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By Richard Heinberg

Why there is no viable techno-fix to climate change, and why trees, soil, and biodiversity are our real lifelines.

Climate change is a huge, complicated problem. Therefore, many people have an understandable tendency to mentally simplify it by focusing on just one cause (carbon emissions) and just one solution (alternative energy). Sustainability scholar Jan Konietzko has called this “carbon tunnel vision.” Oversimplifying the problem this way leads to techno-fixes that actually fix nothing. Despite trillions of dollars already spent on low-carbon technologies, carbon emissions are still increasing, and the climate is being destabilized faster than ever.

Understanding climate change requires us to embrace complexity: not only are greenhouse gases trapping heat, but we are undermining natural systems that cool the planet’s surface and sequester atmospheric carbon—systems of ice, soil, forest, and ocean. Grasping this complexity leads to new ways of thinking about climate change and viable responses to it.

Almost everything we’re doing to cause climate change involves technology—from cars to cement kilns to chainsaws. We humans love technology: it yields profits, jobs, comfort, and convenience (for some, anyway; it also tends to worsen overall economic inequality). So, predictably, we’re looking to alternative technologies to solve what is arguably the biggest dilemma humanity has ever created for itself. But what if that’s the wrong approach? What if more technology will actually worsen the problem in the long run?

In this article, we will see why there is no viable techno-fix to climate change, and why trees, soil, and biodiversity are our real lifelines.

Machines Won’t Save Us

Before discussing natural solutions, let’s explore whether technology has a role to play. What machines are touted as our main climate solutions, and what are their strengths and drawbacks? There are four broad categories.

The first climate-tech category consists of low-carbon energy generating machines, including solar panels, wind turbines, and nuclear power plants. These energy sources produce electrical power with minimal carbon emissions. However, they are not problem-free or risk-free. Wind and solar power are intermittent, requiring energy storage (e.g., batteries) and a major grid overhaul. Building these energy sources at sufficient scale to replace our current energy usage from fossil fuels would require enormous amounts of materials, some of them rare, and mining those materials destroys habitat and pollutes the environment. Recycling could eventually minimize materials requirements, but recycling has limits. Nuclear power likewise suffers from the dilemma of scale (to make a significant difference, we’d need to build an enormous number of nuclear plants, and quickly), but adds problems associated with fuel scarcity, waste containment and disposal, and the risks of accidents and nuclear weapons proliferation.

The second tech category includes energy-using technologies for running the modern industrial world—machines for manufacturing, heating, mining, farming, shipping, and transportation. In many cases, low-emissions versions of these machines are not yet marketed, and many may not work as cheaply as current technologies (cement making and aviation are two industries that will be hard to decarbonize). And again, there is the dilemma of scale, and the requirement for more materials. We have built our current industrial infrastructure over a period of decades; replacing huge portions of it quickly in order to minimize climate change will require an unprecedented burst of resource extraction and energy usage.

A third category of technologies for fighting climate change consists of machines for capturing carbon from the atmosphere so it can be safely stored for long periods. “Direct air capture” (or DAC) technologies have been developed, and are starting to be installed. However, a recent meta-study concluded that these machines suffer from problems of scale, cost, materials requirements, and high energy usage. The study’s authors say that policy makers’ prioritization of mechanical carbon capture has so far yielded a “track record of failure.”

If none of our other mechanical methods for tackling climate change work, there is one last resort: technologies for cooling the planet via solar radiation management. This “solar geoengineering” solution would entail dispersing large quantities of tiny reflective particles in Earth’s atmosphere (this is known as stratospheric aerosol injection), or building a space parasol to shade the planet. Critics point out that these technologies might have unintended consequences as bad as, or worse than the problem they are trying to solve.

It’s hard to argue against implementing at least some of these technologies at a modest scale. Humanity has become systemically dependent on energy from coal, oil, and gas to meet basic needs—including housing, food, and health care. Eliminating fossil fuels quickly and entirely, without having deployed alternative sources of energy, would result in immiseration for millions or billions of people. A similar argument could be made regarding low-carbon manufacturing, agricultural, and transport machines: we need alternative ways to make things, produce food, and get around. But our need for such machines does not erase their inherent environmental costs, including resource depletion, pollution, and habitat loss.

A review of available techno-fixes leads to two unavoidable conclusions. First, our problem is not just carbon emissions per se; it’s also how we humans inhabit our planet (too many of us using too much stuff too fast). And second, we need non-technological ways of addressing the climate crisis.

Cooling Nature’s Way

Throughout hundreds of millions of years, nature has developed cooling cycles that keep the planet’s surface temperature within certain bounds (though Earth’s climate does oscillate significantly). Chief among these is the water cycle, which operates on both a large and a small scale. On the large scale, ocean currents move enormous amounts of water around the planet, shifting more water onto land via precipitation than evaporates from it. On the small scale, water falls as rain or other forms of precipitation, is absorbed by soil, is drawn up into plants, and transpires or evaporates back into the atmosphere. This dual water cycle has a net cooling effect.

We industrial humans have been destabilizing the planetary water cycle. Industrial agriculture degrades soil, so that it holds less water. Expanding cities cover soil and channel rainwater via storm drains out to sea, rather than keeping water on the land. Pavement and buildings create the well-known urban “heat island” effect, which can raise temperatures by many degrees compared to natural landscapes. Industrial agriculture, urbanization, and destructive forestry practices reduce overall vegetation, and therefore also reduce evapotranspiration. Result: even if we weren’t loading the atmosphere with excess carbon dioxide, we’d still be warming the planet. Combine a diminished water cycle with land heating from urban sprawl, a couple of hundred billion square meters of pavement, and degraded soil; then add those ingredients to the main dish of overabundant emissions, and you have a recipe for hell on Earth.

The obvious solution: restore nature’s cooling cycles. Re-vegetate the planet, thereby increasing evapotranspiration. Restore soils so they hold more water. And get rid of pavement wherever possible.

There are depaving advocates in nearly every community. Unfortunately, their voices are drowned out by powerful road-building and construction interests, and by motorists who want to drive in comfort anywhere and everywhere. Permeable pavement options exist; but most municipalities, when faced with complaints from motorists about crumbling roads, opt simply to cover old streets with a fresh coat of black asphalt (made from oil) that heats the environment, prevents water from reaching the soil underneath, and gives off toxic fumes. If humanity is serious about halting climate change, then it should put the depavers in charge.

Re-vegetating the planet is a huge project that can only be undertaken in bite-sized chunks at the local scale. The biggest contributors to the small water cycle are intact forests; therefore, our first order of business should be to protect existing old-growth forests (you can plant a tree in a few minutes, but an old-growth forest requires centuries to mature). At the same time, we can plant millions more trees—but they must be the right kinds of trees in the right places. We must anticipate climate change and assist forests to migrate to suitable climate zones.

Soil can be restored by covering it with leaf litter, mulch, and vegetation, by keeping living roots in it as long as possible (mainly by planting more perennial crops and fewer annuals), and by adding compost and biochar to aerate soil and boost biological activity. First, however, we have to stop doing all the things we’re currently doing that harm soils—including annual tillage and application of herbicides and pesticides. Permaculture practitioners and organic farmers have been fighting this battle for decades, and they’ve developed many effective techniques for maximizing food production while building healthy soil.

Climate change reduces biodiversity by making environments inhospitable to some of the species that inhabit them. Moreover, everything we’re doing to cause climate change (industrial agriculture, urbanization, cattle ranching, and road building) is also directly contributing to biodiversity loss. But restoring biodiversity can mitigate climate change. For example, restoring soils requires making them more biologically diverse (in terms of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and worms). And restored soils support other organisms (more vegetation and hence more wildlife, all the way up to buffalo and elephants) that also help maintain nature’s cooling cycles. In effect, virtually all nature conservation efforts are also climate change mitigation efforts.

Energy and Materials from Nature

If solar, wind, and nuclear electricity generators won’t solve the climate problem, and fossil fuels have to be quickly phased out, where will we get our energy? That’s a tough question, and addressing it requires, first and foremost, a discussion of demand.

The scale of energy usage in industrialized countries today is simply unsustainable. Regardless which energy sources we choose (including fanciful ones such as fusion power), using this much energy results in environmental harms such as resource depletion and toxic pollution. If we want our species to be around for the long haul, we must reduce energy demand. The best ways to do that are to encourage a smaller population and to establish economies that aim for increased human happiness rather than growth of resource extraction, manufacturing, and transport.

As energy demand recedes, humanity will have better supply options. Before we started using fossil fuels in enormous quantities, we got much of our energy from burning wood. We can’t do that now, at a time when we use far more energy and also need to increase the planet’s tree cover. Instead, we can use energy from sunlight, wind, and flowing water, not just in high-tech ways—via photovoltaics, wind turbines, and hydroelectric dams—but in low-tech ways that entail less usage of mined materials. Low-Tech Magazine explores these options, including human-powered air compressors, sailing ships, practical household bike generators, and low-tech solar panels, among many others.

If we need to conserve energy, the same is true of materials (which require energy for mining, smelting, and manufacturing). Currently many of the materials we use are toxic plastics made from fossil fuels.

Can we get all of the materials we need from nature, without depleting and polluting? In an absolute sense, the answer is probably no, unless we eventually return to hunting and gathering as a way of life. But we can dramatically reduce depletion and toxicity, first by applying the familiar ecologists’ mantra of “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” and then by substituting plant-based materials for plastics and metals wherever possible.

By partially combusting plant wastes, it is possible to produce versatile materials for buildings, roads, and manufactured goods. Thousands of small, regional pyrolysis plants, using a range of feedstocks, most now considered waste, could make both biochar (to increase soil fertility) and “parolysates” (carbon-based materials that could be incorporated into products). In many instances added carbon would improve the performance of materials, making this shift in manufacturing methods profitable.

Helping Nature Capture Carbon

Suppose we do all these things. Still, we’ve already emitted an enormous surplus of carbon into the atmosphere—about 1,000 billion tons of it. As a result, even with nature’s cooling cycles restored, there will continue to be a dangerous warming effect. To minimize that, we will have to remove and sequester a lot of atmospheric carbon, and fast. As we’ve seen, DAC machines aren’t working. What will?

Nature already removes and sequesters about half the carbon emitted by humanity’s burning of fossil fuels. You can see that effect in graphs of the annual atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration: during summer months in the northern hemisphere, when plants are flourishing on Earth’s largest land masses, the atmospheric CO2 concentration declines significantly. Then, in the winter, it rebounds and rises even further due to continually increasing emissions. Oceans absorb far more CO2 than land. We need to assist nature in absorbing a lot more than it already is (while, of course, reducing emissions dramatically and fast, rather than continuing to increase them)

Globally, soils contain about 1,500 billion metric tons of carbon; they’re the the second largest active store of carbon after the oceans (40,000 billion tons). Currently, humanity is forcing soils to give up their carbon to the atmosphere through annual tillage, erosion, and salinization. However, by adopting different practices, we could restore soils and thereby significantly increase their carbon content. The practices that would help most go by the names regenerative agriculture and carbon farming. Estimating how much carbon soil could capture if we adopted these practices at scale is difficult, but some experts suggest the quantity could exceed 20 billion tons by 2050 (of course, that assumes dramatic, coordinated efforts supported by governments and farmers).

The widespread use of biochar and parolysate materials could also capture significant amounts of carbon. In their book Burn: Igniting a New Carbon Drawdown Economy to End the Climate Crisis, authors Albert Bates and Kathleen Draper suggest that the amount of carbon that could theoretically be sequestered in buildings, roads, and consumer products is in the range of hundreds of billions of tons.

Trees and other types of vegetation already store a great deal of carbon, but current agricultural and forestry practices are reducing that amount annually. By some estimates, forests alone could capture and store over 200 billion tons of atmospheric carbon if we started adding trees in an ecologically sensitive way, rather than subtracting trees on a net basis.

The sheer scale of the ocean and its existing carbon content means that the theoretical potential for ocean-based carbon capture exceeds that of other options. However, tapping that potential at scale (for example, by microalgal cultivation or ocean alkalinity enhancement) would require massive technological interventions. Some researchers suggest that encouraging the growth of kelp, a straightforward intervention, could capture and store up to 200 million tons of carbon per year. Wetlands such as marshes and swamps cover only 3 per cent of the world’s land, but contain twice as much carbon as all forests; if restored, they could capture and store a significant amount of carbon (though estimates vary widely). Overfishing, shipping, fertilizer runoff, destruction of coastal wetlands, and plastics pollution are currently devastating ocean ecosystems, causing them to lose much of their carbon capturing capacity. Mining the ocean floor for minerals to build large-scale renewable energy systems would only worsen an already grim situation. It seems that, in the case of the ocean, the most important thing we could do is just to stop the ongoing damage.

If we did these things, could we eliminate all the excess carbon in the atmosphere and thereby stop climate change? Halting global warming altogether is likely not possible, because there is already more heating on the way due to the momentum of feedbacks that have already been set in motion—including the melting of glaciers and sea ice. Further, actually doing all of these things rapidly (say, in the next two or three decades) would require an unprecedented level of international coordination and effort. Nevertheless, the numbers add up: it is possible to draw down excess atmospheric carbon on a scale commensurate with the problem using nature-restoring methods rather than machines. Which is hopeful, because doing it with machines simply isn’t working.

Change Everything

Unlike technology, nature constantly repairs itself. It tends to clean up pollution, rather than spreading toxins. It creates resources rather than depleting them. But to meet all human needs and solve problems using nature’s way, we will have to think entirely differently. It’s not just a matter of gradually setting aside harmful, overly complex technologies, but of shifting subtle societal incentives and disincentives that cause us to turn first to machines, even when unintended consequences are easy to spot.

A more nature-based society will feature fewer people living closer to the land, with a throughput of energy and materials far smaller than is the case in industrialized nations today. We will be less urbanized, more rural. We will rely less on money, and more on community-based cooperation.

This is how Indigenous people have lived for millennia, and so it should be no surprise that some of the most successful nature-based climate mitigation efforts are being led by Indigenous communities.

Fortunately, it is possible for individuals and households to make a difference by promoting biodiversity in their homes, gardens and communities, and to reduce energy and materials usage through their daily choices of what to purchase (or not purchase), what to eat, and how (and how much) to travel.

Unfortunately, circumstances require us to make a decisive shift in how we think and live at a time when as we also face an enormous threat. Since more warming is now inevitable, it is almost certain that the remainder of this century will see mass migrations and political instability. These social challenges will make it harder for nations and communities to mount large-scale, coherent efforts to restore ecosystems.

Nevertheless, whatever we do to try slowing or halting climate change will be most effective if it is aimed at helping nature do more of what it already does. Restoring nature isn’t just our best climate solution, it’s our only solution.

Thanks to Bio4Climate and Christopher Haines for inspiration and help with this article.

Please join us on July 2 for an online Deep Dive panel discussion on climate change, featuring Timothy Lenton, Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter, and Isabel Cavelier Adarve, former climate negotiator and winner of the prestigious Climate Breakthrough Award.

Richard Heinberg is a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and the author of fourteen books, including his most recent: “Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival” (2021).

1 July 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Latheef Farook

Betrayal of Palestinians by neighbouring  Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian  tyrants together with  United Arab Emirates , facilitates the ongoing  Israeli genocide in Gaza   to evict  Palestinians and grab  their land to create Greater Israel to  destabilize the entire Middle East for generations to come.

The barbarity unleashed on unarmed ,helpless ,voiceless and peaceful Palestinians   by Israel   has brought out worldwide   people of   all walks of life ,including universities,  in massive protests   demanding  US and Europe stop the  slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

Since  October 8  Israel deprived Palestinians of water, food, medicine, electricity to starve  them to death . Shocked at the ongoing barbarity  compassionate Irish parliamentarian Thomas Gould, who became emotional over the death of children in Gaza said : I hope Benjamin Netanyahu burns in hell”.

United Nations Secretary General and many others warned of a catastrophic disaster due to starvation, destroying hospitals ,schools, universities and  mosques . Zionist murderous thugs even attacked  Al Aqsa mosques premises.  The miserable plight of Palestinians were round the clock highlighted  by independent media worldwide.

However there were no such demonstrations or support in the neighbouring   Saudi Arabia , Egypt and Jordan where dictators brutally suppressed any support to Palestinians to please their US-European and Israeli masters to ensure their power.

Instead  Saudi    regime , busy   westernising the society  with dance, music and fashion shows,  liquor shops  ,imprisoning religious scholars and removing Palestine from school text books    stepped up crackdown on  criticism of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in  Gaza.

Muslims in general and Palestinians in particular cannot expect much from Saudi
Arabia where the ruling autocratic  House of Saud was established by British Imperial power and Zionists in the aftermath of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during World  War 1 to serve their interests.

Thus the autocratic Saudi regime has two faces. One to hoodwink the Muslims as guardian of Islam and the other to serve US-European Israeli masters. So far Saudi regimes has destroyed more than 90 percent of places of Islamic heritage-something worst of enemies of Islam failed to do.

South African government filed a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice and later at the International Criminal Court accusing Israel of genocide  of Palestinians in Gaza . The ICC decided to issue arrest warrant of  Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and other war criminals.

What did Saudi and other  Arab dictators do?”  Tightened their oppressive laws to prevent  any demonstration  against Israel . They had to do this to remain in power as once told by former US President Donald Trump that Saudi regime cannot survive for two weeks without the support of US which supplies the most destructive weapons, money and political support to Israel to  continue its   slaughter of Palestinians  and the destruction of Gaza    and the  occupied west  bank.

These  tyrants do not allow democracy and  people  were   suppressed and brutalized with the blessings of US and Europe. For example   it was Saudi Arabia , together  with   UAE and Kuwait,  spent eleven billion dollars to topple  elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy and install military man Abdul Fattah  El Sisi in power  to serve US Israeli interests.

In the process they crushed the rising democracy and threw Egypt, ancient country with more than 7000 year old history and a highly educated and skilled population into darkness.

Had popularly elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy remained in power, democracy would have flourished in Egypt and US and Israel would not have dared to commit the heinous crimes in Gaza.

US-European stooge Abdel Fatah  Al Sisi  obediently facilitates  their evil agenda on Gaza. In return for this treachery European Commission President Ursula von der ,known as butcher of Gaza,  rewarded Sisi with a 30 billion dollar loan .EU companies started signing investment deals potentially worth more than 40 billion euros  .

Jordan is no different .Jordan was created after World War 1 by British Imperial power to install Sheriff Hussein who was instigated by British imperial power to revolt against Ottoman Empire, promising him to  create Arab Caliphate while plotting with France to partition Middle East . The Sykes–Picot Agreement ,a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France,  divided Middle East to  suit British and French   agenda. This situations remains in  force to date.

Sheriff Hussein’s son King Hussein , a playboy   known as plucky little king , installed in power at the age of 16 ,  was a great asset to the west and Israel. He massacred around 30,000 Palestinians in Amman in September 1970 due to the blunder of late Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat.

His son present ruler King Abdulla who recently blocked Iranian missiles and  protected  Israel,  closed down Islamic Brotherhood   TV in Amman to please their western masters.  He was received with great warmth by    genocide  President Joe Biden at the White House with all honor.

Pro Hindutva and pro Zionists UAE  abandoned Palestinians and  destroyed Africa’s largest Muslim country Sudan where millions were displaced    facing starvation.

An article by Jean  Shaoul  in the website WSWS citing former US ambassador Ryan Crocker said nearly every Arab state has long viewed the Palestinians with “fear and loathing”

The Arab regimes have not lifted a finger to oppose Israel’s genocidal war and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Instead, they have colluded every step of the way with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s gang of fascists, settlers and religious bigots committed to Jewish Supremacy “from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea”, even as they wring their hands and call for a ceasefire.

Netanyahu and his paymaster in Washington have counted on them doing so because their entire record in relation to the Palestinians has been one of shameless betrayal.   Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all been in constant communication with Israel and senior Biden administration officials under the guise of mediating an agreement on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Retired US diplomat Ryan Crocker let the cat out of the bag,  when he  stated unequivocally why, despite publicly supporting Palestinian rights, none of the Arab regimes are willing to accept Palestinian refugees—because they have long viewed the Palestinians with “fear and loathing.”

Columnist Feras Abu-Helal pinted out Arabs  all over Middle East and Muslims worldwide remain disgusted with their regimes  denying even the basic rights to the people .Hamas attacks on occupied Israeli territories and the Israeli genocide in Gaza exposed the dictators betrayal of their own people.

Senior journalist Latheef Farook is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka

1 July 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr. Ramzy Baroud

Humanitarian aid should never be politicized though, quite often, the very survival of nations is used as political bargaining chips.

Sadly, Gaza remains a prime example. Even before the current war, the Gaza Strip suffered under a 17-year hermetic blockade, which has rendered the impoverished area virtually ‘unlivable’.

That very term, ‘unlivable’ was used by the then-UN Special Rapporteur for the Situation of Palestine, Michael Lynk, in 2018.

As of mid-December, “nearly 70% of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed”, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing experts who conducted a thorough analysis of satellite data.

As tragic as the situation was in December, now it is far worse.

67 percent of Gaza’s water, sanitation facilities and infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged, according to a statement by the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, on June 19, leading to the spreading of infectious diseases, which has ravaged the beleaguered population for months.

The spread of disease is also linked to the accumulation of garbage everywhere in Gaza. Earlier, the refugees agency reported that “as of June 9, over 330,000 tons of waste have accumulated in or near populated areas across Gaza, posing catastrophic environmental (and) health risks”.

The situation was already disastrous. Indeed, three years before the war, the Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health (GIWEH) said, in a joint statement with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, that 97 percent of Gaza water was undrinkable and unfit for human consumption.

Yet, so far, any conversation on allowing aid to Gaza, or the rebuilding of Gaza after the war, has been placed largely within political contexts.

By shutting down all border crossings, including the Egypt-Gaza Rafah Crossing – which, on June 17, was set ablaze – Israel has politicized food, fuel and medicine as tools in its war in the Strip.

This is not a mere inference, but the actual statement made by Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, who on October 9, declared that he had ordered a “complete siege” and that “there will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, no water” entering Gaza.

The timing of the statement, which has indeed been put into action from the first day of the war, suggests that Israel did not apply the strategy as a last resort. It was one of the most important pieces in the war stratagem, which remains in effect to this day.

Instead of pressuring Israel, Washington tried to obtain its own political leverage, also by politicizing aid. On March 3, the US Air Force started airdropping aid into northern Gaza. A far more conducive and less humiliating option for Palestinians, however, would have been direct US pressure on Israel to allow access to aid trucks arriving through Rafah, Karem Abu Salem Crossing or any other.

Scenes and images of thousands of starving Palestinians chasing after boxes of aid parachuted in Gaza will remain etched in the collective memory of humanity as an example of our failed morality.

News reports spoke of whole families who were killed under the weight of the dropped ‘aid’, much of which had fallen in the Mediterranean, never to be retrieved.

Even the Gaza pier, constructed by the US military on the Gaza shore last month, did little to alleviate the situation. It merely transported 137 aid trucks, according to the US’ own estimation, enough to cover Gaza’s need for food for a few hours only.

During the years of siege, an average of 500 trucks arriving daily in Gaza has kept the 2.3 million population of the Strip alive, though malnourished.

To deal with the outcome of the war, and to stave off current starvation, especially in the north, the number of aid trucks would have to be much higher. Yet, whole days would pass without a single truck making its way to the suffering population. This is unacceptable.

Not only did the international community fail at ending the war, it has also failed in delinking humanitarian aid from political and military objectives.

The problem with politicizing aid is that innocent civilians become a bargaining chip for politicians and military men. This goes against the very foundation of international humanitarian law.

According to the International Red Cross, citing the Hague Conventions, “international humanitarian law is the branch of international law that seeks to impose limits on the destruction and suffering caused by armed conflict.” In Gaza, no such ‘limits’ have been ‘imposed’ by anyone.

Providing aid to Gaza and ensuring the reconstruction of the Strip must not be a political item for negotiations. It is a basic human right that must be honored under any circumstance.

Meaningful pressure must be placed on Israel to end the Gaza siege, and urgent plans must be drafted, starting today, by representatives of UN humanitarian institutions, the Arab League and Palestinian and Gaza authorities to be the entities responsible for delivering aid to Gaza.

Humanitarian aid to Gaza must not be used as political leverage, or a tool in a cruel war, whose primary victims are millions of Palestinian civilians.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books.

1 July 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Gerald A. Perreira

“It is among the masses, in the people of the shanty towns and in the lumpen proletariat that the insurrection will find its urban spearhead. The lumpen proletariat, this cohort of starving men, divorced from tribe and clan, constitutes one of the most spontaneously and radically revolutionary forces of a colonized people.” Frantz Fanon, ‘The Wretched of the Earth’

One week ago on June 25th, 2024, the first contingent of Kenyan security forces arrived in Ayiti (Haiti). The deal was brokered between US neo-colonial stooge, William Ruto, who, as I write, is under pressure to quit the presidency. His resignation is demanded by thousands of young demonstrators (Gen Z), the length and breadth of Kenya.

Back in Haiti, the Kenyan troops, sent by Ruto on behalf of the US Empire, signals yet another invasion. On January 1, 1804, Ayiti declared itself the first Black Republic in the world, and the first post-colonial state in South America and the Caribbean. Ever since that day it has been under siege.

From Ayiti to Gaza

Like Gaza, Ayiti is a type of concentration camp, and like Palestinians, Ayitians have never stopped resisting their occupation and never will. In addition to successive military interventions, the US and West European powers have unleashed brutal and unrelenting repression in every sphere of Ayiti’s existence, including the psych-ops campaign to demonise Ayiti’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage. Despite this, Ayiti remains a “problem” for them, because no matter how hard they try, they have never been able to crush the indomitable spirit of the Ayitian people.

We are told that the Kenyan soldiers have been sent to Ayiti to restore “law and order”. We know this to be a euphemism for maintaining the existing oppressive and exploitative arrangement and crushing any resistance strong enough to topple the hegemon. The Kenyans are there to protect the very arrangement that the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies, led by Jimmy Chérizier, are fighting to overthrow. Chérizier has made it abundantly clear in interviews with Al Jazeera, in documentaries, and on numerous videos, that he and his fighters are in a face-off with the Empire and the local oligarchs. At every opportunity, Chérizier speaks about the need to end the rule of the oligarchic capitalists that have ravaged his country.

The Real Criminals

Chérizier and his forces now control 80% of Port-au-Prince, however, the imperialist-appointed governors are saying that Chérizier and members of his liberation movement cannot have a seat at the table, or any input into the decisions that will determine Ayiti’s future, because of their past criminal activities, including murder. This is rich coming from transitional council members with clear ties to centres of imperial power and international agencies and organizations, which have been directly and indirectly involved in the murder of millions globally and have been involved in the kind of theft and plunder that makes Chérizier and his liberation army look like angels.

It is said that Chérizier was a police officer, trained by the imperialists, and they have a damning dossier on him. I fail to see how that separates him from the overwhelming majority of neo-colonial politicians and regimes throughout the Caribbean. They may not have been trained as police officers, but they were most definitely trained and groomed by the imperialists for their current positions. One Caribbean activist said to me recently, “The gangs kill each other – show me one oligarch they killed”. This actually made me smile, as I replied, how many oligarch’s did you kill this week? He thought I was joking. To be honest, it simply exposes the fact that these activists have not been in the trenches in a place like Ayiti. If they had, they would know that Chérizier and his fighters have to remain in the areas they control and then, a good distance from the frontline of these areas, or they will surely be taken out.

I have even heard commentators try to make out that Chérizier’s call name “Barbeque” is somehow related to a penchant for burning people alive, when in fact he acquired that nickname as a young boy when delivering the barbeque his mother sold.

My question is, how does Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer, trained by the imperialists, break free? Can he ever redeem himself? Can he choose good over evil? On a recent podcast, a well-known Ayitian activist said smugly, “Chérizier is not a revolutionary”. I beg to differ.

Real Revolutionaries

Many of those who live comfortably beyond Ayiti’s borders, and even some activists in Ayiti, are looking for textbook definitions of what constitutes legitimate struggle and revolutionary action, and they need to stop. Those who over the years have been building so-called vanguards to act on behalf of the people, need to abandon their dogma and enter into dialogue with the people, participating in the process of conscientization that is ongoing for all of us. No struggle for human dignity and emancipation is born in the halls of academia. However, this does not prevent self-professed “revolutionaries” and the progressive intelligentsia from pursuing their rigorous intellectual dissection of those on the front lines. Kwame Ture warned us constantly to be wary of those who discuss struggle incessantly but are not part of any organization to change the world.

Paulo Freire reminds us, “The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.”

Those who have immersed themselves in communities of resistance and been a part of the day-to-day struggles of the oppressed have come to the realization that the people are capable of deep political reflection. They will not express it in language used in academic and political circles, but it will be the clearest analysis of where the people are at.

Muammar Qaddafi spoke about this time, referring to it as “the era of the masses”. He explained, “it is time for the masses to be in control of their destiny, for them to grasp the keys to their liberty, for them to rebuild their lives on the foundation of real democracy, a democracy in which the power of decision and sovereignty lies with the masses alone. The masses owe it to themselves to destroy all the forces that are hostile and oppose their aspirations. They owe it to themselves to remove all the obstacles that impede their march towards victory, towards liberty, towards a new world”.

A Formidable Force

The people, once conscientized, are a truly formidable force. This is nowhere more evident than in Gaza, where the Alliance of Palestinian Forces, which includes Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, National Resistance Brigades, Al- Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas, cannot be defeated. After almost nine months of incessant bombing and ground combat by the world’s 4th largest military, Israeli Defence Forces’ top spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the stated goal of the war in Gaza – to destroy Hamas – was impossible, and to keep promising it was like “throwing sand in the eyes of the public”. He added “Hamas is an idea. Anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong”.

There are those on the so-called Left who call for a free Palestine but condemn Hamas, once again joining in the criminalisation of a legitimate resistance movement. It is no surprise that the heroic resistance waged by the people of Gaza is a decisive factor in accelerating the demise of the Empire. The word Gaza means strength. In Islam, Ghazi means Muslim warrior. especially one victorious in battle and is often used as a title of honour. The strength, honour and dignity of the Palestinian Resistance and all the people of Gaza is galvanizing this global uprising. Despite being literally slaughtered, along with their entire families, Palestinians are refusing to be pushed off their land. Their spectacular courage is inspiring people everywhere to stand up. The microcosm that is Gaza is highlighting just how connected this world is and just how much of a scam is Western capitalism and liberal democracy. The clay feet of the Empire are most definitely cracking.

Redemption

At the heart of the message of every Prophet-revolutionary is the idea of human redemption and liberation. Redemption is about reclaiming that which has been taken or usurped by hostile forces, seen and unseen. To achieve the liberation of your family, your community and your nation, you must first redeem yourself and find your rightful place. Liberation starts at the personal level. No one can free another. Freedom comes with an awakening of consciousness; redemption is a precondition for liberation. Jimmy Chérizier and others, who have gained the consciousness of freedom, are amongst those who have discovered that power resides within them.

In 1970, in his seminal work, Blood in my Eye, George Jackson wrote from Soledad Prison, that “Prisoners must be reached and made to understand that they are victims of social injustice. This is my task working from within (while I’m here, my persuasion is that the war goes on, no matter where one may find himself on bourgeoise-dominated soil). The sheer numbers of the prisoner class and the terms of their existence make them a mighty reservoir of revolutionary potential”.

Malcolm X, aka Al Hajj Malik Al Shabazz said: “I believe that it would be almost impossible to find anywhere in America a Black man who has lived further down in the mud of human society than I have; or a Black man who has been any more ignorant than I have; or a Black man who has suffered more anguish during his life than I have. But it is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come”.

In his selected prison writings, titled We are our own Liberators, former Black Panther and US political prisoner, Jalil A. Muntaqim, observes that “people from the lumpen proletariat will join the revolution because it will provide hope for their future, offering life some meaning and purpose devoid of the self-destructive cycle of hanging out on street corners, shooting dope, prostitution, and going in and out of jail. Hence, it will offer an alternative to all the illicit activity of the lumpen proletariat subculture, which usually amounts to no more than preying on their own kind and desperately aspiring to the social values of the bourgeoisie, the accumulation of material goods by ,means of illegitimate capitalism”.

Finally Frantz Fanon pointed out that if the revolutionary forces do not mobilize the lumpen-proletariat, then the oppressive State and the forces of reaction will mobilize them against us.

Crisis of the Caribbean “Left”

The crisis of the Caribbean “Left” is primarily one of theory. The Caribbean “Left” are so obsessed with theoretical analysis that very often they have no connection to the reality on the ground. It is theory for the sake of theory. After the implosion of the Grenadian revolution, which opened the door to a US invasion and the assassination of Maurice Bishop in 1983 and following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc in 1991, the Caribbean “Left” lost its bearings. Almost overnight, across the Caribbean, many communists and self-proclaimed Marxist- Leninists morphed into liberal democrats and apologists for neo-liberal economic policies, while others adopted social democracy.

An equally significant death blow is the dominance of the Caribbean ‘Mulatto’/Creole middle-class over political parties and movements. The privilege enjoyed by this social stratum affords them the ability and access to be very vocal, dominating societal discourse and shaping narratives. They are the authors, the producers of knowledge, their voice is large, but their following is small. In fact, they are most often, with very few exceptions, alienated from the people they purport to represent. This means that they find themselves in the doomed-to-fail situation of fighting “for” the people, rather than “with” the people. The disconnect has led to their growing marginalization. Their haughty condescension is what is preventing them from dialogue with Jimmy Chérizier, causing them instead to pronounce judgement on him, while they remain silent about the illegitimacy of the transitional council. Their elitist contempt for the lumpen proletariat is rooted both in their class character, and for many of them, a dogmatic adherence to the orthodox Marxist position that it is the working class that is the primary agent of revolutionary transformation.

It is no wonder that the recently formed transitional council was sworn in at a secret ceremony in Ayiti in April this year. The line-up, selected of course by the imperialists, and rubber-stamped by CARICOM, is depressing evidence of the weakness of progressive forces in Ayiti and the wider Caribbean.

The voting members of the transitional council, pictured above, are Central Bank Governor Fritz Alphonse Jean, former Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Smith Augustin; Barrister, Emmanuel Vertilaire; former Senate President, Edgard Leblanc; ex-Senator, Louis Gerald Gilles; Businessman, Laurent Saint-Cyr and former diplomat, Leslie Voltaire.

The non-voting observers are, Evangelical Pastor, Frinel Joseph, and Regine Abraham, who once worked for the World Bank and the country’s Environment Ministry. Missing are those who risked their lives to liberate Ayiti from the unelected Ariel Henry, that is, Chérizier and his G9 family. Henry was selected and imposed on Ayiti by the US, France, Canada, Germany, Spain and Brazil, members of the so-called Core Group, the same group that selected the Transitional Council.

We see you

To Jimmy Chérizier and his freedom fighters we say, we see you, we know what you are up against. We ourselves have experienced the reality of the criminalization of people who have fought their way up, become conscious and sought to channel their energy into the fight for economic justice and national self- determination. We have experienced the wrath of Black faces in high places, who, like William Ruto and so many CARICOM leaders, operate as the Black face of White supremacy. They are nothing more than governors and overseers on neo- plantations, masquerading as independent nation-states. The only country that has been able to systematically dismantle the neo-plantation arrangement at the structural level in the contemporary Caribbean is Cuba.

We take sustenance from the fact that a new day is coming. There is no one alive who can’t smell change in the air. Confronted with what is a global resistance, galvanized by US, EU and Israeli genocide in Gaza, the imperialists are in panic mode. They are scrambling as they find themselves in free fall. They are losing influence and control of global affairs faster than they ever thought possible. And of course, being the ignorant and arrogant fools that they are, they are making one blunder after another. Watching the recently televised US presidential debate was surreal. Here were two decrepit old White men, one definitely demented, arguing with each other and competing to decide the fate of humanity. Empires always collapse from within, and it is no different for the US Empire. The rot truly sets in when the Empire’s own citizens no longer believe its lies. At this stage, the Empire’s naked fascism is obvious to all. We see it everywhere in American society as the bogus liberal-democratic mask is ripped away. The whole world watched the brutal repression unleashed by the State against its own citizens, on campuses throughout the US.

There is no turning back

The demise of the Empire, and its surrogates is inevitable. As they move from one crisis to another, from war to war, with no coherent vision for the future, and a past that has caught up with them, a global shift of power is in full swing. Saudi Arabia, a full member of BRICS, will not renew its petrodollar agreement with the US, countries throughout Africa are pulling their gold reserves out of the US. Truth be told, the US is insolvent. Its federal debt stands at 34.73 trillion dollars and grows by 1 trillion dollars every 100 days. Their permanent-war economy is fast becoming unsustainable. Che Guevara’s imagined scenario, “create two, three, many Vietnams” to undermine US hegemony has been activated.

2023 and 2024 will be recorded in history as the years when numerous ‘axes of resistance’ launched extraordinary campaigns against the Empire and its surrogates, from the African Sahel to Palestine, from Yemen to Lebanon, from Iran to Syria to Iraq, from Ayiti to New Caledonia, and most recently Kenya and beyond. Victory is inevitable.

Gerald A. Perreira is a theologian, educator and political activist. He is chairperson of Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP) based in Guyana www.ovpguyana.org

4 July 2024

Israeli troops are taking their own lives and the numbers are growing every day. This is no new phenomenon. It is learned that between 1973 and 2024, 1,227 Israeli soldiers committed suicide based although unofficial sources that the real numbers are far greater. The increasing number of suicides emanate from serious psychological problems and low morale. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also a major issue.

The army has apparently opened an investigation into the phenomenon of suicide among its soldiers. It is unclear what the investigation will come up with. The writing is on the wall.  If Israel continues to send young people to war without a cause, it is likely to be thrilling for the first weeks or months to have a gun and wield power over a helpless populace.

The Lior Tsfaty Centre for Suicide and Mental Pain Studies has, from its studies, claimed that, the issue is extremely astounding because they are not accustomed to it during combat. They report that, even though it includes those who suffer from PTSD, who wake up every morning to various sights, sounds and feelings of guilt. The names of victims and other details are highly guarded secrets. The fact that this occurrence is happening among high ranked officers too is causing alarm.

War fatigue has set in. The motivational narratives that first sent young people as eager fighters to kill and maim have ceased to poison many young minds. They simply don’t understand the political narratives that are thrust on them. The will to fight has collapsed, despite the destruction being carried out in Gaza. Morale is low. The army has begun to falter between a deteriorating military spirit and the desire to desert. With more unwilling to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, Israel faces the imminent collapse of its reserve forces. Frustration and anxiety are spreading among soldiers, leading to the loss of combat readiness, low morale and a deep sense of fear and despair.

Upon completion of their compulsory armed service, former combatants go to far away exotic destinations where they indulge in drugs, alcohol, and just about any evil which keeps their minds from the horrific acts they had committed against innocent populations.

Israel’s future is self-handicapped with a new generation of people with mental disorders due to cruelties they were forced to inflict upon innocents – including small children. Doctors say that these images are fixated in their minds and they often wake up to nightmares of the worst kind.They can be counseled and treated as much as medical personnel are able to. But as long as Israel indulges in the occupation, plants notions of racism in young minds, sows seeds of hate, there will be a boomerang effect on the entire people. In an article by Aziz Mustapha he says: “Israeli soldiers have found in Gaza that despite their superior equipment and intense training, they have become easy targets for the resistance fighters. It is clear from the percentage of soldiers killed in action that their lives in tanks have become an unbearable hell.”

The ball is clearly in Israel’s court to end the pain and self-imposed horrors as well as sever harm to the Palestinians. Israel may imagine it is exterminating the brutes; but in actuality, it is exterminating its own humanity.

In solidarity

Ranjan Solomon
On behalf of MLN Palestine Updates

1 July 2024

ODVV joint side event on the human rights situation in Gaza in the 56th Session of the Human Rights Council

The Family Health Association of Iran and the Organization for the Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV), held a side event on the human rights situation in Gaza. The event was hosting the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and took place at the same time as the 56th Session of the Human Rights Council, at the UN Geneva.
The event was held on July 8th, hosting Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly; Julie Franck, Vice President of the Yaffa Association; Corinna Mullin, a professor of political science at a New York University; Dr. Raouf Salti, the founder and the President of Children’s Right to Healthcare and Bellalia Mohamed, a human rights activist from the University of Geneva.

Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, discussed the situation of students’ protests against Israel around the world, explaining that, in some countries, protests in support of Palestine have been banned, and in some others, these kinds of protests have been criminalized. She emphasized that the police response varied in different countries and in some cases, it was accompanied by violence and disproportionate, excessive use of force, which led to arrest of many protesters. Students have been punished in some universities by restrictions on their access to housing and food or jeopardizing their immigration status, she added. She also pointed out the violation of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly during the recent protests and emphasized the need for States to support this fundamental freedom. Finally, she concluded that governments should not resort to force in order to manage assemblies.

Corinna Mullin, reviewed Gaza history, while highlighting the current dire situation in Gaza, adding that, these crimes have inspired students to declare solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian nation, all over the world, especially in the United States of America. American students do not want their university fees to contribute to this genocide in anyway and they want to end any financial exchange with Israel. Although in these protests, we see beautiful scenes of solidarity between students and professors to achieve a moral goal, in line with international law, the US government and some universities are trying to suppress the protests, she added. More than 3,000 students have been arrested since April 17th, when the US students’ protests began at Columbia University. Also, hundreds of students have been threatened with suspension or expulsion. The professors who supported the students have also faced punishments. In the meantime, the mainstream media has been extensively distorting the protest news in their reports. Even at the federal level, plans have been proposed in the Congress to deal severely with arrested students, such as canceling visas, cutting off financial support, and expelling them from the university, she emphasized. Despite these cases, students and professors have realized that in order to preserve their academic freedom and the right to freedom of speech, it is necessary, for them, to continue their struggle to stop the fascism and racism that is increasingly being manifested in the behavior of the American police force.

The next speaker, Mrs. Julie Franck, Vice President of the Yaffa Association (a Swiss non-governmental organization based in Geneva), referred to her experiences of visiting the Occupied Territories, she pointed out the miserable conditions of life and at the same time the significant development of the civil society in Gaza. When I was in Gaza in 2018, more than 80% of the people were in need of humanitarian aid while experiencing lack of access to water, food and electricity. I always witnessed heartbreaking scenes of bombings and shootings by Israeli military forces, she explained. Referring to the statement of the UN Secretary General that “if there is a hell on earth, it is the life of children in Gaza”, she emphasized the unfortunate situation of Gaza children. She concluded her speech by a quotation from a Gaza citizen: “After 9 months of Israel bloody crimes in Gaza, we are deprived of a normal life and we are faced with fear, terror and death, but we have to resist, and we continue our resistance in Gaza as the most beautiful place in the world.”

Dr. Raouf Salti, the next speaker, referring to the situation of children’s rights in Gaza and the damage to the health infrastructure, said: Today, after 9 months of the Gaza war, the health system has been targeted and used as a weapon of war, in order to deprive citizens of health services, with the aim of destruction of the population. In Gaza, hospitals have turned into graveyards for patients, doctors and all medical staff, while, the health infrastructure is supported by the Geneva Conventions, he added. He also emphasized that, in the Gaza Strip, 5% of patients suffer from mental illness, and today we are facing a large number of children and adults with increased mental disorders, especially for children whose homes have been bombed and destroyed. In the end, while requesting the immediate reconstruction of the health infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, he stated that unfortunately, according to the international standards of the health system, there is no health infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, and international organizations should increase their pressure on Israel for a permanent ceasefire. Later in the event, Belalia Mohammad, a human rights activist from the University of Geneva, pointed out the number of student uprisings against the Gaza genocide across Europe, including in the University of Geneva. In Europe, some people believe that the student uprisings, in support of Gaza are considered anti-Semitic, while the crimes of the Zionists have been so great that the Jewish community has also condemned it, he continued. In the end, he pointed to the double standards of human rights in the West and demanded more attention from the world community and international organizations to Gaza and the Palestinian people.

29 June 2024

By Slavoj Žižek

LJUBLJANA – I fought for years with and for Julian Assange. But upon hearing that he has regained his freedom, my first thought was that he is returning to a world that looks – and is – much worse than the one he left behind. Pandemics, wars, and widespread ecological breakdown force us to ask the big question: In what sense are we who breathe the fresh air outside prisons still free?

Even our fictional accounts are getting worse. The new children’s movie Inside Out 2 follows a 13-year-old Riley at the start of puberty. Her personified emotions – Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Disgust – have created a new section in her mind called the “Sense of Self.” Then, four new emotions – Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui – arrive, and conflict ensues. Joy thinks Riley should focus on having fun at camp, while Anxiety wants Riley to win a spot on the team and make new friends. In the end, the first and second generations of emotions learn to work together to protect Riley’s ever-changing Sense of Self, leaving viewers with an utterly fraudulent depiction of the human psyche.

In the real world, these internal psychic tensions often escalate to the point of madness. A much better movie would have portrayed the emotions of a Palestinian boy in the ruins of Gaza, not a girl from a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. Rather than working together to form a stable self, his conflicting emotions would push him toward psychic breakdown and suicidal acts of violence. Recall G.K. Chesterton’s wonderful description:

“A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.”

Oleh Sentsov’s recent film, Real, renders this combination of opposites perfectly. After spending several years as a political prisoner in Russia, Sentsov went to fight for the Ukrainian army. The film consists of 90 minutes of GoPro footage taken when he didn’t realize his camera was on. Presented unedited, it depicts the strange mix of terror and boredom that defines life on the front line.

Such dualities run through the entire film. The banal brutality of the real is punctuated by magical moments of what might best be described as meaningless meaning. Sentsov recalls a moment from just before the footage in Real begins: “There was a soldier with the call sign Johnny, a veteran of the Afghan war. He was going there to evacuate the wounded, but he was hit, and he managed to make one last radio transmission, in which he said: ‘This is Johnny. I’m dead.’” It is a moment of authentic metaphysical absurdity.

Many reviewers believe Real shows war as it truly is. If that was Sentsov’s message, his film would be yet another pacifist paean to the meaningless absurdity of war. But though Sentsov recognizes the brutal meaninglessness of the situation, he ultimately believes that the fight for a just cause must go on. Having stripped away all the romanticism of battlefield heroism, Real shows what true courage means: to accept the misery of a military struggle, and not obfuscate it with pathetic fantasies.

This is the message we need right now. In the case of Ukraine, pacifism has been used to excuse Russia’s military aggression. The message from those who oppose Western support for Ukraine is: “You must not resist the occupier, because then you will become the same as him.” In the Holy Land, the message is similar, but the mainstream media’s reporting of events is very different. There is a consistent effort to shape and manipulate our perception of what is going on, so as to limit the emotional impact. While Israelis are killed in a “massacre,” Palestinians are merely “found dead.” These forms of “soft” censorship pervade public discourse.

Did you know that a large group of Israeli Jewish intellectuals recently called on all EU member states, the United Kingdom, and others to recognize the State of Palestine? This courageous act generated scarcely any coverage in Western media. Major events that might disturb the Western public’s sensibilities either go unmentioned or are reported only with a small note at the bottom of the page.

How many people noticed that, on June 20, 2024, Israel enacted what amounts to an annexation of the West Bank, with the Israeli Defense Force transferring powers there to “pro-settler civil servants”? The irony of this move will not be lost on Palestinians. While a military occupation implies some distance from Israel, this new dispensation means that they are being integrated into the Israeli civil order – albeit one dominated by chauvinists bent on excluding them.

These examples show why we need heroes like Assange. He did what needed to be done, and he paid a high price. The time has come for others to continue the work he started. By “work,” I mean not just a job but a vocation: something that you are called to do. Assange did not choose to launch WikiLeaks and expose state secrets so that he could spice up his life. He did it because he could not have done otherwise. For that reason, I suspect he is a happy man, despite all the suffering he has endured.

Slavoj Žižek, Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School, is International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London and the author, most recently, of Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024).

28 June 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Rima Najjar

You would think that my announcement on Facebook of my Gazan cousin’s wedding in Jordan were an invitation to a wake in hateful memory of Israel. Zionist trolls who swarm every such Palestinian affirmation of identity reared their ugly heads to spin their narratives of erasure and sow discord.

Palestinian weddings have long represented resilience. They take on deeper significance during times of war; they celebrate traditions and reinforce bonds; they provide emotional support and foster community bonds; they celebrate life despite adversity and symbolize unity and hope for a better future.

On June 21, 2024, I posted my photo at a wedding with my Gazan cousins on Facebook. The caption read, “Gazans (my cousins of the Bseiso family) celebrating a wedding in Jordan at a site overlooking Palestine.”

Zionist trolls used this post as an opportunity to question the family’s Palestinian identity (“Bseiso family from Aleppo, Syria who migrated two centuries ago to the land of Israel”) and to express their views that Jordan is Palestine and, by implication therefore, that there was no need for Palestinians to assert their right to self-determination and sovereignty in their ancestral homeland:

– “The Hashemit Kingdom of Jordan is in Palestine! PALESTINE is not a State or country, but a Region, just like the Balkan or Kavkaz!”
– “They are in Jordan ! So this is their real place !!!!:!!”
– “Mais la Jordanie c’est la Palestine arabo musulmane ! Et sur 80% de la région de Palestine , presque tout le territoire . Qu’est ce qu’ils ont encore à regarder de plus?” [But Jordan is Arab-Muslim Palestine! And on 80% of the region of Palestine, almost the entire territory. What more do they have to watch?]
– “Er…Jordan is in Palestine!🤦”

By describing Jordan as “in Palestine,” the trolls obfuscate history to stir up trouble and create divisions. Jordan’s monarchy has faced challenges in balancing Palestinian interests while maintaining stability and it is this delicate stability that Israel and these trolls want to injure. The geopolitical border described in the rallying cry “from the river to the sea” includes only the West Bank of the Jordan River, not the East.

Although there are historical and cultural connections between the areas west and east of the Jordan River, Transjordan was not considered part of Palestine in a strict geopolitical sense during the Ottoman period or under the British Mandate after 1921, when international boundaries between Palestine and Transjordan were established. At the time, the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration produced a recipe for disastrous instability in the southern part of Greater Syria, namely, two countries (Palestine and Transjordan) for three peoples — Palestinians, Transjordanians, and a growing Jewish Zionist colonists from Europe in Palestine.

The establishment of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has provided continuity and a degree of stability in the region (Hashemites hold a special role as custodians of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem), but the monarchy has never resolved the underlying conflict between Zionists and Palestinians in the region, preferring instead to co-operate with the US and buy into its illusory and deceptive “peace process.”

Jordan has supported Palestinian rights and provided refuge and integration for many Palestinians. It has consistently advocated for a two-state solution and the rights of Palestinians on international platforms. This advocacy has helped keep the Palestinian cause in the international spotlight. However, Jordan has also acted to preserve its own authority, sometimes at the expense of Palestinian nationalist aspirations. Its actions have not always aligned perfectly with Palestinian nationalist goals. And although today, in the aftermath of Oct 7, public opinion in Jordan is swinging firmly against normalization with Israel, concerns about stability and security remain paramount for Jordanians.

After World War I, the League of Nations granted Britain the mandate for Palestine in 1920. Initially, this mandate included the territory east of the Jordan River. However, the British had different administrative plans for these regions. In 1921, the British decided to separate the territory east of the Jordan River from the Mandate for Palestine, creating the Emirate of Transjordan. Abdullah I of the Hashemite family was installed as the emir. This effectively created a distinct administrative entity, although both were under British control.

The establishment of Transjordan as a separate administrative unit in 1921 meant that it was no longer considered part of Palestine in a political or administrative sense. By 1923, this separation was formalized, but the British government often treated them as two complementary entities —for example, the Palestinian currency was also the official currency of Transjordan; Palestinian civil servants were seconded to the administration in Transjordan, and Palestine supported the Transjordanian budget both directly and indirectly. Both regions, after all, were administered by the same Mandate. The British resident in Amman operated under the directives of the high commissioner in Palestine and Palestinian officials were usually appointed to the administration of Transjordan as well.

As a result of the subsequent partitioning of Palestine and the violent creation of the settler-colonial Zionist Jewish state on 78 percent of Palestinian territory, antagonism toward Israel and support for Palestine remain deeply ingrained in the political culture and national consciousness of Arab and Muslim nations.

My friend Max Monclair expressed it perfectly: “The only reason Jordan isn’t ‘in Palestine’ is because of the British. No one living in Palestine decided on any of this. The trolls need to learn history or be honest that they are defending the self-claimed ‘right’ of the West to determine the shape of the rest of the world.”

Just as the Zionist movement and the presence of US-backed Israel in the region has significantly influenced Jordan’s history, politics, and stability, it has also had significant negative and dramatic impact on the stability of several other Middle Eastern countries, ranging from territorial disputes to broader geopolitical tensions. The unresolved tensions of the past in Palestine continue to shape the politics of the region today.

Following is a cursory rundown of these scenarios:

Egypt: Israel’s aggression on Palestinians, especially in Gaza, continues to pose immediate threats to Egypt, including potential refugee influx, internal instability, and sharp reductions in state revenues that undermine Egypt’s economic and national security.

Iraq: The Zionist movement played a role in the 1950s attacks on Iraqi Jews, leading to tensions and displacement. It intensified competition between superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) in the region, affecting Iraq’s stability.

Lebanon: The 1982 Lebanon War, initiated by Israel, had a profound impact on Lebanon’s stability. Israel’s invasion aimed to weaken Palestinian and Syrian influence but resulted in significant casualties and displacement. The concept of “Greater Israel” also included parts of Lebanon, further contributing to regional tensions.

Syria: The 1967 War led to Israel capturing the Golan Heights from Syria, escalating tensions and affecting regional stability. The uprooting, dispossession of Palestinians influenced Syria’s domestic and foreign policies, contributing to instability.

Yemen: Israel’s actions and their consequences in the region shaped the Houthi worldview regarding the Zionist-American aggression. while Yemen faces internal strife, the Houthi movement’s alignment with Palestine underscores the broader geopolitical contest in the Middle East.

Sudan: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict impacted Sudan’s security and relations with power dynamics in the Middle East, indirectly affecting its stability.

As I wrote here: “Much of the world is finally realizing that Zionism and Israel are not just problems, but everybody’s problems.”

Long before Oct 7 and the Al-Aqsa Flood, there was Al-Buraq Revolution of 1929, the first Palestinian uprising against attempts to Judaize Jerusalem during the British Mandate era. Al-Buraq Wall is the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Muhammad Jamjoum, Fouad Hijazi, and Atta al-Zeer were Palestinian revolutionaries executed by the British Mandate in 1930 for their role in the Al-Buraq Revolution. These three individuals became enduring symbols of Palestinian resistance and struggle. Mirror of the East (جريدة مرآة الشرق) Newspaper reported the following on June 21, 1930:

“This is my wedding day, ma, so rejoice

When the mother of the martyr Muhammad Jamjoom went to visit him in prison, he saw her crying and said to her, ‘This is my wedding day, my mother, so ululate’ and the martyr Atta al-Zeer told his sisters, ‘Do not think that I am dead, I am alive, so do not cry for me.’

Those sentenced to death Fouad, Atta and Mohamed continued to sing national anthems until the last hour.”

By comparing his martyrdom to a wedding, Muhammad Jamjoum invoked the idea of Palestinian weddings as powerful expressions of resilience, love, and continuity.

Palestinians carry a profound mix of emotions when it comes to the martyrdom of their sons. Along with immense grief and pain, they feel a deep sense of national pride. They regard martyrdom as a worthy sacrifice in defense of their homeland and resistance to occupation, colonization, and injustice — a path to paradise and divine reward. To Palestinians, “Peace be upon you السلام عليكم” means liberation, equality, and justice.

Note: First published on Medium here.
___________________
Rima Najjar is a Palestinian whose father’s side of the family comes from the forcibly depopulated village of Lifta on the western outskirts of Jerusalem and whose mother’s side of the family is from Ijzim, south of Haifa. She is an activist, researcher, and retired professor of English literature, Al-Quds University, occupied West Bank.

28 June 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Marwan Asmar

The battle for the Al Shujaiyia starts again. Israeli troops under aircover and aerial bombardment are entering the destroyed town that lies east of Gaza City.

[https://twitter.com/MustafaBarghou1/status/1806336919174844609]

This is the third round of entry by the Israeli army, seeing the town as a sore thumb, and a degrading one at that.  Al Shujaiyia, which lies one kilometer away from the siege into Israel, holds bad memories for the Israeli army.

[https://twitter.com/WAFANewsEnglish/status/1806585180888396211]

It is here where Israel killed three of the hostages that were held there back in December, 2023.  Despite the three holding white flags and shouting in Hebrew, they were shot point-blank.

[https://twitter.com/warfareanalysis/status/1806277007262540149]

Today it invades the ruined town despite the rubble and the wreckage. There are no homes here, but people have refused to leave, making do with what they have, living on their bomb-created homes.

[https://twitter.com/warfareanalysis/status/1806378166015168786]

The Israeli army says its invading the town once again because of their intelligence sources saying there are Palestinian resistance fighters here.

[https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1806337673994408339]

But in reality, Al Shujaiyia has always remained a resistance territory. It is the grave of Israeli soldiers. In the first hours of their entry, Israeli troops faced at least 10 military operations against them by Hamas and Saraya Al Quds fighters.

The drainage of Israeli troop and hardware losses continued with news of one Merkava 4-tank blown up as well as troop carrier not to say anything about the IED planted bombs unto the Baghdad Road to prevent entry by other Israeli vehicles.

Once historians sit and write the history of this war, they will find Al Shujaiyia has been the toughest for the Israeli army despite the enormous levels of destruction where the fight has been by a modern, professional army with top guns and armour against men in jeans and home-made missiles made from pipe tubes.

[https://twitter.com/Kuffiyateam/status/1806271739120238919]

The entry of Israeli troops however has caused havoc on the population of Al Shujaiyia who managed up till now to stay in their wrecked homes. This time however, reports of hundreds leaving the neighborhood abound the internet and social media.

This not to say anything about the numbers of those killed and injured. It was reported at least 15 people were killed in the first few hours of troops entering the neighborhood.

As usual Israeli troops – and they know it – will not be able to get to the resistance fighters. All the Israeli army will be doing – and this is a credit to their already soured professionalism – is create more death, injury, displacement among the civilian population.

Marwan Asmar is a Amman-based writer covering Middle East Affairs

28 June 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr. Ramzy Baroud

“There will be no civil war” in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 18. But he might be wrong.

Netanyahu’s statement was made in the context of the growing popular protests in Israel, especially following the long-anticipated resignations of several Israeli War Cabinet Ministers, including Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot – both former chiefs of staff in the Israeli army.

These resignations did not necessarily isolate Netanyahu, as the man’s popularity rests almost entirely on the support of the right and the far right. However, the move further illustrated deep and growing rifts in Israeli society, which could ultimately take the country from a state of political upheaval to an actual state of civil war.

Divisions in Israel cannot be viewed the same way as other political polarizations currently rife among Western democracies. This assertion is not necessarily linked to the legitimate view that, at its core, Israel is not an actual democracy but, rather, due to the fact that Israel’s political formation is unique.

The story began long before the current Gaza war.

In February 2019, the leaders of three Israeli parties formed a coalition, Kahol Lavan, or ‘Blue and White’. Two of Kahol Lavan’s founders, Gantz and Moshe Ya’alon, were also military men, widely respected among the country’s powerful military establishment, thus society at large. Despite their relative electoral successes, they still failed to dislodge Netanyahu from office. So, they went to the streets.

Taking the conflict to the streets of Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities was a decision not made lightly. It followed the collapse of a strange government coalition, cobbled up by all of Netanyahu’s enemies, unified around the single objective of ending the right and far-right reign over the country. Naftali Bennet’s failure was simply the last straw.

The terms ‘right’ and ‘far-right’ may give the impression that the political conflict in Israel is essentially ideological. Though ideology does play a role in Israeli politics, anger at Netanyahu and his allies is largely motivated by the feeling that the new right in Israel is attempting to reconfigure the very political nature of the country.

So, starting in January 2023, hundreds of thousands of Israelis launched unprecedented mass protests that lasted until the start of the Israeli war on Gaza. The initial collective demand of the protesters, supported by Gantz and the who’s who of the Israeli military and liberal elites, was to prevent Netanyahu from altering the political balances of power that have governed Israeli society for the last 75 years. With time, the demands, however, turned into the collective chant of regime change.

Though the issue was largely discussed in the media as a political rift resulting from Netanyahu’s wishes to marginalize Israel’s judicial institution for personal reasons, the roots of the event, which threatened a civil war, were quite different.

The story of the potential Israeli civil war is as old as the Israeli state itself, and recent comments by Netanyahu, suggesting otherwise, are yet another false claim by the prime minister.

Indeed, on June 16, Netanyahu lashed out at rebellious military generals, stating that “We have a country with an army and not an army with a country.” In truth, Israel was founded through war, and was sustained also through war.

This meant that the Israeli military had, from the very start, a special status in Israeli society, an unwritten contract that allowed army generals a special and often a central seat in Israel’s political decision-making. The likes of Ariel Sharon, Ehud Barak and others, including the very founder of Israel, David Ben Gurion, have all reached the helm of Israeli politics namely because of their military affiliations.

But Netanyahu changed all of this when he began to actively restructure Israel’s political institutions to keep the military marginal and politically disempowered. In doing so, Netanyahu has violated the main pillar of Israel’s political balance, starting in 1948.

Even before Israel finished the task of ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people during the Nakba, the nascent country almost immediately entered into a civil war. As Ben Gurion issued an order regarding the formation of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on May 26, some Zionist militias, including the Irgun and Lehi – the Stern Gang – fought to preserve a degree of political independence.

That was the start of the so-called Altalena Affair, when the Haganah-dominated IDF tried to block a sea shipment of weapons on its way to the Irgun, then under the leadership of Menachem Begin who, in 1967, became Israel’s prime minister. The confrontation was deadly. It resulted in the killing of many members of the Irgun, mass arrests and the shelling of the ship itself.

The reference to the Altalena Affair is heard quite frequently in Israeli media debates these days, as the Israeli war on Gaza is splintering an already divided society. This division is compelling the military to abandon the historical balance that was achieved following that mini-civil war, which could have ended Israel’s future as a state only days after its formation.

The internal Israeli conflict over Gaza is, indeed, not just about Gaza, Hamas or Hezbollah, but the future of Israel itself. If the Israeli army finds itself scapegoated for October 7 and the assured failed military campaigns that followed, it will have to make a choice, between accepting its indefinite marginalization or clashing with the political institution.

For the latter to take place, a civil war might become a real possibility.

“There will be no civil war” in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 18. But he might be wrong.

Netanyahu’s statement was made in the context of the growing popular protests in Israel, especially following the long-anticipated resignations of several Israeli War Cabinet Ministers, including Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot – both former chiefs of staff in the Israeli army.

These resignations did not necessarily isolate Netanyahu, as the man’s popularity rests almost entirely on the support of the right and the far right. However, the move further illustrated deep and growing rifts in Israeli society, which could ultimately take the country from a state of political upheaval to an actual state of civil war.

Divisions in Israel cannot be viewed the same way as other political polarizations currently rife among Western democracies. This assertion is not necessarily linked to the legitimate view that, at its core, Israel is not an actual democracy but, rather, due to the fact that Israel’s political formation is unique.

The story began long before the current Gaza war.

In February 2019, the leaders of three Israeli parties formed a coalition, Kahol Lavan, or ‘Blue and White’. Two of Kahol Lavan’s founders, Gantz and Moshe Ya’alon, were also military men, widely respected among the country’s powerful military establishment, thus society at large. Despite their relative electoral successes, they still failed to dislodge Netanyahu from office. So, they went to the streets.

Taking the conflict to the streets of Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities was a decision not made lightly. It followed the collapse of a strange government coalition, cobbled up by all of Netanyahu’s enemies, unified around the single objective of ending the right and far-right reign over the country. The failure of Naftali Bennet, the leader of that coalition, was simply the last straw.

The terms ‘right’ and ‘far-right’ may give the impression that the political conflict in Israel is essentially ideological. Though ideology does play a role in Israeli politics, anger at Netanyahu and his allies is largely motivated by the feeling that the new right in Israel is attempting to reconfigure the very political nature of the country.

So, starting in January 2023, hundreds of thousands of Israelis launched unprecedented mass protests that lasted until the start of the Israeli war on Gaza. The initial collective demand of the protesters, supported by Gantz and the who’s who of the Israeli military and liberal elites, was to prevent Netanyahu from altering the political balances of power that have governed Israeli society for the last 75 years. With time, the demands, however, turned into the collective chant of regime change.

Though the issue was largely discussed in the media as a political rift resulting from Netanyahu’s wishes to marginalize Israel’s judicial institution for personal reasons, the roots of the event, which threatened a civil war, were quite different.

The story of the potential Israeli civil war is as old as the Israeli state itself, and recent comments by Netanyahu, suggesting otherwise, are yet another false claim by the prime minister.

Indeed, on June 16, Netanyahu lashed out at rebellious military generals, stating that “We have a country with an army and not an army with a country.” In truth, Israel was founded through war, and was sustained also through war.

This meant that the Israeli military had, from the very start, a special status in Israeli society, an unwritten contract that allowed army generals a special and often a central seat in Israel’s political decision-making. The likes of Ariel Sharon, Itzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and others, including the very founder of Israel, David Ben Gurion, have all reached the helm of Israeli politics, namely because of their military affiliations.

But Netanyahu changed all of this when he began to actively restructure Israel’s political institutions to keep the military marginal and politically disempowered. In doing so, he has violated the main pillar of Israel’s political balance, starting in 1948.

Even before Israel finished the task of ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people during the Nakba, the nascent country almost immediately entered into a civil war. As Ben Gurion issued an order regarding the formation of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on May 26, 1948, some Zionist militias, including the Irgun and Lehi – the Stern Gang – fought to preserve a degree of political independence.

That was the start of the so-called Altalena Affair, when the Haganah-dominated IDF tried to block a sea shipment of weapons on its way to the Irgun, then under the leadership of Menachem Begin who, in 1967, became Israel’s prime minister. The confrontation was deadly. It resulted in the killing of many members of the Irgun, mass arrests and the shelling of the ship itself.

The reference to the Altalena Affair is heard quite frequently in Israeli media debates these days, as the Israeli war on Gaza is splintering an already divided society. This division is compelling the military to abandon the historical balance that was achieved following that mini-civil war, which could have ended Israel’s future as a state only days after its formation.

The internal Israeli conflict over Gaza is, indeed, not just about Gaza, Hamas or Hezbollah, but the future of Israel itself. If the Israeli army finds itself scapegoated for October 7 and the assured failed military campaigns that followed, it will have to make a choice, between accepting its indefinite marginalization or clashing with the political institution.

For the latter to take place, a civil war might become a real possibility.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books.

28 June 2024

Source: countercurrents.org