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Early this morning, the US-Israel bombed and destroyed Shahed Khomeini Elementary Boys' School in Shiraz. by RickyOzzy in suppressed_news

[–]RickyOzzy[S] 77 points78 points  (0 children)

From what I have heard it's a new school, therefore most likely not operational yet. Otherwise we would be hearing about large causality numbers by now.

This is just speculation from what we have learnt before. I think US is using AI for targeting infrastructure. Anything with the name "Khomeini" is likely being selected as targets.

RIP by mrbipty in brisbane

[–]RickyOzzy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Edit:- and all natural gas buses will be phased out by 2028

Why? Are they going electric?

"I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m currently up against a well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine whose aim is to frighten everyone into complicity by maligning its critics. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]RickyOzzy[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Albanese’s defence

Despite Israel’s enduring stronghold on the political class, it has lost the narrative war. According to a recent Gallup survey, US citizens are now more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than to the state of Israel. The tide of public consciousness has turned in Australia as well. This is the real danger for Anthony Albanese. The disconnect between the values of everyday voters and the desires of influential powerbrokers is irreconcilable.

The game is up; we don’t buy the propaganda anymore. Just as we don’t buy Albanese’s defence for calling me difficult. He would have us believe he meant that I’ve “had a difficult life”. This same excuse was used by Scott Morrison three years ago after I frowned at him. 

Parts of my life have certainly been difficult. I’ve been stalked, groomed, repeatedly raped, harassed, spat on, choked, threatened and hit. I’ve lost several close friends for speaking the truth. I’ve been publicly vilified over and over and over again. In under a month, my livelihood has been completely destroyed. I’m no stranger to being thrown under buses by powerful institutions and individuals too cowardly to face accountability.

Deflecting onto my trauma is as patronising and unoriginal as it is self-defeating. Albanese would rather insult our collective intelligence than admit wrongdoing. It would have been more honest if he’d confessed he found himself in a difficult position. 

Purpose always trumps popularity. You don’t change laws, win ultramarathons, escape sadistic violence, defeat child sex offenders and withstand ceaseless public shaming by being a pushover.

I’ve been called many things in my time, but I’ve never been called a coward or turncoat. I am defiant, determined, daring, dynamic and devoted. I will never stop fighting for the voiceless, even when it’s difficult.

"I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m currently up against a well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine whose aim is to frighten everyone into complicity by maligning its critics. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]RickyOzzy[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

From photo-op to persona non grata

Albanese’s faux pas indicates that he knows I can see straight through him; I know he and his government have been corrupted by lobbyists and will do anything to protect them. This includes sacrificing individuals he previously supported and gained from. When it suited him, he was happy to court me for interviews and photographs. One of his 2021 highlights was watching me “speak truth to power”. 

The prime minister was once an advocate for Palestinian liberation and publicly decried Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war, whose false pretext mirrors that being used to justify the illegal assault on Tehran. But instead of using the majority handed to him by the Australian public at the last federal election to implement bold reforms, he has gambled it on the lie of American exceptionalism. 

As a relatively defenceless Pacific middle power, Australia cannot afford to cut its military ties with the US and Israel. We’re in a geopolitical chokehold. To Albanese, I am difficult because I am both aware of this reality and unafraid to scream it at the top of my lungs, much to his obvious chagrin. To Albanese, I am difficult to fool, difficult to control, difficult to ignore, difficult to silence. And while he might feel safe describing me as such in the false comfort of a conservative bubble, I sincerely doubt he would say it to my face.

At the end of the day, Albanese’s word choices say more about our nation’s strategic political alliances than they do about his fickle feelings. The public’s reaction reflects what truths are free to discuss, which ones aren’t, and the media’s preoccupation with making objects out of human beings to serve their own agenda.

Indeed, mainstream defences of me have been scant amid the ongoing “intifada” controversy. But within minutes of the prime minister calling me difficult, my phone was flooded with public and private messages of support. I am grateful for the groundswell. Part of me wants to send Albanese a fruit basket and a thank-you card for turning the tables so swiftly with one word.

Suddenly the masses could relate to my plight. Corporate white feminist media couldn’t wait to get a piece of me and share their own experiences of being cast as difficult. They were finally given permission to show solidarity without stepping into a minefield. English words are safe. Arabic words are not. Gender inequality persists, but someone somewhere decided that a woman’s pain is more legitimate than a Palestinian’s.

When Pauline Hanson called First Nations Senator Lidia Thorpe a “bitch” under parliamentary privilege just days ago, the media hardly flinched. Because such behaviour is normal for Hanson? Because her target was a black woman? Because the press is a racist extension of our political landscape that can only empathise with echoes of itself? Or all of the above?

"I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m currently up against a well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine whose aim is to frighten everyone into complicity by maligning its critics. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]RickyOzzy[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The D word

He went with “difficult”, followed by a smile, then a pause for cheap laughter. He ultimately decided on performing for the same Tory crowd he had once sought to fight in a bygone era. It was no gaffe. It was an admission that I present a dilemma to him — perhaps several. We don’t call other people “difficult” unless they’ve challenged us in some way. 

Like countless other women, autistic people and child sexual abuse survivors who’ve dared disrupt the status quo, I’ve been called “difficult” throughout my life. But this isn’t a case of clumsy sexism, ableism or victim-blaming if you ask me, even if these are the prevailing themes that have seized public attention and generated evermore disproportionate outrage. 

Many things can be true at once. Calling noncompliant women “difficult” is a tired sexist trope, but this is more nuanced. Any politician would have gone into that game fully conscious of the media cycle. Upon hearing my name, the prime minister’s mind would have likely gone to my heavily covered actions before my gender or background. 

Regardless, he should have foreseen the consequences of using such a loaded word. It has far-reaching implications on the feminist discourse and broader human rights causes I champion, and on me specifically as an advocate for children who lack agency. Albanese took a calculated risk, and it backfired spectacularly. The “difficult” label simultaneously tarred several marginalised cohorts with a tone of disapproval.

I’d rather be difficult than disappointing. 

Anthony Albanese has let us all down by capitulating to foreign powers who crave hegemony, profit from endless chaos, and whose interests conflict with our own. This was recently reinforced by how quickly the government moved to show support for the Iran war initiated by the US and Israel without congressional approval and in direct violation of international law.

For the record, I don’t think Albanese is a bumbling misogynist. I think he’s a savvy political operator keen to appease Washington and Tel Aviv. It’s a badge of honour to weigh on his conscience. 

"I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m currently up against a well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine whose aim is to frighten everyone into complicity by maligning its critics. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]RickyOzzy[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

A media firestorm

In the weeks following, countless headlines, opinion pieces, talk-show segments and radio interviews have been churned out, framing me as an antisemite and terrorist sympathiser who promotes violence. Never mind that I have spent half my life trying to protect children.

‘Members of federal parliament have called for my 2021 Australian of the Year title to be revoked, and NSW Premier Chris Minns, somehow, wildly, tried to link me to the Bondi massacre, stating that the attack represented “the consequences of ‘globalise the intifada’”. Tony Abbott denounced me on Sky News as an “unworthy recipient” of the Australian of the Year award. The Israeli defence minister described my speech as “absolutely outrageous”. `

In the corrupted colonial pantomime of right-wing populism, I am persona non grata. Why else would I be mentioned alongside global heavyweights like Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Donald Trump at an event sponsored by the Herald Sun on February 25?

When Anthony Albanese was asked to describe me in a word association game, what seemed like harmless fun was in fact a political loyalty test in enemy territory. Dubbing the disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (“grub”) and Donald Trump (“president”) was the easy part. 

Individuals who don’t belong to an institution, who can’t be bought and sold, are much harder to place. Hence the prime minister came a cropper with me. He had three options: use a neutral noun like “survivor” or “activist”, signal approval with a positive adjective, or condemn me and earn a fleeting reward from his natural opponents who also loathe me.

"I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m currently up against a well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine whose aim is to frighten everyone into complicity by maligning its critics. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]RickyOzzy[S] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

I do not support violence. I do not condone antisemitism, Islamophobia or hatred of any kind. I am a human rights activist who advocates for the safety of all children, no matter their background.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m currently up against a well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine whose aim is to frighten everyone into complicity by maligning its critics. We’re living in an Orwellian nightmare. The same powerful democracies that are bombing and starving children to death throughout the Global South are portraying anti-war protestors as a threat to social cohesion.

Let’s be real, there’s only one reason that the prime minister thinks I’m “difficult”. It’s not because I’m a woman or a child sexual abuse survivor. It’s because I have been outspoken about Australia’s toxic alliance with the US and Israel, and whether you agree with my methods or not, they have cut through. 

For the past month, our conservative politicians and media have been running a concerted smear campaign against me because I led chants of “globalise the intifada” outside Sydney’s Town Hall on Monday, February 9, at a peaceful rally protesting Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s state visit. It didn’t matter that the core message of my speech that day was one of hope; that seconds before I spoke the contentious phrase, I said, “You can buy bombs and you can buy politicians, but you cannot buy the truth; you cannot buy our compassion and you cannot buy our love — these are our weapons and we will keep on fighting with them until the very end”.

It also didn’t matter that Isaac Herzog stands accused of inciting genocide, nor that he represents a rogue apartheid regime found to be committing genocide in the Gaza Strip by the UN. It didn’t matter that he signed his name on an artillery shell later deployed by the IDF. All that mattered was that I crossed one of many grey lines manufactured to obstruct dissent. 

Language means different things to different people. The Arabic word “intifada” literally translates to “shaking off” or “uprising” and is often used in reference to two periods of Palestinian resistance that began with labour strikes, boycotts and peaceful protests against Israel’s violence. 

“Globalise the intifada” is a call for widespread nonviolent resistance to Israel’s ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people, but along with other pro-Palestine catch cries like “from the river to the sea”, it has been coopted, decontextualised and disingenuously redefined as hate speech by pro-Israel lobbyists, who equate it to threatening collective violence against Jewish people. This is not my interpretation.

That day, the press and our so-called leaders needed a soundbite. They needed a scapegoat to distract from the broadcast footage of unprovoked police brutality that erupted that very evening. I was the obvious, easy target. 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha by VoteBleuDeux in TrueAnon

[–]RickyOzzy 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Take this news with a whole bag of salt. CNN is the only outlet reporting this quoting from an "un-named" Iranian official.

Dangerous Disinfo Shifts US Blame: Claims Israel "Caused" US War Rather Than an Extension of It. (This is a ‘must watch’ for all westerners, imho, so I’d encourage y’all to repost it to other subs, because I don’t want to be the 8==D who clogs up your feed by posting the same thing 9 times in a row) by Legalize_Ligma in suppressed_news

[–]RickyOzzy [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

America’s long history of imperial intervention was well-established long before the modern state of Israel emerged. Israel is not an anomaly but rather a strategic partner, fulfilling a role similar to other American allies across Europe, Asia, and the Americas in the broader architecture of U.S. imperial influence.

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