May 10 2024 Anniversary of the Third Intifada of 2021, Now Ongoing In the Tenth Theatre of World War Three Which Contains and Supersedes the Gaza War

       Both visitors to the Holy Land seeking signs of the Invisible manifest in its Disneyland of conflicted faiths and those trapped within its nightmare of walls, checkpoints, razor wire, pervasive surveillance, universalized violence, identitarian politics, and the tyranny and terror of one of our world’s most horrific regimes of force and control are here become the ghosts of the Holocaust; Israel echoes with the silent screams of stolen voices and the devouring shadows of a history weaponized in service to power as narratives of victimization and security as power, a strategy designed to first break our solidarity with division and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil as falsification and then dehumanize and subjugate us as masters and slaves and as genocide and ethnic cleansing.

     Israel as a dream of refuge and of universal brotherhood and love has been betrayed and subverted by Israel as a xenophobic theocracy, military empire, and slave camp; here Auschwitz has been institutionalized on a national scale, its former prisoners now its guards.

     Why would anyone choose to recreate a hell they had escaped from, even as its masters rather than its slaves?

     I understand all too well the seduction of power as security in a world of hostile and chaotic forces, and how overwhelming and generalized fear can be shaped by authority to centralize power by offering us loaned power over Others as figures of existential threats; to be the arbiter of virtue through force and control. But security is an illusion, the state as embodied violence obeys Newton’s Third Law of Motion and creates its own Resistance, and our common pain unites us in ways which transcend the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force, which only love can free us from.

     Love as solidarity in action can redeem the flaws of our humanity and the brokenness of the world, Tikkun Olam in Hebrew, and liberate us to live as guarantors of each other’s humanity.

      As I wrote on the first anniversary of the Third Intifada on this night two years ago; This must be the most written about, studied, debated, experimented with and fought over issue in global politics since the Second World War of which it is a result, this nation wherein one people are divided by history as Israelis and Palestinians, and a measure of our humanity, as the classic example of the double minority; what do you do with one city and one nation claimed by two historical communities, as a basis of identity as faith and nationality and the consequences and praxis of identity politics as violence?

     Here a nation and a people are riven by dissociative identity disorder, conflicted and locked in titanic struggle as with the fragmentation of identity, memory, and consciousness of multiple personalities, madness on a national and civilizational scale born of the legacies of history and life disruptive events, epigenetic trauma, grief, terror, guilt, and despair.

     In the duality of Israel and Palestine are made plain the origins of evil as violence and tyranny in the recursive and interdependent Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force, as overwhelming and generalized fear and existential threats are weaponized in service to power by authority, which forms carceral states of force and control as unequal power and embodied violence, through elite hierarchies and divisions of belonging and otherness and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

     Here fascism as a systemic evil operates as possession and theft of the soul. What can we do about it?  As Lenin asked in his essay of 1902; “What is to be done?” How free ourselves of the systemic forces of our subjugation to authority, elites, and those who would enslave us?

    We must first recognize and be cautious of those who claim to speak for us and act in our name, for this is a primary strategy of fascism. To free ourselves of the lies and illusions, falsification and rewritten histories, conspiracy theories and alternate realities through which we become dehumanized, we must be truthtellers engaged in the pursuit of truth as a sacred calling, and perform the Four Primary Duties of a Citizen; Question Authority, Expose Authority, Mock Authority, and Challenge Authority.

    We must second seize our self-ownership and autonomy in refusal to submit to authority, for the great secret of power is that it is empty and hollow, and is delegitimized through refusal to trust and believe authority, and of force that it is brittle and finds its limit at the point of disobedience. Simple acts, but also inherent powers of human being which cannot be taken from us; for who refuses to submit is free, and becomes Unconquerable.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks that others make for us, and those we make for ourselves. This is the first revolution in which we all must fight; the struggle for self-ownership and for freedom of identity.

     There is no just authority.

      Tonight I sit at home among the vast darkness of my hills, a night which follows days of rain and filled with the songs of frogs and birds, a serenity disturbed only by the chiaroscuro of my memories of this night one year ago, in the defense of al Aqsa. Like flashes of lightning, the hand of the past can bring the Chaos and reach out to seize and shake us, destabilizing us and our constructions of normality with unpredictable and sudden disruptive events unmoored from their anchorages in time.

      But Chaos is also a measure of the adaptive range of a system, which brings both the terror of our nothingness and the joy of total freedom in our reimagination and transformative rebirth of ourselves and our limitless possibilities of becoming human.

      Guillermo del Toro, in his magnificent epic of migration and racial equality Carnival Row, has a scene in which two young successors to leadership of traditionally rival factions find themselves in love and in need of allies in a subplot which reimages Romeo and Juliet; the rebellious hellion Jonah Breakspear asks his Machiavellian lover Sophie Longerbane, “Who is chaos good for?” To which she replies, “Chaos is good for us. Chaos is the great hope of the powerless.”

     One may think of Bringing the Chaos in terms of the redemptive power of love, of solidarity, of our duty of care for others, of seizures of power as the restoration of balance, of Resistance and revolutionary struggle as placing our lives in the balance with those of the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased, and as tikkun olam or healing the brokenness of the world.

     In Jerusalem and al Quds, we are betrayed by the normality of submission to authority and the divisions of unequal power, dehumanized by those who commit atrocities in our name, and made complicit in crimes against humanity through narratives of victimization which as Voltaire teaches us permit anything.

     Gott mitt uns; it is an ancient terror. And this we must resist.

     Old myths, and old grievances, woven into the fabric of our psyche and our civilization. And like all history, memory, and authorized identity, mimetic forces from whose legacies we must emerge.

     In this moment I turn once again to the brilliant diagnosis of the illness of power as captured identity as written by Alon Ben-Meirin in Huffpost, though his prescription of a two state system is debatable and for myself must be superseded in time with a secular state with one law for all and no official divisions of tribe, language, or faith, in an article entitled In The Grip Of Powerful Illusions; “The deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears to be illogical and unsettling as a majority of Israelis and Palestinians realize that coexistence, whether under conditions of enmity or friendship, is a fact that neither side can change short of a catastrophe.

     The deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears to be illogical and unsettling as a majority of Israelis and Palestinians realize that coexistence, whether under conditions of enmity or friendship, is a fact that neither side can change short of a catastrophe. Both sides understand that the general parameters of a sustainable peace agreement must rest on a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with some land swaps. However, both sides choose to revel in illusions and live in defiance of time and circumstances. They seem to prefer continuing violent clashes and bloodshed over peaceful coexistence, while blaming each other for the unending destructive path that tragically both have chosen to travel.

     There are fundamental imperatives, coupled with long-term mutual security measures, which represent what was on the negotiating table in 2000 at Camp David and in 2010/2011 and 2013/2014 under the Obama administration’s auspices in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Each round, with various degrees of progress, aimed at finalizing an agreement and yet ultimately failed to do so. The question is: why?

     Biased and selective perceptions, reinforced by historical experiences, religion, and incompatible ideologies, have locked both sides into immobile positions. The factors that maintain and enhance these patterns include emotions such as fear, distrust, and insecurity. The psychological outcome is mutual denial of the narrative of the other and mutual delegitimization.

     Put together, the operative result is stagnation and polarization. What is therefore needed is a consensus-oriented dialogue at the leadership level by both officials and non-officials, and people-to-people interactions, to resolve the issue of perception – a tall order given the current environment that buttresses rather than ameliorates prejudiced perceptions.

     There are certain psychological concepts which are relevant to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the concept of illusion is an essential one. In The Future of an Illusion, Freud offers the following definition: “…we call a belief an illusion when a wish-fulfillment is a prominent factor in its motivation, and in doing so we disregard its relations to reality, just as the illusion itself sets no store by verification.”

     What is characteristic of illusions is that: 1) they are derived from deep human wishes, and 2) the belief is held (or would be held) in the absence of any compelling evidence, or good rational grounds, on its behalf.

     It is impossible to deny that both Israelis and Palestinians are in the grip of very powerful illusions which only serve to prolong the conflict and prevent any mutual understanding. In particular, the belief shared by many Israelis that they have a biblical right to the land (including Judea and Samaria) and that God gave it to the Jews in perpetuity is undoubtedly an illusion of yesterday.

     This belief is not affirmed because there is real evidence that God deemed it to be (although two Jewish kingdoms did exist–the first in the tenth century BCE and the second beginning in 539 BCE–on the same land), but because it satisfies a deep-seated psychological need for a God-given Jewish homeland.

     The belief that by expanding the settlements Israel will augment its national security and maintain its hold on the entire land is an illusion of tomorrow, which generally ignores the presence of Muslims in the same land for more than 1,300 years.

     It is important to note how these illusions sustain and reinforce one another, and constitute a psychological barrier which is much more impervious to critical reflection. Israel’s illusions have served to create the logic for occupation.

     The Palestinians, for their part, are not without their own illusions. They also believe that God has reserved the land for them, and appeal to the fact that they had inhabited the land for centuries. From their perspective, the presence of the al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in 705 AD in Jerusalem, attests to their historical and religious affinity to the Holy City.

     They also cling to the idea that they will someday return to the land of their forbearers, as they have and continue to insist on the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, even though this has become a virtual impossibility.

     The Palestinians hold fast to their illusions of yesterday and tomorrow just as blindly and desperately as the Israelis, which leads to resistance to and fear of change. As such, unless both sides change course and accept each other’s affinity to the same land, specifically because it is religiously-based, the situation is bound to lead to a catastrophe.

      This has contributed to making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict both chronic and intractable, as the various illusions are continuously and consciously nurtured by daily hostile and often violent encounters between the two sides.

     In seeking to bridge concepts that could link between the domains of psychology and politics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it could be proposed that a collective mutual resistance to change (both conscious and deliberate, and inner unconscious) protects a vulnerable identity.

     Compared, for example, to the stable and mature political identities of the American, British, and French nations, the political identities of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples are, in a way, in their adolescence.

     Identities in this setting are more vulnerable, and the protagonists are naturally more defensive and resistant to change. By its very nature, the players must find it difficult (if not impossible) to articulate this publicly, as to do so is to admit to this vulnerability.

     The concept of psychological resistance to change may well affect the political setting in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular; it is closely connected to perceptions at many levels and provides protection for vulnerable identity formation.

     It is this mindset, strengthened by historical experiences, which transcends the more than seven decades since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began. Individuals and groups, Israelis and Palestinians alike, have and continue to interpret the nature of the discord between them as “you versus me” in a prejudiced and selective way.

     In turn, this has stifled any new information and enabled the continuing resistance to change, which could shed new light on the nature and substance of the conflict and help advance the peace process.

     The concept of unconscious resistance to change in this setting links well to the view of perceptions driving the polarization in the conflict. Historical experience, which formulates perceptions, serves among other things to enhance the sense of identity of “who we really are,” a formative collective assumption that sits at the bedrock of both key players and drives functional and dysfunctional behavior.

     In principle, such a mindset prevents either side from entertaining new ideas that might lead to compromises for a peaceful solution. The paradox here is that majorities on both sides do want and seek peace, knowing full well that this would require significant concessions, but are unable to reconcile the required concessions with imbedded perceptions that have precluded these compromises as a result of resistance to and fear of change.

     Therefore, any framework for peace must include provisions that would dramatically increase the odds in favor of a solution. First, both sides need to commit to reaching an agreement based on a two-state solution out of the conviction that change, which translates to coexistence, is inevitable. Therefore, they ought to adjust to each other’s requirements, which of necessity requires them to make significant concessions.

     Second, to facilitate that, they must undertake reconciliatory people-to-people social, economic, cultural, and security interactions to mitigate their resistance to change, which must begin, at a minimum, one year before the negotiations commence to create the psychological and political atmosphere to cultivate the trust necessary for substantive and successful peace negotiations.

     The resumption of peace talks will go nowhere unless Israelis and Palestinians change their prejudiced perception and resistance to and fear of change, and finally come to the realization that their fate is intertwined and neither can live in peace and security without the other.

     I feel compelled to conclude my last article for the year with a dire warning that both Israelis and Palestinians alike will do well to ponder upon as they approach the end of the seventh decade of their tragic conflict.

     Every Israeli extremist and Palestinian militant, those who want it all must stop and think where Israel and the Palestinians will be in ten years if the current situation persists?

     Your illusions of today will not become a reality of tomorrow, and what tomorrow will bring is nothing but more pain, tears, and agony.

     Your conflict is evolving ever faster into a religious war. A Muslim-Jewish Armageddon is in the making that will set the whole region on unfathomable fire.

     If you are true believers, dare not defy God’s will, for he has thrust you together to put you to the test–you must either live in peace and harmony, or you will be condemned to oblivion and despair.

     You possess the power to choose your own destiny. Will it be self-destruction or will it be the fulfilment of a glorious dream?

     Rise up and pass a legacy of hope to every Israeli and Palestinian child, for they have the God-given right to grow up and prosper and none should die for your illusions in vain.”

     As I wrote in my post of November 9 2023, A Mirror of Our Darkness: Kristallnact; Israel is commemorating this tragedy which opened a door to an even greater tragedy in the Holocaust by doing exactly the same thing to the Palestinians, one people divided by history and faith weaponized in service to power. And this too will open doors to greater state terror and tyranny, unless both peoples can unite against authorities who commit atrocities in their name as a strategy of subjugation and liberate each other from those who would enslave them.

     If you think of nations as children who are survivors of abuse, much becomes clear; for once they have seized power they are far more likely to become abusers themselves. This is how fear works, why it is the true basis of exchange, why politics is the Art of Fear, and why states are embodied violence. Both Israelis and Palestinians have been savaged by existential threats long before they began savaging, brutalizing, and dehumanizing each other.

     That predatory regimes on both sides have used division and identity politics to centralize power and legitimize authoritarian dominion is a predictable phase of liberation struggle, especially of anti-colonial revolution.

      The trick of becoming human, friends, is to embrace ones own darkness in struggle as well as one’s enemies, and emerge from the legacies of our history which shadow us like an invisible crocodile tail.

      There is a line spoken by the villain in the series The Magicians, a survivor of childhood abuse and tyrant known as The Beast for his horrific crimes, once the powerless and terrified boy Martin Chatwin and now a monstrous god; “You know, when I was a boy, a man who was meant to care for me bent me over his desk and had me over and over every time I was alone with him. It helps me understand a truth. You’re powerful or you’re weak. “

      Here is the original lie of the tyrant and the fascist in the apologetics, self-justification, and psychopathy of power; the lie that only power has meaning and is real, that there is no good or evil. How we use power is of equal importance as who holds it. Fear and force are a primary means of human exchange, but not the only means; love, membership, and belonging are as important.

      It’s a line which captures perfectly the inherent contradictions of the  Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force as an origin of evil; for the use of social force is subversive of its own values. Yet the imposed conditions of revolutionary struggle often require violence, and until the gods of law and order have been cast down from their thrones I must agree with the famous dictum of Sartre in his 1948 play Dirty Hands, quoted by Frantz Fanon in his 1960 speech Why We Use Violence, and made immortal by Malcolm X; “by any means necessary.”

     As written by Walter Rodney in The Groundings with my Brothers; “We were told that violence in itself is evil, and that, whatever the cause, it is unjustified morally. By what standard of morality can the violence used by a slave to break his chains be considered the same as the violence of a slave master? By what standards can we equate the violence of blacks who have been oppressed, suppressed, depressed and repressed for four centuries with the violence of white fascists. Violence aimed at the recovery of human dignity and at equality cannot be judged by the same yardstick as violence aimed at maintenance of discrimination and oppression.”

     And here is the passage he references from Leon Trotsky in Their Morals and Ours: The Class Foundations of Moral Practice; “A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!”

     Yet in reflection I think of those great figures who have been both heroes of liberation and villains of tyranny; my teenage role model Napoleon, Washington who is central to our family history and coined the motto on our coat of arms in the passcode during the Battle of Trenton, Victory or Death, when the whole Revolution was wagered on a forlorn hope, of the tragic drama of fallen heroes like Robert Mugabe, the monstrous tyrants Stalin and Mao, the list is a near endless litany of woes and failures of vision wherein Brave New Worlds became hells and carceral states. In evidence I offer the American and Napoleonic Revolutions become Empires, the Soviet Union, the Chinese Communist Party, India where the glory of liberation come hand in hand with the tragedy of Partition and is now under the boot of Hindu Nationalism, nearly all anticolonial revolutions which with the first period of liberty as new nations became dreadful tyrannies, and above all the state of Israel, a dream of refuge forged in the terror of the Holocaust whose victims learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis and assumed their role in the Occupation of Palestine. The dangers of Idealism are very real; but so are the dangers of submission to authority and the complicity of silence in the face of evil.

     I am a hunter of fascists, and mine is a hunter’s morality. For me there is a simple test for the use of force; who holds power?

     A great many wise people have written beautifully of the horrors of fascisms of blood, faith, and soil and of hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, as does Paul Oestreicher in the article which follows; herein I wish only to signpost that the forces which lie both within us and without as social conditions and epigenetic trauma, of atavisms of barbarism and systems of oppression, are universal to human beings as imposed conditions of struggle and operate continually even when obscured from view, beyond the horror and abjection of points of fracture of the human soul like those of Kristallnacht and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

     I write to you as one who has lived by the battle cry of Never Again! for over forty years now, and it is of deep and vital importance to apply this principle of action not only in Resistance to fascism as an intrusive enemy of all that is human in us, but also to ourselves and our own use of violence and social force toward others.

    In the end, all that matters is what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

     No matter where you begin with divisions and hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

    As Nietzsche teaches us in Beyond Good and Evil; “Those who hunt monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

     In the dark mirror of Gaza, with its monstrous reflections of Kristallnacht and of Auschwitz, do you like what you see, O Israel?

     As I wrote in my post of May 10 2021, The Defense of al Aqsa: Liberty versus Tyranny in Jerusalem;  We may have witnessed the advent of a Third Intifada this night, in the Defense of al Aqsa and the street fighting in Gaza which followed, ignited by the perfidy and imperial conquest of a xenophobic and fascist state of Israel which regards no one but their own tribe and faith as truly human, and which has perpetrated an unprovoked and deadly attack as an act of state terror and a crime against humanity on the peaceful worshippers at one of the most sacred mosques in the Islamic world, a demonstration of power and dominion which follows weeks of provocations, assaults, and acts of propagandistic dehumanization against the people of Palestine.

      Like the Second or al Aqsa Intifada which lasted four years from 28 September 2000 to 8 February 2005, unresolved issues of an Occupation now in its fifty fourth year since the June 7 1967 Conquest of Old Jerusalem by Israel, which the State of Israel celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar as Jerusalem Day today by attacking al Aqsa, and a Catastrophe ongoing now for seventy three years since Nakba Day May 15 1948, have coalesced around the symbolic value of al Aqsa, which has a contested dual identity as the Temple Mount in Judaism.

     Chances of de-escalation and averting a war depend now not on local factors but on the response of the international community, for history has here become a trap which collapses to ensnare us in its jaws, and outside forces must liberate us from the failures of our system’s internal contradictions.

     Will America disavow and renounce its colony of Israel, Queen of her imperial policy in the Middle East and control of the strategic resource of oil? Can international unity and the pressure of Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanction free us from the tyranny and terror of an Apartheid regime as it did in South Africa?

     Or is war the only reckoning humankind can offer, or will accept?

     As written by Ishaan Tharoor in The Washington Post; “On Monday night, militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military exchanged rocket fire and airstrikes amid a deadly escalation of violence. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, armed groups based in blockaded Gaza, launched a barrage of rockets that landed near Jerusalem and in parts of southern Israel, injuring at least one person. Israeli airstrikes in retaliation killed at least 20 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, including nine children.

     Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “terrorist groups” in Gaza had “crossed a red line” with their rocket attacks. But the latest explosion of hostilities has a long tail, following numerous aggressive actions by both Israeli security forces and far-right Jewish supremacist groups in Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, bands of Jewish extremists, including some settlers from the West Bank, marched through Palestinian-populated areas of the holy city, chanting “Death to Arabs,” attacking bystanders and damaging Palestinian property and homes. Israeli attempts to evict a number of Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — a microcosm of what Palestinians view as part of a long history of dispossession and erasure at the hands of the Israeli state — had stirred Palestinian solidarity protests in various parts of the occupied territories and Israel proper.

     It also raised tensions ahead of the commemoration of Jerusalem Day on Monday, an official Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of the city during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. A planned annual march by far-right ultranationalist Israelis was called off after authorities rerouted its path at the last minute.    Large numbers still made their way to the Western Wall and sang an extremist vengeance song against Palestinians.

     “The Hamas rocket attacks, which included the first strikes against Jerusalem in several years, came after running clashes among Israeli police, Palestinian protesters and far-right Jewish Israelis around the Old City,” my colleagues reported. “Among the hundreds injured were seven who were hospitalized in serious condition, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Video footage circulated on social media of Israeli police officers brutally beating a detained Palestinian man.”

      How can America support the state of Israel in tyranny and terror, conquest and plunder? It’s a question asked in tones of outrage, sorrow, and bafflement since the advent of the Nakba on May 15 1948, the Day of Catastrophe which began the Occupation of Palestine and the systematic enslavement and genocide of its people in the wake of the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem. How is this legitimized?

      A friend has recently reframed this question for me; “I loved and embraced the Jewish tradition, joining a synagogue and working alongside its Rabbi. When I witness the treatment of Palestinians by the Jewish government of Israel, I am overwhelmed by feelings of confusion and anger. Unable to reconcile this immorality, I question the very foundation of my faith. Where is the good and moral uprising of international Jewish voices condemning the government’s path? I’ve lost faith in being Jewish.”

     What is clear to me is that this crisis of faith is also an existential crisis of identity, a situation of utmost gravity and danger which also holds the potential for reimagination and transformative rebirth, a personal echo of a parallel civilizational crisis from which humankind and the global community of nations must find a way to emerge and free ourselves of the legacies of our history. Here is my reply:

     The state of Israel is not identical with the Jewish faith, though the fascist-imperialist faction which Netanyahu represents would like everyone to think so. 

    A nation based on the assignment of its citizens to a tribal identity, the sectarian weaponization of faith in service to power and an authorized national identity, a military society with universal compulsory service and a pervasive fetishization of myths of martial valor and its symbols including guns, and a reconstructed Hebrew language of national unity has used identity politics to subjugate its citizens to the centralized power of tyranny; Israel is a fascist state of blood, faith, and soil no less than that of the Nazis.

     Add to this toxic mix a kleptocratic regime which has propagandized narratives of historical victimization to legitimize massive theft and imperial conquest of other people’s nations and one thing is clear; Israel has learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis.

     You may know from my many references to the incident in my writing that I am an antifascist, sworn to the Oath of the Resistance by Jean Genet in 1982 in Beirut, during our fight against the Israeli invasion and siege. In the 39 years after, I have been a hunter of Nazis and a revolutionary of democracy engaged in struggle for the liberation of humankind against tyranny and authoritarian regimes of force and control.

      A Palestinian homeland, and justice for its people, has been among my goals since that summer so long ago. Like the goal of liberation of Ireland from British colonial rule, it remains to be achieved. In question is the idea of freedom and citizenship as the sovereignty and independence of peoples from foreign colonialism and authoritarian tyranny, and the primacy of a nonsectarian state free from divisions and hierarchies of faith, for who stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.

     I also support the idea of an Israeli homeland, and see no reason these two states, Palestine and Israeli, should be mutually exclusive or antagonistic. Some Israelis who would disagree with me on the question of Palestine and militarism in imperial conquest and regional dominion have been allies in the cause of hunting Nazis and fascists generally throughout the world, but are blind to their own complicity in this evil due to seeing themselves as victims rather than perpetrators of crimes against humanity. This is about fear, and the destructive cycle of abuse and violence.

     When faith is appropriated by authority for legitimation in identity politics, identity itself becomes confused and ambiguous. To become free, we must seize ownership of ourselves as self-created and autonomous beings.

     This is why the primary duties of a citizen are to question authority, expose authority, mock authority, and challenge authority.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks others make for us and those we make for ourselves; this is the first revolution in which we all must fight.

     I think of the problem of human evil and its cycle of fear, power, and force in the case of states which become the tyrannies they fought to liberate themselves from, and this is true of anticolonial revolutionary states generally because of the historical legacies of victimization, in this way; victims often become abusers because their identity is organized around power as the only means of escape in a world wherein no one can be trusted.

     When trust has been abrogated and proven empty and without meaning, when the capacity to bond with and feel the pain of others in empathy has been broken and one is without pity or remorse, when fear is overwhelming and generalized and has been shaped by authority to the service of power, victims learn that only power has meaning and is real. We must not allow our abusers to become our teachers.

     While every such issue has its own unique origins and history, the problem itself is universal, and relates to what one fears, and how that fear is shaped by authority as identity. From our perspective as Americans interpreting events in the classic problem of the double minority typified by Israel and Palestine, how we perceive issues has much to do with how they are framed by our informing and motivating sources.

      In the end we are defined by what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

      The first question to ask of any story, and the most important, is simple; whose story is this?

      We are lost in a Wilderness of Mirrors, of lies and illusions, falsifications of ourselves, distorted images and reflections, echoes and authorized identities which disfigure, disempower, and steal our souls.

      How shall we answer those who would enslave us? Our authenticity and autonomy is realized through seizure of power, and the reimagination and transformation of ourselves and humankind as a free society of equals.

      We Americans tend to see things in terms of white hats and black hats, as in the Western films which serve as origin myths and archetypes of our national character. Once victim status has been conferred, such groups and persons become white hats and good guys, incapable of evil and diametrically opposed to whomever must then be black hats. It’s a terrible way of choosing national policy.

     Sadly, we humans can be good and evil at once, the flaws of our humanity echo and reflect the brokenness of the world. It is a truth proven once again tonight in al Quds or Jerusalem depending on to whom one is speaking and in what language, as Gaza burns from the onslaught of an Israeli Defense Forces run amok much the same as the night almost four decades ago in Beirut when they tried to burn Genet and I alive in our café, as a dozen human beings from whom everything but hope has been stolen swear vows to each other to hold a position covering the escape of the women and children trapped by the Israeli attack until all are safe, in a final defense not of al Aqsa Mosque, magnificent and beautiful and filled with significance, monument to the human impulse to reach beyond ourselves and to the limitless possibilities of becoming human, a stage fit for the glorious deaths of heroes, but of the disembodied screams of strangers among the nameless warrens of a derelict antiquity.

     Against the chasms of emptiness and nihilistic barbarism of a world of darkness and fire, of fear and force, I have only words to offer, and I write to you what I have said to my comrades who have chosen to stand with me; I’ve lost count of Last Stands, but I’ve risked everything against impossible odds and survived more times than I can remember, and all that matters is that we abandon neither ourselves nor one another, that we refuse to submit, for this is the moment of our freedom, and it can never be taken from us.

      From this night, Palestine is free, for we can be killed, but we cannot be conquered.

 On the Origins of Evil and Our Monstrosity: a portrait of Hitler and Netanyahu in the character of Martin Chatwin in The Magicians

 Violence: Six Sideways Reflections, by Slavoj Žižek

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2638701-violence

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/shireen-abu-akleh-friends-and-family-call-for-justice-on-anniversary-of-killing?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/09/discord-in-israel-threatens-benjamin-netanyahus-hold-on-power?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/netanyahu-national-guard-deal-with-ben-gvir-raises-fears-of-violence?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/10/militants-in-gaza-fire-60-rockets-following-israeli-airstrikes-palestine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/israel-bombs-gaza-strip-killing-three-islamic-jihad-leaders?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-the-grip-of-powerful-i_b_8818032

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/03/israel-strikes-gaza-as-unrest-continues-after-death-of-hunger-striker-khader-adnan?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/10/jerusalem-seethes-as-the-rockets-begin-on-day-of-rising-tension

https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/what-is-happening-in-sheikh-jarrah-of-east-jerusalem-past-and-present

https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/al-aqsa-violence-why-palestinians-jews-have-often-clashed-at-this-holy-site-in-jerusalem/655579/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/10/world-reacts-after-israeli-forces-wound-hundreds-in-al-aqsa-raid

Arabic

10 مايو 2024 ذكرى الانتفاضة الثالثة لعام 2021، الجارية الآن في المسرح العاشر للحرب العالمية الثالثة التي تحتوي وتحل محل حرب غزة

        يسعى كل من زوار الأرض المقدسة إلى ظهور علامات غير مرئية في ديزني لاند التي تضم أديانًا متضاربة وأولئك المحاصرين داخل كابوس الجدران ونقاط التفتيش والأسلاك الشائكة والمراقبة المنتشرة والعنف العالمي وسياسات الهوية والطغيان والإرهاب في أحد بلداننا. إن أفظع أنظمة القوة والسيطرة في العالم أصبحت هنا أشباح الهولوكوست؛ تردد صدى إسرائيل مع الصرخات الصامتة للأصوات المسروقة والظلال المفترسة لتاريخ تم تسليحه في خدمة السلطة كسرديات عن الإيذاء والأمن كقوة، وهي استراتيجية مصممة أولاً لكسر تضامننا مع الانقسام وفاشية الدم والعقيدة والتربة كما التزوير ومن ثم تجريدنا من إنسانيتنا وإخضاعنا كأسياد وعبيد وإبادة جماعية وتطهير عرقي.

      لقد تعرضت إسرائيل، باعتبارها حلم اللجوء والأخوة والمحبة العالمية، للخيانة والتخريب من قبل إسرائيل باعتبارها دولة دينية كارهة للأجانب، وإمبراطورية عسكرية، ومعسكرًا للعبيد؛ وهنا تم إضفاء الطابع المؤسسي على أوشفيتز على نطاق وطني، وأصبح سجناؤه السابقون الآن حراسه.

      لماذا يختار أي شخص إعادة خلق الجحيم الذي هرب منه، حتى لو كان أسياده وليس عبيده؟

      إنني أفهم جيدًا إغراء القوة كأمن في عالم مليء بالقوى المعادية والفوضوية، وكيف يمكن تشكيل الخوف الساحق والمعمم من خلال السلطة لمركزية السلطة من خلال منحنا سلطة معارة على الآخرين كرموز للتهديدات الوجودية؛ ليكون حكم الفضيلة من خلال القوة والسيطرة. لكن الأمن وهم، والدولة كعنف متجسد تطيع قانون نيوتن الثالث للحركة وتخلق مقاومتها الخاصة، وألمنا المشترك يوحدنا بطرق تتجاوز حلقة فاغنر من الخوف والقوة والقوة، والتي لا يمكن أن يحررنا إلا الحب. من.

      الحب كتضامن في العمل يمكن أن يخلص عيوب إنسانيتنا وانكسارات العالم، تيكون أولام بالعبرية، ويحررنا لنعيش كضامنين لإنسانية بعضنا البعض.

       وكما كتبت في الذكرى الأولى للانتفاضة الثالثة في مثل هذه الليلة قبل عامين؛ يجب أن تكون هذه هي القضية الأكثر كتابةً ودراسةً ومناقشةً وتجريبًا وخوضًا حولها في السياسة العالمية منذ الحرب العالمية الثانية التي كانت نتيجة لها، هذه الأمة التي يقسم فيها التاريخ شعبًا واحدًا إلى إسرائيليين وفلسطينيين، ومقياسًا إنسانيتنا، كمثال كلاسيكي للأقلية المزدوجة؛ ماذا تفعل بمدينة واحدة وأمة واحدة يطالب بها مجتمعان تاريخيان، كأساس للهوية كإيمان وجنسية وعواقب وممارسة سياسات الهوية كعنف؟

      هنا أمة وشعب يمزقهما اضطراب الهوية الانفصامية، متضاربان ومنغلقان في صراع هائل كما هو الحال مع تجزئة الهوية والذاكرة والوعي لشخصيات متعددة، والجنون على المستوى الوطني والحضاري المولود من تراث التاريخ ومعطل الحياة الأحداث، والصدمة اللاجينية، والحزن، والرعب، والشعور بالذنب، واليأس.

      في ازدواجية إسرائيل وفلسطين، تتضح أصول الشر كالعنف والطغيان في حلقة فاغنري المتكررة والمترابطة من الخوف والقوة والقوة، حيث يتم استخدام الخوف الساحق والمعمم والتهديدات الوجودية كسلاح في خدمة السلطة عن طريق السلطة. والتي تشكل حالات القوة والسيطرة الجسيمية كقوة غير متكافئة وعنف متجسد، من خلال التسلسلات الهرمية النخبوية وتقسيمات الانتماء والغيرية وفاشية الدم والإيمان والتربة.

      هنا الفاشية كشر نظامي تعمل كحيازة وسرقة للروح. مالذي يمكننا فعله حيال هذا؟ وكما سأل لينين في مقالته عام 1902؛ “ما الذي يجب عمله؟” كيف نحرر أنفسنا من القوى النظامية لخضوعنا للسلطة والنخب وأولئك الذين يريدون استعبادنا؟

     يجب علينا أولاً أن ندرك ونحذر من أولئك الذين يدعون أنهم يتحدثون باسمنا ويتصرفون باسمنا، فهذه هي الإستراتيجية الأساسية للفاشية. لتحرير أنفسنا من الأكاذيب والأوهام، والتزييف وإعادة كتابة التاريخ، ونظريات المؤامرة والحقائق البديلة التي من خلالها نصبح مجردين من إنسانيتنا، يجب أن نكون رواة للحقيقة ونشارك في السعي وراء الحقيقة باعتبارها دعوة مقدسة، ونؤدي الواجبات الأساسية الأربعة للمواطن؛ سلطة السؤال، وسلطة الكشف، وسلطة المحاكاة، وسلطة التحدي.

     يجب علينا ثانيًا أن نستغل ملكيتنا الذاتية واستقلالنا في رفض الخضوع للسلطة، لأن السر الأعظم للسلطة هو أنها فارغة وجوفاء، ويتم فقدان شرعيتها من خلال رفض الثقة في السلطة والتصديق بها، والقوة هي هشة وهشة. ويجد حدوده عند نقطة العصيان. أفعال بسيطة، ولكنها أيضًا قوى متأصلة في الإنسان لا يمكن أن تؤخذ منا؛ لأن من يرفض الخضوع فهو حر، ولا يُقهر.

      دائمًا يبقى الصراع بين الأقنعة التي يصنعها الآخرون لنا، وتلك التي نصنعها لأنفسنا. هذه هي الثورة الأولى التي نحن جميعا فيها

جب أن يقاتل؛ النضال من أجل الملكية الذاتية وحرية الهوية.

      لا توجد سلطة عادلة.

       الليلة أجلس في منزلي وسط الظلام الدامس لتلالي، ليلة تتبع أيامًا من المطر ومليئة بأغاني الضفادع والطيور، هدوء لا يزعجه إلا ضوء الضوء في ذكرياتي عن هذه الليلة قبل عام، في الدفاع. الأقصى. مثل ومضات البرق، يمكن ليد الماضي أن تجلب الفوضى وتمتد لتسيطر علينا وتهزنا، وزعزعة استقرارنا واستقرارنا وبنياتنا الطبيعية من خلال أحداث مدمرة مفاجئة وغير متوقعة غير مربوطة بمرتكزاتها في الوقت المناسب.

       لكن الفوضى هي أيضًا مقياس للمدى التكيفي للنظام، الذي يجلب كلاً من الرعب من عدمنا ومتعة الحرية الكاملة في إعادة تصورنا وإعادة ميلادنا التحويلي لأنفسنا وإمكانياتنا اللامحدودة في أن نصبح بشرًا.

       لدى غييرمو ديل تورو، في ملحمته الرائعة عن الهجرة والمساواة العرقية كرنفال رو، مشهد يجد فيه شابان خلفاء لقيادة الفصائل المتنافسة تقليديًا نفسيهما في حالة حب وبحاجة إلى حلفاء في حبكة فرعية تعيد تصوير روميو وجولييت؛ يسأل الجحيم المتمرد جونا بريكسبير عشيقته المكيافيلية صوفي لونجيربان: “لمن تصلح الفوضى؟” فأجابت: “الفوضى جيدة لنا. الفوضى هي الأمل العظيم للضعفاء.”

      قد يفكر المرء في جلب الفوضى من حيث القوة الخلاصية للحب، والتضامن، وواجبنا في رعاية الآخرين، والاستيلاء على السلطة كاستعادة للتوازن، والمقاومة والنضال الثوري كوضع حياتنا في التوازن مع أولئك الذين لا حول لهم ولا قوة والمحرومين، والمُسكتين والممحيين، وtikkun olam أو شفاء انكسار العالم.

      في القدس والقدس، نتعرض للخيانة بسبب طبيعة الخضوع للسلطة والانقسامات غير المتكافئة للسلطة، ويتم تجريدنا من إنسانيتنا من قبل أولئك الذين يرتكبون الفظائع باسمنا، ويصبحون متواطئين في جرائم ضد الإنسانية من خلال روايات الإيذاء التي يسمح بها كما يعلمنا فولتير. أي شئ.

      حصلت على قفاز غيرنا. إنه إرهاب قديم. وهذا يجب أن نقاومه.

      الأساطير القديمة، والمظالم القديمة، منسوجة في نسيج نفسيتنا وحضارتنا. ومثل كل التاريخ والذاكرة والهوية المعتمدة، تحاكي القوى التي يجب أن نخرج من تراثها.

      في هذه اللحظة، أعود مرة أخرى إلى التشخيص الرائع لمرض السلطة باعتبارها هوية مستولى عليها، كما كتب ألون بن ميرين في هافبوست، على الرغم من أن وصفه لنظام الدولتين مثير للنقاش، وبالنسبة لي يجب استبداله بمرور الوقت بنظام علماني. دولة بقانون واحد للجميع وبدون تقسيمات رسمية للقبيلة أو اللغة أو العقيدة، في مقال بعنوان “في قبضة الأوهام القوية”؛ “يبدو أن الطريق المسدود الذي وصلت إليه عملية السلام الإسرائيلية الفلسطينية غير منطقي ومثير للقلق، حيث أن غالبية الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين يدركون أن التعايش، سواء في ظل ظروف العداء أو الصداقة، هو حقيقة لا يمكن لأي من الطرفين تغييرها إلا بحدوث كارثة.

      يبدو أن الطريق المسدود الذي وصلت إليه عملية السلام الإسرائيلية الفلسطينية غير منطقي ومثير للقلق، حيث أن أغلبية من الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين يدركون أن التعايش، سواء في ظل ظروف من العداء أو الصداقة، يشكل حقيقة لا يستطيع أي من الطرفين أن يغيرها إلا بالكارثة. ويدرك الجانبان أن المعايير العامة لاتفاق سلام مستدام يجب أن ترتكز على حل الدولتين على أساس حدود 1967 مع بعض تبادل الأراضي. لكن كلا الطرفين اختار الاستمتاع بالأوهام والعيش في تحدي الزمن والظروف. ويبدو أنهما يفضلان استمرار الاشتباكات العنيفة وإراقة الدماء على التعايش السلمي، في حين يلقي كل منهما اللوم على الآخر في المسار المدمر الذي لا ينتهي والذي اختار كل منهما أن يسلكه بشكل مأساوي.

      هناك ضرورات أساسية، مقرونة بتدابير أمنية متبادلة طويلة الأمد، تمثل ما كان على طاولة المفاوضات في عام 2000 في كامب ديفيد وفي 2010/2011 و2013/2014 تحت رعاية إدارة أوباما في القدس ورام الله. وكانت كل جولة، بدرجات متفاوتة من التقدم، تهدف إلى وضع اللمسات النهائية على الاتفاق، لكنها فشلت في نهاية المطاف في القيام بذلك. السؤال هو: لماذا؟

      وكانت التصورات المتحيزة والانتقائية، والتي عززتها التجارب التاريخية، والدين، والإيديولوجيات غير المتوافقة، سبباً في حبس كلا الجانبين في مواقف جامدة. وتشمل العوامل التي تحافظ على هذه الأنماط وتعززها المشاعر مثل الخوف وعدم الثقة وانعدام الأمن. والنتيجة النفسية هي الإنكار المتبادل لسردية الآخر ونزع الشرعية المتبادلة.

      والنتيجة العملية مجتمعة هي الركود والاستقطاب. ولذلك فإن ما نحتاج إليه هو حوار موجه نحو الإجماع على مستوى القيادة بين المسؤولين وغير المسؤولين، والتفاعلات بين الناس، لحل مسألة التصور – وهي مهمة صعبة نظراً للبيئة الحالية التي تدعم التحيز بدلاً من تحسينه. التصورات.

      هناك بعض المفاهيم النفسية ذات الصلة بفهم العلاقة الإسرائيلية الفلسطينية

فلكت؛ مفهوم الوهم هو مفهوم أساسي. في كتابه مستقبل الوهم، يقدم فرويد التعريف التالي: “… نحن نسمي الاعتقاد وهمًا عندما يكون تحقيق الرغبة عاملاً بارزًا في دوافعه، وبذلك نتجاهل علاقاته بالواقع، تمامًا كما الوهم في حد ذاته لا يشكل أي أهمية للتحقق.”

      ما يميز الأوهام هو: 1) أنها مستمدة من رغبات إنسانية عميقة، و2) الاعتقاد قائم (أو سيتم الاعتقاد به) في غياب أي دليل مقنع، أو أسس عقلانية جيدة، لصالحه.

      من المستحيل إنكار أن كلا من الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين يقعون في قبضة أوهام قوية للغاية لا تؤدي إلا إلى إطالة أمد الصراع ومنع أي تفاهم متبادل. وعلى وجه الخصوص، فإن الاعتقاد الذي يتقاسمه العديد من الإسرائيليين بأن لديهم حق كتابي في الأرض (بما في ذلك يهودا والسامرة)، وأن الله أعطاها لليهود إلى الأبد، هو بلا شك وهم من وهم الأمس.

      لم يتم تأكيد هذا الاعتقاد لأن هناك دليل حقيقي على أن الله اعتبره كذلك (على الرغم من وجود مملكتين يهوديتين – الأولى في القرن العاشر قبل الميلاد والثانية في بداية عام 539 قبل الميلاد – على نفس الأرض)، ولكن لأنه يرضي حاجة نفسية عميقة الجذور لوطن يهودي وهبه الله.

      والاعتقاد بأن إسرائيل من خلال توسيع المستوطنات سوف تعزز أمنها القومي وتحافظ على قبضتها على الأرض بالكامل هو وهم الغد، وهو وهم يتجاهل عموماً وجود المسلمين في نفس الأرض لأكثر من 1300 عام.

      من المهم أن نلاحظ كيف تدعم هذه الأوهام وتعزز بعضها البعض، وتشكل حاجزًا نفسيًا أكثر مناعة للتفكير النقدي. لقد ساهمت أوهام إسرائيل في خلق منطق الاحتلال.

      الفلسطينيون، من جانبهم، لا يخلو من أوهامهم. كما يعتقدون أن الله قد حفظ لهم الأرض، ويحتجون بحقيقة أنهم سكنوا الأرض لعدة قرون. ومن وجهة نظرهم فإن وجود المسجد الأقصى الذي بني عام 705م في القدس يشهد على ارتباطهم التاريخي والديني بالمدينة المقدسة.

      كما أنهم يتمسكون بفكرة أنهم سيعودون يوماً ما إلى أرض أسلافهم، كما فعلوا وما زالوا يصرون على حق العودة للاجئين الفلسطينيين، على الرغم من أن ذلك أصبح مستحيلاً فعلياً.

      يتمسك الفلسطينيون بأوهام الأمس والغد بشكل أعمى ويائس مثل الإسرائيليين، الأمر الذي يؤدي إلى مقاومة التغيير والخوف منه. وعلى هذا النحو، ما لم يغير الجانبان مسارهما ويقبلا انتماء كل منهما إلى نفس الأرض، خاصة لأنها قائمة على أساس ديني، فمن المحتم أن يؤدي الوضع إلى كارثة.

       وقد ساهم ذلك في جعل الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني مزمناً وعصياً على الحل، حيث تتغذى الأوهام المختلفة بشكل مستمر وواعي من خلال المواجهات العدائية اليومية والعنيفة في كثير من الأحيان بين الجانبين.

      في السعي إلى سد المفاهيم التي يمكن أن تربط بين مجالات علم النفس والسياسة في الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني، يمكن اقتراح أن المقاومة الجماعية المتبادلة للتغيير (سواء الواعي أو المتعمد، أو اللاوعي الداخلي) تحمي الهوية الضعيفة.

      فمقارنة، على سبيل المثال، بالهويات السياسية المستقرة والناضجة للدول الأمريكية والبريطانية والفرنسية، فإن الهويات السياسية لكل من الشعبين الإسرائيلي والفلسطيني، بطريقة ما، في مرحلة المراهقة.

      تكون الهويات في هذا السياق أكثر عرضة للخطر، والأبطال بطبيعة الحال أكثر دفاعية ومقاومة للتغيير. بحكم طبيعتها، يجب على اللاعبين أن يجدوا صعوبة (إن لم يكن من المستحيل) في التعبير عن ذلك علنًا، لأن القيام بذلك يعني الاعتراف بهذه الثغرة الأمنية.

      إن مفهوم المقاومة النفسية للتغيير قد يؤثر على الوضع السياسي بشكل عام وعلى الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني بشكل خاص. فهو يرتبط ارتباطًا وثيقًا بالتصورات على العديد من المستويات ويوفر الحماية لتكوين الهوية الضعيفة.

      وهذه العقلية، التي تعززها التجارب التاريخية، هي التي تتجاوز أكثر من سبعة عقود منذ بدأ الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني. وما زال الأفراد والجماعات، الإسرائيليون والفلسطينيون على حد سواء، يفسرون طبيعة الخلاف بينهم على أنه “أنت ضدي” بطريقة متحيزة وانتقائية.

      وهذا بدوره أدى إلى خنق أي معلومات جديدة ومكن من استمرار مقاومة التغيير، الأمر الذي يمكن أن يلقي ضوءا جديدا على طبيعة وجوهر الصراع ويساعد في دفع عملية السلام.

      يرتبط مفهوم المقاومة اللاواعية للتغيير في هذا الإطار جيدًا بوجهة نظر التصورات التي تحرك الاستقطاب في الصراع. إن الخبرة التاريخية، التي تصوغ التصورات، تعمل من بين أمور أخرى على تعزيز الإحساس بالهوية “من نحن حقًا”، وهو افتراض جماعي تكويني يقع في حجر الأساس لكل من اللاعبين الرئيسيين ويحرك السلوك الوظيفي والمختل.

ومن حيث المبدأ، فإن مثل هذه العقلية تمنع أياً من الطرفين من طرح أفكار جديدة قد تؤدي إلى تنازلات من أجل التوصل إلى حل سلمي. والمفارقة هنا هي أن الأغلبية على كلا الجانبين تريد السلام وتسعى إليه، وهي تعلم جيداً أن ذلك يتطلب تنازلات كبيرة، لكنها غير قادرة على التوفيق بين التنازلات المطلوبة والتصورات المتأصلة التي حالت دون هذه التنازلات نتيجة المقاومة والخوف من ذلك. يتغير.

      ولذلك، فإن أي إطار للسلام يجب أن يتضمن بنوداً من شأنها أن تزيد بشكل كبير من احتمالات التوصل إلى حل. أولاً، يتعين على الجانبين الالتزام بالتوصل إلى اتفاق على أساس حل الدولتين انطلاقاً من الاقتناع بأن التغيير، الذي يترجم إلى التعايش، أمر لا مفر منه. ولذلك، يتعين عليهم أن يتكيفوا مع متطلبات بعضهم البعض، الأمر الذي يتطلب منهم بالضرورة تقديم تنازلات كبيرة.

      ثانياً، لتسهيل ذلك، يجب عليهم إجراء تفاعلات تصالحية اجتماعية واقتصادية وثقافية وأمنية بين الناس للتخفيف من مقاومتهم للتغيير، والتي يجب أن تبدأ، على الأقل، قبل عام واحد من بدء المفاوضات لخلق الحالة النفسية والاجتماعية. مناخ سياسي لبناء الثقة اللازمة لمفاوضات سلام موضوعية وناجحة.

      إن استئناف محادثات السلام لن يؤدي إلى أي نتيجة ما لم يغير الإسرائيليون والفلسطينيون تصوراتهم المتحيزة ومقاومتهم للتغيير وخوفهم منه، ثم يدركون أخيراً أن مصيرهم متشابك ولا يستطيع أي منهما أن يعيش في سلام وأمن دون الآخر.

      أشعر بأنني مضطر إلى اختتام مقالتي الأخيرة لهذا العام بتحذير شديد من أنه من الأفضل للإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين على حد سواء أن يفكروا فيه مع اقترابهم من نهاية العقد السابع من صراعهم المأساوي.

      يجب على كل متطرف إسرائيلي ومتشدد فلسطيني، أولئك الذين يريدون كل ذلك، أن يتوقفوا ويفكروا أين ستكون إسرائيل والفلسطينيون بعد عشر سنوات إذا استمر الوضع الحالي؟

      أوهامك اليوم لن تصبح حقيقة غدًا، وما سيأتي به الغد ليس سوى المزيد من الألم والدموع والعذاب.

      صراعكم يتطور بشكل أسرع من أي وقت مضى إلى حرب دينية. إن هرمجدون بين المسلمين واليهود يجري الإعداد له الآن، وهو ما من شأنه أن يشعل المنطقة بأكملها على نار لا يمكن تصورها.

      إذا كنتم مؤمنين حقيقيين، فلا تجرؤوا على تحدي مشيئة الله، لأنه جمعكم معًا ليضعكم في الاختبار – يجب عليكم إما أن تعيشوا في سلام ووئام، أو سيحكم عليكم بالنسيان واليأس.

      لديك القدرة على اختيار مصيرك. هل سيكون تدميرًا ذاتيًا أم سيكون تحقيقًا لحلم مجيد؟

      انهضوا ومرروا إرثًا من الأمل لكل طفل إسرائيلي وفلسطيني، لأن لديهم الحق الذي منحه الله لهم في أن يكبروا ويزدهروا ولا ينبغي لأحد أن يموت من أجل أوهامكم عبثًا”.

      كما كتبت في رسالتي بتاريخ 9 نوفمبر 2023، مرآة ظلامنا: كريستالناكت؛ إن إسرائيل تحيي ذكرى هذه المأساة التي فتحت الباب أمام مأساة أكبر في المحرقة من خلال فعل الشيء نفسه بالضبط مع الفلسطينيين، شعب واحد منقسم بسبب التاريخ والدين الذي تم استخدامه كسلاح في خدمة السلطة. وهذا أيضاً سيفتح الأبواب أمام المزيد من إرهاب الدولة وطغيانها، ما لم يتمكن الشعبان من الاتحاد ضد السلطات التي ترتكب الفظائع باسمهما كإستراتيجية لإخضاع وتحرير بعضهما البعض من أولئك الذين يستعبدونهما.

      إذا كنت تفكر في الأمم باعتبارها أطفالًا ناجين من سوء المعاملة، يصبح الكثير واضحًا؛ لأنه بمجرد استيلائهم على السلطة، فمن المرجح أن يصبحوا هم أنفسهم مسيئين. هذه هي الطريقة التي يعمل بها الخوف، ولماذا هو الأساس الحقيقي للتبادل، ولماذا السياسة هي فن الخوف، ولماذا تتجسد الدول في العنف. لقد تعرض كل من الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين للتهديدات الوجودية بوحشية قبل وقت طويل من بدء ممارسة الوحشية والوحشية وتجريد بعضهم البعض من إنسانيتهم.

      إن استخدام الأنظمة المفترسة على كلا الجانبين لسياسات الانقسام والهوية لمركزية السلطة وإضفاء الشرعية على الهيمنة الاستبدادية هي مرحلة يمكن التنبؤ بها من النضال من أجل التحرير، وخاصة الثورة المناهضة للاستعمار.

       إن الحيلة في أن نصبح بشرًا، وأصدقاء، هي أن نحتضن ظلامنا في النضال وكذلك أعداءنا، ونخرج من تراث تاريخنا الذي يظللنا مثل ذيل تمساح غير مرئي.

       هناك سطر يتحدث به الشرير في مسلسل The Magicians، وهو أحد الناجين من إساءة معاملة الأطفال والطاغية المعروف باسم The Beast لجرائمه المروعة، وكان في السابق الصبي الضعيف والمرعوب مارتن شاتوين والآن إله وحشي؛ “كما تعلم، عندما كنت صبيًا، كان الرجل الذي كان من المفترض أن يعتني بي، يثنيني على مكتبه ويحتضنني مرارًا وتكرارًا في كل مرة كنت وحدي معه. إنه يساعدني على فهم الحقيقة. أنت قوي أو أنت ضعيف. “

       وهنا تكمن الكذبة الأصلية للطاغية والفاشي في الدفاعيات وتبرير الذات وسيكوباتية السلطة؛ الكذبة القائلة بأن القوة وحدها هي التي لها معنى وهي حقيقية، وأنه لا يوجد خير أو شر. إن كيفية استخدامنا للسلطة لا تقل أهمية عن من يملكها. الخوف والقوة هما الوسيلة الأساسية للتبادل البشري، ولكن

ليست الوسيلة الوحيدة؛ الحب والعضوية والانتماء لا تقل أهمية.

       إنه خط يجسد بشكل مثالي التناقضات المتأصلة في حلقة فاغنر من الخوف والقوة والقوة كأصل للشر؛ لأن استخدام القوة الاجتماعية هو أمر تخريبي لقيمه الخاصة. ومع ذلك، فإن الظروف المفروضة للنضال الثوري غالبا ما تتطلب العنف، وإلى أن يتم إسقاط آلهة القانون والنظام من عروشهم، يجب أن أتفق مع القول المأثور الشهير لسارتر في مسرحيته “الأيدي القذرة” عام 1948، والتي اقتبسها فرانتز فانون في خطابه عام 1960. لماذا نستخدم العنف، والذي جعله خالدًا مالكولم إكس؛ “بأي وسيلة ضرورية.”

      كما كتب والتر رودني في The Groundings with my Brothers؛ “لقد قيل لنا أن العنف في حد ذاته شر، وأنه، مهما كان سببه، فهو غير مبرر أخلاقيا. بأي معيار أخلاقي يمكن اعتبار العنف الذي يستخدمه العبد لكسر أغلاله مثل عنف سيد العبد؟ بأي معايير يمكننا أن نساوي عنف السود الذين تعرضوا للاضطهاد والقمع والاكتئاب لمدة أربعة قرون مع عنف الفاشيين البيض. ولا يمكن الحكم على العنف الذي يهدف إلى استعادة الكرامة الإنسانية والمساواة بنفس مقياس العنف الذي يهدف إلى الحفاظ على التمييز والقمع.

      وهذا هو المقطع الذي يشير إليه من ليون تروتسكي في كتابه “أخلاقهم وأخلاقنا: الأسس الطبقية للممارسة الأخلاقية”؛ “مالك العبيد الذي من خلال المكر والعنف يقيد عبدًا مقيدًا بالسلاسل، والعبد الذي يكسر القيود من خلال المكر أو العنف – لا تدع الخصيان المحتقرين يخبروننا أنهم متساوون أمام محكمة الأخلاق!”

      ومع ذلك، أفكر في تلك الشخصيات العظيمة التي كانت أبطال التحرير وأشرار الطغيان؛ قدوتي المراهقة نابليون، واشنطن، الذي يعد محوريًا في تاريخ عائلتنا وصاغ الشعار على شعار النبالة الخاص بنا في رمز المرور خلال معركة ترينتون، النصر أو الموت، عندما كانت الثورة بأكملها تراهن على أمل بائس، من المأساوية دراما الأبطال الذين سقطوا مثل روبرت موغابي، والطغاة المتوحشين ستالين وماو، والقائمة عبارة عن سلسلة لا نهاية لها تقريبًا من الويلات وإخفاقات الرؤية حيث تحولت عوالم جديدة شجاعة إلى جحيم وحالات جنونية. في الدليل الذي أقدمه، أصبحت الثورات الأمريكية والنابليونية إمبراطوريات، والاتحاد السوفييتي، والحزب الشيوعي الصيني، والهند حيث يأتي مجد التحرير جنبًا إلى جنب مع مأساة التقسيم، وهي الآن تحت حذاء القومية الهندوسية، وجميع الثورات المناهضة للاستعمار تقريبًا. والتي أصبحت، مع الفترة الأولى من الحرية كأمم جديدة، أنظمة استبدادية مروعة، وقبل كل شيء دولة إسرائيل، حلم اللجوء الذي نشأ في إرهاب المحرقة التي تعلم ضحاياها الدروس الخاطئة من النازيين وتولوا دورهم في احتلال إسرائيل. فلسطين. إن مخاطر المثالية حقيقية للغاية؛ ولكن كذلك مخاطر الخضوع للسلطة والتواطؤ في الصمت في وجه الشر.

      أنا صياد الفاشيين، وأخلاقي هي أخلاق الصياد. بالنسبة لي هناك اختبار بسيط لاستخدام القوة؛ من يملك السلطة؟

      لقد كتب عدد كبير من الحكماء بشكل جميل عن أهوال فاشية الدم والإيمان والتربة والتسلسلات الهرمية للانتماء النخبوي والاختلاف الإقصائي، كما يفعل بول أوستريشر في المقالة التالية؛ أود هنا فقط أن أشير إلى أن القوى التي تكمن في داخلنا وخارجها، مثل الظروف الاجتماعية والصدمات اللاجينية، والحركات الرجعية للهمجية وأنظمة القمع، هي قوى عالمية بالنسبة للبشر كشروط مفروضة للنضال وتعمل باستمرار حتى عندما تكون محجوبة عن الأنظار. أبعد من الرعب والإذلال الناتج عن نقاط الانكسار في الروح الإنسانية مثل تلك التي حدثت في ليلة الكريستال والتطهير العرقي في غزة.

      أكتب إليك كشخص عاش صرخة معركة “لن يحدث مرة أخرى أبدًا”! منذ أكثر من أربعين عامًا، ومن الأهمية العميقة والحيوية تطبيق مبدأ العمل هذا ليس فقط في مقاومة الفاشية كعدو متطفل على كل ما هو إنساني فينا، ولكن أيضًا على أنفسنا واستخدامنا للعنف والوسائل الاجتماعية. القوة تجاه الآخرين.

     في النهاية، كل ما يهم هو ما نفعله بمخاوفنا، وكيف نستخدم قوتنا.

      بغض النظر عن المكان الذي تبدأ فيه بالانقسامات والتسلسلات الهرمية للانتماء النخبوي والاختلاف الاستبعادي، فإنك دائمًا ينتهي بك الأمر عند أبواب أوشفيتز.

     كما يعلمنا نيتشه في كتابه ما وراء الخير والشر؛ “أولئك الذين يصطادون الوحوش يجب أن ينتبهوا لئلا يصبح وحشًا. وإذا حدقت طويلا في الهاوية، فإن الهاوية ستحدق فيك أيضا.”

      في مرآة غزة المظلمة، بانعكاساتها الوحشية على ليلة الكريستال وأوشفيتز، هل يعجبك ما تراه يا إسرائيل؟

      وكما كتبت في رسالتي بتاريخ 10 مايو 2021، الدفاع عن الأقصى: الحرية مقابل الاستبداد في القدس؛ ربما شهدنا قدوم الانتفاضة الثالثة هذه الليلة، دفاعًا عن الأقصى ومعارك الشوارع في غزة التي أعقبت ذلك، والتي أشعلها الغدر والغزو الإمبراطوري لدولة إسرائيل الفاشية والكارهة للأجانب والتي لا تنظر إلا إلى أحد.

قبيلتهم ودينهم كإنسان حقيقي، والذي ارتكب هجومًا مميتًا غير مبرر كعمل من أعمال إرهاب الدولة وجريمة ضد الإنسانية على المصلين المسالمين في أحد أكثر المساجد قدسية في العالم الإسلامي، وهو استعراض للقوة والقوة. الهيمنة التي تأتي بعد أسابيع من الاستفزازات والاعتداءات وأعمال الدعاية التجريدية من الإنسانية ضد شعب فلسطين.

       مثل انتفاضة الأقصى الثانية التي استمرت أربع سنوات من 28 سبتمبر 2000 إلى 8 فبراير 2005، فإن القضايا التي لم يتم حلها للاحتلال هي الآن في عامها الرابع والخمسين منذ احتلال إسرائيل للقدس القديمة في 7 يونيو 1967، والذي احتفلت به دولة إسرائيل وفقًا لـ إلى التقويم العبري باعتباره يوم القدس اليوم من خلال مهاجمة الأقصى، والكارثة المستمرة الآن منذ ثلاثة وسبعين عامًا منذ يوم النكبة في 15 مايو 1948، تضافرت حول القيمة الرمزية للأقصى، الذي له هوية مزدوجة متنازع عليها مثل جبل الهيكل في القدس. اليهودية.

      إن فرص التهدئة وتجنب الحرب لا تعتمد الآن على العوامل المحلية، بل على استجابة المجتمع الدولي، لأن التاريخ هنا أصبح فخًا ينهار ليوقعنا في شركه، ويجب على القوى الخارجية أن تحررنا من إخفاقات الغرب. التناقضات الداخلية لنظامنا.

      فهل ستتنصل أمريكا وتتخلى عن مستعمرتها إسرائيل، ملكة سياستها الإمبراطورية في الشرق الأوسط وسيطرتها على المورد الاستراتيجي للنفط؟ هل يمكن للوحدة الدولية وضغوط المقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات وفرض العقوبات أن تحررنا من طغيان وإرهاب نظام الفصل العنصري كما حدث في جنوب أفريقيا؟

      أم أن الحرب هي الحساب الوحيد الذي يمكن للبشرية تقديمه أو قبوله؟

      كما كتب إيشان ثارور في صحيفة واشنطن بوست؛ ليلة الإثنين، تبادل المسلحون في قطاع غزة والجيش الإسرائيلي إطلاق الصواريخ والغارات الجوية وسط تصعيد مميت للعنف. أطلقت حماس والجهاد الإسلامي، الجماعتان المسلحتان المتمركزتان في غزة المحاصرة، وابلًا من الصواريخ التي سقطت بالقرب من القدس وفي أجزاء من جنوب إسرائيل، مما أدى إلى إصابة شخص واحد على الأقل. وأدت الغارات الجوية الإسرائيلية ردا على ذلك إلى مقتل ما لا يقل عن 20 شخصا في غزة، وفقا لوزارة الصحة في غزة، من بينهم تسعة أطفال.

      وقال رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو إن “الجماعات الإرهابية” في غزة “تجاوزت الخط الأحمر” بهجماتها الصاروخية. لكن الانفجار الأخير للأعمال العدائية له ذيل طويل، في أعقاب العديد من الأعمال العدوانية التي قامت بها قوات الأمن الإسرائيلية والجماعات اليهودية اليمينية المتطرفة في القدس. قبل أسبوعين، قامت مجموعات من المتطرفين اليهود، بما في ذلك بعض المستوطنين من الضفة الغربية، بمسيرة عبر المناطق المأهولة بالسكان الفلسطينيين في المدينة المقدسة، وهم يهتفون “الموت للعرب”، وهاجموا المارة وألحقوا أضرارًا بالممتلكات والمنازل الفلسطينية. أثارت المحاولات الإسرائيلية لطرد عدد من العائلات الفلسطينية في حي الشيخ جراح بالقدس الشرقية – وهو نموذج مصغر لما يعتبره الفلسطينيون جزءًا من تاريخ طويل من السلب والمحو على يد الدولة الإسرائيلية – احتجاجات التضامن الفلسطيني في أجزاء مختلفة للأراضي المحتلة وإسرائيل.

      كما أثارت التوترات قبيل إحياء يوم القدس يوم الاثنين، وهو يوم عطلة إسرائيلية رسمي يحتفل بالاستيلاء على المدينة خلال الحرب العربية الإسرائيلية عام 1967. تم إلغاء مسيرة سنوية كان من المقرر أن يقوم بها إسرائيليون من اليمين المتطرف بعد أن غيرت السلطات مسارها في اللحظة الأخيرة. ولا تزال أعداد كبيرة تشق طريقها إلى حائط المبكى وتغني أغنية انتقامية متطرفة ضد الفلسطينيين.

      أفاد زملائي أن “هجمات حماس الصاروخية، والتي تضمنت الضربات الأولى ضد القدس منذ عدة سنوات، جاءت بعد اشتباكات بين الشرطة الإسرائيلية والمتظاهرين الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين اليهود اليمينيين المتطرفين حول المدينة القديمة”. ومن بين مئات الجرحى سبعة نقلوا إلى المستشفى في حالة خطيرة، بحسب الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني. وتم تداول مقطع فيديو على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي يظهر ضباط شرطة إسرائيليين يضربون بوحشية رجلاً فلسطينيًا معتقلًا.

       فكيف يمكن لأمريكا أن تدعم دولة إسرائيل في الطغيان والإرهاب والغزو والنهب؟ إنه سؤال يُطرح بلهجة الغضب والأسى والحيرة منذ حلول النكبة في 15 مايو/أيار 1948، يوم النكبة التي بدأ فيها احتلال فلسطين والاستعباد الممنهج والإبادة الجماعية لشعبها في أعقاب الغزو الإسرائيلي. القدس. كيف يتم إضفاء الشرعية على هذا؟

       لقد أعاد أحد الأصدقاء صياغة هذا السؤال لي مؤخرًا؛ “لقد أحببت التقليد اليهودي واعتنقته، وانضممت إلى كنيس يهودي وعملت جنبًا إلى جنب مع حاخامه. عندما أشاهد معاملة الحكومة اليهودية في إسرائيل للفلسطينيين، تغمرني مشاعر الارتباك والغضب. ولأنني غير قادر على التوفيق بين هذا الفجور، فإنني أشكك في أساس إيماني. أين الانتفاضة الطيبة والأخلاقية للأصوات اليهودية العالمية المنددة بمسار الحكومة؟ لقد فقدت الثقة في كوني يهودية”.

      ما هو واضح بالنسبة لي هو أن أزمة الإيمان هذه هي أيضًا أزمة هوية وجودية

ن الوضع في غاية الخطورة والخطر والذي يحمل أيضًا إمكانية إعادة التصور والولادة التحويلية، وهو صدى شخصي لأزمة حضارية موازية يجب على البشرية والمجتمع العالمي للأمم أن يجدوا منها طريقة للخروج وتحرير أنفسنا من تراث الحضارة الإنسانية. تاريخنا. وهنا ردي:

      دولة إسرائيل ليست متطابقة مع الديانة اليهودية، على الرغم من أن الفصيل الإمبريالي الفاشي الذي يمثله نتنياهو يرغب في أن يعتقد الجميع ذلك.

     أمة تقوم على تخصيص مواطنيها لهوية قبلية، والتسليح الطائفي للعقيدة في خدمة السلطة والهوية الوطنية المصرح بها، ومجتمع عسكري مع خدمة إلزامية عالمية، وصنم منتشر لأساطير الشجاعة العسكرية ورموزها بما في ذلك البنادق. واستخدمت لغة الوحدة الوطنية العبرية المعاد بناؤها سياسات الهوية لإخضاع مواطنيها لسلطة الاستبداد المركزية؛ إسرائيل دولة فاشية من الدم والإيمان والأرض لا تقل عن دولة النازيين.

      أضف إلى هذا المزيج السام النظام الكليبتوقراطي الذي روج لسرديات الإيذاء التاريخي لإضفاء الشرعية على السرقة الجماعية والغزو الإمبراطوري لشعوب أخرى، وهناك شيء واحد واضح؛ لقد تعلمت إسرائيل الدروس الخاطئة من النازيين.

      ربما تعلمون من إشاراتي العديدة إلى الحادثة في كتاباتي أنني مناهض للفاشية، وقد أقسمت قسم المقاومة على يد جان جينيه عام 1982 في بيروت، أثناء معركتنا ضد الغزو والحصار الإسرائيلي. وفي الأعوام التسع والثلاثين التي تلت ذلك، كنت صائدًا للنازيين وثوريًا للديمقراطية منخرطًا في النضال من أجل تحرير البشرية ضد الطغيان والأنظمة الاستبدادية التي تعتمد على القوة والسيطرة.

       لقد كان الوطن الفلسطيني، والعدالة لشعبه، من بين أهدافي منذ ذلك الصيف منذ فترة طويلة. ومثله كمثل هدف تحرير أيرلندا من الحكم الاستعماري البريطاني، فلا يزال يتعين تحقيقه. موضع التساؤل هو فكرة الحرية والمواطنة باعتبارها سيادة واستقلال الشعوب عن الاستعمار الأجنبي والطغيان الاستبدادي، وأولوية دولة غير طائفية خالية من الانقسامات والتسلسلات الهرمية للإيمان، لأن من يقف بين كل واحد منا وبين اللانهائي لا يخدم أيًا منهما. .

      كما أنني أؤيد فكرة إقامة وطن إسرائيلي، ولا أرى أي سبب يجعل هاتين الدولتين، فلسطين وإسرائيل، متنافيتين أو متعارضتين. بعض الإسرائيليين الذين يختلفون معي حول قضية فلسطين والنزعة العسكرية في الغزو الإمبراطوري والسيطرة الإقليمية كانوا حلفاء في قضية مطاردة النازيين والفاشيين عمومًا في جميع أنحاء العالم، لكنهم غافلون عن تواطؤهم في هذا الشر بسبب رؤيتهم لأنفسهم. كضحايا وليس كمرتكبي جرائم ضد الإنسانية. يتعلق الأمر بالخوف والدورة المدمرة للإساءة والعنف.

      عندما تستولي السلطة على الإيمان لإضفاء الشرعية على سياسات الهوية، تصبح الهوية نفسها مشوشة وغامضة. لكي نصبح أحرارًا، يجب علينا أن نمتلك ملكية أنفسنا ككائنات مخلوقة ذاتيًا ومستقلة.

      ولهذا السبب فإن الواجبات الأساسية للمواطن هي مساءلة السلطة، وكشف السلطة، والسخرية من السلطة، وتحدي السلطة.

      دائمًا يبقى الصراع بين الأقنعة التي يصنعها الآخرون لنا وتلك التي نصنعها لأنفسنا؛ هذه هي الثورة الأولى التي يجب علينا جميعا أن نقاتل فيها.

      أفكر في مشكلة الشر البشري ودورة الخوف والقوة والقوة في حالة الدول التي أصبحت أنظمة استبدادية قاتلت من أجل تحرير نفسها منها، وهذا ينطبق على الدول الثورية المناهضة للاستعمار بشكل عام بسبب الموروثات التاريخية من الإيذاء. ، في هذا الطريق؛ غالبًا ما يصبح الضحايا مسيئين لأن هويتهم منظمة حول السلطة باعتبارها الوسيلة الوحيدة للهروب في عالم لا يمكن الوثوق فيه بأحد.

      عندما يتم إلغاء الثقة وإثبات أنها فارغة وبلا معنى، عندما تنكسر القدرة على الارتباط بالآخرين والشعور بألمهم في التعاطف، ويصبح المرء بلا شفقة أو ندم، عندما يكون الخوف طاغيًا ومعممًا وتشكله السلطة على التعامل مع الآخرين. وفي خدمة السلطة، يتعلم الضحايا أن القوة وحدها هي التي لها معنى وهي حقيقية. يجب ألا نسمح للمسيئين أن يصبحوا معلمينا.

      وفي حين أن كل قضية من هذا القبيل لها أصولها وتاريخها الفريد، فإن المشكلة في حد ذاتها عالمية، وتتعلق بما يخشاه المرء، وكيف يتشكل هذا الخوف من خلال السلطة كهوية. من وجهة نظرنا كأميركيين يفسرون الأحداث في المشكلة الكلاسيكية المتمثلة في الأقلية المزدوجة التي تمثلها إسرائيل وفلسطين، فإن كيفية إدراكنا للقضايا لها علاقة كبيرة بكيفية تأطيرها من خلال مصادرنا الإعلامية والمحفزة.

       في النهاية، يتم تعريفنا بما نفعله بخوفنا، وكيف نستخدم قوتنا.

       السؤال الأول الذي يجب طرحه في أي قصة، والأهم، هو سؤال بسيط؛ من هذه القصة؟

       نحن ضائعون في برية المرايا، من الأكاذيب والأوهام، وتزييف أنفسنا، والصور والانعكاسات المشوهة، والأصداء والهويات المرخصة التي تشوه وتشوه.

مكين، وسرقة أرواحنا.

       فكيف نجيب أولئك الذين يستعبدوننا؟ يتم تحقيق أصالتنا واستقلالنا من خلال الاستيلاء على السلطة، وإعادة تصور وتحويل أنفسنا والبشرية كمجتمع حر متساوين.

       نحن الأمريكيون نميل إلى رؤية الأشياء من منظور القبعات البيضاء والقبعات السوداء، كما هو الحال في الأفلام الغربية التي تعتبر بمثابة أساطير أصلية ونماذج أولية لشخصيتنا الوطنية. بمجرد منح مكانة الضحية، تصبح هذه المجموعات والأشخاص من القبعات البيضاء والأخيار، غير قادرين على الشر ومعارضين تمامًا لأي شخص يجب أن يكون من القبعات السوداء. إنها طريقة فظيعة لاختيار السياسة الوطنية.

      للأسف، نحن البشر يمكن أن نكون خيرًا وأشرارًا في الوقت نفسه، فعيوب إنسانيتنا تتردد وتعكس انكسار العالم. إنها حقيقة تم إثباتها مرة أخرى الليلة في القدس أو القدس اعتمادًا على من يتحدث وبأي لغة، بينما تحترق غزة من هجوم قوات الدفاع الإسرائيلية المسعورة تمامًا كما حدث في الليلة التي مضت قبل أربعة عقود تقريبًا في بيروت. عندما حاولوا حرقي أنا وجينيه أحياء في المقهى الخاص بنا، كعشرات البشر الذين سُرق منهم كل شيء ما عدا الأمل، أقسموا لبعضهم البعض أن يتخذوا موقعًا يغطي هروب النساء والأطفال المحاصرين بالهجوم الإسرائيلي حتى النهاية. نحن آمنون، في دفاع أخير ليس عن المسجد الأقصى، رائع وجميل ومليء بالأهمية، نصب تذكاري للدافع البشري للوصول إلى ما هو أبعد من أنفسنا والإمكانيات اللامحدودة لأن نصبح بشرًا، مرحلة مناسبة للموت المجيد للأبطال، ولكن من صرخات الغرباء بلا جسد بين المحاربين المجهولين في العصور القديمة المهجورة.

      في مواجهة هوة الفراغ والهمجية العدمية في عالم من الظلام والنار، من الخوف والقوة، ليس لدي سوى الكلمات لأقدمها، وأنا أكتب إليكم ما قلته لرفاقي الذين اختاروا الوقوف معي؛ لقد فقدت عدد مرات الوقوف الأخيرة، لكنني خاطرت بكل شيء ضد احتمالات مستحيلة ونجوت مرات أكثر مما أستطيع أن أتذكر، وكل ما يهم هو أننا لا نتخلى عن أنفسنا ولا عن بعضنا البعض، وأن نرفض الاستسلام، لأن هذا هو لحظة حريتنا، ولا يمكن أن تؤخذ منا أبدا.

       من هذه الليلة تتحرر فلسطين، يمكن أن نقتل ولكن لا يمكن أن نفتح.

Hebrew

10 במאי 2024 יום השנה לאינתיפאדה השלישית של 2021, מתקיים כעת בתיאטרון העשירי של מלחמת העולם השלישית המכיל ומחליף את מלחמת עזה

        הן המבקרים בארץ הקודש המחפשים סימנים של הבלתי נראה המתגלים בדיסנילנד של אמונות מסוכסכות והן אלה שנלכדו בתוך הסיוט של חומות, מחסומים, תיל תער, מעקבים נרחבים, אלימות אוניברסלית, פוליטיקה זהותית, והעריצות והטרור של אחד מאיתנו. משטרי הכוח והשליטה הנוראיים ביותר בעולם הפכו כאן לרוחות הרפאים של השואה; ישראל מהדהדת עם הצרחות השקטות של הקולות הגנובים והצללים הטורפים של היסטוריה שנושקה בשירות לשלטון כנרטיבים של קורבנות וביטחון ככוח, אסטרטגיה שנועדה לשבור תחילה את הסולידריות שלנו עם פילוג ופשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה. זיוף ולאחר מכן דה-הומניזציה והכניעתנו כאדונים ועבדים וכרצח עם וטיהור אתני.

      ישראל כחלום מקלט ושל אחווה ואהבה אוניברסליים נבגדה וחתרנה על ידי ישראל כתיאוקרטיה שנאת זרים, אימפריה צבאית ומחנה עבדים; כאן אושוויץ התמסד בקנה מידה לאומי, אסיריה לשעבר עכשיו השומרים שלה.

      מדוע שמישהו יבחר לשחזר גיהנום ממנו נמלט, אפילו כאדוניו ולא כעבדיו?

      אני מבין היטב את הפיתוי של כוח כביטחון בעולם של כוחות עוינים וכאוטיים, וכיצד ניתן לעצב פחד מוחץ ומוכלל על ידי סמכות לרכז כוח על ידי הצעת לנו כוח מושאל על אחרים כדמויות של איומים קיומיים; להיות פוסק המידות באמצעות כוח ושליטה. אבל ביטחון הוא אשליה, המדינה כאלימות מגולמת מצייתת לחוק התנועה השלישי של ניוטון ויוצרת התנגדות משלה, והכאב המשותף שלנו מאחד אותנו בדרכים שמתעלות מעל הטבעת הווגנרית של פחד, כוח וכוח, שרק אהבה יכולה לשחרר אותנו מ.

      אהבה כסולידריות בעשייה יכולה לגאול את פגמי אנושיותנו ואת שברו של העולם, תיקון עולם בעברית, ולשחרר אותנו לחיות כערבים לאנושיותו של זה.

       כפי שכתבתי ביום השנה הראשון לאינתיפאדה השלישית בלילה הזה לפני שנתיים; זה חייב להיות הנושא הנכתב ביותר, הנלמד, התווכח, התנסה בו ונלחם בנושא בפוליטיקה הגלובלית מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה שהוא תוצאה ממנה, העם הזה שבו עם אחד מחולק לפי ההיסטוריה כישראלים ופלסטינים, ומדד של האנושות שלנו, כדוגמה הקלאסית של המיעוט הכפול; מה עושים עם עיר אחת ואומה אחת שתיבעות על ידי שתי קהילות היסטוריות, כבסיס לזהות כאמונה ולאום וההשלכות והפרקסיס של פוליטיקת זהויות כאלימות?

      כאן אומה ועם נקרעים על ידי הפרעת זהות דיסוציאטיבית, מסוכסכים ונעולים במאבק טיטאני כמו עם פיצול הזהות, הזיכרון והתודעה של מספר אישים, טירוף בקנה מידה לאומי וציוויליזציוני שנולד ממורשת ההיסטוריה והחיים משבשים אירועים, טראומה אפיגנטית, אבל, אימה, אשמה וייאוש.

      בדואליות של ישראל ופלסטין מתבררים מקורות הרוע כאלימות ועריצות בטבעת הווגנרית הרקורסיבית והתלויה הדדית של פחד, כוח וכוח, כאשר פחד סוחף ומוכלל ואיומים קיומיים מופעלים בנשק בשירות לשלטון על ידי הסמכות. היוצר מצבי כוח ושליטה קרסראליים ככוח לא שוויוני ואלימות מגולמת, באמצעות היררכיות עילית וחלוקות של שייכות ואחרות ופשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה.

      כאן פועל הפשיזם כרע מערכתי כהחזקה וגניבה של הנשמה. מה אנחנו יכולים לעשות לגבי זה? כפי ששאל לנין במאמרו משנת 1902; “מה יש לעשות?” איך להשתחרר מהכוחות המערכתיים של ההכנעה שלנו לסמכות, לאליטות ולאלה שישעבדו אותנו?

     ראשית עלינו להכיר ולהיזהר מאלה המתיימרים לדבר בשמנו ולפעול בשמנו, שכן זוהי אסטרטגיה ראשית של הפשיזם. כדי לשחרר את עצמנו מהשקרים והאשליות, הזיוף וההיסטוריה המשוכתבת, תיאוריות הקונספירציה והמציאות החלופית שבאמצעותן אנו הופכים לדה-הומניזציה, עלינו להיות דוברי אמת העוסקים במרדף אחר האמת כקריאה קדושה, ולבצע את ארבע החובות העיקריות של אזרח; רשות שאלה, רשות חשיפה, רשות מדומה ורשות אתגר.

     שנית עלינו לתפוס את הבעלות העצמית והאוטונומיה שלנו בסירוב להיכנע לסמכות, שכן הסוד הגדול של הכוח הוא שהוא ריק וחלול, והוא עובר דה-לגיטימציה דרך סירוב לסמוך ולהאמין בסמכות, ושל כוח שהוא שביר ו מוצא את הגבול שלו בנקודה של אי ציות. מעשים פשוטים, אבל גם כוחות טבועים של האדם שלא ניתן לקחת מאיתנו; שכן מי שמסרב להיכנע הוא חופשי, והופך לבלתי ניתן לכיבוש.

      תמיד נשאר המאבק בין המסכות שאחרים עושים לנו, לבין אלה שאנחנו עושים לעצמנו. זו המהפכה הראשונה שבה כולנו

חייב להילחם; המאבק לבעלות עצמית ולחופש הזהות.

      אין סמכות צודקת.

       הלילה אני יושב בבית בין החושך העצום של גבעותיי, לילה שעוקב אחרי ימים של גשם ומלא בשירי צפרדעים וציפורים, שלווה המופרעת רק בגלל הכירוסקורו של זיכרונותיי מהלילה הזה לפני שנה, בהגנה. של אל אקצא. כמו הבזקים של ברק, יד העבר יכולה להביא את הכאוס ולהושיט יד לתפוס ולטלטל אותנו, ולערער אותנו ואת מבני הנורמליות שלנו עם אירועים בלתי צפויים ופתאומיים משבשים שנפרמו מעגןיהם בזמן.

       אבל הכאוס הוא גם מדד לטווח ההסתגלותי של מערכת, שמביאה הן את אימת האין שלנו והן את השמחה על החופש המוחלט בדמיון המחודש שלנו והלידה מחדש המשנה של עצמנו ושל האפשרויות הבלתי מוגבלות שלנו להפוך לאנושות.

       לגיירמו דל טורו, באפוס המפואר שלו של הגירה ושוויון גזעי קרנבל רואו, יש סצנה שבה שני ממשיכים צעירים להנהגה של פלגים יריבים מסורתיים מוצאים עצמם מאוהבים וזקוקים לבעלי ברית בעלילת משנה המדמה מחדש את רומיאו ויוליה; הגיהנום המורד, ג’ונה ברייקספיר, שואל את אהובתו המקיאוולית, סופי לונגרבין, “למי כאוס טוב?” על כך היא משיבה, “כאוס טוב לנו. כאוס הוא התקווה הגדולה של חסרי הכוח”.

      אפשר לחשוב על הבאת הכאוס במונחים של כוח הגאולה של אהבה, של סולידריות, של חובת הדאגה שלנו לזולת, של תפיסות כוח כהחזרת האיזון, של התנגדות ומאבק מהפכני כמו העמדת חיינו באיזון עם אלה של חסרי הכוח והמנושלים, המושתקים והנמחקים, וכתיקון עולם או ריפוי שברו של העולם.

      בירושלים ובאל קודס, אנו נבגדים על ידי הנורמליות של כניעה לסמכות וחלוקת הכוח הלא שוויוני, דה-הומניזציה על ידי אלה שמבצעים זוועות בשמנו, ונעשים שותפים לפשעים נגד האנושות באמצעות נרטיבים של קורבנות, כפי שוולטר מלמד אותנו מאפשרים. כל דבר.

      Gott mitt uns; זה טרור עתיק יומין. ולכך עלינו להתנגד.

      מיתוסים ישנים, ותלונות ישנות, שזורים במרקם הנפש שלנו והציוויליזציה שלנו. וכמו כל היסטוריה, זיכרון וזהות מורשית, כוחות מימטיים שממורשתם עלינו לצאת.

      ברגע זה אני פונה שוב לאבחנה המבריקה של מחלת הכוח כזהות שנתפסה כפי שכתב אלון בן-מאירין בהאפפוסט, אם כי המרשם שלו למערכת שתי מדינות שנוי במחלוקת ובשבילי יש להחליפו בזמן עם חילוני. מדינה עם חוק אחד לכולם וללא חטיבות רשמיות של שבט, שפה או אמונה, במאמר שכותרתו In The Grip Of Powerful Illusions; “המבוי הסתום בתהליך השלום הישראלי-פלסטיני נראה לא הגיוני ומטריד, שכן רוב הישראלים והפלסטינים מבינים שדו-קיום, בין אם בתנאי איבה או ידידות, הוא עובדה שאף צד לא יכול להשתנות מלבד קטסטרופה.

      המבוי הסתום בתהליך השלום הישראלי-פלסטיני נראה לא הגיוני ומטריד, שכן רוב הישראלים והפלסטינים מבינים שדו-קיום, בין אם בתנאי איבה ובין אם בתנאי ידידות, הוא עובדה שאף אחד מהצדדים אינו יכול להשתנות מלבד קטסטרופה. שני הצדדים מבינים שהפרמטרים הכלליים של הסכם שלום בר קיימא חייבים להישען על פתרון שתי מדינות המבוסס על גבולות 1967 עם כמה חילופי קרקעות. עם זאת, שני הצדדים בוחרים להתענג על אשליות ולחיות בהתרסה לזמן ולנסיבות. נראה שהם מעדיפים המשך התנגשויות אלימות ושפיכות דמים על פני דו-קיום שליו, תוך שהם מאשימים זה את זה בדרך ההרסנית הבלתי נגמרת, שבאופן טרגי שניהם בחרו לעבור.

      ישנם ציווי יסוד, יחד עם אמצעי ביטחון הדדיים ארוכי טווח, המייצגים את מה שהיה על שולחן המשא ומתן בשנת 2000 בקמפ דיוויד ובשנים 2010/2011 ו-2013/2014 בחסות ממשל אובמה בירושלים וברמאללה. כל סבב, עם דרגות שונות של התקדמות, נועד להשלים הסכם ועם זאת בסופו של דבר לא הצליח לעשות זאת. השאלה היא: למה?

      תפיסות מוטות וסלקטיביות, שמחוזקות על ידי חוויות היסטוריות, דת ואידיאולוגיות לא תואמות, נעלו את שני הצדדים בעמדות חסרות תנועה. הגורמים המשמרים ומעצימים דפוסים אלה כוללים רגשות כמו פחד, חוסר אמון וחוסר ביטחון. התוצאה הפסיכולוגית היא הכחשה הדדית של הנרטיב של האחר ודה-לגיטימציה הדדית.

      ביחד, התוצאה האופרטיבית היא סטגנציה וקיטוב. לכן, מה שנדרש הוא דיאלוג מכוון קונצנזוס ברמת המנהיגות של פקידים ולא פקידים כאחד, ואינטראקציות בין אנשים, כדי לפתור את סוגיית התפיסה – סדר גבוה בהתחשב בסביבה הנוכחית שמתבססת ולא משפרת דעות קדומות. תפיסות.

      ישנם מושגים פסיכולוגיים מסוימים הרלוונטיים להבנת השיתוף הישראלי-פלסטיני

 מושג האשליה הוא מושג חיוני. ב”עתידה של אשליה”, פרויד מציע את ההגדרה הבאה: “…אנו קוראים לאמונה אשליה כאשר הגשמת משאלות היא גורם בולט במוטיבציה שלה, ובכך אנו מתעלמים מיחסיה למציאות, בדיוק כפי שה האשליה עצמה אינה מגדירה אימות”.

      מה שמאפיין אשליות הוא ש: 1) הן נגזרות משאלות אנושיות עמוקות, ו-2) האמונה מוחזקת (או תוחזק) בהעדר כל ראיה משכנעת, או נימוקים רציונליים טובים, מטעמה.

      אי אפשר להכחיש שהן הישראלים והן הפלסטינים נמצאים באחיזת אשליות חזקות מאוד שרק משמשות להארכת הסכסוך ולמנוע כל הבנה הדדית. בפרט, האמונה המשותפת לישראלים רבים שיש להם זכות מקראית על הארץ (כולל יהודה ושומרון) ושאלוהים נתן אותה ליהודים לנצח היא ללא ספק אשליה של אתמול.

      אמונה זו אינה מאושרת משום שיש ראיות אמיתיות לכך שאלוהים ראה אותה (למרות ששתי ממלכות יהודיות אכן קיימות – הראשונה במאה העשירית לפנה”ס והשנייה החלה בשנת 539 לפנה”ס – על אותה אדמה), אלא משום שהיא מספק צורך פסיכולוגי עמוק במולדת יהודית שניתנת לאלוהים.

      האמונה שבאמצעות הרחבת ההתנחלויות ישראל תגביר את ביטחונה הלאומי ותשמור על אחיזתה בכל הארץ היא אשליה של המחר, שמתעלמת בדרך כלל מנוכחותם של מוסלמים באותה אדמה במשך יותר מ-1,300 שנה.

      חשוב לציין כיצד אשליות אלו מקיימות ומחזקות אחת את השנייה, ומהוות מחסום פסיכולוגי שהוא הרבה יותר אטום לרפלקציה ביקורתית. אשליותיה של ישראל שימשו ליצירת ההיגיון לכיבוש.

      הפלסטינים, מצדם, אינם חפים מאשליות משלהם. הם גם מאמינים שאלוהים שמר להם את הארץ, ופונים לעובדה שהם ישבו את הארץ במשך מאות שנים. מנקודת המבט שלהם, נוכחותו של מסגד אל-אקצא, שנבנה בשנת 705 לספירה בירושלים, מעידה על זיקתם ההיסטורית והדתית לעיר הקודש.

      הם גם נאחזים ברעיון שהם יחזרו מתישהו לאדמת אבותיהם, כפי שיש להם וממשיכים להתעקש על זכות השיבה של הפליטים הפלסטינים, למרות שזה הפך לבלתי אפשרי כמעט.

      הפלסטינים נאחזים באשליותיהם מאתמול ומחר באותה עיוורון ונואש כמו הישראלים, מה שמוביל להתנגדות ופחד משינויים. ככזה, אלא אם שני הצדדים ישנו מסלול ויקבלו את הזיקה של זה לאותה ארץ, במיוחד בגלל שהיא מבוססת דתית, המצב צפוי להוביל לאסון.

       זה תרם להפיכת הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני לכרוני ובלתי פתיר כאחד, שכן האשליות השונות ניזונות באופן רציף ומודע ממפגשים עוינים ולעתים קרובות אלימים בין שני הצדדים.

      בניסיון לגשר בין מושגים שיכולים לקשר בין תחומי הפסיכולוגיה והפוליטיקה בסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני, ניתן להציע שהתנגדות הדדית קולקטיבית לשינוי (הן מודעת ומכוונת, והן בלתי מודעת פנימית) מגינה על זהות פגיעה.

      בהשוואה, למשל, לזהות הפוליטית היציבה והבוגרת של האומות האמריקאיות, הבריטיות והצרפתיות, הזהות הפוליטית של העם הישראלי והפלסטיני כאחד נמצאת, במידה מסוימת, בגיל ההתבגרות.

      זהויות בסביבה זו פגיעות יותר, והגיבורים באופן טבעי מתגוננים יותר ועמידים בפני שינויים. מעצם טבעו, על השחקנים להתקשות (אם לא בלתי אפשרי) לבטא זאת בפומבי, שכן לעשות זאת הוא להודות בפגיעות זו.

      הרעיון של התנגדות פסיכולוגית לשינוי עשוי בהחלט להשפיע על המסגרת הפוליטית בכלל ועל הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני בפרט; הוא קשור קשר הדוק לתפיסות ברמות רבות ומספק הגנה על גיבוש זהות פגיעה.

      הלך הרוח הזה, המחוזק על ידי חוויות היסטוריות, הוא שמתעלה על יותר משבעת העשורים מאז החל הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני. ליחידים ולקבוצות, ישראלים ופלסטינים כאחד, יש וממשיכים לפרש את אופי המחלוקת ביניהם כ”אתה נגדי” בצורה דעות קדומות וסלקטיביות.

      בתורו, זה חנק כל מידע חדש ואפשר את ההתנגדות המתמשכת לשינוי, מה שיכול לשפוך אור חדש על מהות הסכסוך ומהותו ולעזור לקדם את תהליך השלום.

      הרעיון של התנגדות לא מודעת לשינוי במסגרת זו מתקשר היטב לתפיסה של תפיסות המניעות את הקיטוב בקונפליקט. התנסות היסטורית, המגבשת תפיסות, משמשת בין היתר להגברת תחושת הזהות של “מי שאנחנו באמת”, הנחה קולקטיבית מעצבת היושבת בסלע של שחקני מפתח כאחד ומניעה התנהגות תפקודית ולא מתפקדת.

באופן עקרוני, חשיבה כזו מונעת משני הצדדים לבדר רעיונות חדשים שעלולים להוביל לפשרות לפתרון של שלום. הפרדוקס כאן הוא שהרוב משני הצדדים אמנם רוצים ומחפשים שלום, ביודעים היטב שהדבר ידרוש ויתורים משמעותיים, אך אינם מסוגלים ליישב את הוויתורים הנדרשים עם תפיסות טבועות שמנעו את הפשרות הללו כתוצאה מהתנגדות וחשש מפני שינוי.

      לכן, כל מסגרת לשלום חייבת לכלול הוראות שיגדילו באופן דרמטי את הסיכויים לטובת פתרון. ראשית, שני הצדדים צריכים להתחייב להגיע להסכם המבוסס על פתרון שתי מדינות מתוך אמונה ששינוי, שמתורגם לדו-קיום, הוא בלתי נמנע. לכן, עליהם להתאים את עצמם זה לדרישותיו של זה, מה שמחייב אותם בהכרח לעשות ויתורים משמעותיים.

      שנית, כדי להקל על כך, עליהם לבצע אינטראקציות חברתיות, כלכליות, תרבותיות וביטחוניות פייסות בין אנשים, כדי למתן את התנגדותם לשינוי, אשר חייבת להתחיל, לפחות, שנה אחת לפני תחילת המשא ומתן ליצירת הפסיכולוגיות וה אווירה פוליטית כדי לטפח את האמון הדרוש למשא ומתן לשלום מהותי ומוצלח.

      חידוש שיחות השלום לא יוביל לשום מקום אלא אם ישראלים ופלסטינים ישנו את תפיסתם הדעות הקדומות ואת התנגדותם לשינוי ופחדם משינוי, ולבסוף יגיעו להכרה שגורלם שזור זה בזה ואינם יכולים לחיות בשלום ובביטחון ללא השני.

      אני מרגיש נאלץ לסיים את המאמר האחרון שלי לשנה באזהרה חמורה שישראלים ופלסטינים כאחד יעשו אם להרהר בה כאשר הם מתקרבים לסוף העשור השביעי לסכסוך הטראגי שלהם.

      כל מיליטנט ישראלי קיצוני ופלסטיני, מי שרוצה הכל חייב לעצור ולחשוב היכן יהיו ישראל והפלסטינים בעוד עשר שנים אם המצב הנוכחי יימשך?

      אשליותיך של היום לא יהפכו למציאות של מחר, ומה שהמחר יביא אינו אלא עוד כאב, דמעות ויסורים.

      הסכסוך שלך מתפתח מהר יותר למלחמת דת. מתקיים ארמגדון מוסלמי-יהודי שיעלה את כל האזור באש בלתי נתפסת.

      אם אתם מאמינים אמיתיים, אל תעזו להתריס נגד רצונו של אלוהים, כי הוא דחף אתכם יחד כדי להעמיד אתכם במבחן – עליכם לחיות בשלום ובהרמוניה, או שתיגזרו על שכחה וייאוש.

      יש לך את הכוח לבחור את הגורל שלך. האם זה יהיה הרס עצמי או שזה יהיה הגשמת חלום מפואר?

      קום והעביר מורשת של תקווה לכל ילד ישראלי ופלסטיני, כי יש להם את הזכות הנתונה מאלוהים לגדול ולשגשג ואף אחד לא צריך למות על האשליות שלך לשווא”.

      כפי שכתבתי בפוסט שלי מ-9 בנובמבר 2023, מראה של החושך שלנו: בדולח; ישראל מנציחה את הטרגדיה הזו שפתחה דלת לטרגדיה גדולה עוד יותר בשואה בכך שהיא עושה בדיוק את אותו הדבר לפלסטינים, עם אחד המחולק על ידי ההיסטוריה והאמונה המזוהה עם נשק בשירות לשלטון. וגם זה יפתח דלתות לטרור ועריצות מדינות, אלא אם כן שני העמים יוכלו להתאחד נגד רשויות המבצעות זוועות בשמם כאסטרטגיה של הכנעה ולשחרר זה את זה מאלה שישעבדו אותם.

      אם אתה חושב על עמים כילדים שהם ניצולי התעללות, הרבה מתברר; שכן ברגע שהם תפסו את השלטון יש סיכוי גבוה יותר שהם יהפכו למתעללים בעצמם. כך פועל הפחד, מדוע הוא הבסיס האמיתי לחילופי דברים, מדוע פוליטיקה היא אמנות הפחד, ומדוע מדינות מגולמות באלימות. הן הישראלים והן הפלסטינים נפגעו מהאיומים הקיומיים הרבה לפני שהחלו לחבל, להתאכזר ולעשות דה-הומניזציה אחד את השני.

      העובדה שהמשטרים הדורסניים משני הצדדים השתמשו בפוליטיקת פילוג וזהות כדי לרכז כוח ולהעניק לגיטימציה לשליטה אוטוריטרית היא שלב צפוי של מאבק השחרור, במיוחד של מהפכה אנטי-קולוניאלית.

       הטריק של להיות אנושי, חברים, הוא לאמץ את החושך של עצמך במאבק, כמו גם את אויביו, ולצאת מהמורשת של ההיסטוריה שלנו שמצלה עלינו כמו זנב תנין בלתי נראה.

       יש קו שאמר הנבל בסדרה הקוסמים, ניצול של התעללות בילדות ועריץ הידוע בשם החיה על פשעיו הנוראיים, פעם הילד חסר הכוח והמבועת מרטין צ’טווין וכיום אל מפלצתי; “אתה יודע, כשהייתי ילד, גבר שנועד לטפל בי כופף אותי מעל השולחן שלו וקיבל אותי שוב ושוב בכל פעם שהייתי איתו לבד. זה עוזר לי להבין אמת. אתה חזק או שאתה חלש. “

       הנה השקר המקורי של העריץ והפשיסט באפולוגטיקה, בהצדקה העצמית ובפסיכופתיה של הכוח; השקר שרק לכוח יש משמעות והוא אמיתי, שאין טוב או רע. אופן השימוש בכוח הוא בעל חשיבות שווה למי שמחזיק בו. פחד וכוח הם אמצעי עיקרי לחילופי בני אדם, אבל

לא האמצעי היחיד; אהבה, חברות ושייכות חשובים לא פחות.

       זהו קו אשר לוכד בצורה מושלמת את הסתירות הטבועות בטבעת הוואגנרית של פחד, כוח וכוח כמקור של הרוע; שכן השימוש בכוח חברתי הוא חתרני לערכיו שלו. עם זאת, התנאים המוטלים של מאבק מהפכני מצריכים לעתים קרובות אלימות, ועד שאלי החוק והסדר יופלו מכסאותיהם אני חייב להסכים עם הכתבה המפורסמת של סארטר במחזהו “ידיים מלוכלכות” מ-1948, שצוטט על ידי פרנץ פאנון בנאומו מ-1960. למה אנחנו משתמשים באלימות, והפכו לאלמוות על ידי מלקולם אקס; “בכל דרך אפשרית.”

      כפי שכתב וולטר רודני ב-The Groundings with my Brothers; “אמרו לנו שאלימות כשלעצמה היא רוע, ושלא משנה מה הסיבה, היא לא מוצדקת מבחינה מוסרית. לפי איזה סטנדרט של מוסר יכולה האלימות שבה משתמש עבד כדי לשבור את שלשלאותיו להיחשב זהה לאלימות של אדון עבדים? לפי אילו אמות מידה נוכל להשוות את האלימות של שחורים שדוכאו, מדוכאים, מדוכאים ומדוכאים במשך ארבע מאות שנים עם אלימותם של פאשיסטים לבנים. לא ניתן לשפוט אלימות שמטרתה החזרת כבוד האדם ושוויון לפי אותו קנה מידה כמו אלימות שמטרתה לשמור על אפליה ודיכוי”.

      והנה הקטע שאליו הוא מתייחס מפי ליאון טרוצקי ב-Their Morals and Ours: The Class Foundations of Moral Practice; “בעל עבדים שבאמצעות ערמומיות ואלימות כובל עבד בשלשלאות, ועבד שבאמצעות ערמומיות או אלימות שובר את השלשלאות – שלא יאמרו לנו הסריסים הבזויים שהם שווים בפני בית דין מוסר!”

      אולם בהשתקפות אני חושב על אותן דמויות גדולות שהיו גם גיבורי השחרור וגם נבלי העריצות; המודל לחיקוי בגיל ההתבגרות שלי נפוליאון, וושינגטון, שהוא מרכזי בהיסטוריה המשפחתית שלנו וטבע את המוטו על הסמל שלנו בקוד הסיסמה במהלך קרב טרנטון, ניצחון או מוות, כאשר המהפכה כולה התנהלה על תקווה עזובה, של הטרגי דרמה של גיבורים שנפלו כמו רוברט מוגאבה, העריצים המפלצתיים סטלין ומאו, הרשימה היא אוסף כמעט אינסופי של צרות וכישלונות חזון שבהם עולמות חדשים אמיצים הפכו לגיהנום ולמדינות קרסרליות. לראיה אני מציע למהפכות האמריקניות והנפוליאון להפוך לאימפריות, ברית המועצות, המפלגה הקומוניסטית הסינית, הודו, שם תהילת השחרור באה יד ביד עם הטרגדיה של החלוקה וכעת היא תחת מגף הלאומיות ההינדית, כמעט כל המהפכות האנטי-קולוניאליות. שעם תקופת החירות הראשונה כאומות חדשות הפכו לעריצות איומה, ובעיקר למדינת ישראל, לחלום מקלט שנרקם באימת השואה שקורבנותיו למדו את הלקחים הלא נכונים מהנאצים ונטלו על עצמם את תפקידם בכיבוש פלשתינה. הסכנות של האידיאליזם הן אמיתיות מאוד; אבל כך גם הסכנות שבכניעה לסמכות ובשותפות השתיקה מול הרוע.

      אני צייד של פשיסטים, ושלי הוא מוסר של צייד. מבחינתי יש מבחן פשוט לשימוש בכוח; מי מחזיק בכוח

      הרבה מאוד אנשים חכמים כתבו יפה על זוועות הפשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה ועל היררכיות של השתייכות עילית ואחרות מוציאה מהכלל, כפי שעושה פול אוסטרייכר במאמר שלאחר מכן; כאן ברצוני רק להצביע על כך שהכוחות הטמונים בתוכנו ובחוץ כתנאים חברתיים וטראומה אפיגנטית, של אטאביסטים של ברבריות ומערכות דיכוי, הם אוניברסליים לבני אדם כתנאי מאבק כפויים ופועלים ללא הרף גם כשהם מעורפלים מהעין. , מעבר לאימה ולמחסור של נקודות השבר של נפש האדם כמו אלו של ליל הבדולח והטיהור האתני של עזה.

      אני כותב לך כמי שחיה לפי קריאת הקרב של לעולם לא שוב! כבר למעלה מארבעים שנה, ויש חשיבות עמוקה וחיונית ליישם את עקרון הפעולה הזה לא רק בהתנגדות לפשיזם כאויב חודרני של כל מה שאנושי בנו, אלא גם לעצמנו ולשימוש שלנו באלימות ובחברתי. כוח כלפי אחרים.

     בסופו של דבר, כל מה שחשוב הוא מה אנחנו עושים עם הפחד שלנו, ואיך אנחנו משתמשים בכוח שלנו.

      לא משנה היכן אתה מתחיל עם פילוגים והיררכיות של השתייכות עילית ואחרות מדריגה, אתה תמיד מגיע בשערי אושוויץ.

     כפי שמלמד אותנו ניטשה במעבר לטוב ולרע; “מי שצד מפלצות עשוי לדאוג שלא יהפוך בכך למפלצת. ואם אתה מסתכל זמן רב לתוך תהום, התהום מביטה גם בך.”

      במראה האפלה של עזה, עם ההשתקפויות המפלצתיות של ליל הבדולח ושל אושוויץ, אתה אוהב את מה שאתה רואה, הו ישראל?

      כפי שכתבתי בפוסט שלי מ-10 במאי 2021, ההגנה על אל אקצא: חירות מול עריצות בירושלים; ייתכן שהיינו עדים להופעת האינתיפאדה השלישית הלילה, בהגנת אל-אקצא ובקרבות הרחוב בעזה שבאו בעקבותיה, שהוצתו בעקבות הבגידה והכיבוש האימפריאלי של מדינת ישראל שנאת זרים ופשיסטית שאינה מתייחסת לאיש מלבד

השבט והאמונה שלהם כאנושיים באמת, ואשר ביצעו מתקפה בלתי מעוררת וקטלנית כמעשה טרור ממלכתי ופשע נגד האנושות על המתפללים השלווים באחד המסגדים הקדושים ביותר בעולם האסלאמי, הפגנת כוח ו שלטון שבא בעקבות שבועות של פרובוקציות, תקיפות ופעולות של דה-הומניזציה תעמולתית נגד העם הפלסטיני.

       כמו אינתיפאדת אל-אקצא השנייה או אל-אקצא שנמשכה ארבע שנים מה-28 בספטמבר 2000 עד ה-8 בפברואר 2005, נושאים לא פתורים של כיבוש שנמצא כעת בחמישים וארבעה שנים מאז כיבוש ירושלים העתיקה ב-7 ביוני 1967 על ידי ישראל, שמדינת ישראל חגגה על פי ללוח העברי כיום ירושלים היום על ידי תקיפת אל אקצא, ואסון הנמשך כבר שבעים ושלוש שנים מאז יום הנכבה ה-15 במאי 1948, התלכדו סביב הערך הסמלי של אל אקצא, בעל זהות כפולה שנויה במחלוקת כהר הבית ב. יַהֲדוּת.

      סיכויי הסלמה ומניעת מלחמה תלויים כעת לא בגורמים מקומיים אלא בתגובת הקהילה הבינלאומית, שכן ההיסטוריה הפכה כאן למלכודת שמתמוטטת כדי ללכוד אותנו במלתעותיה, וכוחות חיצוניים חייבים לשחרר אותנו מהכישלונות של הסתירות הפנימיות של המערכת שלנו.

      האם אמריקה תתנער ותתנער ממושבה ישראל, מלכת המדיניות האימפריאלית שלה במזרח התיכון והשליטה במשאב האסטרטגי של הנפט? האם האחדות הבינלאומית והלחץ של חרם, ביטול וסנקציה יכולים לשחרר אותנו מהעריצות והטרור של משטר אפרטהייד כפי שעשה בדרום אפריקה?

      או שמא מלחמה היא ההתחשבנות היחידה שהמין האנושי יכול להציע או לקבל?

      כפי שנכתב על ידי ישאן ת’ארור בוושינגטון פוסט; “ביום שני בלילה, חמושים ברצועת עזה והצבא הישראלי החליפו ירי רקטות ותקיפות אוויריות על רקע הסלמה קטלנית של האלימות. חמאס והג’יהאד האיסלאמי, ארגונים חמושים שבסיסם בעזה המצוררת, שיגרו מטח רקטות שנחתו ליד ירושלים ובחלקים מדרום ישראל, ופצעו לפחות אדם אחד. תקיפות אוויריות ישראליות בתגמול הרגו לפחות 20 בני אדם בעזה, לפי משרד הבריאות של עזה, כולל תשעה ילדים.

      ראש ממשלת ישראל בנימין נתניהו אמר כי “קבוצות הטרור” בעזה “חצו קו אדום” עם התקפות הרקטות שלהם. אבל לפיצוץ הלחימה האחרון יש זנב ארוך, בעקבות פעולות תוקפניות רבות הן של כוחות הביטחון הישראליים והן של ארגוני עליונות יהודים מהימין הקיצוני בירושלים. לפני שבועיים צעדו להקות של קיצונים יהודים, כולל כמה מתנחלים מהגדה המערבית, דרך אזורים מאוכלסים בפלסטינים בעיר הקדושה, קראו “מוות לערבים”, תקפו עוברי אורח ופגעו ברכוש ובבתים פלסטינים. ניסיונות ישראלים לפנות מספר משפחות פלסטיניות בשכונת שייח ג’ראח במזרח ירושלים – מיקרוקוסמוס של מה שהפלסטינים רואים כחלק מהיסטוריה ארוכה של נישול ומחיקה בידי מדינת ישראל – עוררו מחאות סולידריות פלסטיניות בחלקים שונים. של השטחים הכבושים וישראל עצמה.

      היא גם העלתה את המתיחות לקראת ציון יום ירושלים ביום שני, חג ישראלי רשמי שחוגג את כיבוש העיר במהלך מלחמת ערב-ישראל ב-1967. צעדה שנתית מתוכננת של ישראלים אולטרה-לאומיים מהימין הקיצוני בוטלה לאחר שהרשויות ניתבו את דרכה ברגע האחרון. מספרים גדולים עדיין עשו את דרכם לכותל ושרו שיר נקמה קיצוני נגד הפלסטינים.

      “התקפות הרקטות של חמאס, שכללו את התקיפות הראשונות נגד ירושלים מזה מספר שנים, הגיעו לאחר עימותים בין משטרת ישראל, מפגינים פלסטינים וישראלים יהודים מהימין הקיצוני ברחבי העיר העתיקה”, דיווחו עמיתיי. “בין מאות הפצועים היו שבעה שאושפזו במצב קשה, כך לפי הסהר האדום הפלסטיני. קטעי וידאו שהופצו ברשתות החברתיות של שוטרים ישראלים מכים באכזריות גבר פלסטיני עצור”.

       איך אמריקה יכולה לתמוך במדינת ישראל בעריצות ובטרור, בכיבוש ובגזל? זו שאלה שנשאלת בטונים של זעם, צער ותמיהה מאז הופעת הנכבה ב-15 במאי 1948, יום הקטסטרופה שהחל את כיבוש פלסטין והשעבוד השיטתי ורצח העם של אנשיה בעקבות הכיבוש הישראלי. של ירושלים. איך זה מקבל לגיטימציה?

       חבר ניסח לי לאחרונה מחדש את השאלה הזו; “אהבתי ואימצתי את המסורת היהודית, הצטרפתי לבית כנסת ועבדתי לצד רבו. כשאני עד ליחס של ממשלת ישראל היהודית לפלסטינים, אני מוצף ברגשות של בלבול וכעס. אני לא מצליח ליישב את חוסר המוסריות הזה, אני מטיל ספק בעצם היסוד של אמונתי. היכן ההתקוממות הטובה והמוסרית של הקולות היהודיים הבינלאומיים המגנה את דרכה של הממשלה? איבדתי את האמון בלהיות יהודי”.

      מה שברור לי הוא שמשבר האמונה הזה הוא גם משבר קיומי של זהות

מצב של כובד ראש וסכנה אשר טומן בחובו גם פוטנציאל לדמיון מחודש ולידה מחדש טרנספורמטיבית, הד אישי למשבר ציוויליזציוני מקביל ממנו על המין האנושי וקהילת האומות העולמית למצוא דרך לצאת ולשחרר את עצמנו מהמורשת של ההיסטוריה שלנו. הנה תשובתי:

      מדינת ישראל אינה זהה לאמונה היהודית, אם כי הפלג הפשיסטי-אימפריאליסטי שנתניהו מייצג היה רוצה שכולם יחשבו כך.

     אומה המבוססת על הקצאת אזרחיה לזהות שבטית, נשק עדתי של אמונה בשירות לשלטון וזהות לאומית מורשית, חברה צבאית עם שירות חובה אוניברסלי ופטישיזציה נרחבת של מיתוסים של חיל לחימה וסמליה כולל רובים , ושפה עברית משוחזרת של אחדות לאומית השתמשה בפוליטיקת זהויות כדי להכפיף את אזרחיה לכוח הריכוזי של העריצות; ישראל היא מדינה פשיסטית של דם, אמונה ואדמה לא פחות מזו של הנאצים.

      הוסיפו לתמהיל הרעיל הזה משטר קלפטוקרטי שהפיץ נרטיבים של קורבנות היסטורית כדי לתת לגיטימציה לגניבה מסיבית וכיבוש אימפריאלי של מדינות אחרות ודבר אחד ברור; ישראל למדה את הלקחים הלא נכונים מהנאצים.

      אתה אולי יודע מההתייחסויות הרבות שלי לתקרית בכתיבתי שאני אנטי-פשיסט, שנשבע לשבועת ההתנגדות על ידי ז’אן ז’נה ב-1982 בביירות, במהלך מאבקנו נגד הפלישה והמצור הישראלים. ב-39 השנים שאחרי, הייתי צייד נאצים ומהפכן של דמוקרטיה העסוק במאבק לשחרור המין האנושי נגד עריצות ומשטרים אוטוריטריים של כוח ושליטה.

       מולדת פלסטינית, וצדק לאנשיה, היו בין המטרות שלי מאז אותו קיץ לפני כל כך הרבה זמן. כמו המטרה של שחרור אירלנד מהשלטון הקולוניאלי הבריטי, עוד נותרה להשיגה. מדובר ברעיון החירות והאזרחות כריבונות ועצמאות של עמים מקולוניאליזם זר ועריצות אוטוריטרית, והקדימות של מדינה לא-כתתית נקייה מפילוגים והיררכיות של אמונה, שכן מי שעומד בין כל אחד מאיתנו לבין האינסופי אינו משרת אף אחד מהם. .

      אני גם תומך ברעיון של מולדת ישראלית, ולא רואה סיבה ששתי המדינות הללו, פלסטין וישראלית, יהיו סותרות זו את זו או אנטגוניסטיות. כמה ישראלים שלא יסכימו איתי בשאלת פלסטין ומיליטריזם בכיבוש אימפריאלי ובשליטה אזורית היו בעלי ברית במטרת ציד הנאצים והפשיסטים בדרך כלל ברחבי העולם, אבל הם עיוורים לשותפותם שלהם ברוע זה בגלל שהם רואים את עצמם כקורבנות ולא כמבצעי פשעים נגד האנושות. מדובר בפחד, ובמעגל ההרסני של התעללות ואלימות.

      כאשר האמונה מנוכסת על ידי סמכות ללגיטימציה בפוליטיקת זהויות, הזהות עצמה הופכת מבולבלת ומעורפלת. כדי להיות חופשיים, עלינו לתפוס בעלות על עצמנו כיצורים שנוצרו בעצמנו ואוטונומיים.

      זו הסיבה שהתפקידים העיקריים של האזרח הם להטיל ספק בסמכות, לחשוף סמכות, ללעוג לסמכות ולערער על סמכות.

      תמיד נשאר המאבק בין המסכות שאחרים עושים לנו לבין אלה שאנחנו עושים לעצמנו; זו המהפכה הראשונה שבה כולנו צריכים להילחם.

      אני חושב על בעיית הרוע האנושי ומעגל הפחד, הכוח והכוח שלו במקרה של מדינות שהופכות לעריצות מהן נלחמו כדי להשתחרר מהן, וזה נכון לגבי מדינות מהפכניות אנטי-קולוניאליות בדרך כלל בגלל המורשת ההיסטורית של הקורבנות , בדרך זו; קורבנות הופכים לעתים קרובות למתעללים מכיוון שזהותם מאורגנת סביב כוח כאמצעי המילוט היחיד בעולם שבו לא ניתן לסמוך על איש.

      כאשר האמון בוטל והוכח כריק וללא משמעות, כאשר היכולת להתחבר ולהרגיש את כאבם של אחרים באמפתיה נשברה ואדם ללא רחמים או חרטה, כאשר הפחד הוא מכריע ומוכלל ועוצב על ידי סמכות בשירות הכוח, הקורבנות לומדים שרק לכוח יש משמעות והוא אמיתי. אסור לנו לאפשר למתעללים שלנו להפוך למורים שלנו.

      בעוד שלכל נושא כזה יש מקורות והיסטוריה ייחודיים משלו, הבעיה עצמה היא אוניברסלית, וקשורה למה שחוששים, ואיך הפחד הזה מעוצב על ידי סמכות זהות. מנקודת המבט שלנו כאמריקאים המפרשים אירועים בבעיה הקלאסית של המיעוט הכפול האופיינית על ידי ישראל ופלסטין, האופן שבו אנו תופסים נושאים קשורים רבות לאופן שבו הם ממוסגרים על ידי מקורות המידע והמניעים שלנו.

       בסופו של דבר אנחנו מוגדרים לפי מה אנחנו עושים עם הפחד שלנו, ואיך אנחנו משתמשים בכוח שלנו.

       השאלה הראשונה שיש לשאול על כל סיפור, והחשובה ביותר, היא פשוטה; של מי הסיפור הזה

       אנחנו אבודים במדבר של מראות, של שקרים ואשליות, זיופים של עצמנו, דימויים והשתקפויות מעוותים, הדים וזהויות מורשות שמעוותות, משבשות.

להעצים ולגנוב את נשמתנו.

       איך נענה למי שישעבד אותנו? האותנטיות והאוטונומיה שלנו מתממשות באמצעות תפיסת כוח, ודמיון מחדש והפיכתנו של עצמנו ושל המין האנושי כחברה חופשית של שווים.

       אנו האמריקאים נוטים לראות דברים במונחים של כובעים לבנים וכובעים שחורים, כמו בסרטי המערבון המשמשים כמיתוסים וארכיטיפים של המקור הלאומי שלנו. ברגע שהוענק מעמד של קורבן, קבוצות ואנשים כאלה הופכים לכובעים לבנים ולחבר’ה טובים, חסרי יכולת לרוע ומנוגדים בתכלית למי שחייבים להיות כובעים שחורים. זו דרך איומה לבחור במדיניות לאומית.

      למרבה הצער, אנו בני האדם יכולים להיות טובים ורעים בבת אחת, פגמי האנושות שלנו מהדהדים ומשקפים את השבר של העולם. זו אמת שהוכחה שוב הלילה באל קודס או בירושלים תלוי למי מדברים ובאיזה שפה, בעוד עזה בוערת מהסתערות של צבא הגנה ישראלי משתוללת בדומה ללילה לפני כמעט ארבעה עשורים בביירות. כשניסו לשרוף את ג’נט ואני בחיים בבית הקפה שלנו, כתריסר בני אדם שנגנב מהם הכל מלבד התקווה נשבעים נדרים זה לזה להחזיק בתפקיד שיכסה את בריחת הנשים והילדים שנלכדו בתקיפה הישראלית עד שכל בטוחים, בהגנה סופית לא על מסגד אל אקצא, מפואר ויפה ומלא במשמעות, אנדרטה לדחף האנושי להגיע אל מעבר לעצמנו ולאפשרויות הבלתי מוגבלות להפוך לאנושיות, במה המתאימה למותם המפואר של גיבורים, אבל של צרחות חסרות גוף של זרים בין המלחמות חסרות השם של עתיקות נטושה.

      אל מול תהום הריקנות והברבריות הניהיליסטית של עולם של חושך ואש, של פחד וכוח, יש לי רק מילים להציע, ואני כותב לך את מה שאמרתי לחבריי שבחרו לעמוד איתי; איבדתי את ספירת היציעים האחרונים, אבל סיכנתי הכל כנגד סיכויים בלתי אפשריים ושרדתי יותר פעמים ממה שאני יכול לזכור, וכל מה שחשוב הוא שאנחנו לא נוטשים לא את עצמנו ולא אחד את השני, שאנחנו מסרבים להיכנע, כי זה רגע החופש שלנו, ולעולם לא ניתן לקחת אותו מאיתנו.

       מהלילה הזה, פלסטין חופשית, כי אנחנו יכולים להיהרג, אבל אי אפשר לכבוש אותנו.

May 9 2024 A Legacy of Freedom Shared By Us All: Jewish American Heritage Month

    We celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month this May, the triumph of survival and refusal to surrender one’s history and identity against impossible odds and unimaginable horrors, the acts of grace and courage in clawing something of our humanity back from the darkness and the terror of our nothingness, and the countless innovations, primary insights, revolutions of sciences and intellect, praxis of values, and of the reimagination and transformation of our civilization and ourselves in every area of human achievement which this unique people have given humankind and America throughout their long history here, since the first organized Jewish migration to what is now New York in 1654 fleeing the Portuguese conquest of Brazil, and earlier as Texas was founded in 1579 as a colony of exiled Jews by Spain, under the Jewish Governor Luis de Carvajal, founder of Monterrey in what is now Mexico, who ruled it briefly as the dream of a new Sepharad wherein peoples of all races and faiths may live under the same law, until his success attracted the jealousy and avarice of the Inquisition, who burned his entire family at the stake in 1596.

     America as a promise of sanctuary has always been conditional and shadowed by hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness, and we have yet to emerge from the legacies of our history.

     From the first America has been founded on freedom of religion and imagined as a place of refuge and beyond the reach of tyrannies and empires, in which all of us are equal before the law and free to pursue our relationship with the Infinite without fear or compulsion by the state. Among the greatest principles of liberty we inherit is that he who stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.

     This primary right of freedom of religion is universal and nonexclusionary, and for this we owe a debt to our Jewish American community no less than that of the Pilgrims and others who escaped to our shores from authoritarian force and control, and together created a free society of equals.

     I hope we can prove equal to their example.

      Because the personal and the political are interdependent, and we are made of the stories we tell about ourselves, to ourselves and to others, I offer here a story from my family history as told to me by my mother of how Jewish people saved us, when no one else would, and without whom none of us would have ever lived.

     Upon the docks of America arrived a nine year old girl, alone and without a penny or a word of English. A stranger, with no one waiting to meet her, no family, no friends, nothing. My maternal great grandmother Apollonia this was, with flaming red hair like my mother’s, whose family had arranged her escape from Austria as their home burned, the sole survivor of both her family and her entire city as it no longer exists and has been erased from all history so far as we now know.

      She wandered the port asking for help, in five languages of descending likelihood of recognition; French, Austrian, Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian, and finally, in despair and fear that the reaction would be far worse than being abandoned to starve and freeze to death, Yiddish.

      This immediately gathered a crowd, to her astonishment not one bearing torches and axes.

      So a stranger was taken in and raised by Jewish people, of whom I know nothing, and thus our family’s survival is owed to the entire Jewish community and people.

         This happened in 1873, year of the glorious Vienna World’s Fair but also the stock market crash in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War which began a twenty year Depression in Europe and the Jewish persecutions as they were blamed for it; also conflicts between the Russian and Ottoman Empires in their borderlands.

      She it was who owned her own rifles and horses by the age of sixteen when she began her career as a hunting guide, and died in the saddle at the age of 95, rifle in her hand, having shot the bear that attacked her horses and killed her. The Indians buried her like the Huns buried Attila, on her horse and with her rifle, like a warrior princess.

      I was born within days of her death, and as with all ancestors I bear her onward, literally as DNA and the stories which possess us as the ghosts of other lives; truths written in our flesh.

      Historical context and the fact that my ancestor in the direct maternal line knew Yiddish, and lived as a member of that community at minimum until sixteen, makes it possible that we are Jewish by descent and under Jewish law, though my mother never claimed so and moreover was a radical atheist who raised us with no religious traditions at all. In so doing the family faith she liberated herself from was Catholicism, an artifact of her Austrian paternal line who were exiles of the 1919 fall of the Hapsburg Empire after 600 years.

     If this is truly a part of our historical identity, it has been lost on the seas of time, or stolen from us, as is true of so many Americans who came here to escape or forget their past. But it also frees us to create new possibilities of becoming human, forged both from those who are different and those alike, and from this perspective the stories of the Jewish people offer us all examples we can use in the creation of ourselves and our uniqueness.

      As a teenager immersed in Holocaust literature while working through the trauma of a near death experience in Brazil the summer before high school, my execution by a police death squad while rescuing abandoned street children they were bounty hunting having been prevented by the Matadors, and conversations with my mother as she wrote her study of psychosomatic muteness from the Soviet medical records and childhood therapy journal of Jerzy Kosinski which he fictionalized as The Painted Bird, I once asked her directly, Are we Jews?

      To this she replied; “Everyone is a Jew. Everyone is someone’s Jew, someone’s scapegoat, someone’s Other. The great task of becoming human is to overcome fear of otherness, while embracing our uniqueness.”

     To frame this in its literary and historical context, herein I offer you an updated version of the reading list I used for high school American literature classes throughout my teaching career:

                   Jewish American History and Literature

     Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s History of the Jews, The Chosen, The Promise, My Name is Asher Lev, The Gift of Asher Lev, Davita’s Harp, Chaim Potok

     Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Carmon & Knizhnik

     The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, The Hope, The Glory, Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk

     The Origins of Totalitarianism, On Revolution, The Human Condition, Between Past and Future, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, The Life of the Mind, Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy, Love and Saint Augustine, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975, The Promise of Politics, Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics Civil Disobedience On Violence and Thoughts on Politics and Revolution, The Recovery of the Public World, Responsibility and Judgment, The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age, Hannah Arendt: The Last Interview and Other Conversations, Hannah Arendt

The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth, Ken Krimstein

Hannah Arendt, Julia Kristeva

       Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media,   How the World Works, Masters of Mankind: Essays and Lectures, 1969-2013, Class Warfare: Interviews with David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky

      Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman

     The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah, The Classic Tales: 4,000 Years of Jewish Lore, Jewish Spirit: Stories & Art, Ellen Frankel

     The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revisions, For the Love of God: The Bible as an Open Book, The Volcano and After: Selected and New Poems 2002-2019, Dancing at the Devil’s Party: Essays on Poetry, Politics, and the Erotic, Alicia Suskin Ostriker

       Sages and Dreamers, A Passover Haggadah, Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits and Legends, Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters, All RIvers Run To The Sea: Memoir, Night Trilogy (Night, Dawn, Day), The Trial of God: as it was held on February 25, 1649, in Shamgorod, A Beggar in Jerusalem, Elie Wiesel

Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, Ariel Burger

      The Red Tent – 20th Anniversary Edition: A Novel, Day After Night, Anita Diamant

     The Rabbi of Lud, Boswell, George Mills, The Dick Gibson Show, Stanley Elkin

      The Shawl/Rosa, Envy, or Yiddish in America / The Pagan Rabbi, Collected Stories, The Messiah of Stockholm, The Puttermesser Papers, Antiquities, Heir to the Glimmering World, Foreign Bodies, Art & Ardor, Metaphor & Memory, Quarrel & Quandary: Essays, The Din in the Head, Critics Monsters Fanatics and Other Literary Essays, Portrait Of The Artist As A Bad Character: And Other Essays On Writing Cynthia Ozick

     Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The March, World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow

E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime (Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations) Harold Bloom

    Essays, Collected Stories, Grace Paley

    Gimpel the Fool and other stories, Shadows on the Hudson, In My Father’s Court, Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side (with Bruce Davidson),  The Spinoza of Market Street, A Friend of Kafka and other stories, A Crown of Feathers and other stories, The Family Moskat, Isaac Bashevis Singer

   Anarchy and other writings, Living My Life, Emma Goldman

      The Adventures of Augie March, Seize the Day, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Mr. Sammler’s Planet, Humboldt’s Gift, Collected Stories, There Is Simply Too Much to Think about: Collected Nonfiction, Saul Bellow

Conversations with Saul Bellow, Saul Bellow (Editor), Gloria L. Cronin, Ben Siegel

The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune 1915-1964, The Life of Saul Bellow: Love and Strife, 1965-2005, Zachary Leader

   The Complete Stories, The Natural, The Assistant, The Fixer, Dubin’s Lives, Bernard Malamud

   The Ghost Writer, The Counterlife, Operation Shylock, The Plot Against America, American Pastoral, I Married A Communist, Philip Roth

   Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story, I Was Here, The Weight of Ink, Rachel Kadish                

    Collected Poems, Alan Ginsberg

The Poem That Changed America: “Howl” Fifty Years Later, Jason Shinder ed    

     Man Walks into a Room, The History of Love, Great House, Forest Dark, Nicole Krauss

     A Guide for the Perplexed: a novel, Septimania: a novel, Jonathan Levi

     36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, Properties of Light: A Novel of Love Betrayal and Quantum Physics, The Dark Sister, Strange Attractors: Stories, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, Rebecca Goldstein

     Kaddish, Leon Wieseltier

     Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Tree of Codes, Here I Am, Eating Animals, The Future Dictionary of America (Editor), New American Haggadah, Jonathan Safran Foer

     Against Interpretation, Styles of Radical Will, Under the Sign of Saturn, On Photography, Where The Stress Falls, Sontag on Film, Susan Sontag

     The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, The Final Solution, Summerland, Gentlemen of the Road, Telegraph Avenue, Moonglow, Manhood for Amateurs, Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands, Michael Chabon              

     Poems 1962-2020, American Originality: Essays on Poetry, Louise Glück

The Poetry of Louise Glück: A Thematic Introduction, Daniel Morris                         

                             World Literature: Jewish People

                              History

     Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s History of the Jews

     The Story of the Jews Volume One: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD, Volume Two: Belonging: 1492-1900, Simon Schama

    Jerusalem: The Biography, Simon Sebag Montefiore

     Personal Witness: Israel, Abba Iban

     Israel, Gilbert

     The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Every Day Remembrance Day: A Chronicle of Jewish Martyrdom, The Murderers Among Us, Krystyna: The Tragedy of the Polish Resistance, Simon Wiesenthal

    Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation, Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman  

     Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City, Andrew Lawler

     Historical Atlas of the Jewish People, Barnavi ed

     Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, A History of Judaism, Martin Goodman

      Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Moshe Arens

     Auschwitz, Laurence Rees

    Treblinka, Jean-François Steiner, Simone de Beauvoir (Preface), Terrence Des Pres (Introduction)

     Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari

     Homage to Chagall, Amiell ed

     An Empire of Their Own: how the Jews Invented Hollywood, Neal Gabler

     I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, Sylvie Simmons

      The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature, The Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century, Come and Hear: What I Saw in My Seven-And-A-Half-Year Journey Through the Talmud, Adam Kirsch

                             Literature

     The Schoken Bible: The Five Books of Moses

     The Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides

     Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays, The Ineffable Name of God: Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel

     Siddur Leshabbat Veyom Tov: Prayer Book for Sabbath & Festivals with Torah Readings, Philip Birnbaum

     On The Bible, Tales of the Hasidim, Vols 1-2 (Bonny V. Fetterman Editor, Chaim Potok Foreword), I and Thou, Between Man and Man, Martin Buber

Martin Buber, Diamond

The Text as Thou: Martin Buber’s Dialogical Hermeneutics and Narrative Theology, Steven Kepnes

Learning Through Dialogue: The Relevance of Martin Buber’s Classroom, Kenneth Paul Kramer

     Zohar: The Book of Splendor: Basic Readings from the Kabbalah, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead: Basic Concepts in the Kabbalah, Kabbalah, Origins of the Kabbalah, The Messianic Idea in Judaism: And Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality, Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship, From Berlin to Jerusalem: Memories of My Youth, The Fullness of Time: Poems by Gershom Scholem, A Life in Letters, 1914-1982,  Gershom Scholem

     The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media, Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings, The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire, Understanding Brecht, Walter Benjamin

     The Five Books of Miriam, Ellen Frankel

     Congregation, Rosenberg ed

     The Essential Kabbalah, Daniel Matt

     Sages and Dreamers, A Passover Haggadah, Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits and Legends, Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters, All RIvers Run To The Sea: Memoir, Night Trilogy ( Night, Dawn, Day), The Trial of God: as it was held on February 25, 1649, in Shamgorod, A Beggar in Jerusalem, Elie Wiesel

Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, Ariel Burger

     Survival in Auschwitz, Auschwitz Report, The Reawakening, The Drowned and the Saved, Moments of Reprieve, If Not Now When?, Periodic Table, The Mirror Maker: Stories and Essays, The Monkey’s Wrench, Collected Poems, Primo Levi

Primo Levi’s Resistance: Rebels and Collaborators in Occupied Italy, Sergio Luzzatto

     Holiday Tales of Scholom Aleichem

The World of Scholom Aleichem, Samuel

     Collected Stories of Isaac Babel

     Days of Awe, S.Y. Agnon

     Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan, Paul Celan, John Felstiner trans.

     Theological-Political Treatise, Ethics, Baruch Spinoza

A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza’s Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age, Steven Nadler

Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, Rebecca Goldstein

     The Communist Manifesto (with Friedrich Engels), Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx 

The Relevance of the Communist Manifesto, Slavoj Žižek

A Companion to Marx’s Capital, David Harvey

     The Freud Reader Peter Gay (Editor), Totem and Taboo, Civilization and Its Discontents, The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud

Freud: A Life for Our Time, Peter Gay

     Man’s Search for Meaning, The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy, Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning, Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything, Recollections: An Autobiography, Viktor E. Frankl

     Of Grammatology, Writing and Difference, Dissemination, Margins of Philosophy, Specters of Marx, Spurs: Nietzsche’s Styles, The Truth in Painting, Jacques Derrida

     The Trial, The Castle, The Complete Stories, The Zürau Aphorisms, Franz Kafka

Conversations with Kafka, Gustav Janouch

Franz Kafka: a biography, Max Brod

Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari

The Nightmare of Reason: Kafka, Pawel

     The Street of Crocodiles, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, Bruno Schulz

     Elsewhere Perhaps, Fima, Amos Oz

     The Chosen, Davita’s Harp, The Promise, My Name is Asher Lev, The Gift of Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

     Hovering at a Low Altitude: The Collected Poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch, Dalia Ravikovitch

     City of Many Days, The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East, Shulamith Hareven

     Mr Mani, Yehoshua

     Apples From The Desert, Savyon Liebrecht

     The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai, Alter ed

The Writing of Yehuda Amichai: A Thematic Approach, Glenda Abramson

      An Impossible Life, David Black

     Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, Voices Within The Ark, Lilith’s Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural, Miriam’s Tambourine, Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish Tales, Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales, Invisible Kingdoms: Jewish Tales of Angels, Spirits, and Demons, A Palace of Pearls: The Stories of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, Reimagining the Bible: The Storytelling of the Rabbis, Voices Within the Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets, Howard Schwartz

     The Complete Stories, Near to the Wild Heart, The Apple in the Dark, The Passion According to G.H., The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector

Reading with Clarice Lispector, Hélène Cixous

Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, Benjamin Moser

     Gimpel the Fool and other stories, Shadows on the Hudson, In My Father’s Court, Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side (with Bruce Davidson),  The Spinoza of Market Street, A Friend of Kafka and other stories, A Crown of Feathers and other stories, The Family Moskat, Isaac Bashevis Singer

     The Complete Stories, Near to the Wild Heart, The Apple in the Dark, The Passion According to G.H., The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector

Reading with Clarice Lispector, Hélène Cixous

Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, Benjamin Moser

     Where the Bird Sings Best, Albina and the Dog-Men, The Son of Black Thursday, Alejandro Jodorowsky

Anarchy and Alchemy: the Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky

     The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, Sarit Yishai-Levi

     Jerusalem: A Family Portrait, Boaz Yakin, Nick Bertozzi (Illustrations)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/04/29/a-proclamation-on-jewish-american-heritage-month-2022/

Hebrew

9 במאי 2024 מורשת של חופש משותפת לכולנו: חודש המורשת היהודית האמריקאית

     אנו חוגגים את חודש המורשת היהודית-אמריקאית במאי הקרוב, את ניצחון ההישרדות והסירוב למסור את ההיסטוריה והזהות של האדם כנגד סיכויים בלתי אפשריים וזוועות בלתי נתפסות, מעשי החסד והאומץ בהחזרת משהו מהאנושיות שלנו מהחושך ואימת האין שלנו. , ואינספור החידושים, התובנות העיקריות, המהפכות של המדעים והאינטלקט, פרקטיקה של ערכים ושל הדמיון והטרנספורמציה של הציוויליזציה שלנו ושל עצמנו בכל תחום של הישגים אנושיים שהעם הייחודי הזה העניק למין האנושי ולאמריקה לאורך ההיסטוריה הארוכה שלהם כאן , מאז ההגירה היהודית המאורגנת הראשונה למה שהוא כיום ניו יורק בשנת 1654 בריחה מהכיבוש הפורטוגזי של ברזיל, וקודם לכן טקסס נוסדה בשנת 1579 כמושבת יהודים גולים על ידי ספרד, תחת המושל היהודי לואיס דה קרבחאל, מייסד מונטריי. במה שהיא כיום מקסיקו, ששלט בה לזמן קצר כחלום של ספרד חדש שבו עמים מכל הגזעים והדתות יכולים לחיות תחת אותו חוק, עד שהצלחתו משכה את הקנאה והקמצנות של האינקוויזיציה, ששרפו את כל משפחתו מניות בשנת 1596.

      אמריקה כהבטחה למקלט תמיד הייתה מותנית ומוצלת על ידי היררכיות של שייכות והדרה, ועדיין לא יצאנו מהמורשת של ההיסטוריה שלנו.

      מלכתחילה אמריקה הוקמה על חופש הדת ודומיינת כמקום מפלט ומעבר להישג ידם של עריצות ואימפריות, שבה כולנו שווים בפני החוק וחופשיים לרדוף אחר מערכת היחסים שלנו עם האינסופי ללא פחד או אילוץ לפי המדינה. בין עקרונות החירות הגדולים ביותר שאנו יורשים הוא שמי שעומד בין כל אחד מאיתנו לבין האינסופי אינו משרת אף אחד מהם.

      הזכות העיקרית הזו לחופש הדת היא אוניברסלית וללא הדרה, ועל כך אנו חבים חוב לקהילה היהודית האמריקאית שלנו לא פחות מזה של עולי הרגל ואחרים שנמלטו לחופינו מכוח ושליטה אוטוריטריים, ויחד יצרו חברה חופשית. של שווים.

      אני מקווה שנוכל להוכיח שווים לדוגמה שלהם.

       מכיוון שהאישי והפוליטי תלויים זה בזה, ואנחנו עשויים מהסיפורים שאנו מספרים על עצמנו, לעצמנו ולאחרים, אני מציע כאן סיפור מההיסטוריה המשפחתית שלי כפי שסיפרה לי אמי כיצד העם היהודי הצילו אותנו, כשאף אחד אחר לא היה עושה זאת, ובלעדיו אף אחד מאיתנו לא היה חי.

      אל רציפי אמריקה הגיעה ילדה בת תשע, לבד וללא אגורה או מילה באנגלית. זר, בלי אף אחד שמחכה לפגוש אותה, בלי משפחה, בלי חברים, בלי כלום. סבתא רבא שלי, אפולוניה, מצד אמי, זו הייתה, עם שיער אדום בוער כמו של אמי, שמשפחתה סידרה לה את הבריחה מאוסטריה כשביתם נשרף, הניצולה היחידה עד כמה שאנחנו יודעים עכשיו.

       היא שוטטה בנמל וביקשה עזרה, בחמש שפות של ירידה בסבירות להכרה; צרפתית, אוסטרית, הונגרית, סרבו-קרואטית, ולבסוף, בייאוש וחשש שהתגובה תהיה גרועה בהרבה מהפקרת לרעב ולהקפיא, יידיש.

       אז אדם זר נקלט וגדל על ידי אנשים יהודים, שאני לא יודע עליהם דבר, ולכן ההישרדות של המשפחה שלנו היא חב לכל הקהילה והעם היהודי.

          זה קרה בשנת 1873, שנת התערוכה העולמית המפוארת של וינה אך גם התרסקות שוק המניות בעקבות מלחמת צרפת-פרוסיה שהחלה שפל של עשרים שנה באירופה והרדיפות היהודיות כפי שהואשמו בה; גם סכסוכים בין האימפריה הרוסית והעות’מאנית בארצות הגבול שלהם.

       היא הייתה בעלת רובים וסוסים משלה עד גיל שש עשרה כשהחלה את דרכה כמדריכת ציד, ומתה על האוכף בגיל 95, רובה בידה, לאחר שירתה בדוב שתקף את סוסיה. הרג אותה. האינדיאנים קברו אותה כמו שההונים קברו את אטילה, על סוסה ועם הרובה שלה, כמו נסיכה לוחמת.

       נולדתי תוך ימים של מותה, וכמו עם כל האבות הקדמונים אני נושא אותה הלאה, ממש כדנ”א והסיפורים שמחזיקים בנו כרוחות רפאים של חיים אחרים; אמיתות שנכתבו על בשרנו.

       ההקשר ההיסטורי והעובדה שאבי הקדמון שלי בשושלת האם ידע יידיש מאפשרים שאנחנו יהודים במוצאנו, אם כי אמי מעולם לא טענה זאת ויותר מכך הייתה אתאיסטית רדיקלית שגידלה אותנו ללא מסורות דתיות כלל. בכך, האמונה המשפחתית שממנה השתחררה הייתה הקתוליות, חפץ משושלת האבה האוסטרית שהיו גולים של נפילת האימפריה ההבסבורגית ב-1919 לאחר 600 שנה.

      אם זה באמת חלק מהזהות ההיסטורית שלנו, הוא אבד על ימי הזמן, או נגנב מאיתנו, כפי שנכון לכל כך הרבה אמריקאים שהגיעו לכאן כדי לברוח או לשכוח את עברם. אבל זה גם משחרר אותנו ליצור אפשרויות חדשות להיות אנושיות, שנוצרו הן מאלו השונים והן מהדומים, והן מהפי הזה.

בכל מקרה, סיפורי העם היהודי מציעים לכולנו דוגמאות שאנו יכולים להשתמש בהן ביצירת עצמנו וייחודיותנו.

       כנער שקוע בספרות השואה בזמן שעבר את הטראומה של חווית כמעט מוות בברזיל בקיץ שלפני התיכון, הוצאתי להורג על ידי חוליית מוות משטרתית תוך כדי הצלת ילדי רחוב נטושים שהם צדו ראשים נמנעה על ידי המטאדורים, ושיחות עם אמי כשכתבה את המחקר שלה על אילמות פסיכוסומטית מתוך הרשומות הרפואיות הסובייטיות וכתב העת לטיפול בילדות של יז’י קוסינסקי, שאותו העלה בדיוני בתור הציפור המצוירת, שאלתי אותה פעם ישירות, האם אנחנו יהודים?

       על כך השיבה; “כולם יהודים. כל אחד הוא יהודי של מישהו, שעיר לעזאזל של מישהו, הזולת של מישהו. המשימה הגדולה של להיות אנושי היא להתגבר על הפחד מאחרות, תוך אימוץ הייחודיות שלנו”.

Yiddish

9 מאי 2023 א לעגאַט פון פרייהייט מיט אונדז אַלע: ייִדיש אמעריקאנער העריטאַגע חודש

     מיר פייַערן דעם ייִדישן אַמעריקאַנער העריטאַגע חודש דעם מייַ, דער טריומף פון ניצל און אָפּזאָג צו אַרויסגעבן זיין געשיכטע און אידענטיטעט קעגן אוממעגלעך שאַנסן און אַנימאַדזשאַנאַבאַל כאָרערז, די אקטן פון חן און מוט צו צוריקקריגן עפּעס פון אונדזער מענטשהייט פון דער פינצטערניש און די טעראָר פון אונדזער גאָרנישט. און די קאַונטלאַס ינאָווויישאַנז, ערשטיק ינסייץ, רעוואַלושאַנז פון וויסנשאפטן און סייכל, פּראַקסיס פון וואַלועס, און פון די ריימאַדזשאַניישאַן און טראַנספאָרמאַציע פון אונדזער ציוויליזאַציע און זיך אין יעדער געגנט פון מענטשלעך דערגרייה וואָס דאָס יינציק מענטשן האָבן געגעבן מענטשהייַט און אַמעריקע איבער זייער לאַנג געשיכטע דאָ זינט די ערשטע ארגאניזירטע אידישע מיגראציע צו דעם היינטיקן ניו יארק אין 1654 אנטלאפן פון פארטוגעזיש פארכאנג פון בראזיל, און פריער ווי טעקסאס איז געגרינדעט געווארן אין 1579 אלס א קאלאניע פון גלות אידן דורך שפאניע, אונטער דעם אידישן גאווערנאר לואיס דע קארוואדזשאל, גרינדער פון מאנטערי. אין וואָס איז איצט מעקסיקא, וואס רולד עס בעקיצער ווי דער חלום פון אַ נייַ ספאַראַד אין וואָס פעלקער פון אַלע ראַסעס און אמונה קענען לעבן אונטער די זעלבע געזעץ, ביז זיין הצלחה געצויגן די קנאה און קנאה פון די ינקוויסיטיאָן, וואָס פארברענט זיין גאנצע משפּחה אין די פלעקל אין 1596.

      אַמעריקע ווי אַ צוזאָג פון מיזבייעך איז שטענדיק געווען קאַנדישאַנאַל און שאַדאָוד דורך כייעראַרקיז פון בילאָנגינג און יקסקלוזשאַן אנדערע, און מיר האָבן נאָך צו אַרויסקומען פון די לעגאַסיז פון אונדזער געשיכטע.

      פון דער ערשטער אַמעריקע איז געגרינדעט אויף פרייהייט פון רעליגיע און ימאַדזשאַנד ווי אַ אָרט פון אָפּדאַך און ווייַטער פון די דערגרייכן פון טיראַניז און עמפּייערז, אין וואָס אַלע פון אונדז זענען גלייַך איידער די געזעץ און פריי צו נאָכגיין אונדזער שייכות מיט די ינפאַנאַט אָן מורא אָדער קאַמפּאַלשאַן דורך די שטאַט. צווישן די גרעסטע פּרינסאַפּאַלז פון פרייַהייַט מיר ירשענען איז אַז דער וואס שטייט צווישן יעדער פון אונדז און די ינפאַנאַט דינען ניט קיין.

      דאס ערשטע רעכט פון רעליגיעז פרייהייט איז אוניווערסאל און נישט אויסשליסליך, און דערפאר זענען מיר שולדיק א חוב צו אונזער אידישער אמעריקאנער געמיינדע נישט ווייניגער ווי די פון די פילגרימען און אנדערע וואס זענען אנטלאפן צו אונזערע ברעגן פון אויטאריטאריע קראפט און קאנטראל, און צוזאמען האבן באשאפן א פרייע געזעלשאפט. פון גלייַך.

      איך האָפֿן מיר קענען באַווייַזן גלייַך צו זייער בייַשפּיל.

       ווייַל די פערזענלעכע און די פּאָליטיש זענען ינטעראָפענגיק, און מיר זענען געמאכט פון די מעשיות וואָס מיר דערציילן וועגן זיך, צו זיך און צו אנדערע, איך פאָרשלאָגן דאָ אַ געשיכטע פון מיין משפּחה געשיכטע ווי דערציילט מיר דורך מיין מוטער, ווי די אידישע מענטשן האָבן אונדז געראטעוועט, ווען קיינער אַנדערש וואָלט נישט, און אָן וועמען קיינער פון אונדז וואָלט קיינמאָל געלעבט.

      אויף די דאָק פון אַמעריקע איז אָנגעקומען אַ נײַן יאָר אַלט מיידל, אַליין און אָן אַ פּעני אָדער אַ וואָרט ענגליש. א פרעמדע , מי ט קײ ן װארט ן זי ך צ ו טרעפע ן , קײ ן פאמיליע , קײ ן פרײנט , גארנישט . מייַן מוטערלעך באָבע אַפּאָללאָניאַ דאָס איז געווען, מיט פלאַמינג רויט האָר ווי מיין מוטער, וועמענס משפּחה האט עריינדזשד איר אַנטלויפן פון עסטרייַך ווי זייער היים פארברענט, די איינציקע לעבנ געבליבענער אַזוי ווייַט ווי מיר איצט וויסן.

       זי איז ארומגעפארן אין פארט און געבעטן הילף, אין פינף שפראכן פון אראפנידערן ליקעליקייט פון דערקענונג; פראנצויזיש, עסטרייך, אונגאַריש, סערביש-קראָאַטיש, און ענדלעך, אין פאַרצווייפלונג און מורא, אַז דער רעאַקציע וועט זיין פיל ערגער ווי זיין פארלאזן צו הונגערן און פאַרפרוירן, ייִדיש.

       אַזוי אַ פרעמדער איז אַרײַנגענומען געוואָרן און דערצויגן געוואָרן דורך אידישע מענטשן, פון וועלכן איך ווייס גאָרנישט, און אַזוי איז אונדזער משפּחה’ס ניצל צו שולדיג צו דער גאַנצער אידישער קהילה און פאָלק.

          דאָס איז געשען אין 1873, יאָר פון דער הערלעכער ווינער וועלט-יריד אָבער אויך דער לאַגער-מאַרק קראַך נאָך דער פראַנקאָ-פּרוסישן מלחמה וואָס האָט אָנגעהויבן אַ צוואַנציק יאָר דעפּרעסיע אין אייראָפּע און די אידישע רדיפות ווי זיי זענען באַשולדיקט געוואָרן דערפאַר; אויך קאנפליקטן צווישן די רוסישע און אטאמאנישע אימפעריע אין זייערע גרענעצן.

       זי איז געווען, וואָס האָט פאַרמאָגט אירע אייגענע ביקסן און פערד ביז זעכצן יאָר, ווען זי האָט אָנגעהויבן איר קאַריערע ווי אַ גייעג פירער, און איז געשטאָרבן אין זאָטל אין עלטער פון 95 יאָר, מיט אַ ביקס אין דער האַנט, בעת זי האָט געשאָסן דעם בער וואָס האָט אַטאַקירט אירע פערד און האָט זי דערהרגעט. די אינדיאנער האבן זי באגראבן װי די האנער האבן באגראבן אטילה, אויף איר פערד און מיט איר ביקס, װי א קריגערישע פרינצעסין.

       איך בין געבוירן געוואָרן אין טעג נאָך איר טויט, און ווי מיט אַלע אָוועס איך טראָגן איר פאָרויס, ממש ווי דנאַ און די מעשיות וואָס פאַרמאָגן אונדז ווי די גאָוס פון אנדערע לעבן; אמת געשריבן אין אונדזער פלייש.

       דער היסטאָרישער קאָנטעקסט און דער פאַקט אַז מיין אָוועס אין דער מוטערלעך שורה קען ייִדיש מאכט עס מעגלעך אַז מיר זענען אידן פון אָפּשטאַמלינג, כאָטש מיין מוטער האט קיינמאָל געטענהט אַזוי און דערצו איז געווען אַ ראַדיקאַל אַטעיסט וואָס האָט אונדז אויפשטיין מיט קיין רעליגיעז טראדיציעס. דערמיט איז די פאַמיליע אמונה פון וואָס זי האָט זיך באפרייט איז געווען קאַטהאָליסיסם, אַן אַרטאַפאַקט פון איר אַוסטריאַן פאָטערלעך ליניע וואָס זענען געווען גלות פון די 1919 פאַלן פון דער האַפּסבורגער אימפעריע נאָך 600 יאָר.

      אויב דאָס איז טאַקע אַ טייל פון אונדזער היסטארישן אידענטיטעט, עס איז פאַרפאַלן אויף די ים פון צייַט, אָדער סטאָלען פון אונדז, ווי איז אמת פון אַזוי פילע אמעריקאנער וואָס זענען געקומען אַהער צו אַנטלויפן אָדער פאַרגעסן זייער פאַרגאַנגענהייט. אבער עס אויך פריי אונדז צו שאַפֿן נייַע פּאַסאַבילאַטיז פון ווערן מענטש, פאָרדזשד סיי פון די וואָס זענען אַנדערש און די ענלעך, און פון דעם פּע.

פֿון דעסטוועגן, פאָרשלאָגן אונדז די דערציילונגען פֿון דעם ייִדישן פֿאָלק אַלע ביישפילן וואָס מיר קענען נוצן אין דער שאַפונג פון זיך און אונדזער אייגנארטיקייט.

       ווי אַ טיניידזשער געטובלט אין חורבן ליטעראַטור בשעת ארבעטן דורך די טראַוומע פון אַ לעבן טויט דערפאַרונג אין Brazil זומער איידער הויך שולע, מיין דורכפירונג דורך אַ פּאָליצייַ טויט סקוואַד בשעת רעסקיוינג פארלאזן גאַס קינדער וואָס זיי זענען געווען פּריווענטיד דורך די מאַטאַדאָר, און שמועסן. מיט מיין מוטער ווען זי האָט געשריבן איר לערנען וועגן פּסיכאָסאָמאַטיק שטום פון די סאָוויעט מעדיציניש רעקאָרדס און קינדשאַפט טעראַפּיע זשורנאַל פון דזשערזי קאָסינסקי וואָס ער פיקשאַנאַלייזד ווי די פּאַינטעד פויגל, איך אַמאָל געפרעגט איר גלייַך, זענען מיר אידן?

       אויף דעם האט זי געענטפערט; „יעדער איז אַ ייִד. אַלעמען איז עמעצער ס ייִד, עמעצער ס קאַפּיטל, עמעצער ס אַנדערער. די גרויס אַרבעט פון ווערן מענטש איז צו באַקומען מורא פון אַנדערשקייט, בשעת אַרומנעמען אונדזער אייגנארטיקייט.

May 8 2024 On this Victory Over Fascism Day, As World War Three Rages in Ukraine and Palestine, Let Us Liberate All of Humankind From Fascisms of Blood, Faith, and Soil and the Imperial Conquest and Dominion of Mad Tyrants

     Victory Europe Day, Victory Over Fascism Day; what do such holidays mean to us now, when fascism has once again seized and shaken us in its jaws with the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the most disruptive events of our world order among several theatres of World War Three which has engulfed the world and threatens the global subversion of democracy and the nuclear extinction of humankind?

    Netanyahu and his theocratic and kleptocratic settler regime has orchestrated the October 7 tragedy as a casus belli for the Final Solution of the Palestinians and the generalization of conflict to the conquest of the whole Middle East, and in Biden has a cheerleader of state terror who has made us all complicit in crimes against humanity, a secondary purpose of Israel’s in the sabotage and delegitimation of democracy and the principle of universal human rights as the foundations of our world order.

     As Israel prepares the annihilation of Rafah and the world’s future ruling elites at universities rise up to challenge our dehumanization in solidarity with the powerless and the dispossess, the silenced and the erased, all those whom Frantz Fanon called The Wretched of the Earth, Genocide Joe Biden gave a speech last night at a Holocaust remembrance event in which he weaponized the idea of antisemitism against students protesting the genocide of the Palestinians, fellow semites with Jews and one people divided by faith and history, to silence dissent as police thugs raid campuses in brutal repression. We have freedom of speech in America as co-owners of the state, but only when and if it serves power.

     Democracy has already fallen in America, with the Stolen Election of 2016 by Russian spy and puppet ruler Traitor Trump, and those we elected as champions of our liberty to enact the Restoration of America have betrayed us, and have instead continued Trump’s sabotage of our institutions and principles in the centralization of power to a carceral state of force and control. We ordered peace and are fed war.   

     We are confronted with a dilemma in our elections; vote for Trump and sacrifice democracy as the Fourth Reich emerges, or vote for Biden and abandon our humanity. Either way, the Age of Tyrants begins, and as civilization falls humankind begins an irreversible path to extinction.

    Both Netanyahu and Putin now wage wars of terror and imperial conquest  modeled on the doctrine of Total War as designed by Hitler and Franco and first tested at Guernica, which now finds echoes and reflections in Gaza and Mariupol.

    While in America and throughout Europe, a dark tide rises to engulf us all. Meloni is now the de facto ruler of Europe, leading the original Fascist Party of Mussolini which seized power in the 1922 March on Rome. And at her back marches Europe; as written by Jon Henley in The Guardian of this June’s upcoming vote to choose the future of the European Union, entitled Anti-European’ populists on track for big gains in EU elections; “Populist eurosceptic parties are likely to come first in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia, and second or third in Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.”

    Where the Gaza War is the tipping point of tyranny and democracy for the fate of humankind, it is but one of ten theatres of World War Three which include America, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Africa, and the nation with two faces, Israel and Palestine.

    Putin and his puppet tyrant Traitor Trump are figureheads of the Fourth Reich and patrons of both white supremacist terror and theocratic patriarchal sexual terror who have perpetrated vast war crimes and the Russian imperial conquest and dominion of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, as well as in central Asia, Africa, and Europe. Poland knows it is next on Putin’s list of conquests along with Finland, Moldova, Romania, and then all of Eastern Europe and finally Berlin, where Putin once reigned as the lord of the criminal underworld east of the Iron Curtain. Putin has threatened to annihilate the British Isles and turn Warsaw into a city of ghosts and ruins like Mariupol. In all of this his puppet tyrant Traitor Trump is complicit in providing political cover and a free hand in the invasion of Ukraine, while Putin has provided Trump vast dark money through the real estate empire he operates as a money laundry for criminal syndicates and oligarchs.

      And yet we have not purged our destroyers and predators from among us.

     To a Wall Street Journal article about Russia bombing a school where children were sheltering I wrote this paragraph in commentary; Russia always bombs children first. This is a policy of terror, designed to manufacture helplessness, despair, and submission, but as in the Rape of Nanking actually creates resistance as a counterforce. The Calculus of Fear obeys Newton’s Third Law of Motion, and the people of Ukraine will resist beyond all reason, beyond hope of victory or survival, and while one Ukrainian yet lives and remembers who they are, are unconquerable.

     Who cannot be compelled is free; this too is a truth demonstrated by Mariupol, and a gift of those who die for the freedom of us all. This we must witness and remember until the end of the world, and one thing more; Resist! To fascism and tyranny, to imperial conquest and dominion, to subjugation and dehumanization there can be but one reply; Never Again! On this Victory Over Fascism Day, let us unite in solidarity and liberation struggle to free ourselves from those who would enslave us.

     What of those not killed but captured ? Of their fate Dean Kirby of Inews has written; “An investigation by i analysing Russian local news reports has identified 66 camps for Ukrainians in a network of former Soviet sanatoriums and other sites – and reveals how an underground network of Russians is helping people escape.

     Thousands of Ukrainians have been sent to remote camps up to 5,500 miles from their homes as Vladimir Putin’s officials follow Kremlin orders to disperse them across Russia, i can reveal.

     They include survivors from the besieged port city of Mariupol, where civilians remain trapped at the Azovstal steel plant as Russian forces make a final push to subdue to city’s last defenders.

     An investigation by i analysing Russian local news reports has identified 66 camps in a network of former Soviet sanatoriums and other sites in regions including Siberia, the Caucasus, the Arctic Circle and the Far East.

    i has also spoken to human rights activists in Russia who developed an underground grassroots network to help Ukrainians who want to leave the camps.

     The Russians are taking people into their own homes, buying train tickets, and directing them to other groups who can help them get to the border.

     One activist told i: “The state treats them as a labour force, as objects, moving them around without taking care of what they need. The state is unable to look after them. They are vulnerable and need help.”

     i‘s investigation marks the first evidence of a major operation to spread them across a country gripped by a historic post-Cold War population decline.

     It comes after i exclusively revealed last month that Moscow had ordered towns and cities across the Russian Federation to prepare for the arrival of nearly 100,000 “refugees”. Russia now claims it has “evacuated” one million people from the war zone.

     Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, told i: “There is ample evidence that thousands of Ukrainians were taken to Russia under duress.

     “When people are only given a choice to stay under increasingly heavy shelling or to enter the territory of an occupying power, it constitutes forced transfer under international humanitarian law.

     “We are extremely concerned this is happening. People who seek evacuation to safer areas in Ukraine are shuttled off to Russia instead – in some cases to remote areas very far from Ukrainian or European borders.

     “They are vulnerable, destitute, often without identification documents and find themselves at the mercy of the occupying power.”

     The sites identified by i by cross-checking local news reports with Russian mapping websites are known in Russia as Temporary Accommodation Points (TAP). They include dozens of sanatoriums and former children’s wilderness camps, at least one “patriotic education” centre and even a former chemical weapons dump.

     They stretch across the vast Russian Steppes and across 11 time zones over the Ural Mountains from Belgorod in the west to the remote Kamchatka Peninsula on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and Vladivostok at the end of the Trans-Siberian railroad.

     With names that belie the misery being suffered by their occupants after surviving two months of war, they include the Little Prince in Perm, the Santa in Tatarstan, the Friendly Guys in Omsk, the Forest Fairy Tale in Chuvashia, the Blue Lakes in Pskov and the Pine Forest in Ulyanovsk.

     i has identified 6,250 people in 38 of the camps, including 621 children. If full, the 66 camps could contain about 10,800 people, including 1,000 children, with more than a third of the camps containing citizens of Mariupol. Some are yet to house Ukrainians despite being prepared by local officials.

     With an average of 162 people in each, our analysis suggests Russia could need about 6,000 camps to house the total number of people it claims have crossed the border.

     While Ukrainians are able to walk out of the camps, their remoteness and a lack of money, phones or documentation means those wanting to leave the country face an almost impossible task.

     But Russian activists are trying to help.

     “There is an impressive grassroots organisation on several levels – people collecting money for train tickets, helping with clothes and toys for children, letting people stay in their homes for a few nights,” one activist told i on condition of anonymity.

     “They are sharing messages and passing people on to groups in other cities, who are helping them get to the border.”

     Some Ukrainians are known to have escaped to countries including Poland and Georgia, while there have been reports of others trying to escape through Kazakhstan. One Russian news report said Ukrainians being taken to one city south east of Moscow had failed to board the train.

     Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova accused Russia of genocide and of breaching the Geneva Convention, which prevents forced deportations during wartime.

     Calling for the UN to investigate reports that 200,000 children are among those that have been taken from Ukraine to Russia, she said: “They have been deported to all regions of Russia. The conditions of their stay and their health is currently unknown.”

     Putin’s camps revealed

     i can reveal in detail how a vast network of former Soviet sanatoriums, children’s wilderness camps, hostels and orphanages is being used to move Ukrainian children and adults hundreds and thousands of miles from the border of their homeland.

     On the wild Kamchatka peninsula at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, 10 people including children from Kherson were placed in a dormitory of the Kamchatka Industrial College in Yelizovo on 26 April following an eight-hour flight. About 200 people are expected in the region.

     In Russia’s far eastern Maritime Territory, which is closer to Tokyo than it is to Moscow, a local newspaper reported in late April how 300 people, including 86 children, pregnant women and pensioners, arrived in Vladivostok after an exhausting seven-day journey on the Trans-Siberian Express from Taganrog.

     The new arrivals, including survivors of the Mariupol siege, were taken to the Vostok hotel complex on the coast near Nakhodka. It was the third train to arrive in a number of days, with one report saying 14 TAPs were being opened in four neighbouring cities to accommodate up 1,350 people.

     While Russian media claimed they had “chosen” to live in the Far East, adding that “almost everyone notes the beauty of the sea”, the advisor to the mayor of Mariupol said in a Telegram message seen by i he had learned they had no documents or money and were being promised only low paid jobs in the “arse of the world”.

     Twenty people have so far arrived in the far eastern islands of Sakhalin, which contain the Kuril Islands contested by Japan, despite officials expecting 600. One report said: “The Sakhalin region, as we can see, is not very popular with them. This is understandable.”

     Other reception points identified by i as housing survivors of the Mariupol siege include the Vanguard Patriotic Education Centre near Ivanovo in Ulyanovsk, a city beside the River Volga.

     The centre, which has a focus on “military-patriotic work” and promoting a “commitment to serving ones Motherland”, opened at the site of a former orphanage in February as part of a national “education” project instigated by Putin to create nearly 40 similar centres including one in Russia-controlled Crimea.

     It is one of two military-linked sites identified by i after this newspaper exclusively revealed last month that up to 600 Ukrainians including Mariupol survivors had been taken to a former chemical weapons dump at Leonidovka, near the Russian city of Penza, which played a former role in dismantling the country’s arsenal of nerve agents.

    In Murmansk, in the Arctic Circle, officials have set up 20 TAPs at venues including a hotel named the Northern Lights in the town of Nickel and the Lapland sanatorium in Murmashi.

     At a go-kart track in Belgorod, where people are staying in tents, a journalist reported having to go through two check points with armed men whose faces were covered with balaclavas.

     In Ufa, the location of the TAPs was described by officials as “classified information”, but one report of a site in a university hostel said it was fenced and access was only allowed with security passes “so people will be safe”.

     More than 530 people including 120 children from Mariupol have also been taken to the remote Tsaritsyno Lake boarding camp complex in the Leningrad Oblast, a three-hour drive from St Petersburg. A Russian archbishop who visited the site said several people told him they want to go home.

     He said: “There are people who have lost their documents. Without them, they cannot buy tickets for trains or buses.”

     In some places though, Ukrainians have already started to leave. At Nerekhta in Kostroma, numbers have dropped from 120 to 90, with reports of people travelling to Poland, while 15 have left a site in Narerezhnye Chelny.”

      Terrible though it is, this network of slave labor camps and hostages throughout Russia which contain both Russian dissidents and Ukrainian and other civilians captured as war plunder conceals crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Russian state as a key factor of its campaign of terror simply because it can. This includes a system of sex trafficking and military brothels where torture is sold in at least one known incident; also torture as a sporting event with betting in arenas which recall gladiatorial combat of the Roman Empire, spectacles of savagery wherein human beings are torn apart or devoured alive by wild animals with the betting being how long it takes and how many can be killed within the time limit. This has been reported both by our allies within the Russian Army and by the Underground Railroad operated by the Wolf of Mariupol, a network of Ukrainian women freedom fighters who infiltrate  groups of women captured by the Butterfly Collectors, set them free, and guide them out of Russia to safety. Some of the things the Wolf Maidens and those whom they rescue report are disturbing even beyond this.

     A friend and I had an interesting conversation the other day, among the commentary on a photo with the caption “Exactly 77 years ago, on April 30, 1945, Soviet soldiers hoisted the banner of Victory over the Reichstag! A victory for all humanity.”

      Writing in reaction to the first comment, by someone unknown to me, which misinterpreted the context of the post as referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and not the victory over the Nazis, which read; “I didn’t know this group was for supporters of fascism and genocidal dictators, ie Putin; not for me, this”, I replied with the following:

     I was at Mariupol, and escaped as the city was sealed off on the 18th. I have written many times of the war crimes I witnessed there, which include torture, organized rape and abduction for trafficking, executions, cannibalism using mobile factories and erasure of evidence of torture with mobile crematoriums. But do not confuse the Russian fascist oligarchy committing these crimes with the ordinary Russians now waging revolutionary struggle against this criminal regime, or with the Russian soldiers now engaged in peace resistance by mutiny and joining their Ukrainian brothers in solidarity to defeat the invasion, or with the Red Army which liberated Europe, and which I have fought alongside to liberate South Africa from Apartheid. Putin’s is no Red Army.

   “WTF? Cannibalism?”  Was the reply from a friend, not the author of the comment confusing Putin’s shameful imperial conquest today with the glorious Red Army of 1945.

    To this I wrote in answer; This was Russia’s solution to outrunning their supply lines; eat the killed in action. To be fair, they did this to their own fellow soldiers too, which caused an entire Russian unit to mutiny, kill their officers, and join the Ukrainian resistance, but its part of the terror campaign, like the Butterfly Collectors, the criminal syndicate of human traffickers within the Russian Army which kidnaps young girls and sometimes boys for use in Russian military brothels. The mobile factories for canning the dead as food for the soldiers operate with the crematorium trucks to erase evidence of torture.

     My guide in Mariupol was Oleksandr, a boy who had been chained to a post, his arm secured to a log, and a gun put in his hand pointing at another boy who had been surgically skinned, leaving the head and neck untouched so his agony could be conveyed by his expressions and screams and he would survive for hours or days in torment. After he shot his friend who was begging to die to end the pain the Russians just let him go, laughing; their idea of a joke. They didn’t even make bets on it, as has happened here when torture becomes a sporting event. His sister Kateryna we found hanging from a post; I believe she hanged herself after escaping her captors. She was eleven.

       And the reply to this was; “I am having a hard time believing this.”

      Here is my reply to him; I have difficulty with this also, and this too is a purpose of states which use atrocities beyond comprehension to subjugate us. I spent a day throwing up and working through the stages of shock a few days before leaving Mariupol, not from injury but because of something I witnessed. Not the torture or rapes, nor the feeding of the dead into the machines of the cannery while those filled with shrapnel or rotting were cremated, nor the usual burned and shredded bodies of aerial and artillery bombardment; all this I have seen before and will again, for with the exception of industrialized cannibalism among the horrors of war such crimes are normal. Have I mentioned that normality is deviant, and to be resisted? But some things are beyond the limits of the human, and for this there are no words.

      My friend’s final position in this conversation was this; “I am against wars, but for the soldiers who must fight them for the profit of others. All Russian soldiers cannot be this barbaric. Like the American soldiers who committed war crimes in Vietnam and Iraq, the criminals should be tried for their crimes and punished. But as a whole, those who send and command armies are the common enemy of those who are doomed to do the fighting.”

      My answer here follows; On this we agree; such acts are usually committed by elite units chosen and trained for loyalty and brutality, as were the death camp units of the SS. No normal person does such things, and most of Putin’s invasion force are conscripts and fellow victims of tyranny, many of whom are members of the peace movement which like the soldier’s strike that ended America’s war in Vietnam are the best real chance for peace. Most professional soldiers fight because if they do not, men who rely on them will die, regardless of the motives that brought them into battle.

     And as I’ve said, I have fought alongside Russian soldiers against Apartheid in South Africa and Angola, and other causes and places, in the eighties prior to the end of the Soviet Union, and they were not the same army as that in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere which serves no grand ideals, no vision of a united humankind free of the profit motive and of divisions of blood, faith, and soil, but its mirror image, an army of slaves sent by a tyrant to conquer a free people. 

     Many of those slaves unite in solidarity with those they were sent to conquer, and such heroes of solidarity and liberation must be welcomed and celebrated. This, and only this, will defeat war in the end.

    On this Victory Over Fascism Day, let us liberate Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, America and Europe, and the future of humankind from the tyranny of war criminals wherever they may be, and from fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

    Now as then, let us confront the would-be conqueror of Europe as a united front, and purge our destroyers from among us.

    To fascism there can be but one reply; Never Again!

                 Europe in World War Two In Film

Band of Brothers series trailer

The Longest Day film montage

Saving Private Ryan film trailer

Churchill’s speech in Darkest Hour: You Cannot Reason With a Tiger When Your Head Is In Its Mouth

Enemy at the Gates trailer

Come and See trailer

The Guns of Navarone

Life is Beautiful

The Painted Bird

     Politics is the Art of Fear, as my father taught me; here is a brilliant map of our fears in Europe and how they will determine the future of the EU in this June’s vote

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/17/crises-have-split-european-voters-into-five-tribes-survey-suggests

Which ‘crisis tribe’ do you belong to? These five factions will define Europe in 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/22/crisis-tribe-europe-2024-european-elections

‘Anti-European’ populists on track for big gains in EU elections, says report

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/24/anti-european-populists-on-track-for-big-gains-in-eu-elections-says-report

        A Hobson’s Choice in the Nation With Two Faces, Israel and Palestine; one people divided by history. Who do we want to become, we Americans, we human beings?

      In the end all that matters is what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

Biden warns against ‘surge of antisemitism’ at Holocaust event

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/07/biden-israel-commitment-pro-palestine-protests?CMP=share_btn_url

Joe Biden’s ‘red line’ is an invasion of Rafah. So what happens if Israel attacks?

Why have student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza gone global?

Thousands rally across Israel calling for Netanyahu to accept ceasefire deal

The Guardian view on hope and despair in Gaza: attacking Rafah will compound this disaster

     Trump and Biden are like the bear and man in the woods dilemma; we know Trump will destroy us, but Biden uses lies and deception to hide his intent to subjugate us, dehumanize us and subvert our universal human rights, and use our taxes for genocide and surveillance, censorship and repression of dissent.  

     Either way, we lose either democracy or our universal human rights;  America falls, and with us the global civilization of humankind..

‘Blood is on your hands, Biden

Joe Biden’s Backing of Israel’s War Is Making a Mockery of the “Rules-Based World Order”

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/joe-biden-israel-palestine-gaza-rules-based-international-order?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0zMTFLzYALdcz0VMDlJwun0RD3-Ti4wlBnJk_BKurd89LhX9x5s4WT8y8_aem_AYZat-FRspKrQIGqKgMWgTplKCM5j9Juf-gVyF3LjSzGeBqxhjfKKMPmnzw2FZ2hXXJLa3Y86e0fsah0nnMIwrY-

The War on Gaza Is the Result of Decades of Extreme Israeli Policy

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/gaza-israel-palestine-history-geopolitics-interview-hamas

Israel’s Western Allies Have Done Everything Possible to Criminalize Nonviolent Resistance

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/israel-western-allies-bds-palestine-nonviolent-resistance-opposition

                World War Two in Europe, a reading list

                 General Histories

     The Second World War: A Complete History, Martin Gilbert

     The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, Andrew Roberts

     The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History, May-October 1940, Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940-43, Together We Stand: Turning the Tide in the West, Sicily ’43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe, Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France, James Holland

              Britain and Churchill

     The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, Erik Larson

     Churchill: Walking with Destiny, Andrew Roberts

     Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat, Giles Milton

    The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965, William Manchester, Paul Reid

             France

    The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940, France: The Dark Years 1940-1944, A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle, Julian T. Jackson

     Paris at War: 1939-1944, David Drake

     The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis, Matthew Cobb

     Outwitting the Gestapo, Lucie Aubrac

     The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France’s Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando, Paul Kix

     Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler, Lynne Olson

     The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light, Jean Edward Smith

              Italy

     Mussolini Warlord: Failed Dreams of Empire, 1940-1943, H. James Burgwyn

     The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944, Rick Atkinson

     Bitter Victory: The Battle For Sicily, July August 1943, Carlo D’Este

     Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell, Peter Caddick-Adams

     Anzio: Italy and the Battle for Rome 1944, Lloyd Clark

     Naples ’44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy, Norman Lewis

           Spain

     Picasso’s War, Russell Martin

     Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell

     The Spanish Civil War, Hugh Thomas

     The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War, Giles Tremlett

          Russia

      Russia’s War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945, Richard Overy

     Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943, Antony Beevor 

          Jewish Peoples

     Night, Elie Wiesel

      Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, Ariel Burger

     Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman

      Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi

     Primo Levi’s Resistance: Rebels and Collaborators in Occupied Italy, Sergio Luzzatto

     The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Every Day Remembrance Day: A Chronicle of Jewish Martyrdom, The Murderers Among Us, Krystyna: The Tragedy of the Polish Resistance, Simon Wiesenthal

    Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Moshe Arens

     Auschwitz, Laurence Rees

    Treblinka, Jean-François Steiner, Simone de Beauvoir (Preface), Terrence Des Pres (Introduction

     The Origins of Totalitarianism, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt

     Hannah Arendt, Julia Kristeva

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/explainer-why-victory-day-in-russia-is-different-this-year/ar-AAWWlnR?ocid=uxbndlbing

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/06/how-victory-day-became-central-to-putin-idea-of-russian-identity

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/putin-choices-are-filled-with-peril-on-the-eve-of-victory-day-parade-russia-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/08/ukraine-will-prevail-as-europe-did-in-1945-scholz-says-in-ve-day-speech?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/03/europe/russia-victory-day-explainer-intl/index.html

Here is the Wall Street Journal article on the Russian bombing of a school where children were sheltering

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-airstrike-kills-villagers-taking-shelter-at-school-ukraine-says-11651999227?fbclid=IwAR10eLnflERsJIU0gdMG4RQr8-wdzerrkNF02xDN8pDzuU8GeexvGxiN-Mg

This article reports on the network of 66 camps for abducted hostages, slave labor, and sex trafficking in Russia

                 World War Three in Ukraine as it unfolds:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/08/surrender-is-not-an-option-azov-battalion-commander-in-plea-for-help-to-escape-mariupol?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/odesa-missiles-ukraine-sunk-russian-ship-drone-claims?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/06/ukraine-photos-poland-border-refugees-rape-atrocities?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/05/kharkiv-catalogues-war-toll-on-architectural-gems-historic-buildings-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779451/Civilians-fleeing-Mariupols-Azovstal-steel-works-tell-horrors-constant-Russian-bombing.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779783/Mariupol-refugees-subjected-humiliating-interrogation-Russian-soldiers-release.html

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russia-ukraine-war_n_62720a0ee4b0cca6755b93e9

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/men-and-boys-among-alleged-victims-by-russian-soldiers-in-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/04/evacuees-tell-of-horror-weeks-inside-azovstal-steel-plant-mariupol-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/russias-war-in-ukraine-causing-36bn-of-building-damage-a-week?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61249158

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/30/how-the-barbaric-lessons-learned-in-syria-came-to-haunt-one-small-ukrainian-village?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61285178

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russia-offensive-slower-planned_n_626cf88ce4b029505df296f9

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/photographer-seth-herald-captures-local-and-displaced-ukrainians-working-together-to-fight-invasion_n_624c99b2e4b098174506f4a0

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/zelenskyy-russian-soldiers-charged-bucha_n_626b110de4b0cca67553dbcb

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/28/ukraine-names-10-russian-soldiers-in-alleged-human-rights-abuses-in-bucha

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/28/russia-kyiv-cruise-missile-strike-biden-guterres

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61217528

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/mark-milley-interview-cnntv/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/europe/ukraine-kharkiv-paramedics-intl/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/26/russia-accused-of-shelling-mariupol-humanitarian-corridor

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/24/crimes-against-history-mapping-the-destruction-of-ukraines-culture?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/23/putin-ignited-new-anti-colonial-struggle-this-time-moscow-target?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/22/ukraine-south-occupation-russian-military-chief-rustam-minnekayev

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/22/fears-civilians-trapped-mariupol-steel-plant-azovstal-russia-ukraine-war?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/20/jewish-ukrainian-refugees-warsaw-passovers-message?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/humanitarian-corridor-out-of-mariupol-agreed-with-russia-says-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61157670

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/19/russia-deployed-20000-mercenaries-ukraine-donbas-region?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/18/russia-begins-large-scale-military-action-to-seize-eastern-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/16/up-to-3000-ukraine-troops-killed-since-russia-invaded-says-zelenskiy-as-battle-rages-in-mariupol?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/ukraine-one-long-nightmare-mariupol

https://www.ft.com/content/af7996a9-8c16-4421-a5b3-390315d3c7dc

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-edf7240a9d990e7e3e32f82ca351dede

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/apr/17/russia-ukraine-war-russian-deadline-for-mariupol-defenders-to-surrender-or-die-passes-live

     This brings us to the time of my escape from Mariupol to Warsaw, with my own team and a few hundred of her defenders, as the nucleus of a new direct action network with the mission to take the fight to the enemy within Russia.

    Here are my journals of Mariupol and the First General History of World War Three:

May 7 2024 In the African Theatre of World War Three, Niger Trades American For Russian Soldiers As Protection From Islamic Insurgencies, and Independence For Colonial Occupation

      “Chaos is the great hope of the powerless”, as we are taught by Guillermo del Toro is his magnificent Netflix series Carnival Row; it is also a ground of struggle which is highly sensitive to initial conditions and the malign influence of hegemonic elites and schemes of deception and capture by imperial and colonial dominions.

      In her glorious coup of July 26 2023 led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, Niger liberated herself from colonialist French, American, and Turkish forces of occupation. In April Niger traded American soldiers for Russian ones as protection from various Islamic insurgencies; a giant step backward into a new colonial era under the legendary cruelty of Wagner Group criminals turned mercenaries as deniable assets of Putin’s regime, very much like the British East India Company as a strategy of imperial conquest and dominion of which I have little to say that is not obscene.

    Niger, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Libya; all are now clients of the Russian Empire, and destabilization operations by Russian Special Forces are ongoing in Chad. Areas of Influence, contested nations, and known operational zones include Madagascar, Mozambique, Comoros, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Angola; I’m sure I’ve missed some, as the situation is fluid and rapidly changing. One could now walk from the Red Sea to the Atlantic entirely in Russian allied or Occupied nations. For the last year, Russia has brought Wagner fully into the state apparatus, and is actually calling their forces on the continent Africa Corps in homage to Rommel.

     Arguably Russia is not a state but an oligarchy of crime syndicates, and her presence in Africa a protection racket; compare the map of regions contested by Islamists with Wagner’s alliances and one begins to wonder how much of the Islamist rebellions are funded and controlled by Russia or their ally Iran as bogeymen with which to win leverage by terror.

     As written by Nels Abbey in The Guardian, in an article entitled Success is contagious – so I’m rooting for the African countries throwing off European rule: The recent coups and subsequent pacts in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are a source of hope in a sea of landlocked hopelessness; “The 140th anniversary of a critical moment in human history will be marked on 15 November 2024. And the odds are that it will conveniently go unnoticed. On an unremarkable Saturday morning in 1884, people in Africa woke up thinking of breakfast, or perhaps their business for the day. But unbeknown to them, a select group of representatives of various European powers had woken up in Berlin, thinking of how and what Africans would think, how they would live and behave, and who they, their land and their resources would be owned by for the next several years.

     This gathering resulted in the carving up of Africa into European properties and would come to be known as the Berlin conference. For the Europeans involved, it marked a huge stride forward. For the Africans it was a catastrophe, one that still plagues and shapes their lives today.

    You can see the economic, political, psychological and security legacies of the conference today in ludicrously counterproductive borders, tragic life expectancies, disastrous economic indices and predatory economic orthodoxies that continue to benefit the colonising states. You can see it in infant mortality rates, children working in mines to enrich international corporations, famines and entirely needless warfare fought with expensive weaponry by destitute people. Or the small boats, stowaways in the rudders of ships, and the bodies of Africans floating ashore in Europe.

     You can see it in the proliferation of bleaching creams – literal poison placed on the skin to make it lighter and whiter. You can hear it in the petrified screams of poor rural African children being caned in classrooms for not speaking or reading with adequate proficiency the “official” European language imposed on them. You can read it in western publications pouring paternalistic scorn on African nations for becoming closer to non-western powers – as though it were inconceivable that they could be the masters of their own destiny or intelligent enough to identify what is in their own interests. You can see it in Britain’s ludicrous endeavour to transform Rwanda – a nation recovering from genocide – into a “deterrent” for threatened, fearful and desperate people who may seek refuge on their shores.

     But despite the bleak backdrop, I see a glimmer of hope. This year appears to have been one in which many African populations accelerated the process of throwing off the shackles placed on them in 1884. Some used democratic means, and some – notably in nations still dominated by France – did not.

     It would be wrong to romanticise coups. Africans especially know the cost: strong men, security issues, strife (political and civil) and structural adjustment programmes. But coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger (three of the poorest nations on Earth) and, for a moment it was hoped, Gabon, were welcomed and celebrated by many in the region.

     The elation in response to these successful coups demonstrates that it would be equally wrong to romanticise the status quo of sham democracies with farcical elections. The cost is exactly the same thing, only with an added respectability: strong men (in suits as opposed to khakis), security issues, strife (political and civil) and structural adjustment programmes (perhaps under a flashy new name).

     Listening to everyday people on the ground, as well as respected African intellectuals such as PLO Lumumba and officials such as Arikana Chihombori-Quao, the former African Union ambassador to the US, these were not viewed as run-of-the-mill coups. Instead, they were welcomed as legitimate and overdue revolutions against French continuity colonial activity and the ineffective, inept puppets it spawned. The coups and subsequent pacts formed between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are – admittedly with a hint of caution – viewed as a source of hope in a sea of landlocked hopelessness.

     Hope also sprang from west Africa not allowing itself to become a new frontier of a proxy or forever war. Despite much encouragement from France, Ecowas – the Economic Community of West African States – did not invade Niger in response to the revolution. Such an action would have ended in guaranteed disaster for the region, which has a population roughly equivalent to the EU.

     Meanwhile, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have formed an economic and military pact, with whispers that they may merge into a single unit. Another very welcome development. Though many predict this joining of hands will end in failure, I sincerely hope it does not. Success is contagious. And this new grouping in the Sahel presents a critical chance to demonstrate the possibilities of pan-Africanism and the clear economic opportunities to the people of the continent.

    Stood alone, the microeconomies of, say, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and most African states will always be prey to even mid-league economies, let alone the US, the EU or China. Pan-Africanism, an idea seen for the past few decades as both a dated pipe dream and a delirious punchline, would finally be given a protracted shot at success, serving as a development dream come true and a poverty-crushing engine for Africa, by Africa.

    It could help reverse the damage set in motion by the original coup plotters back in November 1884. To all lovers of humanity and even despisers of “small boats”, that is something from which to draw hope.”

     As written by Jason Burke in The Guardian, in an article entitled Niger’s coup adds to chaos in the Sahel, but it may also offer some hope: The military takeover in one of west Africa’s more stable states has huge implications for democracy on the continent – and the response of its neighbours is crucial; “An intrepid traveller would now be hard-pressed to traverse the African continent at its widest point, passing from the Red Sea to near the Atlantic, while staying within a country that is not being torn apart by a civil war or recovering from one, has not suffered a military coup since 2021 or is not a failed state occupied by a toxic mix of rapacious politicians, militia and Russian mercenaries.

     The traveller’s undoubtedly inadvisable route would take them from the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, at war until last year, then across Sudan, where an internal power struggle within a repressive regime has metastasised into general violence, and into the Central African Republic, now seen by many analysts as the best example on the continent of the worst that can befall a nation.

     After this comes a difficult choice. A northern route could go via Chad, ruled by a 39-year-old soldier who seized power in 2021 when his father was killed in battle after three decades in power, and Mali, racked by multiple insurgencies, Islamic extremists and more Russian mercenaries hired by the second military ruler to take power in recent years. Another itinerary could take in Cameroon, convulsed by a lengthy civil war, and Burkina Faso, which suffered two military coups in 2022 alone.

     Either way, our traveller would need – along with some very expensive insurance and much luck – the means to cross the keystone state of Niger, which has become the latest country to fall prey to what now appears to be endemic instability.

     Quite what triggered this recent upheaval in the Sahel remains unclear. Niger has been seen as the most stable state in the region. Only months ago, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, described it as a “model of democracy”. This conclusion was based on the success of its president, Mohamed Bazoum, a centrist and broadly pro-western moderniser who won more than 55% of the vote in elections in 2021 to become the country’s first leader to take power peacefully since independence from France in 1960.

     Reports suggest that Bazoum was planning to reorganise the presidential guard, an elite force of soldiers commanded by Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, who believed he was about to be sacked and preemptively took his revenge, placing Bazoum under house arrest.

     What followed was straight from coup d’état central casting. Soldiers appeared on state TV to announce they had removed the president from power and suspended the constitution.

     Tchiani then declared himself the leader of Niger in a televised address and explained that he had been forced to step in to protect the nation from grave security threats.

     The crisis has reached a critical moment. Tchiani’s takeover prompted a threat of military intervention to restore Bazoum to power by 15 western African countries. Led by Nigeria, the group has given Tchiani until nightfall on Sunday to step down.

     The French foreign minister on Saturday called these threats “credible”. Their target, however, has shown no sign of considering any compromise, merely calling on his countrymen to resist any invasion.

     Across the continent there is deep consternation. Kenya’s president, William Ruto, has described the situation as “a serious setback”. This is an understatement. Niger’s stability is critical to the future of the Sahel and the latter’s future is critical to that of the continent. In a decade and a half, the region has gone from poor but relatively stable to a crucible of political chaos, human suffering, criminal trafficking and extremist violence.

     Everywhere there is massive displacement, acute economic distress, intense demographic pressure and environmental degradation. Many of the Sahel’s most significant problems are exacerbated or caused by the climate crisis, and humanitarian officials have described the region as the “canary in a coalmine of our warming planet”.

     The military regimes that have come to power across the Sahel have shown themselves incapable of meeting these challenges. Under Bazoum, levels of jihadist violence were falling in Niger. In neighbouring Mali, now under Col Assimi Goïta’s rule, they have risen by 25% since this time last year.

     Wherever the mercenaries of the Kremlin-linked Wagner group deploy, civilians have paid the price. Inevitably, military regimes rely on force, not consensus, to manage the complex and troubled interplay of communities, ethnicities and sects in the countries they rule. The result is more instability rather than less.

     The problems in the Sahel have a much wider impact too, affecting countries to the south and north such as Libya, Algeria and Egypt, among others. The new rulers of Niger have rejected all military cooperation with France, dealing a massive blow to counterinsurgency efforts there and in neighbouring countries.

     The danger of extremist violence sourced in the Sahel but executed in Europe is real. So is the prospect of massive refugee flows, far greater than those experienced so far. The consequences for much of east and central Africa too could be devastating, setting the entire continent’s development back by decades or derailing it entirely.

     At a geopolitical level, the coup in Niger appears set to add a new recruit to the developing coalition of global south states now ranged alongside Russia against the US and its western allies. Alignment in Africa now follows the fracture lines of the cold war.

     These have been exploited with great cynicism and no little skill by Moscow. At a summit in St Petersburg for African leaders last month, though Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the coup in Niamey, the capital of Niger, President Vladimir Putin praised the resistance to “neo-colonialist” exloitation.

     Yet our traveller might also have glimpsed a reason for optimism during their largely depressing transcontinental journey. They might, for example, have stopped briefly in Nigeria. Endemic corruption, chaotic governance and a crippled economy make positive projections for the future of this vast country appear almost Panglossian. Even a recent dip in jihadist violence is attributable more to the success of the local Islamic State branch over a rival extremist group than to that of Nigeria’s armed forces.

     But elections six months ago suggested an inflection point might soon be reached. Though 62-year-old Peter Obi, a businessman who offered a radical change of direction, was soundly beaten by Bola Tinubu, a veteran “political godfather”, the poll was nonetheless very different from the six others held since military rule ended in Nigeria in 1999.

     Where the established parties relied on patronage networks, appeals to ethnic or religious solidarity and a massive party machine to mobilise support, Obi and the tiny Labour party reached out across Nigeria’s faultlines, promising efficient governance and innovation, not pork-barrel politics. The candidate’s frugal lifestyle and modest approach put the immense wealth of Tinubu in the spotlight.

     Much of Obi’s support came from young people and urban voters. Many were affluent and educated, but not all, as the voting returns from polling stations in barracks in the capital Abuja demonstrated. Obi gained more than 6m votes – about 25% – and won in the capital, as well as in Lagos, long the fiefdom of Tinubu.

     The new political map of Nigeria shows swaths painted in the bright red of the Labour party. A successful run for the presidency in 2027 is entirely possible, analysts say.

     Such examples will encourage others across the continent. But democracy has been in retreat in many regions. Repressive regimes, parties that have clung to power for 40 years or more and “dinosaur” leaders have seen off a series of challenges from often younger politicians who know how to speak to a new generation of voters and to channel the immense impatience for change.

     This is a disappointment, but if the rapid urbanisation, youth, increasing education and growing connectivity of much of Africa has yet to reach the critical level that would allow reformist opposition movements to win outright, this cannot be the case for ever. The coups in the Sahel may actually reinforce this argument.

     A United Nations report published in July said that, though it might seem paradoxical, popular support for the recent military coups was “symptomatic of a new wave of democratic aspiration that is expanding across the continent”.

     The survey of 8,000 people, 5,000 of whom lived through unconstitutional changes of government in west Africa or the Sahel, pointed to widespread impatience with existing politics as a significant factor in the record number of coups. Though many people said they believed the army should take over when a civilian government is incompetent, a massive majority of those surveyed preferred a democratic form of government.

     In short, coups are welcomed only because there is no other option. Offer a democratic alternative, the logic then runs, and a deep well of longing for “free and fair elections, gender equality and the protection of civil rights” will be mobilised.

     This means that the most important lesson learned by our traveller from their arduous journey may be that recent events in the Sahel, though deeply concerning and deserving of our full attention, do not necessarily signal a new dark age where men in uniform run amok across much of the continent, looting resources and striking deals with nefarious geopolitical actors to reinforce their power.

     The momentum across the continent remains with the young – the average age of those surveyed by the UN was 35 – and the hopeful. Even jaded veterans appear to have decided it is time to draw a line in the sand, perhaps even if it is their political instincts, rather than their principles, that have told them where advantage lies.

     Even before Sunday night’s deadline for military intervention, Tinubu had already made it clear he did not believe that the forced change of government in Niamey could be allowed to stand. “Without democracy, there is no governance, there is no freedom, there is no rule of law,” he said in early July. “We will not allow coup after coup in west Africa.”

     Since the crisis in Niger broke, he has thrown Nigeria’s massive economic and political weight behind the international effort to restore Bazoum to power.

     Last week, Niger’s President Bazoum, imprisoned in his home, made a desperate appeal. “Fighting for our shared values, including democratic pluralism and respect for the rule of law, is the only way to make sustainable progress against poverty and terrorism,” he wrote in the Washington Post.

     Happily for him – and for us – hundreds of millions of ordinary people in Niger, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and across the region agree.”

     As I wrote in my post of July 28 2023 What is the Meaning of the Coup in Niger? In Niger and the whole of the sub-Saharan region of Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Nigeria, and the horrific genocide now unfolding in the failed state of Sudan, the situation is so ambiguous and chaotic that a coup by a military junta against a fragile democracy is opaque in meaning and portent to its possible sponsors and beneficiaries.

     Que bono, America or Russia, and how does this change our future in the Third World War now unfolding?

     Here an American trained general and his palace guard have once again demonstrated the internal threat of Praetorian Guards to states, regimes, and hegemonies of power they protect and de facto control. If you want to steal an empire, run its street enforcers.

     Prigozhin and his Wagner Group mercenaries have followed this ancient dictum, though he was wrongfooted by the nameless and unknown force, possibly independent but clearly on the side of ending the invasion of Ukraine, which provoked his brief revolt by attacking Wagner with regular Russian military forces. As a consequence, fracture and division has weakened Putin’s regime and the Russian empire itself, won a time in which to prepare for the Russian invasion of Poland, Lithuania, and Moldova which is now immanent, cleared the board in Ukraine of our most terrible enemy and direct counterpart force, and driven Prigozhin to refuge in his African client states. Here he intends to seize direct personal rule of the nations whose gold mines he guards from Islamic rebels, as did many Roman generals who bid to become Emperor; the question remains whether he can become a rebel emperor or must be a satrap of the Russian Empire. Prigozhin has now become a figure parallel to that of Muhammad Ali, founder of modern Eqypt, an ethnic Albanian Muslim for whom the American boxer named himself, who led the Turkish Ottoman forces which defeated Napoleon’s invasion of Eqypt and became satrap of the Ottoman Empire in Eqypt.

     Putin and Prigozhin may now be played off against each other to win a free space of play for democracy in Africa and to redirect the momentum of the Third World War against itself, to bring peace and liberation to all of its many theatres of war; Russia, America, Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Sudan, the Russian client states and conflicts of the sub Saharan and Lake Chad region including now Niger, and stop the Russian invasion and conquest of Eastern Europe before it is launched.   

     This is among many such regime changes in Africa and throughout the world which may be interpreted as seizures by American sponsored proxies, but in the case of Niger has also overthrown a key American ally state in both of the regional wars we are engaged in; against ISIS and other jihadist forces and against the Russian empire.

     These are linked and interdependent, Russia and ISIS, and may be regarded as symbionts; for they enable and reinforce each other though they also clearly fight sharp and destructive battles for control of resources. Russia may even be a direct sponsor of the jihadist terror their forces have defended various African nations from as a strategy of imperial dominion and control, brilliant and so much less costly than conquest; this is especially true of Islamist forces used by Russia’s major ally Iran in her contest for imperial dominion against the Arab-American Alliance in Yemen, Syria, and Africa.

      Niger now joins Sudan, Mali, and Libya as African theatres of World War Three, wherein democracy as championed by France, Turkey, and the Arab-American Alliance and tyranny represented by the imperial dominions of Russia and Iran play for the soul of humankind and the future of the world.

     While the peoples of Africa, caught between them in civil wars which are also Great Powers proxy wars, buy the hegemony of colonial empires with their lives.

     As written by Yusuf Akinpelu in the BBC in an article entitled Niger coup makes the troubled Sahel region yet more fragile; “From Mali in the west to Sudan in the east, a whole swathe of Africa is now run by the military.

     Niger was one of the few democracies left in the Sahel belt which stretches across the continent. But now that the army has seized power, there are concerns over what this means for the troubled region.

     Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum – a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants – was defiant after soldiers announced a coup on Wednesday.

     But he has been detained, the army chief has backed military rule, and it isn’t clear who is really in charge.

      Former colonial power France and the US have military bases in the uranium-rich country, and both were quick to condemn the coup.

     There are concerns that Niger’s new leadership could move away from its Western allies and closer to Russia.

     If it does, it would follow the path of two of its neighbours – Burkina Faso and Mali – which have both pivoted towards Moscow since recent military coups of their own.

     They had been under intense pressure from Islamist groups which operated freely across much of both countries.

     But although Niger had been battling its own jihadist insurgency and rural banditry, it had appeared relatively more stable than its neighbours.

     The number of reported deaths from political violence since 2021 was far lower in Niger, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled).

     But the jihadist threat was the major reason why the military seized power, arguing that they need to fight against the insurgencies.

     Col Maj Amadou Abdramane, who spoke on behalf of the junta, cited the “deterioration of the security situation” and poor socio-economic situation as the reasons for the takeover.

     His statement could easily have been made by the coup leaders in either of Niger’s neighbours, despite the very different situation on the ground.

     But despite the coups in both those countries, and the presence of a reported 1,000 heavily armed mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group in Mali, deaths from jihadist attacks have actually risen since the military takeovers.

     There have also been well-documented cases of human rights abuses, including the killing of hundreds of civilians in Mali by the security forces and foreign fighters.

     President Mohamed Bazoum’s government has also been a partner to European countries trying to stop the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, agreeing to take back hundreds of migrants from detention centres in Libya.

     He has also cracked down on human traffickers in what had been a key transit point between other countries in West Africa and those further north.

     That may now be called into question.

     And if Western and UN troops are asked to leave Niger – as they have been in Mali and Burkina Faso – it would be a big blow to the fight against Islamic insurgents, who are likely to move quickly to take advantage of any instability in the country.

     Pro-Kremlin commentators have been heard on state-run media and Telegram groups describing the coup as a pathway for Russia’s entry into Niger.

     So we are waiting to hear what the junta leaders say about the country’s future strategic alignment – whether it maintains its ties with the West, or joins its neighbours in embracing a new Russian sphere of influence in Africa.

     This latest seizure of power also raises questions about whether the slow advance of democracy seen across Africa in recent decades is now under threat.

     Even as West Africa’s regional economic bloc Ecowas seeks to broker a peaceful solution, the stability of the region is more fragile than it has been for some time.”

      As written in The Guardian in an article entitled Explainer: Niger a linchpin for stability in Africa’s ‘coup belt’: President Mohamed Bazoum, arrested by soldiers who announced coup, is described as ‘west’s only hope’ in stabilising jihadist-plagued Sahel region; “President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger has been removed from power, according to a group of soldiers who appeared on national television on Wednesday, hours after he was detained in the presidential palace.

     The military takeover marks the seventh coup in west and central Africa since 2020, and could further complicate western efforts to help countries in the Sahel region fight a jihadist insurgency that has spread from Mali over the past decade.

     Land-locked Niger, a former French colony, has become a pivotal ally for western powers seeking help to fight the insurgencies, but they are facing growing acrimony from the new juntas in charge in Mali and Burkina Faso.

     France moved troops to Niger from Mali in 2022 after its relations with interim authorities there soured. It has also withdrawn special forces from Burkina Faso amid similar tensions.

     Niger is also an ally of the EU in the fight against irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa. With the Russian mercenary group Wagner operating across the region, however, the coup raises questions around whether Niger could make a political pivot towards Moscow, which has increasingly courted African governments.

     ‘The west’s only hope in the Sahel region’

     Bazoum’s election in 2021 was the first democratic transition of power in a state that has witnessed four military coups since independence from France in 1960.

     The US says it has spent around $500m since 2012 to help Niger boost its security. Germany announced in April that it would take part in a three-year European military mission aimed at improving Niger’s military.

     “Bazoum has been the west’s only hope in the Sahel region. France, the US and the EU have spent much of their resources in the region to bolster Niger and its security forces,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme for Germany’s Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung thinktank.

    He said a coup would create an opportunity for Russia and other actors to spread their influence in Niger.

     After presidential guards, headed by Gen Omar Tchiani, took over the presidency on Wednesday, regional leaders quickly organised a mediation mission to try to prevent a coup.

     The president of neighbouring Benin, Patrice Talon, flew into Niger on Wednesday afternoon to assess the situation after meeting with the Nigerian president and Ecowas chair, Bola Tinubu.

     “All means will be used, if necessary, to restore constitutional order in Niger, but the ideal would be for everything to be done in peace and harmony,” Talon told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

     The African Union and west African regional bloc Ecowas on Wednesday condemned what they called an attempted coup d’état. The region around Niger has faced instability in recent years, just as it had begun to shed its reputation as a “coup belt”.

     Frustration over state failures to prevent violent attacks on towns and villages have partly spurred two coups in Mali and two in Burkina Faso since 2020. A junta also snatched power in Guinea in 2021.

     There was a thwarted coup attempt in Niger in March 2021, when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace a few days before the recently elected Bazoum was due to be sworn in.”

     As I wrote in my post of May 27 2022, Theatres of World War Three: West Africa, the Sahel, and Lake Chad Regions; Here I offer insight and policy guidance into what I hope will be the last of the Theatres of World War Three; West Africa, the Sahel, and Lake Chad regions. Mali is the primary conflict now, but a general conflict rages throughout the whole region as Islamic State insurgencies contest with nations under the hammer of famine and drought, and Russia’s mercenaries exploit opportunities to seize dominion in defense of elite wealth and power.

     Sudan is a pivot point and interface between bounded realms of sub-Saharan Africa as discussed here, and Libya with whose fate it is closely aligned. To disambiguate the Sudan and Libyan Civil Wars from the general regional conflict, Libya being a unique war of colonial European interests as a wishbone pulled between Russia and Turkey for dominion of the Mediterranean, where sub-Saharan Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Nigeria, is not a Great Powers proxy war and civil war but a struggle for power between variants of Islamic State Jihadist groups and the nations which control the resources they covet, with Russia leveraging this into regional dominion through the use of Wagner Group mercenaries as deniable assets.

     It is now the presence of the Wagner Group defending elite interests in fighting Islamic State insurgencies and operating the mines for the governments which have become their proxies and front organizations which defines this theatre of war.

     And it is the Wagner Group we must interrogate for insight into Russia’s plans and methods of world conquest and dominion when as in Syria there are willing surrogates to open the door of empire.

     All of this is possible because France has abandoned her former colonies to their fate, because of the brilliant and visionary Islamic State strategy of delegitimation through provocation and implication in war crimes, some real and some false flag operations by elite IS units in French uniforms in coordination with infiltration agents inside actual French entities, and skillful propaganda. In parallel with blackening the reputation of France, ISGS has been successfully building a viable trans-national state in the region.

     This means that the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, an independent operational arm of Islamic State West Africa Province created in 2015 with al-Sahrawi’s oath of allegiance to IS and split from al-Qaeda, and despite continued factional fighting between the two organizations, is now providing central Command, Intelligence, and Communications to jihadist insurgencies generally in its sphere of influence, as an emergent dominion to which Russia is the only balance. I describe this historical movement as the Syrianization of the conflict.

      There are other possibilities for future Africas without foreign empires and their proxy regimes of brutal and kleptocratic tyrants and endless violence for control of resources, and in the long game this requires the free and open sharing of resources among her peoples and states which are guarantors of our universal human rights and secular democracy as a counterforce to fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

     To win the liberty of the peoples of Africa one must begin with food, water, medical aid, and safety; the first requirements of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The political follows the humanitarian. Freedom from hunger, disease, violence, and labor exploitation; liberate a people from these, and tyranny will find no point of leverage.

     Beyond this prescription I must give warning here; let us send no armies to enforce virtue, for the most likely result of challenging Russian influence in the region is another Great Powers war of imperial dominion between Russia and France which replicates that of Russia and Turkey in Libya. This will fail, because it plays directly into the hands of ISGS.

     If you fight an insurgency only with conventional forces, you will lose. ISGS has demonstrated a genius for this kind of war, and in large part it is not the kind of war our armies are designed to fight. In this arena, victory on the battlefield is irrelevant, because the victory you must win is within the human soul. And here we win love and loyalty by standing with, not against, our fellow human beings. We must offer the better alternative in meeting the needs of the people, both material and otherwise.

     And in this arena we have clear advantage, for democracy is better than tyranny, equality as diversity and inclusion is better than tribalism, racism, and hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, truth is better than the lies and illusions of propaganda, justice is better than rule by the wealthiest robber baron or the most brutal and amoral bandit king, and a secular state is better than tyrannies of the authorized interpreters and enforcers of divine will, for who so ever stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.

     A common enemy of humankind is the weaponization of fear by authority in service to power, especially as identity politics and divisions of faith. Gott Mit Uns; it is our most ancient and terrible battle cry, for it permits anything.

    As Voltaire teaches us in his 1765 essay Questions sur les miracles; “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

     As written anonymously in al Jazeera; “Russia’s game plan for Africa, where it has applied its influence as far north as Libya and as far south as Mozambique, is straightforward in some ways, say analysts. It seeks alliances with governments shunned by the West or facing armed uprisings and internal challenges to their rule.

     The African leaders get recognition from the Kremlin and military muscle from Wagner. They pay for it by giving Russia prime access to their oil, gas, gold, diamonds and valuable minerals. Russia also gains positions on a strategically important continent.

     But there is another objective of Russia’s “hybrid war” in Africa, said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

     Siegle said Russia is also waging an ideological battle, using Wagner as a “coercive tool” to undermine Western ideas of democracy and turn countries towards Moscow. Putin wants to challenge the international democratic order “because Russia can’t compete very well in that order”, Siegle said.

     “If democracy is held up as the ultimate aspirational governance model, then that is constraining for Russia,” Siegle said.”

     As written by Raphael Parens in Foreign Policy Research Institute; “What is the Wagner Group doing in Mali? Since it rose to prominence after its involvement in the Syrian Civil War alongside the Assad regime, Wagner Group, a Russian-owned Private Military Contractor (PMC), has expanded its footprint into Africa. [1] Wagner has immersed itself in Libya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan, leading training exercises, fighting anti-government forces, and brutally quelling protests. Wagner Group often overlaps with Russian state foreign policy aims, but its position as an independent contractor lends it unpredictability, while giving Russia plausible deniability. The group offers the Russian state a valuable tool: the ability to test new environments for military cooperation without appearing heavy-handed or overtly involved.

     Wagner has established a pattern of political, military, and economic involvement in Sudan and CAR since 2015. Wagner Group and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, have followed this strategy successfully in Mali, contributing to France’s recent decision to withdraw its military forces from the country. Although Wagner group still needs to adapt its strategy to succeed in a new environment in Mali, the Kremlin has strong-armed a key competitor out of the country. This creates potential contagion effects for the rest of the Sahel, particularly those countries facing long-term insurgencies, such as Burkina Faso.

      Wagner Group’s Africa Playbook

     Wagner Group has pursued the same playbook Mali that it previously executed in Sudan and CAR, demonstrating a strategic outlook and approach designed specifically for African states. [2] This strategy is based on Wagner’s response to African governments’ requests for security assistance, particularly when African leaders feel that Western states have not done enough to help them via security cooperation, military sales, or through anti-terrorism operations.

     Wagner’s strategy involves a three-tiered approach. First, it conducts disinformation and pro-government information warfare strategies, including fake polls and counter-demonstration techniques. Second, Wagner secures payment for its services through concessions in extractive industries, particularly precious metal mining operations. Wagner uses a variety of organizations and companies to oversee these extraction projects. Third, Wagner becomes involved with the country’s military, launching a relationship directly with Russia’s military, usually through training, advising, personal security, and anti-insurgency operations. Throughout the process, the Russian foreign policy establishment’s involvement is clear, particularly as the beneficiary of military-to-military relationships with a new potential client state.

     Wagner Group deployed fake news and disinformation actions in 2019 Sudan, followed by similar operations in CAR. In Sudan, Wagner attempted to keep President Omar al-Bashir in power, was aimed at protestors against his regime. Protesters were smeared as anti-Islamic, pro-Israel, and pro-LGBT in the news and videos, borrowing tactics from similar operations in Russia. Demonstrating Russian involvement, one leaked memo even included the accidental switch of the word “Sudan” with “Russia.”[3]

     Wagner’s involvement in Africa includes a state military-to-military component, establishing or rebuilding Russian military sales, training programs, and/or agreements with involved states, including CAR, Mali, and Sudan. In Sudan, Russia’s relationship with the Sudanese military has flourished, as 80% of Sudan’s weapons have come from Russia since 2003.[4] Yet, the relationship advanced once Wagner Group became involved. Wagner contractors were officially deployed to guard Sudanese gold mines, but their involvement acted as a kick-starter for Russia’s project to establish naval facilities at Port Sudan. [5] According to expert Samuel Ramani, this operation was intended to help Russia “transit from a transactional relationship with Sudan based on arms sales to a more comprehensive security partnership.”[6] Given the recent coup in Sudan, the port facilities agreement remains tentative, as Sudanese security officials reexamine the deal established with Russia.[7]

     In CAR, between 170 and 670 “civilian advisors” believed to be Wagner contractors arrived between March and July 2018, some along the border with Sudan. These and other Wagner contractors have trained both CAR government forces and pro-government militias.[8] Wagner provides escort protection to senior officials, including President Touadéra.[9] In related shipping operations, open-source investigators have found Ural 4230 transportation vehicles both in Sudan and CAR, corresponding to sales made to Lobaye Invest and Meroe Gold, two organizations tightly linked with Wagner Group. [10] The CAR example becomes more confusing, though, due to Russia’s involvement on both sides of the country’s internal conflict, as Russia arms both the government and the insurgent Selaka alliance. The latter threatens oil deposits owned by Chinese firms, creating tensions between Russia and China and potentially each state’s PMCs.[11] On the whole, though, Wagner’s involvement in CAR is aimed at supporting Russian political-military interests, including a willingness to butt heads with China.

     Wagner Group and Russian PMC activity in Africa generally involve payment through mining concessions, operated by companies such as Lobaye Invest, M Invest/Meroe Gold, and their affiliates. In CAR, Lobaye Invest manages “activities ranging from mining to beauty pageants and the screening of Russian movies.” Three journalists were killed before an attempt to film Wagner contractors at Lobaye Invest-operated gold mines in July 2020.[12] Lobaye gained the gold and diamond mining concessions due to the PMC contract with Touadéra’s government, using PMC contractors as mine guards. Further, Touadéra employs Valery Zakharov as national security advisor, a Russian national with Russian military intelligence ties and Prigozhin financial links.[13] In Sudan, M Invest and Meroe Gold conduct mining operations, which were agreed upon at talks which Putin, Foreign Minister Medvedev, Defense Minister Shoygu, and former President al-Bashir attended.[14] Another Prigozhin company operated as the event’s catering service.[15] PMCs guarding Meroe Gold’s mining operations also attacked local protestors.[16]

     Wagner Appears in Mali

     Mali, a former French colony in the western Sahel, is Wagner’s most recent expansion target. Mali sits on the fault line between North and West Africa, with religious and political divisions fueling a decade-long conflict. Mali’s central government has fought a long-term insurgency by a variety of fundamentalist Islamist insurgent groups, including an Al Qaida branch (AQIM) and Ansar Dine. In 2012, France intervened to support the government against these insurgencies, in Operation Serval and subsequently Operation Barkhane. France also cooperated with other UN member states in conducting United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), under UN Resolution 2391.[17] However, these operations have not succeeded in quelling Mali’s insurgencies. In 2021, Wagner Group became involved in Mali as France began withdrawing its forces from the Sahel. If Russia successfully replaces France as the principle security partner in Mali, this could be the first shift in a West African cascade toward Russia.

     In Mali, Wagner has deployed its African playbook once again. Prigozhin associate Maxim Shugaley conducted another disinformation operation, releasing a public opinion poll “purporting to show 87 percent support among Malians for the government’s outreach to Wagner” by the Foundation for National Values Protection (FZNC). This organization is sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for disinformation activities. The operation, along with an interview by another Prigozhin associate, Alexandre Ivanov, to Malian media, demonstrate Wagner Group’s involvement in a bid to enhance its own reputation in Mali.[18]

     The military-to-miliary relationship between Mali and Russia is nascent but reflects the recent introduction of Wagner to the country. Around September 2020, Mali’s transitional government agreed to accept 1000 Wagner group contractors “to conduct training, close protection, and counterterrorism operations.” In 2019, Mali’s then-government agreed to receive four Russian attack helicopters, MI-171s with weapons and ammunition, which were allegedly delivered as a “donation” on January 9, 2021, as part of a Mali-Russia military cooperation convention.[19] Given the chronological proximity of these two actions, Wagner appears intimately involved in the growing military-to-military relationship between Mali and Russia.

     Overcoming Difficulties in Mali

     Although Wagner Group has pursued a similar strategy to that exercised in Sudan and CAR, Mali has presented a unique challenge to the group. Mining investment exchanges are more difficult to obtain and less profitable in Mali, the Western response to Russian actions in Mali appears stronger, and until 2022, France appeared to maintain deeper ties to Mali than it had with Sudan or CAR.

     Mining and other investment infrastructure, one of the key financing tools for Russian PMCs in Africa, are limited in Mali and are governed by strict control at the government and tribal levels. Western diplomats in Mali have noted that “the mines Wagner emissaries inspected proved insufficient to pay for the group’s services, a reminder of the economic motive behind some Russian power projection as well as its limits.”[20] Mali’s mineral resources are harder to exploit than those in Sudan or CAR. Government regulations are much stricter than in CAR and are not easily outmaneuvered by private companies. Artisanal mines, particularly those in northern Mali, are controlled by armed groups, such as the Coordination des Mouvements de l’Azawad, who have disapproved of Wagner Group’s arrival.[21] In CAR and Sudan, Wagner relied on mining agreements to secure payment for its military operations. In Mali, the company lacked a clear funding stream and faced Western sanctions, too.

     The U.S. State Department condemned Mali’s $10 million monthly fee deal with Wagner Group, followed by France, Germany, and the EU.[22] The EU then enforced sanctions, asset freezes and travel bans, against Wagner Group on December 13, 2021, due to human rights violations in Libya, Syria, Ukraine (Donbas), and CAR. The EU accused Wagner Group of “malign influence, elsewhere, notably in the Sahel region.”[23] The EU also adopted a sanctions regime related to Mali on the same day, leaving out any individual names.[24]

     Until February 2020, most analysts believed that France maintained stronger ties with Mali, similar to its relationship with other West and North African states, than it did with CAR, where Wagner had made inroads. France’s long-term involvement in Mali with Operations Serval, Operation Barkhane, and the Takuba taskforce along with the Malian UN mission, far outweighed its involvement in CAR’s own UN mission, for example. In Mali, France deployed between 3,000 and 5,100 troops, while only 100 to 260 French troops support various missions in CAR. [25] As of January 2022, France had suffered dozens of casualties in Mali, far higher than any other French conflict on the continent.[26] Yet France has now begun a withdrawal of its forces that will change the power dynamic in Mali—and perhaps the rest of the Sahel.

     Wagner’s path forward in Mali is not clear cut, however, given that the group must now face a potential shift of resources to Ukraine. Wagner Group forces allegedly already moved from CAR to Western Russia before the invasion of Ukraine began.[27] Other sources have suggested that Wagner troops from Libya have returned to Russia to participate in the invasion, too. They were allegedly assigned high profile assassination assignments in Ukraine, including Ukrainian President Zelensky.[28] Given the heavy casualties endured by Russian forces, the Kremlin may reassign more Wagner forces to Ukraine. Moreover, the sanctions imposed on Russia significantly impact Russia’s ability to access funds and equipment, which may impact Wagner’s infrastructure, finance, and resupply capabilities in Africa.

     How Wagner Will Adapt for Success in Mali

     Wagner Group and other Russian PMCs have developed an effective model in CAR and Sudan, coupling fake news and disinformation campaigns, military aid, and payment through mining and extractive industries. This approach has increased Russia’s footprint in both countries and can be utilized as the Kremlin sees fit for Russia’s African strategies.

     Wagner can continue to build the military-to-military relationship between Mali and Russia through its most recent deployment in the country. As of January 20, 2022, U.S. AFRICOM Commander General Stephen Townsend stated that Wagner Group has deployed several hundred troops to Mali from Russian aircraft and with Russian support.[29] In 2022, these forces have reportedly engaged with jihadi forces, suffered casualties, and deployed to several cities in central Mali, likely under a continued anti-jihadi mission.[30] If Wagner wishes to build a lasting presence in Mali, it will conduct training and high-profile security missions as it has in CAR and Sudan. To ensure its economic concessions, the group may need a neutrality agreement with Coordination des Mouvements de l’Azawad and various Tuareg groups. Further, given the continued Western military and international aid presence, Wagner needs to deploy a large amount of troops and make a significant financial investment in Mali to contest its competitors. This raises the potential for escalation or conflict with French, UN, or related organizations, but this is the cost in Mali.

     Wagner can damage Western security interests and public profile in Mali using tactics it developed in CAR. By associating and working alongside with UN missions in military or support operations, Wagner could damage the credibility of these missions, as occurred in CAR. On the other hand, UN Mali and Takuba taskforce leadership may have learned lessons from CAR, and they may enforce stricter anti-Wagner procedures among UN and taskforce personnel.

     Wagner’s biggest challenge in Mali, though, may be funding. Sanctions remain a roadblock for the organization, limiting potential routes for investment. To secure mining concessions, Wagner must come to an agreement with state and non-state interests that control mines in Mali. The former will likely involve extensive litigation and significant payoffs in the judicial system. The latter could include an alliance or neutrality pact in exchange for concessions, as discussed. Failing this, Wagner Group may turn to the Russian state for direct funding. The Kremlin will then need to determine how much it values a military relationship with Mali—and what price it places on the opportunity to challenge French interests in the region.

     Burkina Faso and Beyond

     The Wagner Group successfully strong-armed a large-scale French military mission out of Mali. This victory will have long-term effects on the rest of the Sahel, particularly in states suffering from coups or insurgencies. France now appears uninterested in combatting Islamist and other insurgencies in Africa, while Russia and the Wagner Group are willing to get involved.

     This development has already had ramifications in Burkina Faso, where coup leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba twice attempted to persuade President Roch Kabore to employ Wagner Group forces to fight against the country’s insurgency. Shortly thereafter, Damiba led the coup to overthrow Kabore, after his last meeting failed to convince Kabore to employ Wagner.[31] With Damiba in power, it seems plausible that Wagner and the Kremlin may intervene in Burkina Faso as well.

     Wagner may have already begun a media and disinformation campaign in Burkina Faso. A protest held the day after the coup featured widespread pro-Russian comments and Russia flags. Declan Walsh points out that the origin of the Russian flags is unknown, particularly at such short notice after the coup.[32] Wagner’s next steps could include resource exploitation and PMC deployment to support the military relationship with Russia, though no evidence of this has yet occurred. Wagner Group’s appeal in the Sahel can be summed up by a water seller supporting the coup government protests in Burkina Faso: “We support the Russians. Our families are dying, and unemployment is rising, yet France hasn’t helped much. At least we can try something new.”[33]

     As written by Syed Zulfiqar Ali in the Center for Contemporary and Strategic Research; In late December 2021, the Government of Mali denied that it was contracting a private security company (Wagner Group) to help with the security situation in the country. The statement called the reports of such a deployment “baseless allegations.” But even before December 2021, there has been evidence of Wagner Group’s presence in Mali. According to CSIS analysis, commercially available satellite imagery from September (when rumours of a deal between Wagner and Mali first emerged) to December indicates that a large area was first walled off, and subsequently, the start of construction was observed in December. This area is just outside the perimeter of Bamako’s International Airport, in the country’s capital. It is just one of the multiple operations Wagner is running in Africa.

     The Wagner Group is supposedly a Private Military Contractor (PMC) with links to the Russian Government. But many western officials and academics believe that it does not exist, given the lack of any business registered under the Wagner name. Instead, the term has been used to describe an assortment of mercenary groups and companies which use the same logistics networks and have overlapping ownership. The linchpin of this global network is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian Oligarch with long-established links to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is widely believed that not having any military background, Mr Yevgeny is a front or a middleman for the organisation, working on behalf of the Russian State.

    The Wagner Group has significant links with the Russian Government. It was deployed in Syria along with the Russian Army and took part in major offensives like the one to take back the ancient city of Palmyra in 2016. The group has also been active in Ukraine, where Ukrainian Intelligence, between 2014-2015, intercepted calls of Dmitry Utkin, a former Lt Col in GRU and believed to be the founder of the Wagner Group with the Russian military leadership in the theatre. Besides, Russian Aerospace Forces or VKS aircraft have been linked to the arrival of Wagner personnel and equipment in Mali and other countries where the group is operating, further strengthening the notion of support from the Kremlin.

     In all the African countries they are deployed to, Wagner carries out a number of tasks, chiefly the training of the local militaries and militias loyal to the government. They also undertake the protection of some of the countries’ heads of government and ministers as well as local and Russian businessmen operating in those countries. And at times, they are deployed with the local forces, which is most common in Mozambique. Securing mineral deposits and overseeing mining operations is also part of their operation in many African nations.

     The Wagner Group is supposedly a Private Military Contractor (PMC) with links to the Russian Government. But many western officials and academics believe that it does not exist, given the lack of any business registered under the Wagner name.

     In Mozambique, the Wagner Group was deployed to the Cabo Delgado Province, facing an insurgency by ISIS affiliate Al-Shabaab. The group was tasked to help the local military in routing the insurgents and providing air support via helicopters. Russia has interests in mineral resources and gas deposits in the country. In August 2019, the President of Mozambique visited Russia, and in meetings with President Putin, he signed agreements pertaining to minerals, energy, defence and security. In September that year, Russian planes started arriving with men, vehicles and helicopters for operations in the troubled province of Cabo Delgado. The Group deployed forces with the local military to undertake counter-insurgency operations but failed to have any large impact. The province has large gas reserves both on land and in the water close to the shores, which the Russians are interested in.

     In the case of the Central African Republic (CAR), the Wagner Group is the primary means of implementing Russia’s military and economic aid. They also help manage access for Russian businessmen to diamond mines and other minerals (primarily gold) extraction sites. It is alleged that Russian advisors and instructors work closely with the CAR military and police and take part in arresting and detaining the local population. The presence of these forces have failed to stop the eight-year conflict, and Russian business has fully taken advantage of this fact, with there being reports that Wagner Group facilitated Russian business mining in rebel-held territories.

     In Libya, the group has carried out multiple operations supporting rebel General Khalifa Haftar, including operating Su-24 and Mig-29 aircraft on behalf of the General’s Libyan National Army and operating air defence systems. Even with the announcement of a ceasefire and presidential elections, Russian mercenaries are still operating in the country, with the head of the Libyan High Council of State, Khalid al-Mishri, saying in December 2021 that there are still over 7,000 Russians active in Libya. According to Mr Khalid, the Russians required a foothold in Northern Africa, and they got that with the deployments in Sirte and al-Jufra.

     Similarly, Wagner’s operations in Sudan started shortly after former president Omar al-Bashir’s visit to Sochi in 2017. The two sides, among other agreements, decided to establish a Russian naval base in the Port of Sudan. Personnel from Wagner were initially deployed to mining exploration sites, the rights for which were acquired by other companies linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin. Slowly this mounted to military support for the regime. Then in January 2019, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russian companies were now training the Army of Sudan but expressed that they were only undertaking training and not conducting operations with the Sudanese Army. After the coup in Sudan in 2019, companies quietly kept doing their work, relying on their links with the military for political cover, knowing that the civilian part of the government was aligned with the West. But the change in government has led to a snag in Russia’s plan for the naval base in Port Sudan, as the current leadership stated in June 2019 that they would review the deal with the Russians.

     With the recent entrance into Mali, it would seem Russia, via the Wagner Group, will get rights to mine the large reserves of gold present in Mali, just like they have in CAR. There is another similarity between the group’s operations in Mali and CAR. Like Mali, the group entered CAR right after the French force withdrew from that country. Thus, it is not difficult to conclude that the Kremlin uses the Wagner group as a tool to further their influence in Africa by supporting dictators and oppressive governments, which are in tough spots and at the same time also gaining financial benefits for businesses and businessmen linked to the Russian Government.”

     As written by Federica Saini Fasanotti of The Brookings Institution; “Russia is intensifying its competition with the United States in Africa. In its asymmetric race, Russia uses nominally private, but in fact state-linked actors such as the private security company the Wagner Group and the infamous St. Petersburg “troll farm” the Internet Research Agency (IRA). Both are a major threat to democracy and rule of law in Africa and beyond.

     In its African strategy, the Kremlin is motivated foremost by a desire to thwart U.S. policy objectives, almost irrespective of their substance. Considering Africa “one of Russia’s foreign policy priorities,” Russian President Vladimir Putin also seeks to create African dependencies on Moscow’s military assets and access African resources, targeting countries that have fragile governments but are often rich in important raw materials, such as oil, gold, diamonds, uranium, and manganese. Russian private security companies such as the Wagner Group purport to redress complex local military and terrorism conflicts with which African governments have struggled. They also offer to these governments the ability to conduct counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations unconstrained by human rights responsibilities, unlike the United States, allowing African governments to be as brutish in their military efforts as they like. In turn, Russia seeks payment in concessions for natural resources, substantial commercial contracts, or access to strategic locations, such as airbases or ports.

     MOSCOW’S HYBRID-WARFARE STRATEGY IN AFRICA

     Since 2006, Putin has sought to rebuild Russia’s presence and role in Africa, significantly weakened after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Between 2015 and 2019, Moscow signed 19 military collaboration agreements with African governments. The collaboration has focused in large part on Russian weapons sales.

     More importantly, however, the expansion of Russia’s influence in Africa has centered on the use of private security companies to deliver counterinsurgency and counterterrorism training and advising to local governments struggling to counter militancy. The expansion of their presence across the continent is taking place despite the fact that since March 2018, Russia has outlawed mercenaryism under Article 359 of its criminal code. Beyond avoiding official Russian military casualties and thus public outcry against and supervision of deployments abroad, the private security contractors provide plausible deniability for the Kremlin. Moscow disavows any command and control over them to absolve itself of their problematic behavior, such as egregious human rights violations and abuse of civilians. They also provide a proxy tool for military confrontations with the U.S. without directly implicating Russian troops. In 2018, some 300 Wagner Group contractors, for example, clashed with U.S. special operations forces in Deir el-Zour, Syria. Beyond propping up governments aligned with Moscow, the Russian contractors are also a source of intelligence for the Kremlin.

     Russia’s use of mercenary outfits to advance Moscow’s purposes has its roots in the 1990s when Russian private security companies, such as the Moran Security Group and the Slavonic Corps, began providing security services to Russian businessmen in Africa. However, the major turning point for Moscow’s systematic use of Kremlin-linked private security actors was 2014, when the West levied sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and destabilization of the Donbas. The Wagner Group — founded by a former special operations forces officer in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) — played a prominent role in the Ukraine operations, providing the Kremlin with a preview of its capacities and utility for maneuvers elsewhere in the world. Like the IRA, the Wagner Group is reportedly funded by Kremlin-linked oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

     THE WAGNER GROUP IN AFRICA

     In recent years, Wagner Group contractors have been deployed across the Middle East and Africa, including to Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, Madagascar, Central African Republic, and Mali, focusing principally on protecting the ruling or emerging governing elites and critical infrastructures.

     In 2017, for example, the Wagner Group deployed some 500 men to put down local uprisings against the government of Sudan’s dictator Omar al-Bashir. As payment, Prigozhin received exclusive rights to gold mining in Sudan, channeled through his M-Invest company. Before his overthrow in April 2019, Bashir offered a naval base on the Red Sea to Moscow.

     In the Central African Republic (CAR), the Wagner Group has been propping up the weak government of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, whose writ extends little beyond the capital, against various rebel groups since 2018. Its arrival in CAR coincided with a Prigozhin-linked company being awarded diamond and gold mining licenses. The Russian security company has been widely accused of perpetrating severe human rights violations and harassing peacekeepers, journalists, aid workers, and minorities. Wagner’s presence puts the CAR government at odds with the United Nations and the Western governments, which increasingly demand that the CAR ends its dealing with the Russian company or risk losing their assistance. In December, the European Union suspended its military training mission in the country.

     Libya’s geostrategic location on the Mediterranean Coast and its oil and other natural resources have also attracted Moscow and Kremlin-linked Russian private security companies. With access to only one port in the Mediterranean, in the Syrian facility of Tartus, Russia’s military presence in the region cannot compete with NATO’s Standing Naval Force Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED) and the U.S. Navy’s Naples’-based Sixth Fleet. But inserting itself into the ongoing civil war, the Wagner Group deployed units into Libya in 2019 in support of warlord Khalifa Hifter during his attack on the capital Tripoli. The Wagner Group provided advise, assist, and training capacities and, resorting to indiscriminate means such as mining civilian areas, helped Hifter take control of some of Libya’s oil fields. Like other foreign mercenaries and militias groups active in the country, the Wagner Group has disregarded the U.N.-sponsored Berlin Conference’s demand that they depart. Russia has disavowed any responsibility for the Wagner Group’s actions in Libya and their deleterious effects on U.N. peace mediation efforts.

     Since 2017, the al-Shabab insurgency in Mozambique began sweeping through the country’s northern province of Cabo Delgado. Unable to halt al-Shabab’s expansion, the government hired the Wagner Group for counterinsurgency operation in fall 2019, expanding its prior contract of functioning as the praetorian guard of the Mozambican president. However, given its inability to understand the local insurgency and the indigenous military forces with whom it had to collaborate, the Wagner Group’s operations failed spectacularly.

     Among the Wagner Group’s latest worrisome Africa deployments is Mali, where Islamist militants remain potent and governance poor and unaccountable. A complex set of numerous jihadi terrorist groups and regional Tuareg and other self-autonomy movements operates in the country. Among them are dangerous al-Qaida Sahel affiliates such as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) as well as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS). France has been militarily engaged in Mali since 2013, supported by other European countries and the U.S. as well as African countries under the G5 Sahel Joint Task Force, but has not achieved any resolute defeat of the militants. Now tired of the governance and counterinsurgency quagmire, France is slated to halve its contingent there to 2,500 troops in 2022. A military junta that seized power in August 2020, already weak, is turning to the Russians. With access to uranium, diamond, and gold mines as likely payoffs, a 1,000-contractor-strong Wagner Group deployment was to train the Malian soldiers and protect the country’s government officials. Facing both Western pushback and domestic outcry, the Malian government in late December denied any Wagner Group presence. Such a presence would severely undermine the sustainability and effectiveness of Western counterinsurgency and counterterrorism support operations as well as likely contribute to further deterioration of human rights in Mali.

     DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGNS

     Russia’s low-cost hybrid warfare in Africa and competition with the United States and its allies goes beyond the military domain into disinformation tactics. In Africa, like elsewhere in the world, including the United States during the 2016 presidential election, disinformation propagandists like the IRA seek to ignite social conflict within societies and undermine support for democracy. The IRA sought to manipulate Madagascar’s 2018 presidential election, for example. Meanwhile, in Mali, the IRA accused French counterinsurgency operations of being a façade for exploiting local uranium mines.

     To counter their problematic actions, Washington imposed sanctions against individuals and entities connected to the Wagner Group and IRA; the EU followed. However, as with sanctions on Russian government officials, these sanctions have not led to relevant changes in behavior.

    Despite U.N. and Western criticism of the Wagner Group’s conduct in Africa and threats of Western financial consequences for African governments that hire the Russian security company and allow it to perpetrate human rights and civil liberties violations, the Wagner Group — encouraged by the Kremlin and doing its bidding — is highly likely to stay in Africa. Sanctions are unlikely to change that. But the Wagner Group’s own failures and the counterproductive effects of its actions may in time reduce its allure to African governments.”

Success is contagious – so I’m rooting for the African countries throwing off European rule | Nels Abbey

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/02/african-countries-european-rule-coups-pacts-mali-niger-burkina-faso?CMP=share_btn_url

Niger’s coup adds to chaos in the Sahel, but it may also offer some hope

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/06/nigers-coup-adds-to-chaos-in-the-sahel-but-it-may-also-offer-some-hope?CMP=share_btn_url

US to withdraw from Niger after security pact fails in strategic victory for Russia: Biden administration to rethink counter-terrorism strategy after breakdown of pact allowing US forces on soil to fight jihadists

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/20/us-withdrawal-niger-security-pact-russia

Tuesday briefing: The global fallout from Niger’s coup

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/01/first-edition-niger-coup-explainer?CMP=share_btn_url

Niger is the perfect example of the US state of perma-war | Trevor Tim

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/27/niger-perfect-example-us-permanent-war-posturing?CMP=share_btn_url

Russia uses social media channels to exploit Niger coup

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/27/russia-uses-social-media-channels-to-exploit-niger-coup

Niger: hundreds of junta supporters gather in Niamey amid threat of military intervention – video

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2023/aug/03/niger-junta-supporters-niamey-video?CMP=share_btn_link

US special forces deaths in Niger lift veil on shadow war against Islamists in Sahel

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/15/sahel-niger-us-special-forces-islamists?CMP=share_btn_url

Niger junta repudiates deal allowing US military bases on its soil

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/17/niger-junta-repudiates-deal-allowing-us-military-bases-on-its-soil?CMP=share_btn_url

Military coup in Niger: archive, 16 April 1974

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/16/niger-military-coup-1974-archive?CMP=share_btn_url

Niger: chaos grips capital after military declares coup – video report

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2023/jul/27/niger-chaos-grips-capital-niamey-military-declares-coup-video-report?CMP=share_btn_link

Niger coup makes the troubled Sahel region yet more fragile/ BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66322914

Explainer: Niger a linchpin for stability in Africa’s ‘coup belt/ The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/27/explainer-niger-a-linchpin-for-stability-in-africas-coup-belt?CMP=share_btn_link

Soldiers Mutiny in U.S.-Allied Niger – The Intercept

Niger Coup Leader Joins Long Line of U.S.-Trained Mutineers

Niger’s cycle of deadly violence raises questions over US counter-terror role/ The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/niger-cycle-of-deadly-violence-raises-questions-over-us-counter-terror-role?CMP=share_btn_link

              The Wagner Group in Africa

Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa: Influence, commercial concessions, rights violations, and counterinsurgency failure

Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder, Vanda Felbab-Brown, Harold Trinkunas, Shadi Hamid

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/23/russia-putin-wagner-group-mercenaries-africa

Sahel region and sub-Saharan West Africa

https://www.csis.org/blogs/examining-extremism/examining-extremism-islamic-state-greater-sahara#:~:text=The%20Islamic%20State%20in%20the%20Greater%20Sahara%20%28ISGS%29%2C,includes%20portions%20of%20Burkina%20Faso%2C%20Mali%2C%20and%20Niger.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/03/while-the-focus-is-on-ukraine-russias-presence-in-the-sahel-is-steadily-growing?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/11/yevgeny-prigozhin-who-is-the-man-leading-russias-push-into-africa?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/russian-mercenaries-in-ukraine-linked-to-far-right-extremists?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/28/almost-30-million-will-need-aid-in-sahel-this-year-as-crisis-worsens-un-warns?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/25/isis-linked-groups-open-up-new-fronts-across-sub-saharan-africa?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/07/contagious-coups-what-is-fuelling-military-takeovers-across-west-africa?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/12/militant-crackdown-in-sahel-leads-to-hundreds-of-civilian-deaths-report?CMP=share_btn_link

Mali

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/04/russian-mercenaries-wagner-group-linked-to-civilian-massacres-in-mali?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/05/russian-mercenaries-and-mali-army-accused-of-killing-300-civilians?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/04/russian-mercenaries-wagner-group-mali-analysis?CMP=share_btn_link

Burkina Faso

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/06/burkina-faso-ex-president-blaise-compaore-guilty-thomas-sankara?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/13/guardians-of-the-bush-brutal-vigilantes-policing-burkina-faso-islamist-militants-ethnic-conflict?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/11/thomas-sankara-trial-burkina-faso?CMP=share_btn_link

Nigeria

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/waves-of-bandit-massacres-rupture-rural-life-in-north-west-nigeria?CMP=share_btn_link

Niger

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/30/african-apocalypse-review?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/06/ferocious-niger-battle-leaves-dozens-of-soldiers-and-militants-dead?CMP=share_btn_link

Chad

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/aug/14/president-deby-chad-greatest-threat-to-stability?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/26/we-wont-negotiate-says-new-chad-regime-as-armed-rebels-regroup?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/25/chad-dictators-death-spells-chaos-in-islamist-terrors-new-ground-zero?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/17/on-bad-days-we-dont-eat-hunger-grows-for-thousands-displaced-by-conflict-in-chad

       North Africa and the Sahara, a reading list

North Africa: A History from the Mediterranean Shore to the Sahara, Barnaby Rogerson

In Search of Ancient North Africa: A History in Six Lives, by Barnaby Rogerson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341137-in-search-of-ancient-north-africa

The Sahara: A Cultural History, by Eamonn Gearon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12254466-the-sahara

Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara, by Alisa LaGamma

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50130929-sahel

The Nomad’s Path: Travels in the Sahel, by Alistair Carr

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18464938-the-nomad-s-path

Horn, Sahel, and Rift: Fault-lines of the African Jihad, by Stig Jarle Hansen

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51062928-horn-sahel-and-rift

May 6 2024 Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month

     In the month of May we celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month, a vast subject when considering the source cultures from which such Americans arise; two thirds of whom are born elsewhere. If proximity in time and generation to the source culture of one’s family indicates the degree of influence it may have on our personal culture, what we ourselves think and do, its importance in a multicultural nation such as ours cannot be overstated.

      Herein I offer my reading list for Modern American Literature under the subheading Asian American Literature; I have posted my World Literature lists for China, Japan, India, and Islamic Peoples on my literary blog separately; it’s a huge and diverse subject, and I have lived or traveled in all four of these homelands and diasporas and many others as well, and have in many cases read these works in their original languages.

     My intention as a high school English teacher in creating and offering these reading lists to students, which include lists for over twenty national literatures, was to provide a broad and inclusive curriculum free from politization, censorship, and control by school boards and other authorizing institutions, wherein students may find themselves reflected, explore the legacies of our histories and the consequences of our choices among unknown futures and possibilities, and discover adaptive strategies and maps of becoming human. 

     One ongoing project which I ran using these lists in high school may be useful for reading or home study groups, partners, and getting to know one’s neighbors; I asked students to choose the list of a group with which they identify and then choose partners from a different group, then as partners select two books, one from each other’s list, to read together and give a presentation about each one to the class.

    This project, which I called Becoming Human Through Literature, has three goals; to develop a broad personal culture, to discover maps of how to become human, and to operate transcontextually as a global family member.

     As an activity for partners in any stage of a relationship, reading books together and discussing them as you progress makes a wonderful way to explore each others values, goals, and ideas.  You may surprise and delight one another; you may also surprise and reimagine yourself.

     For all of these lists I began with immortal classics and added whatever I thought merited inclusion on the basis of quality alone; this is how I found myself teaching a broad and inclusive curriculum. Yes, this means I’ve read all of the books listed; and often taught, led discussions, scored critical essays and  written about them for many years. It also means that if your favorite book is not on a list, I may simply not have read it yet.   

     Who am I, an American with no Asian ancestry, to claim any basis for judging works of Asian literature as classics equal to those of Shakespeare or the King James Bible, and creating such lists? This is an excellent question, for reading lists are nothing less than a set of authorized identities.

     To this question there are two answers; first, you must read into the literature of a people and discover for yourself what is useful to you in becoming human. We are all unique individuals with our own personal history, and what may help you create yourself today will be different from such works in the past and in the future, because identity is a thing of change.

     Second, some works are foundational and universally acclaimed for reasons which are compelling; for example, one cannot be Pakistani without the poetry of Iqbal. And though the study of literature by teenagers for purposes of identity construction is radically different from that of a scholar who seeks entrance into new and utterly alien ways of being human, both are a quest to discover who we ourselves can become, from others who are different as well as those alike.

     The question of whose story is this remains primary, which is why I choose voices of members of the culture for study in preference to those of outsiders, with the exception of notable secondary and critical works of scholarship regarding history, biography, and other contexts.

     We may not yet be able to change the world, but we can change ourselves. I hope that in so doing we may also one day change how we choose to be human together, as negotiated truths, values, and meaning.

     As to my qualifications as a fellow reader of reasonably unbiased and noncoercive intentions, and one aware of the perils of Orientalism, fetishization, assimilation, and other forms of colonialism, let me begin with the primary layer of identity, language.

     Languages are a hobby of mine, and I get lost trying to account for all of them, over fifty now throughout my lifetime, but Chinese is my second language, which I studied formally for ten years from the age of nine including traditional inkbrush calligraphy and spoken forms of Standard Hong Kong Cantonese and the Wu dialect of Shanghai. During this period I also studied Zen Buddhism which I claimed as my religion on official documents through much of my twenties, whose sources are both Chinese and Japanese; and I loved the poetry of Basho so much that I was once inspired to walk his hundred mile trail to see where they were written.

      In Kashmir my scholarship of Sufi literature as a member of the Naqshbandi  order required literacy in Classical Quranic Arabic, Classical Persian, and Ottoman Turkish; the official language Urdu which is Hindi written with a Perso-Arabic script and influenced by Classical Persian, and conversational use of the Kashmiri language Koshur. I already knew Levantine Arabic from Beirut before my senior undergraduate year, and was familiar with Rumi’s poetry, which I carried with me everywhere. 

      In Nepal I became literate in Classical Tibetan as a monk of the Kagyu Vajrayana order, and conversational Gorkali or Nepalese as it is the official language and spoken by half the population, Newari which is the language of Kathmandu Valley, Gurung which is a tribal language of the Annapurna region and a major language of my key allies the Gurkha military and the horse nomads with whom I operated across the border between Nepal and Kashmir. Hindi was my fifth local language, though of course I already had some familiarity with it, having studied Tantra with a priestess of Kali and on another of my travels been a member of the Aghori brotherhood of warriors during my graduate school years, and during my Freshman year at university read Shankara’s works and those of Ramakrishna through the Vedanta Society.

      Beyond my literary studies of the major great civilizations of Asia, I did cross much of it on foot during my Great Trek and have sailed throughout its seas, including on a traditional Phinisi schooner under the Bugis tribal captain Starfollower. I’ve trekked along the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia and later returned to Georgetown on the island of Penang as a home port, lived in the Golden Triangle with the Karen and Shan peoples in Thailand and Burma and fought in their wars of independence, with the Kachin who guided me across the Kumon Range along the route used by Merrill’s Marauders in World War Two, with the Naga of north India, the Iban of Sarawak, and the Mentawai Islanders when I was castaway in a storm off Sumatra, where I built an outrigger canoe and sailed to the main port of Padang, then learned the martial art or Silat of Raja Harimau while living with the Minangkabau. I fought a revolution in Nepal, a war of liberation against India’s imperial conquest in Kashmir, and a piratical campaign to free slaves at sea from the Sultanate of Sulawesi to the Bay of Bengal and the whole of South Asia between.

      Everywhere I have traveled, I learned what I could, helped where I could, reimagined and transformed myself as I could. For myself, the purpose of travel is to be broken open to new ways of becoming human. I am become a thing of interfaces between bounded realms of history, culture, and identity, and I now live in the empty spaces beyond our maps of becoming human marked Here Be Dragons, among the unknown and limitless possibilities of human being, meaning, and value.

     Who then shall we become? Asks our self of surfaces, images, and masks which each moment negotiates our boundaries with others.

     To which our secret self, the self of darkness and of passion, the self that lives beyond the mirror and knows no limits, unbound by time and space and infinite in possibilities, replies; Who do you want to become?

      I believe it is also important to recognize that we are all members of such multiplicities; that culture is layered and distributed in relational hierarchies of influence, and that we ourselves are the ultimate arbiter of such informing and motivating sources.

     We are all pluralities.

     And they are all in motion, our identities; processes of change, reimagination, and transformation.

     We are speaking here of identity as a function of history and memory, as a prochronism or history expressed in our form of our choices in adaptation like the shell of a fantastic sea creature, but it is in our power to command such resources rather than be mastered by them, and our struggle to free ourselves from the tyranny of other people’s ideas, which confers our liberation and self-ownership as self-created and unique human beings.

    Of the past and of traditional culture, let us understand what we must bring a reckoning for and discard in order to create a better humankind, and bring with us into the future only that which serves us in becoming human.

     Rejoice and embrace that which we claim and which in return claims us in membership and community, and resist to the death whatever authority claims us without our consent; to this we offer only challenge and defiance.      

September 25 2023 My Library of Possible Selves: A History Of My Identities Through My Languages

Broad Diversity of Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Population/ US Census

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/05/aanhpi-population-diverse-geographically-dispersed.html#:~:text=In%20acknowledgement%20of%20the%20diversity%20of%20languages%20spoken,Sinhala%2C%20Tagalog%2C%20Tamil%2C%20Telugu%2C%20Thai%2C%20Urdu%2C%20and%20Vietnamese.

               Asian American History

     The Making of Asian America: a history, Erica Lee

     Sons of the Yellow Emperor: a history of the Chinese Diaspora, Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, Lynn Pan

     On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family, Lisa See

              Asian American Literature

     The Joy Luck Club, The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan

     The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

     Red Azalea, Becoming Madame Mao, Wild Ginger, Empress Orchid, The Last Empress, Pearl of China, Anchee Min

     Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, The Namesake: A Portrait of the Film Based on the Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri by Mira Nair, Jhumpa Lahiri

     Woman Warrior, China Men, Maxine Hong Kingston

    Jasmine, The Holder of the Word, The Tree Bride, Desirable Daughters, Miss New India, Bharati Mukherjee

    Ten Thousand Waves, Wang Ping

     Legacies, The Middle Heart, Bette Bao Lord

     I Hotel, Tropic of Orange, Through the Ark of the Rain Forest, Karen Yamashita

     Mona in the Promised Land, The Love Wife, Tiger Writing, The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap, Gish Jen

     The Crazed, The Boat Rocker, In The Pond, The Writer As Migrant, Between Silences, Hua Jin

     Divakaruni: The Mistress of Spices, The Palace of Illusions, Chitra Banerjee

     The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo

     Miracle Fruit, At the Drive In Volcano, Lucky Fish, Oceanic, Aimee Nezhukumatathil

    How to Live Safely In A Science-Fictional Universe, Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu

    Dance Dance Revolution: Poems, Cathy Park Hong

    Cloud of Sparrows, Takashi Matsuoka

    Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng

    Native Speaker, The Surrendered, On Such a Full Sea, Chang-rae Lee

    The Face: a time code, A Tale For The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki 

    Golden Gate, Vikram Seth

     West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story, Road Trips: Becoming an American in the vapor trail of The Sixties, Tamim Ansary

     This is Paradise, Kristiana Kahakauwila             

     On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong

     How Much of These Hills Is Gold, C Pam Zhang

     Inferno, Catherine Cho

     A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure, Hoa Nguyen   

     A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam

                Vietnamese American Literature

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41880609-on-earth-we-re-briefly-gorgeous

She Weeps Each Time You’re Born, Quan Barry

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22291474-she-weeps-each-time-you-re-born

The Zenith, Dương Thu Hương

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12987271-the-zenith

Novel Without a Name, Dương Thu Hương

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/229001.Novel_Without_a_Name

Paradise of the Blind, Dương Thu Hương

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53629.Paradise_of_the_Blind

Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, by Andrew X. Pham

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4370.Catfish_and_Mandala

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace, Le Ly Hayslip, Jay Wurts

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5729.When_Heaven_and_Earth_Changed_Places

Monkey Bridge: A Novel, Lan Cao

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374928.Monkey_Bridge

The Lotus and the Storm, Lan Cao

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18693709-the-lotus-and-the-storm

Love Like Hate, Linh Dinh

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2145199.Love_Like_Hate

The Reeducation of Cherry Truong, Aimee Phan

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12160925-the-reeducation-of-cherry-truong

Birds of Paradise Lost, Andrew Lam

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15953645-birds-of-paradise-lost

Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey, G.B. Tran

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8501710-vietnamerica

https://aeon.co/essays/the-self-is-not-singular-but-a-fluid-network-of-identities

World Literature: China

World Literature: Japan

World Literature:  India

World Literature: Islamic Peoples

                                Hawai’i: a reading list

     Hawai’I seizes me with an immediacy and vividness in the context of Asian American literature and history, for it embodies both the terror of our racist and imperial-colonial history and our hopes for a better future as a diverse and inclusive United Humankind in which all human beings are truly equal. Between the systemic evils in which we are complicit and our liberation from unequal power and elite hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness there lies a long path of reckoning and emergence; but first we must find a vision of who we want to become, we humans, and in Hawai’I this too we may discover.

     Hawai’I is a Cuba that never found a liberator.

     You may notice that herein I do not follow my usual rule of including only works by authors who are members of a historical people and may speak both of and for them, which in this case would limit my selection to books by native indigenous persons of Kānaka Maoli identity.

    What is a Hawaiian, or an American? In Hawaii we see an image of our possible future as a united humankind, multiethnic and transhistorical, protean, inclusive, and diverse beyond limit or categorization.

    In such a society, to claim membership is to become a member without question or qualification. To write as such a member is to negotiate the legacies of our history, which include epigenetic harms of racism and colonialism, and to reimagine and transform the limitless possibilities of becoming human.

    Here are works by people born in Hawaii, or written in Hawaii from within its many layered and interdependent communities.

     This is also true of its two great ancestor spirits, guardians and guides of the soul, who speak to us through dreams and poetic vision of our futures from a mythic past, Barack Obama and Maxine Hong Kingston. Some scholars argue that they were once living human beings like any other, who became exalted and deified in a remote age not because they were embodiments of Hegelian world-historical forces, but because they changed such forces and processes through poetic vision and a realized action of human values, and the nature and fate of humankind changed with them.

     May we all become such fulcrums of change, and help to dream and to realize a free society of equals.

     Hawaii speaks here with many voices, all of which belong.

                                   History and Culture

     Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’I, by Hokulani K. Aikau (Editor)

     Pacific Worlds, by Matt K. Matsuda

     Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawaii, by Susanna Moore

     Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu: The First Century, by Gavan Daws

     Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America’s First Imperial Adventure, by Julia Flynn Siler

     Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell

     Captive Paradise: The Story of the United States and Hawaii, by James L. Haley

      From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’I, by Haunani-Kay Trask

     Waikiki: A History of Forgetting & Remembering, by Andrea Feeser

     Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege: Essays on Hawai’I, by Liz Prato

     Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, by Tony Horwitz

     A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai’I, On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact, Unearthing the Polynesian Past. Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist, by Patrick Vinton Kirch

     No Footprints in the Sand: A Memoir of Kalaupapa, by Henry Nalaielua, Sally-Jo Keala-O-Anuenue Bowman

     Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior, by Mark Panek

     Waking Up in Eden: In Pursuit of an Impassioned Life on an Imperiled Island,

by Lucinda Fleeson

     My Time in Hawaii: A Polynesian Memoir by Victoria Nelson

     Hawaiian Mythology, by Martha Warren Beckwith

     Ancient Hawai’I, by Herb Kawainui Kane

     The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant, by Keaulumoku

     The Burning Island: Myth and History of the Hawaiian Volcano Country, by Pamela Frierson

     Kika Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music, by John W. Troutman

     The Haumana Hula Handbook: A Manual for the Student of Hawaiian Dance,

by Mahealani Uchiyama

     Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past, by John R.K. Clark

     Waves of Resistance: Surfing and History in Twentieth-Century Hawai’I,

by Isaiah Helekunihi Walker

     Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan

     Archipelago: Portraits of Life in the World’s Most Remote Island Sanctuary,

by David Liittschwager, Susan Middleton

      Sam Choy’s Island Flavors, Sam Choy Woks the Wok : Stir Fry Cooking at Its Island Best, The Choy of Seafood: Sam Choy’s Pacific Harvest, Sam Choy’s Polynesian Kitchen: More Than 150 Authentic Dishes from One of the World’s Most Delicious and Overlooked Cuisines, by Sam Choy

     Written By Outsiders Looking In, as was said of Timothy Leary by The Moody Blues:

     Hotel Honolulu, by Paul Theroux

     The Curse of Lono, by Hunter S. Thompson, Steve Crist (Editor), Ralph Steadman (Illustrator)

    Travelers’ Tales Hawai‘I, By Rick & Marcie Carroll

     Six Months in the Sandwich Islands: Among Hawaii’s Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes, by Isabella Lucy Bird

                                     Literature

     Shark Dialogues, House of Many Gods, Kiana Davenport

     Night Is a Sharkskin Drum, by Haunani-Kay Trask

     This is Paradise: stories, Kristiana Kahakauwila

     The Heart of Being Hawaiian, by Sally-Jo Keala-O-Anuenue Bowman

     Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre, by Lois-Ann Yamanaka

     Shadow Child, by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto

     The Tattoo, by Chris McKinney

     School for Hawaiian Girls, by Georgia Ka’Apuni McMillen

     The Descendants, by Kaui Hart Hemmings

     Sharks in the Time of Saviors, by Kawai Strong Washburn

     Diamond Head, by Cecily Wong

     Language of the Geckos and Other Stories, A Ricepaper Airplane, by Gary Pak

     Hawaii Nei: Island Plays, by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl

     Molokai, Kaaawa: A Novel about Hawaii in the 1850s, by O.A. Bushnell

     A Little Too Much Is Enough, Makai, by Kathleen Tyau

     Jan Ken Po, by Dennis M. Ogawa

     The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative, by W.S. Merwin

     Moloka’I, Daughter of Moloka’I, Honolulu, by Alan Brennert

     Aloha Las Vegas: And Other Plays, by Edward Sakamoto

     Picture Bride, The Land Of Bliss, Cloud Moving Hands, by Cathy Song

     On the Street of Divine Love: New and Selected Poems, All-Night Lingo Tango, Babel, Holoholo: Poems, Delirium: Poems, The Alphabet of Desire, Lester Higata’s 20th Century, by Barbara Hamby

     Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, We Can Be Better: The Influential Speeches of Barack Obama, The Promiser: Barack Obama’s Fireside Chats, A Promised Land, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, by Barack Obama

The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, by David Remnick

     Woman Warrior, China Men, Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston’s Broken Book of Life: An Intertextual Study of the Woman Warrior and China Men, by Maureen Sabine

The Art of Parody: Maxine Hong Kingston’s Use of Chinese Sources,

by Yan Gao

Writing Tricksters: Mythic Gambols in American Ethnic Fiction,

by Jeanne Rosier Smith

     Finding Meaning: Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature, by Brandy Nālani McDougall

     The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen: Reconstructing Native Hawaiian Intellectual History, by Noenoe K. Silva

May 5 2024 Let us Dream a New Post-Capitalist Society: Karl Marx, on his birthday

     “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it”, as written by Karl Marx.

     Karl Marx transformed the history and evolution of humankind with a unique primary insight, simple to tell though it has many layers; we humans are self created beings, whose souls are artifacts of our civilization as historical and social constructions, interdependent with those of others, and if we change how we relate to each other as systems, narratives of identity, informing, motivating, and shaping forces, if we change the nature of our relationships, we also change the nature of humankind.

     Are we not made of the stories we tell about ourselves, to ourselves and to each other?

      Always there remains the struggle between the masks that others make for us, and those we make for ourselves.

     This is the first revolution in which we all must fight; the struggle for self-ownership. 

     “The bourgeoisie has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self- interest, than callous ‘cash payment’. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation.” So wrote Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto, which remains the most impactful revisioning of human relations, being, meaning, and values in the history of civilization.

     Celebrate with me today the birthday of Karl Marx, who shaped from the Humanist tradition of the Enlightenment a toolkit for the realization of our potential humanity, of the limitless possibilities of becoming human, and of the liberation of humankind from systems of unequal power, from elite hegemonies of wealth, power, and privilege, from divisions and hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness, from fascisms of blood, faith, and soil, and from the tyranny and carceral states of those who would enslave us.

    An enduring legacy of Karl Marx is his instrumentalization of Socratic method as a tool of understanding unequal power as dialectical process, which can be generally applied in human sciences. This he demonstrated at length in the example of economics because he wanted to place it on a footing as science, much as Freud insisted on defining his new talking cure for madness as medical science to confer authority on it.

     Marx helped me process two defining moments of my life, traumas which were transformational both to my identity and to my understanding of the human condition.

     I first read his works as a teenager in the wake of a trip to Brazil the  summer between eighth grade and high school in 1974, training with a friend as a sabre fencer for the Pan American Games, during which I became aware of the horrific gulf between social classes and races in the wealth disparity between my aristocratic hosts and the vast Black slums beyond their walls. At thirteen I had read Plato and Nietzsche, but never seen poverty or racism, though the brutal tyranny of a city under siege by its police had been enacted before me years earlier in the spectacle of Bloody Thursday in Berkeley, May 15 1969. This was the Defining Moment of my Awakening to the brokenness of the world and the lies and illusions of the gilded cage of my privilege.

    My response to this first reading, like my second and third a part of reading through the entire Great Books of the Western World series and the guidebooks by Mortimer J. Adler which collect his famous course at the University of Chicago, was that Marx had reimagined sin as the profit motive in a myth of Exile and Return, in an allegorical fable in which the new Adamic Man would be restored to an Edenic state, being immediately captivated by the multitudes of Biblical symbolism which permeates Das Capital. In this interpretation I was influenced by my context of growing up in a Reformed Church community, where spoken English reflected that of the King James Bible whose rhythms shape my writing still, and the influence of Coleridge and other Romantic Idealists and religious symbolism in medieval art through my mother, who was a scholar of both.

     My second reading of Marx was eight years later as a university student after a culinary tour of the Mediterranean ended with the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Siege of Beirut, and my exposure to the brutalities of war and Imperialist-Colonialist conquest as a nation fell to ruins around me. This was the Defining Moment of my calling, in which I was sworn to the Oath of the Resistance by Jean Genet.

     During this second engagement with Marx, I laughed all the way through it; the first time I didn’t understand the literary references well enough to get the jokes. This time I saw his delightfully wicked Swiftian satire, and realized his true achievement; like Nicholaus of Cusa and Godel, Camus and Sartre, Beckett and Pinter, Marx demonstrates the limits of reason in an Absurd universe free of any meaning or value we ourselves do not create, and the madness of our historical attempts to control fate and nature including our own in a mad world, where security is an illusion, truths are ambiguous, ephemeral, and relational, and our fear has been weaponized globally by carceral states in service to power, the centralization of authority, and our enslavement and dehumanization. In this second unfolding of understanding I found guidance and allyship with fellow revolutionaries and scholars of Marxist thought and its praxis, as we waged liberation struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, American imperialism in Central America, and other theatres of Resistance to tyranny and oppression.

     The third time I read Marx was over a decade after my baptism by fire in Beirut, this time as a counselor seeking to better understand and help my clients. I remain as I was then, a scholar of the intersection of literature, psychology, history, and philosophy, whose primary field is the origin of human evil and its consequences as violence, though of course I have been greatly changed by my life experience, and my understanding has changed with me.

     My third reading of Marx coincides with my Defining Moment of understanding the Wagnerian ring of fear, power, and force from which evil, violence, and fascist tyranny arise, a Ring of Power which requires the renunciation of love to wield, and a pathology which can be healed by the redemptive power of love. Here Marx helps us to understand the dynamics of unequal power as a system of oppression, a model which can be applied generally to issues including those of gender, race, and class.

     We often have difficulty envisioning a therapeutic model of finding balance and harmony in society rather than a coercive one; we may align ourselves on the side of freedom against tyranny and the force and control of the carceral state, but how can we abolish the police and throw open the gates of the prisons, abolish borders and the counterinsurgency model of policing which enforces white supremacist and patriarchal terror, renounce the social use of force and abandon violence and war, cast down law and order from their thrones and forge a civilization of liberty and chaos in its place?

     Let me provide you with an example of what that might look like. On my return from adventures abroad, I took a job as a counselor in a program called Vision Quest run through a Native American tribe for court mandated youth, under the flags of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers with the Army’s permission, and with gorgeous Union Army blues parade uniforms. 

     As described to me, I would lead a group of fifteen boys through the program from a three month impact or boot camp in Arizona near the historic Fort, then ride horses to Denver and Philadelphia, sleeping in a tipi as one of several such teams while they learned riding and parade horse drill, and finish the program on a tall ship in the Florida Keys teaching them to sail. They would earn their GED high school equivalency certificate, and graduates would have served their sentences and be provided with jobs and transitional supervised community based housing. There was no lockdown; just men learning to live together without violence.

     This sounded like a grand adventure, and for most of my life if you told me something was going to be an adventure, or as Obi-Wan says in the first Star Wars film “some damn fool idealistic crusade”, I’d likely do it. It’s the part they leave out of the pitch you need to worry about with this kind of quasi-official outfit; what no one told me was that the clients were mainly violent felons with four or five year sentences that would eventually land them in adult prisons if they washed out, with issues like psychotic rage and often highly trained and indoctrinated gang soldiers, cult zealots, and fanatics of political terror as well. It turned out to be both much tougher and much more interesting than I thought it was going to be, and became my entry point into working as a counselor.

     America at this time was caught up in a highly politicized racist hysteria over gangs and rising crime, whose emergence was to me clearly a consequence of the failures of capitalism as our civilization began to collapse from the inherent contradictions of our systems of unequal power. One reply to these conditions was to use greater force; the solution of stop and frisk policies, the school to prison pipeline whose design is to create prison bond labor and the re-enslavement of Black citizens, militarization of police, and the universalization of state terror as the counterinsurgency model of policing. This has two problems; it fails to address underlying causes of crime in wealth disparity, and it asks us to throw our children away.

     They were some of the toughest and most unreachable boys in our nation, mainly Black and from the ghettos of Chicago and Philadelphia, with issues of abuse, abandonment, and addiction as consequences of structural and systemic inequalities and injustices, internalized oppression, and the legacy of slavery. And they were boys and future citizens our nation had thrown away.

      We had a three percent recidivism rate from that program; 97% of our clients had no further contact with the law after completion. This amazing success with teenagers our society had pronounced violent and unreformable criminals began with an awareness that perpetrators are also victims, both and neither good nor evil, and was won by providing a constructive way for them to earn honor and membership; so far like many other programs based on military models of identity construction.

     But it was the horses, wild mustangs given to each new client as their own personal mount who had to break and learn to ride them, that allowed them to forge the ability to bond with others, because you can trust a horse and it will never betray you. Teambuilding exercises did the rest, as in the military but without the purpose of violence.

     So it was, with The Communist Manifesto in my saddlebag and dreaming with serenity between a former gang enforcer and extremist of Louis Farrakhan’s racial separatist Nation of Islam who had been shot six times in six different gunfights with other Black teenagers and whose joy was to recite poetry from my copy of Rumi, and on the other side a former Jamaican Posse drug lord who had two million dollars in cash in his pockets when his reign of terror in Philly ended in betrayal and arrest and who had discovered a genius for choreography in adapting reggae to parade drill, that I had a primary insight and realization of the nature of violence as a disease of power, of addiction to power and of unequal power, which operates multigenerationally as epigenetic trauma and historical legacies of slavery and racism, and often a result of secret power.

     Dehumanization is the end result of commodification; Jean Genet famously called the quest for wealth and power necrophilia for this reason. William S. Burroughs coined the term the Algebra of Need as a metaphor of Capitalism. And with his invention of the philosophy of Existentialism, Jean Paul Sartre explored the implications of Marx’s primary insights as a psychology of the consequences of unequal power relations and the mechanical failures of our civilization’s internal contradictions as alienation, falsification, commodification, internalized oppression, and the disfigurement and theft of the soul by hierarchies of elite wealth, power, and privilege and the hegemonic forces of those who would enslave us. 

     As a systemic and pervasive means of transforming persons into things, capitalism is an enabler which acts as a force multiplier for a host of evils, inequalities of racism and patriarchy, and divisions of exclusionary otherness, touching every aspect of our lives including our identity and social relations and confronting individuals with enormous and weaponized forces with which we must wrestle.

     And our best response to these threats is solidarity in refusal to submit or be isolated by our modern pathology of disconnectedness, divided by otherness and identitarian categories of exclusion and privilege and by fascisms of blood, faith, and soil, and subjugated by authorized identities and the weaponization of overwhelming and generalized fear in service to power; to unite as a band of brothers, sisters, and others and to shelter and protect our humanity and viability through and with others as a United Humankind.

      In our revolutionary struggle for our souls, for autonomy and self ownership, for liberty and our uniqueness as self created beings, and for the liberation of humankind, we are each other’s best resource of action.

     We are not designed to survive alone, and it can be difficult to get people in crisis to reach out for help, and for our institutions of caregiving to find where help is needed before things spiral downwards into violence, nor can violence be cured with violence or state repression. But this is the great mission of our humanity; to unite across the boundaries of our differences in revolutionary  struggle to become better.

     Let us defy the malign forces that would divide and enslave us and consume our souls. So I say with Karl Marx, the great visionary of liberty and the limitless possibilities of becoming human; People of the world, unite; we have nothing to lose but our chains.

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/01/popular-democracy-karl-marx-socialism-political-institutions

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/05/karl-marx-200th-birthday-communist-manifesto-revolutionary

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/20/yanis-varoufakis-marx-crisis-communist-manifesto

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/05/why-marx-still-matters?fbclid=IwAR1800CCbdbk5qPNuR4WwWxR6GLStnmSM1v6ndzBD8PQgLGCZvb5okvN1Qo

                      Karl Marx, a reading list

The Communist Manifesto: A Graphic Novel, by Martin Rowson (Adaptor), Karl Marx, Friedrich Engel

The Communist Manifesto: with an introduction by Yanis Varoufakis

by Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, David Aaronovitch (Introduction)

The Relevance of the Communist Manifesto, by Slavoj Žižek

Karl Marx, by Francis Wheen

A Companion To Marx’s Capital: The Complete Edition, by David Harvey

Karl Marx’s Theory of History: A Defence, by G.A. Cohen

Karl Marx and World Literature, by S.S. Prawer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9751747-karl-marx-and-world-literature

Why Marx Was Right, by Terry Eagleton

The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, by Bhaskar Sunkara

May 5 2024 Cinco de Mayo: On This Celebration of Anticolonial Liberation,  Questioning the Erasure of Mexicans From American history

      We celebrate today the liberation of Mexico from the Austrian Empire, a glorious victory of anticolonialism which continues to inspire a nation today. Where then are the Mexicans in American History?

      How did Texas become a quasi white ethnostate whose wealth and power are created by the de facto slave labor of Mexican workers, workers who must remain illegal and hence exploitable and invisible in service to white elites resulting in our humanitarian crisis at the border. For if all the huddled masses yearning to be free were welcomed as fellow citizens and builders of the nation, not just the white ones, we would have to pay them a fair and equal wage and the wealth, power, and privilege of hegemonic elites would crumble into nothingness.

      This is the real reason for the demonization of migrants by the Republican Party; they must have a vast pool of nearly free labor with almost no rules about what can be done to workers, and so wage a class war to enforce their capture of our society.

     For what purpose have we a border? We have drawn a line in the sand to exploit disparity and create illegal migrant labor; an invisible resource of those with no legal existence to whom we can do anything without reprisal, and whose cheap labor fuels vast industries of agriculture, hospitality, caretaking, and manufacture.

     Migrant labor is slave labor.

     And these imposed conditions of struggle emerge from the history of slavery and the role of Texas as a Confederate bastion, as migrant labor replaces slave labor.

     The historical legacy of slavery links racism against Black Americans and Mexican-Americans emanating from Texas, the heart of darkness.

     Founded by theft from Mexico and the lawless banditry of slave owners who refused to emancipate their slaves, Texas remained a rogue state in fact long after joining the United States, a persistent delusion of its mad quasi-emperor Sam Houston and the displaced Confederates who recolonized and tried to use it as a base from which to seize Mexico after the Civil War.

     Texas was not always a den of racism and violence; founded in 1579 as a colony of exiled Jews by Spain, the grandees who settled and ruled it dreamed of a new Sepharad wherein peoples of all races and faiths may live under the same law, arguably a nearer model of freedom and equality than ancient Greece and Rome for the new nations of Protestant Europe and a historical influence on American democracy.

       This first ideal of Texas as an inclusive and egalitarian society ended in 1595 when Louis de Carvajal, the founder and Governor of the Kingdom of New Leon- current Mexico and Texas- was arrested as a practicing Jew and died in prison; his sister Francesca and her four children Isabel, Catalina, Leonor, and Luis were tortured and burned at the stake as Jews by the Inquisition in 1596, her last child Mariana joining them at the stake in 1601. Of de Carvajal’s legacy, only the city he founded, Monterrey, remains.

      Whether this idea of Texas as a multiracial and multifaith refuge was realized before being infiltrated and seized by the tyrannies of the Spanish Empire and its Inquisition is beside the point; there is an alternate story and Golden Age to reclaim, the dream of Texas as a glorious Andalus.

      Let us make a better future than we have the past, and redeem the hope of our ideals.

      As I wrote in my post of March 16 2020, Walls of Hate, Tyranny, and Empire: America’s Global Borders; As we are inundated with the global awakening to fear of the coronavirus pandemic, it becomes clear that this is a natural triggering stressor which parallels a manufactured one, that of borders and refugee crises, in its behaviors and effects in our social and political environment as leverage for nationalist and fascist tyrannies of force and control in the subversion of democracy and the transformation of our world into a vast prison.

    Overwhelming and generalized fear is a necessary precondition of authoritarian regimes, and of violence and the use of social force generally, which together with submission to authority may be regarded as a First Cause of the disease of power in the sense that Thomas Aquinas argued causality and being, though in the absolute sense which he used all causes are recursive and enfold each other; ”If there is no First Cause, then the universe is like a great chain with many links; each link is held up by the link above it, but the whole chain is held up by nothing.”

     Authority and fear also alienate us from ourselves, dehumanize and commodify us as does capitalism as its outer form; for this is about the theft of our identity and power by those who would enslave us.

      The first consequence of the emergence of authority and the disempowerment of its subjects is the modern pathology of disconnectedness; and this is the link which binds authority and tyranny together, and its weak point. Here is where resistance and revolution must act to shatter the knot of interdependent and mutually reinforcing systems which rob us of our humanity and our freedom.

     We must build bridges not walls, togetherness not isolation, unity not division, and forge a borderless world and a free society of equals.

     Todd Miller describes America’s empire of borders in a Jacobin interview; “Since coming into office, the Trump administration has launched unrelenting racist attacks on immigrants and refugees. He seems determined to build his wall by any means necessary and has unleashed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to conduct raids, arrest people, throw them in concentration camps, and deport them.”

   “ But, contrary to widespread liberal illusions, Trump did not start this war on migrants, but only intensified it.

     In fact, as Todd Miller demonstrates in his new book, Empire of Borders, politicians in both major parties have collaborated over the last few decades to construct a massive border regime that polices migrants not only in the United States but throughout the world. In this interview with Jacobin contributor Ashley Smith, Miller discusses the origins and features of this new imperial strategy — and the international resistance against it.

AS

One of the points you make throughout your book is that this border regime did not begin with Trump but has been a feature of the United States from its founding. How has the US state internationalized its border regime over the last few decades, and how does it operate today?

TM

     The US state established its borders through colonization, dispossession, genocide, slavery, and exploitation. This is especially true of its border with Mexico in the nineteenth century.

     That violent process of conquest is too often legitimized by mainstream historians when they use innocuous-sounding phrases like “westward expansion,” dress up imperial bullying like the Gadsden Purchase as “agreements,” and craft self-congratulatory accounts of the Mexican-American War.

     But there is no way to make the white supremacy of “manifest destiny” palatable. The United States seized land, planted its flag, and killed anyone that resisted, especially indigenous peoples, all in the name of God and European civilization.

     It expanded its border regime through its imperial seizure of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines in the 1898 Spanish-American War. By the early twentieth century, the United States had established its territorial border, set up semicolonies, and policed seemingly independent states in its hemisphere with “gunboat diplomacy.”

     Even knowing this history, it took me a while to understand that the US border extended well beyond its mainland. I think the first time I grasped this was while covering the migration out of Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010. I quickly realized that this was not a migration story but a border story.

     Shortly after the earthquake, as hundreds of thousands of people were still in the rubble of their homes, a US jumbo jet flew overhead blasting out an announcement from the Haitian ambassador. He warned in Creole, “If you think you will reach the United States and all the doors will be wide open to you, that’s not at all the case. They will intercept you right in the water and send you back home where you came from.”

     Soon after, sixteen Coast Guard cutters came right up to the Haitian shore to stop the flight of any refugees. Then Washington contracted the private prison company GEO Group for “guard services” (presumably in a tent city in Guantánamo Bay) to in effect jail the victims.

     At once I saw that the US border was: 1) geographically removed from where I normally had thought it was; 2) elastic and able to extend at will very far from the US mainland; and 3) not passive, but aggressive. In a nutshell, the border was much bigger — much, much bigger — than I ever thought it was.

     For example, in 2012, when I was on an investigative trip to Puerto Rico, I learned that the tiny Mona Island — a mere thirty miles from the Dominican shore — was also literally part of the US border.

     So when a sinking boat carrying Haitians to another destination crashed onto the shores of that small island, they were absorbed by the US border: detained, arrested, incarcerated, and eventually deported by the US Department of Homeland Security back to Haiti.

     This is just one instance. Another is the Dominican Border Patrol, which the United States trained and equipped after its creation in 2007. And a third is Guatemala’s new Chorti border patrol, which the US Embassy, one commander told me, helped create to police its Honduran borderlands.

     This wasn’t limited just to the Western Hemisphere. On other trips I found out that US funds created a Kenyan border patrol and a massive surveillance system on the Jordanian-Syrian border. And this is just scratching the surface.

     To understand this, I think it’s important to go back to the 9/11 Commission Report’s paradigm-changing statement: “The American Homeland is the planet.” Since 2003, CBP has created twenty-three embassy attaches from Nairobi to Tokyo to Berlin to Brasilia and is at work in nearly one hundred countries through various border programs — creating, essentially, an empire of borders.

     While the United States has always had such international border operations, it dramatically expanded them after 9/11. When I asked one CBP official at its Washington headquarters to describe with one word how much they’ve grown since then, he answered: “exponentially.”

AS

     So that’s how the United States controls the global flow of people. How do its policies cause migration to begin with?

TM

     Washington’s climate, economic, and military policies bear an enormous responsibility for creating the conditions that drive people from their countries. The United States has long been history’s top emitter of greenhouse gases (since 1900 it has emitted nearly seven hundred times more than Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador combined), driving up temperatures, causing desertification, raising sea levels, exacerbating preexisting situations (often of intense poverty, especially in rural areas), effectively making it a force behind displacement.

     While borders have been hardened to deter, arrest, incarcerate, expel, and ultimately sort and classify the world’s most vulnerable people, destructive forces that cause migration can go where they please. One example of this is the “open border” policy in place for the US military.

     With its forces deployed in over eight hundred bases around the world, Washington has conducted countless military interventions and coups, leading people to flee to other countries for safety. For example, in 1954 the United States intervened in Guatemala to overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz, resulting in a thirty-six-year armed conflict and brutal military repression.

     Another example is Washington-driven neoliberal economics. It has forced indebted countries to privatize state-owned companies, slash their welfare states, and open up their economies to US multinationals. While that made money for local and international capitalists, it wrecked the lives of small farmers and workers, many of whom left their countries for the United States and other advanced capitalist countries to find work as criminalized cheap labor.

     And if countries didn’t agree to neoliberalism, the United States often forced it upon them at gunpoint. If you look in Central America, Mexico, all around the world, this convergence of military and neoliberal policies has both done considerable damage and caused massive displacement of people.

     As the New York Times’s Thomas Friedman wrote so presciently and unselfconsciously in 1999, for the “hidden hand of the market” to work you need the “hidden fist” of the military to back it up and enforce it. And part of that hidden fist is the border regime that polices the migrants and refugees at its borders.

AS

     This border regime, as you argue in your book, has generated a booming new industry in border security. What does this look like, and how does it intensify the attack on migrants in the United States and throughout the world?

TM

     The US empire of borders has spawned a whole new dimension of carceral capitalism. It’s raking in enormous profits off the proliferation of walls, surveillance technology, checkpoints, and detention facilities.

     When I was traveling in Israel and Palestine in 2017 with an international group, a man from South Africa told me that what we were seeing was worse than apartheid era in his country. He made the point that in South Africa, while it was bad from 1948 to the early 1990s, there weren’t all the checkpoints, walls, armed agents and soldiers, and technologies that we were seeing in the occupied territories.

     During that trip we went to one of the biggest weapons and technology conferences in Israel. In the Tel Aviv convention center, Israeli companies pitched “proven” technologies, which they boasted had been tested on Palestinians under occupation, to governments from all over the world to police their own borders and oppressed populations.

     At another homeland security expo in Tel Aviv I saw the demonstration of the Orbiter III, which they called the “suicide drone.” The weapons dealer said that it could conduct surveillance on a target, and then, if they so decided, dive-bomb it and utterly destroy it.

     Even though Israel is the “homeland security/surveillance capital” of the world, as scholar Neve Gordon put it, the industry has metastasized throughout the world. I have been to similar border regime bazaars in San Antonio, in Paris, and in Mexico City.

     This whole industry has boomed as states across the globe have built more than seventy border walls (up from fifteen in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall), spent billions on surveillance technologies, and hired hundreds of thousands of armed agents to guard the jagged frontier of the Global North and Global South. Corporations are profiting off border policing, adding crass capitalist interest to crude state repression.

AS

     What are the domestic impacts of the border regime in the United States? How has it created a new caste division in the working class, deepened racial divisions, and built a state more prepared to repress its population?

TM

     Border regimes, by their very nature, are systems of exclusion. They are enforced not only by guards but bureaucracies that oversee elaborate rules intended to make noncitizens work hard for their papers as if they were gaining membership to an exclusive club.

     In this sense, the border is much more than the international boundary line. In the United States, the border zone, or jurisdiction, extends a hundred miles inland along the 2,000-mile Mexican border, 4,000-mile Canadian border, and both coasts. That’s a good swath of country where Homeland Security forces operates in what the American Civil Liberties Union has called a “constitution-free zone.”

     Over 200 million people, approximately two-thirds of the US population, live in this zone, where the Border Patrol can set up checkpoints, do roving patrols, work with local and state police, and racially profile and target people for arrest, detention, and deportation. Over the last twenty-five years,

the number of agents has ballooned from 4,000 to 21,000, and annual budgets have gone up from $1.5 billion in 1994 to $23 billion in 2018. Detention centers now exceed 250 and can be found throughout the country.

     This massive apparatus is only growing larger and becoming more invasive. For example, the Department of Homeland Security has been testing new small- and medium-sized drones with the ability to “fly unnoticed by human hearing and sight” along a “predetermined route observing and reporting unusual activity and identifying faces and vehicles involved in that activity comparing them to profile pictures and license plate data.”

     All of this amounts to a gargantuan, and profitable, exclusion apparatus, effectively creating a modern caste system that extends throughout the country and indeed the globe.

AS

     Amid the struggle to close down Trump’s concentration camps, activists are again debating what we should demand. Why should we call for an end to the border regime and open borders?

TM

I was just listening to a podcast featuring Vox founder Ezra Klein, who said that he would be open to an argument for open borders if it were shown that it would not destabilize the country. Of course, Klein isn’t the only one with that view, it’s a mainstream one in many ways.

     However, what I think is the exact opposite. Hardened borders exist and are proliferating to police a world precisely because the global situation is already precarious and unstable. As I mentioned before, Washington’s climate, economic, and military policies (and to take it further, those of border-building Western regimes such as the European Union and Australia) have wrecked whole sections of the world.

     When the United States responds to these people by militarizing the border, it only exacerbates the instability. It doesn’t solve the causes of migration but locks them in place; creates chaos at the border, especially for migrants; stimulates corporate investment in the border regime; compromises our civil rights and liberties; and encourages demagogues like Trump to whip up xenophobia and racism.

     I think of the Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar who, after removing a piece of the US-Mexico border wall near San Diego, said “I will not accept that this wall is in my face.” The whole purpose of Jarrar’s art is not only to dismantle a border apparatus, but also to transform into something more utilitarian.

     For example, he pounded a sledgehammer into the concrete wall that separated west from east Jerusalem, took out chunks of cement, and turned them into sculptures of soccer balls and cleats to give back to the kids whose soccer fields the wall had taken away. I often think of Jarrar’s question: why do we accept that these borders are in our face?

     It is akin to accepting a global caste system, a system of segregation long rejected by civil rights movements and internationally condemned by anti-apartheid movements. The one silver lining in the age of Trump is that his racist attacks on refugees and migrants has produced a new movement to challenge and dismantle the global border regime.’

    In the words of Lenin which founded a political party and a Revolution; “What is to be done?”

     As I wrote in my post of  December 18 2023, International Migrants Day: “There Is No Migration Crisis; There Is a Crisis of Solidarity”;

We celebrate today the human will to become, to explore, to discover new worlds and create new possibilities of becoming human, in the iconic figure of the migrant as the epitome and driving force of civilization.

     Often the migrant also enacts the archetype and allegory of the Stranger as well, with all of the ambiguities, dangers, and opportunities for the reimagination and transformation of human being, meaning, and value implicit in the themes of this primary universal psychodrama.

     A few days ago Our Clown of Terror, Traitor Trump, quoted the book he kept on his nightstand for years in place of a Bible, Mein Kampf, to cheering crowds during an election rally in reference to migrants; “They’re poisoning our blood.”

     No matter where you begin with ideas of otherness as a threat to identity, the origin of all fascism, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

     Let us give to fascism the only reply it merits; Never Again!

     The wave of fascism sweeping the world these past few years originates in a primal fear of otherness as loss of the self; this is weaponized in service to power by those who would enslave us, becomes divisions and hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, racism, patriarchy, nationalism, and all of this coheres into authorized identities and identity politics.

    The other is always our own mirror image, and we cannot escape each other. This is why fascism and tyranny are inherently unstable and always collapse in depravity and ruin; when we project what we dislike about ourselves onto others, as objects to abuse as if exorcising our demons, we dehumanize ourselves as well as them. And such denial fails as a strategy of transformation and adaptation to change, aggrandizing ossified institutions and systems until they become threats rather than solutions, and the whole edifice collapses from the mechanical failures of its contradictions as is happening now in America and throughout human civilization.

     This is why the embrace of our own darkness and monstrosity is crucial to liberation struggle; how else can we bring change to systems of oppression if we cannot confront it in ourselves? Especially we must hold close and interrogate feelings like disgust, revulsion, rage, and other atavisms of instinct which we drag behind ourselves like an invisible reptilian tail with the recognition that nothing we feel is either good or evil, but only how we use them in our actions.

      In the end, all that matters is what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

     Against this Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force we must set a counterfire of solidarity and love, for only this can set us free. We must speak directly to that fear of otherness as loss of identity and of power if we are to turn the tide of history toward a free society of equals and not fascist tyrannies of blood, faith, and soil, toward democracy and a diverse and inclusive United Humankind and not carceral states of force and control, toward love and not hate.

    We are stronger together than alone, as Benjamin Franklin demonstrated with his bundle of arrows in reference to Ecclesiastes 4:12 and the Iroquois Great Peacemaker called in some contexts Deganawidah. A diverse and inclusive society makes us more powerful if in different ways, wealthier, more resilient and adaptive, offers unknown joys and opens new vistas and possibilities of becoming human.

    Change need not mean fear and loss; for it also offers limitless new wonders. We must be agents of change and bringers of Chaos, if we are to become a fulcrum and change the balance of power in the world.

     The idea of human rights has been abandoned by its former guarantor nations, with whole peoples in Gaza and Ukraine being erased in wars of ethnic cleansing as exhibits of atrocities and crimes against humanity, and because of this and many other systems failures civilization is collapsing; ephemeral and illusory things like wealth and power are meaningless in the shadow of our degradation and the terror of our nothingness in the face of death.

     A reader’s comment on my post of December 8, The Fall of America as a Guarantor of Democracy and Human Rights, contained the phrase “more hopeful of the good in most people”. 

     Here follows my reply; I too believed in things like human goodness once, but after forty years of wars, revolutions, resistance, and liberation struggle throughout the world I cannot. What I trust and hope for, if not believe in, is solidarity of action in struggle against systems of oppression and elite hegemonies of wealth, power, and privilege. Such is my faith; the equality of human needs and the necessity of our unity in seizures of power to create a free society of equals.

     As written by Jean Genet, who swore me to the oath of the Resistance and set me on my life’s path during the Siege of Beirut in 1982; “If we behave like those on the other side, then we are the other side. Instead of changing the world, all we’ll achieve is a reflection of the one we want to destroy.” 

     How shall we welcome the Stranger?

Living Undocumented series trailer/Netflix

From Executive Producer Selena Gomez

Empire of Borders: How the US is Exporting its Border Around the World, by Todd Miller

http://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/10/todd-miller-empire-of-borders-immigration-trump

America as a beacon of hope to the world, as written by Emma Lazarus;

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

               Jay’s Revised Modern Canon 

               Modern American Literature 2024 Edition       

              Hispanic-American History

     Century of the Wind, Eduardo Galeano

      Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from the Colonial Period to the Present Era, Zaragosa Vargas

     El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America, Carrie Gibson

     The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography, Miriam Pawel

     The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States, John Storm Roberts

     My Art, My Life: An Autobiography, Diego Rivera

     The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, Carlos Fuentes intro

     Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border, The Devil’s Highway: A True Story, Luis Alberto Urrea

     The Transnational Fantasies of Guillermo del Toro, Dolores Tierney, Deborah Shaw, & Ann Davies, Editors

                    Hispanic-American Literature

    Bless Me Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya

     The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, The Sum of Our Days, Eva Luna, The Stories of Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, Daughter of Fortune, Zorro, Island Beneath the Sea, Ines of My Soul, Maya’s Notebook, The Japanese Lover, The Sum of Our Days, Conversations With Isabel Allende, A Long Petal of the Sea, Isabele Allende

Isabel Allende: A Literary Companion, Mary Ellen Snodgrass

     Latin Moon in Manhattan, Our Lives Are the Rivers: A Novel,

Cervantes Street, Eminent Maricones: Arenas, Lorca, Puig, and Me, Jaime Manrique

     How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Yo!, In the Time of the Butterflies, In the Name of Salome, The Woman I Kept to Myself, Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the USA, Something to Declare, Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez: A Critical Companion, Silvio Sirias

     The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz

    The Moths and other stories, Under the Feet of Jesus, Their Dogs Came with Them, Helena ViramontesT

     Hummingbird’s Daughter, Queen of America, Into the Beautiful North, The Water Museum, The House of Broken Angels, Tijuana Book of the Dead, Luis Alberto Urrea

     So Far From God, Peel My Love Like an Onion, The Guardians, Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma, Watercolor Women / Opaque Men: A Novel in Verse, Black Dove: Mamá, Mi’jo, and Me, I Ask the Impossible, Ana Castillo

     The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien, Oscar Hijuelos

     The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollaring Creek and other stories, Caramelo, My Wicked Wicked Ways: Poems, A House of My Own: Stories from My Life, Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, Harold Bloom

     House of the Impossible Beauties, Joseph Cassara

     Dreaming in Cuban, The Lady Matador’s Hotel, King of Cuba, Christina Garcia

Spanish

5 de mayo de 2024 Cinco de Mayo: sobre esta celebración de la liberación anticolonial, cuestionando la eliminación de los mexicanos de la historia estadounidense y amplificando la solidaridad histórica de los pueblos negros y mexicanos en la historia reescrita de Texas

       Celebramos hoy la liberación de México del Imperio Austriaco, una gloriosa victoria del anticolonialismo que continúa inspirando a una nación hoy. ¿Dónde están entonces los mexicanos en la historia estadounidense?

       ¿Cómo se convirtió Texas en un etnoestado cuasi blanco cuya riqueza y poder son creados por el trabajo esclavo de facto de los trabajadores mexicanos, trabajadores que deben seguir siendo ilegales y, por lo tanto, explotables e invisibles al servicio de las élites blancas, lo que resultó en nuestra crisis humanitaria en la frontera? Porque si todas las masas apiñadas que anhelan ser libres fueran bienvenidas como conciudadanos y constructores de la nación, no sólo las blancas, tendríamos que pagarles un salario justo e igualitario y la riqueza, el poder y los privilegios de las elites hegemónicas se verían afectados. desmoronarse en la nada.

       Ésta es la verdadera razón de la demonización de los inmigrantes por parte del Partido Republicano; deben tener una vasta reserva de mano de obra casi libre y casi sin reglas sobre lo que se les puede hacer a los trabajadores, y así librar una guerra de clases para imponer su captura de nuestra sociedad.

      ¿Para qué tenemos una frontera? Hemos trazado una línea en la arena para explotar la disparidad y crear mano de obra migrante ilegal; un recurso invisible de aquellos sin existencia legal a quienes podemos hacer cualquier cosa sin represalias, y cuya mano de obra barata alimenta vastas industrias de agricultura, hotelería, cuidado y manufactura.

      El trabajo migrante es trabajo esclavo.

      Y estas condiciones de lucha impuestas surgen de la historia de la esclavitud y del papel de Texas como bastión confederado, a medida que la mano de obra migrante reemplaza al trabajo esclavo.

      El legado histórico de la esclavitud vincula el racismo contra los afroamericanos y los mexicano-estadounidenses que emana de Texas, el corazón de las tinieblas.

      Fundado por el robo a México y el bandidaje ilegal de los dueños de esclavos que se negaron a emancipar a sus esclavos, Texas siguió siendo un estado rebelde mucho después de unirse a los Estados Unidos, una ilusión persistente de su loco cuasi-emperador Sam Houston y los confederados desplazados que recolonizaron y trató de utilizarlo como base desde la cual apoderarse de México después de la Guerra Civil.

      Texas no siempre fue una guarida de racismo y violencia; Fundada en 1579 como una colonia de judíos exiliados por España, los grandes que la establecieron y gobernaron soñaron con una nueva Sefarad en la que pueblos de todas las razas y religiones pudieran vivir bajo la misma ley, posiblemente un modelo de libertad e igualdad más cercano que la antigua Grecia y Roma para las nuevas naciones de la Europa protestante y una influencia histórica en la democracia estadounidense.

        Este primer ideal de Texas como sociedad inclusiva e igualitaria terminó en 1595 cuando Luis de Carvajal, fundador y Gobernador del Reino de Nuevo León -actuales México y Texas- fue arrestado como judío practicante y murió en prisión; su hermana Francesca y sus cuatro hijos Isabel, Catalina, Leonor y Luis fueron torturados y quemados en la hoguera como judíos por la Inquisición en 1596; su última hija, Mariana, se unió a ellos en la hoguera en 1601. Del legado de De Carvajal, sólo la ciudad fundó, Monterrey, permanece.

       No viene al caso si esta idea de Texas como un refugio multirracial y multirreligioso se hizo realidad antes de ser infiltrada y tomada por las tiranías del Imperio español y su Inquisición; hay una historia alternativa y una Edad de Oro que recuperar, el sueño de Texas como un Andalus glorioso.

       Hagamos un futuro mejor que el pasado y redimamos la esperanza de nuestros ideales.

       Como escribí en mi publicación del 16 de marzo de 2020, Muros de odio, tiranía e imperio: las fronteras globales de Estados Unidos; A medida que nos vemos inundados por el despertar global al miedo a la pandemia de coronavirus, queda claro que se trata de un factor estresante desencadenante natural que es paralelo a uno fabricado, el de las fronteras y las crisis de refugiados, en sus comportamientos y efectos en nuestro entorno social y político. palanca para las tiranías nacionalistas y fascistas de fuerza y control en la subversión de la democracia y la transformación de nuestro mundo en una gran prisión.

     El miedo abrumador y generalizado es una precondición necesaria de los regímenes autoritarios, y de la violencia y el uso de la fuerza social en general, que junto con la sumisión a la autoridad puede considerarse como una primera causa de la enfermedad del poder en el sentido en que Tomás de Aquino argumentó la causalidad y siendo, aunque en el sentido absoluto en que él usó, todas las causas son recursivas y se envuelven unas a otras; “Si no existe la Causa Primera, entonces el universo es como una gran cadena con muchos eslabones; cada eslabón está sostenido por el eslabón que está encima de él, pero toda la cadena no está sostenida por nada”.

      La autoridad y el miedo también nos alienan de nosotros mismos, nos deshumanizan y mercantilizan, al igual que el capitalismo como su forma exterior; porque se trata del robo de nuestra identidad y poder por parte de aquellos que nos esclavizarían.

       La primera consecuencia de El surgimiento de la autoridad y la pérdida de poder de sus súbditos es la patología moderna de la desconexión; y éste es el vínculo que une la autoridad y la tiranía, y su punto débil. Aquí es donde la resistencia y la revolución deben actuar para romper el nudo de sistemas interdependientes y que se refuerzan mutuamente y que nos roban nuestra humanidad y nuestra libertad.

      Debemos construir puentes, no muros, unión y no aislamiento, unidad y no división, y forjar un mundo sin fronteras y una sociedad libre de iguales.

     En palabras de Lenin que fundó un partido político y una Revolución; “¿Lo que se debe hacer?”

      Como escribí en mi publicación del 18 de diciembre de 2023, Día Internacional del Migrante: “No hay crisis migratoria; Hay una crisis de solidaridad”;

Celebramos hoy la voluntad humana de llegar a ser, de explorar, de descubrir nuevos mundos y de crear nuevas posibilidades de llegar a ser humanos, en la figura icónica del migrante como epítome y fuerza impulsora de la civilización.

      A menudo, el migrante también representa el arquetipo y la alegoría del Extraño, con todas las ambigüedades, peligros y oportunidades para la reimaginación y transformación del ser humano, el significado y el valor implícitos en los temas de este psicodrama universal primario.

      Hace unos días, Nuestro Payaso del Terror, el Traidor Trump, citó el libro que mantuvo en su mesita de noche durante años en lugar de una Biblia, Mein Kampf, ante multitudes que lo vitoreaban durante un mitin electoral en referencia a los migrantes; “Están envenenando nuestra sangre”.

      No importa dónde se empiece con las ideas de la alteridad como una amenaza a la identidad, el origen de todo fascismo, siempre se termina a las puertas de Auschwitz.

      Demos al fascismo la única respuesta que merece; ¡Nunca más!

      La ola de fascismo que recorre el mundo estos últimos años se origina en un miedo primario a la alteridad como pérdida del yo; esto es utilizado como arma al servicio del poder por aquellos que nos esclavizarían, se convierte en divisiones y jerarquías de pertenencia a élites y alteridad excluyente, racismo, patriarcado, nacionalismo, y todo esto se cohesiona en identidades autorizadas y políticas de identidad.

     El otro es siempre nuestro propio reflejo y no podemos escapar el uno del otro. Por eso el fascismo y la tiranía son inherentemente inestables y siempre colapsan en la depravación y la ruina; cuando proyectamos lo que no nos gusta de nosotros mismos sobre los demás, como objetos de los que abusar, como si exorcizaramos nuestros demonios, nos deshumanizamos a nosotros mismos y a ellos. Y esa negación fracasa como estrategia de transformación y adaptación al cambio, engrandeciendo instituciones y sistemas osificados hasta convertirlos en amenazas en lugar de soluciones, y todo el edificio se derrumba debido a las fallas mecánicas de sus contradicciones, como está sucediendo ahora en Estados Unidos y en toda la civilización humana.

      Por eso la aceptación de nuestra propia oscuridad y monstruosidad es crucial para la lucha por la liberación; ¿De qué otra manera podemos lograr cambios en los sistemas de opresión si no podemos enfrentarlos en nosotros mismos? Especialmente debemos mantenernos cerca e interrogar sentimientos como el disgusto, la repulsión, la ira y otros atavismos del instinto que arrastramos detrás de nosotros como una cola invisible de reptil con el reconocimiento de que nada de lo que sentimos es bueno o malo, sino sólo cómo los usamos en nuestras acciones.

       Al final, lo único que importa es qué hacemos con nuestro miedo y cómo usamos nuestro poder.

      Contra este Anillo Wagneriano de miedo, poder y fuerza debemos lanzar un contrafuego de solidaridad y amor, porque sólo esto puede hacernos libres. Debemos hablar directamente de ese miedo a la alteridad como pérdida de identidad y de poder si queremos cambiar el rumbo de la historia hacia una sociedad libre de iguales y no tiranías fascistas de sangre, fe y suelo, hacia la democracia y una sociedad diversa e inclusiva. Humanidad unida y no estados carcelarios de fuerza y control, hacia el amor y no el odio.

     Somos más fuertes juntos que solos, como demostró Benjamín Franklin con su haz de flechas en referencia a Eclesiastés 4:12 y el Gran Pacificador iroqués llamó en algunos contextos Deganawidah. Una sociedad diversa e inclusiva nos hace más poderosos aunque de diferentes maneras, más ricos, más resilientes y adaptables, ofrece alegrías desconocidas y abre nuevas perspectivas y posibilidades de convertirnos en humanos.

     El cambio no tiene por qué significar miedo y pérdida; porque también ofrece nuevas maravillas ilimitadas. Debemos ser agentes de cambio y portadores del Caos, si queremos convertirnos en un punto de apoyo y cambiar el equilibrio de poder en el mundo.

      La idea de los derechos humanos ha sido abandonada por sus antiguas naciones garantes, y pueblos enteros en Gaza y Ucrania han sido borrados en guerras de limpieza étnica como muestras de atrocidades y crímenes contra la humanidad, y debido a este y muchos otros fallos de los sistemas, la civilización está colapsando; cosas efímeras e ilusorias como la riqueza y el poder no tienen sentido a la sombra de nuestra degradación y el terror de nuestra nada frente a la muerte.

      El comentario de un lector en mi publicación del 8 de diciembre, La caída de Estados Unidos como garante de la democracia y los derechos humanos, contenía la frase “más esperanzados en el bien de la mayoría de las personas”.

      Aquí sigue mi respuesta; Yo también creí alguna vez en cosas como la bondad humana, pero después de cuarenta años de guerras, revoluciones, resistencia y lucha de liberación en todo el mundo, no puedo. En lo que confío y espero, si no en lo que creo, es en la solidaridad de acción en la lucha contra los sistemas de opresión y las hegemonías de riqueza, poder y privilegios de las élites. Así es mi fe; la igualdad de las necesidades humanas y la necesidad de nuestra unidad en las tomas de poder para crear un Libertad sociedad de iguales.

      Según lo escrito por Jean Genet, quien me hizo prestar el juramento de la Resistencia y me encaminó en el camino de mi vida durante el asedio de Beirut en 1982; “Si nos comportamos como los del otro lado, entonces somos el otro lado. En lugar de cambiar el mundo, lo único que lograremos será un reflejo del que queremos destruir”.

      ¿Cómo acogeremos al extranjero?     

       Estados Unidos como un faro de esperanza para el mundo, según lo escrito por Emma Lazarus;

“No como el gigante descarado de la fama griega,

Con miembros conquistadores a horcajadas de tierra en tierra;

Aquí, en nuestras puertas del atardecer bañadas por el mar, se alzarán

Una mujer poderosa con una antorcha, cuya llama

Es el relámpago aprisionado, y su nombre

Madre de los Exiliados. De su mano-faro

Resplandece la bienvenida mundial; sus ojos dulces mandan

El puerto con puente aéreo que enmarcan las ciudades gemelas.

“¡Conserven, tierras antiguas, su pompa histórica!” ella llora

Con labios silenciosos. “Dame tus cansados, tus pobres,

Tus masas apiñadas anhelan respirar libres,

Los miserables desechos de tu repleta costa.

Envíame a estos, los desamparados, tempestuosos,

¡Levanto mi lámpara junto a la puerta dorada!”   

May 4 2024 The Price of Peace: Anniversary of the Kent State Massacre in the Shadow of the Genocide of the Palestinians

     Today we remember the horrific repression and mass murder by police which numbers among the most brutal and senseless crimes of state terror in our nation’s history, but also the valiant resistance of students throughout America to a government which was and yet remains an unjust and violent perpetrator of crimes against humanity both at home and abroad.

    The national student strike which the massacre unleashed was a turning point for American involvement in Vietnam, and remains a model for mass action today. Its primary lesson is simple; to unite everyone, from all classes and stratum of society, in action against an existential threat said threat must be universal as well as clear and direct. Such a universal mass protest now unfolds in the shadow of the Israel Genocide of the Palestinians and the echoes and reflections of the Kent State Massacre.

     A parallel student movement for peace and divestiture now engulfs our nation and our world, a clarion call for solidarity with the oppressed in the genocide of the Palestinians and the deaths of thousands of children and civilians paid for by our taxes, as our government and Genocide Joe abandon our ideas of universal human rights and the historic role of America as their guarantor state, and like university peace movement to end the Vietnam War is met not with celebration of our rights of free speech and the co-ownership of the state by all of its citizens, not with a President who joins the protests as the champion of democracy and our universal human rights, but with police terror and repression of dissent.

     Our leaders have betrayed us, and in the abandonment of our human rights and of our rights as citizens Biden and the Democratic Party may have handed the next election to Trump and the Republican Party whose mission is the sabotage of democracy and its replacement by a theocratic tyranny of patriarchal and white supremacist terror. For if you sponsor and authorize genocide, I cannot vote for you, and I will fight you; and in this I am far from alone.

     We are caught by the horns of a dilemma in this crucial election year, with liberty or tyranny at stake not merely for our nation but for the whole of humankind and throughout the coming millennia. We must bring our dog to heel through Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanction of Israel until the genocide and the Occupation end, and with it the Netanyahu settler regime of ethnic cleansing and theocratic terror. If we cannot, and choose instead to ally and identify our nation once again with imperial conquest and dominion, state terror and tyranny, and the sacrifice of others lives in service to our own power, those of us who remember what it means to be an American and a human being must refuse to vote for Biden, land Trump wins the Presidency; this is the true motive for Israel’s orchestration of the October 7 tragedy, in dual purpose with creating a casus belli for the Final Solution of the Palestinians and the conquest of the Middle East.   

     I ask you now, all of us; don’t let complicity in genocide be the reason democracy falls in America.

    What lessons can we learn from the Kent State Massacre?

    In the words of eyewitness Mike Alewitz writing in Counterpunch; “We were peacefully protesting the US invasion of Cambodia when the Ohio National Guard launched a teargas attack and then opened fire at us.

     67 shots in 13 seconds left our campus strewn with dead and wounded. Four dead in Ohio – nine wounded, one paralyzed for life.

     Ten days later, 75 Mississippi state police, armed with carbines, shotguns and submachine guns, fired 460 rounds into a dormitory at protesting students at Jackson State. The barrage left two dead and an unknown number of wounded.

     And in between, rarely noted, was the largest black uprising in a southern city during the civil rights era.

     On May 11, 1970, the black community in Augusta, Georgia rebelled, after the burned and tortured body of an incarcerated 16-year old retarded black youth was dumped by his jailers at a local hospital.

     The rebellion left six African-American men dead – all shot in the back.

     The invasion of Cambodia and killings at Kent sparked an unprecedented national student strike. Over 400 campuses were shut down and occupied by the students. Millions of people joined street demonstrations demanding an end to the war.

     1970 marked a turning point in history as the majority of GIs came to recognize that Washington had knowingly sent them to die in a war that was unwinnable. Our movement became so powerful that, along with the determined resistance of the Vietnamese people, we forced the government to withdraw from Southeast Asia.

     Ending the war, on the heels of the civil rights movement, was a tremendous victory for working people. The momentum gave rise to the rebirth of the women’s movement, the gay movement and other social movements that transformed the country.

     Today we face an unprecedented medical, ecological, social and economic crisis. We cannot continue to pour trillions of dollars into an insatiable war machine while healthcare workers go begging for masks. While our schools and restaurants are closed. While millions are unemployed. While lines at food pantries stretch for miles.

     The finances and resources of society must be changed to go towards healing our planet and ourselves. The memory of the martyrs of Kent and Jackson cries out for us to continue the struggle for which they gave their lives – to demand money for jobs and education, not for war; to put an end to all US wars and occupations and sanctions.”

    As described by Steve Early in Jacobin; “In May 1970, 4 million students went on strike across the country, shutting down classes at hundreds of colleges, universities, and high schools and demanding an end to the Vietnam War. Fifty years later, their rebellion remains an inspiration, as radical student politics is back on the agenda.

     Over the course of this unprecedented campus uprising, about two thousand students were arrested. After thirty buildings used by the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) were bombed or set on fire, heavily armed National Guards were deployed on twenty-one campuses in sixteen states.

     On May 4, at Kent State University in Ohio, Guard members fresh from policing a Teamster wildcat strike shot and killed four students and wounded nine. Ten days later, Mississippi State Police opened fire on a women’s dormitory at Jackson State University, killing two more students”.  

     “The strike across campuses revealed the power of collective action. Born out of the shutdown, there was an explosion of activity by hundreds of thousands of students not previously engaged in anti-war activity, creating major political tremors across the country, including helping to curtail military intervention in Southeast Asia.”

     “Nixon claimed to have a “secret plan” to bring peace to Vietnam and withdraw the five hundred thousand US troops still deployed there.

     Once unveiled, Nixon’s plan turned out to be “Vietnamization” — shifting the combat burden to troops loyal to the US-backed government in Saigon, while conducting massive bombing of targets throughout Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. By April 30, 1970, the United States was sending ground troops into Cambodia as well.

     Students at elite private institutions long associated with anti-war agitation were among the first to react. Protest strikes were quickly declared at Columbia, Princeton, Brandeis, and Yale, where many students had already voted to boycott class in support of the Black Panther Party, then on trial in New Haven.

     Meanwhile, a Friday night riot outside student bars in downtown Kent, Ohio, was followed by the burning of a Kent State ROTC building over the weekend. Ohio governor James Rhodes ordered a thousand National Guard troops to occupy the campus and prevent rallies of any kind.

     The Guard came geared with bayonets, tear gas grenades, shotguns, and M1s, a military rifle with long range and high velocity. Chasing a hostile but unarmed crowd of students across campus on May 4, one unit of weekend warriors suddenly wheeled and fired, killing four students.”

     “The deaths of Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, Sandy Scheuer, and Bill Schroeder had a powerful impact on hundreds of thousands of students at Kent State and beyond.”

     “The resulting calls for campus shutdowns came from every direction. Students at MIT tracked which schools were on strike for a National Strike Information Center operating at Brandeis nearby. Soon the list was ten feet long. Despite its initial association with militant protest, most strike activity was peaceful and legal. It consisted of student assemblies taking strike votes, and then further mass meetings, speeches and lectures, vigils and memorial services, plus endless informal “rapping” about politics and the war.

     The strike brought together a wide range of undergraduates, faculty members, and administrators — despite their past disagreements about on-campus protest activity. Thirty-four college and university presidents sent an open letter to Nixon calling for a speedy end to the war. The strike also united students from private and public colleges and local public high schools in working-class communities. On May 8, in Philadelphia, students from many different backgrounds and neighborhoods marched from five different directions to Independence Hall, where a crowd of one hundred thousand gathered outside. City high school attendance that day dropped to 10 percent, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.”

     “In a Boston Globe interview on the thirtieth anniversary of this upsurge, Isserman argued that it was “the product of unique circumstances that, not surprisingly, provoked outrage from a generation of students already accustomed to protest and demonstration. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see a movement quite like this again.”

     “Yet over the past two decades, college and high-school students have walked out again, across the country, in highly visible and coordinated fashion. In March 2003, they poured out of 350 schools to protest the impending US invasion of Iraq. Fifteen years later, about 1 million students at 3,000 schools walked out to join a seventeen-minute vigil organized in response to the mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida. And just last September, hundreds of thousands of students left school to join rallies and marches organized as part of a Global Climate Strike.

     Universities and high schools are now experiencing a shutdown of their campuses, albeit of a very different kind. But when these institutions open back up, conditions will require a new set of political demands. A return to normal will not be good enough. When school is back in session, the history of a strike occurring after the shadow of death fell on campuses fifty years ago, thanks to Richard Nixon, may become more relevant to challenging “national policy”.

Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Ohio – (live audio 1970)

Remembering The Kent State Massacre | Morning Joe | MSNBC

National Geographic: Kent State Massacre

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/04/kent-state-shooting-vietnam-war-protest-student-organizing

49 Years After the Kent State Shootings, New Photos Are Revealed

https://time.com/5583301/kent-state-photos

WHERE THE NINE WOUNDED ARE NOW, Kent State Magazine

https://www.kent.edu/magazine/where-nine-wounded-are-now

After the Kent State Massacre, ‘Ohio’ Spoke to the Country

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/kent-state-massacre-neil-young-csny-ohio-history-992126

The Killings at Kent State: How Murder Went Unpunished, by I.F. Stone

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/703405.The_Killings_at_Kent_State

Kent State: Death and Dissent in the Long Sixties, Thomas M. Grace

             Echoes of Kent State: News of Repression of the University Divestiture and Gaza Peace Protests and Occupations

We Columbia University students urge you to listen to our voices | Columbia College Student Council and Columbia Engineering Student Council

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/04/columbia-university-student-protest-gaza?CMP=share_btn_url

Crackdowns intensify on pro-Palestine campus protests as hundreds arrested

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/may/01/college-campus-palestine-protests-police

Police enter Columbia in apparent bid to break up student occupation

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/pro-palestinian-protesters-take-over-columbia-university-building

Police arrest more Gaza protesters at University of Texas-Austin

New Orleans police accused of excessive force as Gaza protesters arrested

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/29/new-orleans-protest-police?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2PMdqzv1_UzetGBbI2XwMu8yCiwqaKvbXxj00wirTDGwgCMEFJqYEATFo_aem_AYJCvBDeWlFdrlsiCoqJjUxVBH9i1B6SiSPn8sb_2S1Nn-u_V673oEIcNRPb-tZWkLxWpoXYjiaKsr2n9ImxxPmy

Columbia University is colluding with the far-right in its attack on students | Moira Donegan

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/19/far-right-columbia-university-student-arrests?CMP=share_btn_url

Protesting against slaughter – as students in the US are doing – isn’t antisemitism | Robert Reich

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/23/israel-gaza-campus-protests?CMP=share_btn_url

Stunning police brutality will ignite a student anti-war movement in America | Joan Donovan

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/29/police-brutality-university-protest?CMP=share_btn_url

Let us remember the last time students occupied Columbia University | Omar Barghouti, Tanaquil Jones, and Barbara Ransby

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/03/columbia-pro-palestinian-protest-south-africa-divestment?CMP=share_btn_url

Student encampments have the potential to strengthen US democracy | Jan-Werner Müller

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/04/university-encampment-democracy?CMP=share_btn_url

I teach democracy at Princeton. Student protesters are getting an education like no other | Razia Iqbal

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/article/2024/may/04/university-protests-democracy-faculty-princeton?CMP=share_btn_url

Like a war zone’: Emory University grapples with fallout from police response to protest

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/27/emory-university-georgia-police-campus-protests?CMP=share_btn_url

UCLA students describe violent attack on Gaza protest encampment: ‘It was terrifying’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/may/01/ucla-campus-violence-protests

‘They’re sending a message’: harsh police tactics questioned amid US campus protest crackdowns | US campus protests

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/04/police-tactics-us-campus-protest-crackdowns

Arabic

4 مايو 2024 ثمن السلام: ذكرى مذبحة ولاية كينت في ظل الإبادة الجماعية للفلسطينيين

      إننا نتذكر اليوم القمع المروع والقتل الجماعي الذي ارتكبته الشرطة والذي يعد من بين أكثر جرائم إرهاب الدولة وحشية وحماقة في تاريخ أمتنا، ولكننا نتذكر أيضًا المقاومة الشجاعة للطلاب في جميع أنحاء أمريكا ضد الحكومة التي كانت ولا تزال مرتكبة ظالمة وعنيفة. الجرائم ضد الإنسانية في الداخل والخارج.

     كان الإضراب الطلابي الوطني الذي أطلقته المذبحة بمثابة نقطة تحول في التدخل الأمريكي في فيتنام، ويظل نموذجًا للعمل الجماهيري حتى اليوم. الدرس الأساسي بسيط. لتوحيد الجميع، من جميع طبقات وطبقات المجتمع، في العمل ضد التهديد الوجودي، يجب أن يكون التهديد عالميًا وواضحًا ومباشرًا. إن مثل هذا الاحتجاج الجماهيري العالمي يتكشف الآن في ظل الإبادة الجماعية الإسرائيلية للفلسطينيين وأصداء وانعكاسات مذبحة ولاية كينت.

      إن حركة طلابية موازية من أجل السلام وسحب الاستثمارات تجتاح الآن أمتنا وعالمنا، وهي دعوة واضحة للتضامن مع المضطهدين في الإبادة الجماعية للفلسطينيين ومقتل الآلاف من الأطفال والمدنيين الذين تدفع ثمنهم ضرائبنا، كما فعلت حكومتنا والإبادة الجماعية. يتخلى جو عن أفكارنا حول حقوق الإنسان العالمية والدور التاريخي لأمريكا كدولة ضامنة لها، ومثل حركة السلام الجامعية لإنهاء حرب فيتنام لا تقابل بالاحتفال بحقوقنا في حرية التعبير والملكية المشتركة للدولة من قبل الجميع. مواطنيها، ليس مع رئيس ينضم إلى الاحتجاجات باعتباره بطل الديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان العالمية، ولكن مع إرهاب الشرطة وقمع المعارضة.

      لقد خاننا قادتنا، وبالتخلي عن حقوقنا الإنسانية وحقوقنا كمواطنين، ربما يكون بايدن والحزب الديمقراطي قد سلموا الانتخابات المقبلة إلى ترامب والحزب الجمهوري الذي تتمثل مهمته في تخريب الديمقراطية واستبدالها بحكومة ثيوقراطية. طغيان الإرهاب الأبوي والعنصري الأبيض. لأنه إذا كنت ترعى وتأذن بالإبادة الجماعية، فلا أستطيع التصويت لك، وسوف أقاتلك؛ وفي هذا لست وحدي.

      إننا نواجه معضلة في هذا العام الانتخابي الحاسم، حيث الحرية أو الاستبداد على المحك ليس فقط بالنسبة لأمتنا ولكن للبشرية جمعاء وعلى مدى آلاف السنين القادمة. يجب علينا أن نخضع كلبنا من خلال المقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات وفرض العقوبات على إسرائيل حتى تنتهي الإبادة الجماعية والاحتلال، ومعها نظام نتنياهو الاستيطاني القائم على التطهير العرقي والإرهاب الثيوقراطي. إذا لم نتمكن من ذلك، واخترنا بدلاً من ذلك التحالف وتحديد هوية أمتنا مرة أخرى من خلال الغزو والسيطرة الإمبراطورية، وإرهاب الدولة والطغيان، وتضحيات الآخرين التي تعيش في خدمة قوتنا، فإن أولئك منا الذين يتذكرون ما يعنيه أن تكون دولة يجب على الأميركي والإنساني أن يرفضوا التصويت لبايدن، أرضاً يفوز ترامب بالرئاسة؛ هذا هو الدافع الحقيقي لتدبير إسرائيل لمأساة 7 أكتوبر، بهدف مزدوج مع خلق سبب للحرب من أجل الحل النهائي للفلسطينيين وغزو الشرق الأوسط.

      أسألكم الآن جميعاً؛ لا تدع التواطؤ في الإبادة الجماعية يكون السبب وراء سقوط الديمقراطية في أمريكا.  

Hebrew

4 במאי 2024 מחיר השלום: יום השנה לטבח במדינת קנט בצל רצח העם של הפלסטינים

      היום אנו זוכרים את הדיכוי הנורא והרצח ההמוני על ידי המשטרה, שהם בין הפשעים האכזריים וחסרי ההיגיון של טרור המדינה בתולדות האומה שלנו, אבל גם את ההתנגדות האמיצה של סטודנטים ברחבי אמריקה לממשלה שהיתה ועדיין נותרה עבריין לא צודק ואלים של פשעים נגד האנושות הן בבית והן מחוצה לה.

     שביתת הסטודנטים הלאומית שהטבח חולל הייתה נקודת מפנה למעורבות האמריקנית בווייטנאם, והיא נותרה מודל לפעולה המונית כיום. הלקח העיקרי שלה הוא פשוט; כדי לאחד את כולם, מכל המעמדות והשכבות של החברה, בפעולה נגד איום קיומי האיום האמור חייב להיות אוניברסלי וכן ברור וישיר. מחאה המונית אוניברסלית כזו מתרחשת כעת בצל רצח העם הישראלי של הפלסטינים וההדים וההרהורים של הטבח במדינת קנט.

      תנועת סטודנטים מקבילה לשלום והסרה בולעת כעת את האומה שלנו ואת העולם שלנו, קריאה מובהקת לסולידריות עם המדוכאים ברצח העם של הפלסטינים ובמותם של אלפי ילדים ואזרחים המשולמים על ידי המסים שלנו, כממשלתנו ורצח העם. ג’ו נוטש את הרעיונות שלנו בדבר זכויות אדם אוניברסליות ותפקידה ההיסטורי של אמריקה כמדינה הערבית שלהם, וכמו תנועת השלום האוניברסיטאית לסיום מלחמת וייטנאם אינה זוכה לחגיגה של זכויות הביטוי שלנו והבעלות המשותפת על המדינה על ידי כולם של אזרחיה, לא עם נשיא שמצטרף להפגנות בתור אלוף הדמוקרטיה וזכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו, אלא עם טרור משטרתי ודיכוי התנגדות.

      המנהיגים שלנו בגדו בנו, ובנטישת זכויות האדם שלנו וזכויותינו כאזרחים, ייתכן שבידן והמפלגה הדמוקרטית העבירו את הבחירות הבאות לטראמפ ולמפלגה הרפובליקנית שמשימתן היא חבלה בדמוקרטיה והחלפתה בתאוקרטיה. עריצות של טרור פטריארכלי ולבן. כי אם אתה נותן חסות ותאשר רצח עם, אני לא יכול להצביע עבורך, ואני אלחם בך; ובזה אני רחוק מלהיות לבד.

      אנו נלכדים בקרנות של דילמה בשנת בחירות מכרעת זו, עם חירות או עריצות על כף המאזניים לא רק עבור האומה שלנו אלא עבור המין האנושי כולו ולאורך אלפי השנים הקרובות. עלינו להביא את הכלב שלנו לעקב באמצעות חרם, ביטול וסנקציה של ישראל עד לסיום רצח העם והכיבוש, ואיתו משטר המתנחלים נתניהו של טיהור אתני וטרור תיאוקרטי. אם איננו יכולים, ובמקום זאת בוחרים ליצור ברית ולזהות את האומה שלנו שוב עם כיבוש ושליטה אימפריאלית, טרור מדינה ועריצות, והקרבת חיים של אחרים בשירות לכוחנו, אלו מאיתנו שזוכרים מה זה אומר להיות אמריקאי ובן אנוש חייבים לסרב להצביע עבור ביידן, קרקע שטראמפ יזכה בנשיאות; זהו המניע האמיתי לתזמור של ישראל את הטרגדיה של 7 באוקטובר, במטרה כפולה עם יצירת קאזוס באלי לפתרון הסופי של הפלסטינים ולכיבוש המזרח התיכון.

      אני שואל אתכם עכשיו, כולנו; אל תתנו לשותפות ברצח עם להיות הסיבה שהדמוקרטיה נופלת באמריקה.                  

May 3 2024 A Sacred Calling to Pursue the Truth: On World Press Freedom Day

     On this thirty first World Press Freedom Day I call for the universal recognition of journalism as a sacred calling to pursue the truth which supercedes the rights of any state to authorize and enforce versions of it in service to power and identitarian politics, and for a United Humankind in solidarity as guarantors of each other’s universal rights, which include the Four Primary Duties of a Citizen; to Question Authority, Expose Authority, Mock Authority, and Challenge Authority, and to preserve the independence of the press and the transparency of all governments as institutions which must answer ultimately to their people.

     Freedom of the press and of information, the right to speak, write, teach, organize, research and publish in an environment of transparency of the state, along with rights of protest and strike, are instrumental to the agency of citizens and to the idea and meaningfulness of democracy.

     Any power or authority held by a government of any form is granted by its citizens or has been appropriated from them unjustly, and it is the highest principle of natural law as articulated in our Declaration of Independence that we may seize and reclaim it at any time it is held without our participation and co-ownership, or used against our general interests.

     True democracy as a free society of equals requires the four ideals of liberty, equality, truth, and justice, and one thing more; an engaged electorate of truth tellers who will hold our representatives and the institutions of our government responsible for enacting our values

     Like the role of a free press in the sacred calling to pursue the truth, the role of a citizen is to be a truth teller. Both serve Truth, and truth is necessary to the just balance of power between individuals which is the purpose of the state.

    As I wrote in my post of August 16 2020, Democracy, the Right of Free Speech Versus the Crime of Hate Speech, and the Principle of Open Debate;    To free ourselves of the ideas of other people; such is the essence of democracy. Conversely, the use of social force in marginalizing and silencing dissent is the definition of tyranny.

     Much talk of late has employed the term cancel culture to deflect and obscure the true issues involved with the disambiguation of free speech from hate speech and the role of open debate in a democracy; cancel culture is a figment used without sincerity to obfuscate loathsome acts of white supremacist and patriarchal sexual terror, incitement to violence and dehumanization.

     Conversely, antifascist action in defense of equality and our universal human rights such as platform denial and forms of peer ostracism and boycott are part of the free market of ideas and have no relation to silencing and erasure used by authoritarian tyrannies of force and control to subjugate a population and repress dissent, as exemplified by the Chinese Communist Party’s arrest of newspaperman Jimmy Lai in their campaign against democracy and truth in Hong Kong, the gruesome butchery of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia in their games of imperial dominion, the assassination of Palestinian witness of history Shireen Abu Aqleh by Israel in service to state terror and the Occupation, and countless others.

     The state is embodied violence.

      Against this we have only our loyalty to and solidarity with each other, our witness of history and the bond of our word, and our power of vision to reimagine and transform ourselves, our ways of being human with each other, and our future possibilities of becoming human. 

     But the values and issues which the phenomenon of repression of dissent raises are interesting, as they signpost the heart of what democracy means and our responsibility to others as well as our freedom from the ideas of others. Freedom from is as important as freedom to. 

     Democracy is reducible to a simple idea; the abandonment of social force and control in shaping others to our own image, in the authorization of identity, in our freedom of conscience, and from the establishment and policing of boundaries of the Forbidden.

     The autonomy of individuals takes precedence over all rights of authority and the state, which exists only to secure those rights which we cannot secure for ourselves. The state protects us from the tyranny of other people’s ideas of virtue; and others from our own.

     Any society or culture requires shared values and principles, agreements about things such as freedoms of and freedoms from, whether in systems of law and justice or as standards of courtesy. Democracy is unique in that it requires  rights of free access to information and the sharing of it, and freedoms from surveillance, censorship, and lies disguised as truths, but also requires for its functioning the tradition of open debate founded with our civilization in the Forum of Athens.

     Hate speech, which seeks to harm a class of persons, is the only exception to the right of free speech as parrhesia, the sacred calling to expose injustice, and the independence of journalism as a sacred calling to seek the truth, for hate speech dehumanizes others as a criminal theft of humanity, citizenship, and identity which violates our ideals of equality and liberty; hate speech is an act of tyranny and terror which is subversive to democracy as a free society of equals.

     To make an idea about a kind of people is a hate crime and an act of violence.

    I explored the implications of parrhesia and Foucault’s extension of this classical principle as truth telling in my post of May 27 2020, On Speaking Truth to Power as a Sacred Calling;  I found myself responding with candor to a conversation today in which a friend, a fearless champion of the marginalized and the wretched of the earth, the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased, expressed fear of retribution in calling out the police as an institution of racist state force and control, thereby illustrating the mechanism of silencing on which unjust authority depends.

     Of course this was a preface for an act of Breaking the Silence; I did say they are my friend.   

     Here is the beginning of that conversation; “Today I’m going to do something stupid.

     On my Facebook and Twitter feeds I am going to express a viewpoint that I have long held to myself. A viewpoint I believed, if ever made public, would kneecap my dreams of a political career and public service.

    Today I realized my silence was just a vestige of my own internalized oppression and respectability politics, and f*** respectability. It has never, and will never, save us. So here goes: here’s why I am a #PoliceAbolitionist”

      What followed was a brilliant and multivoiced discussion of the role of police violence in white supremacist terror, as an army of occupation whose purpose is to enforce inequality and elite hierarchies of exclusionary otherness and to subvert the institutions and values of democracy, and of the use of social force in a free society of equals. This is among the most important issues we face today and questions some of the inherent contradictions of our form of government, of which George Washington said, “Government is about force; only force.”

     But this is only indirectly the subject on which I write today; far more primary and fundamental to the institution of a free press is the function of other people’s ideas of ourselves, of normality and respectability, in the silencing of dissent.

     To our subjugation by authorized identities, I reply with the Wicked Witch; I will fuck respectability with you, and their little dog normality too.     

     Authorized identities and boundaries of the Forbidden are about power, and we must call out the instruments of unequal power as we see them. Foucault called this truthtelling, and it is a crucial part of seizure of power and ownership of identity; always there remains the struggle between the masks others make for us and those we make for ourselves.

     Against state tyranny and terror, force and control, let us deploy parrhesia and the performance of our best selves as guerilla theatre. Go ahead; frighten the horses.

    Often have I referred to this key performative role in democracy as the Jester of King Lear, whose enactments of mockery and satire, the exposure and deflation of the mighty as revolutionary seizures of power which reclaim that which we the people have lent them when it is used unjustly, are necessary to maintain the balance of interests in a society in which government is co-owned equally by its citizens and has as its overriding purpose the securement of the freedom and autonomy of individuals and of their universal human rights.

     Without citizens who refuse to be silenced and controlled by authority, democracy becomes meaningless.

     So with my arts of rhetoric and poetry as truthtelling, and with my praxis of democracy in my daily journal here at Torch of Liberty; to incite, provoke, and disturb.

     For democracy requires a participatory electorate willing to speak truth to power. 

     To all those who defy and challenge unjust authority; I will stand with you, and I ask that all of us do the same.

     As written by Jonathan Watts in The Guardian, in an article entitled Across the world, journalists are under threat for sharing the truth: Last year was the most dangerous to be a reporter since 2015. Without the courage of correspondents risking everything to report from conflict areas, we could be at risk of ‘zones of silence’ spreading around the world; “Conflict in Gaza, war in Ukraine, a battle over the global environment – the world is becoming an increasingly hostile place, particularly for frontline journalists.

     Last year saw 99 killings of reporters, up 44% on 2022 and the highest toll since 2015.

     Without the courage of correspondents to continue working in conflict areas, press organisations warn the world will start to see “zones of silence”, where the risks are so great that important stories go unreported.

     Last year’s high toll was almost entirely due to Gaza, where a Guardian editorial noted “no war has killed so many journalists so quickly”.

     The vast majority are Palestinian reporters who, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, appear to have been targeted by Israeli forces. The Guardian was among more than 30 news organisations that signed an open letter expressing solidarity with journalists working in Gaza and calling for their protection and freedom to report.

     This is much more than a matter of principle; solidarity is a matter of survival. Over the years, Guardian reporters have been kidnapped in Iraq and Afghanistan, beaten in Pakistan, expelled from Russia, and arrested in Egypt, Zimbabwe and China.

     The search for the truth can come at a horrific cost.

     Two years ago, a regular Guardian contributor, Dom Phillips, was murdered in the Brazilian Amazon, with the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. On the first anniversary of the killings last year, the Guardian joined an international collaboration to amplify their work.

     A group of Dom’s journalist friends, including myself, are also working on a crowdfunded project to finish the book that he was working on at the time of his death: How to Save the Amazon: Ask the People Who Know. It will be published next year.

     Reporting on the war against nature might generate fewer headlines than Gaza or Ukraine, but it is also high risk with little legal protection. The number of environmental journalists being attacked or killed is rising and it continues to be one of the most dangerous fields of journalism after war reporting. Though the trend is accelerating, prosecutions remain dismally low, with very few cases leading to convictions.

     Instead, the law appears to be increasingly used against journalists. One of the most disturbing trends in recent years has been the arrests or police harassment of journalists covering environmental protests. This has stirred outrage in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Canada, Australia, Azerbaijan, the US and China, which is consistently the biggest jailer of reporters.

     But huge challenges remain for the media in general.

     Throughout this week we will be marking Friday’s World Press Freedom Day with a series of articles about different threats posed to all types of reporters, from those working in exile and still facing threats from their home states, to environmental journalists facing up to violence and censorship as well as female journalists being targeted because of their sex. We want to use our platform to highlight the work they are doing, often in incredibly dangerous circumstances.

     The risks may be growing, and the space to operate may be increasingly constrained, but we are more determined than ever to tell the stories of our age so that you, the readers, have the information to act as voters, citizens, consumers and participants in the web of life on Earth.”

    Where can we look for a model free press, even one beset by catch and kill journalism as election interference, propaganda and falsification from every angle, hate speech disguised as free speech, and the erosion of truth and meaningful public debate? When most of our world is enslaved by tyrannies who enforce state power with brutal repression, there are few where one can mock a ruler and be met with humor and on equal terms by the ruler himself.

    Here follows the speech of President Biden at the 2023 White House Correspondent’s Dinner; “Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Steve, for that introduction. And a special thanks to the 42% of you who actually applauded.

     I’m really excited to be here tonight with the only group of Americans with a lower approval rating than I have. That’s hard to say after what we just saw.

     This is the first time a president attended this dinner in six years. It’s understandable. We had a horrible plague followed by two years of Covid.

Just imagine if my predecessor came to this dinner this year. Now, that would really have been a real coup if that occurred. A little tough, huh?

     But I’m honored to be here at such an event with so much history.

As already referenced, the very first president to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was Calvin Coolidge in 1924. I had just been elected to the United States Senate. And I reme — I remember telling him, “Cal, just be yourself. Get up there and speak from the heart. You’re going to be great, kid. You’re going to do it well.”

     Of course, Jill is with me tonight. Jilly, how are you, kid? I think — I think she’s doing an incredible job as first lady. The first lady to continue working full-time, and she does as a professor.

     She doesn’t pay much attention to the polls, though she did say the other day: Instead of introducing myself as Jill Biden’s husband, maybe I should introduce myself as her roommate.

     I’ve attended this dinner many times, but this is my first time as president. And the organizers had — had it hard — made it pretty hard for me tonight. Although the good news is, if all goes well, I have a real shot at replacing James Corden.

     It was great having him over at the White House the other day, just as he announced he’s leaving the show. A great performer is going out on top after eight years in the job. Sounds just about right to me.

     And it’s tough to follow pros like James and Billy Eichner. Billy, where are you again? Do you — where is he?

     Well, Billy, you’re famous for interviewing — your interviewing skills. Billy, you should know what you’re doing, pal. You know it, you know it well. And you should — I think — you should host “Meet the Press.” Maybe they’ll start to watch it again.

     I’ve never had — never had to — I’ve never had to open — I’ll never be — I’ll never be invited to “Meet the Press” again. Anyway.

     I’ve never had to open before Trevor Noah. Trevor is great. When I was elected, he did a show and he called me “America’s new dad.” Let me tell you something, pal: I’m flattered anybody would call me a “new” anything. You’re my guy.

     And, folks, it’s been a tough few years for the country. That’s one reason why it’s great to be here again.

     Everyone at the White House is so excited. I told my grandkids and Pete Buttigieg they could stay up late and watch this show tonight.

     Tonight — tonight we come here and answer a very important question on everybody’s mind: Why in the hell are we still doing this?

     I know there are — I know there are questions about whether we should gather here tonight because of Covid. Well, we’re here to show the country that we’re getting through this pandemic. Plus, everyone had to prove they were fully vaccinated and boosted.

     So, if you’re at home watching this and you’re wondering how to do that, just contact your favorite Fox News reporter. They’re all here, vaccinated and boosted — all of them.

     And, look, Fox — Fox News, I’m — I’m really sorry your preferred candidate lost the last election. To make it up to you, I’m happy to give my chief of staff to you all so he can tell Sean Hannity what to say every day.

     In fact, Ron Klain is here at the CBS table, which hired Mick Mulvaney. Mick, on CBS? I was stunned. I figured he’d end up on “The Masked Singer” with Rudy.

Amazing hire, guys. Really quite amazing.

     Look, I know this is a tough town. I came to office with an ambitious agenda, and I expected it to face stiff opposition in the Senate. I just hoped it would be from Republicans.

     But I’m not worried about the midterms. I’m not worried about them. We may end up with more partisan gridlock, but I’m confident we can work it out during my remaining six years in the presidency.

     And, folks, I’m not really here to roast the GOP. That’s not my style. Besides, there’s nothing I can say about the GOP that Kevin McCarthy hasn’t already put on tape.

     And, you know, at the same — at the same time, a lot of people say the Republican Party is too extreme, too divisive, too controlled by one person. They say, “It’s not your father’s Republican Party.”

     Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down.” Today’s Republicans say, “Tear down Mickey Mouse’s house.” And pretty soon, they’ll be storming Cinderella’s castle, you can be sure of it.

     But Republicans seem to support one fella — some guy named Brandon. He’s having a really good year, and I’m kind of happy for him.

     Let me conclude with a serious word.

     We live in serious times. We’re coming through a devastating pandemic, and we have to stay vigilant. I know Kamala wanted to be here, for example, and thankfully she’s doing well. You should all know she sends her best.

     We’re in a time when what we so long have taken for granted is facing the gravest of threats. And I’m being deadly earnest.

     Overseas, the liberal world order that laid the foundation for global peace, stability and prosperity since World War II is genuinely, seriously under assault.

And at home, a poison is running through our democracy of all — all of this taking place with disinformation massively on the rise, where the truth is buried by lies and the lies live on as truth.

     What’s clear — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — that you, the free press, matter more than you ever did in the last century. No, I really mean it.

     I’ve always believed that good journalism holds up a mirror to ourselves, to reflect on the good, the bad and the true. Tonight, I want to congratulate the awardees and the scholarship winners who carry on that sacred tradition.

We’ve all seen the courage of the Ukrainian people because of the courage of American reporters in this room and your colleagues across the world, who are on the ground, taking their lives in their own hands.

     We just — we just saw a heartbreaking video: Nine have been killed reporting from Kyiv — struck by a kamikaze drone strike after a shopping mall attack; shot in the neck while decounci- [sic] — while — while documenting Ukrainians fleeing; killed when Russian missiles hit the television tower in a residential neighborhood. One journalist from Radio Liberty just killed days ago.

     So many of you telling the stories and taking the photos and recording the videos of what’s happening there, the unvarnished truth shown — showing the — the destruction and the devastation and, yes, the war crimes.

     Tonight, we also honor the legacy of two historic reporters, and that is Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne. I’m glad you saw that tonight. I didn’t know you were doing that. These are the first Black women to be White House reporters, who shattered convention to cover a segregated nation.

     We honor journalists killed, missing, imprisoned, detained and tortured; covering war, exposing corruption and holding leaders accountable.

     We honor members of the press, both national and local, covering a once-in-a-century pandemic where we lost a million Americans, a generation reckoning on race and the existential threat of climate change.

     The free press is not the enemy of the people — far from it. At your best, you’re guardians of the truth.

     President Kennedy once said, and I quote, “Without debate, without criticism, no administration, no country can succeed, and no republic can survive.”

     The First Amendment grants a free press extraordinary protection, but with it comes, as many of you know, a very heavy obligation: to seek the truth as best you can — not to inflame or entertain, but to illuminate and educate.

I know it’s tough. And I’m not being solicitous. The industry is changing significantly.

     There’s incredible pressure on you all to deliver heat instead of shed light, because the technology is changing so much, the system is changing. But it matters. No kidding. It matters. The truth matters.

     American democracy is not a reality show. It’s not a reality show. It’s reality itself. And the reality is that we are a great country.

     Our future is bright. It’s not guaranteed, because democracy is never guaranteed. It has to be earned. It has to be defended. It has to be protected.

     As you’ve heard me say many times: There’s not a damn thing this country can’t do when we stand united and do it together. And I know we can do anything we want to do that’s right.

     I’ve been around a long time, as has been pointed out many times tonight. But I give you my word as a Biden: I’ve never been more optimistic about America than I am today. I really mean it.

     At times of enormous change, it presents enormous opportunities. For despite all the crises, all the partisanship, all the shouting and the showmanship,

I really know this and you know it too: We are a great nation because we’re basically a good people.

     And here in America, good journalism, good satire about our leaders, about our society is quintessentially an American thing. It demonstrates the power of our example.

     And I, honest to God, believe it reveals our soul — the soul of our nation. And that’s what I’d like to toast tonight, if I may.

(The President offers a toast.)

     To the journalists and their families, to the people and their elected representatives, to the United States of America.

     And by the way, Madeleine Albright was right: We are the indispensable nation.

     Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to turn this over to Trevor now, strap myself into my seat.

     And, Trevor, the really good news is: Now you get to roast the President of the United States and, unlike in Moscow, you won’t go to jail.

     The podium is yours.”

      As written by Margaret Sullivan in The Guardian, in an article entitled When journalists are persecuted, we all suffer; “Jodie Ginsberg remembers an important lesson from her decade as a Reuters foreign correspondent and bureau chief: there simply is no substitute for being at the scene.

     “The first and most important source is what journalists see in front of them – their ability to give a firsthand, eyewitness account,” says Ginsberg, now the president of Committee to Protect Journalists, the non-profit advocacy organization based in New York City.

     A memorable case in point was how two Associated Press journalists last year were able to tell what was happening on the ground in Mariupol, Ukraine. As a Russian siege largely destroyed the city, children’s bodies filled mass graves and shells demolished a maternity hospital, but Russian officials tried to deny it and called the horror stories nothing but fiction.

     “The Russians said this was all a fake, but the AP journalists at the scene were able to say no, and tell the real story,” Ginsberg said. One of them, Yevgeny Maloletka, took an unforgettable photograph, seen on front pages around the world, of an injured pregnant woman being carried on a gurney from the bombed-out hospital by emergency workers; her baby was born dead and she died soon afterwards.

     But with journalists threatened with harassment, danger and even imprisonment around the world, that crucial ability to report on the ground – to get the invaluable eyewitness account – has been sorely diminished.

     The situation is dire; as democracy declines worldwide, there are more journalists in prison now than at any time since the CPJ began keeping track. The organization’s annual prison census showed 363 reporters in prison at the end of last year – an increase of 20% from the previous year, with the most journalists jailed in Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey and Belarus.

     This ugly trend means less on-the-ground reporting – not only by the imprisoned journalists but by many others who flee conflict zones or are forced to censor themselves in order to avoid the growing dangers.

     When the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in late March on false espionage charges in Russia – he remains imprisoned – many western journalists finally fled the country joining those who had left months earlier. The threats had simply become untenable.

     “Evan’s arrest sends a powerful message to other journalists – that you may face something similar,” Ginsberg told me. “That has a chilling effect on reporting, which is the aim of the repressive governments doing this kind of harassment and imprisonment. It is meant to silence journalists.”

      No longer is it just war correspondents who face extreme danger. These days, the dominance of authoritarian governments around the world make life hazardous for all kinds of journalists. Local and regional reporters around the world may bear the brunt most, partly because they don’t have the protection and legal resources of large news organizations.

      In addition to the countries named above, Ginsberg said that Mexico, Haiti, Russia and parts of Latin and South America are particularly difficult places for journalists to do their work now.

      Concerned people can help. They can show they care about journalism by subscribing to news organizations or donating to free-speech and press-rights organizations including CPJ, Pen America and Reporters Without Borders.

     And perhaps most important of all, they can keep jailed journalists in mind, and keep their plight in the public consciousness. That goes for Austin Tice, a freelance journalist who went missing in Syria in 2012 and is believed to be a captive of the Syrian government. It goes for Gershkovich, of course, and for the hundreds of lesser known reporters who are threatened or jailed around the world.

     It was encouraging to hear Joe Biden bring up Tice and Gershkovich at the White House correspondents’ dinner last weekend in Washington DC. He spoke of Evan’s “absolute courage”, and said US officials are working every day to bring him home.

     “Our message is this,” Biden added. “Journalism is not a crime.”

     Not only is journalism not a crime, it’s a necessity – one that’s becoming harder than ever to carry out with every passing month.

     That’s not only terrible for those directly involved. It also hurts everyone who cares about the truth.”

     As written last year by Oliver Holmes in The Guardian, in an article entitled Media freedom in dire state in record number of countries, report finds: World Press Freedom Index report warns disinformation and AI pose mounting threats to journalism; “Media freedom is in dire health in a record number of countries, according to the latest annual snapshot, which warns that disinformation, propaganda and artificial intelligence pose mounting threats to journalism.

     The World Press Freedom Index revealed a shocking slide, with an unprecedented 31 countries deemed to be in a “very serious situation”, the lowest ranking in the report, up from 21 just two years ago.

     Increased aggressiveness from autocratic governments – and some that are considered democratic – coupled with “massive disinformation or propaganda campaigns” has caused the situation to go from bad to worse, according to the list, released by the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

     “There is more red on the RSF map this year than ever before, as authoritarian leaders become increasingly bold in their attempts to silence the press,” the RSF secretary general, Christophe Deloire, told the Guardian. “The international community needs to wake up to reality, and act together, decisively and fast, to reverse this dangerous trend.”

     Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of the first World Press Freedom Day, which was created to remind governments of their duty to uphold freedom of expression. However, the environment for journalism today is considered “bad” in seven out of 10 countries, and satisfactory in only three out of 10, according to RSF. The UN says 85% of people live in countries where media freedom has declined in the past five years.

     The survey assesses the state of the media in 180 countries and territories, looking at the ability of journalists to publish news in the public interest without interference andwithout threats to their own safety.

     It shows rapid technological advances are allowing governments and political actors to distort reality, and fake content is easier to publish than ever before.

     “The difference is being blurred between true and false, real and artificial, facts and artifices, jeopardising the right to information,” the report said. “The unprecedented ability to tamper with content is being used to undermine those who embody quality journalism and weaken journalism itself.”

     Artificial intelligence was “wreaking further havoc on the media world”, the report said, with AI tools “digesting content and regurgitating it in the form of syntheses that flout the principles of rigour and reliability”.

     This is not just written AI content but visual, too. High-definition images that appear to show real people can be generated in seconds.

     At the same time, governments are increasingly fighting a propaganda war. Russia, which already plummeted in the rankings last year after the invasion of Ukraine, dropped another nine places, as state media slavishly parrots the Kremlin line while opposition outlets are driven into exile. Last month, Moscow arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the first US journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the cold war.

     Meanwhile, three countries: Tajikistan, India and Turkey, dropped from being in a “problematic situation” into the lowest category. India has been in particularly sharp decline, sinking 11 places to 161 after media takeovers by oligarchs close to Narendra Modi. The Indian press used to be seen as fairly progressive, but things changed radically after the Hindu nationalist prime minister took over. This year, the BBC was raided by the country’s financial crimes agency in a move widely condemned as an act of intimidation after a BBC documentary was critical of Modi.

     In Turkey, the administration of the hardline president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had stepped up its persecution of journalists in the run-up to elections scheduled for 14 May, RSF said. Turkey jails more journalists than any other democracy.

     Some of the 2023 index’s biggest falls were in Africa. Until recently a regional model, Senegal fell 31 places, mainly because of criminal charges brought against two journalists, Pape Alé Niang and Pape Ndiaye. Tunisia fell 27 places as a result of President Kais Saied’s growing authoritarianism.

      The Middle East is the world’s most dangerous region for journalists. But the Americas no longer have any country coloured green, meaning “good”, on the press freedom map. The US fell three places to 45th. The Asia Pacific region is dragged down by regimes hostile to reporters, such as Myanmar (173rd) and Afghanistan (152nd).

     “We are witnessing worrying trends, but the big question is if these trends are a hiccup or a sign of a world going backwards,” said Guilherme Canela, the global lead on freedom of speech at Unesco. “Physical attacks, digital attacks, the economic situation, and regulatory tightening: we are facing a perfect storm.”

     A separate Unesco report released on Wednesday said healthy freedom of expression helped many other fundamental rights to flourish.

     Nordic countries have long topped the RSF rankings, and Norway stayed in first place in the press freedom index for the seventh year running. But a non-Nordic country was ranked second: Ireland. The Netherlands returned to the top 10, rising 22 places, following the 2021 murder of the crime reporter Peter R de Vries. The UK was listed at 26.

     The western world’s media landscape remains mixed, according to RSF and other press freedom groups, with political and financial pressures. In the first quarter of this year, news media job cuts in the UK and North America ran at a rate of 1,000 jobs a month, a Press Gazette analysis found.

     Last week, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists released a report warning against complacency in the EU, which has traditionally been considered among the world’s safest and freest places for journalists.

     The group expressed concern about rising populism and illiberal governments such as in Hungary and Poland trampling on the rule of law, including press freedom. The Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the Slovakian journalist Ján Kuciak had been murdered in connection with their work.”

     As written by Kelly Walls in The Guardian, in an article entitled Trust, diversity and independence: three key elements for a thriving press:  Newspapers’ power is being eroded and disinformation is rife – but there is a way forward; “Our understanding of the world is driven by information. It feeds our ability to make informed decisions about our lives, our communities, the way we’re governed. This fundamental freedom, the power to be able to access reliable information, sits at the heart of a thriving democratic society.

     But increasingly that power is being eroded. Indeed, some never had it to begin with. Press freedom is being threatened, compromised and denied in an increasing number of countries around the world.

     In parallel, trust in news among the general public is declining. Financial pressures are multiplying. And for every technological advancement to counter disinformation, there is another that can more effectively spread it.

     As the Nobel laureate Maria Ressa put it recently: “This is not a content problem, it isn’t a freedom of speech problem, it is a distribution problem. It is the fact that by design, lies are distributed faster and further than facts.”

     Ahead of the 30th anniversary this week of World Press Freedom Day, it is becoming clearer than ever that three things have to happen to assure a future for media organisations.

    The first is financial independence. The Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) say that media can only be truly independent if there are no financial strings. They created Plūrālis for this reason, a blended funding model that combines philanthropic and commercial capital to make interventions when media are most vulnerable, acting as a shield against capture from governments or individuals who seek to compromise their editorial independence. “A new approach was needed and this was an experiment, but it really could be a model for the future,” their chief strategy officer, Patrice Schneider, said.

     But beyond philanthropic grants and investment, ultimately media organisations strive to be self-sustaining. To that end, more are turning to membership and reader revenue models. In a world where so much information is available for free, to persuade a reader to voluntarily pay for news is tough. It relies on an exchange of value and trust.

     In recent months, the Guardian Foundation team, in collaboration with our colleagues at the Guardian, have worked with the Kyiv Independent, Holod, Telex and +972, to exchange knowledge, skills and tactics. The hope is that if we can share with young, vibrant, independent startups what is working for others, they will flourish in parts of the world that desperately need them.

     Zakhar Protsiuk, chief operating officer of the Kyiv Independent, said the mentorship “gave us practical advice that we could act on quickly. One tip resulted in an increase of more than 150% in reader support that week.”

      They went on to achieve their goal of 10,000 members. At the recent International Journalism festival, editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko reflected on their broader journey over the last 18 months: “We just hope that other media can draw from our success and that this isn’t just something for us.” This is key: a community of independent media who are working together in solidarity, not competition.

     The second vital factor is plurality of voice and agency. News organisations must include diverse perspectives and reporting by journalists from a broad range of backgrounds. If certain communities are excluded or misrepresented in the news coverage they see, then trust is lost. To combat this effectively, the barriers to entry and progression in the industry must be broken, alongside the recognition that more inclusive and representative news organisations create better journalism and engage the audiences they seek to serve in a more successful way.

     The third crucial element is news literacy. If the long-term sustainability of news organisations relies, at least in part, on people willing to pay for it, then audiences who can seek out, value and trust those organisations must exist. A report by Impress, based on research by the universities of Leeds and Derby, found a link between lack of trust in journalism and low levels of news literacy among the UK population.

     Without educating audiences to critically evaluate sources and discern reliable information, trust cannot be built. Without trust, news has no value, meaning readers won’t pay for it, news organisations won’t be viable and public access to fact-based journalism will decrease. With that, our ability to make informed decisions and hold power to account is weakened.

     Thankfully, news and media literacy is gaining more support, being seen as a vital part of the journalism ecosystem and an underpinning of democracy.

     So as World Press Freedom Day approaches, while we must recognise the very real threats, let’s also take a moment to look forward with some hope for a society in which people can find and use their power to participate, influence and act.”

Across the world, journalists are under threat for sharing the truth | Jonathan Watts

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/30/across-the-world-journalists-are-under-threat-for-sharing-the-truth?CMP=share_btn_url

Attacks on press freedom around the world are intensifying, index reveals

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/may/03/attacks-on-press-freedom-around-the-world-are-intensifying-index-reveals?CMP=share_btn_url

The tragic history of journalists killed in the U.S. for doing their job

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/the-tragic-history-of-journalists-killed-in-the-u-s-for-doing-their-job

‘I decided to not let anybody silence my voice’: the journalists in exile but still at risk

https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2024/may/03/i-decided-to-not-let-anybody-silence-my-voice-the-journalists-in-exile-but-still-at-risk?CMP=share_btn_url

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/full-speech-biden-gives-remarks-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner/vi-AAWOGR7

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/03/world/women-journalists-press-freedom-online-violence-as-equals-intl-cmd/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/politics/transcript-joe-biden-white-house-correspondents-dinner/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/03/media-freedom-in-dire-state-in-record-number-of-countries-report-finds

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/03/evan-gershkovich-journalists-persecuted-world-press-freedom-day?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/01/trust-diversity-independence-press-newspapers

        Freedom of the Press and Journalism as a sacred calling in pursuit of truth, a reading list

Discourse and Truth: The Problematization of Parrhesia, by Michel Foucault

The Trial of Socrates, by I.F. Stone

Manufacturing Consent : The Political Economy of the Mass Media, Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12617.Manufacturing_Consent?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_21

The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, Jonathan Rauch

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54616040-the-constitution-of-knowledge?ref=rae_2

Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century, Lee C. Bollinger

Dangerous Ideas: A Brief History of Censorship in the West, from the Ancients to Fake News, Eric Berkowitz

Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts, David E. McCraw

The Idea of a Free Press: The Enlightenment and Its Unruly Legacy, David A. Copeland, Daniel Schorr (Foreword)

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