Yesterday I read Al-Quds newspaper for the first time. It’s in Arabic so it needs to be translated, which means that we lose some of the story behind the words of the writers, but the reason that it’s important is because it’s Arabic news, that is telling the world what is happening, from the Arabic nations it reports on!
Bam! What?!
I’m not saying it’s going to be 100% Accurate, in comparison to Western media however, it has a huge leg up over American reporters who are only “allowed” to say certain things on the air. This website differs from CNN in that it can tell us what’s really happening through the lens of people who are truly experiencing the violence on that side of the world.
Yes it’s a lot more difficult these days to find accurate reporting and I am not suggesting that everyone rush to that website, translate it, and read it, by no means, but what I am saying is that like Al Jazeera, it’s another news source we in the America’s didn’t know about until someone went to find it.
Conversations about what is happening in Arab nations are never easy, largely because we’re conditioned not to ask. We’re conditioned not to ask what life looks like through their eyes, we’re conditioned to believe they really are human animals who live in the dirt and have no understanding of respectability. It’s uncomfortable, and it’s ugly and gross, but that’s how we are raised. To believe that we are the only civilized people in the world.
But we are not the only civilized people in the world.
There was a whole world of people who came from Palestine, Arabs, Jewish folk, and Christian Folk, all living together, trading, and working for the betterment of their lives for their future.
There was a whole world that was destroyed, because of colonization, and yeah it would be easy to blame Hitler because he drove the Jews out in massive numbers, but he isn’t the one that’s been bombing Palestine since 1947.
The Nakba (Arabic: النكبة, romanized: an-Nakbah, lit. ‘the catastrophe’) was the violent displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, and the destruction of their society, culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations.[1] The term is used to describe both the events of 1948, as well as the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) and persecution and displacement of Palestinians throughout the region.[2][3][4][5][6]
– Wikipedia
It’s not hard to see that what is happening in Palestine is wrong, but what’s important is to remain diligent and vigilant on the sources that we rely on when we’re sharing information.
Right now the best thing you can do is take the lead from people who are in and around Gaza or those who are directly connected to those in Gaza, which is why you see me Retweeting as much as I do. But the one thing I also make sure I do is follow the threads of the tweets I am sharing, both for accuracy and to make sure that I agree with what I am sharing.
Everything I’ve written here so far is searchable, it’s fact checkable, so you know I am telling you as much fo the truth as I can, but in this battle of Palestine vs Israel, Ukraine vs Russia, the one thing that we must be cognizant of is disinformation and deliberate releases of misinformation.
I tell you this because when we have mental health issues it’s incredibly easy to become overwhelmed and to think that we can’t do the work of understanding what’s happening for ourselves because the rabbit holes can be all-consuming. Stop! I understand, I am right there with you.
Understanding where your news comes from is important. Without trash-talking anyone in particular, as much as it’s their job to bring us the news it’s also their job to keep their jobs and to ensure that they have satisfied the advertisers that pay for the air time so that they can spew the bullshit they spew at us. Lookin at you Brenda Locke.
So, that’s all being said to remind you that not everyone is focused on making sure that we are the most educated people on the planet. The Powers That Be – as Lindsey McKeon once reminded me, have a vested interest in us being completely misinformed about what’s happening on this planet, and they’ve done a very good job at being very evil in very quiet places for very long.
This summer I spent a great deal of time looking up news about the Dakar Car Race Rally that happens every few years, why? Purely because I was curious about what was going on in that corner of the world. Now I know.
Water is strikingly rare, in some places in Sudan, The Dominican Republic of The Congo, and in Palestine, people are banned from collecting rainwater. Their food is strictly controlled, and aid workers and journalists are killed randomly and in large numbers because if there’s no one to tell the story then there’s no one to hear it and if there’s no one to hear it, there’s no one to care.
The latest killings add to at least 50 reporters and media workers who have been killed amid Israel’s 46-day war in Gaza, according to press freedoms group, the Committee to Protect Journalists.7 hours ago
AlJazeera
I am not putting my life on the line by speaking out for all the journalists whose lives were stolen by Israel unless I go to Israel.
I am safe.
But my friends, family members, allies, readers, fans, and followers, in Palestine and the Arab nations are not. When they speak out they are jailed at least, and horrendously tortured and then murdered at worst.
When it comes to my mental health, as much as I would like to speak about anything other than what is happening in another country, if I didn’t speak out I would forever know that when I had the opportunity to put my voice on the record I chose to remain silent.
I learned today that some people in Hollywood who are quite famous are going to actions all over the city but they are covering their faces in fear of being reprimanded with less work for showing support to Palestine. I don’t care. if you hide your face, I just care that you showed up at all.
It’s not how you show up that counts, it’s the fact that you do. When you say “Enough is enough,” you mean that enough is enough. When I think about all the dystopian novels I love, I can now trace their routes to what is happening in Palestine. You and the world demand that we reprimand Hamas for October 7th, I say Hamas is the resistance, and while I may not agree with violent action, I understand where they are coming from.
YOU the white person with all the privilege and power in the Western world call them terrorists, and yet Palestinians see them as the only hope for a “Fuck You” to all the death, murder, and mayhem they live with every day.
Did you know that 11 babies in the NICU in Palestine died? 11.
Where are all the Christians and the baby-loving advocates now? You cause more harm to my mental health than any Brown, Black, or Indigenous person ever, and yet I am supposed to remain silent on genocide and ethnic cleansing when I see it because it makes you uncomfortable.
Get over it I say.
Sending all my love,
Devon J Hall, The Loud Mouth Brown Girl
Loud Mouth Brown Girl 