Category Archives: Viva!

The metamorphosis of a Jewish supremacist | +972 Magazine

Jerusalem is divided between different people – leftists and rightists, secular and religious – these definitions erect walls and restrict our humanity. At the end of the day, when you talk to someone on the level and do it genuinely you realize that we all have a lot in common, even when we disagree with each other, which is fine. They look different and they think different, but we must respect each other, we are all the sons of one god.

I then shed all my prejudice and the preconceptions that I had, having grown up in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, having seen blown-up buses and thought every Arab was a terrorist. Many times in my life I incited and acted against Arabs.

And today, three years on, I’m coming full circle. I’m going to meet with Mohammed Ghadir, shake his hand talk to him. I’m the happiest man alive.

I’ve recently started speaking against racism and for love and tolerance. Many eyebrows were raised. I was harassed along the way, and many are still annoyed with me.

But when I see kids that thanks to me choose love over hate, I couldn’t be happier. I have made lovely Arab, religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox friends, really of all kinds. I’m trying to shed my prejudices and be sensitive, empathetic, loving and accepting. I’ve shed all the fears that I had. I’ve won.”Later, after he met with Ghadir, he wrote another post describing the meeting as “one of the most emotional moments of my life.”

Source: The metamorphosis of a Jewish supremacist | +972 Magazine

Wednesday Open Thread | #VeteransForKaepernick Exploded On Twitter | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the national anthem has taken over the news cycle. It seems almost everyone has weighed in on the issue except one, extremely important group: American co…

Source: Wednesday Open Thread | #VeteransForKaepernick Exploded On Twitter | 3CHICSPOLITICO

In the Shadows of Men …(excerpt)

The 7th daughter of the 7th daughter? Or why not – today/now is the beginning of a new day.

نادية حرحش

My mother gave birth to me shortly after she turned sixteen—a child giving birth to a child, I always thought. I was raised in the midst of my parents’ teenage dreams and the uncertainty of their new adult lives. Memories became lost in the flow of life. This made us forget what had been and simply carry on moment to moment.

Each of us grows, and inside are the lost dreams and thwarted wishes of our mothers. You are the origin of her dreams’ demise. You are asked to rise to the appointed challenges because, in spite of being a woman, you will face this world and prove you are worthy to exist within it.

Girl after girl after girl was born, and the dreams of our mother broke around us, their shrapnel scattered and then reshaped into another dream far away from us—the dream of the male. The boy…

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Vivas o Muertas: How Immigrant Women Inside Berks are Fighting for Liberation

In an open letter addressed to Jeh Johnson, the women wrote that many of their children have contemplated suicide and all lack proper care within Berks. Faced with few options, the mothers have resorted to organizing as their only way out. They said they plan to leave the Pennsylvania family detention center either “vivas o muertas”—alive or dead.While organizing puts the families at risk for backlash, risk taking is not new for these women. These are 22 mothers who came from Central America escaping violence, corruption, the impacts of climate change, and United States intervention and occupation. Twenty-two mothers who put their bodies on the line more than once: providing for their families in Central America, immigrating to the United States, surviving each day in detention, and finally having no other choice but to refuse to eat. Twenty-two mothers who wanted what was best for their families. Twenty-two mothers who have been retraumatized each day by the country they hoped would protect them.  Twenty-two mothers who are fighters reminding us they have power despite being detained.The 22 women on hunger strike are putting everything on the line for the safety of their families. As they enter their third week, the women are rapidly losing weight. We have a duty to these families. We have a duty to share their stories, to take action, to show up in genuine ways, and take action to end all deportations.

Source: Vivas o Muertas: How Immigrant Women Inside Berks are Fighting for Liberation

Monday Open Thread | The Protests At Standing Rock | 3CHICSPOLITICO

 

Lawrence O’Donnell: From the start of colonial intrusion, the free and original peoples of this hemisphere “have been treated as enemies and dealt with more harshly than any other enemy in any other war.”While this in itself is not news, the source of this statement is. This quote comes not from an activist, a historian or a researcher squirreled away in an obscure academic corner, but from a high-profile commentator speaking on MSNBC.“After all our other wars we signed treaties and lived by those treaties,” noted Lawrence O’Donnell at the segment at the end of the August 25 edition of his nightly news show The Last Word. “After World War 2 we then did everything we possibly could to help rebuild Germany.”In other words, “no Native American tribe has ever been treated as well as we treated Germans after World War 2.”

Source: Monday Open Thread | The Protests At Standing Rock | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Egyptian Aak 2016 – Week 34 ( Aug 22-29)

Food must be good in Presidential office – “will of the people?” Clean up military excesses – running schools?

Nervana

Top headlines

  • Sisi will run for re-election ‘if it is the will of the Egyptian people’
  • Egypt’s cabinet approves amendments to law against FGM
  • Coptic Church declares compromise with state over contentious church building law
  • Egypt TV host shuns Twitter after pro-president poll fiasco
  • Egyptian court upholds release of lawyer Makek Adly, turns down prosecution appeal
  • Egypt’s high administrative court accepts recusal request in Red Sea islands case

 Main headlines

 Monday

 Tuesday

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From Bikini To Burkini, Or Why Lebanon’s Tripoli Is Awesome

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

A picture of two veiled burkini-clad women, and another bikini-wearing on one of Tripoli’s popular beach islands is going viral today across Lebanon’s internet-sphere. The last time this many people were interested in the city was to berate it for the way it voted in an election, but that election is now long past and so has those people’s attention from this great city up North.

In that picture, the two stark opposites represent this city that I love more than anything else. So I figured, in this small space that I have, that I’d try to tell you – kind reader – of why this city whose picture you’re so eagerly sharing is worth your time.

1) Bikini versus Burkini:

Bikini:Burkini Tripoli Picture via @JadGhorayeb

Over the years, many Lebanese have come to associate an image with Tripoli as that of a city that is ravaged by war, where Islamists reign supreme and…

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