A transcript of #NaomiKlein's speech at the Seder in the Streets in front of Senator Schumer's house in New York City. 👇
This thread is the whole speech because, well, it's that important -- Klein went out in public and claimed a path for US Jewish futures that is in coalition with those harmed by Zionism, but that is also deeply nested within Judaism as a multi-millennial tradition. We're lucky to live and breathe at the same time as Naomi Klein...
I'm sure Naomi Klein's speech at the Columbia University protests, on the day of the Jewish Passover, Seder, has been posted and shared by many already here, but I wanted to do so myself. She speaks with such power, clarity, and moral authority. Amazing person
'All over Maui, golf courses glisten emerald green, hotels manage to fill their pools and corporations stockpile water to sell to luxury estates. And yet, when it came time to fight the fires, some hoses ran dry. Why?
The reason is the long-running battle over west Maui’s most precious natural resource: water. That’s why, on Tuesday 8 August, when Tereariʻi Chandler-ʻĪao was fleeing the fires in Lahaina, she grabbed a bag of clothes, some food – and something a little unconventional: a box filled with water use permit applications.
Despite her personal calamity, Tereariʻi, a grassroots attorney, already knew that the fight for Maui’s future was about to intensify, and at its heart would not be fire, but another element entirely: water. Specifically, the water rights of Native Hawaiians, rights that a long parade of plantations, real estate developers, and luxury resorts have been stifling for nearly two centuries. As the flames approached, Tereariʻi feared that, under cover of emergency, those large players might finally get their chance to grab west Maui’s water for good.'
Echoing #NaomiKlein assertion that the far right has gained ground by picking up the progressive issues the Democrats have dropped (and given them a fascist spin of course). And showing us the Dem mainstream wants to protect neoliberal policy more than they want to win elections.
"Our Judaism cannot be protected by the rampaging military of that state, for all that military does is sow sorrow and reap hatred – including against us as Jews.
Our Judaism is not threatened by people raising their voices in solidarity with Palestine across lines of race, ethnicity, physical ability, gender identity and generations.
Our Judaism is one of those voices and knows that in that chorus lies both our safety and our collective liberation."
I haven't read a lot of #books in my life. It was always hard for me to get the motivation, but the last 4 years, because of my depression, it was often impossible.
But now I'm able to read again, and want to read up on some important issues.
Here are some of my favorite books I read so far:
📖 #Platonic by #MarisaGFranco.
It's a great book about the importance of #friendship and how to get and maintain one. It helped me learn a lot about myself and is a big part of how I started getting out of my depression.
📖 "War das jetzt rassistisch? 22 Antirassismus-Tipps für den Alltag" written by the people behind the #BlackVoices referendum.
A book about #racism in Austria and Germany.
Some books I have at home, that are just waiting for me to read are:
I'd love to read other works like "Ace" but themed around other #queer identities.
Another issue that interest me is e.g. #ableism (especially, but not limited to psychological disability).
But feel free to also recommend great books on other issues.
I can only read German and English, so please keep that in mind.
A couple of months ago I realised that I'd been confusing Wolf and Klein for the last few years, probably because I'd only been seeing their names through second-hand mentions on social media. Relieved it's not Klein who's succumbed to the #wu.
"Generative AI will end poverty, they tell us. It will cure all disease. It will solve climate change. It will make our jobs more meaningful and exciting. It will unleash lives of leisure and contemplation, helping us reclaim the humanity we have lost to late capitalist mechanization.... These, I fear, are the real AI hallucinations and we have all been hearing them on a loop ever since Chat GPT launched at the end of last year."
Naomi Klein on Heather Reisman: “Heather, if I may: you are not just a CEO. You are a powerful political actor—in this country, in the United States and in Israel. You fund politicians, you found major lobby organizations, you help lead Heseg. For decades, you have never hesitated to intervene to shape the world according to your beliefs.”
"Israel is both a replica of settler colonialism and also a new iteration of it, because it's been cast as 'reparation' for genocide. This is a new twist."
Screenshot of tweet: Rachel Gilmore @atRachelGilmore - 5h I've been saying for some time now that | truly think this cultural shift represents the greatest threat to the world as we know it. How can we address any of the great crises of our time if there's an entire ecosystem of actors who paint every attempt at progress as tyranny?