Radical Peace

by C. A. Matthews

A lot of talk in activist groups consists of “When do we act?” and “Who will lead us?” Discussions of when we’ll know what to do and how we’ll know who to trust or which groups are the best ones to give us advice can go on for days, weeks, months or even years. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but in the meantime nothing much is accomplished and things can continue to grow worse. Much worse.

Radical Peace

JD Vance and the Pale Horse: A Love Story

War, Famine, Pestilence… and a Yale-educated venture capitalist who won’t stop talking about ‘cancel culture.’ Truly, the end times are upon us. /s

Vance says US hopes Pakistan cooperates with India against Pakistan-based militants

Related:

The Pale Horse: Death as a Consequence:

The pale horse, ridden by Death with Hades following, marks the culmination of the destructive cycle initiated by its predecessors. It represents the ultimate consequence of a society entrenched in imperialism, militarism, and economic exploitation—widespread death and decay. This horse serves as a stark reminder of the cost of complicity in systems of power and oppression, contrasting sharply with the life-giving path of Christ, who rejected earthly power for service and sacrifice.

JD Vance tour of India rocked by terror attack as gunmen kill 24

POPE DIES AFTER MEETING JD VANCE!

As Vice President Vance lands in Munich, officials deal with an attack that injured 28

Crosspost: The Unpretty Souls


Credit: Darkmoon_Art on Pixabay

Unpretty people, heartless and cold,
Their greed for profit, a story oft told.
No sympathy flows for the downtrodden’s plight,
Their eyes see only gold, no wrong or right.

Dollar signs gleam where their hearts should be,
Their profit motive blinds morality.
They’ve sold their souls for a sixpence’s gain,
A bargain with darkness, a life of disdain.

Once in the temple, tables were turned,
By He who saw greed and with anger burned.
“A den of robbers!” His voice did declare,
For prayer and peace, no room was there.

“A camel through a needle’s eye,” He said,
“Is simpler than riches leading souls to dread.
For wealth may chain what the spirit should free,
And bar the way to eternity.”

If there’s a God, justice will reign,
And the money changers will meet their pain.
Yet fear remains, will justice be served?
Or will greed’s legacy go undisturbed?

Unpretty souls, with hearts of stone,
May they find grace before the throne.
For wealth is fleeting, but love endures,
And only kindness truly cures.

by Tina Antonis

The World’s Jewish Religious Community Is Not the Jewish People

I.
Let us decolonize our minds and our guts.

Let’s de-idiotize the minds, from TV to academia.

Judaism is linked to the Jewish religion, Judaism is not linked to a people.

Islam is linked to the Islamic religion, Islam is not linked to a people.

Christianity is linked to the Christian religion, Christianity is not linked to a people.

It is unfortunate to have to explain this, today in the 21st century of alleged secular values, of supposed anti-imperialist values, and of a world where we believe and feel that the anachronism of colonialism has been overcome in history….

The World’s Jewish Religious Community Is Not the Jewish People

Christian Zionism is an anti-Jewish doctrine

Christian Zionism is an anti-Jewish doctrine

The previous generation had their own Left Behind series – another mega-bestseller (28 million copies) futurist geopolitical fiction mapping Darby’s doctrines on to the 1970s it was called The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsay. Lindsay’s genius was to update versions of the book as America’s enemies changed. In 1970, the threat to Israel came from Russia; by the 1990s, it was a joint Russia-Muslim operation; by 1999, China was in there too. “It is amazing, is it not”, wrote Lutheran critic of Christian Zionism Joseph Neuberger in his Master’s thesis, “that the great enemies of God’s people just happen to coincide with the national enemies of America at any given moment?” In the Christian Zionist reading of the bible, unlike non-Zionist Christian readings, “Israel” means the state of Israel – this is to be read literally. But Israel’s enemies in the bible are tribes (Canaanites, etc.) that don’t exist any more – these enemies have to be read figuratively and flexibly, which the Lindsay and the Left Behind authors do.

It is apparent that God’s will coincides perfectly with joint US/Israel geopolitical ambitions.

The murder of literature teacher Refaat Alareer, the target had been put on his back by social media figure Bari Weiss (Refaat had said, after the death threats started pouring in, that if he died he held Weiss responsible), looks like it was a targeted assassination. He had apparently “received an anonymous phone call from someone who identified himself as an Israeli officer and threatened Refaat that they knew precisely the school where he was located and were about to get to his location with the advancement of Israeli ground troops.”

Max Blumenthal writes: “According to EuroMed’s report, he then returned to his sister’s apartment to avoid endangering others in the school/shelter. There, he was killed by a “surgical” strike by the Israeli military.” Refaat Alareer’s murder was celebrated online by many pro-Israel people, “publicly, under their own names celebrating and cheering the killing of Refaat Alareer and his family which includes children”, as one tweeter noted. His poem, “If I must die”, is being translated into many of the languages of the earth in this twitter thread.

On one of the telegram channels where Israelis watch the carnage, one poster expressed concern about how the glee would be seen from the outside.

Image

“It’s fun to watch and all,” wrote ben, “but these videos reach social media and portray us as psychopaths who commit genocide while smiling and laughing. I don’t know if it’s wise or not, but I’ve come across a lot of posts like this that are used by the enemy.”

Israel’s War on American Student Activists

For years the Israel on Campus Coalition—a little-known organization with links to Israeli intelligence—has used student informants to spy on pro-Palestinian campus groups.

Israel’s War on American Student Activists (archived)

Looks like those microgrants are for more than just attending pro-Israel protests.

Previously:

Settler-Colonial Theology: From Lāhainā to Palestine

From grandstanding in the rubble after our fire in Lāhainā to posing on top of a tank in Palestine, Harvest pastor Greg Laurie is the poster boy for white Christianity in occupied lands. I went to Kumulani Chapel for over a decade (through its transition to Harvest). I got my undergraduate degree in religious studies… let me tell you something: this is what settler-colonial theology looks like. The corporate religion espoused by Harvest is performative and littered with internal contradictions; it is quite explicitly a demonstration of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. As a friend of mine noted, Laurie “was one of the early Trojan horse pastors that dressed Christofascist bullshit in a hip new package”. His church serves as a superstructure to reproduce Settler-Colonial/Capitalist society.

Settler-Colonial Theology: From Lāhainā to Palestine