Sunday, February 11, 2024

The Grieving, And The Resistance

Healthcare Workers for Palestine created a space for grieving yesterday in Portland, Maine, and I felt grateful. 

If the angle of my photo induces vertigo, it may be because I had been carrying little Hind Rajab with me for days. She is the 6 year old whose historic phone call from a car where her family had been shot dead by Israelis was heard round the world. It didn't save her, though. Because then Israel used U.S. shells and fired on the ambulance rushing to where she was trapped with the corpses of those whom she loved. Subsequent rescuers didn't reach the car until Hind's body had been decomposing for days. Yup, the Israelis killed her, too.

Here's how imperial narrative managers are spinning this child's hell on Earth:


"Found dead." Got it.

So, we grieve and we resist. And we welcome news of resistance in the belly of the beast. 

https://twitter.com/palyouthmvmt/status/1756437134066561439

What they're chanting at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC: "There is only one solution / Intifada revolution!"

Are we gearing up to a general strike that will shut down the war machine? Will I live to see it?

Banality of evil department

Here's the response I got from the man who allegedly "represents" me, objecting to the humanitarian disaster resulting from suspension of funding to UNRWA:



Meanwhile, as Jared Golden goes about his well-renumerated imperial service, there are three families who lost loved ones in an attack that has been lied about from the get-go. Was it in Jordan, whose government's hosting of U.S. imperial outposts is a vulnerability with its own people -- many of whom are Nakba refugees? Or was it, as Jordan claimed, just over the border in Syria, where U.S. military presence is an illegal occupation?




This blog I'm reading lately points out the truth hiding behind the bureaucratic lies: the Pentagon killed these Black soldiers by leaving them undefended on an assignment surrounded by hostile forces. 

Why am I siding with the soldiers? Because I think the poverty draft is intense, the pro-military propaganda is immense (cf. Super Bowl today), and two of them -- Breonna Moffett and Kennedy Sanders -- were quite young. They will never get the opportunity to learn more than they knew and change their minds. I wonder if they ever learned the term "Nakba" in school?

Yes, I'm grieving for them, too. I'm grieving for all the casualties of the war on Palestine -- including the truth.

Friday, February 9, 2024

Bibi & Biden: Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now


In a week where Joe Biden forgot the word "Hamas" (awkward since their existence is the  pretext for genocide in Gaza) and said he was the president of "everybody whether they live in a red state or a green state" we were left imagining ourselves with a real, visible leader who made some kind of sense. 

You can disagree with Russian president Vladimir Putin or not, but after watching his historic interview last night I can only imagine Biden debating a world leader like Putin or China's Xi Jinping as a Saturday Night Live skit.

And in that spirit, because you wouldn't want to miss it, I bring you Katie Halper and Daniel Maté's parody of the U.S. and Israel spitting in the face of the ICJ ruling, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (Genocide Remix)."

https://youtu.be/dEG76hlnhNw?si=RjzTkGvOXyRhkzlC

Published on YouTube with these notes:

This song and video were inspired by Benjamin Netanyahu's statement, "Nobody will stop us -- not the Hague, not the axis of evil and not anybody else," and Joe Biden's unwavering support of Israel's war crimes.

Lyrics: BIDEN: Looking in your eyes I see that we’re aligned This war that we fund is too good to be true ‘Merica’s beside you All these bombs to give you Our whole GDP, we’ll just wire to you! BIBI: Let 'em say we’re psychos I don’t care about that; History started when Khamass launched their attack! Let the whole damn region Just fall apart We’re the persecuted ones, So have a heart! BOTH: And we can win this thing together Ethnic cleanse forever Nothing's gonna stop us now And when the Strip runs out of Gazans We'll go kill their cousins The Hague ain’t gonna stop us Nothing’s gonna stop us now, Whoaaaaaa BIBI: I'm so glad we're bombing This war is super calming A ceasefire would mean I'd be going to jail. BIDEN: Folks say it's unlawful, And yeah the polls are awful. But Trump's on the ballot: Of course I'll prevail! BIDEN: Let em say it’s genocide What do they know? So you bomb the Gazans right where you tell them to go! BIBI: If we kill a hostage Or maybe three, That’s the price we pay to save theocracy— (BIDEN: You mean, democracyyyy!) BOTH: And we can win this thing together Human rights? whatever Nothing's gonna stop us now So let the courts keep pressing charges, Houthis block our barges, Nothing's gonna stop us, Nothing's gonna stop us— Ooh, all that I need is you All that I ever need And all that I want to do Is back you forever Forever and ever… And we’ll just keep committing war crimes Then go do some more crimes Nothing’s gonna stop us now And you can save your moral sermons ‘Cause we’ve got the Germans The Hague ain’t gonna stop us Nothing’s gonna stop us And we'll create a global crisis Claim Khamass is ISIS Nothing’s gonna stop us now And if South Africa accuses They just hate the Jewses The Hague ain’t gonna stop us Nothing’s gonna stop us now And we’ll just keep on genocidin’ Bibi rides with Biden Nothing's gonna stop us now (Nothing's gonna stop us) and if our rep gets any lowah we’ll invoke the Shoah The Hague aint gonna stop us Nothing’s gonna stop us now

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Lyrics by Katie Halper and Daniel Maté. Video edited by Kinky Roach Productions. Biden voiced by Mike MacRae. Bibi voiced by Daniel Maté. Parody of the song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" co-written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond and recorded by Starship. 

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