The ongoing student protests and counter protests on campuses across the country show us that beyond the use of physical force, intimidation and arrests, another form of violence is at play. I write these lines on May 4th. the 54th anniversary of the Kent State shootings of 13 students protesting the Vietnam War( 4 dead.) At the time Ronald Reagan is said to have suggested “if it takes a blood bath, let’s get it over with.”
Words do matter!
This war of words for the hearts and minds is in full daily display again.It can be observed with the naked eye. In the mainstream press the forces of cerebral repression are actively modeling the play dough of our innocent minds. Better be vigilant in the spirit of resistance. Turn on your crap detectors.
1 . The narrative is frequently obscured not always by clouds of tear gas but by a photoshopped description of what is occurring.
The campus protests might be far more than opposing pro Palestinian activist against pro Israel students. The binary view that this is a struggle between two camps is a divisive propaganda tool hinting at anti-Jewish bigotry as the prime motivation for the protests. Open minded Jewish students are often involved in the mostly peaceful protests condemning the indiscriminate murder and wounding of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank in the pursuit of eradicating Hamas.
What if the conflict were described as pro Justice vs. pro status quo? Students at UCLA were reportedly heard chanting during the brutal attack by masked anti protesters “You want peace, we want Justice.” One doesn’t need be a Los Angeleno above forty five to remember and understand the Rodney King uprising moto ” No Justice No Peace.”
2 . Another way to obscure the picture is the frequent strategic use of the term “antisemitism”. The term has often been appropriated to shame and ostracize anyone expressing opposition to the policies of the state of Israel, suggesting something hideous like Holocaust denying . Finding the Netanyahu patchwork coalition’s actions despicable doesn’t make one an antisemite. This word approriation selfishly denies that violence, discrimination or forced displacement against Arabs might also be antisemitic. If a genocide is happening in Gaza isn’t it also a blatant expression of antisemitism? Isn’t it a fratricidal struggle between Semites? What is a Semite? Oxford Languages: relating to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, especially Hebrew and Arabic.
The courageous Gen Z students who stand up in opposition to antisemitism everywhere and war crimes against Arabs will no doubt be remembered as being on the right side of history. What they are learning after their protest encampments are demolished and found ” illegal” is perhaps the most important lesson: we do live under a repressive form of government, a government that fears the people and is threatened by opinions that go counter “the official program” whether it be led by the former president or the present one. The riot police called in to maintain an unjust status quo wear the same uniforms, the same Darth Vader armor. Its effectiveness has proven to be remedial and short term. When will they ever learn?
Who in their right mind really believes that the security, safety and well being of the people who live within the borders of Israel can be bought over and over with the blood and tears of Arab children and of their grieving parents? Will the unconditional “over the top” free flow of made in America weapons of destruction be part of a lasting solution to a long festering problem?
The West includes the five white eyes; United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, plus the European Union, and Israel. They’ve been down so long they don’t know which way is up.
Despite Main Stream Media propaganda, things are not going well for Ukraine on the battlefield.
Smashing Russia is not so easy
The Global West has had a run of bad luck, for most of their schemes, for several years. The Ukraine war has not gone well, with its client state being hopelessly out matched. The sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Russia have done terrible damage – but to its European allies – not to Russia, whose economy is doing better than ever.
More recently, the Tucker Carlson interview with Russian President Valdimir Putin was an embarrassment to the U.S. which has been trying to paint Putin as an evil dictator. Instead, Putin came off as a learned and reasonable head of state.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine army was suffering loss after loss on the battlefield. According to Ukrainian President Zelensky, there have been at least 31,000 deaths of Ukrainians during the war with Russia. Other sources say the number is much higher. Rumors are that with the refusal of the U.S. Congress to appropriate more money, Ukraine is running short of ammunition and other vital supplies.
Victoria Nuland worked so hard for this War
Some commentators are claiming that an atmosphere of panic has descended over Europe and the Biden regime. The loss of the war in Ukraine, which now seems imminent, would end the neo-conservatives’ dreams of dismembering Russia. Victoria Nuland was the State Department’s chief architect of the strategy, but abandoned ship on March 5.
Nuland was not your ordinary civil servant. She is married to Robert Kagan, who is perhaps the top proponent of neo-conservatism in the U.S. Nuland had been an advocate of every war the U.S. has gotten into since the administration of George W. Bush. She worked closely, in appointed positions, with Bill Clinton, G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. She skipped Trump’s administration.
Victoria Nuland quits
Victoria Nuland is probably best known for an intercepted phone call at the time of the Maidan Coup in Kiev, Ukraine. During the call with U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, Nuland expressed her disdain for U.S. European allies by saying “fuck the EU.” She went on to negatively evaluate friendly Ukrainian politicians, complaining that she had to spend $5 Billion to bring about the Coup.
Speaking of intercepted phone calls, four German Generals were caught by someone, probably Russia, taping their conversation about knocking down the Kerch Bridge that was recently built by Russia to link that country with Crimea. What’s worse is the rumor that the military’s plans to destroy the bridge was done without German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s knowledge. The plan was to fire Taurus missiles at the bridge. So far, Ukraine has been denied these rockets because of their long range, which would include most of European Russia. The Ukrainians might decide to bombard Moscow instead of the bridge. This could potentially involve Germany in a war with Russia. This is why informing Scholz is so important.
Israel continues making itself a pariah
Meanwhile, Israel’s invasion of Gaza has failed to destroy Hamas, a stated goal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or to even capture its leaders. President Biden has consistently supported Netanyahu and is still supplying weapons to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Netanyahu and other Zionists always have been adamant about not allowing Palestinians to return to their homes. Israel would not allow them to return since they don’t practice the same religion or have the same cultural background.
Why can’t we all live together?
It is hard for me to understand why the Israelis and Palestinians cannot live together peacefully. For about a thousand years, the two peoples lived together harmoniously in Palestine. It wasn’t until a mind virus, called Zionism, infected them that the separatism began. It’s not the fault of Jews, as a people.
Most Jews, throughout the world, are more than willing to live with others. Here on the Left Coast, Jews live side-by-side with people of other religions and cultural idenities from throughout the world. It wasn’t that long ago that Jews, Islamists and Christians, were known as “People of the Book,” because they all included the Old Testament as part of their religion and brotherhood.
Even today, it is only those who are infected with Zionism, who think they are superior to other people, such as Palestinians. Unfortunately, those infected include the leaders of Israel and, according to opinion polls, most of the ordinary citizens of Israel.
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went on a public tirade when progressive activist George Galloway won a by-election with his newly formed Workers Party. Galloway dedicated his victory to Gaza. He is sure to be a thorn in the side of the pro-Israel Conservative Party when he takes his seat in the House of Commons.
Biden makes it worse for his election prospects
In the U.S., incumbent President Joe Biden sank below his opponent, Donald Trump, in the latest opinion polls. He has been roundly criticized for supporting genocide and his refusal to call for a cease fire in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ruling class seems to be split three ways. One faction wants to pour more money and weapons into Ukraine; another wants to back out of Ukraine and turn its focus on China, which they consider to be the biggest threat to U.S. hegemony. A third faction wants to cool it with foreign wars because of multiple problems on the home front.
If the advocates of option two win out, will the U.S. fare any better against China, which has a population three times as large as America’s, a bigger economy and holds $859.4 billion in U.S. debt?
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P.S. Is it just me, or does the new Dune 2 film resemble the Israel-Palestine battle? Where is Muad’Dib when the Fremen, I mean Gazans, need him?
https://graffiti-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/Graffiti_logo.png00Don Roothttps://graffiti-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/Graffiti_logo.pngDon Root2024-03-10 07:15:562024-05-09 03:20:33The Decline of the West
It happens in the best of families. Siblings don’t speak to each other for years, or file suits against each other. But now, nations of related peoples are fighting each other.
As language evolved, Hebrew survived as the liturgical language of Judaism, before it was revived as a commonly spoken tongue in the 19th century.
Hebrew and Arabic both descended from a common root language, Aramaic. For instance, the Arabic word “al-Kitab” and the Hebrew word “Ketovim” both mean “the book.” Both languages are written from right to left.
After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 C.E., Jews were prohibited from entering Jerusalem and its boundaries until the capture of the city by the Muslims in 638 C.E.
During this period, further Jewish settlement in and around Jerusalem was prohibited, and heavy taxes were imposed on the Jews by the Romans. This policy remained in place for over the next 1,000 years of Islamic rule. The lifting of the ban by Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 allowed Jews to legally return to the city, which contributed to its cultural and religious diversity.
Meanwhile, Alexandria, Egypt became a center of settlement and cultural attainment for Jews.
Arabs continued to live in and around Jerusalem. They became known as Palestinians.
Today, Israelis are practicing mass murder and genocide on their cousins of thousands of years. Before World War I, Jews and Palestinians lived in harmony, and often side by side. The holy places were also found side by side in Jerusalem, along with those of the Christians.
While Israelis and Palestinians are closed related by language and genetics, they are widely separated by tensions about religion. Three religions share parts of a mythology about events that happened thousands of years ago. Many of the prophets revered by Jews, are also considered holy men and women by Christians and Moslems. Even so, only Jews are given full citizen rights by Israel.
This is why many, including a former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, call Israel an apartheid state. Its treatment of Palestinians, even before the current war, which is condemned by many as genocide, including by official bodies and nations, triggered the founding of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS now has global reach and active chapters in dozens of countries.
After the end of the World War I, Zionism, a nationalist movement in favor of a homeland for Jews on land around Jerusalem, gained popularity with Jews. When World War I was over, the Ottoman Empire had to abandon its rule over all the lands outside of Turkey (Türkiye). More and more Jews immigrated to what was called Israel by them. After the Holocaust, by the Nazis, during World War II, the flow of Jews to Israel became a flood. Zionism called for all the lands of historic Israel to be part of a new state for Jews. This did not go down well among Palestinians, many of whose families had lived on the same land for centuries.
With support from Western countries, Jews were able to force Palestinians to relocate to the West Bank and Gaza. Some elected to stay put as second-class citizens within the boundaries of Israel when it became a state in 1948.
The latest conflict has pitted a militarist organization, Hamas, against the Israeli army which is called the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), which is supported by European countries and particularly, by the U.S., which provides weapons and other forms of economic aid. The U.S., by written agreement, gives Israel $4 Billion per year. This has amounted to more than $360 Billion since Israel became a state.
The result is that both Jewish families and Palestinian families are losing not only close relatives (their own people) but also many – 29,000 – long lost cousins.
More Cousins: Ukraine and Russia
If you were treated to the Tucker Carlson – Vladimir Putin interview, then you know all about the joint history of Ukrainians and Russians, going back to 862 CE. If you haven’t seen it, click here to see Putin’s review of the formerly close relationship between Kiev and Moscow.
Again, very similar languages are a giveaway that the two peoples (cousins) lived in close harmony for centuries. Unlike Israel and Palestine, they even shared the same religion, the Russian Orthodox Church.
It took $5 Billion for that close connection to shatter, according to U.S. Under Secretary of State. That money was funneled to Ukrainian right-wingers to create dissension in the country, which ultimately resulted in the Maidan coup d’état, in which the elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown. Yanukovych was personally friendly toward Russia, but tried to balance the demands of both pro-Western and pro-Russian Ukrainians.
After the Maidan riot in 2013, two Oblasts (provinces), Luhansk and Donetsk, withdrew from Ukraine and were attacked by the central government. By 2022, the fighting had become so fierce that Russia entered the fighting on the side of the two new peoples republics.
The fighting between Russia and Ukraine has now been going on for two years, with massive support in arms and funding from the U.S., and lesser support from NATO countries. It now appears that Russia will win the military engagement against Ukraine.
However, the Western countries have already won a cultural victory by splitting the solidarity between Ukraine and Russia. It will take years, perhaps decades, for the unity that has been split asunder between these cousins to come back together.
Divide and Conquer in the United States
Splitting the working class has been a favorite tactic of the ruling class, and their favorite organization, the Corporation.
Now corporation leaders raised the stakes of this deadly game to splitting the entire working class.
The billionaire corporate owners mostly run the government by funding election campaigns and having a “revolving door” where government appointees spend a few years in office and then return to cushy jobs high up in their favorite corporations.
When the history of these times are written, will historians, if there are any, look at the dispute between Texas and U.S. officials on the Rio Grande as the first salvo of the U.S. Second Civil War? Will “Eagle Pass,” the site of the border dispute, assume the same historic standing as “Ft. Sumner,” in the First Civil War?
Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has announced an 80-acre, “Forward Base,” near Eagle Pass, Texas, which could house as many as 2,600 troops, so we likely haven’t heard the end of this confrontation yet.
Lately, the stability of the U.S. and its economic model, capitalism, have been on shaky ground. A united working class, with good leadership, could probably topple a system that has outlived its usefulness. But a divided working class, with hatred between Trump supporters and those who want Trump banned from further elections, could end the threat to the superrich.
Today, family members are often divided on a variety of issues that could prevent them from acting together for everyone’s benefit. Is our current family and class division an accident, or is it a long-standing plan by the ruling class?
In 1886 during a big strike, Robber Baron Jay Gould, reportedly said, “I could hire half of the working class to kill the other half.” They never give up.
Chaos and Disorder, a new book by James R Smith, blows the lid off the ceaseless lies of mainstream propaganda. From foreign wars to so-called aid packages of the Administration and Congress, Smith reveals the true nature of the many changes during the last few years.
“We are seeing the erosion of democracy on all fronts,” says Smith. “From First Amendment rights to maintaining a decent standard of living, the oligarchs who run this country are undermining working peoples ability to have their say in the important things of life.”
Chaos and Disorder rips apart the phony facade we are supposed to believe and digs deeply into the underlying motivations and plans of the ruling class.
This vital book should be read by everyone who is questioning the bewildering world we have been cast into by forces that have no concern for our welfare. It’s available on Amazon and can be ordered at your local bookstore. The retail price is $14.50
If you would like to get this book around, send Venice West Publishers an email (VeniceWest@igc.org). We’ll split the sale price 50-50. We can send you up to 10 copies. Include your mailing address and phone number.
https://graffiti-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/Graffiti_logo.png00Don Roothttps://graffiti-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/Graffiti_logo.pngDon Root2024-02-27 17:33:262024-05-09 03:27:39When Cousins War on Each Other
