

Kesha was joined by Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels & Andra Day for a powerful “Praying” performance at the Grammy’s.


Kesha was joined by Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels & Andra Day for a powerful “Praying” performance at the Grammy’s.

“My husband passed away when my children were very small. I taught myself handicrafts to survive, but it barely earned enough for us to eat. When my oldest son turned eighteen, I found him a wife. I was hoping that she’d help with the household. But she abandoned us after my granddaughter was born. I came home from work one day and found the child alone. I could only get her to stop crying by soaking an apple in goat’s milk. I’ve been raising her ever since that day. She calls me ‘mummy.’ With a lot of hardships I have made her grow. She survives on apples and milk. But I’m old. And when I’m gone, I don’t know who will take care of her.”
(Udaipur, India)
Never forget genocides that the world has tolerated. In the first two massacres, Bingel calculated first twenty-four thousand and then twenty-eight thousand Jews were killed. In the third, Ukrainian militia killings, six thousand were murdered.
Lieutenant Bingel recalled:
“In the morning at 10.15, wild shooting and terrible human cries reached our ears. At first I failed to grasp what was taking place, but when I approached the window from which I had a broad view over the whole of the town park, the following spectacle unfolded before my eyes and those of my men, who, alerted by the tumult, had meanwhile gathered in my room.
Ukrainian militia on horseback, armed with pistols, rifles and long straight cavalry swords, were riding wildly inside and around the town park. As far as we could make out, they were driving people along before their horses- men, women and children.
A shower of bullets was then fired at this human mass. Those not hit outright were struck down with the swords.
![]() |
| Photograph of the imminent execution of a Jewish man kneeling before a filled mass grave in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, during a massacre perpetrated by Einsatzgruppe D and Ukrainian militia in 1942. |
The executioner is a member of Einsatzgruppe D, a paramilitary death squad of the Nazi SS. The picture was taken at the third and final massacre at Vinnytsia in 1942, in which Ukrainian militia participated to a greater extent. It is often wrongly dated at 1941, the year in which the two previous massacres took place, which had far higher casualties according to Wehrmacht Lieutenant Erwin Bingel. Unlike what is suggested by the inscription, not all of the Jews of Vinnytsia died in the massacres: a few survived by joining the partisans or by going into hiding. The photograph was found in a photo album belonging to a German soldier.
The three SS-led massacres at Vinnitsa took place on the 16 and 22 September 1941 and in 1942, and resulted in the virtual extinction of the town’s large Jewish population. There was one eye-witness to the procedure involved. Lieutenant Erwin Bingel, a Wehrmacht officer was ordered to report to the Town Commandant of Uman, in the Ukraine, and instructed to set up guards on all railways in the area, and around the airport.
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| Vinnitsa during the time Bingel was there. |
On the 22 September 1941 Lieutenant Bingel and his men witnessed a second massacre in Vinnitsa. This was followed by a third, also in Vinnitsa, carried out by Ukrainian militia who had been trained by the SS, and were commanded by a small group of SS officers and NCO’s.
In the first two massacres, Bingel calculated first twenty-four thousand and then twenty-eight thousand Jews were killed. In the third, Ukrainian militia killings, six thousand were murdered.
Lieutenant Bingel recalled:
“In the morning at 10.15, wild shooting and terrible human cries reached our ears. At first I failed to grasp what was taking place, but when I approached the window from which I had a broad view over the whole of the town park, the following spectacle unfolded before my eyes and those of my men, who, alerted by the tumult, had meanwhile gathered in my room.
Ukrainian militia on horseback, armed with pistols, rifles and long straight cavalry swords, were riding wildly inside and around the town park. As far as we could make out, they were driving people along before their horses- men, women and children.
A shower of bullets was then fired at this human mass. Those not hit outright were struck down with the swords. Like some ghostly apparition, this horde of Ukrainians, let loose and commanded by SS officers, trampled savagely over human bodies, ruthlessly killing innocent children, mothers and old people whose only crime was that they had escaped the great mass murder, so as eventually to be shot or beaten to death like wild animals.”
Since he slithered into the US Senate Arkansas’ Tom Cotton has shown me nothing but self-absorption….he has done little to benefit the nation but everything to further his position in the government…..he has become the mouthpiece of the Israeli government making him an agent for a foreign nation.
Plus he has no problem lying to further his rise to the tower of power…..this person will do whatever it takes to protect his position even to the point of throwing the nation under the bus…..
Senator Tom Cotton is often called a foreign policy “hawk,” not least because he is eager to intervene in Iran. Cotton, the Republican from Arkansas who has at times been rumored to be in line for the position of CIA director, recently confirmed his stance on Tehran, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt: “Whether [Donald Trump] renews the sanctions waivers under the nuclear deal or not, the president should certainly impose new sanctions in the other authorities he has as punishment for what the regime has done during these protests over the last couple of weeks.” If that sounds relatively mild, a year ago, he was much more candid: “The policy of the United States should be regime change in Iran…I don’t see how anyone can say America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism.”
While Cotton wonders about American safety, it might be more prudent to ask about the potential dangers of his strategy. What imminent threats to the lives or liberties of the American people, if any, are currently posed by Iran? After long and largely fruitless military struggles in the region, what has been gained? What could be gained with this new theater of operations? What might be lost?
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/henry-clays-rebuke-to-tom-cotton/
We have enough self-centered toads in the government….we needs reps that take the Constitution seriously and not as a prop for political purposes…..Uncle Tom Cotton is NOT one of those people.
grin 
Let’s be real here.
go figure
PornHub compared minute-to-minute traffic on their site before and after the missile alert to an average Saturday (okay for work). Right after the alert there was a dip as people rushed for shelter, but not long after the false alarm notice, traffic appears to spike.
Some interpret this as people rushed to porn after learning that a missile was not headed towards their home. Maybe that’s part of the reason, but my guess is that Saturday morning porn consumers woke earlier than usual.

We embrace and applaud the intersectional analysis that marks today’s social movements, and decry the absence of this perspective in outreach for the Women’s March Los Angeles.
In a shocking move, you announced that a “Special Guest” speaker at WMLA 2018 is Scarlett Johansson, who is unabashedly a supporter of Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. She served as a spokesperson, and indeed, was the face of the advertising campaign of SodaStream, whose factory was in a settlement built illegally on land stolen from Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. As a result, she was forced to step down from her role as an ambassador for the humanitarian group Oxfam after working with the charity for eight years.
Johansson’s unapologetic support for Israel’s abuses of Palestinians confirms that she fully deserves the praise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heaped on her in his speech to the Israel lobby group AIPAC in Washington, several years ago. Netanyahu said Johansson should be “applauded” for opposing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights. Regardless of her claims to not be “political,” Johansson is now seen by Palestinians and their supporters as a defender of apartheid Israel.
While there are a host of OTHER examples that can be cited, here we want to focus on the impact on those of us who actively support the indigenous rights of the Palestinian people, especially in light of the recent international attention on women and child political prisoners, including 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi, the young Palestinian Rosa Parks.
Once again, grassroot feminists who promote Palestinian human rights are concerned that a hostile environment is promoted by the organizers of WMLA — whether inadvertently, or not — by the choice of featured speakers, major donors, and major partners.
Once again, grassroot feminists who promote Palestinian human rights are concerned that a hostile environment is promoted by the organizers of WMLA — whether inadvertently, or not — by the choice of featured speakers, major donors, and major partners.
The organizers of the Women’s March LA are well aware of the issues the “Women 4 Palestine” contingent faced at last year’s “Women’s March LA.” We were verbally abused with racist remarks, and bullied, to the point that some of us are reticent to return out of concern for our personal safety. Our concerns were brushed off by your organizers, in fact one of you accused one of our members as being anti-semitic when she posted an announcement for our Women’s Rally to Free Ahed and All Palestinian Child Prisoners.
We also object to tone set as a result of the key role played by The National Council of Jewish Women LA, especially as a major donor to both the national and local Women’s March. When Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, said that “we didn’t want it to become an Israel-bashing fest…We got assurances that the march is not anti-Trump and not anti-Israel,” it was clear that they were determined to silence the voices of critics of Israel and supporters of Palestinian rights.
“We believe that Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights.” – Mission Women’s March Mission. Apparently that does not include Palestinian Human Rights.
Renowned Black feminist poet, June Jordan’s poetry embodies the intersectionality of Black and Palestine liberation. “I was born a Black woman / and now / I am become a Palestinian / against the relentless laughter of evil / there is less and less living room / and where are my loved ones / It is time to make our way home.”
Last year’s Women’s March, DTLA looked like it was covered with a fresh coat of snow studded with pink caps. In no way did it reflect the wonderful diversity of Los Angeles County. Unfortunately, we never heard that was a concern for WMLA’s leaders, either before the march when several of us raised these issues, OR afterwards. What a shame and missed opportunity.
It’s well past time to be genuinely intersectional, inclusive, transparent, and welcoming of marginalized people, including the Palestinian community, an approach exemplified by the International Women’s Strike, which mobilized thousands of women in March of 2017 for gender, economic and social justice, while also centering the “Decolonization of Palestine,” anti-imperialism, and an end to gendered state violence. IWS organizers are once again mobilizing for March 2018 International Women’s Day marches and strikes.
In that spirit we invite you to join us, when many of us will participate in the International Women’s Day March & Rally 2018-Organized by AF3IRM, in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, March 3rd, 2018, noon to 3pm. This march is convened and led by transnational/women of color, but all people are welcome.
(List in formation; affiliations listed for identification only)
Amani Barakat, National Chair of Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Palestine Foundation; LA4Palestine
Mary Ellen Bennett, LA4Palestine and CodePink
Cathy Castro, founder, Threads of Peace, a 501c(3) dedicated to promoting peace, one thread at a time; Creator, #BlanketofLoveforGaza, a traveling peace and Gaza awareness exhibit
Estee Chandler, Founding Organizer, Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles; Producer/Host Middle East in Focus & Middle East Minute, KPFK-LA 90.7FM; SAG/AFTRA
Sherna Berger Gluck, Founding member, USACBI: Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel; HP Boycott-LA; Grassroots Community Radio Coalition; Women’s Studies Emerita, California State University, Long Beach, and feminist oral historian/author
Mary Hughes Thompson, co-founder, Free Gaza Movement; Women in Black-Los Angeles; International Solidarity Movement; Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation member; WGA
Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb, PhD., Professor , Communication Studies, California State University, San Bernardino; Co-Director/Executive Producer, 1948: Creation & Catastrophe
Cindy Newman, artist; LA4Palestine
Karin Pally, MPH; founding member, Women in Black-LA; LA4Palestine
Karen R. Pomer, co-founder, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, LA4Palestine, #MeToo March International, and the Rainbow Sisters Project for Rape Survivors; former producer/publicist, Democracy Now!; lifelong feminist activist/organizer
Marsha Steinberg, BDS Los Angeles for Justice in Palestine
Marcy Winograd, former congressional peace candidate; Jewish Voice for Peace; Secretary, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party (for identification purposes only)
Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, PhD, Director and Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies, San Francisco State University
Suzanne Adely, International Women’s Strike US Coordinating Committee; US Palestine Community Network; Al-Awda-NY Palestine Right to Return Coalition, National Lawyers Guild, International Committee; Co-Chair, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
Kim Anno, Artist/filmmaker, Wildprojects.org
Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, MD, Palestinian-American human rights activist and humanitarian
Ellen Barfield, Board Member, War Resisters League; Director, Baltimore Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter Veterans For Peace
Joanne Berlin, Coordinator, Committee for Racial Justice
Tithi Bhattacharya, National Organizer, International Women’s Strike; USACBI: Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Maylei Blackwell, Associate Professor, Chicano and Chicana Studies and Gender Studies, UCLA; author ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement
Renate Bridenthal, Professor of History (retired), Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Dena Chertoff, Jewish Voice for Peace
Rick Chertoff, Jewish Voice for Peace, Steering Committee LA Chapter
Julie Dad, Member, Democratic State Central Committee
Lamis J. Deek, J.D, International Women’s Strike US Coordinating Committee; Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Global Justice and Human Rights Law Network; Popular Conference of Palestinians Abroad; US Palestine Community Network
Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey, Irish Republican Socialist, feminist, and human rights activist
Frank Dorrel, longtime L.A. activist and blogger
Nada Elia, NWBDS; USACBI: Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Dahlia Ferlito, White People 4 Black Lives
Nancy Gallagher, Research Professor and Professor Emerita, Department of History, UC Santa Barbara
Irene Gendzier, Professor Emerita, Political Science Dept., Boston University
Ariel Gold, National Co-Director, CODEPINK Women for Peace
Trudy Goodwin, co-founder, Committee for Racial Justice Santa Monica, Justice Warriors for Black Lives, Los Angeles Community Action Network, Black Lives Matter, Los Angeles
Sondra Hale, Research Professor, UCLA and founder/Joint Coordinator, California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Kathleen Hernandez, Veterans For Peace, Los Angeles; co-founder, MLK Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
Jane Hirschmann, co-founder, Jews Say No!; U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope; Co-chair, NYS coalition to fight the anti-BDS bills
Ruth Jennison, UMass-Amherst; Massachusetts Society of Professors, MTA-NEA; Labor for Palestine
Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Nerdeen Kiswani, NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles; Fellow, University of Southern California, Institute for the Humanities; Chair, Board of the Office of the Americas
Cecelia Lavan, OP Justice Promoter, Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, NY; WESPAC Middle East Committee
Kristina Lear, White People 4 Black Lives / SURJ Affiliate Los Angeles
Alita Z. Letwin, activist and educator
Michael Letwin, Labor for Palestine, Labor for Standing Rock, USACBI: Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel; Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW 2325; Red Tide, L.A. (1971-1975)
Julie Levine, Co-Chair, MLK Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
Linda Milazzo, Jewish Voice for Peace
Ruwayda Odeh, Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition; NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Political Science, Hunter College & the Graduate Center, City University of New York (for identification purposes only); Coordinating Committee, Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City
Margaret Power, historian, Illinois Tech; Co-Chair, Historians for Peace and Democracy
Dorothy Reik, President, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains
Rosalie G Riegle, Professor Emerita, Saginaw Valley State University; Su Casa Catholic Worker; War Resisters League; Jewish Voice for Peace
Lisa Rofel, Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz
Steven Salaita, Writer
Azalia Torres, Esq., Former Chair, Attorneys of Color of Legal Aid, ALAA/UAW 2325
Hussain Turk, Esq. Director, LA HIV Law & Policy Project
Devra Weber, Professor of History, UC Riverside
Souphe Widdi, Al-Awda-NY Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Michele A. Wittig, Professor Emerita, CSUN
Sherry Wolf, author, Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics and Theory of LGBT Liberation; editorial board, International Socialist Review
The post Open Letter to Women’s March L.A.: Women for Palestine Calls for Genuine Intersectionality appeared first on LA Progressive.
To help inaugurate Hend Saeed’s new venture, Arabic Literature in Australia, we’re featuring a conversation between Saeed and Palestinian-Australian author Amal Awad:
Hend Saeed: A new generation was born in Australia, or any other Western countries, from Arab Parents (Muslims) and some of them, face the identity issues, especially women. You were born in Australia from Palestinian parents; how do you identify yourself? How did you find balance between the two worlds?
Amal Awad: That’s an important question. One of the major differences I perceived in my research was how different the Arab women in the Middle East were compared to women like me, who are of Arab heritage but grew up in the west. The women in the Arab world weren’t afflicted with identity issues; religion and culture were often quite blended. In Australia, however, a lot of us have experienced identity confusion. We have one foot in Australia, one in the homeland of our parents.
I identify as being Palestinian-Australian in a Muslim family. I prefer not to use these labels as much nowadays. I have at different times in my life identified very strongly as Palestinian; I’ve identified very strongly as a Muslim woman; and while I am still those things, I don’t want to be defined by them. There is so much more to us than our identity labels.
HS: From Courting Samira (2010) to Beyond Veiled Clichés (2016), did you find any change in Arab women’s situations from the time you wrote Courting Samira to writing Beyond Veiled Clichés and does it make a difference if women are living in an Arab or Western country?
AA: Well Courting Samira is a fiction book, more specifically chick-lit. It’s a light-hearted exploration of a young Muslim woman in Australia looking for love, but also purpose in her life, when she has spent most of her life being a people-pleaser and thinking she doesn’t have the same options as everyone else. I wrote it in my 20s, at a time when I was trying to make sense of what’s it like to be that fish out of water – a religious woman in a western society, and the balancing act this involves. But really, it’s a very universal story about learning to love yourself, explore your own life potential, and find joy in it.
Beyond Veiled Clichés is a very different kind of exploration. It’s non-fiction and features the voices of many women from around the world, sharing their real-life experiences. The similarity is that, although it’s non-fiction and a serious book, it’s also about trying to make sense of life and how you fit into it, as part of a culture and/or religion, and as an individual.
I think Arab people in general are only under greater scrutiny and criticism over time, so writing Beyond Veiled Clichés was important to me. I wanted the real-life stories of Arab women to be out in the world, to have a place amid all of the negativity.
But at the heart of all of my writing is a desire to deep-dive into human experiences, ideas and pathways. How do we live and what makes us feel whole?
HS: How does Beyond Veiled Clichés deal with the veil?
AA: It’s funny, the book is called Beyond Veiled Clichés because I was very focused on writing about the lives of Arab women more generally, beyond the veil that seems to define us in the eyes of many. I have been critical of the focus on the veil but it became clear that it needed to be covered in depth, so I have included a chapter on this.
The women I met with usually had opinions on hijab and niqab, both variations of the veil many Muslim women wear. For the Muslim women in Australia who wear hijab, it was clear that for many of them, it was an important aspect of their faith, and that they felt it was part of their identity as Muslim women in the west. For women overseas, there was a similar commitment to hijab, but those who don’t wear it for whatever reason often expressed concern about what the rise in conservative dress meant for their societies. More than one woman talked about a grandmother or other elder who refused to wear hijab, seeing it as a step backwards.
The interesting thing is how interchangeable the veil is; it can be at once a form of liberation or a source of oppression. The conditions of the society, its attitude towards women, and how women themselves see their place in society all shape the energy of that moment. This is why, in history, the veil – which itself doesn’t change much beyond being something that can be either very trendy or deeply forbidding in its nature – can symbolise different things.
For the women in Australia, the veil was their choice. More often than not this would be the case, generally speaking. But the same can’t be said for the Arab world where there would be greater pressure in some societies to dress conservatively.
So it’s not a simple case of liberation or oppression. And the question is, how much is the embrace of the veil a barometer for where a society sits? There is just too much emphasis on women as barometers for society.
HS: In one your interviews you said, “I do think it is up to Arab women themselves to tell their stories, they don’t need a westerner to come in and save the day and say I am going to give you a voice”. And based on your book Beyond Veiled Clichés there are amazing women. Wwhy do you think this is happening? Does the western media want to keep Arab Muslim women in a particular image?
AA: I’m not sure if the media is creating the image or mirroring what people believe about Arab women – it’s a combination of both. The prevalent image of the ‘Arab woman’ is that of a veiled woman, kohl-lined eyes peeking out from a heavily veiled face, looking frightened or enticingly exotic. These are extreme images and both exist and both define how people around the world view Arab women.
Not all Arab women wear a veil, and those who do don’t necessarily wear the veil the same way. Many Arab women aren’t Muslim; those who are Muslim are not necessarily religious, in the same way a lot of Christian or Jewish women might not be religious even if they identify as being in those faiths.
A major issue is how we are not perceived as fully-functioning, fully human beings. Whether we’re perceived as victims or heroines, we seem to exist in extremes in the minds of others, devoid of normal lives, depth of feeling, desires that don’t revolve around men and wider culture and society.
Amal Awad is journalist, screenwriter and author. She is a columnist for SBS Life and The New Arab and has written for ELLE, Frankie, Daily Life, Sheilas and Junkee. Amal has also worked as a producer for ABC Radio National. Amal is the author of four books. Her latest is a non-fiction book called Beyond Veiled Clichés – The Real Lives of Arab Women. You can read an excerpt online.
Hend Saeed loves books and has a special interest in Arabic literature. She had published a collection of short stories and recently started “Arabic Literature in English – Australia.” She is also a translatore, life consultant, and book reviewer.
“I didn’t get accepted into any of the universities that I wanted, and I ended up going to a lesser quality school. I hated being there. On the first day, I thought about buying a plane ticket and going home. I felt like I had nothing in common with the people around me. I felt like they belonged and I didn’t. My plan was just to survive– get through six lectures a day, keep to myself, and get back to my dorm room as soon as possible. I didn’t even talk to my own roommate. I’m ashamed of it now. I was so rude and self-centered, and it ended up making me lonely and miserable. I felt depressed. I was barely sleeping. Then one night I overheard my roommate talking on the phone with her mother. And I could tell she was having family problems. After she hung up, we stayed up all night talking. I told her that I was having a hard time too. She became my best friend after that night. We’d have dinner together. Whenever I left the room, she’d ask me where I was going. It felt so good to have someone worry about me. It’s been an important six months for me. I’ve realized how much I need other people. By not valuing the people around me, I was only hurting myself.”
(Mumbai, India)
At the rate Lebanon’s censorship bureau has been going for the past year, the country might as well have rang in 1918 instead of 2018, because the situation has become unacceptable.
The latest victim of a censorship bureau that doesn’t want to upset what’s becoming a form of cultural terrorism in the country is Steven Spielberg’s “The Post,” a stunning drama that is absolutely VITAL to be seen today.
The reason why Lebanon has an issue with Spielberg is both anti-semitic and because of the country’s anti-Israel laws. When Spielberg’s Tintin was released, his name was struck out from the poster in order to upset anyone due to his last name’s obvious Jewish background. His name was eventually added to the blacklist of the Arab League’s Central Boycott (of Israel) Office because of a donation he made to the Zionist state in 2006.
Yes, Spielberg making donations to Israel is abhorrent, but he’s not the only Hollywood figure to do so, nor will he be the last. When and where do we draw the ridiculous line about what we ban and allow in this country when it pertains to Israel, because this sure as hell is pushing it. An American director, with no ties to the country in question except for his religion, makes a contribution to the country like thousands of other Westerners and Americans do, and he’s suddenly persona non-grata?
To make matters worse, the decision to add Spielberg to that Arab ban list occurred in 2007. He’s had countless movies released in the area since, without any form of controversy. He has been director and producer of many movies that were released without a glitch in the area. Of those movies, I list: Transformers, The BFG, Bridge of Spies, Jurrasic World, Lincoln, etc…
Over the past 10 years, Lebanon has screened SIXTEEN movies in which Spielberg was either directing or producing. And here comes 2018, with Lebanon’s BDS office finding new muscle in our government, and the country won’t be able to get any of his movies ever again.
I would call such a ban illogical, but those calling for him to be blanket banned don’t really understand logic. They are the same people who believe Gal Gadot’s existence in a movie is a covert attempt at spreading zionism into the subconscious of the Arab masses, except in Gal Gadot’s case the argument was that she was actually Israeli, whereas in Spielberg’s case, the affront is an association to the n’th degree, just to appease to some people’s hypersensitivity, but I digress.
Being in the United States, I had the pleasure to watch “The Post” in its opening weekend a few days ago. The movie, set in the 1970s, features legends Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks as the owner and editor of the Washington Post at that time, respectively, as they try to reveal government secrets about the Vietnam War, during Nixon’s White House, as he attempts to silence the press.
The movie, based on a true story, is exceedingly important in today’s day and age where freedom of speech, the press, and the important of expression are all threatened. The irony of a movie about fighting off censorship being censored in a country that is developing a knee-jerk response to anything that ruffles its feathers should not escape you.
What we have in Lebanon is a bunch of airheads in power, whose brains only function in binaries, and who can’t appreciate enough nuances to be able to distinguish between cause to ban (which should never exist, but it’s Lebanon) and not. Instead, The Post is the second movie to be banned this week after Daniel Radcliffe’s “Jungle” also receives the same fate, when it’s discovered that the screenwriter, and some of the people involved in the making of the movie are Israelis.
To expect any movie coming in from the U.S. to be Israel-free is non-sensical. To expect any media import that we get from the big bad West to be Israel free is stupid. What’s next, banning everything that breathes because of a positive opinion they have of the Jewish state? I’m willing to bet those calling for the movie to be banned have watched countless Steven Spielberg movies before.
I expect this bullshit we’re dealing with not to decrease over the next few months, but to further perpetuate like the rabid fire it’s becoming. The next Nathalie Portman movie? Forget about it. Anything featuring Gal Gadot? Forget about that either. Any Steven Spielberg movie coming up after The Post? Nope. It’s just sad.
Again, I reiterate what I’ve said countless times before. Boycotts are not bans. Boycotts add to whatever message the BDS folks want to propagate in the country, whilst bans do the exact opposite. With every single movie they cause to be banned, they lose more people who’d be willing to support them. But I guess they don’t really care about that, either.
The hypocrisy of banning movies in Lebanon because they’re an easy target should not escape anyone. There are products distributed in the market, and imprinted in everyone’s personal life, that are also related in one way or another to Israel, but BDS’ dependency on such products will never have them call for bans.
The lines that movies can’t cross in this country are increasing by the day. “Call Me By Your Name,” the year’s best movie, won’t be released because of its LGBT theme. Movies are banned because Israel. Movies are banned because they upset Christian or Muslim clergy. At this rate, there’s no point in cinema in this country anymore.
Until then, enjoy streaming the movie online or buying it for $2 at your local bootleg DVD store. The biggest loser in all of this bullshit is that Lebanese distributor, in this case Italia Films, that already bought the rights for the movie and will be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, as did Joseph Chacra with Wonder Woman, just because we have easily-influenced entities in offices of power, without any ounce of backbone whatsoever.
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all the rules of free form
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Lapsed Painter, Occasional Photographer, Compulsive Writer
Health Blogs
Exploring the hidden architectural heritage of Budapest
Yaşamdan
The third incarnation...
More than a thought less than a question
"بوصلة الحياة: مدونة متعددة المجالات، من السياسة إلى الرومانسية، ومن تطوير الذات إلى الأدب وأكثر!" بقلم مشاعر بنت عبدالرحمن
The view from here ... Or here!
Bringer and seeker of joy
The One Where She Stumbled Through Her 40's and Faced Her Demons
Baw wit da baw. Just sayin'.
Website storys
Welcome to the Anglo Swiss World
Querbeet und ohne Gewähr
KINDNESS IS FREE, sprinkle it all over the world, and 😁 smile
Nuestra ética de todos los días...
Fiction Writer in Poet's Clothing
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