Occupation Has Consequences

In the wake of the Hamas led offensive in the occupied regions of southern Palestine the world has once again decided that “Israel has a right to defend itself”. We pretend that Israeli civilians being attacked is an “unprecedented terror attack” because we want to have some excuse to ignore decades of Israeli aggression and violent oppression of Palestinians in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The insistence that nothing prior to this attack can be considered when talking about Israel is a calculated attempt to hide the full context of what led to this escalation, how Hamas even came to be, and why Israel is now seeing the consequences of its actions on a scale Netanyahu always wanted.

Christians who support Israel are the same sorts of people who love to quote verses about “you reap what you sow” when people they hate are suffering any given anguish. Many are using those verse right now as Palestinian families are exterminated by Israeli airstrikes. Yet for decades the Israeli state has understood that it would eventually have to deal with “blowback”, consequences, for its crimes against the Palestinians. That is why Tel Aviv has kept an eye on Iran and Lebanon. Because the Jewish ethno-state knows that its violent oppression of Palestinians would make it enemies among its neighbors. Leaders like Netanyahu however didn’t just know that consequences were coming, they have engineered among Palestinians the harvest they wanted all along. For Netanyahu the existence of groups like Hamas has always been politically profitable. Having a boogeyman to scapegoat whenever necessary is what all authoritarians want. And now that we know that Egypt warned Tel Aviv well in advance of this weekend, it is clear that Netanyahu saw the consequences coming. It was an excuse for the total war he wanted to launch. War being historically how Netanyahu has solidified his hold on the government in Israel. How Netanyahu has gained support among Israelis who believed their government all along when they were told they would never suffer the consequences for the occupation and apartheid policies. While Netanyahu appears to have allowed the consequences to come home to the Israelis, it cannot be ignored that the Israelis themselves went along with their government for decades under the promise that they would be shielded from accountability. What Israel saw when the ghetto walls of Gaza were breached was an uprising of people who have been denied their rights, their humanity and their homeland. As violent as this has been, this is the harvest that Israel made possible. The harvest sprouted from the seeds Israel alone spread across Palestine.

As a Jew, I am reminded of the conversations I was able to have with survivors of the Holocaust in Croatia. Partisans who used extreme violence to fight back against the Nazis and Ustaša alike. People who had participated in the reprisals that took place before Tito ended the resulting communal violence in Yugoslavia. Of the three of them, none seemed truly remorseful for taking revenge. At no point did I blame them for that hardness either. Having listened to what the Ustaša did to them, I was in no place to judge what they wanted to do in return. The Croatian fascists had planted a harvest that they believed they would never have to reap. That eventually the Jews, the Serbs, the Roma would be gone. That under the guidance of their Nazi counterparts, Croatia was going to be Catholic only. But each family member they murdered in the forests and mountains, each family member they sent to camps was a seed their fascist sins planted in the hearts of those who remained. Once sprouted, somebody had to pay. An exchange was to be made. And this part of the Holocaust, the part that came after the fascists were defeated, isn’t isolated to the stories I listened to. In Germany the survivors also put forth revenge actions. Be it poisoning SS inmates under American guard or planning to poison German water supplies, the price of the crimes committed against them carried over even after the war had ended. Many would illegally immigrate to Palestine. And many of those would use the crimes European states committed against them as reason enough to force Palestinians to pay the price.

Only in the comfort of privileged distance do we find it convenient to say that killing citizens of an occupying force, which Israel is, is morally unjustified. It has not been our families murdered by Israeli occupation. It has not been our brothers abducted by the Israeli occupation forces, and it has not been our sisters who have endured sexual assault and victimization by Israeli soldiers and settlers. We get to watch Gaza burn while pretending that each new death in this Israeli carpet-bombing campaign isn’t a new seed being planted for a future harvest of bloody revenge. By ignoring the over 80 years of violence perpetrated against the Palestinians we get to “stand with Israel” in feigned outrage over mislabeled “terrorism”. Only when we have decided to ignore Netanyahu’s fascism, Israel’s original sins and the longstanding blockade of Gaza can we get atop our soapbox and shout about how violence is never the answer.

Until Palestinian suffering is recognized, until Israel faces true consequences for its crimes, the Western world will have to get comfortable playing the role of hypocrites. That is unless we somehow decide to start telling our governments to withdraw support for Israel and end financial backing of its murderous campaign against Palestinians. Let Israel face the horror of what occupation looks like. Force Netanyahu to come outright with his desired crimes against humanity so he and the rest of Israel’s leadership can be tried like the Nazis at Nuremberg. But given the Democrats’ current response, appeasement of the genocidal government in Israel, the status quo, seems more likely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Peace In Our Time

“Every society has the criminals it deserves.”

~Emma Goldman

 

We have reached a point where the existence of a terrorist threat from the right-wing can no more be denied. When neo-Nazis lay siege to the Capitol, only those they do not wish to kill have the privilege to pretend normality and civility can be restored. For the rest of us, the events of January 6^th were the right's announcement that they are ready and willing to attack regardless of who is president. And this country will gladly allow them the space in which to do it.

In the coming weeks we will hear Democrats shift from calls for justice as they begin talking about peace and reconciliation. They will say that we must have unity and find common ground with the same people who just told us they want us dead. Men who wore “Camp Auschwitz” and “Six Million Jews Was Not Enough" shirts are to brought back into the fold by forcing us to bow before them and the Liberal left will demand as much. There is no indignity, no amount of danger, considered too great for us to be ordered to accept in the name of peace. And when the next attack comes, there will be no amount of our blood spilled that is too much for the Democrats to consider to be an acceptable sacrifice.

The Republicans have shown their hand. They embraced a president who built larger camps in which to torture immigrants. They licked Trump’s boots while he called Nazis “good people”. They have even in the wake of the president’s treason tried to find ways to shift the blame elsewhere, with men like Hawley dog whistling the base. A party that had torch lit parades while shouting “they will not replace us", a Nazi slogan, cannot be brought back into the fold. If the Republican Party is not abolished, it will continue to be haven for genocidal factions dead set on the destruction of democracy. There can be no peace with these people.

American society has long demanded its minority populations sacrifice disproportionately for the sake of the majority. When Black church goers are gunned down, the white gunman is sanitized by the media and treated with kid gloves by the cops. When Hispanic workers go to the fields and factories to put food on the tables of all Americans, the state uses their vulnerability against them and breaks up their families while white owned corporations get a free pass. When American Jews go to temple or market and are met with the bullets of antisemites, all other Americans find ways to pretend their embrace of antisemitic rhetoric had nothing to do with it. America is a nation of cannibals, savages incapable of civilized behavior for more than a moment, yet pretends to be a bastion of liberty and democracy. It builds up an alter to itself on the backs of subjugated neighbors and former colonies while placing its most vulnerable communities upon it as a sacrifice. All promises of greatness from the American empire have always come with the price tag of the innocent blood of intentionally voiceless minorities. The American dream purchased through the deaths of those it erases from history books.

If the Democrats want peace they must first force the United States into a confrontation with its past and present behavior. They must attack the foundations of American mythology and reconcile with the beast within this country. The painful experiences of the United State’s minorities cannot be ignored any longer. The US must pay the devil for time borrowed. Institutions of oppression, the same ones the Right holds up as symbols of greatness, must be inspected and dismantled. Those who have profited off the exploitation of the lower classes must be made to pay for their transgressions as the dignity of the oppressed is restored and their quality of life elevated from the present state of virtual slavery to the system. Until the United States is ready to uproot the right-wing, level the field and offer all people the same rights and liberties; peace is a synonym for submission.

 

Gluttons In The Land Of Milk And Honey

Christianity In The Age Of Trump 

Christianity has long cast itself as a religion of love, forgiveness of sins and salvation through the Christian messiah. Sunday sermons that once preached hellfire and damnation have over time turned to the message of Jesus to try and win back the souls that have left pews empty across the country. Yet the true nature of the Christian has not changed in America. Through the deeds of the faithful the hollowness of their religion has been laid bare for all to see. It is impossible to believe in a god that said “let them come onto me" when speaking of children and the needy when the Christian majority in America voted for children in cages and detention centers where women and mothers are coerced into sterilization programs or forced against their will. It is hard to imagine the god that healed a diseased man that was lowered through the roof just to be in the same room as him when Christians today have voted time and time again against healthcare for the masses because of their rigid belief in individualism and self reliance while living in a country that gobbles up the world’s resources. It is impossible to see the love of their Christ, who supposedly died for all mankind, when the Christian majority in America cannot be brought to reconcile the sins their country perpetrated against Black, Latino, Asian and Indigenous Americans from the very day of its founding; so much so that even the slogan “Black Lives Matter” terrifies Christian America while they sing Sunday school songs that include the lyrics “red, yellow, black and white… they are precious in His sight.”

Galatians 3:28 states: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

In a truly Christ like view of the world there is no place for “American exceptionalism” because there is nothing unique, special or blessed about the nation itself. There is no mandate from god that America should prosper nor that its people should be separate from the world around it. The god of Abraham did not set a “hedge of protection” around the United States and bring it from a handful of colonies to a superpower. History records a country rising from land purged of its Indigenous inhabitants through a series of unholy wars and genocidal acts. It shows a country in which the slave and the poor masses were put to work for the swine that considered themselves too intelligent to get their hands dirty or bleed for the treasure they collected from the sweat of the enslaved and the bodies of the lower class sent to die for “god and country". It shows a long line of men, all from the same skin tone, ruling over families through claims that only they stood between the masses and anarchy, that only they could right the ship and sail the people to prosperity, while women and Blacks were denied any equality for the majority of the country’s existence. It shows a country that lied about its founding so that it could conquer the Philippines through the use of genocide, concentration camps and race based rule. It shows a country that holds territories as inferior properties, deprived of equal rights even to this day, while still claiming that some green tinted statue and a pile of documents from long dead men make America Great, that all men are created equal in the land of the not brave enough to accept reality.

So even if Christians today in America could accept that there is no room in their Christ's message for the rabid nationalism, the myths of greatness and a fake image of a new chosen people, there still is more ways than just this in which Christians defy their god and ignore the hypocrisy in their perverted interpretation of Jesus.

In 1st Timothy Christians are implored to provide for the needy, the desperate and the forsaken. To ignore the needs of the people is to be “worse than the unbeliever” according to their text. While America remains one of the wealthiest countries on earth, it has massive under class that remains at and often below the poverty line. This coupled with the needs of the asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants shows how best the wealth of the privileged of the world should be spent according the god of the Christians. Yet the government is so frequently put upon by “believers" in politician’s clothes to cut funding and block access for the poor. For a god that fed a multitude with a few pieces of bread and a few fish, Christians seem to imagine their god, who they claim has blessed America, is out of miracles nowadays. At the very least He seems incapable of breaking the hearts of stone His reverends, pastors and priests have installed in the hearts of His flock. If even for a moment the love their Jesus could be seen, you would hope it could at least be shown in this one area of stopping their fellow man from enduring needless suffering.

This November the Christ of the American Church goes on the ballot with every Christian that turns out to vote. While neither candidate is a messiah, one is a clear devil. To vote for a man who readily stirs up violent racists, encourages attacks on minorities and immigrants (in defiance of Christ's message on how to care for the sojourner/alien), talks gleefully about sexual violence against women, and places himself as an idol to be followed blindly is to look up at the cross on your church and pretend that the god you claim died for your sins did so in vain. For there is nothing left in the religious rightwing of America that reflects even a single word of the Jesus your church pamphlets tell others about. And in the end, hollow words from evangelicals fall on deaf ears once anyone else sees how Christians behave from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night. We can see the message of you Jesus, even agree with it, but never feel compelled to embrace the god of a people so heartless and hedonistic as American Christians appear today.

Nazism, Malaysian Style

(patches used by Malaysian neo-Nazis)

Hitler’s belief in a dominant race can be transformed to fit any number of neo-fascist hate groups around the world today. You see it in how Modi twists the Nazi flare to turn the focus from race to religion while still maintaining nationality as the core of his Hindu nationalist platform. India's take on a Nazi like state still needs the issue of nationality, often associating Islam with other ethnicities outside of India, to drive the fanaticism behind making a state based on radical Hinduism. But take a little trip over to Malaysia and you find Nazism alive and well in a nearly perfect transplant of the German version. That is because Malaysia’s nationalists have a very diehard focus on race that, like Germany, uses religion as a prop. When Malaysian Nazis speak about their brand of nationalism, they are solely speaking about the white supremacist style “blood and soil" brand of it.

Malaysia as we know it today was formed on the racist belief that the dominant Malay ethnicity had a right to all of Malaysia. This was in spite of the fact that Malays are not the Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia but rather, given a more accurate and much longer timeline, relatively new to the migration of peoples who have swept over the lands that currently comprise Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet with the focus of nationality being the present, and only on the states formed out of colonial maps, the justice for Indigenous Peoples who have been made second class citizens by Malaysia is not of concern for the nationalists of today. The Malaysia they know is one where the Malay is king and all others are either to be subjects or driven out. That not so pleasant aspect of post-colonial Malaysia, one intentionally overlooked by racists like Malaysia's PM Mahathir, gives the roots of radical nationalism like that seen among Malaysia’s neo-Nazis. It is the racist foundation of society that feeds the “fringe" by allowing them to tap into what the rest of society has conveniently ignored but so frequently benefited from.

Mahathir’s own written works could be dissected to show how political power in Malaysia has only ever been harnessed through the deliberate and skillful manipulation of Malay privilege as well as both overt and outright racism towards other ethnic groups. Mahathir gained much of his influence via grievance politics and promises of securing the privileged status of Malays while offering justification for the discrimination faced by minorities in Malaysia. While Malaysian politicians have often pretended to be working on behalf of all ethnic groups in Malaysia, they more often than not have served the interests of the dominant ethnic group at the detriment of minorities. This persistent pandering to the racist views of the majority has engendered a climate in which the most depraved of extremists can find fertile soil and feel comfortable growing without fear of being cut down. From jihadists to Nazis, Malaysia’s problem with radicals is one of its own making and a direct consequence of society’s willingness to look the other way.

Malay Power

(Hitler salutes at a Malaysian Nazi concert)

In the early 2010’s the political movement Perkasa was compared to the American Tea Party by Malaysian commentators as the Malaysians watched their own far-right take to the streets. One striking indication of how little Malaysians wanted to deal with their own racism was in how commenters repeatedly whitewashed the blatant racism of America’s Tea Party movement in hopes of diminishing the equally Nazi-like racism of Perkasa. While political commentary did often admit that Perkasa had racist motivations behind its fascist politics, the comments were always immediately followed up with explanations for why Malays could magically not be racists. Around the same time the Nazi music scene in Malaysia was kicking off as far-right groups found a soundtrack for their Nazi inspired movements. The band Boot Axe, taking direct inspiration in its name from white supremacist terminology and references to Nazi “jackboots", rose to the forefront of the skinhead style scene. Swastikas, deaths head emblems and the Nazi SS were all on clear display as the skinheads ignored the fact that they were all far too brown to have ever been accepted as Nazis by the originals. Hate filled lyrics showed that they irony of their Nazi fetish didn’t matter much to the Malay supremacists. Hate was all they had and all they needed.

A hatred of minorities among the Nazi scene in Malaysia uses events like the pogroms of Chinese communities in Malaysia during the 13th of May, 1969 ethnic violence. The racism of Malaysian society as a whole was on full display on that day in 1969. The Malaysian majority used ethnic Chinese communities as scapegoats for a political loss suffered by the politicians who had spent their time race baiting the ethnic majority. Nazis in Malaysia today view themselves as the next batch of storm troopers prepared to dish out the same violence upon any and all minorities in Malaysia, regardless of the fact many ethnic minorities they hate are the actual Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia. Their belief that they are defending the socioeconomic interests of their race (which technically is a hodgepodge of ethnic groups that passed through the region over time) shows the racially inspired hatred of the movement. But there is another aspect to Malaysian Nazism… religion.

(Malaysian Nazis, note the SS death's head shirt)

When Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir calls Jews “hook-nosed” and “the source of all the world’s problems" he is not just appealing to the anti-semitism that is so prevalent in Malaysia but is directly appealing to Malaysia’s neo-Nazi movement. His hate filled literature and speeches are lapped up by Malaysia’s Nazis because their brand of Nazism uses a view of Jewish people that is filtered through German Nazism as well as less than moderate interpretations of Islam. Just as how Mahathir views Malay identity as being intertwined with Islamic identity in the Middle East, Malaysia’s Nazi movement views Hitler’s Final Solution as a key part in dealing with the people Mahathir claims are “the source of all the world’s problems.” Largely due to the fact that this view of Malay identity does not limit Malaysia to its borders but extends it to Jerusalem and all of the Islamic world. The irony of including Muslims on the basis of their faith, ignoring their racial diversity, as allies while excluding minorities in Malaysia solely on the basis of ethnicity is not lost on the Nazis though. Many of Malaysia’s neo-Nazis bridge the gap here by tweaking Malay identity to include the jihadist mantra of defending the ummah as something of their sacred duty. 

Religion is frequently used as a intoxicant among extremists regardless of political leanings, ethnocentric views or outright hatred of their targeted victims. The love and peace of the faith itself is discarded in favor of cherry picked verses that would otherwise justify the violent ends of the radicals when interpreted as they wish. Malay Nazism is no exception. By relying on Islamic verses that profess less than tolerant views of homosexuality and non-Abrahamic faiths, Malay Nazism draws a hard line that mirrors that of Islamic extremists of any other background. Taking a page from their Christian Nazi comrades, the Malay Nazis use scripture to justify their hatred of LGBT communities by claiming homosexuality threatens their view of a “pure Malay race". Many of these deviate along the same lines that white supremacists do by once again circling their hate for LGBT people back to their hatred of Jewish people by claiming Judaism is the root of homosexuality (yet Judaism is equally intolerant of LGBT people). This illustrates rather well the method in which religion, all religion, is frequently used to insulate the group and encourage the otherizing of groups deemed unworthy or outcasts. Which is why Nazism, everywhere, so often relies on religion as a method of securing its prospective followers and hardening its existing extremists.

How Can Asian Nazis Even Exist?

(Nazi tattoos in Malaysia)

This question has been asked by many articles written by Malaysian authors wishing to push the notion that Nazism is a whites only problem. That somehow Malaysians are incapable of being rabidly racist to the point of adopting one of Europe’s worst sins as their own. Yet Nazism does not grow out of nowhere. This brand of extremism needs specific conditions to be met before it can spring up like a weed that can never fully be exterminated. Neo-Nazism thrives when society’s majority decides to secure their own interests at the expense of all others. It takes root in a climate of hostility towards those perceived to be outsiders, when nationalism dictates who is a member of the group and who must go away. Nazism is a byproduct of the indifference society shows towards the most vulnerable and the most easily scapegoated. When Malaysia permits the ethnic majority to dictate who is and is not Malaysian, it feeds the growth of extremists like the Malaysian Nazis. When Malaysia goes looking for minorities to blame for the ineptitude of its government, it raises a generation of potential skinheads. Mahathir’s time as Prime Minister has been a godsend to the growing Nazi movement in Malaysia. But no one politician is to blame. Instead it is Malaysian society as a whole, the same as American society shares collective blame for Nazis on its streets, for the rise of Nazism in Malaysia. Malaysians have tolerated and frequently coddled its extremists because these skinheads are no threat to the Malay majority. And yet Nazism in Malaysia is no less a threat to the global community than White Supremacy is. When Americans ignored neo-Nazis during the 1980s and 1990s the consequences were felt in Oklahoma City and later around the world. Malaysia’s neo-Nazis are not isolated. Their music, their symbols and their chants are shared with their white counterparts. The internet has made the world smaller in a million ways and one of those has been that hate can spread from fingertips on iphones and be around the world in a blink of an eye.

From Cultural Appropriation To Using Us As Props

Jewish people of African descent have been in the United States just as long as Jewish people of European descent. Both communities have deep roots with cultural practices and beliefs shared across racial distinctions between them. However both have different experiences when talking about antisemitism and the appropriation of their culture and identity by racial extremists and Christians masquerading as Jews. We also have different ways of identifying and different words used for doing so. This last point is where the rise of black nationalists coopting the identity of Jews of color comes in.

“Hebrew Israelites”

Cultural Appropriation To Get Closer To God

There are authentically Jewish communities across the United States which happen to be Jews of color which identify as Hebrews and/or Israelites. These communities are Jewish in the same way non-Jews view European Jews as being Jewish. Their connection to our shared heritage, ancestry and religion should never be diminished nor should they face discrimination on the basis of their skin color. When others claim to support Jews and fight antisemitism, these communities must also be included in the discussion and the challenges and oppression they face must be addressed – regardless of how uncomfortable that might be for anyone else.

Then there are the racists who have continued to appropriate the identity of African-American Jews by attempting to redefine what being Jewish means so that it includes them and excludes all the diverse communities of Jews around the world who don’t fit their prejudiced views. These imposters take portions of Judaism and Jewish culture and blend it with cultures completely alien to Jewish tradition (of any background). The other cultures they exploit range from indigenous and tribal cultures across the globe which happen to be people of color and a skin tone they approve of. Some take the identity of Aetas in the Philippines and mischaracterize the indigenous group as a fabled “lost tribe" so that they can claim ancient origins while ignoring the entirety of Aeta culture and history. Others point to random black communities in China to once again exploit and mischaracterize the histories of these peoples to the benefit of the exploiters. This behavior is seen in regards to Judaism by how these groups also fail to even learn Hebrew before calling themselves “Hebrews", instead mixing languages to come up with gibberish sounding like “ancient Hebrew" they claim to have rediscovered. The complete disregard for the cultures they are appropriating comes from the fact that the intent behind this behavior is that of seeking a sense of superiority to others. There is no need to study the people you are attempting to dispossess of their identity when you already view them as subhuman. A view clearly seen in their frequently violent street preaching attacks.

Jewish identity among Christian extremists is viewed as a way to get higher up the ladder and closer to an imagined god. It elevates the extremists, if only in their own eyes, above others by claiming to be “God’s Chosen  People” (a phrase that is often the source of debates among actual Jews anyway). For black nationalists like the Black Hebrew Israelites groups this also helps elevate their cult above others on the basis of race in addition to religion. By appropriating Jewish identity they view themselves as superior to whites, all Christians and Muslims, and Jewish people not of their select skin color. It is an attempt to assign power to themselves and enhance their self worth. The racism within it is fed by the belief that this one act of cultural theft will give them power over others either in this life or the one they imagine comes next. 

Violence within the movement is a natural outcome of the movement’s own preaching. Adherents can no more be expected to remain peaceful indefinitely in the Black Hebrew Israelites movement than can be expected from the Atomwaffen Division members. When the underlying message of the movement carries the belief that other human beings are evil incarnate and that evil must be fought against, at some point blood will be spilled. And even if the violence does not materialize in physical aggression from every member, passive aggression and tacit support of all active members enables it. Members of hate groups are never innocent of the crimes they helped create. Simply belonging to the group is an act of enabling it and does carry some guilt with it. When a member or an attacker inspired by the group carries out an attack like that in Jersey, the entire group deserves no protection from condemnation and its leaders must face accountability for the crimes they have encouraged. However doing this means once again segregating the hate groups, the imposters who appropriate Jewish identity and culture for their own gain, from the actual Jewish communities of color. Something some white Jews are having a hard time doing.

Hate Preachers 

Farrakhan Spent 2019 Spreading Hate Speech

Islam, like Christianity, has a less than peaceful history with Judaism. The fact that it claims to have branched off, and this is the nicest way it can be worded, from Judaism so as to use the connection to extend its existence beyond its prophet has lent to much of that hostility, arising from both Jews and Muslims alike. Nobody ever likes being used as a prop in somebody else’s story. And at times there are those who grow tired of keeping the token around. These hate preachers decide that the prop has outlived its usefulness and instead need replaced by the faithful of their own religion. While the Islamic prophet frequently preached of tolerance towards “the people of the book", men like Louis Farrakhan preach that “the Synagogue of Satan" (borrowed from Christian antisemites) need destroyed. 

Farrakhan has often been shielded by liberals because the man has worked his way into the establishment. His ability to use incredibly violent hate speech towards Jewish communities while being protected by liberal celebrities and politicians (such as when he called Jews “cockroaches" only to be protected by members of The Women’s March in 2019) has shown followers that hatred of American Jews has a certain threshold of acceptability among leftists. As long as the group is willing to be used by leftists, there is no limit to the amount of abuse they can heap upon minorities not willing to be used as props. This is the same behavior you see among minorities who seek out rightwing fame knowing full well that doing so could encourage violence against members of their own community. Tokenism has its perks for those willing to play the role for either side. Farrakhan knew this all along and has exploited it for his own gain. Now he operates with impunity as the establishment seems willing to take whatever pushback comes with his constant incitement of violence against American Jews. 

The consequences of allowing men like Farrakhan to obtain and exploit the platforms they have is the generational divides between communities that they create. When Farrakhan and his followers push conspiracy theories and hate speech towards Jewish communities they make it increasingly hard for communities to come together and work towards common goals. This divide has been exploited by Trump’s regime as the rightwing portion of American Jews use it to exploit tensions and pull moderates to their side. Christian extremists use it as justification to play the saviors they see themselves as while pushing policies that harm both people of color and Jewish communities as well. Yet there has been no significant call to ostracize Farrakhan and his cult. Instead his protectors have spent all of last year circling the wagons and pretending that Farrakhan is being used as a scapegoat. Without holding hate preachers, regardless of color or religion, accountable the left shows that they are just as willing to exploit minorities as the Republicans are.

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The recent attacks and street preaching incidents raise the stakes in deciding how to isolate the extremists and unify Jewish communities in the face of such parasitic hate groups. It also brings up the issue of racism and how Jewish communities should react. Yet for all these questions there is one clear statement to be made: it is not the place of non-Jewish communities to dictate to us how we should answer any of these. It will also mean that white Jewish communities need sit down and allow Jewish communities of color to speak out about how these attacks affect them, as they experience this in ways we do not. This is a subject in which many of us who are used to speaking will have to shut up and listen instead. Any account of how these issues are faced by Jewish people of color will require anyone reading this to find and listen to somebody from the community as this blog does not and cannot speak for them.

Antisemitism and Our Fake Friends

Thoughts...

What is antisemitism? Any post about this topic seems to need that defined since so many people seem unaware of what actually is antisemitic and how often they tolerate, even condone, antisemitism in daily discourse and their daily lives.

Antisemitism for the sake of this post is defined by the prejudiced views of Jewish identity, Judaism as a faith and cultural aspects of Jewish communities around the world. This includes, but is not limited to, the clear hatred of any and all three aspects listed above and expressions of that hatred both verbally and physically. It entails the applied prejudices of what you expect a Jewish person to be when that view is applied to the detriment of Jewish people. This includes what could be perceived as positive views that, when applied, strip Jewish people of their agency and right to self-determination and the ability to define for ourselves what our identity means. It also includes the appropriation of Jewish identity by people who are not Jewish, regardless of the reasons given. Though all these listed, and those touched on below, are not rigid in definition since intent and context always must be applied to show the harm of the actions/words deemed to be antisemitic.

Now to illustrate some forms of antisemitism…

The Fetishized Jew

A fetish is an inanimate object to which the observer attaches meaning, attributes and meaning which otherwise do not exist without the application of the observer's views. When an entire people are turned into a fetishized object for the sake of another group it should be clear how this is detrimental to the targeted community. It can be argued that Islam and Christianity do this to Jews in the many interpretations of the two religions. The need to “branch out" from Judaism to add credibility and a sense of antiquity to the newer Abrahamic faiths has meant pigeonholing Jews into characters meant to play a secondary role to their prophets/messiahs and the adherents of the newer faiths. Jewish resentment for this behavior is then ignored or, historically speaking, punished. The roles cast for Jews in the two faiths also are less than favorable and, from the view of the fetish, insulting and dehumanizing. It should be clear to anyone that this behavior creates divisions that cannot be ignored indefinitely. Especially when those perpetrating this behavior have so often found themselves in the majority and therefore without any compulsion to stop it, let alone apologize for it.

Fetishized views of Jewish people also appear in secular culture when the “good Jew" image is applied in how society dictates what Jewish people should say, think, look like and what views we should support or oppose. The fetish is not permitted to actually live as an individual but rather expected to conform to the prejudices of the observer. Individuality is prohibited through the constant application of negative responses to it and latter enforced by outright abuse. The latest example of this is the politicized charges of antisemitism against Bernie Sanders simply because he does not fit the “good Jew" image a sizable portion of society holds.

When applied to the Orthodox Jewish community the fetishized view of them becomes even more abusive in that this time the fetish exist only as an outlet for the aggression of the observer. They can neither achieve the status of a “good Jew" or strive for acceptability once fetishized in America since the prejudices against them have no favorable application. So once applied these prejudices serve to isolate the community and enforce their segregation via the application of the observer’s prejudices and thus abuse follows. Then when the targeted community complies, the prejudices become more hostile and abuse becomes even more aggressive. This is an example of how the stripping of our humanity and replacing it with prejudiced views of what we should be often manifests and is experienced differently given other aspects of our identity. Orthodox Jews experience antisemitism differently than reform Jewish communities in the same way Jewish people of color experience antisemitism differently. Each of our diverse communities therefore experience this form of antisemitism differently.

The Evangelicals and Their Savior Complex

The image of solidarity in America is frequently portrayed far differently than it is applied in real action. After every antisemitic attack there are always Christian leaders who rush to express their undying support for us poor downtrodden Jews. It is a mad rush to speak over Jewish anger so that the images of Orthodox Jews praying can be seen in new articles and TV broadcasts as Christians talk for us. Instead of lifting up Jewish views of what drove the latest attacks on us, people like Donald Trump decide to shed some crocodile tears before thumping their chests and talking about how much they love Israel. Our blood is cheap in the eyes of those who spend their time chasing ambulances to the next synagogue massacre. 

We are not lambs to be sacrificed for the gains of Christian leaders or politicians of any party. Your support of Israel means nothing when you stand atop the graves of Jewish Americans just to shout out praise for Tel Aviv. This form of antisemitism not only cheapens the value of our lives but also places a bulls eye on our backs as you pretend to grieve. We are Americans and yet the fetish mentioned above is one that assigns us loyalty to a country to which we do not belong. It excludes us from American society while pretending to protect us. 

Solidarity is only ever achievable if both parties can shoulder the burden equally. This is impossible when the burden is applied by the Evangelical leadership in America. When your view of us hinges on stories in which we are vilified in one verse than turned to saints the next only to end with our ultimate destruction by fire, chances are you can never shoulder the burden of antisemitism but rather are a source of it. But the failure to address antisemitic passages in the Christian bible isn’t the only problem here. The overwhelming sense of needing to rush in and save us is just as damaging. 

It is impossible to pick apart the depths of antisemitic views held by large portions of Evangelicals in America. That alone could be saved for another post. But I will say this: the belief that “standing with Israel" after each attack on Jews in America is antisemitic. American Jews are not represented by some foreign government. Playing savior to us will not bring you closer to any god. When this is the motive for denouncing attacks, you can skip it. It is obvious that there is no sincerity in it. And the motive behind it is insulting, not loving.

The “Hebrew Israelites" and Other Fakes

I will address the appropriation of Jewish identity by non-Jews in the same way one would when talking about white people appropriating cultures they have historically colonized: Do not do it. It is really that simple. You can enjoy bagels, attend a Hanukkah celebration and not try to pretend to be Jewish. But really if those are the ways you are doing it then you are still not as monstrous as the next lot…

Black Hebrew Israelites and other versions of this cultish crowd are all antisemitic. All forms are potentially violent as well, regardless of what their apologists claim. There is no expression of their beliefs in which the adherent is not guided towards violent dispossession of Jewish identity from actual Jewish peoples. Their beliefs also rob actual Jewish people of color of their heritage, culture and identities by stripping them of their identity and applying it to Christians of color who fetishize Judaism. Not only do these groups not understand Hebrew or Jewish customs and culture, they refuse to admit the extent of Jewish diversity. Diversity that includes Jewish communities of Asian, Hispanic, European, African and Middle Eastern ancestry. With that in mind it is impossible to not label these groups as equally antisemitic as white nationalists movements that also target Jewish peoples with violent hate speech and dehumanizing characterizations. 

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These posts will continue as I have time to put them together. Like I have said above, antisemitism is difficult to define and there will be plenty of people who don’t like or agree with how I have used it. But it is important that society takes a long hard look at what forms of antisemitism exists and are expressed in both the mainstream and in the shadows alike. 

Patriotism As A Drug

The Addict:

It is part of human nature to want to belong, to be accepted, and even to have a purpose. We long for this from birth and strive for it even at an early age. Those desires lead us to seek out friends, join social activities were we believe we will find it and to work hard to gain acceptance from our peers. It is baked in to every culture and every society the world over. It can especially be seen in the rabid nationalism of our times.

Nationalism is a manifestation of our inherent need to belong. It gives us a community to which, we assume, we cannot be removed and will be accepted within. It fills that need we have as human beings. But it comes at a cost. Nationalism requires us to define the group in such a way that distinctions between who 'belongs' and who is presumed to not belong must be made. It is exclusionary and tribalistic. And in many cases, nationalism when defined by race and ethnicity, is flatout racist.

But nationalism works because it comes with a drug. It comes with the addition of patriotism. And patriotism is meant to make those who believe they belong in the group feel good about having gained that acceptance they crave. It fills the desire for a purpose as well since it becomes a necessity that must be maintained rather than a happy little byproduct of nationalistic fervor. It imposes upon the "patriot" a demand to show it, to exhibit it arrogantly, and to further exclude those who alledgedly don't belong.

As society rachets up nationalistic rhetoric the demand for obscene displays of patriotism goes up. To continue belonging to the crowd, the user has to up their dosage. In doing so, the user becomes less likely to focus on other issues, no matter how important they might seem, and begins to reject aspects of their daily life that contradict their ever growing desire to fit in with the crowd of their choosing. The rhetoric gets amped up again, the user repeats the cycle and focuses more and more on being a 'patriot'. No matter how detestable, or despicable even, the image of patriot becomes, that desire to belong remains and the drug they have found helps them feel accepted. The high is worth all the downright vile things that comes with it.

The Dealer:

Our world currently has a host of strongmen and neo-fascists who are more than willing to sell their poison in a nice easy to swallow form. People like Trump are more than aware that the target of their rhetoric have already dabbled in it before and can easily be baited with just the right pitch. It is the hook that only needs to be set.

The "us vs them" narrative is an age old part of populist rhetoric. It is used to make the distinctions between those who belong and those the dealer wants removed. It works because those who think they are the in-crowd feel accepted by the message as well as having found a purpose within it. It bestows on them a sense of pride, a sense of selfworth that might have been otherwise missing, and a sense of superiority. All they have to do is maintain their place in the exclusive circle that their prejudices have carved out for them. And this is where the drug comes in.

Patriotism can be used as both a sedative and a stimulant... given you know how to use it. Dealers like Trump know how. And as was seen in his latest klan meeting, with the chants calling for an 'outsider' to be "sent back", it is clear how the stimulant portion works. This aspect of it just requires massive doses of patriotism, such as rallies. That creating of spaces where the dealer's targets can feed off each other's energy, creating a desire to one up the other, is exactly how Trump targets his cultish klan with the drug of their choosing.

For those not willing to attend Trump's narcissistic orgy fest, the sedative part comes through passive partaking of patriotism. That sparklers and cookouts on the Fourth sort of addiction to it. It is a form of patriotism that allows the user to pretend the group they belong to is fine, perhaps some rough patches here and there, but otherwise ok. It permits a placid acceptance of evident wrongs in society while still allowing the user to feel pride in belonging to it. It silences the people who are often the same ones repeating lines like "all evil needs to succeed is the silence of good men".

This will not be the part where I tell you something like "but wait, there is still a good form of a patriot". There simply is not. And frankly the world would be a far better place with far fewer patriots.

The problem with believing you can be patriotic while still dissenting from the notion that some people belong and others should be in cages is that patriotism is derived from nationalism. Nationalism is nothing more than our way of deciding who belong where. Therefore there can be no real reason that a patriot is any better simply because they might be more tolerant than the outright racists currently leading many of our countries.

We Don't Need Saviors

We Don't Need Saviors

The American rightwing has frequently come to the defense of Jews after repeated shootings in American synagogues. The Evangelical conservatives see it as a part of their sacred duty to stand by Jewish people right up until the return of Jesus. And it is that savior complex, with all its opportunistic tendencies, that drives the conservative side of the debate on what is and what isn't antisemitic.

So what is antisemitism and what is not antisemitic? That question is very complex and yet can be readily answered in a way that keeps the conversation within guardrails. Antisemitism is the professed hatred, mistrust of Jewish people. It manifest in conspiracy theories of Jewish people holding disproportionate power, influence within society as well as darker myths of Jewish people conspiring for domination of the destruction of select other groups of people. It can also be as passive as any other form of racial discrimination in which assigned characteristics that are meant to otherize Jews and deem Jewish people as untrustworthy or unworthy of being considered equals. These are straightforward ways to define antisemitism that can, when reasonably applied to daily life, help Americans identify when somebody is displaying antisemitism. But even then this does not weed out the more insidious ways in which antisemitism has been baked into American society, as well as much of European and Middle Eastern societies, with influences ranging from religion to cultural differences. 

In America the discussion on antisemitism is often far less concerned with the wellbeing of Jewish people as individuals, which runs counter to the American culture of individualism, but rather often aims to collectivize Jewish people in a manner that makes Jews easy to pigeonhole. This lends itself to more nefarious forms of antisemitism. The stripping of a Jewish person's individual identity and affixing a perceived view of Israel, for better or worse, is antisemitic. And this is where the savior complex mentioned above comes into play. 

When Meghan McCain, with whatever good intentions she believes she might have, stands atop Jewish peoples' shoulders and speaks over us as she "defends" us - this is that savior complex. She routinely replaces our identity as American Jews with that of being members of a collective that is identified only by Israel. Israel being a nation means that it has citizens of its own, some of which happen to be Jewish, and obviously as American Jews, we are not part of it. But the Christian view that all Jews must be part of Israel, especially when approaching that final book, has been driven deep into the Christian American mindset. It forms a barrier that keeps American Jews from fully being part of American society and absolute equals in every single way that Christian Americans naturally see themselves as. It denies the same level of participation in the conversation by American Jews by leaning heavily on the notion that at some level we can't be as dedicated to the country we belong to because of the insinuation that we are also loyal to a country we do not belong to. The duel loyalty trope is ironically one that McCain has accused Rep. Omar of making, yet this savior complex that McCain so often engages in is founded on the belief that we, as Jews, do not truly belong to America.

While Christians in America have plenty other antisemitic stumbling blocks to work past, such as the routine deicide charges, the savior complex that conservative Christians so often exhibit is one that needs addressed. American Jews need true allies and support during times like these, as attacks on our communities increase in frequency and levels of violence. But we don't need saved. We don't need to be looked at as an opportunity to get on that pro-Israel Evangelical soapbox. We need people to simply recognize that antisemitism has deep roots in America and the only way to stop these attacks is to address each and every spring from which these roots are fed. It should be seen as the sacred duty of anyone who believes in Jesus to look at themselves, at their own communities first and reflect on how they themselves might very well be contributing to the hatred of any other people, be it Jews or immigrants or Muslims. 

Several of the following posts will be addressing antisemitism and how it works. These will discuss what distinctions should be made between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, why Ilhan Omar is not the antisemitic hate preacher the Republicans are casting her as and the need for all extremists who peddle antisemitic views to be taken on without relent.

White Supremacy And American Apathy

With a record number of hate groups in the United States, at 1,020 as of January, showing no signs of slowing down in their continual spread across America, the United States has a problem with hate. To be more specific, the United States has a problem with white supremacists and the hate groups that feed the white power movement in America. It is a problem that has spread across Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and over Canada and America as well. It is an international threat that the United States government is willfully turning a blind eye to. And in doing so, the Trump administration is creating a breeding ground for terrorists that can strike, and have, anywhere around the world at any time.

The Islamic State showed the West that terrorists can effectively exploit social media to incite and organize terror attacks around the world. World leaders and tech companies all rallied around calls to strip the ISIS accounts of their online platforms and limit the flow of propaganda and information sent out by the well organized terror group. Anonymous and Western countries found themselves working towards the same cause for a change. It has proven effective in countering the weaponizing of social media and online formats. But when it comes to white power terrorism, when it comes to a terrorist threat that has its origins in the West, suddenly those efforts are extremely limited to a few key players (such as Germany's government for example) while major ones (such as America) refuse to bring that same tenacity to the fight against white supremacist terror groups. 

The inaction by the United States has led to a *30% increase in hate crimes against people of color, Muslims, Jews and other minority groups in the United States (*according to the FBI, measured over a three year time span ending in Dec. of 2017). In 2018 the hate crime rate rose by an additional *10% in the United States 30 largest cities, showing a continued upward trend (*FBI statistics for 2018). White supremacists showed the most desire to take normally non-deadly hate crimes to the next level in 2018 by killing *40 people in the United States and Canada, up from 17 people killed by white supremacists in 2017 (*Southern Poverty Law Center stats for 2018). Making the threat of being killed by a white supremacist far more likely in the United States than being killed by any other terrorist threat. 

It is hard to imagine any other terrorist threat being allowed the room and comfort to operate within the United States, let alone abroad, and to claim lives each and every year, without serious and aggressive action being taken by the United States federal government. Both Republican and Democrat administrations have launched drone strikes, bombing runs, invasions and endless wars in the name of 'national security'. Countless war crimes have been committed in by the United States, in the name of each and every American, because Americans felt threatened by terrorism coming from abroad. Yet even hinting that white supremacists should be shutdown/deplatformed is taboo in America. We can't even hold an honest discussion about the threat to American lives because white power, a clear and present danger, is held in such regard, and shielded by exaggerated interpretations of the constitution, that one can only come to the conclusion that white supremacy is a sacred cow that America isn't willing to do away with.

For years now the country has been asked to at least take an honest look at the inequalities within the system that offer white supremacists support in their desire to retain influence as well as social and political power. The discussion gets side-railed by many things, ranging from a history of refusal to adequately address racism to outright denial of racism itself, but most often is shutdown by white supremacist spreading fear among white Americans that somehow any steps to address racism would make white people second class citizens. An outright lie. A lie that illustrates how the movement uses fear to fuel hate, hate to create fear and that entire cycle itself to create attacks on minorities.

This refusal to address racism, and bigotry of all forms, when talking about white Americans has only been exploited by politicians who, like Trump, often share the views that white supremacist hate groups thrive on. Which is exactly how America ended up with a White House riddled with white supremacists. The system starts at the ground level and rises from there. Trump's hate is not an anomaly - it is the direct result, and the most logical conclusion, of America's white supremacist roots. 

Until the United States can be forced to truly address the issue, that being the inequality of its systems and society, white supremacist terrorism will proliferate. More lives will be lost and more "thought and prayers" will be offered over the graves of people that should have never had to die due to American indifference. The power structure, as it is today, favors the hate that America claims doesn't define it. 

And We Are Back.

A Screamers Post 

In the wake of the Holocaust the world was made to stand face to face with the reality of what we, all of us, can do to others. At our worst, we are monsters. All we have to do is lose the capacity to see the value in others, the ability to empathize, and then find a reason to view them as "life unworthy of living". 

"Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions," Primo Levi, Holocaust Survivor.

We often focus on the leaders we can easily identify and, as much as they deserve it, vilify. They become a symbol of what we hate. Often a symbol of what we hate about ourselves. They take on that role because they acted in ways that show how hateful and vile we as human beings can be. And while they deserve our condemnation, we often fail to scrutinize those who helped them gain the authority they needed in the first place. That would require facing the mirror images of ourselves and witnessing the monsters we wish not to be.

During the Holocaust the killings were only made possible by the complacency and silence of those not targeted for extermination. The deportations were made possible by the willingness of men and women to carry out such abuses without questioning the authority of those who had ordered them. And the fanaticism it took to fight and defend such heinous crimes was made possible by everyday men and women surrendering themselves to the fear which drove the will of the majority. 

Today we find ourselves learning once again that leaders are not the sole reason atrocities occur. Or at least now, in the age of leaders like Trump, we should be learning this lesson before it is too late. We should be vigilant in monitoring society around us for signs that we are being led along toward actions and policies that deliberately target others for harm. We should be ready and willing to openly challenge our governments, our religious leaders and even our friends and family when they push ideas that encourage us and others to either join in or carry out actions that harm minorities and marginalized portions of society. We must be relentless and refuse to grow tired as we stand for the rights of all peoples regardless of what faith they believe in, where they come from or what race or ethnicity they happen to be. If we are to avoid being judged as people who stood silently by while others suffered, we must scream.

Mercenary Heart

Why We Care For Some,
And Yet Neglect All Others...
(PLUCK series)

(Athens woman repeatedly kicks Romani child...)

The image of the 'humanitarian' is one that far too many try to hide behind. As for me, and most the team here, being called a 'humanitarian' is one of the greatest insults we could ever strive for. For me the term is one I have come to regard with a tremendous amount of disdain. It is nearly as much a disgraceful title to me as labeling oneself a Democrat, Republican, or by any other political or religious affiliation. For it is a title that the bleeding hearts hypocritically hide behind, an image of caring for all of humanity while tragically wrapping one's self in a given flag of their choosing. It is a term that carries no real weight or meaning. It is hollow and only serves to mask the one wearing it in much the same way cowards hide behind Guy Fawkes while reading from scripts. It's inherently heartless.

It may very well be part of human nature, and if it is then I've lost something inside, to first focus on one's own particular group before branching out to help others. We even came up with a term for it and yet rarely apply said term to it... ethnocentrism. 

Rally Around The Family

We have all heard of Gaza, the West Bank, and the rest of Palestine's many oppressed regions. We have all seen pictures and heard the stories of Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation and oppression. Of course this is not how large portions of 'humanitarians' see it. And by me pointing out the fact that we have (those of us they spend all day preaching to) I will undoubtedly be called a Zionist or some deviation of that talking point. Yet that isn't really my intent.

Endless hashtags and real life efforts are constantly made to help bring justice to the Palestinians. This is an admirable goal and far worthwhile effort on behalf of those who do dedicate so much of their time to it. But it's often not a 'humanitarian' cause. It is more often than not a religious and/or political goal by those who so strongly defend it. While there are those who dedicate their time to this cause with the end goal bringing the recognition of Palestinians' basic human rights, there are also those who (the majority) want far more than that. 

"From river to sea, all of Palestine will be free"

This is not the slogan of a purely 'humanitarian' cause. Do I agree with the premise of it? Yes. But can I agree with the proposed belief that those who promote it are somehow humanitarians? Hell no. 

This is most evident when somebody like me, arguably the natural born enemy in the eyes of so-called humanitarians, steps out and defends the rights of Palestinians. One would expect that the people pushing the slogan mentioned above would find it relieving to see a Jewish voice speaking out for Palestinians. And one would be wrong. Because, as time has proven rather repeatedly, there isn't a place for Jewish voices that don't agree 100% with the rest of the message. The only Jewish voices allowed are those that can be groomed, maintained, and propagandized for the cause. All others that dare go against the grain are more or less the enemy.

Now, like I have stated before, the humanitarian is supposed to be a person who cares about all of humanity. Yet in "humanitarian" causes such as Palestine/Israel the root of the cause becomes rather clear when just barely scratching the surface. The less than humane responses show a more political and racial undertone to what should had remained a cause centered around the actual people it affects.

The first of these is the response that immediately questions the "Jewishness" of the Jewish voice Palestinian supporters don't agree with. This is best shown when Palestinian supporters (largely not Palestinians themselves) immediately start in with myths taken right out of Nazism. Some will go as far as to start questioning the bloodlines of Jewish people to outright proposing that no "real Jews" even exist today. Of course this is hard to combat when one is the source of their frustration. And even harder to segregate from the true supporters of Palestinian rights when they themselves will not cull the racists among them.

The political undertones are brought to the surface when Palestinian supporters routinely and intentionally use the words "Zionists" and "Jews" interchangeably. While more honest supporters of Palestine can and often do recognize that Jews lived in Palestine long before Israel was created, these problematic supporters do not. Their agenda focuses around the goal of isolating Jews on one end of the spectrum while disproportionately amplifying the voices of Muslims they agree with. To do this many will downplay the damage groups like Hamas and Hezbollah do to the already fragile peace process. And much like the Israeli leadership, they will always downplay the atrocities their side commits while exaggerating the actions of the others side. And this is where the mixing of the words Zionism and Judaism come into play. By accusing "Jews" of every atrocious act they belittle the actions of Zionists and create an atmosphere in which all Jews are the "enemy".

Of course I could use just about any conflict or genocide currently happening in the world to illustrate how people who call themselves "humanitarians" are far less than concerned with humanity. And in every scenario I could show just how their priorities center around group specific interests rather than that of all the people involved. So lets jump to another part of the globe and try this again.

In Southeast Asia the "humanitarians" we deal with on a daily basis have come to the conclusion that the Rohingya people are the "world's most persecuted people". This is of course highly inaccurate as it makes a claim that is both unfounded and incapable of being proven. Yet the focus on humanitarian issues in Southeast Asia is routinely monopolized by humanitarians dead set on centering it all on one particular group.

In neighboring Bangladesh the Jumma tribes of the Chittagong Hills have suffered colonization, ethnic cleansing, and military occupation for literally centuries. Their oppressors have included the British, Indians, Pakistanis, and Bengalis. Yet the story of their persecution has largely been overshadowed by that of the Rohingya on the flood plains to their east. They are a people who's story directly mirrors that of the Rohingya and yet even Rohingya activists seem oblivious to their plight.

Venturing down the peninsula to Vietnam there are the Montagnards (Degar tribes) who suffer routine harassment for their religious and cultural beliefs. They have been through massacres since the 9th century and have seen their homeland occupied for nearly just as long. The military and politicians in Vietnam all work tirelessly to make their ghetto like villages miserable while creating discriminatory laws against the Montagnards. And over the last several years there has been an exodus taking place in the forests between Vietnam and Cambodia. Yet once again the focus on humanitarian issues is not permitted to venture away from the Arakan. And once again the humanitarians who say they care for all of humanity remain deaf to the sounds of suffering in Vietnam's hills.

Examples like these are numerous in Southeast Asia. One only has to look to the Karen, Kachin, Shan, Chin, and Kokang in Myanmar itself. This doesn't even include the tribes in the Philippines or the Hmong in Vietnam and Laos. Even with this broader picture you would have to widen it even more to focus on the tribal peoples of Nepal and how their cultures are facing extinction if nothing changes. Yet none of these are put into focus as so-called humanitarians demand the world only center it's attention on one particular group in Southeast Asia.

Now I myself have and often do focus my attention on the Rohingya in Myanmar. My team here at Alder's Ledge do a lot well beyond this blog (which has countless posts covering the Rohingya) to help. Yet we also make certain that the focus we give Southeast Asia also covers all other peoples and all other causes that arise. We center our attention on the tribal groups and persecuted minorities while also focusing on Southeast Asia's rampant sex trade and human trafficking.

The main reason for highlighting this is to bring everyone who reads this back down to reality. The world is much larger than any stretch of dirt and far more vast than any given individual group of people. The pain and suffering of people across the globe can obviously not be covered by one give person or any particular group. Yet the reasons why we tend to block out other people's stories and ignore their pain is something worth thinking about.

In Europe the popular social cause of the day is oddly focused on America's police and black communities. Yet Europeans have an entire minority that they have treated far worse for far longer a period of time... the Romani people.

In America the focus when it comes to humanitarian causes is almost always focused outward. And when it does center in on Americans it almost always gets focused on America's black population. Yet America has indigenous communities that are disappearing under a system of coerced assimilation. Many of America's indigenous youth can't speak the native languages of their ancestors. And even shift the focus to Native Americans for a minute would overlook the plight of countless immigrant groups that also suffer exclusion in American society due to a host of reasons.

So what is the answer to all of this?

Is there even a such thing as a true humanitarian?

"Fatal To Prejudice"

In all honesty there probably isn't such a thing. When it comes down to it we all have less than pure intentions when it comes to helping others. While I do believe that there are plenty of people who deeply care for others... I don't believe there are as many people out there who actually deeply care for all of mankind. But that's not to say that people can't learn to do so.

Taking time away from a given cause to focus your attention on a different one isn't the end of the world. The Palestinians will, as sad as it is, probably be just as oppressed tomorrow as they are today. And the Rohingya will most likely need just as much help even if you aren't the one there for them today. Yet you (and this is the less than "pure" intentions behind most of this work) do have a need to grow. It is the reason why people decide to reach out beyond themselves and help others. A thirst to grow and leave a mark on the world around them. And chances are that you started with groups to which you can relate and have something in common with.

One of the best ways to grow as a person is to reach well beyond the boundaries of what is comfortable and familiar. It creates in us a greater understanding of the world around us while ironically also generating endless questions about the world we encounter along the way. By helping people who we have no real connection to we come to better understand cultures and places we previously only had preconceived notions about. As Mark Twain put it, "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness". Which is exactly why more of us need to reach out to causes beyond our own.

It would be interesting to see just how differently the approach to our own personal causes might be if more of us spent some time focused on other causes first. Yet in writing this I am more aware that it will most likely be met with hostility and resentment rather than seen as the challenge it was meant to present to you the reader. So with that said, I would hope that most of you will understand this wasn't written out of spite or frustration but rather was a blunt analysis of everyone who calls themselves humanitarians. If you consider yourself one then this is meant to show you how I personally believe we can do better.

When Simply Staying Alive Becomes Resistance

The Struggle of Bangladesh's Indigenous Peoples
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

Marma Children in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Where Dreams Go To Die

We are all born with the desire to have certain things in life. We are born to desire a certain degree of freedom in this life. We are born with a fire inside that rages within us till we can quench this hunger for liberty. It is the natural state of man to crave freedom. It is why we are restless when we are deprived of it. It is why we feel hollow when it is stolen from us and replaced with one form of tyranny or another. It is a fire that either creates within us the desire to sustain our own freedoms or destroy the world as we know it till we can obtain said freedoms. All of human history attest to this.

It is no wonder that societies deprived of their basic human rights, their essential liberties, begin to reflect the symptoms of a staving body. Their minds become fixated upon what the hunger for it. They show it in their view of the world. They show it in the expressions of joy when they get a passing taste of it. But mostly... they show it in the ways they resist those who oppose their rights and keep them trapped in this state of hunger. 

For generations now the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts have been forced to dream of what it would be like to be free in their own homeland. They have been deprived of the rights that their ancestors once enjoyed. They have been kept in a perpetual state of craving what others enjoy daily while they are forced to suffer. For generations now the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts have simply stayed alive as an act of defiance to a nation that continually pushes them toward extinction. 

This is both what they resist and how they defy a nation. 

This is just a glimpse of what they endure.

The Jumma Tribes Of

The Chittagong Hill Tracts 

To understand the struggle one has to understand the people themselves. This article will not be able to, as no one article ever could, give you a full introduction to the indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. So in addition to this post we would like to invite all our readers to research and find reliable sources (some posted in the links below) to understand the Jumma tribes more than what we have written here. 

There are eleven tribal groups that are indigenous to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. These include the Bawm, Chakma, Khumi, Khyang, Lushai, Marma, Uchay, Mru, Pankho, Sak, and Tanchangya peoples. Each are linguistically, culturally, and ethnically different from the Bengali majority that lives on the plains below the Chittagong Hills. They have distinct cultures that focus heavily on their traditional ways of life and individual religious beliefs. While the Chakma and Marma, numbering around 350,000, are mostly Buddhists the remaining tribes are comprised of Hindus, Christians, and traditional religions unique to their tribal groups. 

The traditional cultivating practices of the indigenous peoples lends to their collective name of Jummas. It is a system, called jum, of small patchwork fields that rotate in both location and the crops planted in them. It is also a system that the government of Bangladesh attempts to prevent the indigenous peoples from using. 

The Chittagong Hills stretch along the the southeastern border of Bangladesh, Inida, and Myanmar (Burma). It is a stretch of land that contains thick forests and mountain lakes. While difficult to cultivate, the Chittagong Hills do offer enough arable soil for the indigenous peoples to support their communities. 

In 1971 the Jumma tribes were practically the only inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Their ancestral land had been exploited under Pakistan's rule yet had not been occupied in the way it would be once Bangladesh gained independence. From the very start of Bangladesh's rule the Jummas began to lose lands to the new tyrant ruling over them. 

First Came The Military

In the late 1970s the president of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rehman, signed into law a series of programs designed to create a government-run "population transfer" in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. His government immediately sat out to displace as many of the Jumma tribal groups as they could in the shortest period of time they could manage. These dictates issued the orders to begin creating a system of military installations that would gut the Chittagong Hills and divide the tribal peoples. Within just a matter of years the Bangladeshi army had created hundreds of military camps across the mountain tops along the roads they paved through the heart of the Chittagong Hills. This was a campaign to divide and conquer the Jumma peoples. 

When the Jumma peoples began to resist the military occupation of their homelands in 1976 the Bengali army moved in even more troops. By 1977 the Bengali military had begun a full scale assault on Jumma lands by ordering Jumma tribes off their land to make way for more roads and military camps. When Jumma tribes dared to stand and fight for their lands the army of Bangladesh willingly committed massacres and torched Jumma villages. The direct response to resistance was the placement of military camps on and near Jumma villages. Any route the Jumma could take to move from one village to the other was suddenly blocked by checkpoints. The strategy had shifted to complete isolation and starvation of the Jumma people in less than a year of resistance efforts by the Jumma tribes. 

The Jana Samhati Samiti, with a military wing, attempted to negotiate with Bangladesh some form of peace between the Jumma tribes and the Bengali military. Yet from 1976 till December of 1997 the government of Bangladesh only sought to forcibly expand it's presence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Their aim was to displace the vast majority of the Jumma tribes and drive as many of the indigenous civilians as the could out of Bangladesh. This aim was made clear as the number of Jumma peoples internally displaced rose to 100,000 while the number of Jumma refugees fleeing the country rose to 70,000. 

As Bengali troops sat out to put Jumma villages to the torch the issue of rape became ever more prevalent. From 1971 on through 1994 the military of Bangladesh has been reported to have committed over 2,000 rapes of indigenous women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This is in part due to the fact that Bangladesh's army was given permission to engage in rape as a means of displacing Jumma families and keeping the victims silent after atrocities were committed. Jumma women were raped both for the fact that Bangladesh had indoctrinated it's troops in the belief that the Jumma women were subhuman and the enemy. In addition it was seen as a way of keeping Bengali soldiers motivated and a perverse way of keeping moral of the troops high in the isolation of the Chittagong Hills. 

It has also been reported several times that Bangladesh's military committed at least 13 large scale massacres of indigenous peoples during the Jummas' struggle to resist occupation. These attacks are often denied by Bangladesh and attributed to "crossfire" incidents. This became very clear when in August of 2013 the government of Bangladesh tried to explain away the deaths of 776 indigenous peoples as "victims of crossfire". The main problem with this explanation is that from 2004 to 2013 the government of Bangladesh only lost 18 soldiers during combat operations. The sheer number of deaths involved in these incidents disproportionately falls in favor of Bangladesh while offering only slaughter as an explanation when talking about indigenous deaths. 

After the Peace Accords of 1997 were signed the military of Bangladesh was supposed to begin dismantling it's camps that now choke the Chittagong Hills. Of the more than 500 military camps installed since the 1970s, Bangladesh has only closed a meager 29 camps. And most of these have simply been moved to other areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Of course the government of Bangladesh does come up with excuses for building even more military camps today; such as how they most recently used the migrant crisis in the Andaman Sea as a reason for military expansion.

Today the government of Bangladesh keeps over 1/3rd of it's military in the Chittagong Hills at any given time. The UN called this "excessive" in it's most recent review of Bangladesh's failure to implement the 1997 Peace Accords. The UN went on to note that having 1/3 of the military occupying an area of land that constitutes less than 1/10th of Bangladesh's territory was unjustifiable. It also noted that the Jumma people themselves account for less than one percent of Bangladesh's population and yet are the most policed portion of the overall population. 

Unlawful Settlers

When president Ziaur Rehman began his displacement of the Jumma people he started a program of offering Bengali citizens bribes to uproot and settle on Jumma lands. According to UN mandates, to which Bangladesh has agreed, this policy of displacement not only violates international law but also the human rights of the Jumma peoples. Namely the ILO Indigenous And Tribal Populations Convention No. 107, to which Bangladesh agreed and signed in 1972. 

Yet in spite of having agreed to international laws which prohibit the displacement of indigenous peoples the government of Bangladesh pushed forward with it's policies. Between 1971 and 1997 the government moved more than 500,000 illegal Bengali settlers onto indigenous lands. Each and every one of these settlers were encouraged by bribes from the government and promises of "free" and "open" land in the Chittagong Hills. They were told that areas would be provided for them and all they had to do was squat on lands not their own. 

From the start the Bengali settlers found themselves at odds with the indigenous population of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Settlers were prone to set up their unlawful settlements near military camps. And since the military camps were inevitably placed directly on indigenous lands this led to the intended conflict. 

Settlers were encouraged by the military to engage in evictions of their own. Bengali men were told that they had the right to utilize rape in order to force Jumma families from their homes. This was an aspect of the settlements that rapidly became one of their defining characteristics. It became so problematic that Bangladesh has resorted to telling doctors in the Chittagong Hills to exclude any evidence of rape when reporting on Jumma women and young girls. And yet at the same time the government of Bangladesh is quick, at times quicker than the actual facts, in reporting the rape of any Bengali squatter in the Chittagong Hill tracts. 

 One such case of Bengali rape of a Marma girl took place as recently as January of 2015. The eight year old girl was on her way home when a Bengali plantation owner brutally raped her. The savage attacker had left the girl to bleed out after his barbaric assault. Yet the hospital staff refused to communicate in the girl's native language and the doctors were unclear as to how they would record the attack. The perpetrator of the rape was not reported to have been arrested. And this is not an isolated incident. It is in fact far too common throughout the Chittagong Hills. 

In 2014 alone there were 75 reported cases of sexual violence against indigenous women in the Chittagong Hills. These 75 cases account for the sexual assaults of 117 indigenous women (57% of these cases also involved children). Of these cases a total of 21 involved gang-rape, 55 were victims of physical assault in addition to rape, seven of the victims were murdered, and 11 involved abductions of indigenous women. Yet despite these staggering numbers the reality is that the majority of rapes in the Chittagong Hills go unreported due to both societal and religious stigmas surrounding the crime itself. 

One could continue by detailing how in 2013 there were 175 reported incidents of sexual violence being committed against indigenous women in the Chittagong Hills (49 of which involving gang-rape). Or how of all the identified rapists from January of 2010 to December of 2011 were never convicted for their crimes against indigenous women and girls in the Chittagong Hills. But the numbers aren't as important here... it's the lives of the victims (who are increasingly ending up dead and are more often now below the age of 18) and their families that matters. This is an aspect of Bangladesh's occupation that is overlooked because it isn't something anyone wants to talk about. It is a part of the genocidal occupation that leaves scars which time itself cannot heal. And yet Bangladesh refuses to put an end to the culture of impunity that allows both Bangladesh's military and it's Bengali settlers to rape indigenous women without ever facing the consequences.

The illegal Bengali settlers are also allowed to forcibly evict and attack the Jumma without facing any legal consequences. Nearly every time the Bengali settlers attack and burn Jumma homes, villages, temples, and crops the army of Bangladesh offers support for the hordes of illegal settlers. This is most evident during incidents as that which occurred in Burighat, Naniarchar on December 16th of 2014.

This was a deliberate attack in which over 500 Bengali settlers marched into a Chakma village with the intent of destroying the entire village. The attack would last for almost two hours before the Bengali assailants would return to their own village. The attackers burned over 50 Chakma homes and several Chakma shops during the attack. They also looted and vandalized the Karuna Bihar Buddhist Temple, making off with several bronze statues. 

This attack was immediately followed by Bengali settlers attempting to take the land upon which several Chakma homes had previously stood. The illegal settlers attempted to pressure the military into offering them protection as they squatted on the land they had just torched. Meanwhile the Chakma tried desperately to keep what was being stolen from them. In the end, the government of Bangladesh blamed the Chakma and rewarded the illegal settlers with rice and cash for their assault on indigenous homes. 

This the climate in which genocidal attacks are permitted to occur. This is the work of a government that has refused to allow peace to once again come to the Chittagong Hills. It is the deliberate attempt to ethnically cleanse the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. A government so determined to undermine indigenous rights that it would unlawfully settle over 15,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on the lands of Jumma tribal peoples. This is the face of a government devoid of any sense of morality. 

So Why Does The World Remain Silent?

It is unreasonable when presented with the facts to think that anything in the Chittagong Hill Tracts will change without pressure being applied to Bangladesh from the outside. The government of Bangladesh has carried out it's crimes for generations. It has shown that it is willing to commit the same crimes against humanity as is Israel, Myanmar, North and South Sudan, Eritrea, and any other genocidal regime. 

Yet when it comes to the issue of indigenous peoples facing genocidal regimes the outside world has a long legacy of remaining silent. We tend to respond to genocide only when it is too late. But in the case of indigenous peoples, we tend not to respond at all. Their fate is one that we have relegated to history books and the storylines of romanticized movies. 

In the case of Bangladesh there is also the fact that the perpetrator is often seen as an impoverished nation struggling to provide for it's own people. This is an image that Bangladesh is all to happy to perpetuate as it openly claims (with yet another lie) that there are supposedly no indigenous peoples in Bangladesh. And thus it's conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is one that it continues to lie about by calling it anything but what it is... genocide. 

As for the twitter realm of humanitarians...

The issue of Bangladesh's genocide in the Chittagong Hills is one that does not currently fit the prevailing narrative. It is a genocide in which the perpetrators are Muslims while the victims are Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, and those of indigenous religions. For this reason it does not gain the same favor as that of the Rohingya, Palestine, or the Uyghur of China. And this is an aspect of the silence that should be more damning than all others... but it's one never admitted to. 

There are currently more Bengali settlers on Jumma lands than there are Jumma tribal members. This is a genocide that is already passed the breaking point. It is one that is now headed for completion as the world continues to watch in silence. It is a genocide that needs addressed. And it is one that must be stopped soon before the damage is irreparable. 

We as a world community must start screaming for all those who are suffering in the Chittagong Hills (and across the globe) regardless of their race, religion, social standings, or creed. We must not only scream for the Jumma people but help their voices be heard. We must amplify their voices whenever and wherever we can.

If you call yourself a humanitarian these are not suggestions.

If you call yourself anything related to such a word as that.... then this is your fight as well.

Articles used in the research of this article:

(not all sources listed)

Survival International

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/jummas

http://t.co/18HPBfQlz5

Dhaka Tribune 

http://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/2015/jan/22/survivor

IRIN Asia

http://www.irinnews.org//report/92598/bangladesh-chittagong-rights-violations-continue-says-un#.VaXcwGQayc0

Cultural Survival

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/our-home-human-rights-chittagong-hill-tracts

The Citizen (India)

http://www.thecitizen.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=3683&Military/Persecutes/indigenous/Communities/in/Bangladesh

IWGIA

http://www.iwgia.org/regions/asia/the-chittagong-hill-tracts-

University of Notre Dame

https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provision/refugees-chittagong-hill-tracts-peace-accord-cht

The Daily Star

http://www.thedailystar.net/rape-used-as-weapon-35181

Asian Tribune 

http://asiantribune.com/node/83971

UNPO

http://unpo.org/article/17998

http://unpo.org/article/17268

http://unpo.org/article/17798

Asian Center For Human Rights

http://www.achrweb.org/press/2015/BD02-2015.html