Strong truths, resonating this morning. I have been looking at the this myth of non violence , including Gandhi. There was in fact violent protest going on at the same time, which influenced the British to leave. This had impact, but we never hear about it, but are told being passive pays off. The Palestinians learnt this time and time again and that is why they fight and resist.❤️🩹
It was ONLY because of violent resistance that the British left. They were weak from World War 2, and couldn't fight the violent uprisings against them (ie self defence). This is officially documented by the army. Gandhi wasn't a problem.
By lionising Gandhi they create the myth of non violent resistance. People genuinely believe waving flags will stop a genocide. This was after a million people in London marched against the Iraq war and they invaded anyway, killed hundreds of thousands, created hundreds of thousands of refugees then said afterwards , 'oopsie, WMD was a lie!' and Blair left office and became a multi millionaire with an estimated £100million fortune.
There is no such thing as non violent resistance against violence. Non violence has never been a form of self defence. This is why the British lie and say Gandhi s methods forced them out. Another lie and psychops.
However performative this tiny flotilla may be, it does bring attention to the genocide in Gaza. And if it is being picked up by mainstream lackluster media, at least the word, "genocide" is being pronounced. And even though they have been stopped, at least they were not killed, so far.. it still has more people watching.
Without a full scale organizational strategy, where the IOF and Netanyahu and the Lukud party can be literally stopped... small steps, however pacifist make a difference.
MLK, Jr. used the Gandhi approach. It never felt right to me but I did not have the wherewithal to fight any other way.
If the Western world leaders would stop funding Israel's war machine, that could make a dent in the problem. But where is the military force that could stop the IOF? It seems that is what you are suggesting. The Arab countries you mentioned have a military force and they have done nothing to stop Israel. Nothing at all. Instead they have looked the other way and have remained silent.
Where do we actually find the manpower, will and determination to get on the ground with a force that could go up against the IOF?
Weak as it may seem, pointless as it may appear, helpless as they may be, at least they are "doing" something to bring the world's attention to the genocide that is being hoisted upon innocent civilians.
I do appreciate your points in this post. I feel your outrage. But I still contend, that at least someone had the courage to splash the newsfeed and social media with a statement that "genocide" is a war crime and all nations on this planet, especially the Western ones, should take note, as they are complicit if they do nothing to stop it.
I don't criticise the people for their intentions. They clearly have their hearts in the right place. I criticise the folly of their actions.
It's been two years. All the points you made are well established.
The corporate media is owned by billionaire businessmen. In their clubs people are profiting from the genocide. These people don't want it to stop. If such people are then promoting action
Many, many people have tried. People in the Muslim world have given their lives trying to help.
If you read my pieces you'll see I never advocate for nation states to do something.
I advocate for us to organise and mobilise as people did in the past. The same way kings took thrones.
There are 8 billion of us.
I also dislike when people look down upon Arab states as if their populations don't care. They care so much. Even last year, in Saudi arabia it was dangerous for an imam to pray for Gaza and it was banned. To pray would've meant imprisonment or worse. Many Jordanians have been arrested trying to cross the border into Palestine to help. Some have been killed. The Muslim world is ruled by men that in the main the western empire put there. Monarchies, coups against their democratically leaders etc. Extreme suppression. They have two fronts to fight. It is clear that the leadership of nation states is not the same as it's populations. Nation states have in the main, been taken over by charlatans. This is particularly so in the west. While people criticise Arab states for Evie pro Zionist leaders, the west completely ignores the fact that the UK, us and most of western Europe - including the EU - have been completely taken over by Israel. Israel interferes with our law making and has moulded are criminal laws to destroy protest rights and strip legal defences from protesters. We are completely overtaken yet we still look to the east whilst doing nothing - absolutely nothing - about the Zionist take over of our own government and governmental institutions. The superiority complex of the west means they can't even understand what's going on, all the whole trump continues to attack the constitution for the sole benefit of Israel.
My point of the piece is - intentions went enough. Proper, thoughtful action must follow. And after two years, if people are not against the genocide, they probably really aren't going to change their minds now.
Yep, I hear you, Aya. It's a big fat mess with so many moving parts and even though there are 8 billion people on this planet, a small minority seem to have a chokehold on them. How do we even mobilize 8 billion people? I did read that another flotilla was gearing up. Sometimes it does take just one to move the needle. Let's envision thousands of flotillas going to Gaza. Let's support the resistance in all forms. It's the least we can do! The reality is, if Israel isn't stopped, this will madness will spread. Blessings, Aya... keep sounding the alarm..
I don't know - the Palestinian writers I follow on SubStack seemed to appreciate it, even though they recognised it as basically symbolic. I may well follow different writers to you though. It was still vastly preferable to street protesting and leafletting and certainly any of us writing online.
I think the Gazans are very noble people and they have never been discouraging of any support for them. I am not against the people - I don't criticise their intentions in any way and they are courageous. But it was folly.
My Palestinian friends who escaped from Gaza discouraged this type of action. They don't criticise it and will appreciate those who do it - as they do for all their support - but they said it wouldn't work and was very dangerous. One of them who escaped to the UK on a dingy and nearly drowned was extremely traumatised and said no way go over the sea.
They know these actions won't do anything concrete but they understand they show empathy and after decades of none it is something they very much appreciate.
That's all fair. I also wonder if you are correct in what you right about whether there had been a calculation about the potential impact if Greta was killed (which would likely have been much less than anticipated, with very careful, manipulative framing by the Western press).
The problem here in Britain is that we have an incredibly bootlicking populace - many folks who care more about appearing "nice" than being good; many others, who are complacent and kinda lazy. I have to fight both those tendencies within me. I mean, I found it scary spending just one night in the cells with XR... maybe it's my OCD, but obeying the law has been very effectively bred into me by my state education, parents and the ideological state apparatuses!
I'm still out weekly in Ipswich trying to leaflet and talk to people into divesting from Barclays and signing petitions etc. etc. but, honestly, most people just don't care. There's some token friendly support from people who care in the moment, but not enough to do very much. There's some very aggressive, sweary reaction from pro-Israel supporters and some confused rambling reactions from Christian evangelicals.
As you say, there are billions of us. We should be rising up. Maybe we're trapped by lack of faith and rational game-systems thinking. If I knew that sacrificing my life would measurably make the lives of people in Gaza better or save the life of one of the Palestinians I chat to, I would. But there's no way to ensure that apart from in a very direct situation. By contrast, I'm donating a kidney to a former student. This is much, much, much less morally significant than, say, stopping the genocide, but it is a straightforward, concretely good thing with a clear outcome that doesn't require too much from me.
And then on top of that, any of us with any proper awareness of how dystopian things are, are either a bit zonked out on meds or struggling with our mental health (probably with bloody long Covid on top of it) in depleting jobs. Class solidarity amongst rich sociopaths has been hideously effective over our lifetimes (I think we're both in our 30s, but I might be wrong!)
That's kind of you - I definitely see it as part of my role as a teacher in a sense - the wellbeing of my students is genuienly important to me and having known the child in question over the last three years I can easily see the huge difference it'll make for her! :)
But I am aware well aware of the limitations of individual actions and, like you, think collective action is necessary. While in theory I am committed to non-violence, in practice I can see how it can just serve the interests of the state. I don't know how much historically collective actions that have achieved change have been engineered or how much they have arisen as structural inevitabilities/ historic necessities...
My post-grad was on Czech cinema and the so-called Velvet Revolution was effectively non-violent and led to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia relinquishing power... buuuuuuuut it's not as though Czechoslovakia was in a vaccum apart from the rest of the Soviet Bloc.
I also think Czech Communism was far less corrupt and relied on significantly less exploitation and immiseration than British Neoliberalism.
Only a tiny minority of people have woken up to the reality of the world we live in. In the UK the majority are intent on languishing in ignorance, numbing themselves with TV, beer and other drugs.
If you showed them what's really going on Clockwork Orange stylee, they will still find a way to block it out.
Erg I really do suspect that is true, but I feel like in have to convince myself otherwise to keep teaching or even getting out of bed in the mornings...
My thoughts exactly, Aya. I definitely support this humanitarian aid mission, if for nothing else to further highlight the evil and depravity that's ongoing in Palestine by the Zionist regime.
But you're absolutely right. We need more concrete actions like preventing the shipment of weapons from Western countries to Israel, thus enabling them to commit this genocide in the first freaking place!
I have mixed feelings about all the symbolic acts and gestures... part of me feels that the marches, holding signs along a road, women in Black, silent protests in town centres, are performative acts that merely assuage the feelings of impotence and achieve nothing... yet also, part of me feels relieved, even grateful, that people are doing SOMETHING...
I was preparing to go block an arms factory, but I have zero support via friends and family and care duties for 94 year led mother in the end, stopped me... I can't risk being imrisoned for months at this point...
So, I agree with you and I see the Whyte/ Western privilege that enables some people of conscience to leave the comfort of their homes, jobs, private lives and take a stand and I both admire them and feel angry about the futility of it... it's kind of crazy-making.
I've withdrawn from the performative stuff like marches, that the sociopathic leaders only permit to maintain the fake narrative that the West are not demonocracies and sending money for Dr Ghassam's fundraising efforts fo children needing medical treatment is a tiny drop in the ocean of need, but I'm sending it, while wishing I'd aimed to become a millionaire, and then at least, I'd have something more meaningful to donate.
I agree with you about needing realistic force to stop the genocide in Gaza. The flotilla I think is important though, mainly because we don’t know what the tipping point for more action is or will be.
The complicity and silence about what is happening to the Palestinian people is shocking. I think many of us don’t know what to do. We know it is wrong and can’t believe it is happening. I know that’s not good enough, and so much more is needed.
I’m just reading your posts now. I’m glad I found them. I have a lot of reading to do, and will write again after reading more of your work.
The way to stop the genocide lays (laid) with the US (and other Western nations) elimination of support for the IDF. Now Israel is preparing to attack Iran which will lead to a continuation of middle eastern war. Israel has been nothing more than a military base for the US and UK since it's creation 80 years ago.
The citizens of the US have been slowly indoctrinated into supporting the ideology of Zionism to maintain the Israeli/US military as a covert means of US middle east expansion and control. Any lie or excuse will work such as "weapons of mass destruction" with Iraq and now "enrichment of uranium" for Iran. War with Iran is imminent and will be started by Israel and supported by the US and UK to secure oil which is reaching or has passed peak output. As Israel expands, so does US control over the region. Gaza is just in the way.
American politicians have been purchased by AIPAC. Unconstitutional federal laws have been created to protect Israel and Zionist genocidal policies under the guise of "antisemitism" in contrast to the racist policies of ICE deportation of Latinos and the US constitution. US presidents and politicians have declared themselves Zionist which is a political belief not on any US ballot.
Now the US government is attacking it's own politicians and citizens with the US military a completely unconstitutional act using weapons paid for by the citizens of America for protests against unconstitutional acts.
Flag Day should be celebrated by burning the US flag since the US no longer exists. We now live in a dictatorship of fascism.
Peaceful assembly has never accomplished anything under a tyrannical government. That is stated in the declaration of independence.
Strong truths, resonating this morning. I have been looking at the this myth of non violence , including Gandhi. There was in fact violent protest going on at the same time, which influenced the British to leave. This had impact, but we never hear about it, but are told being passive pays off. The Palestinians learnt this time and time again and that is why they fight and resist.❤️🩹
It was ONLY because of violent resistance that the British left. They were weak from World War 2, and couldn't fight the violent uprisings against them (ie self defence). This is officially documented by the army. Gandhi wasn't a problem.
By lionising Gandhi they create the myth of non violent resistance. People genuinely believe waving flags will stop a genocide. This was after a million people in London marched against the Iraq war and they invaded anyway, killed hundreds of thousands, created hundreds of thousands of refugees then said afterwards , 'oopsie, WMD was a lie!' and Blair left office and became a multi millionaire with an estimated £100million fortune.
There is no such thing as non violent resistance against violence. Non violence has never been a form of self defence. This is why the British lie and say Gandhi s methods forced them out. Another lie and psychops.
Agree, non violence is compliance, I am not sure it has ever achieved anything…because the State has the monopoly on violence.
I thought of you when i read this article ❤️🩹 https://indi.ca/the-resistance-is-still-resistant/#ghost-comments
However performative this tiny flotilla may be, it does bring attention to the genocide in Gaza. And if it is being picked up by mainstream lackluster media, at least the word, "genocide" is being pronounced. And even though they have been stopped, at least they were not killed, so far.. it still has more people watching.
Without a full scale organizational strategy, where the IOF and Netanyahu and the Lukud party can be literally stopped... small steps, however pacifist make a difference.
MLK, Jr. used the Gandhi approach. It never felt right to me but I did not have the wherewithal to fight any other way.
If the Western world leaders would stop funding Israel's war machine, that could make a dent in the problem. But where is the military force that could stop the IOF? It seems that is what you are suggesting. The Arab countries you mentioned have a military force and they have done nothing to stop Israel. Nothing at all. Instead they have looked the other way and have remained silent.
Where do we actually find the manpower, will and determination to get on the ground with a force that could go up against the IOF?
Weak as it may seem, pointless as it may appear, helpless as they may be, at least they are "doing" something to bring the world's attention to the genocide that is being hoisted upon innocent civilians.
I do appreciate your points in this post. I feel your outrage. But I still contend, that at least someone had the courage to splash the newsfeed and social media with a statement that "genocide" is a war crime and all nations on this planet, especially the Western ones, should take note, as they are complicit if they do nothing to stop it.
I don't criticise the people for their intentions. They clearly have their hearts in the right place. I criticise the folly of their actions.
It's been two years. All the points you made are well established.
The corporate media is owned by billionaire businessmen. In their clubs people are profiting from the genocide. These people don't want it to stop. If such people are then promoting action
Many, many people have tried. People in the Muslim world have given their lives trying to help.
If you read my pieces you'll see I never advocate for nation states to do something.
I advocate for us to organise and mobilise as people did in the past. The same way kings took thrones.
There are 8 billion of us.
I also dislike when people look down upon Arab states as if their populations don't care. They care so much. Even last year, in Saudi arabia it was dangerous for an imam to pray for Gaza and it was banned. To pray would've meant imprisonment or worse. Many Jordanians have been arrested trying to cross the border into Palestine to help. Some have been killed. The Muslim world is ruled by men that in the main the western empire put there. Monarchies, coups against their democratically leaders etc. Extreme suppression. They have two fronts to fight. It is clear that the leadership of nation states is not the same as it's populations. Nation states have in the main, been taken over by charlatans. This is particularly so in the west. While people criticise Arab states for Evie pro Zionist leaders, the west completely ignores the fact that the UK, us and most of western Europe - including the EU - have been completely taken over by Israel. Israel interferes with our law making and has moulded are criminal laws to destroy protest rights and strip legal defences from protesters. We are completely overtaken yet we still look to the east whilst doing nothing - absolutely nothing - about the Zionist take over of our own government and governmental institutions. The superiority complex of the west means they can't even understand what's going on, all the whole trump continues to attack the constitution for the sole benefit of Israel.
My point of the piece is - intentions went enough. Proper, thoughtful action must follow. And after two years, if people are not against the genocide, they probably really aren't going to change their minds now.
Yep, I hear you, Aya. It's a big fat mess with so many moving parts and even though there are 8 billion people on this planet, a small minority seem to have a chokehold on them. How do we even mobilize 8 billion people? I did read that another flotilla was gearing up. Sometimes it does take just one to move the needle. Let's envision thousands of flotillas going to Gaza. Let's support the resistance in all forms. It's the least we can do! The reality is, if Israel isn't stopped, this will madness will spread. Blessings, Aya... keep sounding the alarm..
I don't know - the Palestinian writers I follow on SubStack seemed to appreciate it, even though they recognised it as basically symbolic. I may well follow different writers to you though. It was still vastly preferable to street protesting and leafletting and certainly any of us writing online.
I think the Gazans are very noble people and they have never been discouraging of any support for them. I am not against the people - I don't criticise their intentions in any way and they are courageous. But it was folly.
My Palestinian friends who escaped from Gaza discouraged this type of action. They don't criticise it and will appreciate those who do it - as they do for all their support - but they said it wouldn't work and was very dangerous. One of them who escaped to the UK on a dingy and nearly drowned was extremely traumatised and said no way go over the sea.
They know these actions won't do anything concrete but they understand they show empathy and after decades of none it is something they very much appreciate.
That's all fair. I also wonder if you are correct in what you right about whether there had been a calculation about the potential impact if Greta was killed (which would likely have been much less than anticipated, with very careful, manipulative framing by the Western press).
The problem here in Britain is that we have an incredibly bootlicking populace - many folks who care more about appearing "nice" than being good; many others, who are complacent and kinda lazy. I have to fight both those tendencies within me. I mean, I found it scary spending just one night in the cells with XR... maybe it's my OCD, but obeying the law has been very effectively bred into me by my state education, parents and the ideological state apparatuses!
I'm still out weekly in Ipswich trying to leaflet and talk to people into divesting from Barclays and signing petitions etc. etc. but, honestly, most people just don't care. There's some token friendly support from people who care in the moment, but not enough to do very much. There's some very aggressive, sweary reaction from pro-Israel supporters and some confused rambling reactions from Christian evangelicals.
As you say, there are billions of us. We should be rising up. Maybe we're trapped by lack of faith and rational game-systems thinking. If I knew that sacrificing my life would measurably make the lives of people in Gaza better or save the life of one of the Palestinians I chat to, I would. But there's no way to ensure that apart from in a very direct situation. By contrast, I'm donating a kidney to a former student. This is much, much, much less morally significant than, say, stopping the genocide, but it is a straightforward, concretely good thing with a clear outcome that doesn't require too much from me.
And then on top of that, any of us with any proper awareness of how dystopian things are, are either a bit zonked out on meds or struggling with our mental health (probably with bloody long Covid on top of it) in depleting jobs. Class solidarity amongst rich sociopaths has been hideously effective over our lifetimes (I think we're both in our 30s, but I might be wrong!)
That’s so amazing you are giving a kidney and it is not morally less than anything - you are saving a life.
That's kind of you - I definitely see it as part of my role as a teacher in a sense - the wellbeing of my students is genuienly important to me and having known the child in question over the last three years I can easily see the huge difference it'll make for her! :)
But I am aware well aware of the limitations of individual actions and, like you, think collective action is necessary. While in theory I am committed to non-violence, in practice I can see how it can just serve the interests of the state. I don't know how much historically collective actions that have achieved change have been engineered or how much they have arisen as structural inevitabilities/ historic necessities...
My post-grad was on Czech cinema and the so-called Velvet Revolution was effectively non-violent and led to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia relinquishing power... buuuuuuuut it's not as though Czechoslovakia was in a vaccum apart from the rest of the Soviet Bloc.
I also think Czech Communism was far less corrupt and relied on significantly less exploitation and immiseration than British Neoliberalism.
Only a tiny minority of people have woken up to the reality of the world we live in. In the UK the majority are intent on languishing in ignorance, numbing themselves with TV, beer and other drugs.
If you showed them what's really going on Clockwork Orange stylee, they will still find a way to block it out.
I suspect this is true of the majority of humans.
Erg I really do suspect that is true, but I feel like in have to convince myself otherwise to keep teaching or even getting out of bed in the mornings...
My thoughts exactly, Aya. I definitely support this humanitarian aid mission, if for nothing else to further highlight the evil and depravity that's ongoing in Palestine by the Zionist regime.
But you're absolutely right. We need more concrete actions like preventing the shipment of weapons from Western countries to Israel, thus enabling them to commit this genocide in the first freaking place!
A much-needed analysis indeed - thank you Aya.
I have mixed feelings about all the symbolic acts and gestures... part of me feels that the marches, holding signs along a road, women in Black, silent protests in town centres, are performative acts that merely assuage the feelings of impotence and achieve nothing... yet also, part of me feels relieved, even grateful, that people are doing SOMETHING...
I was preparing to go block an arms factory, but I have zero support via friends and family and care duties for 94 year led mother in the end, stopped me... I can't risk being imrisoned for months at this point...
So, I agree with you and I see the Whyte/ Western privilege that enables some people of conscience to leave the comfort of their homes, jobs, private lives and take a stand and I both admire them and feel angry about the futility of it... it's kind of crazy-making.
I've withdrawn from the performative stuff like marches, that the sociopathic leaders only permit to maintain the fake narrative that the West are not demonocracies and sending money for Dr Ghassam's fundraising efforts fo children needing medical treatment is a tiny drop in the ocean of need, but I'm sending it, while wishing I'd aimed to become a millionaire, and then at least, I'd have something more meaningful to donate.
Hi Aya.
I agree with you about needing realistic force to stop the genocide in Gaza. The flotilla I think is important though, mainly because we don’t know what the tipping point for more action is or will be.
The complicity and silence about what is happening to the Palestinian people is shocking. I think many of us don’t know what to do. We know it is wrong and can’t believe it is happening. I know that’s not good enough, and so much more is needed.
I’m just reading your posts now. I’m glad I found them. I have a lot of reading to do, and will write again after reading more of your work.
There was only one boat. There was no flotilla.
Freedom Flotilla Coalition is an organization
Virtually all of DEMedia & ISLAMedia of course lies about this
Furthermore, Freedom Flotilla Coalition is tied to Hamas
The way to stop the genocide lays (laid) with the US (and other Western nations) elimination of support for the IDF. Now Israel is preparing to attack Iran which will lead to a continuation of middle eastern war. Israel has been nothing more than a military base for the US and UK since it's creation 80 years ago.
The citizens of the US have been slowly indoctrinated into supporting the ideology of Zionism to maintain the Israeli/US military as a covert means of US middle east expansion and control. Any lie or excuse will work such as "weapons of mass destruction" with Iraq and now "enrichment of uranium" for Iran. War with Iran is imminent and will be started by Israel and supported by the US and UK to secure oil which is reaching or has passed peak output. As Israel expands, so does US control over the region. Gaza is just in the way.
American politicians have been purchased by AIPAC. Unconstitutional federal laws have been created to protect Israel and Zionist genocidal policies under the guise of "antisemitism" in contrast to the racist policies of ICE deportation of Latinos and the US constitution. US presidents and politicians have declared themselves Zionist which is a political belief not on any US ballot.
Now the US government is attacking it's own politicians and citizens with the US military a completely unconstitutional act using weapons paid for by the citizens of America for protests against unconstitutional acts.
Flag Day should be celebrated by burning the US flag since the US no longer exists. We now live in a dictatorship of fascism.
Peaceful assembly has never accomplished anything under a tyrannical government. That is stated in the declaration of independence.