“It’s not like Amnesty did NOT know how Myanmar would manipulate its report on ARSA. It wants to be accepted by the genocidaires as ‘impartial’.”

–Maung Zarni, Burmese dissident in exile & champion of the Rohingya

It is reported that William Windsor, the guy some call prince & curtsey to with deference, will be making an official state visit this summer to Israel, Jordan, & the West Bank. He will avoid Gaza so as not to get hit by Israeli snipers or bombers. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin tweeted that the arrival of William on Israel’s 70th anniversary was a ‘very special present’. Don’t try to tell us that the British government, which was directly involved in handing Palestine to Zionist terrorists, is unaware of how Willie’s visit will legitimize Israeli policies, including toward Palestinians & the occupation, regardless of his little side trip to the occupied West Bank.

There is a petition circulating addressed to Willie but it refers to him as Prince William & says ‘please don’t go’. Find us a less feudal petition to sign & we’ll go to town with it.

(Photo is Willie who speaks for the British government)

Dutch activists made a video political parody of Israel’s winning contestant in the Eurovision contest who called her performance propaganda for Israel. Palestine Observer called this mockery “a truth-bomb-improvement on the original” because it stands with Palestinians against slaughter. It was aired on a popular Dutch comedy show & immediately brought accusations of antisemitism because Zionists consider any criticism of Israel antisemitic & are trying to make that international law. The Israeli embassy in the Netherlands lodged an official complaint.

(Photo is Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai clucking it up with Netanyahu)

It is reported that at a Palestinian solidarity rally in Times Square, NYC, one of the chants was “From Kashmir to Palestine end the occupation now.”

Came across a post on Facebook where someone called my posts brilliant. For a moment my chest swelled out, my head began to inflate like a balloon, & I began to assume the pompous stance suitable to such stature. Then my little dog farted & this brought me back to my senses. The secret of such so-called “brilliance” is learning to listen well, observing political behavior in the social movements, not putting on airs about what you do or do not know, never talking through your hat, & never dismissing anyone except the blowhards. But above all else, listening well because other people know & understand a lot of things you don’t. “Brilliance” is mostly the accumulation of other’s wisdom & insights.

A very expensive Oxford education has gone to waste on our man Tariq Ali. He posted a meme by an Assadist editor which quoted Roland Dumas, a long-since retired French politician, on Syria: “This operation goes way back. It was prepared, preconceived & planned. I was in England two years before the violence in Syria…I met top British officials who confessed to me that they were preparing something in Syria…Britain was organizing an invasion of rebels into Syria.”

Dumas is 95-years-old and would have been 86 when he had this meeting with “top British officials.” Which British officials expose state secrets to an elderly, out-of-office, & discredited French politician? Dumas is a notorious antisemite who was prosecuted for bilking an elderly widow out of her funds. Do you really want to make a meme on such a complex subject as Syria based on the words of a discredited, possibly senile, old windbag?

In researching an article for the political affinities between the Palestinian & Kashmiri struggles, I found an article not to the point of my article but of interest about the Israeli economy–which will turn out to be the Achilles heel of the Zionist state. In my youth, Zionists often said Israel was a socialist country which it most certainly never was. But the state did provide considerable social services for settlers. They no longer use that rhetoric & anyway things have changed, especially as Netanyahu more aggressively employs neoliberal economic policies, including privatizing state-owned industries & eliminating or reducing pension & welfare systems. Those changes & reduced expectations will shake up the consciousness of working people leading many to question the viability of the Zionist political agenda. There will be polarization with some choosing a more rightwing perspective, especially those rabid settlers in the West Bank, but many will also be open to Palestinian justice & the proposal for a democratic secular state where Palestinians & Jews are equals. Class will be a decisive factor in the outcome of this struggle.

Please take a moment to sign this petition for Haitham Mohamedain, an Egyptian labor lawyer, human rights & socialist activist, who has been arrested by the military regime.

https://www.change.org/p/prosecutor-general-arab-republic-of-egypt-freedom-for-haitham-mohamedain-stop-the-repression-in-egypt?recruiter=723858&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook_link&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial.pacific_abi_share_button_ordering_1.abi_featured_fb.nafta_share_post_interaction.control

There are protests around the world in solidarity with Gaza but none reported from Damascus. Only reports they’re dancing in the streets celebrating the slaughter of Palestinians in Yarmouk refugee camp. We won’t ask Assad supporters to explain that since their apologetics have exhausted our tolerance for puerile theoretics. We do know there have been protests for Palestinians among civilians of the Syrian Arab Spring uprising, most of whom live under aerial bombardment by Syrian, Russian, & US-coalition bombers. Like this graffiti in Kuftkharim in Idlib which reads “From Syria to Gaza, we share the same wound.”

(Photo by Abu al-Bara al-Shami via Ghouta @ActForGhouta on Twitter)

McAllen, Texas stands with Palestinians against Israeli apartheid & genocide: a key issue here on the US border with Mexico is the militarized border wall so Israel’s apartheid wall resonates with activists here.