Monday, March 10: Changing the Rules
Things are escalating in ways none of us will enjoy
With each passing week, the United States makes it increasingly evident just how committed to defending apartheid those in power truly are. The so-called land of the free and home of the brave allows the mask to slip a little more and the true fascist colors shine through.
In the belly of the imperial beast, institutions of higher education are now collaborating with government agencies to facilitate the kidnapping of student activists. Over the weekend, Columbia University worked alongside the department of homeland security to “detain” (kidnap) Mahmoud Khalil – a recent graduate from Columbia who helped lead the university’s prominent Gaza solidarity encampment. Plainclothes officers showed up at Mahmoud’s apartment in New York City claiming that both his student visa and his green card had been revoked. Now, according to the ICE detainee tracker, Mahmoud Khalil is being held by ICE in the Jena/LaSalle detention facility in Louisiana, over a thousand miles from his home and his wife who is 8 months pregnant.
Make no mistake, if these government agents can detain and disappear lawful permanent residents, they’ll certainly disappear citizens too, and it won’t stop at protesters or student activists. The powers that be are using the issue of Palestine as a test run because they know democratic leadership won’t say a word or lift a finger in protest. In fact, secretary of state Marco Rubio stated plainly that the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported”. This is the current state of affairs, any demonstration of sympathy or solidarity with the Palestinian cause will be met with threats of detainment and/or deportation.
The apartheid state has the rare luxury of killing tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians along with both Palestinian AND Israeli hostages, all while complaining about unfair treatment from the international community. And the sponsor state of these cowardly and malignant colonizers will do anything to support them, including punishing those critical of the endless and obvious brutality.
If you ever wonder why the IDF doesn’t take a break from their endless war crimes to observe the Sabbath, it’s quite simple. These genocidal criminals don’t consider killing Palestinians to be ‘work’; to them it’s just a hobby no different from reading a book or taking a walk.
Trump took the opportunity last week to address his fellow wastes of space in Washington with a speech that said nothing and that nobody asked for. The president faced the strong performative opposition of democratic members who elected to wear pink in protest and some of whom even had the audacity to leave early (gasp, whatever happened to decorum??). The fact that some of these pitiful responses were praised by equally pathetic liberal supporters is part of the reason why so many folks in power feel perfectly comfortable refusing to do anything that actually matters or materially benefits their constituents. Why bother worrying about improving American education, or protecting the rights of citizens or addressing crumbling infrastructure when we can just hold hands and sing “We Shall Overcome”.
In his speech, the self-absorbed weapon of mass distraction claimed that the US will reclaim the Panama Canal, impose further tariffs on imported goods, and bring down the price of eggs. All of this rambling was just window dressing intended to distract us from the issues of importance. While our attention is focused on Trump’s incoherent claims, the apartheid state is escalating their land grabs in the West Bank and their blockade of Gaza. Last week it was food and humanitarian aid that were cut off from reaching Gaza, this week the apartheid state announced it is cutting off the electricity supply for over a million people.
If the past year and a half have taught us anything, it’s that international law is and has always been a farce, an idea waved around by the powerful to intimidate and punish those who dare interfere with their interests. At times like these it’s important to remember that laws are not and have never been real. Laws are nothing but threats of implied violence conjured up by the dominant socio-economic group and enforced by their piglet underlings with a willingness and often a desire to provoke and punish.
The elite and wealthy and powerful will never give up their power voluntarily. Which means the working class (including anyone outside the elite, wealthy and powerful) must band together and take it by force. The alternative is taking place as we live and breathe; those in power are targeting the most vulnerable among us and eliminating any safeguards to ensure our collective demise.
If you think about it for too long it’s enough to drive you insane. We live on a miraculous planet where food literally grows on trees and water falls from the sky on a regular basis, but instead of working together in solidarity and mutual aid so we can all enjoy this earthly bounty, we decided to create things like the department of homeland security, the 8 hour workday, and daylight savings time. What a life.
Side Items
Child Gladiators: Last week, 30 Los Angeles County detention officers were charged for their role in setting up "gladiator fights" between youth detainees (kids) at a juvenile hall in Downey, CA. It’s not enough that the US is the worldwide leader in incarceration, holding a quarter of the global prison population, they really feel the need to detain children and make them fight to entertain their jailers
Legends Never Die: James Harrison aka the “Man with the Golden Arm” was an Australian man credited with saving the lives of 2.4 million babies through his record-breaking blood plasma donations over the course of 60 years. Harrison’s plasma contained a rare antibody, known as anti-D, which is used to make injections that protect unborn babies from hemolytic disease, when a pregnant woman’s immune system attacks her fetus’ red blood cells. Harrison passed last week at the age of 88, but his legacy will live on in the lives of the children he rescued from premature death
Dropping Like Flies: 70 year old Texas congressman Sylvester Turner died in office last week. He was just elected this past November to replace Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who also died in office at the age of 74. These geriatric representatives just can’t seem to stay alive. If only there was a simple solution to this recurring problem…