By Caitlin Johnstone – Feb 16, 2024
The entire western political-media class are currently rending their garments about the prison death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and are being joined by the propaganda-addled citizenry of the western empire. Meanwhile Julian Assange’s last-ditch effort to appeal against extradition to the United States is coming up in a few days with a tiny fraction of the attention.
I really could not have a lower opinion of people who would rather talk about Navalny’s persecution in a far away country that has nothing to do with them than Julian Assange being persecuted at the hands of their own government. It’s the most pathetic, bootlicking behavior imaginable.
Ooh yeah, you’re so brave self-righteously shaking your fist at some country on the other side of the planet which has zero power over your own country while refusing to oppose the power structure you actually live under as it slowly kills a journalist for exposing its war crimes. Groveling, power-worshipping bootlicker. Absolutely sickening.
If you’re in a country whose government has had a hand in the persecution of Julian Assange, then you can go ahead and shut the fuck up about Navalny. Whenever I see people screaming about the persecution of journalists and political prisoners in other countries when they themselves live in a nation whose government is persecuting Julian Assange, I can’t help but think of Matthew 7:4–5,
“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
What could be Assange’s final appeal effort against US extradition happens February 20th and 21st in London. Free Julian Assange.
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Egypt has reportedly begun constructing a walled camp in the Sinai Desert just south of the Gaza border in order to absorb Palestinians who get pushed out by the Israeli assault on Gaza, a major capitulation to a plan Israel has been pushing since the early days of the onslaught.
It sure is a crazy coincidence how every single step of Israel’s “response to October 7” has looked exactly the same as it would look if Israel was just carrying out agendas it’s wanted to carry out for many years.
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The Australian government is pushing through new authoritarian laws because someone leaked the contents of a WhatsApp group wherein Zionists plotted to ruin the lives of pro-Palestine voices, which is now being falsely framed as a Hitlerite “Jew list”. World Socialist Website’s Oscar Grenfell has more information.
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My favorite Israel apologist line is the one where they imply you must be an anti-semite because you’ve been uniquely focused on Israel’s crimes these last four months, as though Israel’s assault on Gaza isn’t self-evidently the worst thing happening in the world right now.
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The active genocide in Gaza is a much, much, much, MUCH more urgent and immediate concern than antisemitism, and should be treated as such. This is self-evident and shouldn’t be controversial to say.
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I used to follow a lot of teachers who talked about enlightenment and spiritual practice, and it’s insane how many of them now have nothing to say about Gaza, or are outright siding with Israel.
It’s like, what the hell was the point of all that inner work if it leads you to tacitly or explicitly endorse an active genocide? What good are all your insights and realizations if all they do is make you feel nice inside and don’t translate to any positive effects on the world outside your own skull? Who gives a fuck if you’ve had some shift in consciousness and some kundalini fireworks if you’re still a dogshit human being contributing to the disease and dysfunction of your species?
If your spirituality doesn’t lead to positive changes in yourself and your surroundings, it’s just glorified masturbation. If you’ve thrown yourself into self-realization and nondual awakening for decades at this point and you can’t even stand up against genocide and ethnic cleansing, then you’ve wasted your life on worthless endeavors. You’d have been better off throwing yourself into internet porn escapism or a nice wholesome opiate habit this entire time.
Caitlin Johnstone
Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerrilla poet. Utopia prepper.
