Peace
What is happening in Italy regarding Gaza is unprecedented in the history of solidarity between the country and any other international cause anywhere. A popular uprising is underway, the consequences of which are likely to alter, not only Rome’s position on the Israeli genocide in the Strip, but the country’s own political structure altogether.
To understand why such a conclusion is a rational one, we must consider two important factors: the popular mobilization throughout the country and the historical context of Italy’s political attitude towards Palestine and the Middle East.
In several influential European countries, solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people is finally translating into action. Though such action may seem belated to the tens of thousands of lives lost in the genocide-stricken Strip, it is, nonetheless, critical for the future of the Palestinian cause.
We are grateful for those who resist and remain,
Who struggle through genocide, bearing the pain.
For doctors in Gaza who heal night and day,
Risking their lives so that others may stay.
For journalists daring to tell what is true,
Two hundred and fifty struck down as they do.
For martyrs whose courage still kindles the flame,
For survivors who rise and give hope with their name.
For friends in the city refusing to flee,
For millions who march, for the jailed yet free.
For hearts that stay open, for minds that will fight,
For Hind Rajab’s voice that was honored that night.
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We are grateful for meetings that circle the earth,
For the dream of one country, one land of true worth.
For networks that link us through fifty-plus lands,
For gifts of supporters, their hearts and their hands.
For staff and for volunteers steady and kind,
For children whose questions awaken the mind.
For gardens and museums where memory stays,
For prayers and good wishes that brighten our days.
For animals, plants that remind us we’re one,
For food and for water, for light of the sun.
In an important step toward the economic isolation of Israel due to its genocide in Gaza, Norway's Government Pension Fund Global has decided to divest from yet more Israeli companies.
Some observers in the lead-up to last week’s meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage Alaska hoped that a dialogue might be established where the broader issue of creating a new European security model that would reduce tensions and make it unlikely that a conflict like Russia-Ukraine would be repeated. Both Trump and Putin came away from the three-hour plus meeting with positive remarks though little of substance, at least in terms of what they were prepared to reveal. Trump did indicate that the idea of a ceasefire had been sidelined in favor of further discussions for a comprehensive peace plan to end the war at the next bilateral talks in Moscow, but it has been suggested by critics that he was speaking only for himself personally. If he has come around to the view that a ceasefire will not work in the current context, he is probably correct.
In thinking about my own views on the American Empire, I considered the process of changing my own views. This after being told that I never I change my views. Not true, as I once believed that Oswald shot Kennedy, which means in retrospect I believed the most obvious (albeit state supported) lie in history, but later came to understand that Kennedy was a threat to the Military Industrial Complex and the secret, permanent government.
Basically I have reversed my opinion on Russia-gate. I once believed it was obvious that Putin supported Trump's election in 2016 by hacking the Democratic Party server and releasing information damaging to Clinton's campaign as well as using social media to break away Bernie Sander's supporters by amplifying our hatred of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party elite. I certainly believed it without reservation during the impeachment trial.
The consequences of the Israeli genocide in Gaza will be dire. An event of this degree of barbarity, sustained by an international conspiracy of moral inertia and silence, will not be relegated to history as just another "conflict" or a mere tragedy.