People Are More Resilient and More Informed Than Ever Before

This is a birthday post.

Image by Uğur Gallenkuş

Hello, friends! Glad to see you here in this space. I have been slightly away from this favorite online corner of mine, two months to be exact—and I felt a tremendous guilt over it. There is so much happening, daily; do we even remember a time when each week wasn’t an apocalyptic countdown, slowly eroding the foundation of our existential reality? Carnage, massacres, elections, Amsterdam pogroms, laws suppressing our constitutional rights, war criminals being charged by the antisemitic courts, anticipating World War Three?

Me neither.

Is leisure even a thing anymore? Must we all live perched on the edge of a potential world-shattering disaster? Our generation comfortably thought we'd live our lives unscathed, unlike our ancestors who endured world wars, pandemics, plagues, famine, and recessions. But here we are—two out of five behind us: recession and pandemic down, one world war to go.

A year ago, did you ever imagine this would be your life? And here we are, mostly scrolling through our phones, digitally participating in the worst of humanity. We’re forced to watch a live carnage of small children being shredded to pieces, while being subjected to our silent friends and acquaintances whisking their fucking matcha in their fucking beige offices, all throughout a godamn genocide.

It’s enough to lose your mind.

But I digress.

I wanted to hop on here to let you know a few things.

It’s hard to write these days; so many crucial things happen daily, and the process of researching, sourcing, writing, and editing takes so much time, energy, focus, and mental strength (I have to be watching and living it all, over and over again, while researching). By the time I manage to put a semi-coherent first draft on ‘paper,’ another new horrific event occurs. And another. I’m so backed up on all the material I’ve written about Palestine—so far, I’ve written 380,000 words that I never published.

That’s the equivalent of approximately 7-10 books.

My style of writing is longer, featured, opinion pieces. I dig deep to inform you about what I've researched and sourced as important, valuable information. That particular style takes about a week to prepare and several days to write. Palestinian liberation is all about being mega-informed.

Time to change things up a bit.

Last week, I got banned on Instagram. I couldn't post on my grid, write captions, or comment for 6 days. All I could do was post a few stories, then I was blocked for 20 hours, and then I could post a few stories again. Rinse, repeat.

People have woken up to reality. It's impossible to witness this level of medieval violence and not become intolerant toward the entity committing those crimes. The people who are committing, propagating, and supporting it are those who have been indoctrinated into believing what they’re doing is righteous. The rest of us weren’t born or raised in Israel; we weren’t indoctrinated. We see the reality for what it is, and while we’re becoming more vocal and detailed about what we're angry about, those in power are tightening their grip.

And with new laws being passed, as well as new Instagram rules coming our way January 1, 2025, I expect it will get much harder to say things.

Therefore, I'll be writing here much more than I expect will be allowed on Instagram. I'll publish shorter pieces more frequently in this space, where I can elaborate in greater detail and use words I suspect will soon be suppressed or banned on Instagram.

All articles will always be linked on Instagram and across my other socials, which currently allow far more freedom of speech than Meta does. If you aren’t already, follow me on Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky.

Guess what, today is my Birthday!

And if you want to give me a birthday present, please subscribe to Antagolist! Subscribers mean a great deal here on Substack. If you do, you’ll get all my articles in your inbox, before I share them anywhere else. You would also be backing my passion for storytelling and becoming an integral part of the Antagolist community.

My articles are never paywalled, but it would mean a lot if you could become a paid subscriber; that way I could invest much more time into producing credible, factual, and insightful pieces. We can’t rely on mainstream media, which, rather than holding those in power accountable, is complicit in their atrocities. It’s independent work like this that moves the needle for the Palestinian cause.

Please, also comment on the articles! I appreciate you coming to my Instagram inbox to tell me how much you liked my piece and discuss some parts, but it’s much more important for my reach to leave your comments here. I promise you, I read them all and will respond to each one. Also, hit the like button on your way out! Likes are also important for reach.

If you missed any of my previous articles on Gaza, and the sorry state of our governments, you can check them out here.

If you’d like to support my work and buy me a birthday coffee, you can do so here!

And for my birthday week, I'll be sharing articles all week long! So many important grounds to cover; I’ll be covering most of the subjects you often ask me about in the DMs, such as:

• American Elections, why did people vote Trump, what does it all mean and what’s coming?

• Is the Amsterdam pogrom a Watergate of our generation?

• When was islamophobia invented? (hint: in 1984, by a lesser-known individual called Benjamin Netanyahu).

• What the fuck is happening with Russia?

You’re exhausted, I know.

We’re living in a total, utter abyss. Your mental health is completely shot. You’re appalled with what your governments are doing in plain sight. It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that the power structures we grew up with are responsible for the absolute worst things happening in the world. It’s hard to watch the psychopaths in charge who you wouldn’t send to buy you a carton of milk—slowly, but surely moonwalking us to a nuclear war.

What do we do with all this? Where do we put it? Where is that space that can take all this weight? Seeing all this? Feeling helpless?

Guess what, you aren’t helpless.

You are a person who broke through millennia of propaganda. You stared into the face of uncomfortable truths, unlearned previous misguided perceptions, and recognized how your former delusions about this world contributed to many of its injustices. You realized that the circumstances of your birth are far better than those of people born in other parts of the world—and that your privileges may have come at the expense of others.

You did all this. You woke up from decades of propaganda-induced coma. You buckled up and put your privileges, jobs, money, security, and possibly even physical safety on the line to give voice to the people who are being exterminated from existence. In fact, you haven’t even thought about what speaking out will cost you.

You did it instinctively because it’s the right thing to do.

You do have power.

Why else would your governments be bending over backward to find legal ways to illegally and unconstitutionally silence you? Imagine how powerful your words must be if the entire Western Empire is trying to shut you down.

You are a species no longer deceived by blatant propaganda, no longer driven by manipulative delusions of fear, hatred, and self-interest, but by truth and sincerity.

Do you realize how small the percentage is, of the people who have done all this work?

Every sentence you've shared about Gaza and Lebanon has helped reveal the relentless lies and abuses of the tyrannical systems we live under. You’ve encouraged others to imagine the possibility of a different reality. As more people begin to see clearly, we move closer to harnessing our collective strength to bring about a just world.

Let’s talk Meta.

After a year of speaking out daily, what specific words finally got me banned on Instagram?

Ironically, none.

Carice Van Houten, the loveliest human and an actress from Game of Thrones shared a post by an artist Helio Figueiredo, who felt people fighting for the Palestinian cause might be losing heart, and said:

“I’m seeing a lot of people despairing, and it’s normal because we are facing an abyss, but just a quick reminder, you helped to prepare people. People are more resilient, more informed than they have ever been, in the face of the darkness that we’re facing in history, and you participated in that.

You helped create and foster a community in which people were able to see themselves, and no matter what comes, no one will be able to take that away from them. And this internal armour that you helped create is the main difference between the people who suffered this before, and the people who are going to suffer this now.

And don’t think after a yeah of utter darkness of sinking to the lowest levels of humanity on screen, I’m somehow dismissing the importance of the challenges that we face. And I’m also not trying to impinge on people’s ability to grieve, because its important, but every single shred of information of assurance that you have given here to other people is something that you should treasure, because it’s going to be important when it comes the time for us to resist what’s coming.”

Carice reposted Helio’s words and tagged a bunch of people who have been publicly speaking and sharing images, and videos about the horrors in Gaza. She simply said:

“You know who you are. ❤️”

And tagged, what my Palestinian friend dubbed—Meta’s most wanted list.

I have been doing a good share, in fact, I completely put my life on hold to do this, to lend my voice, my writing, and my research skills to inform people, to open eyes, and open hearts; but I still don’t know what I’ve done to end up on this list! It’s probably one of the biggest honors of my life, to end up here, with these people.

For the past year, many of you have messaged me about feeling lonely after losing friends, even family members, because of your stance on Palestine. I wanted to transfer this list to you. Please dip in, check the Meta’s most wanted list that got me restricted for a week (biggest honor, thank you God, thank you The Academy), and find your tribe! Click on names, known and unknown, message people, comment on their posts, start talking with them. I’ve become friends with many people on this list, simply by starting a conversation, or them reaching out to me.

Here they are, all ready and clickable:

@danielbmate @adnan.barq @eladnehorai @sashaheron @wissamgaza @wizard_bisan1 @polly_borland @hossam_shbat @mahmoud_shammala @ahmad_masoud__ @charlesmcbryde @anas.ibrahem1 @shaneellall @desireedawsonmusic @anohni @rogerwaters @drjasonhickel @jaiyajohn @dr.ghassan.as @manobouzamour @pieterembrechts @sarahofmagdalene @krolien @ramseynasr @medea.benjamin @jenanmatari @jenbristercomedy @matthiasconstantijn @alximrdch @alonlee @johanfretz @maurits_de_bruijn @js_zijlstra @absorberyt @mirandavidak @misanharriman @belalkh @motaz_azaiza @antloewenstein @movieguypea @andreagibson @ansyaw @warsanshiree @saulwilliams @lowkeyonline @macklemore @wearthepeace @julia.sakr @clementine_ford @celebrities4palestine @mar._unfiltered @liamcunningham1 @liamomaraiv @savesheikhjarrahnow @gauntlit @gabormatemd @sahilamaraissa @mariekeeyskoot @robert_martin_palestine_ @lucywoesthoff @dinand_woesthoff @ahmedeldin @israelismfilm @k.w.bogen @alhelou.y @nadiadiaspora @adammbakri @farah.nabulsi @schrijfkunst @greg.j.stoker @kbiri @omarelsabh @thomas.maddens @infinite_jaz @susansarandon @wingerdebra @benjaminfmoser @laaalegul @mo_hamz @mosab_abutoha @lanzybear @dennis_overeem @myzfrancois @naomiaklein @lakshmimusic @mynameisjro @nangoldinstudio @franifio @4frankbarat @mattliebjokes @mynameisjennifer @the.chris.hedges.report @plant.eenolijfboom @erinaxelman @erevravnl @agelender @iamjoelleon @rollaselbak @mynameisjro @nouraerakat @boutainaazzabi @laurajansen @officialannielennox @liekeschrijft @lovaeij @bardemantarctic @markruffalo @deborah_feldman @shariffnasr @nasrdin_dchar @levy.gideon @evaduijvestein @zein_rahma @awnifarhat @luciuxness @lastminute.wonder @marla.barr @mariambarghouti @spacebunnynews1 @dushyanthi_satchi @dariabukvic @eye.on.palestine @eyes__in__ @docentenvoorpalestina

Palestine is the ultimate litmus test. I first came across this sentence thirteen months ago, but I didn’t fully grasp its weight at the time. After living through the events of the past year, the question of Palestine has proven to be the definitive measure of our humanity. There is no clearer gauge of a person’s character than where they stand on this issue. Those on the wrong side of this humanitarian crisis—are they even human? The jury is in, and just look at that crowd of stand-up humans above!

All of you who have been doing this with me, daily for almost a year—sending, sharing, informing, analyzing; laughing at the small wins, crying at the level of devastation—thank you for being here, and doing this with me. You’ve truly kept me sane!