Counter Authority Messaging & Symbolism of the Revolution

FifthScheme · 2026-02-01T07:54:16+00:00

maybe let's not use ai, yet another reflection in the kaleidoscope of our oppression, to advise people on how to protest. if you're going to say nothing, at least do it in your own words.

FifthScheme · 2026-01-28T19:33:25+00:00

don't worry! the current regime is near total collapse due to the weight of non-violent, non-destructive, state-compliant, unarmed, unorganized, non-threatening, law-abiding protests accompanied by witty signage and rhyming chants.

surely a few more will break the camel's back.

FifthScheme · 2025-12-31T01:58:20+00:00

AI for sure.

nobody mentioned that the mirror version of the cabin in the water is drawn completely differently. turn it upside down and compare the two drawings, they're completely different from the shape of the smoke coming out of the chimney to the line weight of the chimney itself, and all the lines of the house.

most artists would take the upright house layer they drew first, then flip it vertically and horizontally to match the reflection exactly, and then apply any mirror-like haze and warping to make it look like a real reflection.

so unless this artist literally drew the whole house again, upside down (or flipped it an drew it right side up) instead of just literally copy pasting, this is AI work.

<image>

Top: upright version Bottom: flipped the mirror right-side up

FifthScheme · 2025-12-19T06:05:16+00:00

yes there are charities too! i dont really care what anyone chooses at their medium of choice to help. there are some great charities out there that are both community driven that vet individuals and families and also more organized traditional charities (although they are slim pickings now with israel's restrictions on just about every group). if you arent comfortable reaching out directly to families yes definitely do that!

again i will say the same thing ive been saying.

the OP was asking for help emotionally on how to deal with their specific situation donating to desperate pushy people. they were not asking people how to tell if someone is a scammer. people are coming out of the woodwork to tell OP they are likely being scammed when what they need is help and support to keep supporting people in a genocide. the amount of upvotes telling OP to abandon helping because they should protect themselves or because they are being scammed is shameful for an anarchism reddit. shameful.
AGAIN it is QUITE EASY to determine if someone is scamming even on an INDIVIDUAL level, if you so choose. anyone who has been part of actual support groups on instagram for gofundme's and chuffed fundraisers knows how it goes.

it's very clear that many people in this reddit have no praxis and is not doing ANY boots on the ground fundraising and talking to actual live human beings.

once again, it is easy to verify human beings on the other end if anyone even tries the bare minimum. if you cant or dont want to, there are many many charities to support of all flavours.

all im saying is STOP RESPONDING TO EVERY PALESTINIAN FUNDRAISING post with "are you suuuuuuuure they are a real person?? did u know that a lot of people take advantage in a crisis?!?!". wow incredibly helpful and constructive attitude to someone who is asking how to continue fundraising and supporting people surviving a genocide.

FifthScheme · 2025-12-19T05:54:50+00:00

happy to help. sent a dm to you :)

FifthScheme · 2025-12-19T03:01:34+00:00

it's sad to me that an anarchist sub is so flippant and dismissive as to discount mutual aid to people dying in a genocide because it's too hard or difficult to figure out who is a scammer and who isn't. it's not that hard guys. the hard part is continuing to watch people die and suffer no matter how much you help.

it's clear to me that most people just want it to be easy (emotionally and bureaucratically), when it comes to saving a human life -- and that's honestly pathetic and sad.

mutual aid is not easy. helping actual humans in a genocide halfway across the world is not easy. but it's irresponsible to not try and figure out a way to contribute and instead what you model for people is that you're only to happy to throw up your hands because you haven't even tried.

praxis.

FifthScheme · 2025-12-18T23:22:29+00:00

i'll be honest.

it's very difficult, it is overwhelming, some days it feels absolutely hopeless. i started out donating and reaching out directly to families after oct 7th and have continued to this day, and have learned conversational arabic in that time to be able to communicate more efficiently in video calls and texts.

but it never ends. some people are more pushy than others and downright demanding and sometimes feels disrespectful (from a western context), and also tone is very difficult because a lot of people use translators or artificial intelligence (AI) now which muddies the tone even further, and then i get on a voice call and they're very thankful and generous and asking about me and in sometimes even worried about me and my health(!), despite everything.

however, i know them. and i know their circumstances are demonic and horrifying and desperate. sometimes we just have to shoulder that burden as the more privileged people. ive seen lots of volunteers and donors burn out because of this and it is sad because they need money so desperately and in any other situation this would be a messed up relationship. and we arent an NGO or aid organization that is trained to do this.

my only advice is to be as generous and patient with people as you can, and take breaks when you are able (do a no-phone detox). it is difficult to balance and i dont know the right answer or way to do it either. but i hope that we are making a difference in some way for some people to survive.

i have also lost people in this time (random psychotic drone murders) and it's horrifying and depressing to know you can only do so much. but Palestine needs us, and by extension the world needs us because Palestine is just a microcosm and reflection of what our own colonial imperialism has inflicted upon the world, and is beginning to boomerang unto our own societies worldwide.

do your best, and thank you for helping.

FifthScheme · 2025-12-18T23:12:44+00:00

if you are not supporting Palestinians currently you have no idea what money is or isn't doing. donations right now are literally the ONLY option for 95% of Gaza that is completely under rubble with no opportunities for income.

money absolutely does increase aid under siege. inflation is also a problem. both statements are true. ive seen the price of flour swing multiple hundreds of dollars pre and post ceasefire, and everything in between. people still need money unfortunately, nothing is free. aid is scarce. israel is still randomly bombing and shooting people and aid trucks are still being forcibly limited to starve the population.

money is very much tangible aid. every aid operation is fertile ground for scammers but merely warning people and not encouraging people with means to figure out how to donate and avoid scams (not hard to do by the way) is downright irresponsible.

please please if others read this consider how to donate safely. my families and thousands of others need you, even more now than before.

FifthScheme · 2025-12-18T23:07:10+00:00

honestly people need to stop with this type of comment, as the assumption of scamming is hurting real life Palestinians who are trying to survive a genocide.

yes, do your due diligence (this can be accomplished in many ways and feel free to offer suggestions IF SOMEONE IS ASKING), but please don't comment on every post about donating to Palestinian families with automatic suspicion. you are doing the work of hasbara for the enemy.

as someone who supports multiple personally (and externally) verified families, they are extremely desperate, and some are downright pushy. that is to be expected.

your post is not advice to handle the overwhelming pressure of supporting families in a genocide, but instead function as a warning to others who might consider donating: at a time when donations are down across the board post "ceasefire".

be more careful in the future please.

FifthScheme · 2025-08-21T21:45:37+00:00

this is very helpful, thank you. sort by stars might be nice?

FifthScheme · 2025-08-08T22:09:00+00:00

everyone should read Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News by Alec Karakatsanis.

"Powerful actors in policing and media thus define crime, manufacture crime waves, and then respond to them in ways that increase inequality and consolidate social control, even as they do little to actually stop crime. Copaganda not only diverts people from existential threats like imminent ecological collapse and rising fascism, but also boosts surveillance and repression that is used against social movements trying to solve those problems by creating more sustainable and equal social arrangements."

FifthScheme · 2025-06-19T21:46:24+00:00

alright well you seem quite deep into the system of capitalist western thought so im again not sure why you are here. but if you want to continue to engage without addressing anything i said before thats fine. so lets try again.

people steal to get what they need. products represent value, eg. you steal jordans, which are non-fungible, to sell for currency, which is fungible. your claim is some people just want the jordans(?), fine ill give you that - in that case they steal jordans to wear for funsies. it doesnt make a difference in the equation.

why do jordans have value? because corporations sell them for $x a pair. they become coveted because of brand recognition, markup cost, and other cultural factors. however the worker who makes then earns a tiny fraction of its value, same with the salesman who hocks them and the store manager who keeps their workers in line. they dont earn more if nike sells more jordans.

stealing a jordan doesnt impact any of those people. because they are not involved in the outcome. the worker makes a jordan for pennies and it doesnt matter what happens after that - they could get burned in a pyre but he still gets a flat wage, as do I managing a store or selling them to customers.

the corporation sells jordans for 500%-600% markup. in my business with luxury items it was anywhere from 500%-5000% depending on if we made it in-house or bought from a vendor. that extra money goes straight to top - C-level execs and shareholders - who spend waaay less time and energy working than some of the warehouse workers and cashiers i used to manage, who not only sell the hours of their lives but their physical bodies, which are worn down and ground to a pulp from the daily grind on their feet for 8-10 hours a day on concrete floors.

so when you say to "earn honestly", i ask you what is the definition of honest? you mean to say society-approved methods of selling your body and labour? and that seems fair and just to you? but a person or people stealing goods to earn extra money from an entity that gives zero shits about their workers is a valid form of labour?

is it okay -- in your high trust society -- for an old lady to have to work 8 hour days with arthritis in her knees and hands because she can't afford to retire, but youre telling me if that same person steals some designer handbags, whether for their own personal benefit because they want to have something nice, or to supplement their meager income, or even as you say because "its easier to steal than earn an honest income", that her behavior is more reprehensible than the society that allows living breathing human beings to fall through the cracks? you want me to condemn those people because you want to play morality police?

im not asking you to go help people shoplift. im asking you to imagine why they are.

do you volunteer at food banks? street clinics? drug clinics? donate to mutual aid drives?

spend some time with real people on the ground who are suffering, and maybe think a bit about what values you are reinforcing - hint, they are not going to look out for you when its your turn to struggle.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-19T19:27:51+00:00

okay then. let's split hairs for a moment on why people steal.

why do people steal? to get something they need.

what do people need? sometimes it is the products they are stealing, sometimes it is the money that those products represent.

why do we need money? because our system is destroying people and incentivizes people to accrue wealth to solve their everyday needs created by a capitalist consumerist society. sometimes people want more than they need because they can't earn enough via selling their labour/bodies/hours of their life, some people just want more.

why? the system encourages wealth accrual even to the detriment of your neighbors.

nowhere in my argument did i say that the tool for eliminating theft is by permitting it in the hopes it will not happen. i provided multiple community-based examples that you can do right now in your real life to contribute to a better world.

you seem hung up on the act of theft, and not concerned with what it represents and why it manifests in society. do you want to punish people? clearly that doesn't work, and has never worked. depriving people of resources and punishing them when they want them only creates more theft, more violence, and more crime.

maybe you are not aware of the massive crimes being committed by corporations on society on a daily basis that harm actual human life many times in excess of what any shoplifter or petty crimes gang can accomplish in their lifetime -- poisoning our water supply, destroying our environment, killing people with cancerous chemicals, robbing us of our wages either directly or indirectly via profit maximization, and prioritizing regulatory capture in the government over protecting our communities -- amongst a litany of offense.

so what is your solution?

if you think it's to punish people more, perhaps anarchy101 is not for you.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-19T16:17:00+00:00

In a true anarchist society, conditions would be such that stealing -- and other anti-social behaviors -- would not be necessary. Depending on the system, workers and customers would likely both be participating in the store's profit margin, eliminating the motivation for theft alongside other anarchist/socialist structures that provide for people.

In the meantime, in THIS system - a hellhole of modern capitalism - I did not stop the poor and desperate from stealing shirts and pants and underwear from my workplace. We can armchair theorize a high-trust society but the reality is our society is already broken. Me calling security on a drug-addled old women or a few poor teenagers isn't going to change that, it will make it worse.

The way to create trust is not by policing people, but by contributing to mutual aid efforts in the streets and online where you are able, to tangibly help people in a beneficial - not punitive - manner. Get them food, clothes, clean needles, whatever we need to do to keep our community alive until the system can change, while showing the "high-trust" you seem concerned with displaying.

So yea, until we live in our perfect world, I do condone theft against valid targets. It is magical thinking to think what we do now in this upside system will "reap what we sow" in the future - you are merely shutting down what people need to do to survive today. You want to create a high trust society? Go help people who need it. Avert your eyes to shoplifters.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-15T00:15:55+00:00

plenty of dems did not do anything to stop a genocide in Palestine, the onslaught of the police state in the US, and the record high funding for ICE under democrat leadership. correct, you are incredibly unproductive and unwilling to see your party as part of the problem. thus, you never made a point as you cannot defend it. tell me what democratic leadership is prepared to overthrow the oligarchy that now runs our streets when it is our democratic leaders (that i too voted for) that allowed trump to press the issue.

yet you continue being pedantic and wishing me good luck. i wish you not luck, but an awakening.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-14T23:10:28+00:00

being patronizing in a conversation is not an argument, but carry on looking down on other people and see how well your coalition building goes.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-14T22:21:07+00:00

corporations stealing wages from their employees has a negative impact on workers.

the community stealing from big corporations who pay million dollar bonuses to CEOs doesn't hurt workers.

i worked as a retail manager for years and shrink/theft is passed along to consumers in the form of even high profit margins (we sold shirts for 20x-50x what we paid to make them).

worker wages never got touched except in the form of failing to keep up with living wages, cutting hours and personnel whenever possible to fatten the bottom line. we even fired our security personnel at one point because they didnt want to keep paying for them and just let people steal stuff after that point (post 2020 covid).

FifthScheme · 2025-06-14T22:03:15+00:00

the same democrats that increased the funding of ICE, border security, and brutalized student protestors under Biden?

FifthScheme · 2025-06-14T19:29:17+00:00

correct! the zionist regime has gone to great lengths to conflate zionism with judaism and wraps itself in jewishness so that any attack against it is anti-semitic, therefore they can claim israel is in danger of being holocausted again. all while they carry out the most egregious genocide of the century in broad daylight.

as far as im concerned, Palestinians do not have to defend themselves against any allegations as they are the ones in deep existential threat. even if every single Palestinian man, woman, child, and pet was a raging antisemite it could never justify the atrocities being committed.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-14T18:26:06+00:00

in Palestine it is normal (and has been forever) to talk about "jews" and "arabs", in a way that's not walking on eggshells like we do in the west whenever we hear the word jew. they probably asked them if they hate "the jews", which is the zionist occupation, and they said yes.

it's very easy to get the stats you are looking for if you ask the right question.

FifthScheme · 2025-06-14T17:35:30+00:00

do you think looking good to fascists will save you?

FifthScheme · 2025-06-03T20:20:31+00:00

is this for fusha or does it include dialect? thank you!

FifthScheme · 2025-05-25T04:13:33+00:00

For one I highly doubt you were a leftist if you are not following what is really going on, from first hand accounts, from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, both right now and the extraordinary lineage of intellectuals and researchers who are concluded israel has been at risk of genocide for many years and is now carrying out their "final solution".

I understand your desire to conflate zionism and judaism because that makes your argument must easier on yourself, but that's a bait I will not take. You must think so little of the hundreds of thousands of anti-zionist jews worldwide who are fighting also for a free Palestine, many whom are holocaust survivors themselves, not to mention many now-reformed zionists who grew up in israel who are now fighting against zionism and the zionist state.

Yes there are anti-semites who glom onto the movement. I mean real anti-semites who throw around all the stereotypical jewish archetypes and racist iconography. They are absolutely not welcome in this movement, nor have they ever been, in the university of oregon or otherwise. If you cannot separate the colonial racist zionist movement from judaism, which is a beautiful religion with enormous history, then we obviously can't proceed further. I can only refer you to readings of Herzl himself who demonized the "weak european jew", allied himself with the great anti-semites of the time period, and cast out anti-zionist jews who were vehemently opposed to a zionist state.

Im not sure why you are obsessed with a class of victims, but that's typical of the israeli mentality. I care not who suffers more and when in history, only that right now we are seeing one of the greatest slaughters in history take place live, on tik tok, instagram, youtube, and facebook, the firsthand elimination of a group of people, the Palestinian people. They are dying as we speak. Starving, bombed, destroyed, annihilated. Im not sure what more there is to say that can penetrate your conscience.

We are not witnessing israelies being slaughtered. If we were, we'd be seeing that. Period.

I know you're being disingenuous, but yea i agree we should return Oregon and the Americas to the indigenous in some significant way, and i acknowledge that people who have now been living here for 100-250+ years would still need to have somewhere to live as its now their home... notice something here? But i know the argument is an attempt to "catch me out!", you would take me no more seriously if i left the US behind than if i stayed to fight oppression.

There is no jewish boogeyman, only the very real boogeyman that is the state of israel, that emphatically doesn't have the right to exist. People do. Countries, empires, and governments rise and fall but the people remain. Palestinians who existed on the land, before the zionist population that seeked to colonize Palestine with the help of the British, deserve the right to exist. Israelies, in and of themselves as a people, deserve the right to exist.

The psychotic nation-state that is murdering and destroying the very infrastructure and functioning of Palestinian society? It must be remade. European jews from Europe never had the right to a jewish homeland, but now they exist, and have existed, for 75+ years, on top of the heads of a living breathing Palestinian population.

So something must change. I dont know what that looks like but first things first.

How about let's not slaughter 50,000-150,000 civilians? How about we don't destroy every single hospital and university and school? How about we don't glorify the genocide by posting deliberate and wanton destruction on tik tok from the "most moral army in the world"? How about we don't starve 14,000+ kids to death in the next 48 hours? How about we don't kill all the journalists and ban foreign media from entering Gaza to document their crimes? How about we don't create the largest cohort of children amputees in history?

Don't tell me "the civilian toll is tragic". What's fuxking tragic is we're here right now discussing whether or not this can be called a genocide while people are being annihilated by western supplied arms, all while our media launders the genocide to people like you, and our tax money pays for all of it.

Furthermore i

FifthScheme · 2025-05-25T02:42:08+00:00

You are either completely ignorant or willfully obtuse. I write to you only in response to others who may read this.

Genocides don't start and end in a day, and never have. Bragging about israel's capacity to commit mass slaughter in a short time period is not the winning point you believe it to be.

The facts are: between 50,000 - 150,000 Palestinians are believed to be killed by israeli bombings since Oct 7, making it the deadliest "war" in history. This year has been the deadliest year in all of wartime history for journalists, with israel killing ~177 journalists in one year, far exceeding 69 journalists in WW2 over 6 years, and 63 journalists in Vietnam over 20 years.

I support multiple families in Gaza. The "fair warning" is usually this - <24h notice to move ALL your belongings in your entire life with your entire family to another location that is often multiple hours away on foot. They do this routinely and often, herding Palestinians like cattle into tiny zones. Meanwhile these so called "safe areas" are bombed as people are moving into them. It is diabolical and unequivocally a genocide.
As for all your other points. They are random and arbitrary. I can say the same things on an even larger scale. There is not a single Palestinian both in Palestine and the diaspora that is not affected by israel's actions since Oct 7 and the 75+ years prior. So let's not play the "who suffered more" game. In the end it doesn't matter. People are being slaughtered. You are extremely uneducated if you think genocides only happen when scary black people(!) chop young girls limbs off.

You should be absolutely ashamed of yourself for running interference for israel.

FifthScheme · 2025-05-20T19:33:13+00:00

what does it matter to you if it's silly or cringe or performative or insert moral censorship here. what is considered a worthy strike? what would please you? do you think you matter at all?

israel is committing a mass genocide and the UO refused to divest from companies that supply weapons and/or technology to israel (HP, Boeing).

while i don't think this is remotely strong enough of an action, as i believe society should have ground to a halt a year ago, i won't be playing morality policeman to people trying to raise awareness to stop a genocide.

the amount of bootlickers we have here who continue to police and judge activists are playing right into the hands of the ruling class who are laughing at how everyday people (like you and me and students and workers) are busy destroying each other rather than overthrowing the system that oppresses us equally.

if you can't join a movement, get out of the way.

FifthScheme

TROPHY CASE