Calling out the "Blood Libel" rhetoric and imagery in anti-Israel invective would certainly be a lot easier if Israel were not actually killing children, in large numbers, with leading voices openly calling for genocide of the Palestinians. And if pro-Israel (and MAGA) propaganda did not cynically conflate anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Yet from Manhattan to Cincinnati to Dallas to Berkeley and Santa Barbara, slogans and graffiti have tarred Jews as Zionists and "baby-killers"—playing into the hands of Israel's propagandists. Bill Weinberg discusses the dilemma in Episode 218 of the CounterVortex podcast.

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CounterVortex Podcast

Blood Libel in a time of genocide

Masha Gessen in a New Yorker essay draws a parallel between the Warsaw Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland and the Gaza Strip, where Israel's long siege is now escalating to genocide. Some Israeli military tactics in Gaza mirror those of the Nazis in Warsaw. Yet, while some voices on the ostensible "left" go so far as to glorify Hamas, Israel's online partisans are drawing a parallel that reverses the roles, depicting Hamas as the new Nazis. In fact, in a case of paradoxical fascistic pseudo-anti-fascism, the genocidal rhetoric of figures such as hardline Israeli cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich dehumanizes the victims by portraying all Gazans as Nazis. In Episode 223 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg turns to the words of Leon Trotsky and Albert Camus to make sense of the seeming contradiction.

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From Warsaw Ghetto to Gaza Strip

Music by Alexander Stratonov from "Inglorious Officers: Russian Torturers in Kherson" investigative documentary soundtrack.

240 people have been recognized as victims in the case of the torture chamber of the Kherson Temporary Detention Center. On March 9, 2022, the Russian occupying forces seized the facility and turned it into a place of illegal detention of Ukrainians. People who passed through the temporary detention center say that the screams of people being tortured during interrogations could be heard around the clock. Outside of interrogations, prisoners were physically and mentally tortured by guards. It took journalists more than 14 months to identify them. The documentary tells what happens when convoys and police officers from Russia are sent on a business trip to the occupied territories and given freedom of action.

For the full story, watch the investigative documentary "Inglorious Officers: Russian Torturers in Kherson": https://youtu.be/Sp0bg_4GdNI

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© JSC UA: PBC 2024

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Someone Needs Me Here

They Won't Break Us

The Silver Lining

Back To Where We Belong

Reclaiming Our Homes

Thundering At The Gates

Recurring Patterns

The Zionist propaganda machine continues to weaponize the accusation of anti-Semitism to delegitimize any effort to resist Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. This increases rather than decreases the responsibility of activists to distinguish—and oppose—actual anti-Semitism. Yet in recent weeks, sectors of the activist response to the Gaza genocide in the United States have utterly surrendered to the most abject, undisguised, unambiguous anti-Semitism—playing right into the hands of the Zionist calumnies. Bill Weinberg discusses this difficult reality in Episode 231 of the CounterVortex podcast.

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Anti-Semitism versus anti-Zionism: beyond parsing

This week on Full Circle we keep our eyes and ears on Palestine and Lebanon. And we also check in on some news out of the city of Antioch. On tonight’s show. We get an update on the upcoming week of actions here in the Bay Area  marking 1 year of the aggression on Gaza. We’ll be speaking with a representative of Q.U.I.T, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism for that update. Then later, CA is in the news again making positive changes. The city council just passed Just Cause for Eviction adding that to the list of tenant protections along with Anti Harassment and Rent Control. We’ll hear from the activists at the signing ceremony.  And, Antioch just hired a new City Manager, this comes with the specter of racism and a DOJ investigation that was launched after racist comments were posted on social media, including one post calling for the return of hanging to the town square. We’ll hear from the new City Manager herself as she was officially hired and introducing herself to the public.

Full Circle 10-04-2024 Actions Marking 1 Year of Genocide on Gaza and Local news From Antioch

Voice track taken from the "Collateral Murder" video published by Wikileaks in 2010.

Collateral

This excerpt from Vikalpa, titled "#May18sl “මුල්ලිවෛක්කාල්: සත්‍යයේ ආලෝකය තුළින්, යුක්තියේ බලාපොරොත්තුව සහිත මතකයන්! (Photos) සම්පත් සමරකෝන් විසිනි – Vikalpa”, discusses the ongoing struggle for truth and justice sixteen years after the official end of the war in Sri Lanka. It highlights the remembrance ceremony held at Mullivaikkal, where thousands of Tamil people gathered to mourn their loved ones and demand accountability for loss of life, disappearances, and abductions during the conflict. The article emphasizes the importance of acknowledging the victims' experiences and cautions against attempts to erase their history, citing Howard Zinn's perspective on the injustice of silencing victims' stories. It also contrasts the lack of a just process for the events at Mullivaikkal with the Rwandan genocide's efforts towards truth and reconciliation. Finally, the piece touches upon the persistent issue of land disputes and argues that achieving lasting peace requires respecting the Tamil people's rights and addressing their political aspirations based on truth and justice. 

Audio Overview Generate by: NotebookLM | Original Article in Sinhala and Photos https://www.vikalpa.org/article/44778

Mullivaikkal

Mullivaikkal_ Seeking Truth and Justice

Amid the hype about how Trump "snubbed" Netanyahu on his Middle East trip come reports that his White House is pushing a plan to relocate some 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya—which is in the midst of a massive human rights crisis. Even while on the ground in Qatar, Trump plugged his relocation scheme for the Gazans, who now face complete ethnic cleansing from the devastated Strip. In Episode 279 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg debunks the notion of a Trump tilt away from Israel, and asks why some "progressives" are joining with paleocons to view massive arms deals with the repressive and arch-reactionary monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar as a good thing. 

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Erratum: At approximately 17.20 we recall that in March 2017 Prince Mohammad bin Salman called Trump a "true friend of Muslims" one day before the US bombed a mosque in Syria, killing at least 50. Contrary to what we state, this exchange between Trump and Prince Mohammad did not take place in Riyadh, but in the White House. Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, where he met again with the prince, was in May 2017.

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MAGA-fascism and the Gulf State tyrannies

🚨 An Illegitimate President Just Started an Illegal War | Karel Cast Ep. 25-84

This weekend, Donald Trump launched airstrikes against a nation that hasn’t attacked us, hasn’t threatened us, and reportedly has no nuclear capabilities — all without congressional approval, UN support, or public discussion.

🇺🇸 Why? To continue acting as Israel’s proxy, spending $250 million of our taxpayer money to escalate a war no one asked for — and no one fully understands.

And yet, the media barely flinched. No outcry. No protest. Just more war… while the American people foot the bill and wait for the fallout.

🎵 Also in this episode: A personal reflection on self-doubt, creativity, and why so many of us struggle to feel “enough” — even when we are. Especially after recording a new song, I found myself wrestling with that voice. Do you?

This is The Karel Cast — unfiltered, fearless, and unapologetically honest.

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💖 Support the show at patreon.com/reallykarel

🎙️ Stream on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and more

📱 Follow on TikTok & Instagram: @reallykarel

🚨 An Illegitimate President Just Started an Illegal War | Karel Cast Ep. 25-84

First Voice Media is building a lasting institution for women, people of color, and under-resourced communities to learn media skills and gain access to radio as a means of empowerment using mass communications and art.

Members of First Voice Media produce, write, host, and engineer Full Circle, a cultural affairs radio magazine which showcases personal views, interviews, feature stories, and live performances from our community. Airing on Friday at 7pm on KPFA 94.1, all content comes from members of First Voice Media and reaches all across northern and central California.

Podcasts on media, democracy, culture & politics.

I started making music in the early 2000s, mostly in the trip-hop genre. I played bass guitar in alternative rock band "acloneofmyown" (2005-2015) and electric guitar in post-hardcore band "The Sky is Red" (2006-2009).

Since 2022 I've started producing solo music and soundtracks for documentaries in various genres - from piano and neo-classical to electronic ambient.

Support my work on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

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New tracks tagged #WARCRIMES