This blog is primarily dedicated to art and whatever I tend to find aesthetically fun or appealing to my weird sensibilities. Posts not related directly to some form of art are infrequent. This is one of those infrequent posts. A dear friend made the images here and I wanted to pass them along to give her effort a boost. I hope you'll take the time to peruse her work because she's good people y'all. Watching the deliberate cruelty of the Trump administration and its aspirations to authoritarianism while it also underwrites the active campaign of genocide by the Israeli government against Palestinians is taxing. The US has weaponized the charge of "antisemitism" as an excuse to attack and silence critics of Israeli policy (while pushing the agendas of Israel advocacy and Christian nationalist organizations). This is happening while Israel is blocking all aid into Gaza effectively starving the Palestinians there. Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich even admitted that starvation of the Palestinian population is the goal. Openly criticizing this policy is now subject to being labelled an "antisemitic" act. Most decent people: "Hey, bombing children and hospitals and agricultural centers and museums and colleges and [fill in non-military target here] is a war crime and morally reprehensible." " Israeli government: This is a perfect example of antisemitism!" It should be noted that Israel and Judaism are not synonymous. Criticizing the political policies of Israel is not a criticism of Judaism. The Israeli right-wing has tried to conflate the two in order to smear political critiques of Israeli policy as nothing more than babble from people who hate Jews (which also allows them to conveniently marginalize and to ignore the Jewish critics of Israeli policy, both international and domestic). Is antisemitism an ongoing concern worth addressing? Of course it is. A friend addressed this very fact from a Leftist perspective back in 2007 with a pamphlet she wrote called, 'The Past Didn't Go Anywhere: Making Resistance to Antisemitism Part of All of Our Movements' which I suggest you give a reading to. (As April put it, "The Past was an activist effort, not an academic work..)
Sure, you come here, dear reader, to see art. I want this humble little tumblr page to be a place you where you can see a wide collection of that glorious human endeavor in all its various forms. But, I'm a politically aware person who has been involved in activism since he was a teen back in the 80s. It's hard to compartmentalize my need to vocally contribute opposition to this shit and my desire to ponder aesthetics. Give me a moment to vent and point to some wonderful people who try to contribute positively to the world. Thanks for your attention and patience. Just make sure you vote. Take to the streets. Volunteer your time. Be a thorn in the side of fascists, wannabe authoritarians, and all assholes in general. Be decent. "Be excellent to each other."
