"But there was nothing about the little, low-rambling, more or less identical homes of Northumberland Estates to interest or to haunt, no chance of loot that would be any more than the ordinary, waking-world kind the cops hauled you in for taking; no small immunities, no possibilities for hidden life or otherworldly presence; no trees, secret routes, shortcuts, culverts, thickets that could be made hollow in the middle – everything in the place was right out in the open, everything could be seen at a glance; and behind it, under it, around the corners of its houses and down the safe, gentle curves of its streets, you came back, you kept coming back, to nothing; nothing but the cheerless earth."
Thomas Pynchon, "The Secret Integration"
This is Ian Mathers' Tumblr. I live in Canada. Hi.
ismathers @ twitter
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Yeah, it’s been one of those weeks. Felt shitty enough to take Monday off, got COVID and flu shots, felt shitty enough (and slept through enough alarms) I took Thursday off too. My therapist had last week off and I’ve got a lot to talk to him about today (well, I will have done so already by the time this posts). Insomnia has been particularly bad. Don’t feel up to making any fun plans this weekend, just going to… well, you know. Hope you have a good (a better) weekend.
worth a read.
My message to everyone who reads these lines is to remember that the most powerful countries in the world are killing civilians in Gaza. Do not believe them when they speak about human rights and humanity. They have no humanity. We begged them over the past 17 years to break our siege. They never listened. Yet they are rushing to kill us.
Keep my stories alive so that you keep me alive. Remember that I wanted a normal life, a small home full of my children’s laughter and the smell of my wife’s cooking. Remember that the world that pretended to be the savior of humanity participated in killing such a small dream.
Remember me, as I prepare myself to leave this world by force and go to a better one — one where the U.S. and Israel do not exist.
Tareq S. Hajjaj,
October 15, 2023
“The settlers come wearing soldiers’ clothes, which is a new strategy.”
Since the war started, there have been more and more daily attacks by settlers against the people living in Masafer Yatta [a region of rural hamlets in the south of the occupied West Bank]. We are just farmers, many of us living in caves and tents. I am 18 years old, and I have lived here all my life. We have no way to defend ourselves from the settlers, who are fully armed thanks to [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir. They feel that now is their chance. The war is happening, and they have the green light to kill any Palestinian they see. They feel that no one is going to care about these people in Masafer Yatta.
They come with the army’s protection from the settlement of Havat Ma’on, just five minutes from my village of Tuwani. They attack people’s sheep and demolish their tents and raid their homes. They attacked my family in our house: They came in and shot at my dad. Luckily he survived, but they broke his hand by hitting him with the butt of a gun. On Friday, they shot my cousin, who is still in the hospital. The settlers come wearing soldiers’ clothes, which is a new strategy; my dad only recognized them as settlers because they were the same people who attacked him last year.
The settlers and the army are now controlling all the land around Tuwani. They planted an Israeli flag in the high mountains nearby, and they have blocked all the routes in and out of the area. They don’t even allow us to access our donkeys, or to give them food or water. They’re saying this is state land and it’s a war. It’s dangerous to leave the town. Some people are trying to travel through the mountains, because they need to reach hospitals, or to reach markets to get food and water. But the way through the mountains is bumpy, and they get shot at. No one can sleep at night; we are afraid that the settlers will come and burn down our homes. [x]— Luna (pseudonym), as told to Amos; Tuwani; October 17th
world seems pretty bleak rn man ngl
thats completely understandable given everything going on but please remember that all of the things happening rn are the result of world imperialism succumbing to its own contradictions. a cornered beast will lash out and it will lash out violently, but it’s crucial to remember that the huge increase in counterinsurgency efforts, reactionary violence, etc all reflect the desperate attempts of a dying system to keep itself afloat.
and while yes, the grief we have to endure as a result of that violence is immense, never forget that there was a time in history where there was no organized anti-colonial resistance to speak of, where workers hadnt seized the means of production in one country, let alone several, when colonial hegemony went almost entirely unchallenged except in the form of scattered revolts and rebellions.
we are not in that period anymore, we are living in the aftermath of the october revolution, of the chinese revolution, of organized international solidarity in the periphery, of the US empire spreading itself thinner and thinner and losing on more and more fronts, of recurrent and pronounced crises of the capitalist system,
an era where colonized peoples have become/are becoming the subjects of their own history, rather than merely the objects. all of this is reason to stay optimistic, to stay vigilant, and to channel that grief and anger and agitation into drive to fight, drive to resist
and perhaps most pertinently for this current struggle of palestinian liberation, please remember that the fight is ongoing and far from lost, on the contrary, there are many reasons to believe the tide is turning, that the palestinian people will rid themselves once and for all of the occupation and strike a massive blow to world imperialism in the process
As the Israeli military prepares to ramp up its genocidal assault on Gaza, every message that Palestinians manage to transmit may be the last.
The team at The Institute for Palestine Studies has been translating and publishing these messages so that the world can see the humanity buried under the rubble, and the spirit of resistance that has, does, and will continue to animate the Palestinian struggle.
To help maximize their reach, we are republishing these messages here, and will continue to update this page as more come in.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
(Source: proteanmag.com)