Alon, I'm surprised there's so much anti-semitism in California. You obviously know the difference to anti-genocide. Is the problem that Californians don't?
I'm a non-religious Aussie who suspects (alleged) 'rampant anti-semitism' here is Murdoch and the very strong Zio lobby doing what they do so well. I hope enough politicians see through their lies, and see the only resistance is anti-genocide. Antony Lowenstein's "My Israel Question" made 'the problem' clear to me decades ago. I admit to only occasionally daring at dinner parties to explain the conflict and conflation. Even that became too hard, but since Oct 7, I have become pro-Jew (pro the good ones) by listening to many others like you and Antony who know "the real problem". I look forward to (Jew) Peter Beinart's book. His recent interview of (Palestinian) Khalid Rashidi was great.
The evil creatures who left Europe and England to colonise the Americas in the 1600s were the ace slaughterers of all time. Murdering indigenous peoples from every corner of the country and then the English exported this nightmare to Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand as you know. It's not surprising that those countries are the most enthusiastic for genocide
While it's true thar other colonial projects murdered indigenous populations, I'd like to think, unlike the US, we have (1) made better reparations, (2) dealt with our racism better, and (3) not committed new projects of our own.
We (generally) regret joining new US crusades in Vietnam, Iraq etc but we're part of this lie that the world is better off when they join the Empire (grateful for being pillaged), and we gutlessly placate ourselves that there are no other alternatives. It's time to stand up against this bs!
Along, you are making a big joke about AS, of course! It seems to me that when the US administration gets up in the morning the first thing they think is how can we make more of the world thoroughly miserable
Absolutely an empire in fear. Duplicity 💯 made us feel crazy (my entire life). I agree unification of action and speech is good for the crumbling to come.
The British are the same people - the child learned from its parent - with their colonies all over the world, they were convinced as psychopaths that they were bringing civilization to savages. And they convinced everyone with their fake image of royalty and fake speech on the advanced infrastructure and education and yadda yadda they brought to brown & black peoples.
There are still people from India today that speak of British advancement this way instead of the barbarians they were pillaging one of the oldest civilizations.
After the US supposedly abolished slavery they started blackbirding (which they now call "guest workers") Blackbirding is the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. In addition, now they use the private prison systems as slave labor. USA is the definition of evil.
Ceasefire or no ceasefire; scam or no, we cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
You might find meaningful to watch the recent interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland:
Hi Joy, I agree, that ei interview with the head of the Hind Rajab Foundation was so good.
The details about their multiple legal strategies and their organisational structure demonstrated that they are detirmined and clever. That first conviction feels inevitable, and not very far away. Definitely a worthwhile organisation to donate to.
Again, my deepest gratitude, Alon. I am just recovering from a "crazy" I've been in for over a year. And a very lonely one, at that....saw all this coming, shortly after October 7th. Because the false paradigm I'd been living in quickly crumbled. The deep dive I've taken to "wake up" for the last 15 months has brought me to finally understand every word you're saying.
And for that reason, I actually smiled when Trump said "we gotta clear that whole place out" (Gaza). Finally the words matched the intent of the western empire and the US, in particular. And spoken by our very own president!! Still, my liberal friends want to blame Trump, to which I say "he is not the disease, only the symptom." It's still kinda lonely.
Welcome to a very big and growing club of people who now see what was deliberately kept hidden for so many years. FWIW, some of us have been alone for decades in this club of knowledge, and look with astonishment, and gratitude at its now bourgeoning membership. That is truly something to find valuable in this dangerous time. Glad you found the way in.
"After Israel's genocide the US is no longer doing evil and speaking righteousness. It is doing evil and speaking evil. We are seeing a unification of conduct and speech. Which is a good thing because this division, this seperation, drove us nuts, it drove us crazy."
This is so important, it's an end to the cognitive dissonance and a new era of honestly genocidal regimes.
Nations that colonise peoples and commit genocide have always needed to lie about what they are doing. We have to save the natives from their primative state and bring them to Jesus. It is a land without people for a people without a land. And in Australia, "terra nullius". We are waging a global war on terror to make the world safer.
There must be reasons they need these false narratives, and I suppose we are about to find out what those reasons are.
You're so right about the false image America puts out there, Brother Alon. I do a lot of ranting when I meet new people in my social circles, Usually after I get an opening when they ask me "Ooh, where is your accent from?" That leads me to say I was born in the United States, and why my wife-at-the-time and I left during the Bush II regime. I'll add that "America has had the BEST advertising con job in the history of the world. While it was rebelling against the British in the name of freedom, it was holding an entire race captive as human slaves, and killing the people who lived on that land before the Americans came there." If they roll their eyes, I'll shut up, but Aussies (and other immigrants) are generally open to discussing the evils of the Empire. People here are not as threatened by political talk as much as Americans are. During the first Trump admin, the general opinion here was that he was an aberration, a regrettable mistake that the U.S. made. Now when I say "Trump IS America, and America is Trump" I don't get any disagreement.
There's a reason people USED to want to believe in the goodness of America, despite the contradictions. That willing bamboozlement went on for 200 years. It's comforting to think that there is a GOOD country out there which is trying to provide justice. It's the same reason people want to believe that there is such a thing as god. "Yes, things are a mess, but there is a force which can put it all to right." If someone fully embraces the idea that there is no Superman who can come to save us, the world is pretty bleak. It becomes wrist-slitting time. The freak-out as peoples' internalised illusions are shattered will be fascinating, but tragic, to watch.
Downundahere, the "everything is anti-Semitism" dynamic is being pushed by the political putzes on top of both major parties. The Israeli lobby has a lot of financial clout with officialdom, and moral authority in the media sphere due to memories of the Holocaust. There are efforts to clamp down on anti-Zio speech as being terrorism. But as you say, once you've seen one bomb-shredded child, it's hard to go back to ignorance. So there's grudging acceptance of anti-Israel efforts like the weekly protest marches in downtown Melbourne, even though people don't like it when the trams are snarled for a couple hours on Sundays. It also helps that in this city, there's a large Muslim population, especially Lebanese who fled the 1970s civil war. The Muslims outnumber the Jews locally, so anti-Zionist activity is permitted by the authorities. I'm not sure how it goes in Sydney, and in other, whiter parts of the country, the anti-Zio idea is probably less in evidence. As it is, I feel fortunate that in this flyspeck of the planet, reality can be spoken about. America, and the rest of the world, will eventually catch up with Melbourne. How many heads will explode before that happens, I have no idea.
I hope you are reading Australian writer, political analyst, poet and painter, Caitlin Johnstone. If not, she's here on Substack, and for free if you can't afford to pay.
Caitlin is wonderful. She has been like a light in the darkness facilitating and honing my understanding of the American Empire and its many dirty deeds. As an Australian and a keen observer of our politics I really appreciate Caitlin’s insightful and articulate articles.
Oh yeah -- she's got a Post Office Box in Mentone and every once in a while I send her $50 banknotes in the mail. Especially around Christmas when AusPost has cheap rates for the stamps!
Hello Bukko, I'm also a Melbournian and I attend the pro-Palestine marches on Sundays. If you haven't marched with us yet please come and join us!
12pm at the state library, though the march itself doesn't usually start until 1pm. Speakers vary, Nasser Mashni is particularly good. The marchers are as diverse as our wonderful city is.
I believe it makes a difference, as much as writing letters and having meetings does or perhaps even more, because its a very visible sign of public sentiment.
Bloody hot at yesterday's rally, eh? And what about those Zios in front of the Starbuck's? I'm there every week, usually kitted out in a combination of black or white pants combined with a black or white long-sleeved shirt, topped by one of my Green Party T-shirts (turned inside-out) and a red bandana on my head. Which forms the colours of the Palestinian flag. Before the marching starts, I hang out near the bunyip sculpture. Next week, ramble up and ask "are you that guy who galahs on Alon's Substack?"
Ha, maybe I will! 🙂 at least next Sunday it's forecast to be "only" 31 degrees. I wear my best suburban mum clothes (plus a keffiyeh) because I want people to know that support is very broad. Never thought of wearing colours like that, very creative 😎
Alon, I'm surprised there's so much anti-semitism in California. You obviously know the difference to anti-genocide. Is the problem that Californians don't?
I'm a non-religious Aussie who suspects (alleged) 'rampant anti-semitism' here is Murdoch and the very strong Zio lobby doing what they do so well. I hope enough politicians see through their lies, and see the only resistance is anti-genocide. Antony Lowenstein's "My Israel Question" made 'the problem' clear to me decades ago. I admit to only occasionally daring at dinner parties to explain the conflict and conflation. Even that became too hard, but since Oct 7, I have become pro-Jew (pro the good ones) by listening to many others like you and Antony who know "the real problem". I look forward to (Jew) Peter Beinart's book. His recent interview of (Palestinian) Khalid Rashidi was great.
The evil creatures who left Europe and England to colonise the Americas in the 1600s were the ace slaughterers of all time. Murdering indigenous peoples from every corner of the country and then the English exported this nightmare to Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand as you know. It's not surprising that those countries are the most enthusiastic for genocide
While it's true thar other colonial projects murdered indigenous populations, I'd like to think, unlike the US, we have (1) made better reparations, (2) dealt with our racism better, and (3) not committed new projects of our own.
We (generally) regret joining new US crusades in Vietnam, Iraq etc but we're part of this lie that the world is better off when they join the Empire (grateful for being pillaged), and we gutlessly placate ourselves that there are no other alternatives. It's time to stand up against this bs!
Along, you are making a big joke about AS, of course! It seems to me that when the US administration gets up in the morning the first thing they think is how can we make more of the world thoroughly miserable
Absolutely an empire in fear. Duplicity 💯 made us feel crazy (my entire life). I agree unification of action and speech is good for the crumbling to come.
The British are the same people - the child learned from its parent - with their colonies all over the world, they were convinced as psychopaths that they were bringing civilization to savages. And they convinced everyone with their fake image of royalty and fake speech on the advanced infrastructure and education and yadda yadda they brought to brown & black peoples.
There are still people from India today that speak of British advancement this way instead of the barbarians they were pillaging one of the oldest civilizations.
After the US supposedly abolished slavery they started blackbirding (which they now call "guest workers") Blackbirding is the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. In addition, now they use the private prison systems as slave labor. USA is the definition of evil.
I honestly do not know what America stands for these days or what it ever stood for. It's just a settler colonial project to me.
"In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act." ~~Orwell
laughing and head exploding, both.
Ceasefire or no ceasefire; scam or no, we cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/perpetrators/hind-rajab-foundation-files-historic-icc-complaint-against-1000-israeli-soldiers-for-war-crimes-in-gaza
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
https://buy.stripe.com/cN228hbY5g7jaM84gg
You might find meaningful to watch the recent interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland:
https://chng.it/8D4pkxPhWS
Please sign the petition and share widely.
Hi Joy, I agree, that ei interview with the head of the Hind Rajab Foundation was so good.
The details about their multiple legal strategies and their organisational structure demonstrated that they are detirmined and clever. That first conviction feels inevitable, and not very far away. Definitely a worthwhile organisation to donate to.
Again, my deepest gratitude, Alon. I am just recovering from a "crazy" I've been in for over a year. And a very lonely one, at that....saw all this coming, shortly after October 7th. Because the false paradigm I'd been living in quickly crumbled. The deep dive I've taken to "wake up" for the last 15 months has brought me to finally understand every word you're saying.
And for that reason, I actually smiled when Trump said "we gotta clear that whole place out" (Gaza). Finally the words matched the intent of the western empire and the US, in particular. And spoken by our very own president!! Still, my liberal friends want to blame Trump, to which I say "he is not the disease, only the symptom." It's still kinda lonely.
Welcome to a very big and growing club of people who now see what was deliberately kept hidden for so many years. FWIW, some of us have been alone for decades in this club of knowledge, and look with astonishment, and gratitude at its now bourgeoning membership. That is truly something to find valuable in this dangerous time. Glad you found the way in.
I so appreciate your words, Joy!
"After Israel's genocide the US is no longer doing evil and speaking righteousness. It is doing evil and speaking evil. We are seeing a unification of conduct and speech. Which is a good thing because this division, this seperation, drove us nuts, it drove us crazy."
This is so important, it's an end to the cognitive dissonance and a new era of honestly genocidal regimes.
Nations that colonise peoples and commit genocide have always needed to lie about what they are doing. We have to save the natives from their primative state and bring them to Jesus. It is a land without people for a people without a land. And in Australia, "terra nullius". We are waging a global war on terror to make the world safer.
There must be reasons they need these false narratives, and I suppose we are about to find out what those reasons are.
You're so right about the false image America puts out there, Brother Alon. I do a lot of ranting when I meet new people in my social circles, Usually after I get an opening when they ask me "Ooh, where is your accent from?" That leads me to say I was born in the United States, and why my wife-at-the-time and I left during the Bush II regime. I'll add that "America has had the BEST advertising con job in the history of the world. While it was rebelling against the British in the name of freedom, it was holding an entire race captive as human slaves, and killing the people who lived on that land before the Americans came there." If they roll their eyes, I'll shut up, but Aussies (and other immigrants) are generally open to discussing the evils of the Empire. People here are not as threatened by political talk as much as Americans are. During the first Trump admin, the general opinion here was that he was an aberration, a regrettable mistake that the U.S. made. Now when I say "Trump IS America, and America is Trump" I don't get any disagreement.
There's a reason people USED to want to believe in the goodness of America, despite the contradictions. That willing bamboozlement went on for 200 years. It's comforting to think that there is a GOOD country out there which is trying to provide justice. It's the same reason people want to believe that there is such a thing as god. "Yes, things are a mess, but there is a force which can put it all to right." If someone fully embraces the idea that there is no Superman who can come to save us, the world is pretty bleak. It becomes wrist-slitting time. The freak-out as peoples' internalised illusions are shattered will be fascinating, but tragic, to watch.
Downundahere, the "everything is anti-Semitism" dynamic is being pushed by the political putzes on top of both major parties. The Israeli lobby has a lot of financial clout with officialdom, and moral authority in the media sphere due to memories of the Holocaust. There are efforts to clamp down on anti-Zio speech as being terrorism. But as you say, once you've seen one bomb-shredded child, it's hard to go back to ignorance. So there's grudging acceptance of anti-Israel efforts like the weekly protest marches in downtown Melbourne, even though people don't like it when the trams are snarled for a couple hours on Sundays. It also helps that in this city, there's a large Muslim population, especially Lebanese who fled the 1970s civil war. The Muslims outnumber the Jews locally, so anti-Zionist activity is permitted by the authorities. I'm not sure how it goes in Sydney, and in other, whiter parts of the country, the anti-Zio idea is probably less in evidence. As it is, I feel fortunate that in this flyspeck of the planet, reality can be spoken about. America, and the rest of the world, will eventually catch up with Melbourne. How many heads will explode before that happens, I have no idea.
I hope you are reading Australian writer, political analyst, poet and painter, Caitlin Johnstone. If not, she's here on Substack, and for free if you can't afford to pay.
Caitlin is wonderful. She has been like a light in the darkness facilitating and honing my understanding of the American Empire and its many dirty deeds. As an Australian and a keen observer of our politics I really appreciate Caitlin’s insightful and articulate articles.
Oh yeah -- she's got a Post Office Box in Mentone and every once in a while I send her $50 banknotes in the mail. Especially around Christmas when AusPost has cheap rates for the stamps!
Hello Bukko, I'm also a Melbournian and I attend the pro-Palestine marches on Sundays. If you haven't marched with us yet please come and join us!
12pm at the state library, though the march itself doesn't usually start until 1pm. Speakers vary, Nasser Mashni is particularly good. The marchers are as diverse as our wonderful city is.
I believe it makes a difference, as much as writing letters and having meetings does or perhaps even more, because its a very visible sign of public sentiment.
Bloody hot at yesterday's rally, eh? And what about those Zios in front of the Starbuck's? I'm there every week, usually kitted out in a combination of black or white pants combined with a black or white long-sleeved shirt, topped by one of my Green Party T-shirts (turned inside-out) and a red bandana on my head. Which forms the colours of the Palestinian flag. Before the marching starts, I hang out near the bunyip sculpture. Next week, ramble up and ask "are you that guy who galahs on Alon's Substack?"
Ha, maybe I will! 🙂 at least next Sunday it's forecast to be "only" 31 degrees. I wear my best suburban mum clothes (plus a keffiyeh) because I want people to know that support is very broad. Never thought of wearing colours like that, very creative 😎