Image is from the January 2023 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. Over 50 heads of state and 600 CEOs attended.
holding flashlight under face
Imagine a terrifying world where we are all ruled by monsters of every stripe. And not hot ones like werewolves, but instead decaying zombies and mummies who are both insensitive to, and actively benefit from the immense suffering they cause on a daily basis. The top echelon of society, filled with profit-seeking, bloodsucking vampires. And the worst of it is that they repeat on a daily basis that what they are doing is not only just, but there is no other possible way to do it.
Pretty spooky, right? What if I told you that this world... was our own?
Happy Halloween!
Friendly reminder: when commenting about a news event, especially something that just happened, please provide a source of some kind. While ideally this would be on nitter or archived, any source is preferable to none at all given.
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
The Country of the Week is Lebanon! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
This week's first update is here.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Last week's discussion post.
::: spoiler The ban on Samidoun by German officials is active participation in the ongoing genocide on Gaza. The purpose of such a ban is to repress dissent with the full force of the state. It comes hand in hand with bans on demonstrations, police assaulting people on the streets for wearing a kuffiyeh or carrying a Palestinian flag, the ban on saying "Freom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," the imposition of political bans, the efforts to deport activists or strip them of residency.
All of this is full-on complicity and particiption in genocide. As we speak to you today, Israeli occupation forces just carried out a new massacre in al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, bombing 30 homes in a heavily populated camp. The German state and the Ministry of the Interior are choosing to support these attacks by waging a campaign of terror and repression against those who dare to speak out against these ongoing crimes, who want to mobilize people to put an end to destruction, war, occupation and colonialism.
The German state and all imperialist powers, following the lead of U.S. President Biden, are partners not only in the defamation and dehumanization of the Palestinian people but the murderous war crimes and crimes against humanity of the occupation regime. Complicity in genocide is illegal under international law, as is the persecution of organizations because they oppose apartheid, and we are committed to hold Germany accountable for its crimes against not only Samidoun, but the Palestinian people as a whole.
This attack should be of serious concern to all who carry out political work, especially for Palestinian liberation. It is meant to introduce a norm in which organizations may be banned for organizing demonstrations, lectures, publishing posters and engaging in entirely public and political work that challenges the German state and its complicity in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ongoing genocide in Gaza. It comes at a time when more people than ever are speaking out for justice and liberation in Palestine and is meant as an attack on the movement as a whole.
If it is possible to ban Samidoun, then it is possible to ban every political organization and group in Germany that challenges the politics of the German state and its imperialist role. This action comes hand in hand with the United States' ongoing resupply of bombs to target the Palestinian people in Gaza. It is meant to bolster the Israeli war effort by depriving the Palestinian people of popular support on the streets.
This is also a racist assault on the Palestinian and Arab community. Samidoun in Germany is led by Palestinian refugee youth, and the German media has engaged in a blatantly racist smear campaign intended to incite the most racist and fascist forces in the country against the Palestinian community, which is the largest in Europe. The police in Berlin have engaged in an ongoing, targeted and offensive assault against Arab neighbourhoods and communities. Samidoun activists have faced severe repression, such as Zaid Abdulnasser being threatened with stripping his residency and Musaab Abu Atta being subjected to a political ban. Other activists have been threatened with deportation for merely attending protests and events. This ban is meant to keep the communities silenced by terror and fear, to repress the voice of youth, and to empower the most racist and fascist forces against the Palestinian people both in Germany and in Palestine.
The attack on Samidoun is part and parcel of the attack on the Palestinian people as a whole. It reflects the German state's imperialist interests. Far from expressing a sense of guilt or responsibility for Nazi crimes and genocide, this action evidences the German state's aggressive dedication to and promotion of racism, repression and war crimes. We must be clear: Germany has no legitimacy or authority to speak on human rights, freedoms or democracy. It is dedicated to stripping all of those things from anyone who speaks out against genocide and colonialism in Palestine.
Samidoun has also been particularly targeted because we advocate for the Palestinian prisoners, on the front lines of struggle, confronting repression, and express our solidarity with and the legitimacy of the Palestinian resistance. While Germany suppresses the Palestinian community and bans Samidoun, its official outposts abroad have frequently sought to influence and direct Palestinian politics through conditional funding and similar colonial enterprises. Through this ban, the German state wishes not only to support genocide but to criminalize even verbal resistance to that genocide. The Palestinian people, like all colonized and oppressed peoples, have the right to resist to liberate themselves and their land from colonialism and occupation, from the river to the sea. Those who resist occupation and oppression -- the Palestinian resistance -- are not only heroes of the Palestinian people, they are defenders of all of humanity.
At this moment, we urge all activists and supporters of Palestine, and all who care for freedom and justice, to speak out against the genocide in Gaza, to speak out against the ban on Samidoun and to affirm loudly and clearly that Palestine will be free from the river to the sea, and that Palestinians have the right to resist occupation and oppression. Through this action, through repeated demands of police on protest organizers, the German state wants to suppress these truths and this reality. They want to secure our silence and even our complicity, and we will not allow them to do so.
We reiterate our words upon German Chancellor Olaf Scholz' announcement of the demand to ban Samidoun: In Arabic, the word “Samidoun,” means those who are steadfast. We use this name to refer to the Palestinian prisoners, who remain behind bars, struggling for freedom. Today we affirm that we shall remain steadfast and committed to the Palestinian people, until victory, return and liberation.