i don’t really know how to relay the horrors that palestinians are describing first-hand, if you can speak arabic and follow people from gaza online there are some phrases i don’t think anyone will forget, some things for the arabic-speaking world will scar for life just like muhammed al-durra scarred me as a child. at least five of the people i followed since last week (journalists, photographers, students, artists, tiktokers) are dead now. it’s becoming terrifying to follow someone from gaza, because you don’t know if they’re going to be alive tomorrow. i don’t really know how to describe this feeling? what is it to follow some kid on tiktok who’s making jokes while planes drop bombs around him and think “i hope he stays alive?”
for those of you who don’t speak arabic, there are many many palestinians in gaza posting updates in english:
many of them are also translating other posts from arabic. you can follow them on twitter.
there are also many gazans reporting from gaza and recording vlogs in english for an international audience that you can follow on instagram
(yara eid is the only one who is not physically present in gaza, but her family is and recently lost her best friend, the photojournalist Ibraheem Lafi in the strikes. she has lots of good and informative videos & interviews on the situation)
please note that these are people living through an actual siege and genocide, experiencing hell on earth for the past fifteen days with no relief and risking their lives to even get these occasional messages through. the content they share is not easy to watch and even more difficult to forget.
One day, I am hopeful, people will look back at the “State” of Israel with the same horror they do apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany. If we are lucky, it is with the genocide in Gaza left unfinished.
To those continuing to defend Israel, the eyes of history will eviscerate your character without mercy. Any “justice” you claim to have stood for will be disregarded as a charade because, during a fascist state’s cruel, decades-long steamrolling of a population, you held sympathy for the oppressor. You will be melted down to two words: “supported genocide.” If only such a consequence could be dealt within our lifetimes.
It has been hard for me to talk about how what is going on with Israel and Palestine is affecting me personally, but I grew up in Gaza and most of my family still lives there. My father did not survive the bombings last week and I have not been able to contact my younger sister in days. I am try to being understanding that most people do not have personal connections to what is happening and therefore are justifying their silence, but is heartbreaking to see this misinformation being spread. What’s happening there is a genocide, not a war. It is not antisemitic to support Palestine, it’s not even antiemetic to criticise Israel. There is no grey area or neutrality regarding this, and it is so easy to find resources that will educate you on the subject. It is my people and my home being destroyed so I will never be silent about this, but I please urge everyone to get informed and start speaking up and finding ways they can help.
decolonizepalestine has tons of information on Palestine’s history/propaganda that has been spread throughout the years
fuck i can’t believe i wasted my entire life being moved by art and beauty and the indomitable human spirit ugh i should’ve been making money through internet scams
Fire Emblem Awakening is like. Someone has to kill the dragon. Someone has to kill the dragon. This is how the story goes, this is how every story goes. The evil dragon rises and the virtuous hero puts it down and this is how the world heals. Someone has to kill the dragon. But the knight won’t do it, he loves the dragon too much, and the knight’s daughter won’t do it, she loves the dragon too much, someone has to kill the dragon, someone has to fix this world, but no one is willing to do it, no one is even willing to try, so what is there to do? What is the dragon to do? It has no choice but to do the deed itself.
being 25 is like: im dying. im living my best life. im a failure. my life hasnt started. everything interesting has already happened to me. im achieving my dreams. im cutting my hair with kitchen scissors. im starting a skincare routine. im a corporate professional. im a sellout. im out of groceries. i have too many groceries. i am never going to be successful. i am going to win a hugo award before im 30. im crazy. im boring. i need to finish this essay. i need to finish this story. i need to start a newsletter. i need to start tweeting more. i need to stop tweeting. i need to ghost all my friends. i need to tell my friends i love them. i need to find a new apartment. i need to take out the trash. i am the trash that needs to be taken out.
