in the past 20 months more than 15000 children have been killed by settlers in Palestine. 15000 children.
a relative of mine told me that colonization can help people. they said this to me after i said that what we’re witnessing in Palestine is continued settler colonialism, a necessarily genocidal movement. they said to me that colonizing can be done for goodness. we know this is not true, not because we look backwards to the Romans and know that they enslaved, raped, and murdered women (although certainly this does not help the case of a person claiming that the Romans acted beneficiously towards women) but we know the nature of settler colonialism because we live in its horrid gasping rotting cadaver as it shambles onward in obedience of capital, and because we can witness its effects: Black people enslaved, Indigenous people kidnapped and murdered, migrants picked off the street to be tortured and deported if not killed, children slaughtered, families destroyed, people displaced, cultures and histories erased, famine manufactured and maintained.
this is not an academic debate or a subject on which there can be points given and taken. settler colonialism is genocide in Palestine, it is genocide in South Africa, it is genocide in Zimbabwe, in Australia, in Aotearoa, in the United States, in Mexico, in Canada, in Hawai’i, in Algeria, in Ireland. the people who are being displaced, starved, and killed tell us this is happening when it happens. there has never been a colonial movement that was not violently resisted by the colonized. there has never been a settler colonial movement that has not required the complete and utter subjugation and dehumanization of the colonized.
Palestine is being destroyed by settler colonizers from the US and Europe, funded by the US, the UK, and Europe. the colonizers will continue to slaughter Palestinians for as long as the settlements exist. we know this is true because of every other settler colonial society: Indigenous Americans are killed by cops at significantly higher rates than any other group of people. Canadian cops have been found to target Indigenous people for sexual violence and then leave them to die in the wilderness. we do not have to wonder about the future of Palestine, we have already seen it: the violence will continue, the numbers of dead will climb, children will be slaughtered, famine will be maintained, Colonizers will continue to imprison, torture, and starve Palestinians, and the land of Palestine will be stolen, transformed, and renamed, while the remaining Palestinians will be kept in destitution, forced into positions of subservience.
colonizers inflict this genocide on the Palestinian people with the gleeful approval of the political apparatus of the US: everyone from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump to Joe Biden supports this. when they claim that they want a ceasefire, what they mean is that they want to launder the image of the colonial entity. when they claim that they want “peace” what they mean, to borrow a phrase from Wanda Robinson, is “peace in the ground”.
we do not have to argue or prove that settler colonialism is evil. we have to kill the settlers and the colonizers.
let me be clear here about something: bringing people into agreeing with me is not the point of this post. i am writing this because i want it to be written down. this is not a call to action or a direction for how to treat or talk to others. it is obvious to me, and probably you, that more people ought to disagree with genocide and settler colonialism. often, convincing people of this is done through community action and repeated exposure to the positive impact of people who hold these beliefs. that said, it is pointless to sit and debate genocide. don’t be tempted into it and don’t give space to people who would try it.
i’ve been playing the banjo a bit lately. that’s been nice. it’s hard and i make stupid faces while i do it but it feels good to move my hands and to make some cute music. i am bad at it but i suppose that’s to be expected.
i haven’t been bowling as much. i took a trip with Leah and missed a week and then haven’t gotten back into it. been only once in the past week. during those 4 games i averaged like 130~ which isn’t great. i need to work on everything but i think getting my timing a little better would see a huge improvement in my score. i notice my timing leads me to missing a lot of shots that otherwise looked good.
i’ve been listening to a lot of music. here’s a few highlights, asterisks next to big favs, but first, just go listen to the Emahoy Tsegue Mariam Gebru album. she is the GOAT. here’s the list:
Emahoy Tsegue Mariam Gebru - Church of Kidane Mehret*
DirtyDiggs - Gold Chain Music
Dezzy Hollow - OCEANSIDE*
Adrianne Lenker - Live at Revolution Hall*
Viagra Boys - viagr aboys*
Natalia Lafourcade - Cancionera*
Maria Somerville - Luster
Key Glock - Glockaveli
Mike & Tony Seltzer - Pinball II*
Erika de Casier - Lifetime*
Chester Watson, Thxk_u - stargazer, vol. i
PinkPantheress - Fancy That
Billy Woods - GOLLIWOG*
Chaos In the CBD - A Deeper Life
THA GOD FAHIM - Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 4*
Knxwledge - FGCテーマ.V1*
Jenny Hval - Iris Silver Mist
Tha God Fahim & Nicholas Craven - Ultimate Dump Gawd*
MØ - Plæygirl
Ezra Furman - Goodbye Small Head*
Aminé - 13 Months of Sunshine
Rico Nasty - LETHAL
Yung Lean - Jonatan*
Crimeapple - Rose Gold
Albany - ESTABA ESCRITO
Dram & Ellis Quinn - Leorpio
Ebo Taylor, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad - Ebo Taylor JID022
Aesop Rock - Black Hole Superette*
Homeboy Sandman - Rich 2.5*
Mei Semones - Animaru*
Marlon Williams - Te Whare Tīwekaweka*
Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow*
Carlita - fabric presents Carlita
Tim Bernardes - Prudência - Praga*
i’ve been practicing Go recently too which is fun. here’s a playlist:
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4bUgvWbrZGJZVTxAAF-_7EctnaVm05jq
Marlon Williams - Korero Māori
Tim Bernardes - Praga
Riddlore - Soul Clap SA
Mei Semones - Dangomushi
Yung Lean - I'm Your Dirt, I'm Your Love
DRAM, Ellis Quinn - Money Calling (Feat. Khi Infinite)
Homeboy Sandman - Biology
Aesop Rock - 1010WINS (feat. Armand Hammer)
Knxwledge - 3RDSTRIKE
Carlita - Stop Now
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - Ave Maria
moon tang - all I need is just someone to love
Ezra Furman - You Hurt Me I Hate You
Billy Woods - Counterclockwise (feat. The Alchemist)
Adrianne Lenker - promise is a pendulum (live)
Erika de Casier - You Can't Always Get What You Want
Tha God Fahim - Tha Riddle Of Steel
Aminé - Images (feat. 454 & Toro y Moi)