@swarming@babka.social
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swarming

@swarming@babka.social

I work in editorial at a small book publishing company. Degrees in law and political philosophy, interests in psychoanalysis, Catholic theology, philosophy, history, and post-liberalism. English gent(ile).

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

I want to apologise for the framing and phrasing of the posts I made yesterday. I intended by them to try and work out, almost as I posted, the problem that Europe today faces a crisis, from collapsing birthrates to spiraling mental health conditions, which I think can be resolved, at least in part, by acknowledging Europe's Christian roots, by engaging in local congregations and prayer, and also in confronting both Europe's despicable history of antisemitism and perhaps charting a way forwards.

I did a truly terrible job of this. It was also poorly judged given that I was posting those from/on an explicitly Jewish server, where I acknowledge that many, many of you are here simply because you’re seeking shelter from the seemingly endless barrage of antisemitic attacks, demands, accusations and imperatives.

And, no matter how close my bond with many fellow members here, it's really not the place to start litigating that historical or political relationship.

I’m sorry, and I’ll do better.

swarming, to random
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The alliance between the West and Israel must be strengthened beyond anything seen before in modern history.

The defense of the Jewish people against the forces of barbarism, fundamentalism and terrorism IS the defence of the West. It is the defence of what we believe in against everything we oppose.

swarming,
@swarming@babka.social avatar

The sheer ignorance of Western leaders to the sheer scale of what we're all facing right now is shocking and utterly terrifying to me. Iran is masterminding a vast regional plan to liquidate the Jewish state as a starting-point to destroying the West and reasserting the primacy of the Islamic Revolution.

Not one European leader – not one – has publicly commented on this. Israel is not committing a genocide and it is not seeking to destroy the Palestinians. It is waging a war on at least four fronts simultaneously in defence of its very existence, in the face of genocidal, Islamic fundamentalists who believe that the future of their religion requires the destruction of the Jewish state.

And Europe has been massively undermined from within because we've imported so many people who agree with Iran’s plan. That's really where we are. We have substantial numbers of people in Europe and America who side with Iran against the Jewish people. And not one national leader recognises that.

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

Increasingly I think the future of Europe is going to depend on the question of whether we can return to our roots in the Christian religion, and the Judeo-Christian tradition more broadly. The civilisational threat is profound, and it seems to me that my Israeli friends are looking at us in Europe and America in disbelief we don't see this.

That will involve profoundly difficult but necessary conversations: about the crucial role of Christianity itself in the perpetuation of antisemitism. Some of that work has been done since WW2, especially by the Catholic church, but it's not a done process.

But we desperately need to lose the self-hatred, shame and despondency about our Western civilisation. We have to reckon with our failures and mistakes, but also celebrate and promote our achievements, from representative democracy and individual rights to secularism and the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment.

But the time for endless self-hatred has long since passed if we’re going to survive.

swarming,
@swarming@babka.social avatar

When I say return to our Christian roots, I mean to at a minimum acknowledge what we owe to Christianity. Each of those profound human achievements are in large part derived from our Christian heritage, as Tom Holland explains in great detail in Dominion.

We must, and I stress must, also acknowledge the extent to which Christianity forms a continuity with Judaism and the Jewish people. Vatican II makes this explicit in the continuing validity of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, and my hope is that non-Catholic faiths will one day replicate that.

It is an iron rule of history that where Jews are free and respected in your country, your country will flourish, and when you persecute and attack them, your country is in a dark age.

But the great age of European atheism is going to destroy us if we don’t turn the corner. It has destroyed family life, moral principles, beget crime and mental distress, depression and anxiety. For so many of our social ills a return to Church is the answer.

swarming,
@swarming@babka.social avatar

The State of Israel survives and thrives as a liberal democracy, at least in part, precisely because the Jewish people have long been able to negotiate their relationship with their faith and identity as a people. The Jewish Israeli atheist is no less a member of her nation than anyone else.

We need to undertake a similar journey of discussion and negotiation in Europe today. We are not blank slates. We’re not mere economic units to move around the chessboard. Like every other people on the planet, from China to Israel, Saudi Arabia to Japan, the West is a civilisation which inherits and benefits from the achievements, struggles, daring risks and failures of our predecessors.

Heidegger correctly emphasised the ‘thrownness’ of Dasein, that we always emerge in the midst of things which began before us. This sense of historicity is largely missing from Western peoples today and we are being slowly destroyed as a consequence.

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

Shower thought: The political philosophy of ‘progressivism’ (i.e. the political held by people who describe themselves as ‘progressives’) implicitly relies on a Whig view of history, according to which history is a linear march toward greater liberty, enlightenment, and improvement, often culminating in the present as the best possible outcome, but ordered teleologically

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

Would it be weird to write an essay/blog post covering the reading and studying I’ve done trying to understand the sheer madness of what antisemitism is and its presence among the hard left? It would bring together a number of scholars, most of whom Jewish, who I’ve found really insightful, because I don't think it’s actually immediately ‘obvious’ how or why antisemitism has such a grip on so much of the world, and always has.

swarming, to random
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Sam Harris absolutely nails this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o54H2KP_JJ4

swarming, to random
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Israel needs to fucking finish the job. Go into Rafah, smash the shit out of Hamas, while minimising humanitarian casualties. But get it done. There's no future for either Palestinians or Israelis while they're allowed to continue to breathe air.

swarming, to random
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If I go to a march in support of Israel in London, what are some chants or songs that I should look up and memorise the words?

swarming, to random
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“Vast majority of Iranians want a secular government, poll reveals: Less than one in 10 people think women should be forced to wear a hijab, according to a new anonymous state-run survey

It shows a sharp uptick in demands for secular rule, up from 31 per cent to 73 per cent, indicating the push for secularism will probably grow in coming years.

A massive 85 per cent of those surveyed said Iranians have become less religious compared to five years ago, with only seven per cent claiming to have become more religious.

A further 81 per cent anticipate a continued decline in religious observance over the next five years, with support for the mandatory hijab seeing a sharp decline.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/25/iran-poll-no-hijab-more-freedom-secular-rule-less-religious/

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

I’m still… dazed right now. My dad died today. He woke up and had a coffee, his cigar, then chatted with mum and watched the birds and petted Millie, and then went for a bath. We think as he made his way to the door it was either a heart attack or stroke. I forced my way into the bathroom while mum called 999 and I did CPR as best I could until the ambulance arrived but… they’ve not been able to bring him back. They’ve dressed him and put him in bed and me and mum are still trying to figure out what to do or feel etc. But I wanted to let you know. I keep veering between sobbing and feeling completely numb.

8 May 1960 – 3 March 2024. And he’d just fucking retired as well…

swarming, to UKpolitics
@swarming@babka.social avatar

Has any government in the history of Britain failed as comprehensively and gravely in every single area of governance than the Conservative Government of 2010-2024?

– Homelessness: more than doubled. 1,768 rough sleepers in 2010 to 3,898 today.
– Net public debt: more than doubled. From £1.03 trillion to £2,685 trillion.
– Labour productivity: 25% below pre-2008 trend.
– Schools: literally collapsing due to rotting concrete. Tuition fees tripled. Financial grants for students of disadvantaged backgrounds scrapped. Teachers leaving in droves, vast deficits in teacher recruitment. Teacher pay down by 10% in real terms.
– NHS waiting lists: up by 158%. Pay decline for doctors of more than 25% since 2010.
– Defence: British Armed Forces from 102,000 in 2006 to 74,000 today. Trident failing to launch test missiles. Decommissioning warships due to a lack of Royal Navy staff.

What can they say they’ve achieved? Brexit?

#UKPolitics #Labour #Tories #ToriesOut #UK #Politics

swarming,
@swarming@babka.social avatar

What have they done since 2010? What’s the lasting legacy?

Labour between 1997-2010 could boast of many things: the minimum wage, winter fuel allowance, lowest NHS waiting times in history, SureStart centres, crime down by a third, the Disability Discrimination Act, devolution, civil partnerships, peace in Northern Ireland, rough sleeping eliminated, homeless down, child poverty down by a third, legal rights to maternity and paternity pay and leave, trebling of foreign aid, the world’s first climate change act… I could go on.

What do the Tories have to show for 14 years?

It really is just Brexit, isn't it? A complete catastrophe that frankly most Leave voters now realise was a mistake.

#UKPolitics #Labour #Tories #ToriesOut #UK #Politics #Brexit

swarming,
@swarming@babka.social avatar

I also think it's important to say this as we in Britain are clearly awaiting an incoming Labour government under Sir Keir Starmer. Is he promising the moon on a stick? No. Did Blair? Also no. In fact he promised, and did, stick to Tory spending plans for the first two years of his government.

And yet, read back my previous post in this thread. All of that was achieved. Then read my first post again: what did we get for 14 years of the Tories?

Whatever your feelings on Starmer himself, whether you want him to promise more or go further, or think he came out too late in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza: remember that he cannot change things outside of his control but he can change all our lives if he gets into government.

#UKPolitics #Labour #Tories #ToriesOut #UK #Politics #Brexit

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

“Enemy troops were killing dozens of militants each day as they methodically overran Hamas strongholds.

Then a courier arrived with a message from Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, saying, in effect: Don’t worry, we have the Israelis right where we want them.”

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-thinks-it-could-win-gaza-war-with-israel-6254a8c6

swarming, to random
@swarming@babka.social avatar

Staggering poll results. @hopenothate have polled Conservative Party members and more than half agree that Islam is fundamentally a threat to the British way of life.

This is the reason for the cowardice of their MPs in calling out open anti-Muslim hatred among their ranks: their membership agrees with the bigotry.

swarming, to mastodon
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Just seen #Mastodon referred to as “the Linux of social media.”

swarming, to random
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One thing that so upsets me about the blatantly Islamophobic attacks made on Mayor Sadiq Khan is that he’s in fact an inspiring example of how Muslims in the West can remain devout in their faith while also assimilating with the broader values.

In 2016 during the month of Ramadan, he wanted to break the mystique of what it involved, and so he organised to hold Iftars (fast-breaking collective meals) at Churches, Synagogues, and Mosques across London.

He’s attended LGBT Pride marches every year since he became Mayor of London in 2016.

After being accused by his electoral ‘rival’ Susan Hall of being perceived by London Jews as a threat, the Board of Deputies of British Jews defended Khan, releasing an attached statement. He was the Guest of Honour at the BoD’s President’s Dinner in 2018.

On October 7th he unequivocally condemned Hamas’ massacre in the strongest terms. Two days later he attended Synagogue to show his support for the Jewish community.

What more can he do?

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shekinahcancook, to random
@shekinahcancook@babka.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    swarming,
    @swarming@babka.social avatar

    @shekinahcancook tbh I think AdGuard + Windows Defender + keeping software updated + maaaybe Malwarebytes is enough

    swarming, to random
    @swarming@babka.social avatar

    Edward Said, when asked in 2010 what the fate would be of the Jews under a ‘One State Solution’:

    “I worry about that. The history of minorities in the Middle East has not been as bad as in Europe, but I wonder what would happen. It worries me a great deal. The question of what is going to be the fate of the Jews is very difficult for me. I really don’t know. It worries me. […] [perhaps the] Jewish minority can survive the way other minorities in the Arab world survived.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/09/29/the-one-state-solution-and-the-brutal-honesty-of-edward-said/

    swarming, to random
    @swarming@babka.social avatar

    I don’t think Israel will be found guilty of genocide in the ICJ. I don’t think it should.

    I think the separate verdicts on the West Bank occupation are going to be absolutely damning, and rightly so.

    swarming,
    @swarming@babka.social avatar

    @shekinahcancook Then it will do so unwillingly. I only hope it doesn’t come to that.

    swarming, to random
    @swarming@babka.social avatar

    “The conceptual sources are the same as in the denial of antisemitism: there can be no meaningful animosity against a ‘powerful’ and ‘privileged’ group deemed ‘white’. Antisemitism denial works with antisemitic presuppositions, just as the denial of the October 7 atrocities. In such a mindset the horrific massacre is a total non-issue. It is at most something that provides Israel the ‘pretext’ to wage its unjust war on the eternally oppressed Palestinian people. Thus, leftist propagandists including ‘intellectuals’ are keen to spread the already very old ‘news’ without knowing or wanting to know what is going on on the ground: ‘Israel is committing genocide’.”

    #antisemitism

    https://k-larevue.com/en/the-october-7th-pogrom-as-a-non-event-on-the-western-left/

    swarming,
    @swarming@babka.social avatar

    “This non-recognition of the victim status of Israelis and Jews is doubly antisemitic: it not only rests on antisemitic presuppositions but also potentially yields the most extreme antisemitic consequences. This perspective essentially strips Jews of their humanity, portraying them as being incapable of becoming victims. Consequently, it rationalizes any harm inflicted upon them, given that the concepts of “Jew” and “victim” are seen as mutually exclusive. This viewpoint also paves the way for justifying and potentially endorsing all future acts of violence against them. In contrast, this thinking automatically absolves even its most inhumane and barbarian enemies who in any other context would be considered as the enemy of humanity as a whole. This is worse than Holocaust denial: this is the outright justification of all potential Holocausts.”

    https://k-larevue.com/en/the-october-7th-pogrom-as-a-non-event-on-the-western-left/

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