expect the blowback from this horror to be fierce, lasting more than a generation. What we have coming (I'm speaking of the U S) will make 9/11 look like a walk in the park. And make no mistake: We have it coming.
Is any redemption for our moral bankruptcy possible? We still haven't come to grips with the facts that our own country was founded upon a genocide of tens of millions of Indigenous people, and was enriched to becoming a world power by the enslavement of tens of millions more.
True...except be careful about that "we." I heard this joke re: a U.S. TV program on a rez in the '60s. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are surrounded by what appear to be hostile Indians. The Lone Ranger says "We have to fight them, Tonto!" Tonto replies "What's this 'we,' white man?!"
Some of us know history all too well. And some of us understand how living superficially on top of the land with no living roots in it produces a dangerous and destructive eco alienation.
Oh, but they will wail most piteously whenever Russia or any enemy of the empire does anything, real or imagined.
Their raging hypocrisy will trouble them not a whit. For to the sociopaths who rule over us, facts are of interest, only to the extent that they can be weaponized.
I think Israel will face retribution, especially since 85 percent of the Israeli population supports this genocide which truly tarnishes their image in the world significantly. I don't think older generations of Americans know the full extent of the horror Israel has implemented since the mainstream media they rely on have been totally absent in their coverage of this genocide and therefore complicit in it, but the young with their computers will know of the horrors Israel has implemented, and that gives me hope there will be retribution. Hopefully AIPAC will be wiped out in terms of their influence on American politics, and people like Miriam Adelson will no longer have a president of the US string a necklace around her neck because she slipped him a hundred million, bribed him, to clear out a people from the West Bank, that is, their home.
Israel doesn't care, as long as they can count on America to apply carrot and stick.
In fact, Israel sees the hate of the world as a feature and not a bug, because it strengthens America's ties with them and provides a pretext to demand double standards and special pleading.
Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I think the influence Israel has now on
America's political system will be neutered to a great extent over time. The end times the Israeli's have planned for the Palestinians may bring about their own destruction because of their sheer brutality.
True. I don't know if I posted this before, or if you read it. As a kid those old cowboy and Indian movies made no sense to me, since they portrayed the Indians as bad for wanting to hold on to what was theirs, and the cowboys seemed bad to me since I saw them as thieves, yet they were portrayed as the good guys. I remember when the truth came to me which said my country lies to me, and the Indians were good, but my country wanted me to see them as bad. It had profound affect on me. I never saluted the flag saying with liberty and justice for all and never believed it was true. I didn't vote for years since I had no regard for my government and defined my country as it's people, and my loyalty belonged to them. I think I got it right, and I haven't changed my mind since. Amen!
Every American lawmaker who followed hollow and meaningless “Israel has an obligation to follow international law” press releases with votes for more weapons shipments to Tel Aviv is complicit in what’s happening to Gaza today.
Chris has written here an indictment of every inhuman person who facilitated, enabled, funded and carried out this monstrous atrocity that should be read at the Hague to convict these war criminals. Israeli, American, British, European enablers in government or military, along with civilian actors who have funded or propagandized to continue this madness to its criminal conclusion, must be held accountable or there will never be a hint of justice or peace anywhere in the world again.
I wrote this on October 11, 2023: "Israel and the United States share an astonishing hubris. Both countries believe themselves entitled to oppress, invade, attack, disenfranchise and expropriate what belongs to others, and both react with shock and rage when those others rise up and strike back."
For months after October 7, I woke up thinking about the violence, the dead and maimed, especially the children. Like Mr. Hedges, I can barely look at the images any longer, the faces of innocent, beautiful children, whose only offense against the world was being born in Gaza.
I believe JFK was working on getting AIPAC listed as a "foreign actor" and as such, not eligible to give money or support to any agent of the US government. That movement ended with his death.
Like John Dewey said in 1905: "Politics is the shadow cast upon society by big business." So if you take away the money, nothing remains. As Netanyahoo says, he controls more senators than tRump.
This is just the beginning of my fight against Zionists and oppression of all types. I am fully aware who the enemy is and I will not back down! I will not and cannot let all the innocent lives lost be in vain. We have to stop these monsters! We have to stand up for humanity and morality.
The West Bank is next. It has already started. Israel and it's western supporters are entirely lawless and blood-soaked, and I see no escape. For any of us.
It seems to me that the Jews primary takeaway from the Nazi Holocaust was that no one will come to save them. This is how Zionism really took hold of Judaism - through never forgetting and by never healing... So, they applied that lesson and knew that no one would come to save the Palestinians too. Humanity will live with this scar on our soul.
Of course, the Red Army did ride to the rescue of the Jews.
What the Zionists took away from the Holocaust was, whatever else you do, make sure that you are on the winning side. Some prominent Zionist put it thusly: he had no problem with Nazi ideology or methods, disagreeing only with their choice of enemies.
No, only the Enlightenment west with its left brain hemisphere dominance thus preferences for linear processing, abstract thinking, control, order, and certainty. In contrast, the right hemisphere, which sees gestalts and multivalence, values artistic creativity, feels connections to all life, and searches for meaning.
Ironically, quantum physicists came to similar conclusions about reality as better represented by the right hemisphere. While fundamentalist evangelicals went for materialism, getting rich.
The Indigenous peoples of the Earth have not forgotten and do not deserve to be destroyed because of the actions of power mad fools, acquisitive hungry ghosts, and their enablers.
That's specious. Just because a weed originated somewhere doesn't mean it's not noxious when an invasive damaging to a specific ecosystem. All plants are not alike; nor are all people. Some of us are deeply entwined within the local environment in which we have our being.
Perhaps you need to further examine your statement. Not disputing the fact that there are members of the species who do a better job of existing in harmony with the rest of earth's many other species; just objecting to dumping them all under the "indigenous" label as you appear to be using it. Unfortunately, when a species proves itself to be deficient in some way that is incompatible with life--such as destroying the environment it requires to continue existing--it doesn't really make any difference.
You're implying "walking gently on mother Earth" as an individual like in your avatar description means Indigenous isn't inclusive enough. Maybe, maybe not. Is your "walking" a vague, generalized love the Earth thing or a deep knowledge of and rootedness in your own local ecosystem? Besides, I never said Indigenous only. You're the one who needs "to further examine."
You also elide from a perhaps valid inclusiveness based on individual actions into a blanket condemnation of the entire human species. You and your kind might be "deficient" and "incompatible with life"--a rapacious econopathy and monstrous armaments sure look like it--but you cannot speak for all of us. Particularly entire Indigenous nations.
If you believe the planet would be better off without your kind, then go. Leave us who are sisters and brothers or two spirit kin to plants, animals. fungi, etc. out of your divine wrath.
PS--If all humans should be destroyed, then why would injustice, racism, plutocracy, or genocide possibly matter?
I bow to the wisdom of the late, great George Carlin:
"I'm also tired of hearing about innocent victims. This is an outmoded idea; there are no innocent victims. If you live on this planet, you're guilty, period, fuck you, end of report, next case." Adieu.
Chris Hedges' writing is so beautiful. Enslaved by our idols. Yes. Be aware of what you worship!
What happened to Tikkun Olam--heal the world? As a Jew I am horrified at what my fellow Jews are doing in Israel. And I know that this will cause the Israeli killers a lifetime of anguish Suppressed, maybe, but present.
And mowing down, or pulling up the olive trees? That's proscribed in the Torah! How can they do that?
In tenth grade, learning about the Holocaust, I remember thinking, "we are so much more civilized now." That was nearly 50 years ago. How wrong I was! Now, seeing the images, how can we live "normally" again? Life is weird, dreamlike. The Palestinians exist in a nightmare. What's coming next? For any of us?
Perhaps this is something you can help bring about. Time for all those wonderful, principled American Jews, to sue the ADL for defamation, slander, libel, and unauthorized appropriation! Make the ADL have to admit publicly, with every statement, that they do not speak for all Jews.
Of course it would require great effort, energy and money. Perhaps organizations would join, or a class action law suit.
Those are powerful and well connected organizations, not taken on lightly. I am sure there are those who would volunteer their services, and surely we could get crowd-funding to assist with the legal fees. I am sure there are those who would volunteer their services, and surely we could get crowd-funding to assist with the legal fees.
Does this sound like something worth doing? How can we help make this happen?
I will talk to people who might know more about this. There are a number of organizations, Jewish Voices for Peace, Not In My Name, and others, who let the public know that ADL and AIPAC do not speak for us.
While making phone calls for Jamaal Bowman a number of my fellow Jews screamed at me, calling me an anti-Semite. They listened, after their rant, to my saying that I had lived and worked in Israel for a year, and have a hundred blood relatives and thousands of relatives by marriage who are Israelis. And then they screamed at me some more. Pretty hard core. We are not a cohesive group. Never were.
Yep, and that's why there is a need to try new avenues to clarify this picture, and disentangle zionism from Judaism. I think it can only work to the benefit of everyone to do this. Let me know if I can help in anyway.
I am so ashamed of this country. I will never forget this atrocity. I will never be the same.
Agree. For me, first came the shock when Biden unconditionally supported Netanyahu, used our tax dollars to fund the genocide and lied about the particulars, e.g., “beheaded babies.” Then came the outrage, followed intermittently by a sense of helplessness when no actions by those who cared, including myself, were able to stop it. Now a sick feeling has set in, probably because the world-wide sickness that allowed this to happen has been exposed. I work with a small group that is trying in many ways to stop it. That, along with like-minded voices on this and other sites helps keep me going.
I agree with you, Jodi. We must never forget. That politics played Such a large part in our utter disregard for the almost total annihilation of a people is especially shameful. I am ashamed.
I have left our country. 1st Jamestown Colonizing Family to Political refugee by choice in France.
I should have written, NOT by choice but by necessity. A Republic still lives and breathes in France, but for how long?
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Shelley’s “Ozymandias”. In 1990 I created for a Paris exhibition on Artists Are The Keys of Knowledge, a sculpture in 5 decomposing segments of bronze body parts indicating the hubris of Ramses ll and all tyrants. Engraved on the five sets of keys, five keys each set,were civilizations that had come and gone. I put The United States of America on the last key partially buried in sand.
Thank you for your classical symbolism Elizabeth. Perhaps this time it’s different and you need to bury the whole statue leaving nothing showing so that ‘The lone and level sands stretch far away’. This might be a fitting epitaph for the oppression of humanity in general (the disappearance) and the submission of the Palestinians (the sand) in particular.
I like the idea that it is the sand that prevails.
For some time now, I have believed that this poem, Ozymandius, is the epitaph of our species, which seems to be succumbing to the fatal disease of hubris.
I want to be wrong about this.
Ah, the ‘Easter Island’ outcome. I can only say that if anything is going to save us it’s going to have to arrive pdq.
And it certainly won’t be the US or Israel.
Until France is able to go ahead with its planned recognition of Palestine. As long as this fails to materialize Israel will define the security environment and policy here (I, a Brit, live in France too). There might still be a République but the ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’ that supposedly underpins it is circumscribed by Zionist and pro-Israel Jews just like in the US. And the UK. And in most other Western countries. It’s just more subtly done.
Bon courage.
Thank you David. We drank way too much champagne when LePen was found culpable.
In 1990 I created a sculpture inspired by Shelly’s poem Ozymandias with
Ramses ll in 5 segments of lopped off body parts in bronze carrying a set of five keys which were I graved with a lost civilization. The hubris of
civilizations and tyrants is a lesson never learned. I don’t know why. I was going to post the poem.
France is only doing this because they want the United States to prioritize the war On Russia.
France is a de facto puppet state.
Don't block the comments with your substack!
????
I’m new to this… did not know comment was blocked. Thx.
What was done to them in World War II is now being done by them. Pernicious Madness. 😱
Wage Peace
David - Marine Vietnam Combat Veteran for Peace 🥳
I think they are even worse than the Nazis. The tortures they are able to inflict, their sadistic behaviour and their continuous need to defile everything. Nothing is enough to quench their thirst for destruction
As far as I am concerned, these are the last days of humanity, not just Gaza. What is going on in Gaza is coming for the rest of us sooner than later. Unfortunately a handful of insane folks who some call the broligarchs are happily making tons of money off of genocide and ecocide. And now they have fully taken over the government of the USA and many other nations as well. They are now making it illegal to criticize their insane game of who has the most money wins and their ongoing genocide and destruction of the government and planet. They will likely kill off not only the rest of us along the way of their amassing of artificial wealth, they will also take a massive amount of flora and fauna as well. And meanwhile short of a massive world wide uprising of 24/7 general strikes and boycotts the killing will continue. And to be truthful, I have doubts that even that will stop their insanity as so much damage has been done, especially with the runaway climate catastrophe that no one in positions of power seem to take seriously at all.
Ahh, " . . . the runaway climate catastrophe . . . " will solve all of our problems and kill every living thing including you, me and all of those we love. Indeed SC - " . . . these are the last days of humanity, not just Gaza." Thanks for telling it like it is.
As MAD magazine pointed out, rats, Twinkies, Tupperware, and cockroaches will survive the Bomb. I'd give the edge to the colony insects; they know how to live in co-ops.
Plants are intensely symbiotic; the interface between fungal hyphae and plant roots alone makes cooperation the dominant mode of life on Earth, not competition. Indigenous people haven't forgotten that. But the western powers, the destroyers, have.
You have a magic way with words Rafi - always appreciated in our household. My wife and I celebrated my 71st birthday yesterday on a hike in the Valles Caldera in the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico - it was a blessed day - I am very grateful for all of it. Be well amigo.
"Plants are intensely symbiotic; the interface between fungal hyphae and plant roots alone makes cooperation the dominant mode of life on Earth, not competition." thanks for this - I have a wonderful neighbor who has done extensive soil restoration on his property (not his first endeavor, he's a native Aussie and understands the science and has the know-how to make it happen) - his soil is alive again; he not only explained the methods and process of doing so, but, he showed me evidence when he dug into his soil and pointed at the living network thriving there - it blew my mind Rafi. When I stand in his yard now, I can actually feel the life force, it's like I've left the state (high-desert NM) left my own adjoining property - like I am someplace quite different than everything else around it - the birds love it too - bob-cats have used his roof to raise their young -- what do these things tell me - I am in a thriving living place that feels good to be a part of = emerges naturally thru cooperation not competition = harmony . . . it feels quite wonderful - thanks for the reminder RS.
"...no one in positions of power seems to take seriously."
Because the theoretical assumptions underlying the western econ system, forced onto much of the world, do not. Economists following the party line (dissenters receive the same treatment as truthful journalists) use their own climate models based on a gradual linear increase. So then costs are too great to disrupt an entire world economy for something relatively minor. (See alt. economist Steve Keen on this.) Besides, if ever needed, all that silicon brain power would be able to find a techno quick fix, right?
The history of this econopathy started as a deep hatred for the New Deal and for Keynesians by Milton Friedman and his U of Chicago school. There is little empirical support--it's merely a rigid belief system. Add the Austrian school, inspiration for ultra right wing libertarian techies. They're Social Darwinist winners opposed to helping lessers and losers as unnatural and as rewarding the wrong sort of behavior. (See Quinn Slobodian's books //Crack-Up Capitalism// and also //Hayek's Bastards.//)
This sick system maintains dominance as it's powerful enough to buy entire governments. The 1/10th of 1% expects to sail on through; they're buying megayachts and private islands in temperate climates. Surviving lessers can become serfs and domestics on their Neo-feudal estates.
We have failed the Palestinians so thoroughly I find it hard to breath. Every single day. There is nothing we can do now but scream and protest and boycott until we too are no more.
We are many they are few.... boycott, boycott, boycott forever.
That’s where our power is. Choke the genocidaires by choosing not to buy, not contribute.
The Israelis simply need stretch out their hand, and the United States will fill it.
They are one and the same, the United States of Israel. Mindful consumption is one way we can resist until they scupper themselves.
I expect the blowback from this horror to be fierce, lasting more than a generation. What we have coming (I'm speaking of the U S) will make 9/11 look like a walk in the park. And make no mistake: We have it coming.
Is any redemption for our moral bankruptcy possible? We still haven't come to grips with the facts that our own country was founded upon a genocide of tens of millions of Indigenous people, and was enriched to becoming a world power by the enslavement of tens of millions more.
We haven't learned a damned thing.
True...except be careful about that "we." I heard this joke re: a U.S. TV program on a rez in the '60s. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are surrounded by what appear to be hostile Indians. The Lone Ranger says "We have to fight them, Tonto!" Tonto replies "What's this 'we,' white man?!"
Some of us know history all too well. And some of us understand how living superficially on top of the land with no living roots in it produces a dangerous and destructive eco alienation.
Oh, but they will wail most piteously whenever Russia or any enemy of the empire does anything, real or imagined.
Their raging hypocrisy will trouble them not a whit. For to the sociopaths who rule over us, facts are of interest, only to the extent that they can be weaponized.
I think Israel will face retribution, especially since 85 percent of the Israeli population supports this genocide which truly tarnishes their image in the world significantly. I don't think older generations of Americans know the full extent of the horror Israel has implemented since the mainstream media they rely on have been totally absent in their coverage of this genocide and therefore complicit in it, but the young with their computers will know of the horrors Israel has implemented, and that gives me hope there will be retribution. Hopefully AIPAC will be wiped out in terms of their influence on American politics, and people like Miriam Adelson will no longer have a president of the US string a necklace around her neck because she slipped him a hundred million, bribed him, to clear out a people from the West Bank, that is, their home.
Israel doesn't care, as long as they can count on America to apply carrot and stick.
In fact, Israel sees the hate of the world as a feature and not a bug, because it strengthens America's ties with them and provides a pretext to demand double standards and special pleading.
Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I think the influence Israel has now on
America's political system will be neutered to a great extent over time. The end times the Israeli's have planned for the Palestinians may bring about their own destruction because of their sheer brutality.
I dunno, look at the fate of the Native Americans.
True. I don't know if I posted this before, or if you read it. As a kid those old cowboy and Indian movies made no sense to me, since they portrayed the Indians as bad for wanting to hold on to what was theirs, and the cowboys seemed bad to me since I saw them as thieves, yet they were portrayed as the good guys. I remember when the truth came to me which said my country lies to me, and the Indians were good, but my country wanted me to see them as bad. It had profound affect on me. I never saluted the flag saying with liberty and justice for all and never believed it was true. I didn't vote for years since I had no regard for my government and defined my country as it's people, and my loyalty belonged to them. I think I got it right, and I haven't changed my mind since. Amen!
Team D cultists call me a Trumper. Trump cultists call me a Biden supporter.
I walk by myself and all places are alike to me. It is a good place to be.
Every American lawmaker who followed hollow and meaningless “Israel has an obligation to follow international law” press releases with votes for more weapons shipments to Tel Aviv is complicit in what’s happening to Gaza today.
Unfortunately, that includes the majority, Republicans and Democrats alike.
All too true Nancy. It amazes me how the D's I know hate me when I say it . . .
Same ones who still deny Cheney's neocons ran Biden's State Dept.
Ain't it funny how, not so long ago, Cheney was Team D Folk Devil Number One, but now he's a bona fide Hero Of Muh Republic?
Chris has written here an indictment of every inhuman person who facilitated, enabled, funded and carried out this monstrous atrocity that should be read at the Hague to convict these war criminals. Israeli, American, British, European enablers in government or military, along with civilian actors who have funded or propagandized to continue this madness to its criminal conclusion, must be held accountable or there will never be a hint of justice or peace anywhere in the world again.
Yes, and those who stood by without lifting a finger to stop it. Silence is complicity.
I wrote this on October 11, 2023: "Israel and the United States share an astonishing hubris. Both countries believe themselves entitled to oppress, invade, attack, disenfranchise and expropriate what belongs to others, and both react with shock and rage when those others rise up and strike back."
For months after October 7, I woke up thinking about the violence, the dead and maimed, especially the children. Like Mr. Hedges, I can barely look at the images any longer, the faces of innocent, beautiful children, whose only offense against the world was being born in Gaza.
Can we designate AIPAC as a terrorist organization?
I believe JFK was working on getting AIPAC listed as a "foreign actor" and as such, not eligible to give money or support to any agent of the US government. That movement ended with his death.
Thanks for the info. We need to make taking their money toxic to politicians at the very least. And publicize it everywhere.
Like John Dewey said in 1905: "Politics is the shadow cast upon society by big business." So if you take away the money, nothing remains. As Netanyahoo says, he controls more senators than tRump.
Boy, I think they would love to be released from having Netanyahou's noose around their necks!
This is just the beginning of my fight against Zionists and oppression of all types. I am fully aware who the enemy is and I will not back down! I will not and cannot let all the innocent lives lost be in vain. We have to stop these monsters! We have to stand up for humanity and morality.
The West Bank is next. It has already started. Israel and it's western supporters are entirely lawless and blood-soaked, and I see no escape. For any of us.
It seems to me that the Jews primary takeaway from the Nazi Holocaust was that no one will come to save them. This is how Zionism really took hold of Judaism - through never forgetting and by never healing... So, they applied that lesson and knew that no one would come to save the Palestinians too. Humanity will live with this scar on our soul.
Of course, the Red Army did ride to the rescue of the Jews.
What the Zionists took away from the Holocaust was, whatever else you do, make sure that you are on the winning side. Some prominent Zionist put it thusly: he had no problem with Nazi ideology or methods, disagreeing only with their choice of enemies.
I agree with you. When the evidence supports an existential blood feud, there is no morality. People try to create rules but they go by the wayside.
“Existential blood feud” completely made up concept to allow one socially-constructed entity to dominate another.
To honor our Gazan sisters and brothers, we must not go down without a fight. That's the least we can do now.
Homo sapiens sapiens is an evolutionary dead end. The sooner annihilation occurs, the better for all other species.
No, only the Enlightenment west with its left brain hemisphere dominance thus preferences for linear processing, abstract thinking, control, order, and certainty. In contrast, the right hemisphere, which sees gestalts and multivalence, values artistic creativity, feels connections to all life, and searches for meaning.
Ironically, quantum physicists came to similar conclusions about reality as better represented by the right hemisphere. While fundamentalist evangelicals went for materialism, getting rich.
The Indigenous peoples of the Earth have not forgotten and do not deserve to be destroyed because of the actions of power mad fools, acquisitive hungry ghosts, and their enablers.
All members of the species are indigenous to the earth.
That's specious. Just because a weed originated somewhere doesn't mean it's not noxious when an invasive damaging to a specific ecosystem. All plants are not alike; nor are all people. Some of us are deeply entwined within the local environment in which we have our being.
Perhaps you need to further examine your statement. Not disputing the fact that there are members of the species who do a better job of existing in harmony with the rest of earth's many other species; just objecting to dumping them all under the "indigenous" label as you appear to be using it. Unfortunately, when a species proves itself to be deficient in some way that is incompatible with life--such as destroying the environment it requires to continue existing--it doesn't really make any difference.
You're implying "walking gently on mother Earth" as an individual like in your avatar description means Indigenous isn't inclusive enough. Maybe, maybe not. Is your "walking" a vague, generalized love the Earth thing or a deep knowledge of and rootedness in your own local ecosystem? Besides, I never said Indigenous only. You're the one who needs "to further examine."
You also elide from a perhaps valid inclusiveness based on individual actions into a blanket condemnation of the entire human species. You and your kind might be "deficient" and "incompatible with life"--a rapacious econopathy and monstrous armaments sure look like it--but you cannot speak for all of us. Particularly entire Indigenous nations.
If you believe the planet would be better off without your kind, then go. Leave us who are sisters and brothers or two spirit kin to plants, animals. fungi, etc. out of your divine wrath.
PS--If all humans should be destroyed, then why would injustice, racism, plutocracy, or genocide possibly matter?
I bow to the wisdom of the late, great George Carlin:
"I'm also tired of hearing about innocent victims. This is an outmoded idea; there are no innocent victims. If you live on this planet, you're guilty, period, fuck you, end of report, next case." Adieu.
Chris Hedges' writing is so beautiful. Enslaved by our idols. Yes. Be aware of what you worship!
What happened to Tikkun Olam--heal the world? As a Jew I am horrified at what my fellow Jews are doing in Israel. And I know that this will cause the Israeli killers a lifetime of anguish Suppressed, maybe, but present.
And mowing down, or pulling up the olive trees? That's proscribed in the Torah! How can they do that?
In tenth grade, learning about the Holocaust, I remember thinking, "we are so much more civilized now." That was nearly 50 years ago. How wrong I was! Now, seeing the images, how can we live "normally" again? Life is weird, dreamlike. The Palestinians exist in a nightmare. What's coming next? For any of us?
I think humans are inherently flawed.
What happened is that the Zionists got de facto unlimited rights and zero responsibilities.
You can do the same with any group of humans.
Perhaps this is something you can help bring about. Time for all those wonderful, principled American Jews, to sue the ADL for defamation, slander, libel, and unauthorized appropriation! Make the ADL have to admit publicly, with every statement, that they do not speak for all Jews.
Of course it would require great effort, energy and money. Perhaps organizations would join, or a class action law suit.
Those are powerful and well connected organizations, not taken on lightly. I am sure there are those who would volunteer their services, and surely we could get crowd-funding to assist with the legal fees. I am sure there are those who would volunteer their services, and surely we could get crowd-funding to assist with the legal fees.
Does this sound like something worth doing? How can we help make this happen?
And same for UK and Australia, Canada, etc.
Courtroom drama!
I will talk to people who might know more about this. There are a number of organizations, Jewish Voices for Peace, Not In My Name, and others, who let the public know that ADL and AIPAC do not speak for us.
While making phone calls for Jamaal Bowman a number of my fellow Jews screamed at me, calling me an anti-Semite. They listened, after their rant, to my saying that I had lived and worked in Israel for a year, and have a hundred blood relatives and thousands of relatives by marriage who are Israelis. And then they screamed at me some more. Pretty hard core. We are not a cohesive group. Never were.
Yep, and that's why there is a need to try new avenues to clarify this picture, and disentangle zionism from Judaism. I think it can only work to the benefit of everyone to do this. Let me know if I can help in anyway.