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stil-lindigo · 9 days ago
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"Kamala Harris has earned an eleventh-hour show of support from Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community leaders."
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On October 24th, a collective statement titled "Arizona Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and Progressive Democrats and Community Leaders Statement on Presidential Election" was published.
The 100+ signees include current or former leaders of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim organisations, the leader of Phoenix, AZ's largest mosque, Jewish activists and other elected officials. All of them have been listed at the bottom of this post.
You can read the whole statement here but I've also copy-pasted it's entire contents below.
Read. The Whole. Thing.
It is concise and will only take you a few minutes. While you read, recognise that these words are not representative of every single person belonging to these demographics. Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are not a monolith, and have a right to feel any way they do about this election. To those who do not belong to these groups - refrain from adding your personal commentary in the tags, and understand how excruciating of a place this statement must have come from for both the authors, signees and the communities they represent.
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Arizona Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and Progressive Democrats and Community Leaders Statement on Presidential Election
As Democrats and leaders in the Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and Progressive communities in Arizona, we the undersigned make the following statement, published on 10/24/2024:
This past year has been very difficult for all of us. With over 42,000 Palestinians killed by Israel using American-supplied weapons and no end in sight despite all our struggle for a ceasefire, we approach the presidential election heartbroken and outraged.
We know that many in our communities are resistant to vote for Kamala Harris because of the Biden administration’s complicity in the genocide. We understand this sentiment. Many of us have felt that way ourselves, even until very recently. Some of us have lost many family members in Gaza and Lebanon. We respect those who feel they simply can’t vote for a member of the administration that sent the bombs that may have killed their loved ones.
As we consider the full situation carefully, however, we conclude that voting for Kamala Harris is the best option for the Palestinian cause and all of our communities. We know that some will strongly disagree. We only ask that you consider our case with an open mind and heart, respecting that we are doing what we believe is right in an awful situation where only flawed choices are available.
In our view, it is crystal clear that allowing the fascist Donald Trump to become President again would be the worst possible outcome for the Palestinian people. A Trump win would be an extreme danger to Muslims in our country, all immigrants, and the American pro-Palestine movement. It would be an existential threat to our democracy and our whole planet.
When we think of Trump in power again, we recall that even a genocide can get much worse. Trump just said that Netanhahu must “go further” in Gaza while criticizing Biden for “trying to hold him back.” His biggest donor, Miriam Adelson, who demanded in 2016 that Trump move the US embassy to Jerusalem if elected –– which he then did –– is now telling Trump to allow Israel to annex the entire West Bank. Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, Smotrich, and the entire far right in Israel want Trump to win and grant Israel total free reign. We cannot give them what they want.
Trump must be defeated. The only way to defeat him is to elect Kamala Harris.
Voting for Harris is not a personal endorsement of her or of the policy decisions of the administration in which she served. It’s an assessment of the best possible option to continue fighting for an end to the genocide, a free Palestine, and all else that we hold dear.
We are deeply frustrated that Harris has not yet met our movement’s demand that she break with Biden, defy the powerful extremists enforcing the status quo, stand with the majority of Americans, and pledge to uphold US law and international law and condition aid to Israel. Still we believe there are clear reasons to hope that we can win positive policy change with a Harris administration and a Democratic Congress.
Multiple media reports state that Harris’s national security advisors are open to re-evaluating policy and conditioning aid to Israel. On October 13th, the same day the administration threatened to re-evaluate military support if Israel did not improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza and reduce civilian casualties in the next 30 days, Harris tweeted: “Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need. Civilians must be protected and have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.” In Michigan the other day, Harris expressed clear empathy for the suffering of the people of Palestine and Lebanon and the impact of this devastation on Arab Americans. She pledged to do “everything in her power” as President to end the war in Gaza, end the suffering of Palestinians there, and achieve “a future of security and dignity for all people in the region.”
Beyond Harris’s statements, we know that her decisions as President will be shaped by the larger Democratic Party coalition that includes a growing force pushing for Palestinian human rights. Our Arizona Democratic Party passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in January. Every single member of Congress who has publicly called for a ceasefire in Gaza or for an arms embargo is a Democrat. The major national unions, civil rights groups, and progressive organizations that have called for a halt to military aid to Israel are all working to elect Harris.
On the other hand, the Republican Party coalition offers zero opposition to unconditional support for Israel and zero support for Palestinian human rights. Instead Republicans urge the US to join Israel in bombing Iran, call to “bounce the rubble in Gaza” and “kill ‘em all,” and would likely support the Israeli far right’s drive to annex Gaza and the West Bank.
What about a third party? Many in our communities believe this is our best option. Unfortunately, there is not a single third party member of Congress or even state legislator in America. In our electoral system, no third party candidate can win this election. But voting for them could make Trump president.
The polls show the presidential election is extremely close and that it will be decided by 7 swing states, including Arizona. While voting 3rd party may be strategic in non-swing states as a protest of the current US Israel/Palestine policy or as a step to qualifying the Green Party for public funding in future elections by winning at least 5% of the national vote, doing it in Arizona or other swing states in such a close election could bring disaster.
Some argue that if Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim voters and our allies vote for a 3rd party candidate and intentionally throw the election to Trump, taking credit for defeating Harris, it will prove our power to decide a close election and “punish Democrats” for complicity in genocide. Unfortunately, this is not how power, politics, or change works in our country. When Ralph Nader helped throw the election to Bush in 2000, he was rejected by millions for whom he was once a hero, banished ever since to the political margins. When Jill Stein helped throw the election to Trump in 2016, she remained relegated to the political fringe, becoming less powerful not more. If our communities ally with the Green Party to defeat Harris, we risk marginalizing ourselves as they did by alienating the tens of millions of voters who support the cause of Palestinian freedom and are fighting to defeat Trump by electing her.
Instead, by helping to elect Kamala Harris, we can say, “Despite it all, we gave you another chance and helped put you in office to defend democracy and uphold our highest American values. Now uphold them: end the genocide and secure Palestinian self-determination. We will fight every day to hold you to it.” If Harris and Democrats win, we will wage that fight with more allies among the American people, Congress, and the White House than ever before. If they don’t deliver, we will have a mandate and mass support to hold them accountable through every nonviolent tool of democracy, including protests, resignations, civil disobedience, primary election challenges, and even potential mass noncooperation. It’s a difficult path, but the one that offers the most hope.
The first step –– and our best choice in this horrible situation –– is defeating Trump by electing Harris. We urge you to join us.
Signers (affiliations listed for identification purposes only):
Maher Arekat, Founder, Palestine Community Center of Arizona
Usama Shami, President, Islamic Community Center of Phoenix
Fadi Zanayed, Vice President, American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine - Arizona
Shams AbdusSamad, Secretary, Maricopa County Dem Party; ADP Exec Cmte Mmbr - At Large & SCM
Samir Mufarreh, Palestinian American Christian Community Leader
Jordan Harb, Lebanese American Youth Leader
Stephen Mufarreh, Attorney, Palestinian American Christian Community Leader
Misaal Irfan, Pakistani American Community Leader
Samara Hamideh, Palestinian Youth Organizer
Mohamed El-Sharkawy, Palestinian American and a Muslim leader
Ala Rumah, Syrian American Activist
Dina Hamideh, Coordinator, Arizona Palestine Film Festival
Salauddin Choudhury, Bangladeshi Community Leader; DNC Delegate CD 5; LD 14 SCM
Hani Hani, President, American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine - Arizona
Dr. Navid Khan, Pakistani American Community Leader
Deena Mufarreh, Chair, American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine - Arizona
Syed Nasir Raza, Progressive Pakistani-American Community Leader; AZ Progressives
Ashraf Elgamal, President, Arab American Organization
Salina Imam, Charity Program Leader
Sawsan Tannous, Chair, American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine - Arizona
Saher Afzal, Pakistani American, Arizona Education Association member, and Exec board AEA local
Nathan Mufara, Chair, American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine - Arizona
Dr. Jaffrey Khazi, Community Leader
Hashim Hamid , Palestinian American Community Elder and Retired Businessman
​​Ameena Arekat, Palestinian American Health Care Worker
Mo Al Hwan Bahu, Palestinian American Christian
Deanna Dabbah, Former President, Arab American Anti-Discrimination Cmte, Fountain Hills, AZ
Dr. Hazem Jabr, Palestinian American Dentist
Jack Saba, Syrian American Entertainer & Democratic Voter
Ramzi Arikat, Palestinian American Business Owner in Phoenix
Shaikh F Shams, LD13 PC & State Cmte Member, Bangladeshi American Community Leader
Hussein Jabr, Palestinian American Doctor
Md Ibrahim Faisal, Bangladeshi American Progressive Democrats
Dean Dabbah, Community Activist, Fountain Hills, AZ
Mazen Arekat, Palestinian American Business Owner
Sujat Jamil, Bangladeshi American Progressive Democrats
Rocky Francis, Iraqi American Businessman
Hazem Arekat, Palestinian American Businessman
Arif Mahmud, Volunteer
Qumrul Ahsan, Precinct committee member LD13
Shahriar Anwar, LD13
Menassa Abinader, Lebanese American; Owner, Mejana Restaurant
Charlotte Hosseini, Sedona Resident ; Concerned citizen and voter
Tan Jakwani, Muslim Community Leader
William Havel, Iraqi Refugee
Jennifer Loewenstein, Jewish Voice for Peace - Tucson ; Arizona Palestine Network (AZ PAL)
Jessica Burke, Jewish Community Member & Progressive Activist
Bob Lord, Former Arizona Congressional Candidate, Jewish Community Member
Rachel Port, Jewish Voice for Peace -  Tucson
Laurie Melrood, Jewish Voice for Peace - Tucson; LD 20
Rep. Mariana Sandoval, LD 23
Rep. QuantĂĄ Crews, LD 26 ; State and Precinct Committee Person
MartĂ­n J. Quezada, Former State Senator
School Board Member Patti Serrano, PC and State Committee Member LD 13, 2020 Delegate
Kai Newkirk, Co-Chair, Arizona Democratic Party Progressive Council
Erika Andiola, Immigrant Rights Leader & Bernie 2016 Latino Outreach Press Secretary
Mikkel Jordahl, Attorney
Belén Sisa, Former Latino Press Secretary for Bernie 2020 and DACA Recipient
Salil Deshpande, LD18 State Committee Member; DNC Standing Committee Member
Dan O’Neal, Progressive Democrats of America - Arizona State Coordinator
Armonee D. Jackson, President, Young Democrats of Arizona
Eva Putzova, Former City of Flagstaff Councilmember
Emily Kirkland, PC LD 8; Former Executive Director, Progress Arizona
Melissa Galarza, Chair, LD12 Democrats
Cameron Bautista, Youth Organizer & School Board Coordinator, KeepAZBlue Student Coalition
Nick Collins, LD 12 State Cmte Member, Progressive Council Interim Steering Committee
Ken Kenegos, LD 18 PC, member Progressive Democrats of America
Michael Bradley, Arizona Palestine Network, LD 4 PC
David Higgins, Co-Founder, Arizona Palestine Network (AZ PAL)
Natacha Chavez, Precinct committee person LD 22
Sarah LeĂłn, Community organizer
Elizabeth Hourican, CODEPINK Phoenix
Emily Verdugo, Community Leader
Kyle Nitschke, LD 6 State Committee Member
Barbara J. Taft, Leadership Team, WILPF US Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee
Nicole Gutiérrez Miller, State and Precinct Committee Person, LD 12
Dianne Post, International Human Rights Attorney
Lindsay Love, Owner & therapist at TherapyLuv, PLLC ; former CUSD school board member
Joan Etude Arrow, Founder, Arizona Progressive Action Community (AZPAC)
Elizabeth Ogren, LD5 PC and State Committee Member
Jenise Porter, PC and State Committeeperson AZ LD18
Dave Wells, United Campus Workers of AZ, PC LD9
Andreas Clayton La Grow, Community Organizer
Robert Flamida, Palestine Community Center of Arizona, Member
Dr. Marannagan, Autistics for Peace
Bonnie L Lynn, State Committee Member
Frederic Artus, LD 5
Isabel O’Neal, State Committee, PC LD 14, CD 5 Immigration Advocate
Deborah Arekat, Democratic Voter
Asfandyar Khalid, Na
Kathy F. Yontz, PC LD12
Pardis Baradar, LD 12 PC
Grace Wagner Democrat LD8
Laiken Jordahl, Community organizer/advocate
Kathryn Soderquist, Constituent, AZ LD 9
Jana Rose Ochs, Progressive Democrats of America, Progressive Activist
Victoria Eloisa Ramos, Community Leader
Aaron J Essif, LD17 PC & SCM, PDA, Indivisibles
Judith Hilton Coburn, Member, CodePink Phoenix, PDA, Phoenix Anti War Coalition
Dev Gautam Dogra, Progressive social democratic student from The University of Arizona
Peggy Thomas, Progressive Democrats of America activist
Anne Khoury, Concerned citizen and voter 
Emily Williams, Democrat LD 12
Molly Donnelly, PC LD 12
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nyancrimew · 3 months ago
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OPINION: stop studying cybersecurity because of me
im trying to get u into activism, not college
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beggars-opera · 2 years ago
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I hate, hate, HATE the term “affordable housing.” I hate that we’ve normalized it. I hate that we just accept that the majority of housing, a basic human right, is unaffordable to much of the population. Housing should be affordable as a baseline. If rich people want to add arcades and gold-plated hot tubs on top so be it, but everyone, everyone, regardless of income level, should have access to a clean, comfortable home with enough light and space to make life worth living.
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jaskierx · 3 months ago
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who the fuck gives a single shit if someone on this website thinks voting for kamala is ‘selfish’ or that it’s wrong to vote ‘just because you will benefit’. fellas is it selfish to want to continue to have access to vital healthcare. is it selfish to want a president that isn’t a fascist and a felon and misogynist and a sex criminal. is it selfish to prioritise your own employment rights when your job is the only way you can keep your health insurance and keep a roof over your head and put food on the table. is it selfish to think that out of the two candidates available it’s preferable to pick the one that might achieve a ceasefire instead of the one that will definitely escalate the genocide
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theabigailthorn · 4 months ago
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"Good" Acting
i have a theory that a lot of people say acting is "good" when they're emotionally moved by it, and a lot of cishet white people have a lifelong habit of not listening or empathising when minoritised people speak, so minority actors get called "bad" even when they display some pretty fucking amazing technical skill
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gingerswagfreckles · 3 months ago
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It's crazy how a completely random gentile can just lie and say "this Jew who talks about antisemitism on the left is a Zionist" and everyone just goes oh ok thanks and then dismisses everything you've said forever no matter how well thought out your posts are or how many hours you spend citing primary source evidence. And no matter how much you say you're not a Zionist everyone is just like ok well you're a slimy lying Jew and the person who accused you is a noble gentile đŸ€š who should I really believe about your own political opinions?? And then they go back to not reading the news and spreading conspiracy theories about hostages writing their captors thank you letters and Spotify Wrapped being a Jewish Plot. 🙄🙄🙄🙄
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margindoodles2407 · 16 hours ago
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Just a quick and gentle reminder that it is never, ever okay to wish harm, destruction, and death upon people.
Ever.
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politijohn · 1 year ago
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Begging to lose an election when you ignore voters this badly

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marlynnofmany · 6 months ago
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If you weren't around for the early days of search engines, you may not be familiar with Ask Jeeves, but for a while there he was the one you went to for answers.
The site encouraged you to ask full-sentence questions, not just type in key words, and it looked like this:
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It went the way of the dodo because Google won the search engine arms race, but Ask Jeeves left a mark on the internet. (The webcomic host SmackJeeves was named as a reference, for one.)
Thanks for all the search results, Jeeves.
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mayasaura · 8 months ago
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I do not now, nor have I ever, expected Gideon to take a principaled stance on the forever war. I just don't think it matters to her. Ostensibly she's on her dad's side because her dad has been on a parenting kick lately, and the best she ever got from her mum was goodbye with a stay of execution. But if she were confronted with the ethics of the situation? Asked her opinion? I don't think she'd have one. She may be a prince, but at heart she's still the abused eighteen year old girl who fought tooth and nail to join the army just for a way out
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antiyourwokehomophobia2 · 2 months ago
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Something that's important to realize is that men do not view their hatred of women as political or as a personal viewpoint. When men say things like women are less than men or stupid or not good for anything or that they belong in the kitchen, they view it as a natural fact of the world. They're fine saying vile shit about women because they firmly believe those things to be basic truth. They view it as natural order. To them it's as true as the sky being blue. They don't consider their views to be subjective. They think everyone feels how they do and the ones who don't are too stupid to recognize very simple truth. If you've ever wondered why a man would feel comfortable freely saying something offensive about women, that's why. To them, women being less complex than men is as simple as saying that humans need food to eat.
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netscapenavigator-official · 2 months ago
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“Ermm actually, we should not vote to send a message.”
Actually Betsy, take a look around the room. I’m a Tumblr Dot Com user just like you. I’m on this webbed site to make sure as many people as possible are forced to hear my unqualified and unasked-for opinions, whether they like it or not.
So you better believe that when the U.S. Government knocks on my door and says “it’s your civil duty to vote” I’m marching my ass straight down to my local elementary school gym and shoving my little opinionated vote into that ballot box with as much smugness as I possibly can.
Voting is the biggest, most official, most unqualified opinion I have, and the government is forced to bend over and just take it, so you better believe I’m not gonna miss the opportunity to shove my opinion so far down down Uncle Sam’s gullet that he won’t even have to shit it out.
Politics is the biggest opinion I get to have, and voting is the most people I’ll ever get to force to bear witness to it. It’s the epitome of all the bullshit I force my mutuals to suffer through on here.
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shalom-iamcominghome · 7 months ago
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You're anti-antisemitism because you know there are good jews who don't deserve antisemitism. I am anti-antisemitism because I know no jew deserves antisemitism. We are not the same.
(what you also don't know is that you aren't anti-antisemitism)
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sopranoentravesti · 7 months ago
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Gonna make a controversial statement—people on this webbed site had more compassion for the poor white rural Trump supporters than they do for Jews
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poorly-drawn-mdzs · 1 year ago
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Dishonourable Demonstration
[First] Prev <–-> Next
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fictionadventurer · 7 months ago
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Maybe the problem with Christian fiction is that it's non-denominational. People are just "Christian", with no effort put into showing what practicing that religion looks like for them specifically. No indication that there are other Christians who could have different beliefs. No wrestling with differing ideas and the struggle of how one should live out their Christian faith. And that makes it unrealistic and unrelatable.
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