archivistsunbird - Tumblr blog

[archivistsunbird]

Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, “In the Year 2148, Our Only Nabka”

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my favorite kind of mash lines are the ones that are written as complete throwaways but hit really hard

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Palestinian woman of Jericho, 1967.

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Free Palestine sticker spotted in Beyoğlu, İstanbul

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another essential read, maybe even as a counter/companion to "conflict is not abuse" (which i am now dipping into some criticisms on) is david graeber's "the bully's pulpit" about the relationship between power, performance, and domination.

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ive been to a lot of protests in my life and a thing that a lot of people dont understand is that a protest is a threat. its a large group of people saying “we are being nice now, but you must understand that if we stop being nice we have the power to cause you Problems”.

so everyone saying that protests have to be more polite or follow accepted rules is missing the entire point. the point of a protest is not to say “we disagree with you”, they already know that. the point of a protest is to make it clear that if they continue to do things you disagree with, you will burn down their house.

now this wont stop them because theyre stupid and arrogant and believe themselves to be beyond consequence. so here’s the really important thing and that’s that after they do it anyway, you have to burn down their house

[archivistsunbird]

What's going on in the congo rn is one of many many reasons that the right to repair is a VITAL tenant in leftism imo

[archivistsunbird]

My grandmother talks about how growing up in Belfast, Ireland, British soldiers would raid the local Irish people's houses, steal from them, smash up their homes or burn them out, beat up or kill or imprison the men, rape the women, and then justify their actions by saying the local people were harbouring IRA terrorists and illegal weapons stores even though they weren't. Any time the British committed an act of violence against the Irish it was the same excuse.

And every time Israel blows up a school, hospital, refugee camp killing hundreds of civilians in the process and justifies it by saying they were harbouring Hamas it makes me think of that. Colonialism never changes.

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[archivistsunbird]

Don’t stop talking about Palestine 🇵🇸

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I know I don’t talk much publicly about this, it’s a sensitive topic for me. So take this picture. :)

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This is a big deal, and totally unprecedented. Today the UN General Assembly (not the Security Council, so no veto possible) will vote on a resolution that grants Palestine almost the full rights and privileges of a member "EVEN if the UNSC fails to admit Palestine". This is designed to bypass the US veto on the Security Council and is virtually guaranteed to be approved given the overwhelming support that Palestine has among UN member states.

The resolution would enable Palestine to sit among member states alphabetically, speak on any agenda item at the UN, address international groups on its behalf, and submit resolutions in its name. It even gives Palestine the right to vote in a specific context: in international conferences convened under the auspices of the General Assembly (although they still wouldn't have the right to vote in the General Assembly itself as you cannot do without the Security Council approval for this).

The resolution draft points out that this is done "on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent." The Israeli UN ambassador has already said that “if it is approved, I expect the United States to completely stop funding the U.N. and its institutions, in accordance with American law." US law indeed requires that the US defunds global institutions that admit Palestine as a member, which tells you everything you need to know about the US's actual "commitment" to the two-state solution...

So we're likely on the eve of another major battle between the"Rules-Based Order" and International Law, where the US might - as insane as it sounds - choose to defund the UN.

UPDATE: UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY PASSES RESOLUTION!

The UN General Assembly will vote tomorrow on a resolution that may effectively make Palestine a member state of the UN. As you may recall, Biden vetoed a resolution at the UNSC earlier this year that sought to admit Palestine as a member.

Based on a draft of the resolution I have reviewed, I do believe that this resolution may become a big deal. It does three important things. It reiterates that a Palestinian state must be created based on the 1967 borders and, by that, rejects the "facts on the ground" Israel has manufactured through its settlement project to render a Palestinian state impossible.

Second, it expresses "deep regret and concern" over Biden's veto at the UNSC last month on this issue and recommends that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." And thirdly, it appears to grant Palestine the full rights and privileges of a member EVEN if the UNSC fails to admit Palestine. This would be an unprecedented decision designed to circumvent Biden's veto at the UNSC.

The draft that I have seen points out that this is done "on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent." This language is there in order to alleviate concerns that this could become a new tool that would be used on a regular basis to admit states such as Kosovo or Taiwan.

If it passes, it will further show how isolated the US is on this matter. US law requires that the US defunds global institutions that admit Palestine as a member (remember the US's "commitment" to the two-state solution?) If Biden chooses to defund the UN as a result, it will only further undermine the US's standing.

It is truly inescapable: Biden's support for Israel is coming at a massive cost to the US itself...