Went on a little photo walk with my friend Benny. I captured these on a Sigma FP with some old Contax Zeiss and a more modern Laowa 15mm lens. Cropping the images afterwards tends to help me clarify the moment within each photo.
Ethnic cleansing, genocide, soldiers taking joy in their crimes, absolute destruction of life, history, humanity, the environment, the past and future. This is what the US is supporting. None of this makes Israelis safer, nor does it erase the resistance whether Hamas, Hezbollah or a myriad of other groups that have no choice but to fight. That is what the US government does for corporate interests. The world screams for ceasefire and justice, but all we get is silencing, and unrelenting war crimes.
When the US government changes, we will get Trump again and things will only be worse, but genocide was already the baseline and Democrats had promised continued support of Israel's expansion. Change will not come from these parties. The fight for justice in the US must include fighting the crimes we are forced to be complicit in across the globe through taxes and consumption. This is where we've got to be. Don't get lost in the nonsense news cycle that tells you that you are powerless and the oppressors are victims and heroes. Look to those doing the real work of building solidarity and fighting against the inhumanity of endless greed and cruelty.
#ceasefire #endgenocide #ourlivesareconnected #art #sketch #freepalestine
Israelism
I watched the documentary “Israelism” and found it a powerful and moving piece that filled me with sorrow and hope. In it, I could see the parallels of using religious identity to silence dissenting voices and justify horrific violence against the othered. It is a common, human problem. Going against what you were taught growing up can be difficult, if not excruciating. It is not likely to win you as many new friends as just going along with the majority, but look at the state of the world and tell me that the way things have gone is as they should continue.
There are incredible people all over the world pushing to take their identity back from bigots and find solidarity in the common cause of justice for all. So often, I have heard people, particularly in regards to the US government, refer to the actions of government as we. As in, sure, in theory, I can see some stuff is ugly, but WE had to do it, because tough luck, that’s the world. It is easy to say that when you are not on the receiving end of that horror. People pretend that the government, with some slight, undefinable flaws is like their favorite sports team, and that other super fans are their closest and truest allies.
What if the reality was, that we all have stronger bond and connection with those who work for justice for all people. The idea that for one group of people to have does not mean that others must not. Our fates are intertwined. Your having rights and a dignified life does not take away from my ability to do so, in fact it enhances the possibility of it. We are not competing sports teams, unless we are speaking of war mongering, resource stealing corporate culture. As people, we need not share these destructive aspirations. Building solidarity with those who seek real justice and equality for all is the only way this world is going to survive climate change and a whole host of human greed created catastrophes.
Change makers
Today, I had the opportunity to share a talk on change makers with second graders. It was just before the end of the school day, but the kids were so attentive with wonderful thoughts and questions. I presented my late, dear friend Ustad Anb Jogi and friend Puran Bhatt with whom I have created music, as well as animated and puppetry films (http://www.madguru.com/films). They inspire me with their dedication and the generosity and love they have given me and our collaborations.
The kids were, as always fantastic bundles of energy, ideas and wonder. I talked about how these artists acted as leaders and a great support to their communities in the face of apathy and outright cruelty, and how fortunate we all were to share our gifts in times of creativity and need. I shared how my child, like all of these shining lights before me in the class room, gave me hope, courage and perseverance.
I take seriously the dignity and value of people, the promise in children and the care that they deserve. With elections and genocide, it is easy to lose sight of all the good that we can and must do to tear down this complacency around injustice. People act as if somehow we are incapable of bringing change. I think, perhaps, we, the people, are the only ones capable of bringing change, for neither governments nor corporations seem to do the right thing without being forced.
#thePeopleUnitedWillNeverBeDefeated #animation #elections #changemakers #classroom #kids #indigenousart #indiefilm #justice #perseverance #change
Genocide Elections
I saw a video of a child in Palestine, with such pain in her eyes. She was handed a lollipop and there was just pain. How does one look away, ignore or excuse this genocide? Take a look at the faces of victims of mass killing and genocide through history. There have been so many since the advent of photography that there is no short supply of them.
The US voted. Whether you voted 3rd party to try and break away from the limits of a 2 party system, or chose the Democrats in hopes that it would keep Trump out, I can't really say anything in favor or against. All that I hope is that regardless of your choice, you have not forgotten this genocide that we bankroll against our will. I hope that once the new day comes and a different supporter of genocide takes office, that you will remember this unspeakable horror and push for its end and the dismantling of the power that doubles down in its support.
Genocide is that horrific act that we have grown up learning is the worst that humanity has to offer. If you do not oppose it with every ability at your disposal, then question why. If you find yourself justifying it, educate yourself and take a good hard look at those that share your view and whether that is truly the company you wish to keep.
#freepalestine #USElection2024 #endgenocide #sketch #marker #art
Israel Bombs Hospital Patients and We Look Away
Watch as a man in his hospital bed, IV still in his arm, burns to death, or look away like most people. Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, surrounded by tents, and people inside was bombed by Israel with US arms and backing.
Is it so easy for us to deny the violence we support? Whether Republicans or Democrats, the same bloodthirsty advisors return for successive governments to create colonial plans to divide up nations, prop up "friendly" leadership and watch the corporate profits roll in, drenched in the blood of innocents. Advisors like Brett McGurk keep coming back with their horrible ideas. Have we not seen the outcome of these ideas? Failure upon failure and nothing but destabilization of countless countries in the region, the rise of ISIS, and now the brink of World War III come from the US doubling down on its horrific policies. We won't get a change from Democrats or Republicans. This system must change, because it has shown that it will never change its course unless all support is pulled from it. Take action. This genocide is our responsibility.
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #marker #protest #shutitdown4palestine #weekofrage
Escape from Box City Indie Video Game
7 year old art director lends their vision to a 3D Platformer "Escape from Box City". Coming soon to Steam! Add it to your wishlist. http://www.madguru.com/games (Started during the Unreal Fellowship for Games). Music by Whalesound.
#indiegames #indiegamedeveloper #unrealengine #unrealfellowship #claycharacters
Palestine Barbed Wire
When you only see people at the end of your gun, or on the other side of barbed wire, year after year, what becomes your perception of them? You can find empathy and work to understand what allows an injustice to be, or you can double down on dehumanizing “justifications” for why human dignity does not apply to “them”.
The choice is yours, but do not feign surprise when that grows into a monster that must cover mass killings, ethnic cleansing, displacement, starvation and endless justification for what can never be justified, culminating in an all out genocide. For once we begin to buy into the lies that allow us to think less of another, we go down a road paved with ever more lies to make it ok to do unspeakable things to innocent people.
The Israeli people are dealing with that. There are extremists who have bought so far into their twisted interpretation of scripture that they have created a master race of themselves who are preordained to destroy everything to create endless settlements and commit endless crimes to expand and sustain them. Settlers are taking boat rides to watch the genocide. while some Synagogues are holding real estate sales for beach front properties in Gaza.
What is this bloodthirst? It is not Judaism. There are Jews of all backgrounds in Israel, including those who recall a time of living with Muslims and Christians before Zionism took hold. Looking at how Palestinians are treated by the state of Israel, you would think that they were the German Nazis who commit the holocaust in World War II.
Most religions can point to an extremist group that claims not only to be part of their religion, but insists that they are the one true voice of it. These are the worst of what each system of belief has to offer and must be recognized and defused. We can’t take our own suffering to justify the brutality that we commit against others. Nor can we allow one horrific ideology to take ownership of belief systems that are more varied and beautiful than the brand of a particularly toxic group.
May we challenge the ideas we are taught and measure them against core values of humanity, compassion and love. Is it so difficult to look at suffering that you would not wish upon yourself and not wish it upon any other as well?
Vote
It is of course people’s personal choice how to use the power of their vote. In my case, yes, I will be voting for Jill Stein, because I cannot vote for genocide and in fact must vote against it. Would we question whether to vote for Hitler? Unfortunately, that’s the only example I can use, because all the other mass murdering, genocidal leaders are not remembered by most people as the horrific murderers they were. For they were “only” guilty of killing brown or black people or other asians and indigenous peoples who don’t seem to count.
Today we stand over a year into a genocide that has been playing out in our faces through the brave voices of journalists and every day people of Palestine, giving us a view of their deepest agony. The perpetrators are so comfortable that they also post their crimes on social media. Meanwhile, the US continues to send endless weapons to keep the conflict going and works in earnest to cripple dissent in human rights groups, international courts, the UN and countries who dare to call this genocide out. The US government leans on lawyers, diplomats, heads of state, and institutional leaders who demand accountability and an end to this horror.
The Democrats and Republicans promise to continue this, and have been pushing legislation to bleed the country of its finances and civil liberties to speak out. Arms manufacturers will keep this conflict and many others going, at the expense of human rights, and the horrors of the climate crisis.
So, in my eyes, to vote for this is to give further acceptance and support for something that I cannot. Any vote against this is a stand taken to demand the change that was silenced at our Universities by violence and at the political party conventions by exclusion. This will get worse and it already is, but in supporting it, we say that it must continue and four years from now we will have another two terrible candidates and an existential crisis to vote the less ugly genocider. How many more will be destroyed under the rubble because we refused to vote against this today?
It is on us to take action or as far too many do, look away and deny it. Politicians, media and institutions are doubling down on their verbal, legal, financial, arms and policing support of the genocidal nation of Israel. To speak out is to be a pariah, to lose opportunities, or perhaps, to face one’s conscience and find our way back to humanity.
Palestine Olive Tree
Over 800,000 olive trees have been destroyed over the years by the cruel Israeli occupation. It reminds me of the some 40 million buffalos killed by the US government in the 1800s, again to make life impossible for an indigenous population that depended on nature and found ways to live in balance with it. The colonizers do not respect the land, They destroy the balance of nature and erase all humanity and history to create an abomination of harmfully transplanted plants, and unsustainable practices for entitled, cruel people that seek only to take more. That was already the baseline, with full on apartheid and constant ousting, murder and imprisonment of Palestinians.
Today, the Zionists push for “Greater Israel”, a piece of each neighbor and a never ending spread of a supremacist ideology that fits with corporate interest in exploitation and theft.
Brown University decides to not bother divesting from companies complicit in this genocide.
Democrats refuse to allow voices of dissent, much less consider changing course, yet demand our votes.
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #olivetrees #marker #protest #shutitdown4palestine #weekofrage
Palestine Sunbird
Though the Palestinian people are not yet free, the Palestinian sunbird, which represents freedom and resilience knows no borders.
Israel, with endless weapons from the US threatens all life in the region, while Zionists a world away froth at the mouth at the idea of creating tract homes over more death and destruction.
Where do we lose our humanity and justify the endless murder and subjugation of the dehumanized? To speak against US and Zionist talking points for decades has been met with such anger and gaslighting to shut down discourse let alone action. Today, people are pushing back unlike ever before. The victims of genocide are live streaming what they are going through. The perpetrators are stupid enough to do the same.
Over $17 billion in aid for genocide in just a year. This will financially bankrupt the morally bankrupt, and the people who do not make these choices will suffer for it. A vote for the Democratic party at this point is to give acceptance and reward to genocide.
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #sunbird #marker #protest #shutitdown4palestine #weekofrage
Handala and Resilience
Handala, Naji al-Ali's cartoon character depicting Palestinian struggle and resilience in the form of a 10 year old boy.
Laws meant by the colonizer to justify the murder of the colonized get denied when used to declare their own crimes. We have only a resilience to fight for justice.
At the protest yesterday, I found it curious that there was a bunch of graffiti right below a camera on the LAPD building. Graffiti that was anti LAPD and pro Palestine. Certainly a protestor could have done this, but what happened to all that Israeli training and tech our police forces gobble up? Did they see nothing? They came out in full riot gear and stood there, ready to bash skulls. I think the only thing that stopped them was protest organizers' de-escalation. Was it just a provocation to try and crush dissent?
Who knows? What is known, is the deep links between white supremacy, the Zionist state and US police departments. Strange, isn't it? The most vehemently anti-semitic groups in the US, working hand in hand with those who largely uphold not the rule of law, but the crushing oppression of the masses. No protest movement for the rights of people has gone unpunished by the fist of the state, through the apparatus of policing.
I was asked, "Well if you won't vote for the democrats you're okay with Trump becoming president."
Hah.
I've watched the dehumanization of all people non white. I've seen seemingly intelligent people excuse the deaths of millions by this state, because who cares. You shouldn't care either, because if you don't vote for one genocider, you might get the other and there is no other choice. So let the system burn. There is no good outcome in the immediate sense, of that we are guaranteed, but if something doesn't break and force a change, we're all ruined. That has been promised by both parties in their speeches while running for election. What leverage do you suppose you will have after they have won?
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #handala #marker #protest #shutitdown4palestine #weekofrage
It doesn't take much to speak up
To not protest in the face of genocide is to die quietly. We, who as many have said, live in the belly of the beast, the root of this conflict and many others, above all, have a responsibility to speak up. What does it take to show up? A simple march through downtown, to say no, this is not ok, this must end and the world will be better for it.
It is hard to understand how the country does not rise up when FEMA can't afford to help hurricane victims, but the funding for unchecked aggressions and colonial aspirations of the US and Israel are endless. Only we allow this, by not speaking up, by thinking our voice doesn't matter, by not thinking we have a responsibility in this or that somehow these victims don't count.
There is no helplessness here, only a lack of a willingness to make ourselves count. You can change that, in one simple step. Understand that you can affect incredible change. Understand that you can speak up, join efforts to change the destructive path that our government and the profiteers of war set us upon. It is our responsibility to stop this. No one else is as directly enabling this genocide.
Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine are not the aggressors who started this nor the ones who can end this. The US has clearly stated goals of expanding Israel and murdering people into submission. This has been the pattern of US imperialism. This has been the cause of destabilization and destruction across the planet. This must end for all our sakes. Be a part of that effort.
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #tatreez #marker #protest #shutitdown4palestine #weekofrage
Palestinian Tatreez
Palestinian Tatreez is a beautiful tradition of embroidery. I didn't really do it justice in this quick sketch, but what we're watching is the destruction of a people and their culture. It is an attempt to erase their existence as the colonizers did with the indigenous communities of the Americas, Africa and Australasia. To remove one's history, any hint of their presence; what a horror. This has gone on since at least the Nakba of 1948, where entire villages were purposely destroyed and built over by the Zionist colonizers from Europe. They showed no care then, nor today for the natural landscape, much less its people, building an existence that depended on the non existence of another.
Today, some of the very people doing land acknowledgments in the US are supporting and even committing this genocide. Acknowledge the land and its rightful caretakers, not just in name, but in action. Who destroys olive trees, infrastructure and all life?
The US insists on backing this genocide. The "Democratic" party warns that if not them, we get the Republicans. Neither serves us, nor any other human value. This has been going on for so long that today we find ourselves in a state of exponential loss.
It's not too late to pay attention and push back. We owe it to those who can't, and those who keep on trying despite that.
@palestinianvoicestoday
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #tatreez #marker #protest
Palestinian Poppy Flower
The Palestinian poppy flower. A symbol of resistance and the people's connection to their land.
Those uncertain, should read and learn more. See this situation for what it is and stop making excuses for genocide, endless war crimes, increasing arms and financial support to the detriment of all.
When the US VP candidate doubles down that "the expansion of Israel and its proxies is an absolute, fundamental necessity for the United States" during the VP debate, why would I vote for Harris/Walz? There is no shift from genocide to be found there. There is no stop in erasing civil liberties here in the US from these candidates. This is full steam ahead on WWIII and may the climate burn and the people with it. No thanks.
@palestinianvoicestoday
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #poppy #flower
Keffiyeh
If this is a symbol of violence, what is the US flag? What do we call the flags of Europe's colonizer nations? How do we view the revered butchers who have lead these nations? What about the flag of a nation committing genocide and bombing at least 5 of its neighbors at the same time to support the corporate asperations of it's weapons supplier/fixer?
Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados gave an impassioned speech at the UN in response to a war criminal, who by international law should be arrested on sight and by US law, not supported with arms or funding. She took back the misuse of scripture to justify horrific human actions. She stressed the need for peace. Her nation is on the frontlines of climate change caused largely by the very nations focused on war. These are wars that support the machines of death, profit from theft and destruction of our world. We are on the brink of catastrophe in climate change. We are seeing its affects each year, yet this is the time to grab more land, murder more people and destroy more habitat? Who are these disgusting war mongers that profit on the destruction of our existence and why do so many ignorantly go about their lives while this continues? Who will be spared?
And no, the keffiyeh is no symbol of violence or any single group that wears it. It is the symbol of Arab people, and has become the symbol of resistance and resilience in the face of attempts to erase the Palestinian people for generations.
@palestinianvoicestoday
#ceasefire #reparations #genocide #calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #keffiyeh
Key
For almost a year we have written our representatives, protested, demanded a #ceasefire and an end to #genocide. It was clear to those who cared that relentless bombing of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran would lead to retaliation. What choice is there when the UN recommends sanctions and the ICJ issues arrest warrants, yet one singular nation can pump in billions to Israel while not having enough to aid its own victims of climate change? Why would I vote for more of this? Why would doing so lead to anything but another vote for garbage over slightly less garbage rhetoric?
Free speech is being criminalized across the US, in the name of protecting our government and institiutions unrelenting support of genocide. After 9/11 the US and colonizer allies went after so many countries on this planet, murdering, raping, imprisoning, radicalizing, and ultimately failing in every conflict and striking down all who exposed the vicious, unnecessary ineffectiveness of the wars. What price did the world pay? From civilians caught in massive profit grabs at their expense, to soldiers destroyed for nothing, and countless nations further destabilized, traumatized and brutally sanctioned. The same monsters that wanted that blood continue to advise and implement on further plans to steal and destroy. Yet those who don't bother to pay attention are shocked at the escalation of violence? Where have you been? Do you not have a stake in the future of this planet? @palestinianvoicestoday
#calloutkamala #theworldhasarighttodefenditself #novotesforgenocide #usimperialismmustend #lebanon #palestine #syria #yemen #iran #inktober #key
Norton wisdom and ireesh lal
Norton Wisdom and Ireesh Lal of Artronika at Elysian Valley Arts Collective.
#live #music #sketch #markers
Countless children, dead, dying
Countless children, dead, dying and living in absolute terror. This is Zionism. This is Israel and the US. The world does not support this, but a few colonizer nations are hell bent on keeping this going.
#freepalestine #endgenocide #calloutkamala #endapartheid #MostMoralArmy
Surrounding kids
Surrounding kids, kidnapping, torture, murder, rape. The Israeli military commits endless war crimes against Palestinians, and gets more arms and money from the US. Meanwhile US lawmakers and institutions curtail free speech while breaking their own laws to support genocide and threaten and bomb nations that dissent.. #MostMoralArmy #ceasefirenow #calloutkamala #endapartheid #endgenocide