Middle East Conflict
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SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
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The full force of the American “centrist” and right-leaning press (and even some of the supposedly left-leaning publications) have been mobilised to denounce and demonise the student protests. I have read so many op-eds and blog posts masquerading as opinion pieces in the Washington Post, Politico, the Atlantic, New York Times, and the Economist over the last few days that I know the signs.
There are legitimate criticisms of elements of the protests—both participants and tactics—but the takes coming out right now vary from framing them as a natural consequence of decades long degradation of the institutions of higher learning (ostensibly claiming that the protests are a product of insidious “wokeness” and liberal ideological corruption of young minds) to characterising anti-genocide and anti-apartheid advocacy and as inherently anti-Semitic (because opposing anything Israel does, even at the direction of a proudly far-right government, is an attack on Jewish people everywhere, including me, apparently).
I even read this piece today which essentially claims that all of this started in the late 1960s with the anti-war protests at the elite universities and that the students are not interested in debate or reasoned negotiation (as if the protests now are not a consequence of repeated attempts at civil debate and restrained airing of grievances leading to absolutely no measurable change to the status quo).
Many are likening the protests, not the Israeli military operations in Gaza or increasingly violent occupation of the West Bank, to Nazi rallies and silence of the “good Germans”. The sheer idiocy and revisionism is astounding.
As I said, I don’t agree with everything that the various student groups at the various colleges and universities are doing. In fact, I personally think some of them are horrifically mismanaging their protests and related actions, undermining their stated messages and missions. And there are all manner of agitators, pragmatists, and malicious actors attempting to co-opt and corrupt their advocacy.
But to try to claim that all protest—or even criticism—of Israel’s response to the 7 October Attacks is “liberalism run amok”, “rampant and dangerous antisemitism”, or even “speech and actions that mirror that of the Nazis” is morally bankrupt nonsense and deeply intellectually dishonest.
And, ironically, fairly reminiscent of the propaganda being sponsored and distributed—and often directly written—by US intelligence agencies in the 60s and 70s to discredit and isolate anti-war activism.
Some of the arguments are just so blatantly moronic, revisionist, and/or fictionalised that one wonders if most of it was being generated via LLM chatbots.
There are legitimate criticisms of elements of the protests—both participants and tactics—but the takes coming out right now vary from framing them as a natural consequence of decades long degradation of the institutions of higher learning (ostensibly claiming that the protests are a product of insidious “wokeness” and liberal ideological corruption of young minds) to characterising anti-genocide and anti-apartheid advocacy and as inherently anti-Semitic (because opposing anything Israel does, even at the direction of a proudly far-right government, is an attack on Jewish people everywhere, including me, apparently).
I even read this piece today which essentially claims that all of this started in the late 1960s with the anti-war protests at the elite universities and that the students are not interested in debate or reasoned negotiation (as if the protests now are not a consequence of repeated attempts at civil debate and restrained airing of grievances leading to absolutely no measurable change to the status quo).
Many are likening the protests, not the Israeli military operations in Gaza or increasingly violent occupation of the West Bank, to Nazi rallies and silence of the “good Germans”. The sheer idiocy and revisionism is astounding.
As I said, I don’t agree with everything that the various student groups at the various colleges and universities are doing. In fact, I personally think some of them are horrifically mismanaging their protests and related actions, undermining their stated messages and missions. And there are all manner of agitators, pragmatists, and malicious actors attempting to co-opt and corrupt their advocacy.
But to try to claim that all protest—or even criticism—of Israel’s response to the 7 October Attacks is “liberalism run amok”, “rampant and dangerous antisemitism”, or even “speech and actions that mirror that of the Nazis” is morally bankrupt nonsense and deeply intellectually dishonest.
And, ironically, fairly reminiscent of the propaganda being sponsored and distributed—and often directly written—by US intelligence agencies in the 60s and 70s to discredit and isolate anti-war activism.
Some of the arguments are just so blatantly moronic, revisionist, and/or fictionalised that one wonders if most of it was being generated via LLM chatbots.
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SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
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Texas Gov. Abbott faces backlash after mass arrest at UT Austin pro-Palestine protest
After Texas state troopers arrested more than 50 people at a University of Texas at Austin protest this week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is facing accusations that the state went too far.
Police in riot gear broke up an unsanctioned but nonviolent demonstration at the state’s flagship university Wednesday.
Among those arrested was a journalist with the local Fox 7 news affiliate, who has been charged with criminal trespassing, according to the news organization.
Texas Gov. Abbott faces backlash after mass arrest at UT Austin pro-Palestine protest
After Texas state troopers arrested more than 50 people at a University of Texas at Austin protest this week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is facing accusations that the state went too far. Police in riot …
thehill.com
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I can almost guarantee that Abbott watches archive footage of the violent military and police crackdown of anti-war and civil rights protests in the 60s and 70s every night to take notes and have a good wank.
bluethrunthru
Well-Known Member
What is CAA, the group headed by campaigner in Met police antisemitism row?
Campaign Against Antisemitism, led by Gideon Falter, was set up by activists who felt existing groups were not doing enough
www.theguardian.com
TinFoilHat
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SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
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To be clear, the Netanyahu government will set unrealistic demands for the terms of the deal so that the negotiation will fail but give “legitimate” cover for them moving forward with the Rafah offensive, which they were always going to do.
It’s kind of crazy. I get why everyone wants to blame Hamas and rightfully so but we are talking about an Islamic death cult essentially. Anyone who has heard a religious fanatic speak whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and etc is they aren’t the easiest to converse with. But simply ignoring all that, what logic would there be for Hamas to agree to a six week ceasefire just so Israel can “finish the job” six weeks later.
If the goal in the end is a complete ceasefire then that should be the goal as it gets the hostages out and starts the political settlement that will end the conflict permanently. But unfortunately the powers that be still want to play politics, hence the attention on college students.