#that was so leftist organizer of me

[leninisms]

by political organizations i mean orgs like PSL, SJP, DSA, PYM, code pink, ANSWER, USPCN, black liberation alliance, CPUSA, JVP, etc.

when i say actively i don’t mean “i’ve been thinking about it.” i mean “i have spoken to someone in an org about joining” or “i have applied to join an org” or “i am in the process of onboarding.” if you have not taken any steps to join an organization, you are not actively in the process of joining.

[gingerswagfreckles]

Why do 70,000 fucking people have that stupid Pro-Hamas article from Oct 2023 posted on their blogs and still consider themselves not antisemitic. "What's the Ethical Way to Climb Out of Hell?" Idk man!! Not by shooting hundreds of civilians and dozens of kids in the face for no fucking reason whatsoever!!!

[the-paris-of-people]

The past couple days online have been... interesting. I consider myself a leftist, think capitalism is corrupt, and think that it needs to be seriously reformed/overthrown. I admit that while I've thrown around phrases and terms like "burn it all down" and "the revolution needs to come" out of frustration without actually thinking about what a revolution entails: excellent organization, unity, and strategy to defeat the United States, the world's largest military superpower which has inflicted political and social destabilization across the majority of countries around the world. There also needs to be superb infrastructure and community to support the disabled, elderly, and poor populations who rely on government assistance and programs, healthcare, and accommodations while this so-called revolution rages on.

All I've received from the far leftist movement are lectures from condescending intellectuals who rattle off academic citations regarding ideological theory rather than practical, tangible steps to advocate for change in our local and regional communities. I have not seen one of them actually discuss conversations they've had with their friends, family, or Americans about what they want to see reflected for the future of the country. I have not seen one of them discussed how destructive, detrimental and traumatic a Trump presidency was for social prejudice and morale in the United States. I understand that for many marginalized groups they've been living in a facist state for centuries so the possibility Project 2025 doesn't galvanize them to see the two parties differently, but I don't think it is fair to white leftists falsely equivocate the election of both parties for the entire American population at all??? Or like at least specify the issues you're referring to in which you view both parties as the same????? Literally one TikTok creator who I used to follow talked about how true leftists are so much better than liberals because they aren't waiting for a presidential candidate to save the world NOW due to the accelerated apocalypse due to climate change but when asked how to change the world they suggest sharing ideas of your future utopia with other leftist groups. How the fuck is sitting around talking about living in a walkable community is great considered "saving the world now"? How are you going to dismantle and restructure American infrastructure to create these communities? How are you going to remove existing racial and social tensions to create a community where everyone lives happily side by side? Do people not consider reality at all?????

And is it not wrong for people to have a fucking sliver of optimism and hope at incremental change that's achieved within the corrupt bipartisan system of American politics, even if they know it's propaganda??? Is it wrong for people to have a singular fucking moment of relief in feeling like their values, beliefs, and lives will be better protected and THEY can advocate for change better??? Is it wrong when there's a couple months until the most pressing election in recent history for people to make the choice they feel will reduce the most amount of harm???

[redjennies]

your tooth troubles are so real I hate the way dental care is handled in the US!!!!!! my wisdom teeth have been sawing thru my gums at a weird angle for like a year but I'm uninsured and I straight up cannot do 2k PER TOOOOTH so?? anyway solidarity handshake

it's so fucking bullshit. like they literally know people need to be able to get their wisdom teeth removed to avoid pain like what you're going through but it's apparently a privilege of the wealthy to not live in pain that's going to possibly fuck up your other teeth. I'm not even in the minority of my friends who have lost teeth because it's too expensive to get a filling uninsured, and they make you jump through ridiculous hoops to get insurance that's still fucking expensive. honestly it's fucking criminal too because getting abscesses due to bad teeth can literally fuck up your heart and kill you but once again the American government continues prioritizing bombing families in foreign countries that ain't none of our business being in so the oil companies can stay rich and outlawing abortion so the working class can stay poor and desperate and docile over making sure its citizens have access to basic fucking health care. anyway no love for the United States government as always. no love to insurance companies as always. if there is a just god, all these bastards will rot in hell for their sins of greed and murder. I'm not even joking. I believe that. we have the wealth and knowledge and tools to avoid unnecessary health complications and we don't let our poor and working class access that healthcare because life is a privilege of the wealthy. it's fucking state sanctioned murder and we should consider the healthcare system (and the housing system, at that) just as violent through their inaction as the "justice" system and the military are through their actions.

[lith-myathar]

.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hi. I just want to send some love and let you know that your page really inspire me. I am of Sami heritage, living in Norway and I relate a lot to the catalan experience. Our language is constantly under threat and so is our culture. I know a lot of Sami groups that collaborate with other causes. I have a study circle with some students from Palestine, and I know theres a lot of good relationship between Catalonia and Palestine (when I visited Ramallah everyones favorite team is Barcelona, haha, i think people connect it to resistance). I think a lot of Sami activists can learn a lot from Catalan ones. Especially regarding language rights. May your people gain independence (or, at least, the right to make your own democratic choice about it). All the best!

Thank you, it means a lot to see this message.

It's true for decades there's been a very strong connection between Palestine and Catalonia. Besides them, we have a strong alliance with the other cultures under Spanish rule (Basque and Galician) and to a lesser extent Corsica and Occitania. Others like Brittany are also well known but we rarely organize together and meet as often as with these ones.

I wish there was more connection with Sápmi as well. There was a short-lived widespread talk about support to the Sami people when Mikko Kärnä (MP in Finland for Sápmi constituency) voiced his support for accepting Catalonia's vote on independence, many people had never heard about Sami people before. Mikko Kärnä was the only foreign MP outside of Basque and Galician ones who gave us so much support, so people were very thankful. Sadly, after that I haven't heard much more... Only every so often they talk about it in Vilaweb (a pro-independence leftist newspaper that often talks about other occupied nations), just this week they published about the Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš and I remember a while ago they talked about the mines they wanted to build there that would destroy the land. But there isn't a widespread conscience and shared organizations like with the other stateless countries under Spain.

It's a shame, I wish there was more contact. After all, it's the same fight, and we would all gain from forming stronger alliances with all minoritized cultures who are in a similar position.

[astradyke]

hello!! I’m a minor without a way to donate and my family won’t donate so do you have any ways for me to help palestinians? I’m sorry this is very specific I just want to do what I can and I feel really awful when I can’t donate. I do the daily click and reblog though. Sorry to bother you lol idk if there’s anything else for me to do

opening preface: i am not Palestinian.

hi! you're not bothering me, i understand. my main thought is, if you have other forms of social media, it could be good to share there! what i'll do sometimes-- since i currently can't donate as much as i used to (unemployed)-- is i'll post on an Instagram story like, hey, if you guys have funds, i was contacted by XYZ Palestinian who needs help meeting their goal-- DM me for the campaign link :) and that can establish connections with people who will like, consistently contact me again being like "hi i have more money now do you have other campaigns?" you can also promote them to share with their internal network!

also, i recognize this might not be possible depending on your location, but if there's any way you can get out to an in-person action for Palestine, or get other people out to an action if you yourself can't go, that can also be really powerful. i understand though that this might be impossible; when i was a minor i lived in the suburbs and didn't have a driver's license, so that can be difficult. if that is within the realm of hypothetical possibility, exercise caution; don't tell anyone except trusted folks that you're going out if you're going out, don't post about you being there specifically (you can post about the action itself! but avoid indicating that you, yourself, specifically, are there, if you are there), et cetera. all that stuff!

even if you can't do either of those things, something you can do is educate yourself!! i don't have access to a lot of free material about Palestine to redirect you to, though i know it exists, but I do recommend instagram accounts (sorry again lol, it's my main socmed but i imagine they exist on other accounts):

mondoweiss / wizard_bisan1 / jenanmatari / disorientalizing / so.informed / letstalkpalestine2 / palestinianyouthmovement <- just a handful!!! some of those will also cover information about related struggles (but i have other accounts that talk about those too if you want!)

the empire of "america" has imposed a capitalist hellscape across the earth, but every revolution is rooted in a mixture of political education and political action. if you're unable to do the mutual aid financially, there are still actions you can do (like what you described doing and some of the things i've listed), and there is always a way to politically educate yourself. don't be too hard on yourself for the circumstances of your situation you cannot control. sending much love & energy!

[playing-with-dax]

The next two weeks are going to be extremely busy for me and I don't have time to make much 🥲 so here's a look at what my sketchbook looks like!

Plus a lil sneak peek of the new character that's rattling around in my brain 😊

Most of the time I'll make a messy sketch on paper to get the general poses down, and then refine it digitally. So my paper sketchbook is full of scribbles that only I can decipher lol

[moodr1ng]

im in this nonwhite-only lgbt group in my city (or at least i attended like 1 event and im in their whatsapp groups) and like im glad to be in it ig but also the fucking conversations are abysmal. someone just sent a message warning people to mask up bc theres another rise in covid cases and someone else replied "were filling up on essential oils!" and im just expected to act like thats a reasonable thing to say. this new age shit in lgbt spaces is insane to me like.

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

i have been in community with profoundly developmentally disabled peers and peers with brain damage my whole life, bc i had a childhood diagnosis. i have also been leftist my whole life; my mother was a marxist and raised me that way, and while their politics were absolute dogshit, they were lefty dogshit.

my entire life, i have seen leftist educators throw mentally disabled people away as "lost causes" because they couldn't engage with the material the way it was being presented. leftist outreach and education does, genuinely, have a massive lack of accessible material. to be blunt, people are not interested in retrofitting their leftist outreach to be accessible to people who learn best through episodes of sesame street.

as in, i have repeatedly faced outright laughter and cruelty over the idea that this could be a priority. or even something that we consider doing at all.

"people who are that mentally disabled don't need to know about these things," the kindest interpretation goes. ("people who are that mentally disabled don't interact with the world, anyway, they're all in institutions or monitored 24/7 by their parents," the uncharitable underlying assumptions go. "they wouldn't be a worker who needs a union. or a library attendee. or a member of the community garden. or a volunteer at the food bank. or or or")

the people i have seen this hurt the worst, over and over again, are profoundly mentally disabled people of color whose lack of access to accessible antiracist education is causing real danger in their lives. institutionalized disabled people of color who have learned racist ideology and behaviors from white authority, whether they were adopted by white families or incarcerated in care institutions run by white staff. who are treated lower than garbage by leftist educators, who view them as "lost causes," as unworthy of time and effort and attention, as deserving of their abuses because they... what... internalized the abuses that make up every aspect of their lives since birth?

i see people saying things in this conversation like "disability isn't an excuse for racism or transphobia or whatever, people have the obligation to improve themselves." oh, believe me, i have seen again and again how many privileged disabled people utilize their disabilities to punch down on others, try to escape accountability for their punching down by citing disability. but individual weaponization of identity is just that: weaponization of identity.

the power structures at play are what they are. it is a noble and admirable goal to want leftist outreach and education to be more accessible to all. if that is truly your goal, you must eventually reckon with the existence of people who do, actually, really need it presented in a picture book. or an episode of bluey. or a conversation where you only use examples of people they know in real life, using things that happened to them personally. the existence of people who cannot grasp forms of abstract reasoning, who need information presented as rules, or as guidelines, or as categories. the idea that yes, fully grown adults who need daniel tiger to explain racism to them are human beings who not only deserve access to that very thing, but who also deserve to be a part of leftist spaces and benefit from leftist organizing. are people for whom it might be INTEGRAL they get to be a part of leftism. are victims of racism themselves and suffering without access to antiracist spaces and community and support.

and you will need to reckon with the abject cruelty of your peers who laugh and mock the very idea of this. you need to reckon with the fact that a lot of people you respect, a lot of leftists doing genuinely good work, will respond to this by making fun of the people you're serving, even outright telling you their violent fantasies about these people. that is the experience of organizing in leftist spaces for profoundly disabled people. that is why so many of us burn out so fast. there IS a structural problem with mentally disabled people being seen as disposable and not a part of community. and it is EXTREMELY present in leftist organizing and outreach efforts.

[buddhistmusings]

Every time I post something referencing the very real humanitarian crisis in Palestine, my "for you" page changes and becomes filled with recommended posts that contain the most vile antisemitic shit.

It makes me so sad, because it reminds me of what an awful job that a movement that was supposed to be about advocating for Palestinian lives has done with boundary maintenance. It is so compromised that social media algorithms don't appear able to differentiate between advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and antisemitic content. The crossover between the two has become enough that a user who engages with content of one kind is recommended content of another. People who are not educated on antisemitism and the covert symbolism it uses might not recognize it right away, so we are seeing an entire group of people, convinced that they are participating in a civil rights advocacy movement also being indoctrinated into a separate hate movement, under the impression that these two movements are the same.

With such poor boundaries being maintained between these two ideally separate movements, and such overlap growing, how long can I honestly maintain that these are two separate movements?

Meanwhile, innocent Palestinians are being bombed, children are starving, far-right governments on both sides of the conflict are gloating in the support they get from American conservatives and leftists respectively, and functionally, I hear nobody advocating for peace anymore, only the destruction of their enemies. Palestinians are being so incredibly demeaned, by both the people who want to destroy them and their sovereignty, and the people who claim to be supportive of them.

Sane, rational people who are advocating for peaceful solutions are disregarded and voices on the fringe are centered. People are witnessing what they interpret as a genocide unfolding and in response are advocating for a counter-genocide. Can they not see how this actively impedes the peace process? They give legitimacy to (false) far-right Israeli nationalist claims of Palestinian statehood as an inherent danger to the safety of the Jewish people, and demean the Palestinian people by suggesting that what they want is revenge and not to live their lives in peace. They've made questions about the legitimacy of Hamas, an evil terrorist organization, central to the movement, instead of what should be the priority, that innocent people are suffering and that this is unacceptable. They have redefined and reappropriated Jewish words to use as antisemitic slurs and convinced their audience that using these slurs is not antisemitism.

Meanwhile, capitalizing on the above mentioned antisemitism, those who want to harm the Palestinian people, deny them statehood, are using the words and actions of these activists as ideological ammunition to fire up their anti-Palestinian base. Donald Trump literally called Joe Biden a Palestinian at the presidential debate as a slur. Republicans are using the word "Palestinian" as a slur. Netanyahu (possibly one of the worst people involved in this entire situation), in his speech to congress, was able to point to the very real antisemitic actions of activists to further cement support for him personally. By the way, saying how antisemitic activists harm Palestinians shouldn't have to be the rhetorical point we resort to. The fact that antisemitism hurts Jewish people is enough to make it a bad thing and is enough to make us avoid doing it, right?

I'm tired of turning in one direction and saying "You should NEVER say something like that about Palestinians" and then turning in the other and saying "You should NEVER say something like that about Jews". It should not have to be said that condemning the very existence of one of two ethnic groups in their shared homeland is unacceptable, and yes, it is their shared homeland, because they both live there and are both from there. It should not have to be said that you should understand what a word means before using it to insult people. Here I am in fact talking about the word Zionist, because that is a family of various movements, some of which are worthy of condemnation, but frankly, the basic premise of Zionism does not demean or degrade Palestinians at all, because it simply is the belief that Jewish people have the right to return to and form communities in their homeland.

I'm kind of opening myself up to get a lot of criticism here, but I wanted to get these thoughts out, because I have been finding them enormously frustrating. My heart breaks for all the innocent Palestinians who are suffering and have a lackluster movement advocating on their behalf, and my heart breaks for all the Jewish people who have lost friends to antisemitic conspiracy. My heart breaks for the victims of 10/7 and their families, as well as the Jewish community who was interrupted in the mourning of their losses. My heart breaks for all of the Palestinians who have lost friends and family in the subsequent destruction in Gaza and the immense violence and famine we are seeing.

Please root your activism in peace and compassion, not hatred and destruction. Please think before you speak about entire groups of people. Learn about what words mean before you use them to condemn others. Learn about Jewish people, Palestinian people, their lives, their cultures, and why they both feel such a strong connection to the land. Make this about healing, love, and reconciliation, and not about being right.

[djuvlipen]

i went to a leftist festival last month and there was a panel dedicated to prostitution, why abolition is the only road to go for leftists and how to help and support prostituted women exiting the trade, and i keep thinking about that union organizer who said, "we hear more and more that 'sex work is work', but if that were true, then there'd be professional trainings leading to a qualification for prostitution, then there'd be prostitution diplomas, then high schoolers could send applications to follow those trainings and become prostitutes. but we all know that all these things don't exist, and if they did exist we would all recognize them for what they are: a grooming business encouraging pedophilia and violence against women and girls." and what she said later; "trade unions that argue that 'sex work is work' never engage in legal battles against pimps or brothel owners. they don't even recognize that pimps are the bosses of the prostitution market. "sex workers' trade unions" don't fight pimps because sex workers' unions don't represent the alleged "workers" (prostituted women), they represent the bosses: pimps."

and that made me think of what Kajsa Ekis Ekman said about the trade unions that consider prostitution to be work and prostituted women to be workers: they offer trainings about condom use and spend millions of dollars funding "worker peer education" about "safe sex".

So one again, it's prostituted women who are held responsible for the spreading and the prevention of STDs - not the johns, not the pimps. the prostituted women, many of them victims of sex trafficking. "As human trafficking expert Malka Marcovich has pointed out, this means a return to nineteenth-century ideals of hygiene, where the onus was “primarily on the women to take responsibility for the health of ‘the customer’, so diseases would not be spread to their families” (2007, p. 347)."

It's quite obvious to any trade union organizer that prostitution is not work and the sex trade can't be organized as a trade union. a few months ago, the biggest unions in my country (which included the traditional left-wing trade unions as well as students' unions) issued a paper condemning the 'sex work is work' narrative and the pimp lobbies got so mad about that because they know their strategy isn't working because leftists know what left-wing politics look like and they know women's liberation doesn't come from prostitution. Now it's interesting that the biggest voices of the "sex work is work" movement come from the USA, where the anticapitalist left doesn't exist. American liberals love to pass reactionary politics as revolutionary but not because they are stupid in their own country does it mean they should influence the actually left-wing labour movement in other countries, right?

[the-library-alcove]

One thing I've been struggling with on a personal ethical level is dealing with the knowledge that the "Antizionist" movement on the Left is not an organic, grassroots ideology. We literally have recordings of the meetings by Hamas members from the 1990s where they laid out this exact setup: They would attempt to propagandize to the American and Western Left their specific narrative that was designed to ensnare Leftists by appealing to their ideologies and shortcircuit critical thinking. And it's not a coincidence that Al Jazeera, the Qatari propaganda outfit, was founded three years after that meeting, as Qatar is deeply involved in helping push this narrative on US universities. Add to the Iranian regime's previous experience at exactly this--using Leftists as useful idiots during the Iranian Revolution--and you can see the state-funded media and educational apparatus designed to achieve this exact result.

So I'm struggling with how much blame, how much personal culpability, there can be for people like, for example, Greta Thunberg, or other Gen-Z "antizionists", who have been deliberately and intentionally mousetrapped into cheering for a literal mass murderer and rapist in Sinwar. Because an enormous amount of money and effort went into trapping them with this belief system.

But on the other hand, they're actively abandoning their previously-claimed principles en masse--as feminists, as minority group supporters, as progressives--in order to embrace the "Antizionist" belief system.

So it's a struggle for me in debating how much blame they deserve individually, when they've been ensnared systematically, but their individual choices are still reprehensible.

[dabihaul666]

A GOOD POST BUT ALSO SOME PEOPLE ARE BEING REALLY WEIRD ABOUT “IP” like the people calling ppl luddites for complaining about ai art like the “petite bourgeoise luddites” like some rando on twitter with 50k followers is not the petite bourgeoise ????? even if they had 200k followers thats not the petite bourgeoise??????? u guys knee jerk against this idea that intellectual property is bad SOOOOOOOOOO HARD AND I DONT UNDERSTAND IT AT ALL we’re talking about just a random person not like, case law or industry standards and practices and disney animator not being able to own their work bullshit

[jewish-sideblog]

Clearly, y'all don't care about Jews, and the fact that Hamas is violently antisemitic doesn't seem matter to any of you. So let me go with a new approach, of equal truth and value. Hamas is violently anti-Palestinian.

This past week, Hamas attacked evacuation routes and prevented Gazan citizens from fleeing an active warzone. [1]

They did that because they routinely use Gazan civilians as human shields. Hamas intentionally builds military targets close to schools, hospitals, and mosques, putting soft targets in the way of both incoming and outgoing fire. Hamas encourages Gazan civilians and children to stand on the roofs of buildings they know the IDF is targeting. [2]

Hamas has refused to allow elections in Gaza since 2006. Not just Palestinian National Authority elections, mind you. No open elections for any office have been held in seventeen years. Palestinian rights to free elections and self-determination have been denied by Hamas. [3] (And good luck to anyone who tries to blame that on Israel, because elections were held by the PNA in the West Bank in 2012, 2017, 2021 and 2022. It's Hamas's intention alone to purge democracy.)

Hamas's track record on human rights is appalling. Palestinian prisoners in Gaza face unfair trials and death sentences after being tortured by police. Palestinian women are prevented from accessing the legal systems to escape domestic abuse situations. Political dissidents in Hamas, even ones who merely support the other half of the Palestinian government, have been summarily executed. [4] [5]

Peaceful organizers in Palestine protested Hamas's massive tax hikes in 2019. Hamas security forces responded by assaulting demonstrators, tracking them down, raiding their homes, and detaining them. And, as previously mentioned, prisoners in Gaza are not treated well by Hamas. [6]

Edit Nov.5, 10:30 PM: I forgot to add arguably the most important thing-- Hamas manipulates the humanitarian aid they receive away from helping Gazans and toward killing Jews. 5% of Hamas's budget actually gets used for humanitarian aid, while 55% goes to military use. Construction equipment intended to rebuild Gaza's crumbling infrastructure is used to build a complex series of underground tunnels. Those tunnels in turn are used to smuggle Iranian military equipment into the country. They were also used for human trafficking in the October 7th attacks. [7]

If you actually want Palestinians to be free, you can't just replace Israel with Hamas. But it's not like they're the only option for supporting Palestinian liberation. While Fatah doesn't have an immaculate historical track record, it now operates as a leftist, democratic socialist, secular Palestinian government that fights for a two-state solution. Similarly, Arab-Israeli political parties like the Hadash-Ta'al coalition support leftist, anti-Zionist, and two-state solutions from within the Israeli parliament.

You can and should support Palestinian liberation movements that abuse neither Jewish nor Arab human rights and dignities. Plenty of them exist out there. But if y'all continue to throw your weight behind an antisemitic and anti-democratic terrorist regime, Palestinians and Jews will both take note of exactly where you stand.

[spacelazarwolf]

Hey there! I’ve really appreciated your posts and perspective over this past month, I’m having a hard time (as so many Jews are) and your voice helps.

I’m hoping you can help me with reliable resources. A friend of mine condemned the Hamas attacks etc (as they should, to my relief) but is under the impression that Israeli govt is doing genocide to the Palestinians. I’ve no idea how to approach that to verify (or not), I don’t even know where to start looking. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you.

thanks! this is a really tough question, but i'm going to do my best to break it down. also if anyone's thinking of clowning on this post without reading it, inb4 "omg ur denying genocide!!!!!!" bc this post is literally outlining, in detail, all the ways the israeli government is, by definition, committing genocide.

this is really long, just a heads up.

a big frustration i have with a lot of progressive or leftist spaces is the tendency to throw around words like genocide without being able to define the term or properly apply it to the situation in question. this isn't just a semantics issue. if all you're doing is repeating the buzzwords you've heard on social media, your "activism" is going to be less than useless. it is crucial that if you are going to talk about the current genocide in gaza, you must be able to define exactly what a genocide is and how it applies to what's happening in gaza.

i'm paraphrasing from this article by the united nations. the word "genocide" was coined in 1944 by raphael lemkin in his book "axis rule in occupied europe." it was developed partly in response to the shoah, but also to previous instances of what we would now define as genocide. it was recognized as a crime under international law in 1946, and codified as an independent crime in the 1948 convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.

the definition of genocide

(from article II of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide):

in the present convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a. killing members of the group; b. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

the 10 stages of genocide

a model created by gregory stanton, the founding president of genocide watch

classification - people are divided into "them and us"

symbolization - when combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah groups.

discrimination - law or cultural power excludes groups from full civil rights: segregation or apartheid laws, denial of voting rights.

dehumanization - one group denies the humanity of the other group. memmbers of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects, or diseases.

organization - genocide is always organized... special army units or militias are often trained and armed...

polarization - extremists drive the groups apart... leaders are arrested and murdered... laws erode fundamental civil rights and liberties.

preparation - mass killing is planned. victims are identified and sepaarated because of their ethnic or religious identity.

persecution - expropriation, forced displacement, ghettos.

extermination - it is 'extermination' to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human.

denial - the perpatrators... deny that they committed any crimes.

application to the crisis in gaza

to start with the first definition from the united nations:

a. killing members of the group - YES

the death toll in gaza has risen above 8,000 according to the associated press. as far as i know, as of writing this post, there has been no ceasefire so the death toll will continue to rise.

b. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group - YES

over 20,000 people in gaza have been injured, and gazans - particularly children - suffer incredibly high rates of ptsd.

c. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part - YES

the israeli blockade of gaza has had devastating consequences for gazans. they are running out of food, water, fuel, and medicine, and this is costing additional lives.

d. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group - unclear but leaning toward YES

whether or not it is the explicit goal, the current bombardment of gaza has put the lives of 50,000+ pregnant women in gaza at risk, along with their babies. babies who need incubators are also in danger as generators begin to run out of fuel.

e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group - as far as i am aware, NO

according to the us embassy in israel, the palestinian authority ministry of social development is the only authorized entity regarding adoption of palestinian children. this doesn't mean it isn't happening, it just means i was not able to find any credible sources.

the 10 stages of genocide

classification - YES there is a long history in israel of othering palestinians, both socially/culturally and legally. former israeli minister of interior and minister of justice ayelet shaked shared a racist quote from netanyahu's former chief of staff explicitly framing palestinians as "the enemy."

symbolization - not yet there are no overt symbols palestinians, even within israel, are required to wear to outwardly identify themselves, but there are identifying features on their ids. in fact, the opposite has been happening, with far right members of the israeli government attempting to pass legislation making it illegal to publicly display palestinian flags.

discrimination - YES there is, again, a long history of discrimination against palestinians within and by the state of israel. it is difficult for palestinians from the west bank or gaza to gain status in israel, israeli work permits are used as a form of control, and often forcibly separate palestinian families.

dehumanization - YES former israeli deputy minister of defense eli ben dahan said of palestinians, "to me they are like animals, they aren't human."

organization - YES israel is currently carrying out an organized and brutal attack on gaza.

polarization - YES from extremist groups like hamas, to the corruption in the likud party in israel, there are very clear signs of extreme polarization. israel's siege against gaza has caused polarization across the entire globe.

preparation - YES gazans in particular are unable to leave gaza without a permit, and now with the blockade from both israel and egypt they are essentially trapped.

persecution - YES gaza in particular could absolutely be likened to a ghetto. as stated above, (in "usual" circumstances) they are unable to leave without a permit, and since hamas took control it is nearly impossible to get an israeli work permit.

extermination - GETTING THERE if the siege continues and gazans are unable to get out of gaza, there will be catastrophic casualties.

denial - YES i often hear that "israel has a right to defend itself" but i cannot possibly find a way to frame the current siege as "self defense."

so in conclusion, israel is - by multiple definitions - committing genocide against gazans. and it's very important to be able to identify specifics, especially if you are planning on having discussions about it. and i've said it in the past, but if you are not directly affected by what's happening - palestinians in particular, but israeli citizens and jews and muslims in the diaspora are also getting hit hard - it is IMPERATIVE that you are able to talk about this with a level head. escalating tensions and pushing away potential allies is only going to make things worse. find common ground, form connections, and then have a productive discussion.