Sunday, March 17, 2024

Grab Bag Of News Your Government Does Not Want You To Know About

A reminder that resistance to Israel's war on Gaza did not start on October 7, 2023.


As I prepared to share documented resistance to Israel's genocide in Gaza I paused for Glenn Greenwald's explanation of why banning TikTok is suddenly a burning issue for Congress and the Biden administration. He notes corporate media reporting that October 7 was a game-changer:

The proposal gained momentum partly as a consequence of disquiet over the app’s handling of misinformation[sic] and antisemitic[sic] content following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October (UK capitalism rag The Economist on March 24).

On the other side of the pond, U.S. capitalism rag The Wall Street Journal said an analysis of TikTok data revealed:

far more views for videos with pro-Palestinian hashtags than those with pro-Israel hashtags..at times [the ratio of pro-Palestine to pro-Israel views] ran 69 to 1 (March 12)

 Greenwald humorously added: "Remember when Nikki Haley said..that for every 18 minutes—or whatever it was—that you spend on TikTok, you become 32% more anti-Semitic?"

I did not remember that, but I would love to think that for every 18 minutes you spend reading this blog you become 32% more aware of resistance actions that corporate media has conspired to make invisible. Who knows, maybe you will even become 90% more likely to engage in resistance yourself!




This is the kind of success hard blockers dream of: materially disrupting the operations of a factory where they make the bombs dropped on Gaza. You have to get up early to do this sort of thing. Which makes for beautiful pictures once the sun comes up.


"Nine young supporters of Palestine chain themselves together and block I-95 in Richmond." Photo and caption by Phil Wilayto, Virginia Defender


Above is a close look at a different lockdown in progress, this one to shut down Interstate-95 in Virginia. Ten people were arrested and released after experiencing violence from Virginia State Police. NPR, local t.v. news and a local newspaper covered the action. 

Why block I-95 for Gaza? I wanted to answer this common question by showing you the many war profiteers in Virginia using the interactive map created by Christian Sorensen for The Business of War, but guess what:


Sorenson notes: "There is nothing dangerous or illegal about taking public, official information (from military contracting announcements, corporate press releases, and corporate job postings) and transferring it to a map."



Don't feel up to locking down? Soft blocks using just our bodies probably can't shut down a weapons factory until our numbers are in the thousands, but they can force those ignoring their country's role in funding genocide to pay attention.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/protesters-calling-for-gaza-ceasefire-demonstrate-at-san-francisco-airport/ar-BB1jPQDv

Organizer Joshua Caldwell said about 300 protesters gathered at [San Francisco] airport's International Terminal at 8 a.m. They blocked traffic outside and security lanes inside and held up banners and signs calling for an end to the bombing campaign that the United Nations says has claimed more than 30,000 lives.. nobody was arrested 

Wait, did I read that right -- zero arrests? This is becoming a common tactic for suppressing information about resistance actions. (Throttling social media is another.) This action got a fair amount of mainstream media coverage anyway because SFO is a big international airport. Other protests that involve blocking streets? Not so much.


Even soft blocks take physical stamina and solidarity planning. What if you're just a kid? Or elderly and infirm or can't afford time off or to lose your job? Do what you can, where you can, inspired by these Girl Scouts! From Mondoweiss:

A Girl Scout Troop in Missouri recently broke away from the organization after it made legal threats against the group.

For the Girl Scouts’ “Agents of Change” capstone project, a St. Louis county troop decided to make and sell bracelets to raise money for children in Gaza. The Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri said the move was “political” and instructed them to shut down the fundraiser..

Despite breaking away from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri, the group is staying together, and their bracelet campaign has continued.

It would take me the rest of the day to share all the resistance actions I'm aware of, and I don't even go on TikTok. Here's one from my inbox, spotted in tiny Blue Hill, Maine this weekend:


Want to protest at an intersection where thousands will see you? Join us in Rockland, Maine next weekend!


And if any of this inspires you to join in, let me hear from you!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Maine Jews For Palestine Turn Out To Educate Concert-Goers (& About A Zillion Cops)


Okay, a zillion is an exaggeration. But more than one person pointed out that last night would have been the perfect time to do a crime in Portland, Maine because every possible cop was at the entirely non-violent protest of a pro-Israel concert at the State Theater. I couldn't ever capture them all in one photo but here's a sampling. There were also vehicles full of cops parked around the intersection.



Per DSA's newsletter yesterday:

after receiving over a thousand letters asking them to cancel tonight's performance by Zionist and quintessentially wack rapper Matisyahu, management at the State Theater has failed to even respond. Matisyahu, who regularly brings out Israeli flags and praises the IDF while performing, has already had multiple shows canceled, but the State has failed to follow suit and deplatform this hateful zero-hit-wonder..

Join us as we..make sure attendees are well aware of the pro-genocide views of the guy they're about to see, which they will have to reckon with as they listen a guy that, even outside of his views, makes music that is frankly bad to the point of parody.

 

There were many good signs and banners used in last night's protest, and this was one of my favorites.

The performer is a worthy target to boycott. Among his many public statements on Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza, he was quoted in this article about other musicians urging a boycott:

"So I performed for the [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers. Does that make me racist, because I support the country of Israel?"

Matisyahu posted a video to his Instagram in January, showing him performing for the IDF's Golani Brigade as they prepared to invade Gaza.

"Good luck to my boys[sic] headed north," he posted. "It was an honor to breathe the same air as you tonight.

BDS is a strategy to bring economic pressure to bear on Israel and its supporters. So, the news that at least one concert-goer turned away last night after learning about the political views expressed by the performer was welcome, indeed. (And attendance seemed very small compared with crowds I've previously seen lined up to attend concerts at the State Theatre in the past.) From WMTW's coverage:

Mara Presti was going to the concert, but when she saw the protest and researched what the artist believed in, she changed her mind.

"We can't stand behind that," Presti said. "If he was truly all about peace then we could be there in earnestness, but given his stance, we can't."

Tonight should be interesting in Burlington, Vermont where another venue has refused to cancel a Matisyahu show despite hundreds of messages requesting that they do so. You may recall that in Burlington last Thanksgiving weekend three Palestinian college students wearing keffiyeh and chatting in Arabic were shot down in the street



Hisham Awartani (on the right) remains paralyzed from the neck down from his injury, incurred while walking to his grandmother's house for dinner. His childhood friends accompanying him, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, were also injured in the attack by local resident Jason J. Eaton.

I have family duties or I'd be tempted to travel to Burlington myself today, which is not all that far from Maine. I'm confident there will be a huge turnout even without me. Stay tuned!