#erasing genocide is perpetuating genocide

[enbycrip]

Okay, I’ve now seen the unaltered version of this cartoon being shared uncritically by too many fucking leftist pages.

The original first image read “You can have these 200 acres for free if you grow some turnips on it or whatever”. I’ve had to alter it (badly) to made it clearer what it actually refers to.

It refers to the US Homesteading Acts, where white settlers were offered legal deeds to 200 acres of land if they kept it under an agreed and attested level of cultivation for 5-10 years (different acts had different provisions).

The *specific* reason this was offered was literally as part of the US’ policy of indigenous American genocide. They were designed *specifically* to get land belonging to and utilised by indigenous Americans into the white, European-designed legal system the US utilised (and still utilises) with a trail of ownership to *white* people so that that could be weaponised to force indigenous American tribes off their land.

It’s not “people had it better in the past”; it’s specifically “a certain group of people were actively privileged over another group and recruited to benefit from the genocide of the second group so they would take part in that genocide”.

Genocides, by and large, don’t simply happen because of baseless ideological hatred. They’re driven by material and economic interests, and the ideology is put in place to cover and legitimise this - whether to the people taking part in it or to the wider world.

In most of the world today, and *certainly* in settler colonial and former colonial powers like the US, Canada, and the UK, any calls for social and economic justice that erase genocide and colonialism, and the material benefit our states today have attained due to them, are *still* taking part in genocide and colonialism, and so are we, as individuals, if we allow this discourse to go by unchallenged.

[philsmeatylegss]

Ngl, studying history, especially contemporary history often about how powerful countries played a roll in sabotaging a developing nation, means a few times a day you see a post posted by someone who obviously doesn’t study history but is using a historical event to further a political point (that I usually agree with but it is completely out of context and usually super disrespectful) and it will literally have thousands of likes and you just have to learn to sigh and move on.

[feralkwe]

idk how else to explain it to people but it should be pretty fucking obvious why it is absolutely ludicrous to allow the united states fucking government to set the criteria as to who is and is not recognized as native/indigenous/ndn when they spent literal centuries trying to undermine and erase the fact that we exist at all.

it's no coincidence that some of the criteria involved in becoming federally recognized as a tribe requires documentation that the government actively worked to suppress. that they require the tracing of continuous existence back to colonial contact should tell you why it's a bullshit metric. that the fact that you have to have heaps of money to get federal recognition is something that you should take a long, hard look at before calling members of over 400 non-recognized tribes 'pretendians'.

the use of blood quantum as a measurement alone makes their authority null and void.

indigeneity is not about blood quantum or government permission. it is about family, culture, and community. i for one would appreciate it if non-natives fucked all the way off on this topic, and if fellow ndns would stop the infighting over it long enough to realize that all we're doing is perpetuating colonizer violence and genocide by allowing non-natives to set the definition of who we are and what we get to call ourselves.

fuck you. stop doing the colonizer's job for them.

[icedsodapop]

Media outlets who have lauded Taylor-Joy’s “bride-like” ethereal look, the Instagram comments complimenting her timeless style and her fellow celebrities who posed beside her hijab-covered form have mostly been deafeningly silent on the plight of the women of Gaza.

(...)

If Palestinians were not largely Muslim, if they were not Arab - if the women didn’t dress precisely the way that Anya Taylor-Joy gets to dress - then this genocide would have moved the world in the same way that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did.

We are socialised to swallow the massacre of Arabs and Muslims as commonplace and inconsequential. Our corpses become mere collateral damage to a world unperturbed by our slaughter.

(...)

The success - indeed, the very existence - of both the book and now film series is testament to the West’s desire to consume our Muslim aesthetics in a fantasy realm whilst disenfranchising us in the real world - be it through securitisation or racism, war or genocide.

Dune reminds us of the place that the Arab and Muslim will perpetually inhabit in the West. It tells us: we will feed on your exoticness, adopt the intricacies of your culture, ravage your homelands, all whilst removing you from the equation altogether.

[honesty-my-policy]

Resources/Sources against HAMAS + more [re-organization of previous posted resources]

LONG POST - WILL PUT A READ MORE - SEE UNDER IT FOR MORE RESOURCES.

Sources/places that have uncensored footage from the Oct. 7th attack. For anyone who needs a reality check or needs to smack someone with a reality check.

THIS FOOTAGE IS UNCENSORED AND HIGHLY DISTURBING BUT IMPORTANT TO HISTORY. I HAVE WATCHED A LARGE COMPILATION AND IT STILL RUNS THROUGH MY MIND ALL DAY.

https://www.october7thattack.com/

https://oct7th.org/

https://www.hamasvideo.com/

https://theworldwatch.com/tags/hamas/

https://www.hamas-massacre.net/

important websites + articles they have posted

UN Watch - https://unwatch.org/about-us/our-work/

Fact Checking UNRWA Claims About Teachers and Education

Hamas stole 36,000 liters of fuel from UN warehouses

Group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers celebrates Hamas massacre and rape

UN staff celebrate Hamas massacre

The Case against UNRWA from UN Watch - link

2023-Report-UNRWA-pdf - link

Report: Red Cross Statements ‘Overwhelmingly’ Biased Against Israel - link

Honest Reporting - https://honestreporting.com/about/

Desperate Media Accuse Israel of ‘War Crime’ Over Killing of Terrorists in Daring Hospital Raid

Media Accused Israel of ‘Strike’ on Palestinians Who Died in Gaza City Aid Truck Stampede

Council on Foreign Relations -https://www.cfr.org/about

What is HAMAS? Link

The Sunni-Shia Divide - link

MeForum - https://www.meforum.org/about/

A Primer on Hamas; Part 4: Who Are the Palestinians? - link

Countering ‘Pro-Palestine’ Propaganda Part 4: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing - link

Countering ‘Pro-Palestine’ Propaganda Part 5: Gaza is an Open-Air Prison - link

Countering ‘Pro-Palestine’ Propaganda Part 6: Palestinian Refugees’ Right of Return - link

Israel Can Trust Hamas - To Keep Its Promises - link

The Rhetoric of Nonsense - link

The Wilson Center - https://www.wilsoncenter.org/about

Digital Deception: Disinformation’s Impact in the Israel-Hamas War - link

Hamas: Words and Deeds… - link 

Hamas over-reporting civilian casualties in Gaza, again - link

Misc Articles (find the about page yourself if you care enough) -

Hamas use of human shields in Gaza (pdf) - link

Intelligence Reveals Details of U.N. Agency Staff’s Links to Oct. 7th Attack - link

Don’t erase our history: The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel - link

Hamas’s October 7th Attack: Visualizing the Data - link

Teaching Terror: How Hamas Radicalizes Palestinian Society - link

Why Hamas is an Unreliable Source and How Many Reporters Fail to Disclose this - link

Misc Resources -

The Complete List of the 1030 Jewish Expulsions in Human History (pdf) - link

Educational Posts made by rootsmetal -

Palestine and the Holocaust

Hamas's Islamism

we are treated differently

evidence (there's plenty)

teaching hatred

united nations

lies about 1948

was there peace before 1948?

HAMAS Guidelines to Social Media (excerpts)

Anyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine, before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank. Don't forget to always add 'innocent civilian' or 'innocent citizen' in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Begin [your reports of] news of resistance actions with the phrase 'In response to the cruel Israeli attack,' and conclude with the phrase 'This many people have been martyred since Israel launched its aggression against Gaza.' Be sure to always perpetuate the principle of 'the role of the occupation is attack, and we in Palestine are fulfilling [the role of] the reaction.'

Beware of spreading rumors from Israeli spokesmen, particularly those that harm the home front. Be wary regarding accepting the occupation's version [of events]. You must always cast doubts on this [version], disprove it, and treat it as false.

The interior ministry prepared a series of suggestions specifically for Palestinian activists who speak to Westerners via social media. The ministry emphasizes that conversations with them should be conducted differently from conversations with other Arabs.

When speaking to the West, you must use political, rational, and persuasive discourse, and avoid emotional discourse aimed at begging for sympathy. There are elements with a conscience in the world; you must maintain contact with them and activate them for the benefit of Palestine. Their role is to shame the occupation and expose its violations.

Avoid entering into a political argument with a Westerner aimed at convincing him that the Holocaust is a lie and deceit; instead, equate it with Israel's crimes against Palestinian civilians.

The narrative of life vs. the narrative of blood: [When speaking] to an Arab friend, start with the number of martyrs. [But when speaking] to a Western friend, start with the number of wounded and dead. Be sure to humanize the Palestinian suffering. Try to paint a picture of the suffering of the civilians in Gaza and the West Bank during the occupation's operations and its bombings of cities and villages.

Do not publish photos of military commanders. Do not mention their names in public, and do not praise their achievements in conversations with foreign friends!

Recently I came across a bunch more ancient/old maps of the Middle East, Near East, Levant, Israel, and others. Some are remakes as the old ones were degraded or unable to be scanned, some are historian estimates of what the area looked like at the times, others are actual scans of maps from back in the day. I will link specific maps of interest but also databases below. I will link the maps first and the databases they are from above them.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection (over 130,000 maps and related images online)

Alte Welt: Städte. (Old world: cities)

No. 1: General map of the countries mentioned in the Bible

No. 2: Map of the journeyings of the Israelites : in the desert

Turkey. Middle East. Ancient World

American Society of Overseas Research (online resources)

The Ancient Near East: The Hellenistic World c. 200 BCE

Neo-Hittite and Aramean States

Iron Age IIIv2 Empires

The National Library of Israel

Specific search for maps of Israel

Map History (part of the virtual library)

Index

Gallica (digital library of the National France Library and its partners + I don’t know if it’s just my browser but switching the language to English didn’t work much so it was mostly in French)

Database

Maps

W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (Digital Collection)

Palestine of the Old Testament

Historic Map Works

ASIA/recens summa/cura delineata

United Nations Archives

Map Collection of the League of Nations + UNOG

Library of Congress World Digital Library

Map Collection

links to previous posts containing the same resources in case i missed any - link

[giritina]

Yes it is important to try not to perpetuate anti-semitism in the fight for Palestinian liberation because if you accept bigotry as a valid cost for social justice, you will fall for the next genocide. We have seen people believe women's oppression makes them incapable of harm be convinced that trans people are a valid target. We have seen queer people's oppression used as a tool of white supremacy. Many of us have probably sat with someone who abused us and heard "how could you accuse an abuse victim of this." At this very moment, we are seeing people who are calling on Jewish trauma and oppression as proof that they could not possibly be committing a genocide. Bad faith actors and powerful people AND everyday citizens with the best intent who have swallowed what they said are all letting genocide happen and using the language of justice to erase it.

Seeing how those people came to believe what they believe, how trauma is intertwined, is not both-sides-ing. The ethics of the occupation are not complicated, it is wrong. But you will become a useful idiot if you use that to justify anti-semitism, or the deaths of civilians, or the absolute exile of immigrants. If you refuse to believe trauma and bigotry inform government, politics, tragedy, what will you do after Palestine is liberated and does not become an immediate leftist utopia? Will you attest to the rights of the civilians to their lives and their homeland if the government becomes right-wing, authoritarian, anti-human?

As an example, look at Ukraine. You do not have to go far to find communist bloggers on here who support, in some way, the Russian invasion. Russia has a long history of imperialism. The war in Ukraine is part of its imperial project. However, Ukraine's government is not communist. The government that Ukrainians voted in is capitalist, centrist. This has proven more important to many communists than actually supporting the right of Ukrainian people to their homeland and to their freedom. They point to nazi sects or capitalist government officials and tell you look. Here. This is why imperialism is the better of two evils. This is why you should forget human rights. These people made the wrong choice. Therefore, they lose the privilege of justice.

Will you be able to believe that a traumatized people who are sucked in by harmful rhetoric still deserve your empathy? Or will you allow yourself to fall into anti-arab, Islamophobic, anti-palestinian rhetoric because it is necessary for some other conflicts simple moral framework? Already, it seems many people deny Hamas has committed war crimes, because they can't believe that a people of whom one political faction does harm might still deserve their human rights. If it becomes inconvenient to deny those crimes or if future crimes occur, will your support for Palestinians dissipate? Who will be the necessary sacrifice for your next movement?

[fairuzfan]

yeah it kinda sucks how like. Liberal Zionists (tributary, for example) will engage in genocide denial or argue the threat of Hamas is so big it warrants mass killing and then pivot to saying stuff about how people respond to being relatively powerless in the face of atrocity by getting morally righteous at other people online. Because they’re right, that’s a thing some people do, but it also retroactively frames everyone getting mad at them for the genocide both sides rhetoric as whiney babies. Very annoying

so i dont think tributary (to my knowledge) specifically has been engaging in rhetoric thats like "hamas warrants mass killings," i think they've been consistent about not wanting mass killings (again, to my knowledge) just wanted to clear that up and to not attribute things they did not say to them.

With what i see sometimes is that these types of people where they're like "stop being morally righteous at other people online" is that they fail to understand for palestinians this is literally a matter of life or death with rhetoric being spread because a lot of the time, they're used to justify our killings OR to justify our oppression.

Because like, I do things that are. Not online lol, I am active in my community. To retroactively label me, for example, as someone who just stays online (which, i've talked about this before on this blog, is kinda ableist in that it assumes that people can leave the house in the middle of a pandemic to participate in physical resistance + they aren't using online tools to organize within their communities) and judges other people for "not using the right language" when language is the primary qualifier for enabling genocide and violence is frankly pretty insulting and dismissive of the main victim's concerns.

Both sides rhetoric is harmful because its not new. It's literally how Palestinians grow up all over the world. We literally learn "both sides" as the primary viewpoint of our lives that we have to work around. So we're sensitive to these things because, again, we see it to justify our oppression or to silence us. Rhetoric that's like "i want peace and love" is so harmful because people assume its an issue where they just are so mean to each other for no reason when Palestinians face structural violence that erases them CONSISTENTLY since '48.

The erasure and prevention in allowing us to speak for ourselves or to spread information about ourselves is actually one of the key reasons we're at this point. For the first like... 20+ years after the Nakba, Palestinians were just blatantly ignored. Like, Balfour ignored us in the Balfour Declaration completely. Security Council Resolution 242 doesn't mention Palestinians AT ALL despite them being the primary cause of it's inception.

So yeah, erasure is a part of the issue, actually, I would argue its a key part and by perpetuating that (ie: encouraging defining zionism by excluding palestinians from the discussion in citation or any other material way) is in fact enabling our oppression.

[simpforsix]

STOP USING PALESTINE AS AN EXCUSE TO BE ANTISEMITIC!

listen. i support palestine. israel is committing atrocities, they are committing a genocide. this is important for me to state, because i need you to know which side of this i'm on and why i'm saying this.

supporting the palestinian people does NOT mean you can be antisemitic.

antisemitism is a problem across all political ideologies. it might present differently, but it is the same disease. as a leftist, the way i see it present in our communities is usually along the lines of presenting jewish people as being in power (think lizard people conspiracies), by erasing jewish history (think minimizing the holocaust or comparing other tragedies to the holocaust), and by minimizing antisemitism/claiming jewish people don't face discrimination. there are so many leftists who call for "punching nazis" but don't actually want to support jewish people, who erase the unique harm that white supremacy poses to jewish people. just because you're left-wing doesn't mean you can't be antisemitic.

in terms of israel-palestine, many are using this to excuse their antisemitism. i have seen people blame jewish people for the actions of israel, state all jewish people are zionists, exclude judaism from their activism, and even some making "jokes" about how hitler was right. these "jokes" are not jokes, by the way, as you are regurgitating nazi rhetoric and supporting an attempted genocide. you know, the same thing we're trying to fight?

the state of israel is not representative of jewish people. by claiming they are, you are playing right into their hands. they want to appear that way to receive support, to better their defense, and to silence jewish voices. zionists want to silence the jewish people who support palestine, and you are helping them do so. it is essential to separate the state of israel from the jewish people. jewish people are not to blame for the actions of israel. in fact, there are many jewish people across the world calling for a ceasefire, refusing to allow a genocide to be done in their name. by blaming them, you are doing nothing but perpetuating antisemitism and strengthening israel's narrative.

you are only hurting your own side. you are excluding jewish people from your activism. portraying antisemitism as activism does nothing but bring more harm.

you will not free palestine by being antisemitic. stop hurting disenfranchised people in the name of activism.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Qasim Rashid at Let's Address This:

For many Americans, the second Monday in October brings back memories of childhood poems and classroom celebrations of Columbus Day. Growing up in the 1990s, I still recall the rhyme we were taught to commemorate Christopher Columbus "discovering" America:

🎶A long time ago in 1492🎶

🎶Columbus sailed the ocean blue🎶

🎶He sailed and he sailed til America he found🎶

🎶Helped Columbus prove the world was round🎶

Except, none of this was true. As we mature and reflect on history with a more critical eye, it's essential to recognize that much of what we learned about Columbus was deeply flawed—if not outright propaganda. It's time we take a hard look at the truth behind Columbus's legacy and why celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day is not just appropriate but necessary. Let’s Address This.

Myth vs. Reality: The Columbus We Were Taught

The narrative that Columbus was a brave explorer who set out to prove the Earth was round and "discovered" America is simply false. Columbus wasn't on a mission to expand scientific understanding. The ancient Greeks proved the world was round thousands of years before Columbus, as did Muslim scientists centuries before him. Nor did Columbus "find" a new world unknown to the rest of humanity. Some historians like Ivan Van Sertima argue that African explorers arrived in North America well before European explorers—except they didn’t engage in colonization. Moreover, Indigenous peoples had lived in the Americas for tens of thousands of years—recent scholarship suggests as long as 33,000 years or more—so to call them “found” is patently absurd.

Moreover, celebrating a “Columbus Day,” when Columbus never once set foot in what we now call the United States is also nonsensical. The myth of his connection to the U.S. is a fabrication, and it is important to remember that when Columbus landed in the Caribbean, he wasn’t acting out of a noble spirit of discovery. He was seeking wealth and glory, with a brutal indifference to the lives of the people he encountered. This is not my opinion, but his own stated intentions.

[...]

The Shift Toward Indigenous Peoples' Day

According to the Smithsonian, Indigenous Peoples' Day "recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas" and highlights their long-standing contributions to society. This shift in narrative is a crucial step toward correcting centuries of injustice and erasure. Indeed, we must additionally take meaningful steps to support Indigenous Peoples—here are seven things you can do today.

And to be sure, Columbus Day is not some ancient American tradition—it has only been a federal holiday since 1937. Back when President Jimmy Carter was 13 years old! Thankfully today, more and more states are rejecting Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day. As of today, at least 17 states and Washington, D.C., have replaced Columbus Day with a day that honors the original inhabitants of the Americas. This change represents an important shift in how we acknowledge history. Indigenous Peoples' Day isn't just a symbolic gesture—it’s a recognition of the ongoing genocide, displacement, and discrimination Indigenous peoples have faced for centuries. It’s a call to remember the rich histories and cultures of the Native Americans who lived in these lands long before Columbus set sail.

The Path Forward: Learning and Honoring Truth

So, what should we do with Columbus? He should absolutely be taught about—but accurately. He was a historical figure who committed mass genocide, rape, and enslavement. These are facts, not interpretations. Teaching history honestly is the first step toward healing and understanding. Celebrating Columbus does nothing to further our understanding of America’s history or its native peoples. Instead, it perpetuates harmful myths and erases the suffering of those who were victimized by his actions. It’s long past time for the United States to reject Columbus Day and fully embrace Indigenous Peoples' Day. Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day is not just about correcting historical wrongs. It’s about recognizing the resilience and contributions of Native Americans and creating space for a more truthful understanding of American history. This holiday serves as an opportunity for reflection, learning, and respect for the people who were the original stewards of this land. Rather than celebrating a figure who represents the worst aspects of colonialism, we should spend this day learning about the cultures, histories, and ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples.

Qasim Rashid is spot-on: Columbus Day should be binned in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day.

[anarcho-mom-unist]

Reflections on Armenian Martyrs’ Day 🇦🇲

Today is Armenian Martyrs’ Day, where we remember the lives of the 1-and-a-half-million Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1918 (holding solidarity with the Pontic Greeks, Assyrians, and Chaldeans who were also targeted by the state’s policy of genocide, and remembering the Armenians killed by the state and in mob violence in the decades before 1915).

Please do not forget the Armenians. Genocide denial and justification is state policy in the Republic of Turkey, Erdogan and Aliyev both regard the atrocities of 1915 as an incomplete project, the Republic of Artsakh has been ethnically cleansed and Azerbaijan’s immediate ambition is the conquest and ethnic cleansing of southern Armenia.

Please do not forget the Armenians. There is an open wound in the heart of the Armenian people. We are denied reparation, justice, and even the dignity of the successor state to the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide acknowledging that harm was done. Where there were once large or majority Armenian communities in Turkey and Azerbaijan, these polities erase Armenian culture —this building was not a church, no Armenians lived here (if they did they were invaders), there is no identifiable Armenian material culture in the Archaeological record. In Turkey “crypto-Armenian” is an accusation thrown at politicians by their opponents.

Do not forget the Armenians. Do not buy or perpetuate the petty justifications that states make to deny or diminish genocide. In your solidarity with oppressed peoples and expressions of love of justice, love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor. Recognize that “never again” is a matter of policy and collective action.

Do not forget the Armenians.

My family history functionally ends in ellipses a generation, maybe two, before the Armenian Genocide. My great grandparents endured the brutality of death marches into Der El Zor desert, surviving starvation, acts of torture and humiliation and violation, the constant threat of death, and watched friends and loved ones die.

Do not forget the Armenians today or any day.

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Don't you think there's better ways of showing support for Palestinians/Israeli Christians than by perpetuating the "Jesus was Palestinian" myth that people constantly try and use to deny Jewish indigeneity. Allegory or not, it's not a great look for someone who purports to be against that kind of erasure and supercessionism. Also, having 1 line about how his death was the Empire's fault so don't blame the Jews is meaningless when in this allegory, the Empire (Israeli government) *is* Jewish

(anyone curious about what anon's referring to, I believe it's my poem here)

Hey there anon, thank you for your feedback. In this situation where various marginalized peoples are being pitted against each other (and/or conflated with political groups), I've been struggling to make sure my words don't add to the misinformation and harm. So whenever someone takes the time to remind me of that danger, I'll take the time to re-examine my words — even if I end up standing by them, as I mostly do in this case.

I can't promise to say and do all the perfect things, because there isn't time to waste getting my words just right before saying something — people are dying right now (and yes, anon, that includes those Israelis who are still hostages of Hamas, who are also endangered by Israel's continued attacks.)

I have been spending much of my free time these past few months learning more about Israel and Palestine, and I still don't feel I'm even close to knowing enough! But I've listened to those who are actually in the midst of the violence who say that all of us across the world must join their cry now, not letting our ignorance be an excuse. That means there have been a few things I've said that I then had to re-consider after learning more.

...

Just a few days ago, I was actually trying to look into the origins of the statement that "Jesus was a Palestinian Jew." (Btw if anyone knows the origins of this statement, please hit me up!)

Arguments against it note that the term "Palestinian" didn't exist in Jesus' day. Looking into the accuracy of that statement is still on my to-do list; I did skim over this article calling it a myth but yeah, still digging. Regardless, sure, I don't think Jesus called himself a Palestinian in his lifetime.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the statement is useless, however. I do very much believe that if Jesus were born today, in the same place, he'd be born to a Jewish Palestinian family, not an Israeli one.

That does not erase his Jewishness; it confirms God's "preferential option for the poor," God's choice to side with and become one with the most oppressed and discarded. It also does not assert that Jewish persons don't "belong" in the region — only that the modern nation/colony Israel isn't necessary for them to live and thrive there.

All that said, if anyone has more info on the statement that "Jesus was a Palestinian" — its origins, how it's been used over the years — I would absolutely like to examine it further. For now, I stand by the phrase, with an openness to re-considering that with further education.

...

I feel more confident in talking about Empire — how I used it in my poem, versus how you've interpreted it. I'm genuinely grateful to you for bringing your reading of it to my attention, because it's shown me that my words weren't clear enough there!

In these verses from my poem:

"...And now, as then, some may blame Jesus’s death on his own Jewish people — but resist this lie! Now as then the crime is Empire’s and those of us who would cast stones should ponder first what our nations gain from genocide. ..."

You interpret Empire as being Israel.

My intention was that Empire with a capital E is a much larger network of all imperial forces on earth. Israel is entangled in that, and directly backed and funded by those forces. My own country, the United States, is one of the nations at the helm of Empire.

So when I talk of Empire being to blame, I'm not saying just Israel — honestly, I'm personally more concerned with the US's complicity, because I feel as a US citizen I can help demand they stop.

So I'm going to rework that bit to better express what I mean by Empire, so it doesn't sound like I'm focusing only on Israel. Empire is so much bigger than any one state, colony, or government.

...

Okay, I'm out of steam. I'm going to link a few pieces that have been helping me frame all that's going on right now to resist pitting marginalized groups against each other:

This art piece naming "contradicting truths"

This article by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg also naming seemingly contradictory truths

Since I didn't really get deep into this part of your ask, I also appreciate this article discussing the question of indigeneity. It discards the "need" to figure out "who was there first" in favor of exploring intersecting histories.

Oh also, because you claim that the Israeli government "is Jewish," I think discussions on how Israel isn't actually a safe haven for all Jews, only those that fit into their goals, are vital.

[ember-knights]

“What would you do if a foreign military knocked down your door, beat up your mother, imprisoned your father, & stole your house? What would you do if you were told for the rest of your life you would have to live in a cage, besieged?”

[@muhammedelkurd on insta]

We have been focusing on Gaza and the genocide that is unfolding there-- rightfully so-- but we need to remember the West Bank and the Palestinian cause as a whole. The Western Media has been the greatest partner in perpetuating the settler violence on palatinates, in erasing their voices, and in spreading misinformation so Israel can do whatever the hell it pleases.

Check out: DoubledownNews

From the river to the sea 🇵🇸

[padawan-historian]

I feel almost numb trying to wrap my head around the fact that a state is deliberately threatening to murder over 1 million people who Israel's defense minister called "human animals" (the same term Heinrich Himmler once used to reference Jewish people).

To those of you preparing to angrily text your miseducated thoughts in the comments, Israel is an apartheid state that has committed Zionist-saturated genocides of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, queer, poor, and (dis)placed Palestinians going back to the 1940s. My head and my soul hurt from thinking about the mental gymnastics and cognitive dissonance of folks trying to justify the fact that Israel's government is perpetuating the same fascist tactics and settler-colonialism that saw their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents suffer, starve, and fight for their lives inside ghettos and concentration camps.

And let's be VERY clear: Gaza is a ghetto.

Rather than changing your profile pictures to reflect the flag of state that is preparing their public justification for genocide, consider how you are priveleging (and legitimizing) their efforts to erase and eradicate the lives of over 1 million people. . . half of them children.

(Pro Life people being real quiet rn 👀)

⭐️ PSA: Zionism is NOT the same thing as Judaism. Zionism is a political movement rooted in religious imperialism and apartheid. Judaism is an ancestral faith that has ripples and rhythms stretching across North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. Spot the difference.

[honeysider]

https://www.tumblr.com/honeysider/739803375060811776/youre-pathetic-in-every-respect?source=share I'm actually interested in what you think the answer is. I'm not saying this to antagonize or bait you, I really want to know. As someone who has seen third parties fail and fail again when trying to breach into bipartisan leadership (don't get me wrong, I don't like either party) it's hard to see how leaving things to the masses (who will most likely vote for Trump) or up to a third party that probably won't win; I'm quite literally at a loss of what to do.

Here's how I see things, personally. You can't fix things in one or even two elections, and you certainly can't fix things by voting for the same party over and over again. This might get rambly.

Like, I wont even get into the viability of elections as a means of engineering political change because I'm assuming you dgaf about that (not a dig, most people consider all the other political stuff like on-the-ground work to be too much for them). I'll explain it in a way that made sense to me when I decided to not waste my time voting in presidential elections.

I do not believe in The Democratic Party or Biden's specific policies as vehicles to advance either my self interest or the interests of others in the country. The lesser of two evils argument doesn't even cut it anymore. Biden is enforcing Trump's old immigration policies even going so far as to continue building the goddamn wall. He doesn't support universal healthcare. He crumbles against any kind of pressure that isn't only rhetoric, basically threw up his hands and gave up when student loan forgiveness was attacked by the courts, and supports the genocide against Palestinians financially. He is mostly indistinguishable from a Republican, save for the theocratic aspects.

Why would I vote for someone I don't believe in?I might go vote for Cornel West because simply put I believe in more of his policies than Biden's, if I vote at all.

And that's the main thing that bothers me about the vote blue no matter who philosophy. You're never supposed to vote for who you believe in. In the primaries you are expected to unite around the Most Likely Candidate To Win The Election, not the candidate who you agree with. I remember when people screamed at Bernie voters because they were voting for the democratic socialist, not any of the mainstream moderate front runners and he started winning states. Pundits and analysts and party activists had a meltdown until the Democrats managed to wrangle everything around Biden.

So point 1, I will only vote for people I believe in. If the Republicans win as a result of enough people doing the same thing, the Democrats should have pushed a better candidate.

And that leads to point 2, Blue No Matter Who doesn't perpetuate a regrettable-but-tolerable lesser of two evils situation. It enables democrats to be as evil as their opponents, just no further than their opponents. The Democratic Party Platform used to include Universal Healthcare, and now it's literally been erased from the platform. Democrats have had three terms between Bush and now and we have only now pulled out of Afghanistan, and we still have troops in Iraq? What? Guantanamo Bay is still active? "Enhanced interrogation" is still being used? The Patriot act is renewed every time it comes up without a yell or a peep? Power is being increasingly centralized in the executive branch? All the big controversies from my childhood are still mostly unsolved today due mostly to Democratic inaction and ineptitude with a dash of Republican malevolence.

My only tool is abstaining from the process. The only thing Democrats believe in are election victories. If you just give them votes no matter who they run they won't care about seriously pursuing real beneficial policy. Let them lose elections until they get the picture.

And look. I know its hard and its scary to imagine Trump in the white house again. But Biden's doing like 99% of his policy anyways, so really all you're voting for now is a facade of political professionalism, not for what you actually believe.

So don't vote, withhold it until Democrats get a clue and get more involved or at least more knowledgeable about state and local politics.

If you want to hear about the Revolution and stuff there are better people to talk to than me tho lol

[3ris-d1st0rtionnn]

🌀OOC: Content Warnings, DNIs, Tag Directory, and Other Info!🌀

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[justcallmecappy]

i don’t buy that you genuinely understand how fucked up mage oppression is. f*nris fully supports genocide and doesn’t acknowledge that anyone but him has suffered.

I originally wasn't really planning on responding to this because, 1) it's been a really long week and i'm sleep-deprived; 2) I have no idea what brought this on and I low key suspect this is just trying to bait me, but you know what, I will answer it seriously and in good faith, because there are a few things I want to say.

I wrote a bit about mage oppression, I've reblogged other people's posts discussing and advocating mage rights, I'm staunchly pro-mage, anti-Circle, and I'm aware of how fucked up the Chantry and the Circles are as institutions that perpetuate abuse and ongoing genocide of mages. However, I need to emphasize that while the plight of mages can be used as a metaphor of systematic violence and discrimination that occurs in real life, it is in and of itself a completely fictional struggle. The information that can be gathered about it exist only within and is limited to the fictional context of the Dragon Age franchise. Saying that I don't genuinely understand a fictional struggle is kind of redundant because I'm obviously not a Circle mage in real life.

But I honestly don't know why you associated Fenris with the Chantry's abuse of mages when he's just as much of a victim of systematic oppression as Anders and the mages of Southern Thedas are. I suppose you are referring to Fenris joining the Templars in 'The Last Straw' if you don't have enough friendship/rivalry points with him, but that's a totally conditional outcome based on game mechanics. It's not unavoidable, and there are plenty of players who have World States where Fenris fights alongside Hawke to defend the mages.

Fenris also carries so much guilt over the Fog Warriors, and it's a source of trauma for him. He only confides the story in Hawke in Act 2 after you unlock 50% friendship/rivalry, and it's clear when he confides the story in Hawke he sees the killing of the Fog Warriors as a mistake that he deeply regrets. He does not want to kill. But all his memories of his previous life were erased when he got the lyrium markings, and for a long time the only sense of identity he had was being Danarius' weapon and executioner. It takes him a long time and a lot of strength and hard work to build a sense of identity past what Danarius tried to make him to be, and his character arc where he heals and grows past all that, and he raises his sword to help and defend the mages of the Gallows, is all the more significant and powerful, compared to the story outcome where all his healing and growth is undone and he reverts to just becoming an executioner again.

Fenris and Anders have that in common: Anders, too, was labelled as a "monster" by the Chantry just by being born a mage, and he had to work so hard to unlearn all that hateful rhetoric, and accept that his magic was a gift and not a curse from the Maker. Both Fenris and Anders are spending so much energy in rebuilding their identity past what their abusers tried to make them to be, and they both understandably lash out from the stress of it, but that doesn't mean either of them don't care about others or are blind to others' suffering.

I think the whole "Fenris vs mages" thing is short-sighted; he's suffered just as much and has very similar experiences and struggles as the mages of Southern Thedas have. Personally, I think Fenris and Anders should have teamed up to demolish the power systems that abuse and exploit their people together, but BioWare are cowards. 🙂