"What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?" – The Audre Lorde Questionnaire to Oneself
Neema after just publishing my own post about how this has affected me and a friend of mine, I literally sat with it and thought about deleting it. I said, this isn’t my lane. Let me just stay in my lane, but then I asked myself is staying in my lane aligned with ignoring and remaining silent on genocide? Like if it aligns there then my lane is in the trash. Yet I still debated and then I literally came across your post just a few mins later at 2:22am. Thank you for reassuring me.
You much more eloquently, communicated what I just wrote in my journal:
"What the innocent citizens of Gaza are enduring is ungodly. I'm disappointed in the leadership of this country. I keep wondering, what do they know that I don't know? I am not a scholar, but in my eyes what's happening in Gaza means none of us are safe.
Covid taught me, that what happens across the world affects all of us. We can not ignore or forget. Hate and opression is always wrong."
Journaling is such an anchoring practice - I myself have actually really struggled to journal these past few months, navigating all the overwhelm and also feeling borderline nervous to confront the depth of what is being collectively processed in the wild intimate way that journaling opens up. I really appreciate you sharing this excerpt <3 & I'm gonna take it as a sign to make an effort to return to my journal too
I feel incredibly seen by this content bringing resistance and Audre Lorde to our relationship to social media... let me tell you, I have struggled with social media on a spiritual level for years now-- bouncing between the need for connectivity and literal opportunities to support myself with jobs. I have deleted countless instagram accounts only to come crawling back because it does support a need after all, I just really don't align with how. I am currently using instagram in a way I never have before in following, witnessing, and resisting the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and it's dystopic af but it's happening -anyways, thank you for writing this.
This resonates so deeply! I too have left Instagram a countless amount of times for reasons that feel rooted in spirituality. Over the years though, having started 'leaving' Instagram from a place of intense disregulation, I've given a lot of thought around how to embed divestment into my general relationship with social media in more intentional ways & it really does feel like these past months has foundationally resculpted that. I'm still working through the resistance I feel towards giving so much of my life force to social media platforms/Instagram in particular, but the witnessing you mentioned is a factor that has kept me present even amidst those waves of frustration. Thank you so much for sharing <3
thank u for this affirmation of leading w humanity, urgently, for all at by the forefront of how we project our lives online and what impact we are intending by doing so. It should not take genocide to change our thinking or our world, but it’s important to not let this moment be washed away in history. echoing a sentiment I saw: “we’re not freeing Palestine. Palestine is freeing us.”
What I always find disturbing is when people use the word “genocide,” they don’t seem to have an understanding of what the definition means. Of course what is happening in Gaza is terrible. But it’s not genocide. It’s war. There is a huge Arab-Israeli population that doesn’t want to live anywhere else but in Israel because of the rights and freedoms they have there that don’t exist in other states in the Middle East. And why is there never a companion outrage for Hamas starting this insanity by crossing into another country and raping, beheading, mutilating, and kidnapping innocent people of multiple nationalities. There is now an abundance of forensic evidence, videos, first-hand reporting; so please don’t try to whitewash it. Why is there never an acknowledgment or accountability for Hamas hiding kidnapping victims 40 meters underground; hiding weapons behind its own cowering population; stealing food, water, and aid from its own citizens. Beating them, killing them if they resist. Why? Of course this war has to end. But please acknowledge context. We are lost without it.
This is so much. Thank you for showing me that the tyranny I’ve been holding in my heart isn’t just my own. The guilt and condemnation I feel for hesitating. My feed as I’m sure many others are now too are a mix of my American friends living their best lives and people in Palestine who I don’t know but feel my soul reaching out to struggling to survive and yet still surviving where they can. The dichotomy of people’s lives breaks my heart and the child in me who thought this world was better than this is crushed by the tyranny I’m holding. Thank you for putting it into words!
Neema after just publishing my own post about how this has affected me and a friend of mine, I literally sat with it and thought about deleting it. I said, this isn’t my lane. Let me just stay in my lane, but then I asked myself is staying in my lane aligned with ignoring and remaining silent on genocide? Like if it aligns there then my lane is in the trash. Yet I still debated and then I literally came across your post just a few mins later at 2:22am. Thank you for reassuring me.
You much more eloquently, communicated what I just wrote in my journal:
"What the innocent citizens of Gaza are enduring is ungodly. I'm disappointed in the leadership of this country. I keep wondering, what do they know that I don't know? I am not a scholar, but in my eyes what's happening in Gaza means none of us are safe.
Covid taught me, that what happens across the world affects all of us. We can not ignore or forget. Hate and opression is always wrong."
Journaling is such an anchoring practice - I myself have actually really struggled to journal these past few months, navigating all the overwhelm and also feeling borderline nervous to confront the depth of what is being collectively processed in the wild intimate way that journaling opens up. I really appreciate you sharing this excerpt <3 & I'm gonna take it as a sign to make an effort to return to my journal too
I feel incredibly seen by this content bringing resistance and Audre Lorde to our relationship to social media... let me tell you, I have struggled with social media on a spiritual level for years now-- bouncing between the need for connectivity and literal opportunities to support myself with jobs. I have deleted countless instagram accounts only to come crawling back because it does support a need after all, I just really don't align with how. I am currently using instagram in a way I never have before in following, witnessing, and resisting the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and it's dystopic af but it's happening -anyways, thank you for writing this.
This resonates so deeply! I too have left Instagram a countless amount of times for reasons that feel rooted in spirituality. Over the years though, having started 'leaving' Instagram from a place of intense disregulation, I've given a lot of thought around how to embed divestment into my general relationship with social media in more intentional ways & it really does feel like these past months has foundationally resculpted that. I'm still working through the resistance I feel towards giving so much of my life force to social media platforms/Instagram in particular, but the witnessing you mentioned is a factor that has kept me present even amidst those waves of frustration. Thank you so much for sharing <3
thank u for this affirmation of leading w humanity, urgently, for all at by the forefront of how we project our lives online and what impact we are intending by doing so. It should not take genocide to change our thinking or our world, but it’s important to not let this moment be washed away in history. echoing a sentiment I saw: “we’re not freeing Palestine. Palestine is freeing us.”
Thank you. I've been trying to articulate much of this this week, and you've stated it so compassionately well.
thank you so much for bringing this into focus during this time. It’s been valuable for me to reflect on
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
What I always find disturbing is when people use the word “genocide,” they don’t seem to have an understanding of what the definition means. Of course what is happening in Gaza is terrible. But it’s not genocide. It’s war. There is a huge Arab-Israeli population that doesn’t want to live anywhere else but in Israel because of the rights and freedoms they have there that don’t exist in other states in the Middle East. And why is there never a companion outrage for Hamas starting this insanity by crossing into another country and raping, beheading, mutilating, and kidnapping innocent people of multiple nationalities. There is now an abundance of forensic evidence, videos, first-hand reporting; so please don’t try to whitewash it. Why is there never an acknowledgment or accountability for Hamas hiding kidnapping victims 40 meters underground; hiding weapons behind its own cowering population; stealing food, water, and aid from its own citizens. Beating them, killing them if they resist. Why? Of course this war has to end. But please acknowledge context. We are lost without it.
This is so much. Thank you for showing me that the tyranny I’ve been holding in my heart isn’t just my own. The guilt and condemnation I feel for hesitating. My feed as I’m sure many others are now too are a mix of my American friends living their best lives and people in Palestine who I don’t know but feel my soul reaching out to struggling to survive and yet still surviving where they can. The dichotomy of people’s lives breaks my heart and the child in me who thought this world was better than this is crushed by the tyranny I’m holding. Thank you for putting it into words!
This is deeply moving, and something I really have to sit with a revisit a few times as I do my own reflection. Thank you for sharing 🤎
‘Is there someone I hope doesn’t see this?’ Sheeeeeesh.