Many Desires

the claim that current police brutality in the US represents colonial policing ‘coming home’ completely ignores the reality that US policing is already colonial policing, and always has been. US cops and IOF don’t have a one-way relationship in either direction — they SHARE training and technology in a MUTUAL exchange. if we're seeing an escalation in police violence against protesters specifically (and honestly I don't think we are — they murdered Tortuguita and plausibly assassinated as many as 6 Ferguson organizers; there are no red lines for cops when it comes to suppressing Black and Native uprisings), it's because they regrouped and fortified after the 2020 protests. cop cities are popping up all over the country, not because cops are becoming more violent but because they're afraid of losing the upper hand over the populations they exist to do violence towards

This bloodbath has gone on for far too long. At the start of this aggression, the school year had barely just started. The academic year ends in just a month. Everyone, from first graders to university seniors, have lost an entire year at least. I say at least considering even if there is a ceasefire today, Israel had destroyed literally all universities in Gaza and damaged over 400 schools. Lest we forget also Israel's deliberate targeting of university professors and academics.

You absolutely cannot mistake the intent behind all of this.

[source]

Palestinian artist Asmaa Aljueithni shares a photo of the only thing that survived the airstrike that left her Gaza home in ruins: one of her paintings.

Toni Morrison: Uncensored, 1998.

Demonstrators and artists have taken the steps of the met museum unfurling an ENORMOUS (30 x 50 foot) quilt created by artists around the world in solidarity with Palestine.

The quilt was collectively created by 64 artists from around the world and shipped to New York City.

They're demanding the met museum:

(1) cut ties with board members profiting from Israeli bombardment + occupation of Palestine

(2) support an immediate + permanent ceasefire

(3) aid the preservation of Palestinian cultural heritage sites being destroyed by Israel

In addition to the quilt, demonstrators reclaimed and redistributed Met flyers, stickered with movement messaging and demands.

cred

source

the way the war in gaza has been constantly about targeting flour, targeting hospitals, targeting universities, targeting water containers, targeting anything that brings life in order to "thin out the population" and "encourage palestinians to move to tent cities in egypt"

and then you have western media readily calling it a "humanitarian crisis" therefore fulfilling israel's goal of manufacturing a humanitarian crisis. this entire war was with the purpose of collectively punishing a civilian population of 50% children. that's why it was immediately understood and labelled as a genocide by multiple genoide scholars, by the lemkin institute, and is currently on trial for genocide at the hague

like the starvation and the blocking of aid and the dropping of parachuted MREs to just barely salvage the reputation of a few politicians is not a byproduct of the war. it's not collateral damage. it is a central pillar of the genocide. acquiescing to israelis blocking aid by building ports and dropping pallets of food means acquiescing to famine as a strategy instead of trying to stop it. famine is not collateral damage, it is a central pillar of genocide. killing children is not collateral damage. it is a central pillar of the genocide. we don't need hindsight to say this plainly, anyone who denies it now is another pillar of genocide.

A displaced couple held their wedding in the camp.

‏شاب و فتاة يعقدان زفافهما في المخيم

via eyesonpalestine

looking at (vetted) gofundmes for people trying to escape palestine and i don't know how many of you actually click on the gofundme links you reblog but i would like to point out, for what it's worth, just how amazing it is that so many have raised so much money. it may overall feel like a drop in the ocean but the fact that several gofundmes have raised tens of thousands of dollars is amazing. it is so expensive to leave gaza right now, and people still need money after they escape. but regardless of what propaganda the US, UK, canada, and other western nations are trying to pump out, people across the world are doing what they can to help these people survive. many of them are still very far from their goals (like this one and this one and this one) and some of them are very close to high goals (like this one), and some of them have reached almost double their original goal.

and that's not even addressing direct aid or organizations that take continuous donations for distribution of food, menstrual products, etc. the PCRF has raised $16,000,000 of their target goal of $20,000,000 to fund current aid and long-term relief efforts in gaza. ANERA's febuary 13th update discusses the material ways they helped palestinians today:

(ANERA donate link)

my point is, it often feels like the world is turning a blind eye to palestine. but i would like to point out that there is an important difference between "the world" and "western political leaders and media narratives". a breathtaking amount of real people, the people who make up the world, are trying to help. in the face of israel attempting to commit genocide, the world is saying No. These people deserve to live. and literally sending millions of dollars internationally, through the internet connection that israel has desperately been trying to destroy.

it may not feel like it matters in the grand scheme of things. but to the people who get fresh clothes, or a hot meal, or blankets, or the kids who get new toys, or to the people who are able to bring their families to safety, it matters to them. go make someone's day better. i've linked so many options with ways to do that.

Tale of Trees - Palestinian Artist Vera Tamari

emily jacir, "memorial to 418 palestinian villages which were destroyed, depopulated, and occupied by israel in 1948," 2021, refugee tent, embroidery thread, record book

THE WORLD SHOULD BE HORRIFIED SCARED AND ASHAMED.

the fact that Israel can precisely target ONE apartment in an entire residential block in BEIRUT to kill two hamas leaders, proves once again that they CHOSE to carpet-bomb Gaza and murder 31.000 Palestinians to "defend themselves" against Hamas. Israel CHOSE to kill civilians, they CHOSE to bomb every hospital, every school, every refugee camp, every residential block. israel does NOTHING to spare the lives of palestinians, they want to thin out the population of gaza so they'd be able to settle their citizens there.

this is a genocide it's an ethnical cleansing PLEASE WAKE UP don't stop talking about Palestine it is not a trend, people are still dying, Israel has no plan to stop if WE don't force it to, through public pressure and protesting and boycotting. it's the least we can do.

nabil anani, "palestinian folklore," 2020, acrylic on canvas

Eight girls from Beita, Nablus, carrying a hand-sewn outlawed Palestinian flag and singing Palestinian songs during the First Intifada, after Israeli soldiers dynamited 15 homes, killed a 16-year-old boy, and arrested all the village’s male adult residents. By George Azar.

blood cast in resin