GARY OLSON—We see that the dominant cultural narrative is not hermetically sealed from efforts to produce counter-narratives that connect to other struggles. For example, at M.I.T., students stress that their Gaza protest is not a separate struggle but one struggle synchronizing resistance movements against white supremacy, patriarchy, and issues involving Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the exploitation of resources in the Congo. (Austin Cole, Black Agenda Radio, 5/24/24). Interviews with protesters across the country reveal that students have done their due diligence and frequently salted their explanations with “academic terms like intersectionality, colonialism and imperialism, all to make the case that the plight of Palestinians is the result of global power structures that thrive on bias and oppression.“
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PATRICE GREANVILLE—As the title implies, and wasting little time in preparing the audience for what will surely be a disturbing argument to many, the author lays out his case against white progressives‚ or, to be precise, the liberal/social democratic complacent legions of mostly well-educated middle and upper middle class activists‚ who are deemed “delusional” not only in the ineffectual tactics and strategies they pursue (which the ruling elithes are only too happy to accommodate as per a well-scripted minuet), but in the belief that they are actually performing revolutionary acts…
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PATRICE GREANVILLE—Russell Bentley, quickly nicknamed “Texac” after he first touched Slavonic ground, has always. been a highly improbable character. A native son of Texas and a Communist, gifted with more than his share of valor and audacity, but above all a man of action, he didn’t have to meditate too long to figure what he needed to do when he heard about the US coup in Kiev in 2014, and the ensuing war by the new neo-Nazi regime on the rebel republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Echoing the International Brigades, he simply packed his things and made his way at his own expense to the Donbas, via Russia. Once there, to the surprise of many (he was certainly not exactly in his prime), he offered his services as a frontline soldier and soon enough was involved in several (by now) almost legendary battles in the first war between the young but tough little republics and the much larger but apparently tactically deficient (though still vicious) Ukrop army.
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CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—I’m sick of hearing October 7 mentioned in the same breath as Israel’s incineration of Gaza as though they’re equal or even comparable. A thousand Israelis dying (probably hundreds by indiscriminate IDF fire) is not comparable to tens of thousands of Palestinians (probably more) being deliberately exterminated by high-tech war machinery, even if before you account for the fact that Israel was the aggressor and that the violence of the oppressed is not comparable to the violence of the oppressor in the first place.
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MAX BLUMENTHAL—There are three major factors behind the shift: first, many on the right have begun to share the same sense of disgust and indignation with Israel that progressives have. Who can suppress the pangs of outrage when confronted with the live-streamed industrial level Israeli butchering of children each day for the past 6 months?
Second, more American Christians recognize the threat Zionism poses to Palestinian Christians, whether in Gaza, Bethlehem or Jerusalem. The Christ at the Checkpoint Initiative Munther Isaac helps to lead and US groups like Sabeel have provided a critical network for connecting US churches to Palestine.
Finally, American conservatives are recognizing that the Israel lobby’s influence runs counter to the ethos of America First, and that many of the most heavily promoted right wing influencers are just controlled opposition projects whose careers were astroturfed by pro-Israel billionaires.
