If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
🇷🇺 #Russia has arrested a journalist from the Russian edition of Forbes magazine over charges of spreading "false" information about Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine, his lawyer and Forbes said on Friday.
So, anyone know how this ban is going to be enforced? Or attempted to be enforced?
I'm guessing government forced removal from mobile app stores, but then what about people who already have the app? Or who side-load it on their Android phones. Or use a web app?
"Rather than prevent the rise of the far-right or combat racism and antisemitism, Germany’s pro-Israel anti-antisemitism has allowed the flourishing of a far-right able to direct their racism towards anti-Zionist migrants while exploiting the fight against antisemitism to increasingly fascist ends."
I've dipped into the #TikTok debate, with a unique proposal. No ban, instead, mandate reciprocity.
Liberal democracies should restrict TikTok and other Chinese apps like #WeChat and #Weibo from accessing their digital markets until #China allows foreign platforms like #LINE, #Spotify, #Signal, and #Facebook equal and fair access to the Chinese #digital market.
> The blanket suspension of student protesters casts “serious doubt on the University’s respect for the rule-of-law values that we teach,” 54 law professors wrote.
B'Nai Brith has pressurized #Toronto Public #Library to remove Palestinian Professor, Refaat Alareer's poem, "If I Must Die" on account of a twisted, disingenuous accusation of anti-semitism. The poem has been praised around the world & translated into numerous languages. It speaks of hope & love amidst grief & tragedy. A cynical attempt by a pro-Israel lobby group to hide the fact Israeli forces murdered the beloved teacher in #Gaza amidst the #genocide.
In a year that will be remembered for its relentless assault on intellectual freedom, 2023 saw an unprecedented wave of book bans sweeping across the United States.
The numbers are staggering and the targets are clear. In the first half of the 2022-23 school year alone, 30% of banned books focused on racial topics or featured characters of color, while over half of the bans in 2023 took aim at LGBTQ+ content. —via takeitback.org #Censorship#BookBans#Education#Diversity#DEI#Racism#LGBTQ