Colin Tiyani Design – Page 2

We all have a certain notion of the world and society: how it works, who are the good guys, etc. Rarely has there been a juxtaposition of events that clarifies instantaneously precisely how wrong we may have been.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, there was no doubt in my mind that Putin was the bad guy and therefore The West, in coming to the rescue of Ukrainians, were, morally the good guys. This determination was made much easier, of course, because of Putin’s history of tyranny. Personally, I publicly supported Ukraine, changed my screensaver to the Ukrainian flag and created some pro-Ukraine artwork.

But then Israel began its Genocide in Gaza. If you ever wanted to create a monster much worse than Putin, it would be Benjamin Netanyahu. His legacy and the legacy of Zionism is one of criminality, racism, contempt for human rights law, torture, rape, deceit and Genocide. If ever there was an unambiguously evil action, you only need to look at what Israelis have done in Gaza. They have actively bombed schools and hospitals, tortured and murdered doctors, murdered 14,000+ children. All of this has been well-documented by South Africa in the charge of Genocide they brought to the International Court of Justice. In any case, Israeli politicians are on the record telling the world precisely how they intended to violate the Geneva Convention.

And so, it was with great horror and shock that global citizens discovered that The West aligned itself immediately with the genocidal Israelis. Western governments haven’t listened in the slightest to the wishes of their own citizens. Enormous crowds of protestors filling the streets have failed to convince their representatives to stop supporting the horror of Zionism. Fortunately, there have been a few exceptions like Ireland.

I was one of a number of writers who have spent the past year creating daily Linkedin posts in support of Israel’s innocent Palestinian victims. Linkedin is a platform for professionals. I like to think that professionals have a strong sense of ethics. I believe we all have an obligation to distinguish right from wrong. As a taxpayer in America, a significant portion of the money I earn goes to pay for the bombs that Israel drops on Palestinian kids. I find this situation impossibly immoral. Just as a soldier has the option to refuse to fight, I think taxpayers should have the option to refuse to contribute towards Genocide.

I’ve created hundreds of pro-Palestine posts over the past year plus. Regardless of Israel’s inhuman behaviour, there were always a steady number of pro-Zionist Linkedin members who would continually shriek on and on about “antisemitism” with no regard to logic or justice or the meaning of the word. I would block those guys. On about ten occasions, a post of mine was taken down for violating Linkedin rules. Naturally, they would never tell you why. I would appeal and, on all but three occasions, my post would be restored.

Several days ago, Linkedin took down my account altogether for unnamed “violations”. This has happened to many others. I am by no means unique. In addition to Ukraine vs Israel showing us how immoral our governments are, it is also showing us how much malign influence Israel has over politicians, corporate elites and institutions in the West. “Free speech” is a myth. We have as much freedom as they are willing to give us. You can say whatever you want to say about the evil of Putin. The Ruling Class have no problem with that at all. You’ll get a gold star. But try speaking out against the evil of Zionism and you’ll receive an entirely different reaction.

Also, Linkedin is by no means unique. Try standing up for Palestinian justice on Facebook or Twitter and the result won’t be any different. The tentacles of Zionism spread their bias and malice everywhere there is the possibility of influence. Even if 99% of us wanted to stop America’s support of Israel’s Genocide, nothing will change if the 1% control the government and mega-corporations and the press and social media. Even institutions that have a charter that requires neutrality, like the BBC, have shown transparent bias in favour of the Genocidal Israelis.

I believe that Gaza is a litmus test by which we can judge individuals, institutions, and Humanity. Some issues are very complex and difficult for the average Joe to decipher. Gaza is incredibly simple. It is Good versus Evil. Where do you stand?

“Ominous” is the word I would choose for the shortly-arriving new year. I’m in the field of art and design and making and engineering. Basically, I’m keen on creativity. “Stick to what you’re good at” you may well say. I disagree. When there are destructive clouds on the horizon that threaten our world, all creative people and anyone with children has a moral obligation to speak out against those who threaten and steal and kill.

What should we be worried about?

The United States is coming off the rails. The GOP used to be a rather boring, “conservative” party. Now they’re a bunch of Berserkers who appear to represent only the 0.1%. Naturally, their talisman, Donald Trump, is the focal point of this chaos. A deceitful, angry simpleton, he represents the worst of Mankind’s attributes: greedy, racist, sexist, disloyal, selfish, dishonest. Because of his ignorance, temperament and lack of belief in the truth, he represents an existential threat to humanity.

That’s not to imply that his supporters are the problem. His supporters are angry with the status quo and they have every right to be angry. The problem is that they have no one that represents them. The Democratic Party are stuck in their tired neoliberal ways. People are fed up with the Right wing policies of Clinton, Obama and Biden. They represent the establishment rather than change. Even though he’s their worst enemy, Trump claims to represent the masses. Perhaps, his camouflage is that he speaks the monosyllabic language of the working class.
The Climate Crisis. Despite everything that you might hear from Republicans, this is not a “Chinese hoax.” This is real. It may not harm you, but it may harm your kids. The carbon in the atmosphere that is at critical levels takes centuries to dissipate. Meanwhile, we continue to increase carbon emissions. Scientists have reliably underestimated the speed of warming. It is quite likely that we have already passed several tipping points, meaning that temperature rise will continue even without human activity.
Extreme inequality. I’m really just speaking about the U.K. and the U.S. I can’t speak for other Western countries. When Thatcher and Reagan unleashed the power of financial greed in the seventies and eighties, they had been drinking a lot of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman Kool-Aid. The idea was that the economy would take off and they may have actually believed the lie of “trickle down economics.”

What actually happened was that the gains of the Middle Classes in the Fifties and Sixties were largely wiped out and, thanks to tax cuts for the rich, the wealthy were swimming in money. But what did they do with the money? Pay their workers more? Invest in infrastructure? Of course not. They invested in schemes to make them even richer. I’m specifically talking about Private Equity “investing” in real estate. Super rich slumlords like the Kushners buy apartment buildings and trailer parks and immediately increase the rent to the absolute maximum. They have algorithms that maximise hardships for the working man in order to maximise profit for the Ruling Class. In the U.K. two thirds of workers have difficulty paying rent. In the U.S. homelessness is at record levels.
Genocide. According to the ICJ, the ICC, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch all believe that Israel is committing Genocide in Gaza. What is the response of the West? They sponsor the Genocide. They supply the bombs. The diminish the suffering of the Palestinian people. They veto multiple ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations. This is barbaric, immoral, criminal behaviour.

The descendants of the victims of the last holocaust are furiously conducting one of their own. And, of course, genocide doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s never clinical. Israel bombs hospitals and schools. Israel routinely uses prohibited munitions like white phosphorus. Israel systematically uses rape and torture against Palestinian hostages. Israel has murdered over 14,000 kids and carpet bombed the entire Gaza strip deliberately making it unlivable. Additionally, Israel blocks food supplies from getting into a starving population. On the 29th of February, Israel allowed a lorry load of flour to enter Gaza and then opened fire with automatic weapons when starving Palestinians tried to unload it.

The West is complicit in this Genocide. Israel has its tentacles in many Western countries. In the U.K. pro-Zionist forces managed to sabotage the chances of an extremely popular pro-Palestinian Labour leader, Jeremy Corby, and have him replaced with Keir Starmer, a Zionist. In the United States, AIPAC, the bribing arm of Israel, openly gloats that is is successful in virtually 100% of all the elections they contest. The U.S. Congress has become essentially a pathetic, subservient arm of Israel. They sponsor and encourage all of Israel’s immoral actions regardless of how illegal they are. A dozen Republican members of the U.S. Senate, including McConnell and Rubio, even wrote a threatening letter to the International Criminal Court!

This is the world that we live in. These are just some of the pressing issues that must be addressed if we want to live in a sustainable world where justice and decency are the order of the day.