#4 sounds like white people at the end of slavery… “we didn’t want to end it because what if there’s retaliation? There have already been slave riots. Imagine what would happen if we gave them freedom or if we became the minority?” It’s not speculative it actually happened the fears had basis. That’s what number four sounds like. It also feels like you only care about one view point like you expect me to believe y’all are perfect victims that did one thing in retaliation?

#4 sounds like that to you because you are an American who thinks the whole world is America and all history must be the same as yours. So you should start by asking yourself what it is in your cultural upbringing, and what in the media you consume, that has you automatically believing the worst possible claims against Jews, to the point of seeing it as understandable for us to be mass murdered.

Jews did not - and do not - want to live in an Arab or Muslim majority society not because of any issues related to "slave uprisings" you are teleporting into this discussion, but rather because Jews had already been brutally oppressed, persecuted, and genocided by Arabs and Muslims for 1,000+ years before Israel or political Zionism were ever invented. Mohammed himself got his hands dirty with this, wiping out the Jews of Yathrib and renaming the gore-drenched rubble into something called "Medina." No less a source than Maimonides wrote in 1172 "God has entangled us with this people, the nation of Ishmael, who treat us so prejudicially and who legislate our harm and hatred…. No nation has ever arisen more harmful than they, nor has anyone done more to humiliate us, degrade us, and consolidate hatred against us... We bear the inhumane burden of their humiliation, lies and absurdities, being as the prophet said, ‘like a deaf man who does not hear or a dumb man who does not open his mouth’.... Our sages disciplined us to bear Ishmael’s lies and absurdities, listening in silence, and we have trained ourselves, old and young, to endure their humiliation, as Isaiah said, ‘I have given my back to the smiters, and my cheek to the beard pullers.’”

Because there is a long history of this, there is much you can read about it, if you care.

Some very random examples:

The "badge of shame" was invented in medieval Baghdad, only later migrating to Europe

Life for Jews in Yemen: The Jews of Yemen were treated as pariah, third-class citizens who needed to be perennially reminded of their submission to the ruling faith…The Jews were considered to be impure, and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim’s food. They were obliged to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk on his left side, and to greet him first. They were forbidden to raise their voices in front of a Muslim. They could not build their houses higher than the Muslims’ or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering a Muslim quarter, a Jew had to take off his footgear and walk barefoot. No Jewish man was permitted to wear a turban or carry the Jambiyyah (dagger), which was worn universally by the free tribesmen of Yemen. If attacked with stones or fist by Islamic youth, a Jew was not allowed to defend himself. Further, the Jews were forced to wear sidelocks or peots. The wearing of such long and dangling peots “was originally a source of great shame for the Yemenites. It was decreed by the imams to distinguish the Jews from the Muslims”. More degrading and insulting decrees to the Jews were the Atarot (Headgear) and Latrine Decrees. The former was a seventeenth-century decree forbidding the Jews to wear a headcovering or turbans. The Latrine Decree was a nineteenth-century edict in which the Jews were forced to clean out public toilets and remove animal dung and carcasses from the streets. Another discriminatory edict was the Orphan Decree which gave the Zaydis the right to convert to Islam any child under the age of thirteen whose father is dead. Further, evidence by a Jew against a Muslim was invalid and a “Jew was forbidden to pass a Muslim to his right, and whoever did so, even unwittingly, could be beaten without trial; the Jews were forbidden to make their purchases before the Muslims had completed theirs; a Jew entering the house of an Arab or the office of an official was only allowed to sit down in the place where the shoes were removed” . Tudor Parfitt summarizes some of these laws in the following: [the Jews] were required not to insult Islam, never strike a Muslim, or to impede him in his path. They were not to assist each other in any activity against a Muslim…They were not to build new places of worship or repair existing one…They were not to pray too noisily or hold public religious processions. They were not to wink. They were not to proselytize. They were not to bear arms. They were required to dress in a distinctive fashion in order not to be mistaken for a member of the Muslim occupying forces. In other words dhimmis had all the times to behave themselves in an unostentatious and unthreatening manner, one appropriate to a defeated and humbled subject people. They were to avoid the slightest show of triumphalism and they were forbidden any activity that could lead to proselytization. Yemenite Jews were “excluded as it almost always…from affairs of state, and from the great institutions of the country”

1941 Farhud pogrom (Iraq)

1929 Hebron Massacre ("They cut off hands, they cut off fingers, they held heads over a stove, they gouged out eyes. A rabbi stood immobile, commending the souls of his Jews to God – they scalped him. They made off with his brains. On Mrs. Sokolov’s lap, one after the other, they sat six students from the yeshiva and, with her still alive, slit their throats. They mutilated the men. They shoved thirteen-year-old girls, mothers, and grandmothers into the blood and raped them in unison....")

1921 Jaffa Riots

1920 Nebi Musa Riots

1910 Shiraz Blood Libel (Iran) ("In the middle of the 19th century, J. J. Benjamin wrote about the life of Persian Jews: "…they are obliged to live in a separate part of town…; for they are considered as unclean creatures… Under the pretext of their being unclean, they are treated with the greatest severity and should they enter a street, inhabited by Mussulmans, they are pelted by the boys and mobs with stones and dirt… For the same reason, they are prohibited to go out when it rains; for it is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet of the Mussulmans… If a Jew is recognized as such in the streets, he is subjected to the greatest insults. The passers-by spit in his face, and sometimes beat him… unmercifully… If a Jew enters a shop for anything, he is forbidden to inspect the goods… Should his hand incautiously touch the goods, he must take them at any price the seller chooses to ask for them... Sometimes the Iranians intrude into the dwellings of the Jews and take possession of whatever please them. Should the owner make the least opposition in defense of his property, he incurs the danger of atoning for it with his life... If... a Jew shows himself in the street during the three days of the Katel (the start of Muharram)…, he is sure to be murdered")

1840 Damascus Blood Libel (Syria)

1839 Allahdad Pogrom (Iran)

1834 Hebron Massacre

1834 Looting of Safed

1700 Jerusalem oppression / apartheid: ("Muslims are very hostile to Jews and inflict upon them vexations in the streets of the city… the common folk persecute the Jews, for we are forbidden to defend ourselves against the Turks or the Arabs. If an Arab strikes a Jew, he (the Jew) must appease him but dare not rebuke him, for fear that he may be struck even harder, which they (the Arabs) do without the slightest scruple...")

1679 Mawza Exile (Yemen)

1660 Destruction of Safed

1500s Iran: ("After the ascension of Shah ‘Abbas II the Jews of Isfahan faced a lot of persecution. Most communities were forced to convert to Islam. Furthermore those who refused to convert would have most of their inheritance taken away as the inheritance laws at the time allowed for those who converted to Shia Islam to inherit the property of non-Muslim family members. Some communities did not convert and were thus forced to wear a special badge to show that they were Jewish. The maltreatment of the Jews weakened their community ties and influence throughout the region. By 1889 there were only around four hundred Jewish families left in Isfahan and most very poor.... by the middle 20th century 80% of the Jews of Isfahan lived on the verge of poverty.")

There's so much more I really don't know where to start or where to end. Afghanistan revoked all Jewish citizenship in 1933. Turkey banned all Jewish names and held massive antisemitic pogroms in 1934. Iraq banned Hebrew schools and Hebrew names in 1936, pogroms throughout Libya 1945, Syria fired all Jewish government employees 1946. Tripoli pogrom 1785. Algiers 1805. Cairo 1844. Istanbul 1870. Safed 1517 and 1799. Jerusalem 1665 and 1720. Granada Massacre 1066. Fez Massacre 1033. How many Wiki links do you want, how many textbooks?

This is an old, old conflict, and the Americanized "colonizer / slave plantation" frame is off-topic.

Sometimes Carter catches Sadie staring at the Nome family photos. It's not like she's the only white-passing person in the Nome these days, but come winter she's usually the lightest. Standing stark obvious in the middle of them all.

Sometimes Carter sees her fumble braids and cornrows and narrow her eyes. He can see the mental berating behind her frustration. He reminds her gently that coils can be difficult. That's half the reason he keeps his hair trimmed nice and short.

They'll watch movies and colonization appears as a theme, a topic, a fact, and she'll drag her sleeves down, pull herself in tight like she wants the the couch to swallow her up.

"Should I even be doing this?" she mumbles into his shoulder. "I mean yeah I'm Isis's magician and whatever but I don't have to do anything. I could just..." As she fades off, she presses her full face into his shoulder.

He strokes her back softly. "You have to stop stressing about this."

"I feel like an invader," she says. "This isn't my-" She cuts off sharply, draws back, and tugs her knees to her chest. Adele plays through her speakers. She stares at it. "I'm British, people think I'm white, I can walk the walk and talk the talk all I want but I'm always the outsider. I can't be black, or culturally anything really. I wasn't even raised in this world."

"Neither was I," Carter says and she blinks at him. There's no dawning in her eyes. She gets it. Understands that his life was sand and professors and rocks, not hiphop and AAVE. If anything he's more Arab than African-American. He knows more about Islam than Christianity, more about Egypt than any other African nation. He may have walked through the cities, eaten their food, spoken with the people, but never long enough to count.

The tombs of Pharaohs were always calling his name.

"It's-" Her legs drop. The heels of her feet thump and skid down the wooden flooring. One hand clutches her shirt tight in the center of her chest, twisting the fabric so tight her fists go pale with effort. "Sometimes I just feel like I'm putting myself somewhere I shouldn't. I know I'm allowed. I'm mixed, I'm a magician and host for the Egyptian pantheon but I still-" She twists her shirt just an inch more. "I feel like a lie."

I wonder how many people who scream at mall Santas or whatever would support Palestinian liberation if they knew how this particular round of bombardment started.

To be clear I'm in support of Palestinian liberation but it also seems to me like a lot of terminally on line purity politics types have taken up this cause because the blockade and bombing campaigns are very clearly targeting children since about 50% of the people in Gaza are kids and some of you guys want a perfect victim to rally behind. That's not real support, is it?

Anyway the current situation in simple Tumblr post terms is that Gaza for a couple of decades has been in a situation where Israel controls what and who goes in and out of the Gaza strip with an iron fist, but there was a ceasefire so they weren't actively being bombed. There was still military enforcement of the blockade but not like what we're seeing now. Then Hamas, which is a sunni islamic religious fundamentalist political organization with a paramilitary wing, launched an attack targeting the border checkpoints, this attack was unprecedented because it was one of the first conflicts in a very very long time to have a higher Israeli death toll than Palestinian death toll. They took a bunch of hostages to use as a bargaining chip with Israel. Israel responded by jumpstarting a second Nakba. Hamas has a lot of popular support in Gaza specifically because they're the biggest Palestinian paramilitary group and they bother to step to the IDF in a meaningful way. As we all know military attacks tend to increase support for governments that are perceived as protecting civilians. Whatever you think of Hamas that's what they are right now in the Gaza strip.

I don't say this to dissuade you from opposing genocide. Quite the opposite actually. I want you to be aware of the geopolitical situation and to not waver when you learn more about it. I see people talking absolutely insane about Ukraine calling it a racist country (which yeah so is Russia that doesn't justify civilian casualties) when last year they had fucking Ukraine flag pfps. I don't think you should stop caring about the bombing campaigns when you find out that the Palestinians also have guns

Basically stop looking for a perfect victim because you won't find one. You still need to oppose enthonationalism and genocide.

may I ask what made you pick judaism, if it's not too personal & you're willing to share? i legit dont know enough about religions so i'm genuinely curious. like why not islam or something else? or why not transfer to protestant or orthodox church? you said you did some wandering, so i'm just curious what made you pick judaism over everything else. like i said i'm not judging or anything, just pure curiosity due to my lack of knowledge! but i'm glad you found something that resonates with you :)

short answer, jewish beliefs resonated the most with me and the more i learn about it, the more at home i feel

long answer, oh boy, i really did do some wandering. i'm putting it under a cut because i wrote a whole essay

i stopped going to the catholic church when i was 15, and the next... ten years? were spent trying to find myself. because i've always known that i believe in something more, but the idea of an old guy in the sky ruling over us with an iron fist felt very odd too me. and that's how i came out of the catholic church

my dad used to say that religion is supposed to bring you comfort and give you the support you need in tough times. that's something that has always stuck with me but then, which religion?

i tried the agnostic route for a while, but that didn't bring me any comfort. then i went to a buddhist temple a couple times, because the logic was sound to me, and i was at a time in my life where acceptance and kindness was what i needed. but still, i felt like there was something lacking

i googled a lot

being gay, i didn't quite vibe with most christian denominations in my town. but my cousin invited me to the presbyterian church and i went there for a few months. it kinda worked for a bit, because i was sure i didn't believe in saints and they talked about jesus with so much love, and tried to spread the love he taught the world. i used to leave the church service feeling very loved, and it was better to read from the bible than it was to just listen to the priest read it and being told that i'd never understand it myself

i just... didn't feel the same love as everyone else. i felt like a fraud even when i was annotating my bible as everyone else. theirs were full of devotion and mine felt flat, i didn't know how to pray without, you know, scripted prayers, i felt like an impostor. then, well. then it got to a point where i couldn't simply ignore being gay for the sake of being accepted there, and i stopped going

at the time, i was working at a health clinic and i worked with pious people from other christian denominations and they were so judgemental of everyone that came in, forgetting their own past and still claiming to be a good christian. which only pushed me away from any other christian denominations, the fanon interpretation of jesus bothered me too. it all felt too restrictive

that's around the time i started wondering whether or not i believed in jesus. it's always been complicated for me to make sense that god, jesus and the holy spirit are separate but still one. i could kinda figure out the holy spirit and god working together, but for me, jesus was a man, a human man who had been kind and drastically radical for his time, but still a man

honestly, at this time i was pretty lost and finding comfort in bits and pieces here and there. christian music actually helped me a lot during this time, go figure

it took me actually meeting a jewish person (that's how small judaism is in here, i had no contact of anyone jewish for 26 years of my life) for me to learn that you could even convert to judaism

i had the catholic thinking of "oh, judaism is an old religion that doesn't really exist anymore" and "the old testament god was barbaric", but getting to learn more about it with fresh eyes was a really breathtaking experience

i like that the rules make sense. there's no "because the church says so" or "because god will be sad if you do it". whatever argument you can think of, someone has gone over it at least a thousand years ago and have had people arguing for or against it ever since. i love it that you get to ask questions!!! you're encouraged to!! oh that's my favorite part, i can have doubts about whatever and no one will talk behind my back that i'm not a good catholic girl. and i get to learn about this practice that goes back thousands of years, and not to be a nerd, but i love how much incentive there is to read and learn and discuss and talk through things and question everything and think critically about every passage, every tradition, every book ever written on judaism

i'm reading "here all along" by sarah hurwitz and there's a chapter called "freeing god from "his" human-shaped cage in the sky" and in it, she talks about different conceptions about god that jewish people believe in. and that is when i realized oh yes, this is home. because god stopped being an old guy in the sky and became this force that no human being could ever describe or understand. god can be all knowing and all powerful, but they can also be all knowing and not all powerful. they can be everything — a shadow the tree casts, the good in humanity, resting on shabbat. god can be the "process of being" or the force that pushes you to be the best you can be. i haven't explored a fraction of those but i love it that i don't have to choose just one, and i don't have to believe in one version that's dictated to me

all my experiences with judaism have been incredible so far. i used to slog through an hour long mass, now two hours every friday feel like not enough. the community i found (both in the synagogue i go to and online) is very welcoming and there's so much strength in them. the more i learn about the practices, the why behind them, the more at home i feel

we had an event for people who want to convert and we talked about being gay and judaism and everyone was pretty much you just gotta find a rabbi that you're comfortable with but even the most conservative ones are mostly chill with it, and the conversation moved on to another question. and that? being accepted fully by who i am, that's incredible for me. i don't have to change, i don't have to force myself to believe in anything

i'm gonna end this here, otherwise i'll be talking about judaism until next week

Mandatory Moonbattery at UCLA Medical School

Medical education has succumbed to the Long March Through the Institutions. It is no longer primarily about education or medicine. It is about indoctrination and moonbattery:

First-year UCLA medical students were forced to sit through a bizarre lecture by a pro-Hamas activist who made them pray to ‘mama Earth’… Lisa Gray-Garcia gave the two-hour presentation at Geffen Hall, on the university’s downtown campus on March 27.

Participation was not voluntary.

The lecture was a mandatory part of the Structural Racism and Health Equity class that all future doctors must take, administered by pediatrician Lindsay Wells.

The qualifications of Lindsay Wells to educate doctors are conspicuous. As for Gray-Garcia, she…

…keeps her face covered with a keffiyeh except in a few interviews…

Gray-Garcia has pronounced the Islamic terror atrocities of October 7 “justified.” Consider the acts of satanic evil that were deliberately inflicted on innocent women and children on that day and then try to get your head around the Powers That Be forcing students to listen to lunatics who endorse them.

Students were instructed to touch the floor with their fists while she made a ‘non-secular’ prayer to ‘mama Earth’ and our ‘ancestors’, a complaint stated.

(Can you imagine if a lecturer insisted that students say a rosary with her?)

KD

Let’s hope whoever complained did it anonymously, or their medical career is likely to be canceled, as with this person:

During a second call for students to kneel on the floor, one refused to do so. An unidentified UCLA faculty member is said to have enquired as to the student’s name, sparking fears they could face repercussions for refusing to comply.

Doctors might not learn which part of a stethoscope goes in their ears, but they are becoming well versed in liberal ruling class ideology:

[Gray-Garcia] claimed private property was a ‘crapitalist lie’ that killed ‘black, brown, and houseless’ people who were forced to live on the streets.

These are not harmless kooks; they want to hurt people:

At one point, she led students in chanting ‘Free, Free Palestine’, as UCLA faculty including Dr Wells watched in silence.

“Free Palestine” in the context of current events refers to the eradication of Jews from their ancient homeland.

Gray-Garcia did at least touch on the topic of medicine:

Later in the lecture, she called modern medicine ‘white science’…

The association of modern medicine with white people means that it is bad, which might be why she chose to hold forth on unrelated topics.

Education like this doesn’t come cheap:

UCLA charges medical students fees of around $44,000-a-year, with additional costs taking the total needed to train there to $84,000-a-year.

Good thing it is subsidized by taxpayers.

You cannot hide from liberals. No matter what students major in, so long as leftists control the schools, they are majoring in moonbattery.

Shame on the people who inflict such garbage on students.

By: Tom Slater

Published: Nov 30, 2023

Why do so many leftists struggle to condemn Hamas? Why do so-called progressives make excuses for Jew-killing, misogynistic, gay-bashing Islamists? It’s a long and damning story. Here, Tom Slater traces the history of the Islamo-left, an unholy alliance between left-wingers and Islamists that has once again burst out into the open following the pogrom in Israel on 7 October. Watch, share and let us know what you think in the comments.

Tom Slater: Is Hamas a terrorist group? Most people wouldn't struggle with that question. After all, this brutal Islamist organization, which rules over Gaza with an iron fist, just butchered 1,200 people on the 7th of October. The youngest victims were infants, the oldest were Holocaust survivors. Women were raped, hostages were taken.

When former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was asked this question on talk TV a few weeks back, he couldn't bring himself to utter the t-word.

Jeremy Corbyn: Can we have a discussion? Piers Morgan: Can you call them a terror group? Corbyn: Can we have... Morgan: Can you call them a terror group? Corbyn: Is it possible to have a rational discussion? Morgan: Are you prepared to call Hamas a terror group? Corbyn: Is it possible to have a rational discussion... Morgan: You can't, can you? Corbyn: Is it possible? Come on, answer that question? Morgan: You can't, can you? Corbyn: You answer it. Morgan: No.

Host Piers Morgan invited Corbyn to describe Hamas as terrorists no fewer than 15 times. But he refused. He couldn't. Instead, Corbyn just wittered on about needing to start a process that leads to a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. He has since found the mineral to call Hamas a terrorist group in an article for Tribune. But that would perhaps be more reassuring if it wasn't for his long history of cozying up to Hamas and other Islamist terror groups. In 2009 addressing a public meeting, Corbyn infamously referred to Hamas and Lebanese Islamist Hezbollah as quote, "friends," unquote. He went further, railing against the designation of Hamas as a terrorist group.

Corbyn: And the idea that an organization that is dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about long-term peace and social justice and political justice in the whole region should be labelled as a terrorist organization by the British government, is really a big, big historical mistake, and I would invite the government to reconsider its position on this matter and start talking directly to Hamas and Hezbollah. That is the only way forward to bring back...

Slater: And that's not all. In 2011, Corbyn invited Riyadh Salah, an alleged Hamas fundraiser who believes the Jews were behind 9/11 to tea in Westminster. During a visit to Tunisia in 2014, Corbin was filmed laying a wreath near the graves of the Palestinian Black September terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

You can see why, after all these sordid details trickled out, Corbyn proved to be such electoral cyanide, helping to deliver Labour's worst election defeat since 1935.

But there has been an unhelpful tendency to see Corbyn's dalliances with Islamists as a kind of personal moral failing on the part of him and his hangers on. The truth is that the rot runs much deeper. Corbyn is just one useful idiot among many on the dregs of the British left who have come to see Islamism not as the fascistic terroristic menace it is, but as a movement at the vanguard of global resistance to a malevolent West.

This is the unholy alliance that we've seen out in force on British streets in recent weeks, where Islamists and left-wingers have marched side by side, united in their hatred for Israel and barely batting an eyelid as antisemites shout Arabic War slogans and wave Jew hating placards.

Welcome to the Islamo-Left, a sinister marriage of convenience that all good people, whether left or right, religious or irreligious, must confront and reject.

This story begins with the radical left's abandonment of the working class and its decision to seek out new constituencies and embrace identity politics.

From the 1980s onwards, figure son the left perversely came to see working-class Brits as a reactionary block on progress, while mistaking radical Islamists, among other groups, as a potentially revolutionary force. This coincided with the rise of state multiculturalism, which had the effect of elevating and funding reactionary Muslim community leaders who were falsely presented as the supposedly authentic voice of British Muslims.

It is from this ecosystem of a growing Muslim identity politics that the grassroots British Muslim campaign against Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses sprung up in the 1980s. Indeed, some of these groups were instrumental in pressuring Iran's supreme leader to issue his Infamous fatwa against Rushdie.

During the 1990s, sections of the Left, these supposed radicals and progressives, became increasingly, disturbingly sympathetic to the fundamentalists who continue to rage against Rushdie and his supposedly blasphemous book. Muslim identity politics was particularly appealing to a disoriented Left because it mapped onto their support for Palestinian self-determination. Many Leftists were prepared to overlook the dark heart of even full-blown Islamists in the interest of backing the supposed struggle against Western imperialism. The Palestinians became merely pawns in some grand conflict between the west and the rebellious global OIther. This is why today you'll notice that many Leftists ignore Hamas' trampling of the rights of the Palestinians and Islamism's usurpation of the Palestinian national cause.

Back in 1994, Chris Harman, then editor of the Socialist Worker, the party newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party, wrote a bizarre but revealing pamphlet entitled "The Prophets and the Proletariat." In it, Harman admitted that Islamism has some pretty fascistic qualities. From its opposition to modernity to its murderous intolerance and its brutal treatment of minorities. Which is all very good of him.

But the Islamists aren't all bad, he concluded. Islamists, Harman wrote, had opposed the state and elements of imperialism's political domination, particularly Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza. In this, he presented Israel as little more than a Western imperial outpost. And so Islamism, Harman concluded, is born of a quote, "feeling of revolt that could be tapped for progressive purposes," unquote.

Failed Western revolutionaries were increasingly keen to outsource radical agency to Islamists, and to whitewash these reactionaries as a progressive force. This marriage of convenience was then consummated in the 2000s in the aftermath of 9/11 and amid the war on terror.

In 2002, the Stop the War Coalition, dominated by the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Party of Britain, formed an alliance with the Muslim Association of Britain. Both Stop the War and the MAB had a pronounced presence on the anti-Iraq war protests of the early 2000s. And both groups are among the most prominent organizers of the quote, unquote, "Pro Palestine" demos that have recently been roiling London.

The Muslim Association of Britain might sound benign, but it was founded by none other than Mohamed Solwa, a former Hamas chief who now lives in London. His son is its vice-chair.

Over the years, leading figures from Stop the War have' been pretty open about their fondness for Hamas. One of Stop the War's co-founders, John Reese, once dubbed these antisemitic terrorists a, quote, "legitimate resistance movement," unquote.

At a Stop the War conference in 2006, Lindsey German a leading SWP figure said quote, "whatever disagreements I have with Hamas and Hezbollah, I would rather be in their camp. Democracy in the Middle East is Hamas, is Hezbollah," she said. Followers of the conflict will know that there hasn't been an election in Hamas-run Gaza since 2006 when German made that ridiculous speech.

Jeremy Corbyn was, of course, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition from 2011 till 2015 when he became Labour leader. German served as his vice chair. Stop the War consolidated the fledgling relationship between sections of the hard Left and actual Islamists. In doing so, it also fatally undermined many of the things that used to be essential to being left-wing, such as universalism, reason and humanism.

Anti-imperialism was reduced to little more than anti-Westernism, transforming regressive Islamists from Iran or Gaza into anti-colonial heroes in the process. And all this has fuelled identity politics here in the UK, transforming us from citizens with interests in common, into members of competing ethno-religious groups.

In particular, this anti-war Left and their Islamist allies have cultivated a divisive Muslim identity politics. Their cynicism paid off for the 2005 general election, when Respect, a Stop the War spin-off party led by George Galloway, won the East London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, which has a large Muslim population. it was a triumph of militant anti-Westernism and pork-barrel identity politics.

These malign trends have since spread to the broader bourgeois left. Take Novara Media, a popular Corbyneaster YouTube channel and website run by a group of perennial postgraduates. In 2014, the Novara website published a glowing profile of Muhammad Deif as part of a Radical Lives series. It described him as an, "uncompromising and shrewd freedom fighter," who has contributed to the, "impressive evolution of the resistance in Gaza." Deif is the commander of Hamas' military wing and a vicious Islamist. Nine years after Novara's puff piece was published, he became one of the architects for Hamas' brutal incursion into Southern Israel earlier this year.

No wonder that one of Novara's editors, Rivkah Brown hailed the events of the seventh of October as a quote, "day of celebration for supporters of democracy and human rights worldwide."

After Hamas launched its brutal pogrom in Israel, many were shocked at the apologism and even cheerleading that some on the British left engaged in. The Socialist Worker, the paper once edited by Chris Harman, greeted the massacre with the headline, "Rejoice."

But while we certainly had a right to be shocked at such inhuman and depraved talk, we probably shouldn't have been surprised. For decades now, Britain's radical Left has been morally self-immolating. Its deranged alliance with Islamists has stripped it of any claim it might once have had to the moral high ground. So now, weekend after weekend, we see supposed anti-racists and anti-fascists march alongside people chanting for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel.

They can dress this up as resistance or anti-imperialism all they want, but it really is nothing of the sort. The supposed left-wingers have embraced barbarism. They've got into bed with bona fide fascists. Identity politics has rotted their brains and their souls.

==

A while ago we were hearing that "pro-Palestine does not mean pro-Hamas." Except it does and it always has. ever since Hamas was elected in the region. They've been endorsing and supporting terrorists for almost 20 years.

The irony is that there's no more imperialist, colonialist ideology than Islam. The entire objective of Islam is to establish a worldwide Caliphate under which everyone will be subjugated to Allah's sharia, per the quran and the sunnah. And where you won't get to march in the streets chanting pithy slogans against those in power. Instead, you'll be publicly beheaded.

Notes on working with Parti Sosialis Malaysia

For the 15th General Election, Sharon and I spent two days volunteering with Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), the Malaysian Socialist Party.

Rembau is the Parliamentary constituency bordering ours, and PSM was running a candidate: Tinagaran Subramaniam, better known as Cikgu Tina, a teacher and community organiser.

We handed out leaflets; waved flags; talked to folks over their front gates; drove in a convoy behind a SUV blaring Cikgu Tina's theme song---a popular Indian tune reworded into an urgent exhortation:

Negara maju rakyat masih miskin Harga barangan melambung tinggi Jaminan makanan tiada sini Tanah petani yang sudah milik kroni

Alam negara sudah semakin pupus Adanya polisi pro-kapitalis Sudah bangkit alam mula melawan Hujan angin ribut banjir rakyat matang

+++

Over the years, between us, Sharon and I have watched many election campaigns unfold: from PRM to PKR to PAS to DAP, from urban Kuala Lumpur to rural Kelantan, to seats in interior Sabah and Sarawak.

We found PSM's campaign in Rembau refreshing.

We had long conversations in the car ride home. Here are some notes / thoughts we formulated together:

1.

PSM are often seen as hopelessly naive. But the party is pretty clear-eyed?

They know that their focus on local and specific working-class issues hamstrings them. Cikgu Tina wore his "I'm not a politician!" badge proudly.

Virtually every political party pays platitudes to this "vote the candidate, not the party" idea---but PSM is the only one I know who genuinely means it? To their detriment.

And they know it. Under current conditions--first-past-the-post; the absence of local council elections, a whole one-third of our democracy---they have little hope at winning. Voters aren't stupid. Without elections at the local level, everything is about Putrajaya, and voting over Putrajaya means voting big party flags over human candidates.

BUT: I think this grass-roots focus can make them pretty influential during state elections. (And they'd kill in local-council elections, obvs.)

2.

So why did PSM run a campaign? Got the sense that they were capacity building.

The local PSM chapter building muscle. Practicing machinery. Putting issues on national media---speaking up about climate change and land rights; flying the red-fist flag locally. People used the phrase "tak kenal maka tak cinta" often.

On election night, addressing his bilik gerakan, Cikgu Tina said:

"Menang atau kalah, jangan sesiapa di sini sedih. Kali ini first trial. Kalau kita buat banyak kerja, mungkin next election kita boleh."

The campaign's postmortem will be a general meeting open to everybody who volunteered. (A typical party's strategy meeting would be close-door, and party-leadership only.)

3.

PSM has a different relationship to time, compared to other political parties.

Felt like the Rembau campaign was part of their schedule. IE: "October, we have to organise some farmers; November, election campaign; December, got to pursue the hospital cleaners' union case; Jan, we have to ..." Etc.

In that sense, this general election is the continuation of a consistent long-term struggle, for the party? This felt pretty special.

Every other bilik gerakan I've volunteered for, in every other election campaign, you feel a palpable apocalyptic urgency---OMG how many friends can you call to come volunteer??? What are our strategies what are our strategies???

INI KALI LAH LAST CHANCE THINGS ARE ALL OR NOTHING OKAY!!!

PSM's Rembau campaign had a full schedule every day. They followed their schedule, worked steadily---and they rested during rest hours. Workers in for the long haul. Long-distance runners.

4.

Seeing how the General Election has panned out, with a hung Parliament; Perikatan Nasional's surge signalling mass support by young / new voters for religious and racialised conservatism?

I think PSM's core politics offer a lot that the progressive Pakatan Harapan coalition sorely lacks.

You are never gonna out-Islam the Islamic Party. (And you shouldn't want to???) But young people are struggling, and turning to religion and racial rights for a reason, and maybe if you address those reasons you can wrestle away some people PAS is currently hogging.

PSM does real work in economic justice areas: minimum wage, housing rights, workplace rights. Bread and butter stuff, done right.

Their focus on community organising is powerful for its social-cohesion potential, also? Folk need a sense of belonging, camaraderie. Unions offer a sense of community, much like mosques do?

(PH does economic issues in a way designed to appeal to the upwardly mobile / aspiring-towards-comfort brackets, and those people already vote PH.)

5.

More about radical, progressive community:

This was the only bilik gerakan I've been in where women were never pandered to, at any level. Just the vibe of dudes -- working class, older dudes -- listening to women team leaders in ways I've not seen anywhere else?

And I think queer folks would've been comfortable, too? (PSM has been vocal for its support of the LGBTIQ community; many younger members are openly queer.)

A lack of managerial class. There were party veterans present---old hands you've seen for decades in protests and in news reports; the closest PSM has to strongmen. In our days there, they functioned mainly as steady points of reference, reminding eager younger members that the Rembau folks where ultimately in charge:

"bincang dulu dgn lokal machinery pls"

It's a vibe---but it's strong.

A similar vibe thing: every general / working conversation was in BM by default, even if they spoke Tamil / English / Chinese to their own kakis on the side. Sharon felt like it was the only environment she's been in where she was comfortable speaking Bahasa, because the chances of being language-shamed was nil.

People were universally addressed as: "saudari" or "saudara".

And, more rarely, but very deliciously, as: "komrad".

Request 5: @et-the-extra-terrible

Mercs with a Muslim s/o

Scout

Scout is very intrigued by different religions so he's eager to learn about yours

If you invite to join a prayer he may be a but hesitant but he'll eventually give in out of curiosity

As for if someone mocks you for your religion... hoo boy

Scout is not afraid to throw hands with anyone who interrupts your prayers

If someone yanks your hijab he will tackle them and you cannot stop him

Soldier

Soldier is all about freedom since he's an American fanatic

He'll be the first to ask if he can join you in an Islamic prayer just to see what it's like

If someone mocks you while you're praying Soldier will angerly stand there until you're done before launching into an angry speech to that person talking about how this is America and your religion isn't they're problem

Soldier will always make sure no one bothers you for your religion

Demoman

Demo hasn't really met and Muslim people so he'll gladly listen when you talk and your culture

As for joining your prayer he'll try but he does get distracted easily

If anyone insults you or mocks you for your religion he's dragging them away so he can 'talk' to them in peace

Demo tries really hard to make sure you feel comfortable showing your religion even in public

Pyro

Pyro is so intrigued by your religion

They want to know every detail

They might join a prayer with you but they tend to get fidgety when sitting still so maybe only on special occasions

Pyro is happy to burn anyone who dares to ridicule you for what you believe in and will specifically say they can go suck a lemon😤

Pyro will try to block you if someone tries to get physical and will do they're best to make sure you're comfy

Heavy

He doesn't care that you're Muslim he just let's you do you

He might join in on a prayer but most days probably not

But on the other hand if he sees anyone harassing you when you pray or because you wear a hijab Heavy will gladly intimidate them until they get the message or else Heavy might need to have a 'chat' with them

Medic

Actually very interested in your religion and most other religions

He's not very religious himself so he might nor join in on a prayer but he won't stop you

He's not afraid to get violent if anyone ever insults or harasses you during your prayer time

Medic will always make sure that no one ever hurts you, physically or emotionally, because of your religion

Sniper

Like Heavy he doesn't really care just as long as you are okay with it

Sniper will most likely not join in on a prayer with you unless he really needs some quiet time

If anyone harasses you Sniper doesn't care how weak he looks he'll mess them up for even thinking they could talk to you like that

The more often it happens the more Sniper will try to make sure that no one ever bothers you so you don't have to worry when you go to pray

Spy

Also doesn't really mind or care

Spy just wants you to do you because that's why he fell in love with you

Spy will use his expert words and even fists if anyone tries to harasses you about praying or your hijab because he refuses to let anyone speak to you with such judgement

It makes Spy feel really angry when be thinks about people who hate you simply for your religion so he tries really hard to create a safe space for you

Come on

Come on, although you try to discredit

You'll still never edit

The needle, I'll thread it

Radically poetic

Standing with the fury that they had in '66

And like E-Double, I'm mad

Still knee-deep in the system's shit

Hoover, he was a body remover

I'll give you a dose

But it will never come close

To the rage built up inside of me

Fist in the air, in the land of hypocricy

Movements come and movements go

Leaders speak, movements cease

When their heads are flown

'Cause all these punks got bullets in their heads

Departments of police (what?) the judges (what?) the feds

Networks at work, keeping people calm

You know they went after King

When he spoke out on Vietnam

He turned the power to the have-nots

And then came the shot

Yeah

Yeah, back in this

With poetry, my mind I flex

Flip like Wilson, vocals never lacking that finesse

Who I got to, who I got to do to wake you up?

To shake you up, to break the structure up

'Cause blood still flows in the gutter

I'm like taking photos

Mad boy kicks open the shutter

Set the groove

Then stick and move like I was Cassius

Rep the stutter step and left a bomb upon the fascists

Yeah, the several federal man

Who pulled schemes on the dream

And put it to an end

You better beware

Of retribution with mind war

20-20 visions and murals with metaphors

Networks at work keeping people calm

You know they murdered X

And tried to blame it on Islam

He turned the power to the have-nots

And then came the shot

What was the price on his head?

What was the price on his head?

I think I heard a shot

I think I heard a shot

I think I heard a shot

I think I heard a shot

I think I heard a shot

I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

How long? Not long, 'cause what you reap is what you sow

What song is this?

April Reading Wrap-Up

I've been in a bit of a reading slump – I took a look at my GoodReads, and it turns out I didn't completely read anything in March. That's pretty crazy for me, since I've been getting through one book a month since I can remember. But April was a better month for my reading. It was the calm before the storm – read, the no assignments before finals week. 

Royal Assassin, by Robin Hobb

3/5 stars

675 pages

Contains: following the story of someone's life through the years, a wolf (but like, a cute one) and betrayals!

This is the second installment in Ms. Hobb's The Farseer Trilogy, a fantasy classic. As I mentioned before, it was a reading resolution this year for me to read as many of those as I could, and continuing on with this series demonstrates my commitment to that promise.

It's not that The Farseer Trilogy is bad – it's very good! It just so happens to be boring, as well. And, don't get me wrong: there's absolutely nothing wrong with being boring. It's very much the contrary: I think Ms. Robb's intention, here, is to lead us through the upbringing, and eventual adult life, of FitzChivalry Farseer. That includes painstakingly going through his every move, decision, thought… And I think Ms. Robb knows how boring that might be, and she simply doesn't care.

And good for her! People love this trilogy – and rightfully so, it's a feat of character and world-building – and so it's clear that it's working for her. However, I did find it hard to stick with this one. 

The book just spends so long with things that end up being meaningless, except for the character development they produce, which leads me to wonder if there weren't more efficient ways of achieving that same result. So many pages are spent on Molly and Fitz's relationship, for instance, and it's hard not to feel tired after a while. The main conflict, and its subsequent aftermath, is squished at the end of the book, the result of an endless build-up that, although well-executed, is just so very long… This is a problem I had with the first book, as well, and I wonder now if I'll finish this series, or if it will be best not to.

 The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, by S.A. Chakraborty

3/5 stars

483 pages

Contains: pirates!! Let's go pirates!!; queer people; religion seamlessly integrated into the plot and world-building 

I originally began The Daevabad Trilogy a couple of years back, and DNFed at the 50 page mark – the characters just weren't compelling to me. When I heard the synopsis of this one, though, – which features a middle-aged, Muslim pirate on her final quest – I couldn't resist. And thankfully, the Library came through, and I got to read this quite soon after its release, in February 2023.

I honestly had a very good time! I had low expectations considering how I'd felt about Ms. Chakraborty's previous writing, but Amina Al-Sirafi managed to hook me and get me addicted! 

I will say, though, there's something off about the pacing. Things move at a weird pace. But it's hard to put my finger on it. 

My favorite part, though, was the care that went into building the historical background for the story. I knew Ms. Chakraborty was an Islamic historian before picking this up, but if I didn't I definitely would have learned that once finishing Amina Al-Sirafi. The research is palpable and the result is stunning and believable. The attention to detail, here, is insane! And so, if you're a history nerd, I'd definitely say to give this one a read.

(Also, did anyone know this was queer? Because I swear it was not advertised as such, and it was such a welcome surprise for me!)

She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan

5/5 stars

416 pages

Contains: murderous queers; a fisting scene??? And it makes sense???; oh the gender

This one was amazing! She Who Became The Sun is a multi-POV story spanning two different nuclei. One follows Monk Zhu, who assumes her brother's identity, sure that she is destined for greatness, and the people she meets in her quest to achieve this. Another focuses on Ouyang, an eunuch general who serves – and is lowkey in love with – Esen, the son of a province's Prince, and the war they're involved in.

She Who Became The Sun makes you feel so many feelings. This is in part due to the gorgeous writing, and in part due to the constructions of beautifully complex characters that evolve with the story. Ouyang and Zhu, in specific, shine as protagonists. And, oh my God, are they insane. They're my favorite types of characters – the ones that are problematic as fuck and would blow up the entire world just to achieve their goals (I'm looking at you, Rin from The Poppy War). Their struggles with their own gender identity – Ouyang being an eunuch, and Zhu being born a girl, but living her life as a man – are skillfully woven into the plot, making this a killer queer fantasy that, I think, is a must-read.

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho

2.5/5 stars

176 pages

Contains: a group of bandits; a funny nun (personally I love funny nuns); a war wagging in the background

I listened to this one while I packed for summer, making it the first audiobook I listened to all the way through! Yay! Thank you, Libby!

I don't know if that hindered my enjoyment – it was hard to keep track of the names, as I wasn't seeing them written down, but I think this was the only way listening affected me. Maybe, then, the fact that this wasn't my favorite is just due to the nature of The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, itself.

The novella brings powerful and interesting characters, but fails to put them in any situation that brings out the fun in them. The plot is weird and wobbly, wading in multiple directions while the characters move along with it, changing in order to fit into whatever is happening in the story. The ending makes sense with what has been set-up, but is still off, as what motivates the characters' final choices seems to come out of nowhere.

But most of all, and unfortunately, I think this one just isn't quite as memorable as it should be, and falls a little flat. I was disappointed, as I was expecting a bit more from The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water.

Stardust Crusaders - Before the Crusades: Part 4

Cairo, Egypt July 1988 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Khan el-Khalili, Islamic Cairo District - Late Afternoon~

Medea: *Walking down the colorful and bustling marketplace wearing her casual attire, except with a sunhat, a purse, and no hoodie, she was carrying a bag of groceries and her face was red and sweating as the weather today is too unbearable* Ahhh bollocks, I knew Egypt gets hot during the day but how can anyone survive the summer heat? It makes even the heat in California look tame by comparison...I need to get some water before I die out here.

[Flogging Molly]: *Wearing sunglasses, nodding* Kiru, kiru.

Medea: Luckily for us there's plenty of indoor shops with shade, and I'm pretty sure there's food joints that offer drinks. *Turns the corner*

Seller 1: Beads here, we got beautiful beads here!

Seller 2: We have a wide selection of clothing, made with the finest material of Egypt!

Seller 3: Fresh produce! We got pomegranates! We got cucumbers! We even got peppers!

Medea: Peppers he says? *Goes to the seller* Excuse me? But what kind of peppers do you have?

Seller 3: Oh we got some good ones, miss. *Point at them to his left* Cayenne, Jalapeño, All five types of Bell peppers, and for sandwich lovers: Pepperoncini.

Medea: *Whistles* I'll take a couple of those and some Cayenne and green bell peppers, also do you have any water by any chance as well? I'm kinda dying out here.

Seller 3: Of course we do. *Gives her a water bottle and the peppers* That'll be £40 please.

Medea: *Gives him the money* Thank you so much sir, you have a great day. *Walks away with her purchase* Finally an oasis. *Drinks water* Ahhh~ ..... *Sees something right in front of her* Huh?

[Flogging Molly]: Kiru?... *Looks at the direction Medea's looking at and in the distance was an Egyptian man wearing a long brownish-red overcoat with bantu knots and a pair of earrings that also acts as a necklace, he seems to be looking over some books at another shop. But that's not what caught Medea's attention, what did caught her attention was the fact that he's followed by a faint, blurry red figure with a bird's head*

Medea: No way, that guy over there must be a Stand user...I don’t remember seeing him though, does he represent a Tarot or an Egyptian god?

[Flogging Molly]: *Shrugs*

Medea: ...Well, either way, I should at least let Lord DIO know about this, he should be waking up by now. *Walks back to the mansion*

~DIO's bedroom - Twilight~

Medea: *In front of his bedroom door in the 3rd floor* ..........*She sighs before she knocking* Lord DIO? Are you in there?

DIO: *Inside* Yes, what is it?

Medea: There's something you should know about: I just saw a Stand user that I don’t recognize and I was wondering if you know anything about it.

DIO: ........... Come in. 

Medea: *Enters room* I was shopping at the-WHOA! *She walked in on him wearing nothing but white bed sheets wrapped around his hips and golden jewelry, he’s also covered in blood from his latest "feast"* 

DIO: *Irritated* Bloody hell, woman, scream so the whole world can hear you? 

Medea: *Covers eyes* You couldn't even bother to put on some trousers before giving me the ok?

DIO: *Licks his bloodied fingers* So? What does that have to do with the user?

Medea: *Uncovers eyes, but still looks away* Huh? Oh! Uhh, like I was saying: I was shopping at the Khan el-Khalili for some goodies for the mansion when I saw an Egyptian dude being followed by what looks like a red colored Stand.

DIO: A red colored Stand? *Rubs chin with forefinger* What does it look like?

Medea: ...Well it appears to be around 6 ft tall, it had a bird's head, and I’m not sure but the feathers looked like they’re replaced with fire. It almost looked like a Phoenix of some kind.

DIO: *Raises eyebrow* A Phoenix huh? Now why does that ring a bell?...... *He walks to a camera on the other side of the room, summons [The Passion], and slams his fist on the camera, a Photo came out* Hmmm............. *The Photo showed the man she described* Ahh, Muhammad Avdol and [Magician’s Red], I thought his Stand sounded familiar.

Medea: Who? *Walks to the photo to see*

DIO: Muhammad Avdol, he's a tarot Stand user represented by the card of "the Magician", he's relatively well-known around these parts for years before you arrived. I had my eyes on him for quiet awhile but is always away due to being a Fortune Teller by trade, but I can see now he’s returned to refresh himself.

Medea: I see, so what can we do about him?... *Sees him stripping himself nude* ACK! *Covers eyes again*

DIO: *Uses the sheets he was wearing to clean the blood off of him* Why, I'm going to "persuade" him to join our side of course, we need more users to over power Jonathan’s descendants after all. *Drops the sheets* Now will you be a dear and fetch me some clothes for the occasion?

Medea: ///// Y-yes, my Lord....

- Medea reports Muhammad Avdol and [Magician's Red] to DIO

—————————————

Part 1 here: https://tomboyjessie13.tumblr.com/post/709047105948434432/stardust-crusaders-before-the-crusades-part-1

Part 2 here: https://tomboyjessie13.tumblr.com/post/709135953544003584/stardust-crusaders-before-the-crusades-part-2

Part 3: https://tomboyjessie13.tumblr.com/post/709359827581812736/stardust-crusaders-before-the-crusades-part-3

Symbolism in Kingdom’s music videos. Issue #3

The HAND is a symbol of power (worldly and spiritual), action, power, domination, protection; such symbolism is based on the important role of the hand in human life and on the belief that it is capable of transmitting spiritual and physical energy. The hand has long been considered a powerful symbol, it was present as a motif in rock art.

The hand is a protecting or punishing force that serves as an instrument; a symbol of supreme power, the laws and orders in force in Egyptian, Hindu and Buddhist religious art.

In Christian painting, the hand is the right hand of God, appearing from the clouds.

Since ancient times, there has been a belief that the hands of kings, religious leaders and miracle workers have healing power; hence the imposition of hands in religious blessing, confirmation and ordination.

In Islam, the open palm of Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, symbolizes the five foundations: faith, prayer, pilgrimage, fasting, mercy.

Omnipotent gods often have several hands, each of them has its own function and corresponding symbolic meaning. Among the Bambara people in West Africa, the forearm is a symbol of the spirit, the connection between man and God. In ancient Mexico, the number five was associated with the afterlife, and therefore a hand with spread fingers is considered a symbol of death.

With the exception of China and Japan, where the left hand symbolizes honor, the right hand is universally preferred. One of the Celtic rulers, for example, was overthrown after losing his right arm in battle. Christ sits at the right hand of God, who works mercy with his right hand, and fair judgment with his left hand.

According to the Western tradition, the right hand symbolizes sincerity, logic; the left — duality (white magic versus black). They bless with their right hand, curse with their left.

Although hand and power are often identified in the symbolism of fine art (the words are synonymous in Hebrew), this is just one aspect of a much broader and diverse symbolism of gestures. In the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, there is a whole language of symbols, including hundreds of positions and positions of the hand and fingers, represented in religious rituals, dances and theater.

Gestures (signals rather than symbols) are ubiquitous and generally accepted meaning:

a clenched fist is a threat, aggressive force, mystery, power (a raised fist of dark power);

an open and raised palm from itself is a blessing, peace, protection, the hand of the Buddha;

raised hand, three fingers together — the Christian Trinity;

raised hand, thumb and two fingers raised — taking the oath;

both hands are raised — worship, acceptance of divine blessing, surrender;

closed or hidden hands — reverence;

folded hands — calm;

palms up, on top of each other — meditation (raised palms mean both willingness to give and receive);

palms together — prayer, request, greeting, humility;

hands folded on the chest — submission (also the pose of the sage).

The left fist on the right hand is a symbol of submission in some parts of Africa. Putting both palms into the palms of another person is a more common gesture of trust or submission (as in a feudal contract of service to the master). Shaking hands is the most universal symbol of friendship, brotherhood, greeting, agreement, congratulations, reconciliation or devoted love.

All over the world, a symbolic gesture is understandable — submissively raised hands in the air as a sign of the cessation of resistance or a call to mercy, legality or (in a religious context) divine mercy.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐝.

I couldn’t tell you how many times this moment would replay in my mind before bed. I was going back and forth with this day for so long, but I knew, deep in my soul, that it needed to be done. I wasn’t living or existing for my family anymore; it was time to finally put myself first. I deserved to feel free and out of my cage that I had been locked up in since I came into this world. I was doing this for me now. My eyes stared at my reflection in the mirror, studying every freckle and crevice of my face and taking mental pictures of my physical features. The pads of my fingers lightly traced my jawline, reminding me of my existence. The only sound that could be heard was my soft breathing, getting heavier with the similarities of my thoughts which were getting louder. My next place of touch was the familiar fabric surrounding my head and neck. I didn’t know if this was my identity or just an entity upon my body. A sacred barrier that connected me and the prophets of Islam. My hijab. Being a Muslim woman, wearing a hijab was supposed to make me feel protected from the horrors of the world. But it was all ruined by a man whose job was to take care of me. The one man who was supposed to shelter and love me, but all he did was the opposite. He was one who I feared, just by standing next to him. I wouldn’t even call him my father as he was just a man who got my precious mother pregnant. Since day one, all he cared about was money and power. His desire to take control was greater than his desire to take his wife in his arms every night. I couldn’t tell you how many nights my mother and I spent together, holding each other and crying ourselves to sleep because of the supposed 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚. He was no man; he was a waste of space and time in our lives that we’d never get back. Some nights, mom and I would wipe the blood off our cuts and iced our bruises. My father spoke more with his hands than with his mouth, even though they were both as dangerous as they could be. We knew it was two versus one, but the one was a monstrous tornado who kept coming to ruin and destroy a neighborhood. We were just the innocent people living in one of the affected houses. It was never a home; just a building that saw me stripped bare of my soul everyday. We needed to leave; we had to leave and we did just that. Mom and I packed some things before hitting the road one night. 1:30am. I was delirious with little sleep, but I only had one goal in my mind and it was to leave and finally find a home with the woman who suffered alongside me for years. After running away from my father, the divorce lawyers and papers came into play. It was a long process, but it was a finished one that was something of the past now. He was our past and we deserved a better future. Any building away from that monster was already a home for me and that’s where we were. We had our little penthouse away from the city of New York and this was the safest I’d ever felt. The emotions of feeling secured and guarded brought me to today; letting go of one more thing that deserved to stay in my past. My Muslim father still had a hold on me everytime I wore this hijab and I was tired of being controlled by someone who was no longer in my life. No one had control over me anymore and I’d let everyone know that.  My parted lips expressed a soft exhale, lifting up my hands to undo my precious hijab. I purposefully took my time with the process, feeling my anxiety rise with the different outcomes of this decision. What if I wasn’t a pure Muslim woman anymore? Would I be looked at differently for letting my hair down? So many questions consumed my mind that they were louder than my own breathing for once. My eyes never left my reflection in the mirror as I stared at my shaky hands, balling them up in fists for a moment. I had to remind myself that I was in control and wanting happiness wasn’t a sin.

Unballing my fists, I resumed my actions. I finally gave the hijab a gentle tug to let it slip off my head, exposing my long, brunette curls to only the eyes of myself and Allah. The scarf gracefully landed next to my feet as my body was as still as a statue. My soul was consumed with guilt, worry, shame, and fear. But in spite of all those emotions, I still had a sense of relief in the back of my mind. I broke free from the shackles of the scarf and it was only step one of this journey.

Onto step number two.

It seemed like it took hours for me to step away from my mirror to leave my bedroom, heading down the stairs to see the one woman who gave her heart to me since I was born. The one woman who understood the gentleness of parenting her child and how important familial love was. My mom. I reached the living room, spotting her on the sofa as she was watching an old movie. I paid no attention to the TV, just patiently waited for her to turn and see me. I needed to witness what she thought of in this next breakthrough. Whether it was a good idea or not, I had to know.

After a few seconds, her mocha-colored eyes shifted over to my direction before they expanded in size. It felt like ages of silence and absorbing the sight right in front of her. Ultimately, she raised to her feet and moved towards my direction, opening her arms out to me. I met her in the middle for a warm hug, finally exhaling the breath I didn’t know I was holding in. My eyes fell shut as her hand rested on the back of my head, feeling her fingers combing through my hair which sent goosebumps up my skin.

Turning her head, she placed her lips on my temple for a gentle kiss, letting her velvet words follow afterwards.

“I’m so proud of you..”

Are you sure about that?

So before I post this image, let me make sure I say that I understand what it is trying to say. I also want to say that I disagree on an extreme level the context of this image. And I'll breakdown why.

Intentional placement of all things the left considers right wing on the right side.

Democrats not show on the left model.

Greenpeace not shown on the left model.

The American flag shown on the right (It should not even be in this picture.

The army is a literal servant to the government and has been aligned with woke BS for the last several years. (As such it should either be not listed or show on the left).

Fox News is quite literally no more decisive than CNN, MSNBC, NYT, The Guardian, Etc (All miraculously missing).

The picture seems to want to showcase (I think) radical ideologies (and conflates them), But opts to put a Yin Yang on the left and a astrological symbol for Tauros?. Nazis and Israel on the exact same side and the addition of the SS symbol despite already having the nazi swastika.

Putting the DOJ/CIA on the right (when again they work most times at the behest of those in charge.)

Christianity is shown here and yet not islam (Which frankly I fundamentally disagree with it being shown at all because it's a religion not an Ideology.

Socialism not shown on the left model.

Gadsden flag on the right while being a symbol of the libertarian movement.

The implication that all of said groups shown a guilty of indoctrination while saying the other side is doing it.

Is there a fucking Tesla symbol on here?

MAPs are missing from the left model.

New pride flag intentionally not used on left model.

Black/brown fist missing in left model.

Ukrainian flag missing in left model.

Long story short this meme was created to say, "Oh well both sides are actually saying the same thing but they are both doing it. However the way a layman will take it is that the right wing is far more extreme and far more needed to be watched. Which is intentional. The meme is supposed to make you look at the picture and go oh yeah look at all these groups saying the same thing. However, when you look closer, and many will, you will see the stark contrast between the sides.

If I had to take a guess, this meme's "apparent message" is actually a cover for what they want this message to actually convey. Also it seems to want to associate everyone whom watches, participates in, or even glances towards any of these things as radicals or trying to indoctrinate you. The surface level message is that none of these people want a conversation but that's not just factually wrong but provably wrong with one google or youtube search.

Also for anyone that comes across this. What the hell are the T with the square next to it and then the weird upside down L that looks like a P.

Rage Against The Machine - WAKE UP - 3D AUDIO by Binaulab Audio 3D Remixed to 3D Audio by Binaulab Audio 3D History: Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1991. The group is known for their unique blend of rock, rap, and metal elements, combined with politically engaged lyrics. Its founding members include vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, which included songs like "Killing in the Name" and "Bullet in the Head". Their distinctive sound and political message resonated with audiences and helped establish Rage Against the Machine as one of the most influential and popular bands of the 90s. The group continued to release successful albums, including "Evil Empire" in 1996 and "The Battle of Los Angeles" in 1999. They also became known for their highly energetic and politically charged live shows. In 2000, the band disbanded but reunited in 2007 for a series of shows. Since then, they have sporadically reunited for selected shows, but have not released any new material. Rage Against the Machine's political message has continued to resonate with subsequent generations and influence a wide range of artists across various genres. Lyrics: Come on Come on, although you try to discredit You'll still never edit The needle, I'll thread it Radically poetic Standing with the fury that they had in '66 And like E-Double, I'm mad Still knee-deep in the system's shit Hoover, he was a body remover I'll give you a dose But it will never come close To the rage built up inside of me Fist in the air, in the land of hypocricy Movements come and movements go Leaders speak, movements cease When their heads are flown 'Cause all these punks got bullets in their heads Departments of police (what?) the judges (what?) the feds Networks at work, keeping people calm You know they went after King When he spoke out on Vietnam He turned the power to the have-nots And then came the shot Yeah Yeah, back in this With poetry, my mind I flex Flip like Wilson, vocals never lacking that finesse Who I got to, who I got to do to wake you up? To shake you up, to break the structure up 'Cause blood still flows in the gutter I'm like taking photos Mad boy kicks open the shutter Set the groove Then stick and move like I was Cassius Rep the stutter step and left a bomb upon the fascists Yeah, the several federal man Who pulled schemes on the dream And put it to an end You better beware Of retribution with mind war 20-20 visions and murals with metaphors Networks at work keeping people calm You know they murdered X And tried to blame it on Islam He turned the power to the have-nots And then came the shot What was the price on his head? What was the price on his head? I think I heard a shot I think I heard a shot I think I heard a shot I think I heard a shot I think I heard a shot I think I heard, I think I heard a shot Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up Wake up How long? Not long, 'cause what you reap is what you sow #RageAgainstTheMachine #WakeUp #BinauralAudio #Music #Rock #Metal #AlternativeRock #PoliticalMusic #SocialJustice #ProtestMusic #Activism #Consciousness #Mindfulness #3d #8daudio #3daudio #binaural via YouTube https://youtu.be/UmA1AEYFF0A