The TRUTH

09/04/2024

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Islam - and all of you who may be considering Islam - or are just curious,

I have so much to share with you, but my work obligations do not permit nearly enough time to share it all.

The past month, which spans the length of the Holy Month of Ramadan, has been one of the single most important months of my life.

Hollywood and the American media have told so many lies about the beautiful faith that is Islam that I can say with complete confidence that unless you have practiced it, as I have for this past month, you likely have no real idea what it's about.

And I say that as a man that has spoken at dozens of Muslim events and gatherings over the past decade. I've dined with Muslims, visited the homes of Muslims, and worked alongside Muslims throughout my adult life, but none of that truly prepared me for the beauty of the past month.

Here is the best comparison I could make.

When me and Dr. Rai prepared to have our first baby, all the way back in 2001, we bought book after book on how to be parents. And we read them and talked about them. We even took classes on becoming new parents. But then, our baby girl was born, and we IMMEDIATELY realized that reading books about parenting, and actually caring for a real-life baby in your home are two VERY different things.

Being a Muslim is so beautiful. And all the years I've spent as an ally to Muslims didn't really prepare me for what it would be like to actually practice Islam.

The whole non-Muslim world has Islam SOOOO WRONG. After generations of ridiculous stereotypes in movie after movie - and decades of news stories that have wrongly projected Muslims as terrorists and extremists, I can come on here and tell you with complete confidence that those lies are so preposterous.

The thing is - if you are reading my words - and you aren't a Muslim - my words cannot accurately give the message that I'm giving the true justice it deserves.

Muslims are the most kind, generous, warm people on the planet.

This month I've spent several nights at mosques across North America and have worshipped and prayed to Allah alongside elders, peers, and children - sometimes for 12 hours straight - and listen to me - you get to know people - and feel their heart and energy - when you are prostrate on the ground alongside them - praying to Allah - at 3:45AM.

Each night I stayed at the masjid - not ONCE did I see a single frown, hear a single raised voice, or see a single soul catch an attitude. Quite the opposite - I saw people so loving, so warm, so content, so joyous - that they welcomed me, a complete stranger, as if I was their long lost brother. I was treated not as a guest, but as family - everywhere I went.

People would offer me their last morsel of food, ask me to cut in front of them in line, hug me, shake my hand with love and respect, introduce me to their loved ones, and always do it with a level of warmth and sincerity that was contagious.

The lessons that I have learned this month about the wonderful life of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, and his companions, have changed the entire trajectory of my life.
You may have heard me say this once before, but nothing has changed me more than praying 5 times a day. During Ramadan, on some days, I prayed 7-10 times per day - each time with my hands and knees and face on the ground.

To pray in this way, with my big forehead and nose pressed into the ground, is so humbling. I don't know how you could pray this way and not be humbled. You pretty much have to orient your entire life around prayer. Your morning starts with it and your night ends with it. Not only that, but you pray 3 times right in the thick of your day each day.

If you were tempted to forget about Allah, and simply walk and work in your own strength, that doesn't last long, because soon, it will be time to pray, and submit yourself to Allah once more.
I don't even see Islam so much as a religion, but it's a complete way of life. Religion seems like a box you check, but Islam is a life that you live. Islam is practices and habits that you demonstrate day in and day out.

I am so honored to be a Muslim. I now fully understand why it's the fastest growing religion in the world.

If you have read all of these words, and aren't a Muslim, I invite you to join me.

And if you are already a Muslim, thank you for welcoming me into the family. Several of you said something to me that touched my heart - you said, "Shaun, you might have lost 6 million followers on Instagram, but now you've gained nearly 2 billion sisters and brothers all over the world."

I truly believe that.

Love you all,

Shaun King

20/03/2024

𝖫𝖾𝗍'𝗌 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗒 𝖺 𝗀𝖺𝗆𝖾. 𝖳𝗒𝗉𝖾 "𝗈𝗅𝖽𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽" 𝗈𝗇 𝖦𝗈𝗈𝗀𝗅𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗌 𝗎𝗉 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗎𝗅𝗍. 𝖠𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝖻𝖺𝖼𝗄 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗋𝖾-𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗍.

𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗌𝗐𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝖴𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗈𝖿 𝖡𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗇𝖺, 𝗂𝗇 𝖨𝗍𝖺𝗅𝗒. 𝖶𝖺𝗌 𝗂𝗍? 𝖬𝗒 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗎𝗅𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗌, "𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖴𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗈𝖿 𝖡𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗇𝖺 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝖿𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝟣𝟢𝟪𝟪 𝖺𝗇𝖽, 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗇𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗈𝗉𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇, 𝗁𝗈𝗅𝖽𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗍𝗂𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗅𝖽𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽." 𝖶𝖺𝗌 𝗂𝗍 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗂𝗆𝗂𝗅𝖺𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎?

𝖨𝗍'𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗎𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗅 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝖼𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗅 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝖿𝗎𝗋𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽'𝗌 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗎𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐥 𝐐𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐲𝐧𝐧 - 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝟖𝟗𝟓 𝐂𝐄 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐥-𝐅𝐢𝐡𝐫𝐢. 𝖨𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽’𝗌 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝖼𝖾𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗈 𝖺𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖽 𝖽𝖾𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝖼𝖼𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖽𝗂𝖿𝖿𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗅𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝖽𝗒, 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗌𝗎𝖻𝗃𝖾𝖼𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖨𝗌𝗅𝖺𝗆𝗂𝖼 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝖽𝗂𝖾𝗌, 𝗆𝖺𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆𝖺𝗍𝗂𝖼𝗌, 𝗀𝗋𝖺𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖼𝗂𝗇𝖾. 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅 - 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽'𝗌 𝗆𝗈𝗌𝗍 𝖻𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝖼𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗇𝗏𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝖼𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖬𝗎𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗆 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽, 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝗅 𝖻𝖾𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝖱𝖾𝗇𝖺𝗂𝗌𝗌𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾?

𝖨𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍, 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗎𝗍𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗉𝗈𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝗁𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽'𝗌 𝗁𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗒 𝗂𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗍𝖺𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗎𝗌, 𝗂𝗌 𝗄𝖾𝗉𝗍 𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗅𝗒 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗁. 𝖶𝗁𝗈 𝗌𝗁𝖺𝗉𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈? 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖽𝖾𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽 𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐? 𝖸𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗐𝗋𝗈𝗇𝗀?

𝖩𝗈𝗂𝗇 𝗎𝗌 𝗂𝗇 𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖱𝖺𝗆𝖺𝖽𝖺𝗇 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗉 𝗈𝗇 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖨𝗌𝗅𝖺𝗆𝗈𝗉𝗁𝗈𝖻𝗂𝖺, 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗐𝖾 𝗍𝖺𝗅𝗄 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗆𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖬𝗎𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗆𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖨𝗌𝗅𝖺𝗆 𝗂𝗇 𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗌𝖾 𝗆𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗉𝗂𝖾𝖼𝖾𝗌 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗆𝖺𝖽𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗋𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖽𝖾𝗁𝗎𝗆𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗓𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗏𝗂𝗈𝗅𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍 𝖬𝗎𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗆𝗌 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝗈𝗇𝗉𝗅𝖺𝖼𝖾, 𝖾𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖶𝖾𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗇 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽. 𝖪𝗇𝗈𝗐𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗎𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗌𝖾 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝖼𝗋𝗎𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅 𝗂𝗇 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗋𝗂𝗌𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗀𝗅𝗈𝖻𝖺𝗅 𝖨𝗌𝗅𝖺𝗆𝗈𝗉𝗁𝗈𝖻𝗂𝖺, 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗏𝗈𝗂𝖼𝖾𝗌 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗅𝗈𝗎𝖽 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝖾, 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝖺𝗌 𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗂𝗅𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾𝖽. 𝖫𝗂𝗇𝗄 𝗍𝗈 𝗋𝖾𝗀𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗐.



- Saamiya Seraj/ LinkedIn

03/03/2024

Gaza is at Risk of Starving

18/02/2024

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞!

A once occupied and colonised country is shaking hands with an occupier! How? Why?

India has a history where they fought hard for their independence and yet despite their history and experience they fail to see the reality of what’s happening in Palestine, particularly in Gaza.

I don’t think we need any kind of introduction to what Modi’s motives are in relation to Muslims and Islam. I mean the current Hindutva movement is a testament to the deep seeded racism that exists within Indian society.

One would argue that history has really not taught them anything because if they learned from their own experiences then perhaps their perspective on what’s happening in Gaza would have been different.

How does a country like India where it was once occupied by the British where Indians were subjected to torture, racism, belittled and made to be slaves to white British people shake hands with a country like Israel who is doing exactly the same to the Palestinians?

What kind of a delusional, double standard, history forgotten, and hypocritical world are we living in?
- Nasreen Hanifi/ LinkedIn

🔻 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 & 𝐠𝐞𝐨-𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧🔻

The agreement between India and UAE comes as carries out a genocidal bombing campaign in Rafah, which many have warned is an effort to rid the enclave of its Palestinian inhabitants to make way for Jewish settlements, in contravention of international law.

has a plan to sustain its growing settlements in the Middle East by forging faster and more prosperous trade engagements. What is this about?

#1 | Money 💰

The European-Middle East trade corridor is being funneled through Israel-Jordan-Saudi-UAE into South East Asia. Middle and Asia (India specifically) happen to be the fastest growth markets - increasing regional connectivity with creating TRANS-CONTINENTAL trade corridors.

It's insensitive to make the official trade partner at a time when its war crimes are cramming 1.5 Million people into Rafah - without food, water, healthcare amenities or shelter - on top them actively making plans and dropping bombs.

#2 | Domination 🔺

MODI the Indian Prime Minister is pushing ahead with Mideast-Europe trade corridor despite regional conflicts. The project, called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment, could speed up trade between India and Europe by 40% and help normalize relations between and the states, which the Biden administration has been pushing for.

On the back end, we also have and shaking hands since 1920's with their supremacist philosophies. This is the first time a formal agreement would prop up the relationship that will reshape the trading routes around the world. The Middle East countries need to be more vigilant - it can officially end an era of growth and globalization.

Think more regionalization. Think more domination. Now has a very important role to play to reset the global narrative.
- Rizwan Shaik/ LinkedIn

&Hindutva

18/02/2024

"This morning I forced myself to read Brené Brown's article “Not Looking Away.”

I wish I hadn't.

In case you don’t know Brené, she's a "researcher, storyteller, and Texan who’s spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy." She's a white, self-described introvert, married (to Steve) with two kids. She's worth around $5m.

When my mum passed away at the end of last year, Brené was monumental in helping me to find the strength to heal and grow. I got lost in her words daily.

Until I didn't.

As white women in the UK my mother and I have/had racial privilege. But as a proudly working class woman with a background of trauma, mum's strength was in her survival. We can't relate to rich white women with stable families in the UK, let alone in Texas.

And it jars me when entitled white voices assume that they speak for us as "the majority".

When I noticed this in Brené I stopped reading. Perhaps because I didn’t want to fall out of love.

I know that’s why I didn't read the article till now.

I read it through angry tears.

It’s is designed to be neutral, yet it spews the exact narrative that enables silence. That enables violence.

Here’s how.

🚫 SHE SAYS IT'S A WAR.

If it were a war it would have long since been won when Hamas were removed from ISRAEL and the Israel security stopped reentry. THIS IS NOT A WAR. Stop saying it is one.

🚫 SHE PRIORITISES THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Brené equates the suffering of the Jewish community with that of the Palestinian community. She puts her concern for the Jewish ahead of her concern for Palestinians.

She's worked hard to ensure she causes no harm to her friends and supporters. And in doing so made it clear that Palestinians come lower in her hierarchy of humanity.

🚫 SHE FAILS TO CALL OUT IDF

She calls Hamas “Sadistic terrorists”.

She calls the Israel government “extremists”.

“Killed by Israel.”

“Burned to death by Hamas.”

She calls Hamas out as a “Terrorist Organisation.”

She doesn’t mention the IDF, let alone calling them out for being the terrorists they are.

🚫 SHE PLAYS THE ANTISEMITISM CARD

She speaks of “antisemitism” first. Loud and clear. Then she refers to “Islamophobia and anti-Arab language” taking the edge off. Drawing the mind to consider these are ways we speak, not what we believe and how we act.

🚫 SHE IGNORES 75 YEARS OF OPPRESSION.

She doesn’t even mention oppression. Not once. From reading this you'd think Palestinians had been living in luxury and would be fine if Hamas hadn't "terrorised Israel"

———

I knew I didn’t want to read it. But I had no idea it would be so bad.

We need to do so, so much better. Especially when we have a platform for change.

"

- Karen Southcott/LinkedIn

Link to the article in the comments.

15/02/2024

"Monday morning, people were talking about the Super Bowl.

On the face of it, there's no harm in this. The Super Bowl is a major cultural event for some people, and it's fine that they want to share their excitement about it. But many of us had a very different Sunday. I didn't want to make anyone feel ashamed about enjoying themselves while I was watching the invasion of Rafah, seeing graphic and violent images and videos of children and civilians being killed in horrible ways. My social media was full of broken bodies, of dead children, of people saying their final goodbyes, unsure if they'd survive the night.

But somehow it seemed inappropriate to bring this up, so I kept quiet about my Sunday. But the more I've connected with people 1:1, the more I realize I wasn't alone in this dissonant feeling. That many are struggling to pretend normalcy because of the pressure to keep our feelings to ourselves.

I don't have a solution for this, except to say that if you're seeing employees withdraw or unable to engage in typical lighthearted conversation, it can be helpful to make space for grief, to normalize it, and to remind your teams that being inclusive can mean finding joy where you can AND sometimes not being able to in the face of so much trauma, and both of these responses are OK. That we don't need to resent one another as callus or killjoys, that we can contain joy and sorrow and learn from one another and take a break from the relentless pressure to keep our feelings to ourselves. That work may indeed have to carry on even in the face of unimaginable suffering and that doesn't have to mean it's business as usual.

I share this poem this week because it's the only thing that's made me feel better. Not because it makes anything better, but because sometimes poetry names things in a way prose cannot.

The Turn of the Century
By Wisława Szymborska

It was supposed to be better than the others, our 20th century,
But it won't have time to prove it.
Its years are numbered,
its step unsteady,
its breath short.

Already too much has happened
that was not supposed to happen.
What was to come about
has not.

Spring was to be on its way,
and happiness, among other things.

Fear was to leave the mountains and valleys.
The truth was supposed to finish before the lie.
Certain misfortunes
were never to happen again
such as war and hunger and so forth.

These were to be respected:
the defenselessness of the defenseless,
trust and the like.

Whoever wanted to enjoy the world
faces an impossible task.

Stupidity is not funny.
Wisdom isn't jolly.

Hope
Is no longer the same young girl
et cetera. Alas.

God was at last to believe in man:
good and strong,
but good and strong
are still two different people.

How to live--someone asked me this in a letter,
someone I had wanted
to ask that very thing.

Again and as always,
and as seen above
there are no questions more urgent
than the naïve ones."

- Kelsey Vanhee/LinkedIn

Photo added for attention!

09/02/2024

"The Na*is in 1942 systematically starved the 500,000 men, women and children in the Warsaw Ghetto. This is a number Iz ray elle intends to exceed.
[...]

“There is no instance since the Second World War in which an entire population has been reduced to extreme hunger and destitution with such speed,”
[...]

I covered the famine in Sudan in 1988 that took 250,000 lives. There are streaks in my lungs, scars from standing amid hundreds of Sudanese who were dying of tuberculosis. I was strong and healthy and fought off the contagion. They were weak and emaciated and did not. The international community, as is in Gaza, did little to intervene.
[...]

Now, from a distance, I watch this happen in another land in another time. I know the indifference that doomed the Sudanese, mostly Dinkas, and today dooms the Palestinians. The poor, especially when they are of color, do not count. They can be killed like flies. The starvation in Gaza is not a natural disaster. It is Israel’s masterplan.

Link to full article in comments."

- Rishma M./ LinkedIn

08/02/2024

I could barely sleep last night as my child’s fever burned high. I held him close, called his pediatrician, gave him medicine and some fluids, and received assurance that I could call at any moment should symptoms get worse.

As I sat there, my anxiety spiking, I also thought of a mother in Gaza, with the sounds of heavy bombardment around them, with no medicine to ease her child's suffering, no clean water to quench their thirst, and no promise of aid or safety, holding her child just as tightly.

My heart hurts as I think of her desperation, her helplessness.

So, I began to wonder, how can I make others feel this? How can I show this deep injustice? How can I help people better see the child who is suffering, dying, without any of the comforts or assurances?

As of today, more than 12,000 children have been killed in Gaza. One out of every 100 children.

Each time I look at my child, I imagine this loss, this unbearable pain, magnified 12,000 times. I envision the horror of children, over a million of them, starving, maimed, and traumatized - a horror that should shake us all to our cores.

Yet, here I am, searching for words that sound smart enough, eloquent enough, to make people care.

Why do we have to search for clever ways to say something that's so clear?

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡?

These questions haunt me. And I don’t think I’ll ever understand it.

- Johanna Santana/ LinkedIn

26/01/2024

Excerpt from a 'Jewish Voice for Peace' article:

"As we approach International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we are confronted with a devastating truth: What we vowed never to allow to happen again is happening, right now.
Today, Gaza is a shell of its former self. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped from the face of the Earth, replaced by a gray wasteland unfit for human life: bustling markets and crowded cafes, libraries home to thousands of precious books, bakeries filled with the smell of fresh bread — all of it turned to ash.

This Saturday, Israel and the U.S. will share solemn words about the Holocaust. They will tell us that we must never again allow this kind of evil to occur — even as both countries stand trial, respectively, for carrying out and complicity in the genocide of Palestinians.
One of the worst truths of the Holocaust is that such horrors can happen. It is entirely possible for a genocide to be carried out while the world watches, and it’s happened more than once since the world vowed “never again.”"

Read more here:
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/01/24/gaza-genocide-four-months/

As we approach International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we are confronted with a devastating truth: What we vowed never to allow to happen again is happening, right now.

26/01/2024

"A COUNTRY LIVING ON PROPAGANDA AND LIES?

India has been ranked as the No. 1 nation in the world, for spreading FALSE INFORMATION.

This should be a cause of worry, factoring India's Demographics, having over 65% of population that is below the age of 35, largely underemployed/ unemployed, and on the edge.

This kind of structured spread of False Information is also a very poor statement on the CYBER PREPAREDNESS and law enforcement agencies, who are unable to identify the perpetrators of false news and bring them to Justice.

The main carriers on false information are Social media platforms, Mugged Media publications/ Journalists, Politicians and compromised Institutions / Agencies ( which are labelled as "Independent" )

STORY:

Disinformation is defined as situations where the author has purposefully sought to mislead their audience. Misinformation describes information that is spread out of genuine belief but can be just as harmful – as is sometimes the case with conspiracy theories.

India is the country where the risk of disinformation and misinformation was ranked highest. Out of all risks, misinformation and disinformation were most frequently selected as the number one risk for the country by the experts, coming before infectious diseases, illicit economic activity, inequality (wealth, income), and labour shortages. The South Asian nation’s next general election is expected to be held between April and May 2024 in a country of some 1.4 billion people.

This data is based on 1,490 expert opinions across academia, business, government, the international community and civil society, with a survey collected September 4 to October 9, 2023.

IMPACT OF FAKE NEWS

This news has poisoned the atmosphere of the web and is resulting in riots, lynching, mob violence, and hatred among people. Gossipy tidbits, edited pictures, misleading content sources, spurred and planted stories spread like a forest fire among 564.5 million internet users in India through social media platform, like- WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter."

-Governance India/LinkedIn

Link to the study in comments

19/01/2024

Western nations are tragically turning their backs, or actively supporting in the case of the United States, while the Israeli army continues to kill over 30,000 Palestinians (including 12,000 children), systematically destroy Gaza, and intentionally starve 2.3 million Palestinian civilians.

As a result, students, faculty, and other people in your networks may be looking for resources about Palestine, Middle East politics, and Palestinian Americans. The Center for Security, Race and Rights has created the following resources:

Teach In Series on Palestine (Gaza, Palestine 101, West Bank and Jerusalem, and Israeli Settlements) - https://csrr.rutgers.edu/resources/palestinefacts/

Academic Lectures by Professors George Bisharat, Rashid Khalidi, Joseph Massad, Lara Sheehi, and Marc Lamont Hill - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy

Public Policy Lectures by Khaled Elgindy, Peter Beinart, Sarah Leah Whitson, Mitchell Plitnick, and Hesham Yousef

Bibliography of Books on Palestine -https://csrr.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/books-on-palestine-pages-1-42.pdf

Resource Guide on Palestine -https://csrr.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/resources-on-palestine.pdf

Related to the substantive discussions of Palestinian human rights, Israeli genocidal practices, and a decades long brutal occupation is the frequency with which unfounded allegations of antisemitism are hurled at Muslim and Arab professors and Middle East experts. This is the topic of CSRR's groundbreaking report Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine Israel Discourse -https://csrr.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/csrr-presumptively-antisemitic-report.pdf

Share this post widely!

-Sahar Aziz/LinkedIn

16/01/2024

Author Heba Gowayed shares:
"I must admit, this piece about their loss is the hardest thing I have penned in a long career of writing. I know I can never do justice to the depths of this parental love and loss."

“As a world, we have failed the children of Gaza. We have failed our fellow parents. It is not a new failure. The vast majority of the 1.1 million children in Gaza were born behind a 17-year-old blockade which even in utero saw them as a danger to their colonizer, their lives and freedoms expendable for the sake of its stability. It’s something we’ve seen time and again with the Israeli military. After the 2014 assault on Gaza, the Obliterated Families project reported that one-fourth of the 2,200 Palestinians killed were children, with 1,000 other children permanently disabled.

We have long acquiesced to Palestinian children living in these conditions, to our tax dollars being sent to build the technology of their confinement. I live in a country whose leaders have long deemed Arab children like my son as less than human. In Yemen, in Syria and Iraq, in Libya, in Palestine — Arab children, our children, are simply ok to kill.

Against the horror of this assault, Gazan parental love, the most natural thing in the world, is resistance. On November 3, Doaa, a Gazan mother of two, and an Arabic teacher, tweeted a photo of her five-year-old daughter beaming, holding a cupcake and wearing a sparkly tiara. She was proud to have managed a makeshift celebration for her daughter’s birthday in the midst of the violence, writing ​“her happiness was worth the world.” When Doaa was killed along with her other daughter 24 hours later, the image went viral.”

"Gazan children deserve more than survival."

https://inthesetimes.com/article/gaza-genocide-children-israel-palestine-mother

A new mother and scholar of forced displacement writes about Israel's mass murder of Palestinian children in Gaza.

12/01/2024

The public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case v. , Thursday 11 January 2024, at 10 a.m. (The Hague) before the .

Excellent and challenging presentations by South Africa!

Here's the link to the live recording of the session:
https://www.youtube.com/live/4f_yoal4gx8?si=DVAIXgoEhL4w7cbo

"Summary of Isreal’s Genocidal Acts on the Palestinian people:

- Isreal has killed an unparalleled and unprecedented amount of civilians, WITH full knowledge of how many lives they will take.

- Isreal has displaced 85% of Palestinians - there are 2.3 MILLION Palestinians in Gaza

- Isreal has killed 23,200 Palestinians, 50% OF WHOM ARE CHILDREN

- Isreal, with US Weaponry, has maimed/wounded 60,000 Palestinians, 70% WOMEN AND CHILDREN and eliminated ALL HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE

- Isreal has wiped out HUNDREDS of multi-generational families -COMPLETELY WIPED OUT with no surviving relatives AT ALL - Not cousins, grandparents, siblings, NOTHING.

- Isreal, with US weaponry, has destroyed 355,000 homes in Gaza, MEANING 500,000 DISPLACED Palestinians have NO HOME LEFT TO RETURN TO.

- Some 7000 Palestinians are still MISSING, presumed dead under the rubble

- Palestinians in Gaza are subjected to relentless bombing wherever they go. They are killed in their homes, in hospitals, in schools, in mosques, in churches, and as they try to find food and water for their families.

- They’re killed if they fail to evacuate, they are killed in the places to which they have fled, and even while they attempted to flee while they go to "safe routes" or look for food or water.

- 180 women give birth in Gaza per day, with no healthcare or food for their newborns. This is a war on women and children.

- In the first 3 weeks alone, following Oct 7, Isreal deployed 6000 bombs PER WEEK and at least 200 times it has deployed 2000 POUND bombs in southern areas of Palestine DESIGNATED AS SAFE. These bombs have also decimated the north, including refugee camps.

- This destruction is CELEBRATED by Israeli forces, erecting Israeli flag over wreckage, ready to RE-establish Israeli settlements and extinguishing Palestinian life in Gaza.

- This onslaught is calculated to cause widespread hunger, dehydration and disease in Gaza.

- 93% of the population in Gaza are facing crisis levels of FAMINE. More will DIE OF HUNGER and disease than in the bombings.

- Isreal DOES NOT allow aid or the ability to distribute aid from constant bombardment and airstrikes. THEY WON'T EVEN TURN ON THE WATER.

- Isreal does NOT have a "right to defend itself" against a people that are under ISREALI OCCUPATION."
- Laura Scarlett Martin

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, holds public hearings on the request for the indication of prov...

06/01/2024

"Page From History - 'The Jewish Invasion Of Palestine' As Described By Brits. Read It To Understand!

By 1922, when first British Census took place

👉Total Palestinians were 7,52, 048

👉Of which jews numbered 83,790 (12%)

👉Few Thousands had arrived recently

👉Trickle of Jewish immigrants ( soon to become flood )

👉 Issue of Independence & Implication of Jewish Migration dominated the political discourse in Palestine

👉 Palestinians watched neighboring countries gaining Independence while their hopes receding

👉Jews were minority but determined, wealthy, well organized & supported by USA"

- Dhananjay Patil

Source: " The Arabs Of Palestine " Reprinted from 'The British Survey'

The Arabs of Palestine | Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017498691/