#don't fall for the divide and conquer propaganda now

[swaglexander-the-great]

"Luigi was rich so you should hate him too!"

Ok, like Batman. Love that guy.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Armin Navabi

Published: Feb 6, 2023

A protest becomes a revolution when the protesters have hope, determination, and unity. This is why sowing division is a tried and true tactic used by unpopular leaders the world over to cling to power. This has been the Iranian regime’s recipe for survival for the past four decades. They turn different groups against each other by invoking ancient hatred and historical tensions. They do not invent the hate, but they inflame and weaponize it, pitting men against women with religion, ethnicities against each other using the fear of separatist movements, and religious people against secularists with warnings of degeneracy and depravity.

But now everything has changed. A 22-year-old woman's brutal death at the hands of Iran's morality police has laid waste to 40 years of efforts to divide and conquer. The recent protests — or revolution, as many Iranians insist — began after Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being arrested for her "improper" hijab (head covering) while visiting Tehran from the Kurdistan Province in Iran. As news spread and the people of Iran watched in horror, the same thought crossed their minds: “That could be my daughter.” “That could be my sister.” Against all odds, in a country where division over religion, ethnicity, and gender has been common, many Iranians have put aside their differences and are now united in one goal. Mahsa Amini's murder has brought people from all walks of life into the streets across Iran, demanding the end not merely of the morality police, but of the regime itself. Some loose strands of hair were enough to get Amini killed. They were also enough to bind a divided nation together in solidarity.

I'm not in the mood to talk about the Nobel Prize. https://t.co/8aq9SDhFRT

Women young and old are tearing off and burning their hijabs in the streets in protest against the Islamic regime. Even those unable to walk are joining the protests, as demonstrated by this woman in a wheelchair chanting, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, we are together."

For years, the Islamic Republic has told the people that Iran will be fractured and ultimately torn apart by Arab, Turkish, Baluch, and mainly Kurdish separatist groups if the regime falls. Leveraging Iranians' strong desire to protect their borders, the regime scares people into support by fearmongering about the potential success of Kurdish separatist groups. You may have some disagreements with us, but we are the only thing standing in the way of anarchy. But the spell of such propaganda seems to have broken. Non-Kurdish protesters across Iran now chant in support of Kurdish Iranians, including "Woman, Life, Freedom", a phrase which is Kurdish in origin. This slogan reflects the spirit of the protests and has captured the attention of people worldwide. The fact that this Kurdish chant is shouted across Iran’s ethnic groups highlights the unity among protesters.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which ushered in the current theocratic regime, also divided people along religious lines. In my childhood, I was introduced to the dichotomy: my friends and family were more liberal-minded and anti-regime, while the very religious pro-regime schools and media attempted to brainwash me. Being religious always seemed to go hand in hand with being pro-regime, and yet, more and more, the devout have been joining the anti-regime ranks for the past few years. These demonstrations have exposed this trend. Among those who have been arrested are some of the most pious, including women who wear the chador (a type of hijab that very religious women wear in Iran). Standing shoulder to shoulder with them are religious men.

pic.twitter.com/IXIMuEEy6k

Despite all the laws and regulations that segregate and set them against each other, the men and women of Iran have come together to show the regime that a desire for freedom transcends gender and tradition. We have seen religious men appeal to their fellows by invoking the injustice inflicted on Imam Hussain, the martyred grandson of the Prophet Muhammad revered by Shia Muslims, imploring them to rise and stand against the injustice done to Mahsa. One man shouted that any man who doesn't stand up today is the same as those who betrayed Imam Hussain, and they will not be able to look him in the eyes in the afterlife. Along the same lines, a former TV presenter for the regime reminded people of the upcoming anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's demise, showing respect for the prophet and demonstrating his religious sentiments, but then warning protesters to be on guard for false flag operations which might take the form of government agents burning the Quran and pulling chadors from women while pretending to be anti-regime protesters. His warning is an obvious indication that he supports the protesters, but he makes it even more explicit when he includes himself among them by saying, "We are fighting for freedom."

One area of concern is over LGBT issues. Contrary to the wishes of the regime, more and more Iranian LGBT activist groups have been springing up in recent years. Still, religious and traditional Iranians lag far behind on LGBT rights, and it remains a polarizing and unpopular issue. In an attempt to build the broadest possible coalition against the regime, some supporters are asking LGBT members to put their LGBT activism on the back burner, including requests that people not protest with rainbow flags [mainly in solidarity protests outside of Iran] and to try to blend in with others so that the regime can't use them to separate religious and traditional protesters from their ranks. The process of political sausage-making is rarely pretty, though it stands to reason that, should the regime fall, a more secular and democratic government would invariably be better for LGBT Iranians.

زیبایی ببینید: مردها شعار میدن زن، زندگی، آزادی زنان جواب میدن مرد، میهن، آبادی. امروز دانشگاه علوم پزشکی شیراز#مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/1tdp3Yqm7Q

The central theme of the uprising has been putting aside differences and uniting against the regime. In a moment that perfectly captures the message of unity, you can hear men chant “Woman, Life, Freedom” and the women respond “Man, Nation, Prosperity.” No matter the class, religion, ethnicity, or gender, Iranians are standing together. It's your turn to stand with them. Use the English and Persian hashtags, #MahsaAmini and #مهسا_امینی to bring attention to what's happening in Iran. Lend your voice to the chorus to cast down repressive theocracy. Today, we are all Mahsa.

==

Funny how people who are actually oppressed aren't competing against each other for oppression points.

The universality and unanimity of this revolution might be one of the most remarkable things of all. Feminists are being asked to put away the man-hate slogans, LGBT people are being asked to put away the rainbow flags, because those will factionalize the movement, put men and more conservative religious types off-side, and create opportunities for the regime to divide and conquer. And they are. Because those are fights for another day. It's Iran, together, against the regime.

"Be with the people, one hand and one form with the rest."

Iran is a country that will be free.

Remember the Women's March in the US in 2017? Its most memorable symbol was a woman in a hijab, it featured a pro-Sharia Islamist among its most vocal representatives, and it descended into endless episodes of Intersectional madness, such as the pussyhat fiasco, which resulted in a furore, an apology and the deletion of the knitting pattern when feminists and Gender Studies professors insisted it wasn't sufficiently inclusive to women with penises. And also racism. Somehow. 🤡 When you're privileged and free, and your oppression is imaginary, the fight to the bottom is a mad scramble.

[obaewankenope]

Celebrating the deaths of Jewish individuals is antisemitic and just not okay.

Celebrating the deaths of Palestinians is islamophobic and antimuslim and not okay either.

I don't see how there was equivocating in Vikings second reblog necessarily. Like, I don't like the government of Israel, I don't like the propaganda that dehumanises Palestinians but that doesn't make attacks on Israel acceptable.

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And just for people's awareness, I am a kid whose family history is that of the IRA. Freedom fighters and terrorists in one. On one side, individuals who fought against British oppression, and on the other individuals who made bombs and put them in hotels and on streets to kill people. And these are the same people seen from different sides of the ideological divide.

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A terrorist acts to inspire terror. They do it for a purpose, whether political, ideological, or personal, but they want fear to be created with their actions.

The attack on Israel was an act of terror.

That cannot and should not be ignored, or dismissed, or the severity of it pontificated about.

The response by Israel, by its government (not its regular people) is overwhelming force and idk if anyone knows about the British response to the IRA prior to The Troubles and during but... Well I see a lot of similarities.

The key difference here is that unlike with the IRA and The Troubles etc, the history between Israel and Palestine is forever poisoned by antisemitism and varying degrees of racism.

I personally do not think what Israel is doing is right. I personally think it is wrong and the lack of clear stating that the reaction is disproportionate by other governments around the world is... Concerning.

But I also know that the British response to some of the IRAs acts of terror were... Very disproportionate.

I fear that the people who will suffer the most for this are the Palestinians who just want to keep their homes and the Jews around the world who are universally blamed for the actions of one government that just so happens to be entirely Jewish.

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I have fallen into logical fallacies and traps within the leftist sphere where I've had an antisemitic thought and it's perhaps only because I'm a stubborn bastard with personal history tied to terrorism and freedom fighting and the messiness inherent in such that I didn't keep falling into those fallacies.

Even now, I worry I fall into them far too often and have to claw my way back out.

Please, if nothing else is taken from this post, consider this:

Viking is right about leftist circles.

The antisemitism is often wrapped different but it is there. The far right and far left are simply inches away from connecting in a political circle of ideological perspective.

Viking is right that there are degrees of antisemitism.

There is a lot of anti-british sentiment which is absolutely founded on a real basis of exploitation, discrimination, racism, and historical wrongdoing by the British Empire. To look at British individuals and Brits and say "you are a bunch of entitled bastards and I hate British people for your past" is... Well, it's not nice to hear but it is understandable. There is a lot the British Empire and Britain has done that is unequivocally wrong. A lot.

Israel is not the British Empire. There is not generations of wrongs committed by Israel in the way there is for Britain. For America. For France. Germany. Spain. For countries with White European Histories who went out and conquered and oppressed and stole and murdered those they came across in their 'exploration' of the world.

But the hatred I see of Israel is often so much more visceral that the disdain Britain gets and it's... Honestly mind boggling if you don't see the history and realise the reason for that hatred.

It's religious and racial hatred predicated on Othering and reducing a people to Lesser Than Me mentality.

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Do you know that at one point the IRA had a heck of a lot of power in southern Ireland in that they basically had a government? Or in a similar manner to Hamas, they controlled regions and kept the British out? You can look it up online, it's honestly interesting to read.

But right now, Sinn Fein is the legitimate part of the IRA. They are the political face of an organisation that planted bombs in streets and hotels, that spied on its own people, that planned murders, and kidnapped and ransomed and made deals with other terror organisations. That is a fact. It is historical record.

Hamas are in the process of becoming like Sinn Fein. Except their 'enemy' is not like the enemy the IRA faced. Because, ironically enough, Britain was willing to settle for power sharing. Well... It wasn't willing but it recognised that it was more practical.

The government of Israel is... Not willing to do that. Because it's ultimately a far right government. That has spat out propaganda for years and years and has made it so the people of Palestine aren't... Aren't people.

Hamas is a terror organisation. To some in Palestine, they're freedom fighters. To some in the Arab world and beyond, they're freedom fighters.

But a bomb is still a bomb and no matter the reason its used, if it kills civilians on the street, then the one who made and used the bomb is a terrorist in my book.

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The problem with responding to integrated terrorist organisations which are entrenched in a civilian community in the way Israel has, in the way Britain did in Ireland, is the people who don't deserve to suffer end up hurting the most and you drive those who may have supported peace into the arms of extremism.

The blame for the conflict between Israel and Palestine I will always, always, lay at the feet of my government. I will lay it on the hands of antisemites in Europe post world war two. I will lay it on the hands of those who have chosen to promote discrimination, who have encouraged dehumanisation, who have ignored the generational trauma that Israeli Jews have in their very DNA and then went and decided to promote their own plans over ensuring people didn't suffer from the fallout.

I blame the Israeli government.

I blame Hamas.

But I grieve for the Israeli people. I grieve for the Palestinian people.

Because I know who the real losers are in this situation. It's never the ones in power. It is always the people who have none and are swept along by the waves of extremism and hatred that suffer the most.

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Over eleven thousand Palestinians have died since October 7th.

Over one thousand two hundred Israelis have died since October 7th.

During The Troubles the number of casualties for both sides combined didn't reach over two thousand. In thirty years. When you add the civilian casualties, that number hits over three thousand five hundred.

Between Israel and Palestine in a month, there has been more than triple the total number of casualties from 30 years of conflict between the IRA and Britain.

The War On Terror post 9/11 has seen nearly half a million civilian casualties in Afghanistan from the response of America and Britain. An invasion to 'root out terror' that is truly disproportionate in response but forever 'justified' by the narrative. The 7/7 bombing in London. The Manchester Arena bombing. And so much more. Acts of terror used to justify overwhelming force in response.

And none of it is right.

But the narrative is written by the ones with the most power, the most influence, the most skill at manipulating the perspective. What happened with the War On Terror post 9/11 is happening again and it is being justified by the narrative of another Arab terrorist group and by the support the Israeli government has from Britain and America.

And I hate it. I hate that people are dying and starving and suffering and being used and manipulated for politics and ideological reasons when I know that once this whole Israel-Palestine conflict is over... The narrative will shift to target Israel. Because that's how this game works.

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I grieve what is happening. I weep for it.

The Palestinian people deserve kindness. They deserve help. They deserve the chance to not be oppressed and controlled by Hamas and slowly annihilated by the Israeli government.

The Israel people deserve kindness. They deserve help. They deserve the chance not to be controlled and fed propoganda that makes them stop seeing Palestinians as people first.

I am bleeding in my heart because I see history repeating itself again and again in different shades of horror and I see the hands of western governments encouraging this horror.

Because, I can guarantee this. One day, should Palestine be completely destroyed and Hamas wiped out, the narrative around Israel will shift from a nation protecting itself from terrorism to a nation committing genocide and ignoring all humanitarian and UN conventions. And then the narrative will place America and Britain at the forefront of the opposition to Israel who will justify their 'intervention' in Israel as for the "sake of the Israeli people and to prevent Israel from committing further human rights abuses". The narrative will paint Israel as reacting disproportionately to what occurred and the narrative will focus on making western countries having tried to be the 'voice of reason that was ignored until it was too late'.

And then when the Israeli government naturally rejects oversight and being controlled by Britain and America, they will be invaded and oppressed and the Christianity based hatred of Judaism that has always lain at the heart of America and Britain and European countries will have the opportunity to wipe out its 'enemy' for a justifiable reason.

And what Hitler and countless other bastards and countries and governments began will be finished.

Because that's what history is screaming at everyone to realise right now. But the narrative is being ignored to shout about other things that are more attention grabbing than a long con.

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I hate Hamas.

I hate the Israeli government.

I hate my own government.

I hate the American government.

I hate the narrative being spun now.

I hate that people who just want to live and be happy are the ones who are suffering the most and the world is painting a story through the media that tries to make it understandable.

Because if it's 'understandable' for Israel to do what it is to Palestine right now... Then years from now it'll be 'understandable' when the same happens to Israel too.

But, no matter what. No. Matter. What.

Antisemitism isn't okay.

It's not justified.

It's not right.

Just like antimuslim sentiments aren't okay.

They're not justified.

They're not okay.

Hatred is never okay.

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Viking is right that the leftist circle has many degrees of antisemitism.

Viking is right that a lot of that antisemitism has flared up since 7th October.

Viking is right that there's no justification for it.

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And there's no justification for everything that is happening to Palestine and the Palestinian people nor what will eventually happen to the Israeli people because of what has happened and is happening now.

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I want there to be peace between Israel and Palestine. I want Israelis and Palestinians to just live their lives and be happy and coexist.

But I don't think that is going to happen. Because America and Britain don't want that. Because the Israeli government doesn't want that.

And I truly fear what is going to happen in the future. Because I'm usually right about this stuff but right now, I desperately hope I'm wrong.

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Sorry, I rambled a lot here.

In my own experience as a Jewish Leftist, and corroborated by the similar experiences of other Jewish Leftists, there are, roughly speaking, five to six broad categories of Leftists in their attitudes towards Jews. This is a tangential categorization in terms of precise political affiliation; in other words, one’s position in these categories is not dependent on what precise type of Leftist/Progressive an individual is.

Type 1: Open And Unapologetic Jew Haters

These Leftists hate Jews and don’t try to hide it at all. According to them, Jews are the Problem, and they know what type of Solution they want enacted.

The archetypal example that I’ll currently use is Cynthia McKinney, former US Congresswoman and US Green Party presidential candidate, who, well…

But this is also the class of Leftists who say that there is no room for Judaism in their ideal, imagined perfect world, that they picture everyone assimilating and giving up their ethnic and cultural identities to just be “human”, and often single out Judaism as a particular problem in that regard.

Type 2: Closeted Knowing Jew Haters

These Leftists hate Jews, know that they hate Jews, but know that it’s bad optics to openly praise Hitler or cozy up to the KKK to satisfy their hatred of Jews, so they try to find the barest veneer of plausible deniability to hide behind. “Anti-zionism” is a particular favorite on the Left, but the hatred has a way of slipping past the mask when they get questioned.

A classic example here is the Boston Mapping Project, who literally made up a list of every Jewish institution in Boston, Mass, on suspicion of them being “Zionist”–including elder homes, Jewish high schools, and Kindergartens, and including scary “links” on the map to various government agencies, no matter how tenuous or outright imaginary, thereby invoking old conspiracy tropes about “Secret Jewish Control of the Government”. (And BDS, as the parent organization, also gave the lie that they’re just antizionist, not antisemitic, when they disavowed the Mapping Project for bad optics, not the rank antisemitism and conspiratorial thinking they were promoting). Another example would be the organizers of the Chicago Dyke March, who explicitly expelled Jews from the March and crowed about “zio tears” (which is a slur originally used by the KKK, no less).

However on first encounter, Type 2 are indistinguishable from and camouflaged by…

Type 3: Undereducated And Unknowing Traffickers In Antisemitism

These Leftists don’t hate Jews per se… they’re just unaware of the deep antisemitic history of repeating claims that “Jews have too much power”, or stating that the Holocaust was “White on White violence”, or that “Jews are just White People from Europe”, or any of a host of other antisemitic beliefs that are endemic on the Left. They’re initially indistinguishable from Type 2, as they say the same things, and can only be told apart by their reactions; a Type 3 will go, “Oh, I didn’t know and I’ll try to learn!”, while a Type 2 will typically double down, or let the mask slip in some other way.

The problem is that, from the perspective of Jews, Type 2 and Type 3 are indistinguishable from each other at first glance, and rather than try to engage and risk the emotional harm, a lot of Jews tend to write off all of them as Type 2, and there’s a lot of debate on the ratios between the two.

Also worthy of mention, as a midpoint between Type 2 and Type 3 are:

Type 2.5: Openly Antisemitic “I’m Not An Antisemite, I Just Refuse To Learn, Listen, Or Let Jews Define Antisemitism”

As a midpoint between types, these Leftists openly traffic in antisemitic motifs, conspiracies, and attitudes, all the while insisting that they’re not antisemitic. They’re a midpoint between types 2 and 3 because they’ve had plenty of time and opportunity to learn about the bigoted attitudes they’re espousing, but refuse to do so… but at the same time, they genuinely seem to think that they’re not antisemitic. They just think that there’s a vast Jewish conspiracy out to get them personally, or any of a number of other antisemitic beliefs, and refuse to accept or learn that what they’re saying is antisemitic. They can believe that they themselves are not all they want, saying that Jews have too much money and power and run the world’s politics is still trafficking in antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The archetypal example of this type, assuming we can take his word for it, is Roger Waters. Waters is openly and explicitly antisemitic, saying that there is a widespread conspiracy of Jews running the world’s politics… but he has been insisting for over 40 years that he’s just “antizionist, not antisemitic.”

But these are just the outspoken ones. None of them would get anywhere without the tacit support of…

Type 4: The Silent Majority

These Leftists are, being blunt, hypocritical cowards. They don’t want to get involved in issues on antisemitism. When a Leftist Jew is being harassed by one of Types 1 to 3, they don’t speak up, they don’t get involved, they just say nothing.

Maybe they agree with one of the above types. Maybe they just don’t want to get involved. Maybe they’re afraid of seeming sympathetic to Israel. Maybe they’re afraid of getting the social backlash that the Jew is experiencing. But ultimately, their motivations don’t matter, their actions do—and their actions give tacit social support to the antisemite in the Leftist group, not to the Jew being harassed and chased out.

And the reason they’re hypocritical cowards?

Well, if your ideology claims that you want a better life for everyone and social progress and being against racism and bigotry… but yet they don’t speak up when it’s happening right in front of them…

Well.

That says a lot, doesn’t it? Both on what their ideals actually mean to them… and how highly they value Jews. And we know that it is possible, because of…

Type 5: The Pro-Jewish Leftist

These Leftists are, in my experience, a minority outside of Leftist Jews, but they do exist among non-Jewish Leftists. They stand up to Types 1, 2, and 3 when they express antisemitic views, and try to shame and cajole Type 4 into standing up as well.

And, just to point out how normalized antisemitism is on the Left…

Some people in this category might object to being labeled as “Pro-Jewish”, as if they’re biased for Jews. But I have to ask… do you think that they would also object to being labeled “Pro-LGBTQ”?

[peglegsteve]

Better than Batman. Brian Thompson will never harm another family again.

"Luigi was rich so you should hate him too!"

Ok, like Batman. Love that guy.