India-Pakistan Ceasefire, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

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After a few frightening missile and drone strike exchanges and some of the most large-scale aerial combat that our world has seen in recent history, India and Pakistan have reportedly agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire.

So that’s a relief. I was about to publish a piece about this conflict and the risk of nuclear war when the ceasefire was announced, and I’ve never in my life been so happy to have to throw out hours of my work. Things are still tense and the grievances of Kashmiris under Indian occupation remain unaddressed, but at least the nuclear brinkmanship is de-escalating for today.

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In more good news, a judge has ordered the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University student who the Trump administration had detained for deportation solely for publishing an op-ed critical of Israel. When dismissing the case the judge actually said “there has been no evidence that has been introduced by the government other than the op-ed — I mean, that literally is the case.”

Imagine trying to put together a compelling legal argument only to have a judge squint at it, read out your reasoning, and then just say “I mean, that literally is the case” before throwing it out.

It’s good that Trump’s efforts to criminalize criticism of Israel keep faceplanting in the courts, but in a sense the damage has already been done. Non-citizens in the US are going to be far more reluctant to speak out against Israel’s US-backed crimes for fear of persecution.

Judges have ordered the release of Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi in their respective cases, ruling their persecution for political speech unlawful. Other judges have given smaller wins to pro-Palestine activists like Mahmoud Khalil and Badar Khan Suri, but they remain in detention. All of them have spent weeks locked up like criminals for their speech and activism opposing an active genocide.

That alone would be enough to dissuade many non-citizens from speaking out about the Gaza holocaust while in the United States. A chilling effect has already taken place, because many people are unwilling to risk weeks or months in a cage while the world’s most murderous and tyrannical government works to deport them to another country — even if they might wind up winning in the courts eventually.

This chilling effect is a theft of the rights of US citizens as well as non-citizens, because it robs citizens of their right to hear what these activists have to say. Their government stepped in and hid speech that is critical of US foreign policy from their ears, determining that it would be best if Americans did not consume such wrongthink. If this isn’t tyranny, then nothing is.

Free speech is being stomped out throughout the western world to protect Israel and its western backers from criticism. There is no greater threat to the right to free expression in our society today. It must be opposed, and opposed ferociously.

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Haaretz reports that the Israeli military has placed returning the hostages at the very bottom of its list of priorities in Gaza, with items like “concentration and movement of the public” and “operational control of the territory” ranking as more important goals.

The correct response to anyone who babbles about hostages when you criticize Israel’s actions in Gaza is “Shut the fuck up you lying genocidal sack of shit.” It was never about the hostages. Everyone knows it was never about the hostages. It was always about ethnic cleansing.

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Americans and Israelis have been butchering people throughout west Asia with increasing brazenness and aggression, and yet people will still expect to be taken seriously when they tell you that you should be afraid of Muslims.

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We’ve been seeing some unexpected voices suddenly coming out and denouncing Israel’s genocide in Gaza and admitting that they were wrong for supporting it, including the Financial Times editorial board, Conservative MP Mark Pritchard, and Israeli academic Shaiel Ben-Ephraim.

I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but it would be good if this was a sign of something shifting.

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