Tag: Wings of Change

  • Glenn Greenwald: Palantir Exposed —The New Deep State

    Glenn Greenwald: Palantir Exposed —The New Deep State

    The government, if it has a policy or is pursuing things that are unpopular, especially among its own voters, can just try and confuse things by claiming that people’s descriptions of what they’re doing is untrue and false and trying to just confuse people with a bunch of irrelevancies or false claims. And then a lot of people don’t know what to make of it.

    Stephen Miller’s BLATANT CENSORSHIP LIES Debunked

    In this critical time in our country hearing the voices of truth and engaging in honest discussion for critical issues is all the more important while censorship (and outright lies) along with attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free, but if you would like to help:
    Whatever you are able donate will bring you articles and opinions from independent websites, writers, and journalists as well as a blog with the opinions and creative contributions.

    One place to begin is with reason and truth, and how fundamental they are to creating critically engaged citizens and communities. 

    —Henry A. Giroux

  • American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism, by Henry A. Giroux

    American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism, by Henry A. Giroux

    We are witnessing the imminent emergence of new forms of resistance willing to support broad-based struggles intent on producing ongoing forms of nonviolent resistance at all levels of society. 

    —Henry A. Giroux

    AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
    Facing the Challenge of Fascism. Photo by Roger Ballen

    In “Staring into the Authoritarian Abyss,” the introduction to his book American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism, Henry A. Giroux wrote the following:

    Under the economic, religious, and political extremists Trump has been installing in positions of power, intolerance and militarization will intensify. Financial capital will be deregulated in order to be free to engage in behavior that puts the American public and the planet in danger. Institutions that embody the common good, such as public schools, will be defunded or privatized, and as a culture of greed and selfishness reaches new heights, there will be a further retreat from civil literacy and a growing abandonment by the state of any allegiance to the public interest. The free-market mentality that gained prominence under the presidency of Ronald Regan will advance under Trump and will continue to drive politics, destroy many social protections, further privilege the wealthy, and deregulate economic activity.[1]

    Published in 2018, the analysis in American Nightmare could have been created yesterday. Giroux goes on to explain Trump’s tax reform bill of his first term which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Big Beautiful [Ugly] Bill recently passed by Congress. He explains that the bill:

    largely favors the ultra-rich and and major corporations and would eventually leave 83 million middle-class and poor families paying more in taxes. Moreover, the increase in the deficit caused by these tax cuts enables the Republicans to wage and justify a major assault on the welfare state and its chief social provisions, such as social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And what other rationale is there for Trump’s war on the environment, evident not only in his withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement but also in his opening up billions of acres of land on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts for oil drilling? This is beyond shameful. It constitutes an act of war on the planet and the health of millions of adults and children.[2]

    This pro-corporate fascism will make all human activities, practices, and institutions subject to market principles and commercialization. In other words, “there will be no place for morality and no place for compassion. Principles of equality, egalitarianism, and meritocracy however frail, are no longer espoused by the major political parties.”[3] The result is a morally bankrupt government of and by corporations that denigrates and ignores the people, the common ‘man’: the workers, the working class, whether they be black, brown, red or white, and whether they are recent arrivals or their ancestors were immigrants decades ago. Some were forced to come to these shores, especially as Black slaves, others have come of their own free will. We are, from the Mayflower on, a nation of immigrants. The native indigenous peoples were of course already in the Americas; in the U.S. they are most often called Native Americans.

    What do we do to challenge this fascism that is overtaking our country?

    Giroux says “One place to begin is with reason and truth, and how fundamental they are to creating critically engaged citizens and communities.”

    Both reason and truth are under attack and it is essential to create “social formations within authoritarian societies to advance social justice, egalitarianism, political tolerance, cultural diversity, and vibrant democracy-centered communities.”[4]

    Giroux calls these communities “democracies in exile.” These groups are resistant to Trumpian fascist politics and “are grounded in community building, economic justice, and a discourse of critique, hope, social justice, and self-reflection,” a concept he explains and illustrates throughout the book in the process of his detailed analysis.

    Since 2018 when this book was published many such communities have flourished. At the national level the Poor People’s Campaign led by Liz Theoharis and William Barber is a re-establishing of Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign after his death.

    Local communities have been building their own groups, often as social structures, to support action around a particular issue whether it be housing, food scarcity, immigration and deportation, blatant racism and DEI, widespread poverty, voting rights and defending Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP (food for low income families and many elders, who need this source  to eat.)

    Peace and justice groups are anti-militarism. Since this book was written they have taken on the issue of genocide in Gaza/Palestine and opposed Israel’s cruelty with the bombing and now starvation and genocide of Gazans. Support with constant demonstrations and actions critical of U.S. aid to Israel has spread worldwide where millions have marched against their governments’ support of Israel. Peace and justice groups that have for many years opposed Israeli apartheid in Israel/Palestine and supported equality in Israel/Palestine have activly opposed Israel’s Zionism, They have been accused, along with the many who have joined them, of antisemitism but are actually anti-Zionist not antisemitic, Zionism being an imperialistic political system created in the late 19th century and not to be confused with the ancient religion of Judaism.

    Professor George Yancy, Professor of Philosophy at Emory Univeresity who wrote the Foreword to Giroux’s book about the American nightmare, fittingly ends his commentary with a quote from the poet James Baldwin:

    People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself [sic] into a monster.[5]

    Some thoughts about this book from Sue Ann Martinson —

    What I have always liked about Giroux’s thinking and writing is the way he makes the connections between often seemingly disparate facts and actions and this book is no exception. In the case of Trump, Giroux weaves what appear to be isolated attacks and outrageous statements into a tapestry that shows what often may be easily dismissed as simple nonsense but instead show greater purpose: He holds these lies, deceits, and vagaries as a system that melds together with greater intent and purpose and takes Trump out of the level of con man and baffoon into the realm of an authoritarian dictator who is power and greed crazy and into a totalitarian and fascistic state held together by the concept of White Supremacy.[6]

    Giroux shows how before Trump the seeds of totalitarianism and fascism were already deep in the soil of 20th century America from earlier centuries and how Trump is both the messenger and tool of unearthing them. He is now bringing them to fruition in this his second term.

    Fascistic programs that were foreshadowed in his first presidential term are now being carried out as Trump’s authoritarianism has rapidly deteriorated into cruelty.

    This book is long, and I have read only part of it so far. It is also scholarly and dense. Full of fascinating and illuminating detail and references to other scholars, it is well-documented. I am going to fast forward to the last chapter and conclusion of the book. I will finish reading it because it contains so much information, discussion and many insights that are relevant to now and to our future. I encourage others to read it as well.

    Foreshadowing the Present

    Professor George Yancy entitled his Foreword “Facing the Challenges: the Urgency of Now.” It echos the urgency in the title of Martin Luther King’s book Why We Can’t Wait.

    Giroux’s title for his last chapter is “Toward a Politics of Ungovernability.” He prefaces the chapter with a quote from James Baldwin: “In this country we are menaced−intolerably menaced−by a lack of vision. . . .”  Giroux begins the chapter with a reference to MLK’s famous Riverside speech where King:

     …spoke eloquently about what it meant to use nonviolent direct action as part of a broader struggle to connect racism, militarism, and war. His call to address a “society gone mad on war” and the need to “address the fierce urgency of now” was rooted in an intersectional politics. one that recognized a comprehensive view of oppression, struggle, and politics itself. Racism, poverty, and disposability could not be abstracted from the issue of militarism and how those modes of oppression informed each other.[7]

    Restoring Historical Memory

    Giroux also emphasizes the need for historical memory. How American history is taught is a major target of the Trump administration as they attempt to bury any history that does not support white supremacy. The point is to not include the attempted genocide of native peoples and the treatment of Blacks in American history and of others as well that we used to call ‘minorities.’ Their truths contradict the idealized America the Trumpites have invented that has the appearance of the clean slate that MAGA wishes to impose.[8]

    This erasure of memory also includes the banning of books that is taking place in many states. Most of these books are about people of color and about LGBTQIA+ people. Many are classics and award-winning books.

    DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)  is another program that is under attack. Trump has asked corporations to drop DEI guidelines in their workplaces and organizational guidelines. Many corporations have agreed, such as Target who dropped the program and is being boycotted, but others such as Costco have resisted and kept the DEI policies.

    Shutting Down American Style Authoritarianism

    “A successful resistance struggle must be comprehensive and at the same time embrace a vision that is unified, democratic, and equitable,” [9] says Giroux: A tall order. One that is “both political and pedagogical.” (Pedagogy refers to teaching, methods and strategies used in education.). Grioux calls for “democracy in exile” a concept that he defines in the book’s Conclusion but that infuses his commentary made throughout the book.

    We need a new vision that refuses to equate capitalism and democracy, normalize greed and excessive competition and accept self-interest as the highest form of motivation. We need a language, vision, and understanding of power to enable the conditions in which education is linked to social change and the capacity to promote human agency through the registers of cooperation, compassion, care, love, equality, and respect for difference.” [10]

    Resistance

    Right now in L.A., a city under siege because of the high-handed arrest and deportation of especially immigrants of hispanic origin by ICE that has of course met the resistance of many people. Trump has called out California’s national guard although he is unauthorized to do so and has then sent troops to L.A. as the people of L.A. continue to resist with national support. “Democracy in Exile” organizing is taking place as documented by Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! on August 11, 2025. On the one hand attorney generals nationwide met regarding L.A. to discuss their existing legal actions and their determination to plan more. These attorney generals may be considered a’”community’ in that they share the common thread of their work and in this case of shared vision.

    On the other hand, on the ground in L.A. a group called Union del Bario from its smaller base organized many collaborative organizations. Recently they were able to film a young woman getting arrested by ICE. Eventually they got her released with a call-in that was local in L.A. but also went out nationally. Over 500 people responded.

    This type of organizing, “a resurgent act of witnessing and moral outrage [that] will grow and provide the basis for a new kind of politics, a fierce wind of resistance, and a struggle too powerful to be defeated,” what Giroux calls “democracy in exile,” is able to take many forms by many seemingly unrelated groups of people.

    The two examples juxtaposed on Democracy Now! are, although quite different, valid forms of resistance and are also collaborative within their scopes of influence. And now, in 2025, such collaborative community groups of many backgrounds are forming and growing in both local and national forms with an overall goal of restoring a functioning democracy. International groups are also challenging and influencing governments worldwide, especially in regard to the genocide in Gaza/Palestine.

    Yet another recent example is the Miccosukee tribe in Florida. They have won a temporary lawsuit to halt construction of “Allegator Alcatraz,” a federal ‘concentration camp’ to hold deportees, on the grounds that no environmental impact statement (EIS), as required by federal law, has been conducted and that their tribal lands are threatened. Their tribal cultural center was recently burned to the ground:

    The tribe is concerned about the facility’s potential impact on their ancestral lands, sacred sites, traditional hunting grounds, and other areas of cultural significance. They also fear environmental degradation, including potential pollution of water resources and impacts on endangered species like the Florida panther. 

    Radical Democracy

    Those who believe in a radical democracy must find a way to make this nation ungovernable by the powers that currently claim governing authority. Small-scale defiance and local actions are important, but there is a more urgent need to mobilize through a comprehensive vision and politics that is capable of generating massive teach-ins all over the United States so as to enable a  collective struggle aimed at producing powerful events such as a nationwide boycott, sit-ins, and a general strike in order to bring the country to a halt. The promise of such resistance must be rooted in the creation of a new political movement of democratic socialists, one whose power is grounded in the organization of novel political organizations, unions, educators, workers, young people, religious groups and others who constitute a progressive base.”[11]

    Conclusion
    Democracy in Exile

    “The concept of democracy in exile is grounded in community building, economic justice, and a discourse of critique, hope, social justice and self-reflection.”[12]

    Ever the educator, Giroux asks, “What role could a resuscitated critical education play in challenging the deadly neoliberal claim that all problems are individual when the roots of such problems lie in larger systemic forces?”

    He also asks what role universities might play. Sadly, many universities have capitulated to restrictions of free speech around genocide in Gaza/Palestine as Trump blackmails them by threatening to withhold federal funding necessary for research and other programs and insists they punish students and faculty who decry the genocide.

    Giroux calls upon leaders of the past for inspiration; often they sre Black because their resistance to white supremacy and oppression in the U.S. was/is bold and fearless. He quotes Frederick Douglas:

    It is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake. The  feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocracy of the nation must be exposed; and the crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

    Giroux continues: “The political oppression of our times requires that we work together to redefine politics and challenge the pro-corporate two-party system.”

    As a warning, he has included the words of James Baldwin’s letter to Angela Davis:

    Some of us, white [red, yellow] and black, know how great a price has already been paid to bring into existence a new consciousness, a new people, an unprecedented nation. If we know and do nothing, we are worse than the murderers hired in our name. If we know then we must fight for your life as though it were our own−which it is−and render impassable with our bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us in the night.

     “In the end,” Giroux says, “there is no democracy without informed citizens, no justice without a language critical of injustice, and no change without a broad-based movement of collective resistance.”[13]

    It is possible to see if you open your eyes that Trump and his cohorts and the Trump administration with their fascist authoritarianism are trying to destroy the paths to informed citizens, to the use of language for truth to expose hypocrisy and lies and replace them with justice, and to the formation of a broad-based collaborative movement of collective resistance. They continue their attacks on Social Security (now to be called a Federal Benefit program even though every bit of money received has been earned by recipients in their working years), Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP (money for food) as well as cultural organizations like the Smithsonian where they are demanding that any artwork that is negative about Trump and the Trump administration be removed.

    Now nationwide. and also to some extent worldwide. we are in the throes of resistance and creation, refusing to accept authoritarian fascist government with the creation of broad-based collective resistance.ß

    Henry A. Giroux is a renowned American and Canadian scholar, cultural critic, and public intellectual, widely recognized as a founding theorist of critical pedagogy in the United States. He is known for his work in public pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, higher education, and media studies. He currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.

    Sue Ann Martinson is the editor and publisher of Wings of Change.

    Notes

    [1] Henry A, Giroux, American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism  (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2018) p,40

    [2] Ibid. p. 41

    [3] Ibid. p.35

    [4] Ibid, p.33

    [5] Ibid, p.22

    [6] Ibid. p. 27

    [7] Ibid. p. 287

    [8] Ibid .pp. 291-92

    [9] Ibid. pp. 297-99

    [10] Ibid. pp. 303-04

    [11] Ibid.

    [12] Ibid. p. 310

    [13] Ibid. pp. 321-23

  • Glenn Greenwald with Marianne Hirsch: Stephen Miller’s BLATANT CENSORSHIP LIES Debunked

    Glenn Greenwald with Marianne Hirsch: Stephen Miller’s BLATANT CENSORSHIP LIES Debunked

    “How can you have university course where ideas are not up for discussion or interpretation.”

     

    Her reaction to sanctions on free speech in Columbia University are commented on by Jewish Holocaust scholar Marianne Hirsch.

    Glenn Greenwald with Marianne Hirsch: Stephen Miller’s BLATANT CENSORSHIP LIES Debunked

    Her reaction to sanctions on free speech in Columbia University are commented on by Jewish Holocaust scholar Marianne Hirsch as she questions what is clear censorship and a shutdown of free speech in regard to academic freedom in teaching on campus. In being forced to agree to the IHRA restrictions imposed by the Trump administration in order to receive important federal funds, Columbia, as well as other colleges and universties, has accepted these restrictions on free speech in regard to Palestine/Israel.

    Hirsch comments: Columbia is “no longer a place of open inquiry.”
    “How can you have university course where ideas are not up for discussion or interpretation.”
    She has stated that she may resign, in which case she would be joining scholars from other universities, some of whom are Jewish (as is Glenn Greenwald).
    In addition “antisemitism” mandatory training is being demanded for American students by pro-Israel groups at US colleges and universities
    In the meantime an estimated 300,000 pro-Palestine protestors turned out in Sydney, Australia in the latest major demonstration. In the UK although now declared a “terrorist” act to protest the genocide in Palestine, protesters from the continue to risk arrest in daily protests.
    This is a clip from our show SYSTEM UPDATE, now airing every weeknight at 7pm ET on Rumble.
    You can watch the full episode for FREE here: https://rumble.com/v6wwl7s-system-upd…
    Now available as a podcast! Find full episodes here: https://linktr.ee/systemupdate_
    Join us LIVE on Rumble, weeknights at 7pm ET: https://rumble.com/c/GGreenwald Become part of our Locals community: https://greenwald.locals.com/

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  • HAMAS UNFILTERED! Chris Hedges: Trump, Palestine, Iran & the Collapse of U.S. Media.

    HAMAS UNFILTERED! Chris Hedges: Trump, Palestine, Iran & the Collapse of U.S. Media.

    “I asked Palestinians about Hamas. This is what they said.”

    Chris Hedges joins India & Global Left to break down the the deeper meaning of Trump’s rise, the real motives behind U.S. policy on Iran, Jeffrey Epstein and more.

    Trump, Palestine, Iran & the Collapse of U.S. Media: empire, resistance, and the cost of silence

    Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges joins India & Global Left to break down the moral and political crisis of our time. We discuss: The deeper meaning of Trump’s rise U.S. complicity in Israel’s war on Palestine The real motives behind U.S. policy on Iran The Jeffrey Epstein case and elite impunity And how the corporate media has failed the public This is a sweeping conversation about empire, resistance, and the cost of silence.

    In this critical time in our country hearing the voices of truth and engaging in honest discussion for critical issues is all the more important while censorship (and outright lies) along with attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free, but if you would like to help:
    Wings of Change FeatherWhatever you are able donate will bring you articles and opinions from independent websites, writers, and journalists as well as a blog with the opinions and creative contributions.

    One place to begin is with reason and truth, and how fundamental they are to creating critically engaged citizens and communities. 

    —Henry A. Giroux

  • Chris Hedges: FASCISM IS HERE: “THIS IS NOT A DRILL” with Roger Waters | The Chris Hedges Report

    Chris Hedges: FASCISM IS HERE: “THIS IS NOT A DRILL” with Roger Waters | The Chris Hedges Report

    Co-founder of the legendary rock group Pink Floyd Roger Waters discusses the genocide in Gaza, the deterioration of the West, and his new movie on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report. 

    “THIS IS NOT A DRILL” with Roger Waters / The Chris Hedges Report

    There are few artists or musicians who— have stood as doggedly on the side of the oppressed as Roger Waters, the co-founder, basist, singer, and songwriter for Pink Floyd. He has been an outspoken defender of Palestinian rights and critic of the apartheid state of Israel long before the genocide. He was one of the principal signers of an open letter called artists against apartheid and supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement denouncing musicians who performed in Israel.

    Roger called out the fabrications disseminated by Israel that Hamas carried out systematic sexual assaults on October 7th. He attacked labor leader Kier Starmer for his backing of the genocide and headlined a concert for Palestine with Cat Stevens and the rapper Loki.

    Roger came to the defense of the British punk rap band Bob Villain who at this year’s Glastonberry Festival led the chant of death to the IDF referring to the Israeli Defense Force after the British government banned Palestine action, labeling it a terrorist group in the UK under the Terrorism Act of 2000 and then arresting 100 people for expressing their support for the group. Roger posted a video to X in which he praised Palestine Action as a quote great organization, noting they were nonviolent and quote absolutely not terrorists in any way.

    Editor’s Note: Those are only the more recent of the many many actions that Roger has taken for justice and peace and for human rights.

    Support my independent journalism at Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.com/
    Follow The Chris Hedges Report on social media:     https://linktr.ee/chrishedges

    In this critical time in our country hearing the voices of truth and engaging in honest discussion for critical issues is all the more important while censorship (and outright lies) along with attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free, but if you would like to help:
    Wings of Change FeatherWhatever you are able donate will bring you articles and opinions from independent websites, writers, and journalists as well as a blog with the opinions and creative contributions.

    One place to begin is with reason and truth, and how fundamental they are to creating critically engaged citizens and communities. 

    —Henry A, Giroux

  • The Political Blowback to GOP’s Medicaid Cuts Has Already Begun

    The Political Blowback to GOP’s Medicaid Cuts Has Already Begun

    “Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP don’t just harm individuals. They impact whole communities.”

    Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, told Truthout that since Trump took office in January, $1.5 billion has been cut in assistance to food banks and pantries.

    Lin says that the combination of camaraderie and affordability will keep her coming back to the center for as long as she’s physically able. “My income — a $1,400 Social Security check and a pension of slightly more than $300 a month — doesn’t leave much left over. My rent is $1,000 and I have to pay for utilities and a phone,” she says. “So many of us seniors live doubled-up or in substandard housing. We deserve better, but the government, and Donald Trump in particular, treat us like garbage.”

    Low-income seniors and their advocates agree and say that pending cuts to food and nutrition programs — including funding for meals at senior centers, and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Meals on Wheels —will increase hunger and malnutrition.

    Both are already big problems.

    Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free. If you would like to help click here.

    According to Feeding America, a national network of food banks and pantries, food insecurity is nothing new, and even before Trump’s Big Bad Bill championed slashing social welfare spending, 6.9 million people over the age of 65 faced hunger in the U.S. The group estimates that in 2022, one in 11 people aged 60 and older, and one in eight between the ages of 50 and 59, lacked adequate food.

    Part of the reason is poverty, but isolation, the inability to shop or cook, trouble chewing and swallowing, cognitive decline, depression, a diminished sense of smell and/or taste, and the side effects of medication can also contribute to malnutrition in American seniors. These factors, in concert with economic precarity, make it difficult for many elders to remain healthy and well-nourished.

    But money, unsurprisingly, is crucial to eating well, and many seniors like Elisabeth and Lin have too little of it.

    According to the Social Security Administration, as of May 2025, the average monthly Social Security payment was $2,002. Millions, however, are ineligible for retirement benefits and instead rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a benefit provided to disabled people who did not work for the required 40 quarters needed to collect Social Security. Their monthly benefits amount to $967 for individuals and $1,450 for couples. More than 2 million adults over 65 receive SSI, with 39 percent living below the poverty line.

    “Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP don’t just harm individuals. They impact whole communities.”

    Pre-Trump, even the federal government recognized the toll of poverty on older people’s quality of life. A July 2024 report issued by the National Institute on Aging, a department of the National Institutes of Health, noted that over the past two decades, “food insecurity among families that include adults over the age of 60 had almost doubled, affecting nearly 25 percent of such families.” The report further acknowledged that hunger and lack of access to nutritious food has had a disproportionate impact on Black, Brown and Indigenous households.

    And it’s likely to get much worse.

    Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, told Truthout that since Trump took office in January, $1.5 billion has been cut in assistance to food banks and pantries, including a $130 million administrative cut to the 43-year-old Federal Emergency Management Agency’s emergency food and shelter program.

    “They are working to make the ‘Golden Years’ the ‘Hungry Years,’” he said. “Seniors used to be the third rail of American politics, but that rule is no longer sacrosanct. I think that Congressmembers who support these cuts are following their leader off a cliff. They apparently want seniors, children, and veterans to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”

    Markell Lewis Miller has seen the impact of these cuts directly. As the director of community food programs at Food Gatherers, a food bank in Washtenaw County, Michigan, she oversaw the distribution of 9.9 million pounds of food to hungry Michiganders in 2024, many of them seniors.

    But two months into the Trump administration, the organization’s food supply took a tremendous hit.

    “The U.S. Department of Agriculture is one of the largest sources of food for us, through the emergency food assistance program,” Miller told Truthout. “In March of this year, there was an administrative action, and with no warning whatsoever, we experienced a cut, by half, of what we used to get through the [emergency food assistance] program. This amounts to 15 percent of the food we give out annually. Short-term, we’ve used our reserve funds and fundraised to generate money to purchase food to replace what was lost.”

    The impact, she says, has been severe. According to Miller, prior to the cut, Food Gatherers spent approximately $4 million a year purchasing food. Replacing lost items from the Department of Agriculture, she says, will require them to spend an additional $2.5 million, money that will have to be raised through philanthropic and individual donations.

    Other issues also have staff worried. “Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP don’t just harm individuals. They impact whole communities,” Miller says. “Grocery stores will see their sales plummet and some will close; people will also see their health decline if they lose access to fresh, affordable, and nutritious food, which can lead to malnutrition.” The cascading impact, she adds, can lead to calcium and vitamin deficiencies, as well as health issues such as depression, cognitive disorders, slower wound healing, loss of muscle mass, and frailty syndrome.

    “Every dollar matters to people on fixed incomes,” she says.

    What’s more, Miller and her colleagues worry that the imposition of work requirements on older SNAP recipients will further restrict access to healthy meals.

    Cutting the SNAP Rolls by Making People Ineligible
    for Benefits

    Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director of SNAP programs at the Food Research & Action Center, sees the proposed work requirements — a mandate that SNAP recipients work a minimum of 80 hours a month until they reach age 64 — as a way to thin the rolls. “Failure to secure work will mean that people can only receive SNAP for three months in a three-year period,” she told Truthout. “But this requirement does not come with a job offer or transportation to and from a job. People who live in areas, particularly rural areas, where few jobs exist, or who are grandparents doing unpaid (but essential) child care, will not be exempted. Raising the threshold from age 54 does not take these realities into account.”

    “Right now, 12,000 people a day are turning 65, and we have not created the infrastructure to support them.”

    Other changes to SNAP will also have a deleterious impact, Plata-Nino says. “Previously, if you had a child under 18 in the household, you were exempted from the work rules. Now, the House version of the bill exempts only those people with a child under 7. They also want to exclude the cost of internet service when calculating SNAP eligibility. People with kids in school and folks with disabilities will be particularly harmed by getting rid of this deduction since they have to have the internet in their homes to function.”

    Plata-Nino sounds furious as she speaks. “These changes are meant to give a tax cut to the top 1 percent,” she says. “For seniors who worked incredibly hard their whole lives, finding a part-time job is often impossible, and if they fail, they’ll lose their access to food. It’s cruel. In addition, many seniors own their own homes, but they’re still financially stressed because their property taxes have not stopped. Their fuel and utility costs have not stopped. Boilers break, and with climate change, people need air conditioners as well as heat. We know time limits on eligibility do not increase employment. But they do keep people off the program and scrambling to eat.”

    Meals on Wheels Faces Cutbacks

    Meals on Wheels, a national food delivery service (and congregate meal provider in some locales) has filled nutritional gaps for more than 70 years. Like SNAP, it is also on the chopping block.

    Josh Protas, the group’s chief advocacy and policy officer, told Truthout that about 37 percent of funding for the 5,000 local Meals on Wheels programs that exist nationwide comes through the federal Older Americans Act.

    “About 90 percent of our programs get federal money, and many get half or more of their funding from federal social service block grants, community development block grants, or other federal funding streams, some of which are now threatened,” he says. “In some states, Medicaid has allowed special medically tailored meals to be reimbursed for people in renal failure or with heart conditions. In other places, SNAP can be used to make voluntary contributions to offset the cost of meals. We don’t know if these specialized programs will survive.”

    All told, he says, Meals on Wheels provides food to about 2.2 million older adults annually. But this barely scratches the surface of need. “There are many older adults we’re not reaching,” Protas says. “We estimate that at least 2.5 million low-income seniors are eligible for Meals on Wheels but are not served. One in three of our programs has a waiting list with waits ranging from a few months to years.”

    To tell an adult who is unable to leave their home that they have to wait is painful, he adds, “but it’s even worse when an opening comes up and we discover that the person died while waiting.”

    In addition to providing food, Protas reports that Meals on Wheels provides a secondary function: assessing the meal recipient’s living situation and providing a few minutes of conversation and social engagement each day.

    “Right now, 12,000 people a day are turning 65, and we have not created the infrastructure to support them,” he says. “The needs of older adults do not get prioritized. Money from the federal government has always helped unlock philanthropic dollars, but the truth is that less than 1 percent of foundation grants go to seniors. People gravitate to causes benefiting kids and animals; older adults get second-tier consideration. Even more concerning, one of the fastest-growing unhoused populations is older people, folks who did what they could to earn a living and who still end up on the streets with nothing.”

    Cuts, he concludes, will exacerbate this shameful legacy.

    But seniors, disabled adults, and their advocates are fighting back. Led by the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations and the Coalition on Human Needs, they are making their opposition to SNAP cuts, Medicaid cuts, and Medicare cuts loud and clear, as well as urging for support for national programs like Meals on Wheels and local food banks like Food Gatherers. In addition, an unprecedented coalition of state attorneys general, led by Washington, D.C.’s Karl A. Racine and New York’s Letitia James, have sued the administration to stop the SNAP cuts from taking effect.

    “Many older Americans rely on Medicaid and if they slash it, people will have less money to pay for food and medicine,” Joel Berg of Hunger Free America predicts. “Imagine being 63. You’ve worked in a steel plant for 20 years. The plant closes and, because of age discrimination, you can’t find another job. You will lose your SNAP benefits after three months and won’t be eligible again for three years unless you find a 20-hour-a-week job. Seniors are being attacked from land, sea, and air, and these cuts are happening on top of significant cuts that have been imposed over the last few years. People are increasingly going hungry. The nonprofit sector is a bit shell-shocked, but people are pushing back and coalescing with farmers and the food industry to pressure lawmakers.”

    Note: A correction has been made to fix a typo in Gina Plata-Nino’s name.

  • Chris Hedges: Abolishing the First Amendment

    Chris Hedges: Abolishing the First Amendment

    Our sin was that we dared to mention the unmentionable – the genocide in Gaza.

    Abolishing the First Amendment

    Those who testified at the state capital against New Jersey’s adoption of the IHRA, arguing that it would criminalize free speech, had our microphones muted and were shouted down, proving our point.

    The Final, Final Solution – by Mr. Fish

    By Chris Hedges / The Chris Hedges Report / ScheerPost / July 29, 2025

    I testified at the New Jersey state capital in Trenton last week against Bill A3558, which would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

    Chis Hedges testimony is included in the video below. Links are also included in the text.

    “This is a dangerous assault on free speech by seeking to criminalize legitimate criticism of Israeli policies,” I said. “The Trump administration’s campaign to ostensibly root out antisemitism on college campuses is clearly a trope to shut down free speech and deport non-citizens, even if they are here legally. This bill falsely conflates ethnicity with a political state. And let’s be clear, the brunt of repression on college campuses is directed against students and faculty who oppose the genocide in Gaza, 3,000 of whom were arrested and hundreds of whom were censored, suspended or expelled. Many of these students are Jewish. What about their rights? What about their constitutional protections?”

    “I have had numerous relationships with Israeli journalists and political leaders,” I went on. “I knew, for example, former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin who negotiated the Oslo peace agreement. Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultranationalist who opposed the peace accord. Rabin stated bluntly on numerous occasions that the occupation was harmful to Israel. Israeli colleagues frequently criticize Israeli policies in the Israeli press in language that would be defined as antisemitic by this bill.”

    “For example,” I continued, “the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who served in the Israeli army and writes for the newspaper Haaretz, has called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel to stop the slaughter in Gaza, saying ‘Do to Israel what you did to South Africa.’”

    “Omer Bartov, who served as an Israeli company commander in the 1973 war, is Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University,” I said. “He stated in an article on July 15 in The New York Times that his ‘inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.’”

    “These kinds of statements, and many more I can quote from Israeli colleagues and friends, would see them under this bill criminalized as antisemites,” I added.

    Committee chairman Robert Karabinchak, a Democrat, muted my microphone, banged his hammer for me to stop and allowed gaggles of Zionists, who openly harassed and insulted Muslims in the room, to jeer and shout me down.

    There I was arguing that this bill would curtail my free speech, at the same time I was being denied free speech.

    You can see my full testimony here.

    This cognitive dissonance defines the United States and Israel.

    The committee chairman also muted Raz Segal, the Israeli historian and genocide scholar and, in an especially callous move, chastised Mehdi Rabee, whose 14-year-old brother Amer was killed by Israeli soldiers in April 2025.

    “My 14-year-old brother who was from Saddlebrook, New Jersey, was murdered by the IDF,” Mehdi, his voice shaking with emotion, told the committee. “All he was doing was picking olives from an olive tree with his friends, which we have been doing as Palestinians for thousands of years. My brother, whom I will never see again, my brother who my parents will never watch graduate from high school or college. Assemblywoman Swain, my father and the Palestinian-American Community Center tried reaching out to you over and over. And all that we were met with was nothing but silence. Given your silence, you should not have the right to even consider voting for this bill until you meet with my family, who are under your district.”

    “I am going to ask you to stick to the bill,” Karabinchak interrupted.

    “This bill puts at risk my First Amendment right to criticize Israel for what they have done to my brother,” he went on. “I have a right to call Israel whatever I want to call it. When their policies mirror that of the Nazis, I have a right to call it as it is. I call on you to vote no in remembrance of my brother.”

    FIRST AMENDMENT TO U.S. CONSTITUTION

    You can see Mehdi’s statement here.

    Karabinchak, angered that supporters gave Rabee a standing ovation, reduced all testimonies critical of the bill from three minutes to one minute.

    “Time is down to one minute,” he told the crowd of about 400 in the committee and four overflow rooms. “I’m going to ask everybody now to speak, who wants to speak, is going to say ‘I oppose the bill’ or ‘I support the bill.’”

    He paused.

    “Let’s have some more claps,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Let’s be happy now, right? I didn’t throw you out like I said I was going to. So now you just stifled the other people who have a right to speak. That’s what you just did! Understand what you did! Okay? One minute. One minute. That’s it. And I’m not going to be nice and say let’s rap it up. I’m going to shut the mic off. ”

    Our sin was that we dared to mention the unmentionable – the genocide in Gaza.

    The Zionists in the room were verbally and physically abusive to the Muslims who had come to oppose the bill. One Zionist repeatedly shoved himself into the bodies of those outside the state capital holding a rally against the bill.

    You can see his harassment here.

    Amy Gallatin, who is on the commission of the West Orange Human Relations Commission, “established by municipal ordinance in 1992 in order to create and foster values of diversity, equity and inclusion among groups in the community,” pulled up pictures on her iPad in one of the overflow rooms and said to those seated around her “Look, its Mohammed!”

    You can see her Islamophobic hate speech here.

    When Rabbi Yitzchok Deutsch made an emotional plea to save the people of Gaza Lisa Swain of District 38 and Assemblyman Avi Schnall of District 30, both Democrats, snickered and laughed as he spoke.

    You can see their reactions to Rabbi Deutsch here.

    Zionists, who painted lurid pictures of Jews living under harassment and in fear for their lives, and of Nazism supposedly running amok on the streets of New Jersey, were not muted, although their statements were hyperbolic to the extreme and often a product of over-active imaginations. They openly salivated at the adoption of the bill, which they said would give law enforcement the tools to criminalize those who engage in hate speech, which, if you read the “contemporary examples of antisemitism,” that accompany the IHRA, include speech that criticizes Israeli policies.

    The IHRA has been adopted by 35 states, the District of Columbia and universities such as Harvard and Columbia.

    “The IHRA working definition of antisemitism includes protected criticism of Israel and its policies,” writes the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “For example, the definition declares that ‘denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,’ ‘drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,’ and ‘applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation’ are all examples of antisemitism.”

    “If the Department of Education were to adopt this definition, and investigate universities for Title VI complaints based on it, college and university administrators would likely silence a range of protected speech including criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, analogies likening Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany, or sharing differing beliefs about the right to a Jewish state,” the ACLU continues. “People may disagree about whether such speech is antisemitic, but that debate is irrelevant to the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from censoring or penalizing core political speech.”

    U.S. attorney Kenneth S. Stern — a self-professed Zionist and the lead drafter of what became the IHRA definition of antisemitism — laments that the IHRA has been “grossly abused” to “restrict academic freedom and punish political speech,” including “pro-Palestinian speech.”

    The five committee members, who had clearly made up their minds before they entered the packed hearing room, unanimously passed the measure, which will go to the floor of the State Assembly for a vote. They will, like all politicians who bow before the dictates of the Israel lobby, no doubt, be compensated for their perfidy.

    America, like Israel, exists in a parallel reality. It denies the stark and incontrovertible reality of the live-streamed genocide. It slanders anyone, including Israeli holocaust scholars such as Professor Segal, as antisemites.

    I know, sadly, where this goes. I witnessed it in the many dictatorships I covered as a foreign correspondent for two decades in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Those of us who fight for an open society are silenced, attacked as traitors and criminals. We are blacklisted, censored and at times, locked up. If we can escape in time, we are forced into exile. As we are silenced, the sycophants, grifters, Christian fascists, billionaires, Zionists and thugs, elevated to the highest positions in the federal government by the Trump White House, are rewarded with absolute power, luxury and debauchery.

    Our corporate-indentured ruling class has no genuine political ideology. Political parties are a farce, a species of entertainment to beguile the population in our pretend democracy. Liberalism, and the values it claims to represent, is a spent and bankrupt force.

    The burlesque in the committee room in Trenton was another depressing reminder that there is little now that will halt our path towards an authoritarian state, not the press, not the universities, not the courts, which cannot enforce the few rulings made by courageous judges, not the political class, including the Democratic Party, and not the electoral process.

    We must resist, if only to assert our integrity and dignity, if only to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, if only to slow the consolidation of tyranny, if only to revel in the small pyrrhic victories that resistance alone makes possible.

    But we should not be fooled.

    Subscribe here for more

     

    In this critical time in our country hearing the voices of truth and engaging in honest discussion for critical issues is all the more important while censorship (and outright lies) along with attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free, but if you would like to help:
    Wings of Change FeatherWhatever you are able donate will bring you articles and opinions from independent websites, writers, and journalists as well as a blog with the opinions and creative contributions.

  • DN! “Duty to Repair”: IJC Declares States Legally Responsible for Climate Harm

    DN! “Duty to Repair”: IJC Declares States Legally Responsible for Climate Harm

    CLIMATE: “Duty to Repair”

    Vanuatu Climate Minister on World Court Ruling Countries Must Address Climate

    In a landmark decision, the International Court of Justice found that polluting countries are now legally obligated to address global warming. In a unanimous ruling by a panel of 15 judges, the court said high-emitting countries do have legal obligations under international law to address the “urgent and existential threat” of climate change. The case was brought forward by the island nation Vanuatu, which has faced the brunt of the climate crisis with extreme weather events and rising sea levels.

    In this critical time in our country hearing the voices of truth and engaging in honest discussion for critical issues is all the more important while censorship (and outright lies) along with attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free, but if you would like to help:
    Whatever you are able donate will bring you articles and opinions from independent websites, writers, and journalists as well as a blog with the opinions and creative contributions.

    Rise Up Times is still active on social media under the name Rise Up Times.

    Or mail a check to Sue Ann Martinson to 2900 11th Ave So, Unit #209, Minneapolis MN  55407 with “Wings” on the Memo line.

    PLEASE SHARE WIDELY ON RISE UP TIMES SOCIAL MEDIA

    • Visit, and encourage your friends to visit, the Rise Up Times Facebook page and from Messenger or the Tumblr, Linked In, and Pinterest Rise Up Times pages or my personal Facebook page, Sue Ann Martinson
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    Wings of Change Feather“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions
    to participate in the process of change.
    Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
    can transform the world.”
  • Chris Hedges: Erasing History, How Fascism Works, with Jason Stanley

    Chris Hedges: Erasing History, How Fascism Works, with Jason Stanley

    Fascist Takeover?

    This interview with Chris Hedges was recorded before Harvard University rejected the conditions that the Trump administration tried to impose on them if they were to receive federal funding. The second video is Stanley’s response regarding Harvard’s decision and a discussion of universities threatened with federal funding cuts. He also discusses his personal decision to move to the University of Toronto in Canada. Also included is a video on the Tactics of Fascism.

    RELATED

    ‘Extortion’: Columbia University’s deal with White House met with mixed reactions    The Guardian / July 24, 2025

    The 10 tactics of fascism | Jason Stanley | Big Think

    In this critical time in our country hearing the voices of truth and engaging in honest discussion for critical issues is all the more important while censorship (and outright lies) along with attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support the WingsofChange.me website and Rise Up Times on social media as we to bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media. Access is alway free, but if you would like to help:
    Wings of Change FeatherWhatever you are able donate will bring you articles and opinions from independent websites, writers, and journalists as well as a blog with the opinions and creative contributions.

  • DN!: “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It””: Prof. Omer Bartov on the Growing Consensus on Gaza

    DN!: “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It””: Prof. Omer Bartov on the Growing Consensus on Gaza

    “Israel is trying to concentrate the population of Gaza in the southernmost parts of the strip, to enclose them and to enforce, eventually, either that they would just die out there or that they would be removed from the Gaza Strip altogether.”

    We speak with leading Israeli American historian Omer Bartov about his latest essay for The New York Times, headlined “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.” Bartov cites the United Nations definition of “genocide,” which includes an intent to destroy a group of people that makes it impossible for the group to reconstitute itself. “This is precisely what Israel is trying to do,” he says. “Israel is trying to concentrate the population of Gaza in the southernmost parts of the strip, to enclose them and to enforce, eventually, either that they would just die out there or that they would be removed from the Gaza Strip altogether.”

    Related
    Writer Adam Shatz on How Oct. 7 & Israel’s Brutality in Gaza Reshaped the World
    Hague Group announces steps to hold Israel accountable in Bogota summit
    STARVING CHILDREN OF GAZA
    Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, as the Israel-Gaza conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed
    Transcript
    This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: Israel’s military is continuing to attack civilians across the Gaza Strip, with at least 93 Palestinians killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in Gaza to 58,000, most of them women and children. This number is believed to be a vast undercount. At least 10,000 are believed to be buried under the rubble. The U.N. estimates approximately 92% of all residential buildings in Gaza, around 436,000 homes, have been damaged or destroyed.

    As the situation continues to deteriorate, an emergency meeting of the Hague Group convened in Bogotá, Colombia, to discuss the conflict. It concluded with the announcement of a series of measures aimed at halting Israel’s attacks on Palestine and ending the, quote, “era of impunity.” The Hague Group came together in January as a bloc of Global South countries committed to coordinating legal and diplomatic measures in defense of international law and solidarity with the Palestinian people. There are now 30 member states. The action steps announced at the conclusion of the summit include banning arms sales to Israel and reviewing ties with companies who profit from the occupation of Palestine. So far, only 12 states have agreed to implement the steps. The summit was co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia. This is Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.

    PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO: [translated] We need to leave NATO. We need to form an army of light with all the peoples of the world who want to. And we need to tell Europe that if it wants to be with Latin America or Africa, it must stop helping the Nazis. And we need to tell the American people of all colors, because they are now of all colors, to stop helping the Nazis.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: The Hague Group’s joint statement affirms the commitment to, quote, “Comply with our obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, in compliance with our obligation to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes,” end-quote.

    AMY GOODMAN: Well, there’s perhaps no greater crime than genocide. Our next guest, Omer Bartov, is professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. He is an Israeli American scholar who’s been described [by] the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as one of the world’s leading specialists on the subject of genocide. And he’s just written an op-ed for The New York Times headlined “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.” Professor Bartov joins us from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Well, why don’t you, Professor Bartov — and thanks for joining us again — lay out your case?

    OMER BARTOV: Well, thanks for having me again.

    The case that I made in the article and that I’ve been making for a while is that at the beginning, immediately after October 7th, the Hamas attack on October 7th, Israeli political and military leaders made a series of pronouncements which could be interpreted as calling for genocide. But there was still no — at that point, there was no evidence that this was being implemented.

    Over time, and I would say by May of 2024, it became apparent that these statements were not only made in the heat of the moment following the massacre by Hamas, but were actually being implemented in a manner that would make it impossible for people to live in Gaza, make the entire Gaza Strip uninhabitable and make life there impossible, as well as destroy all the institutions that would be there for that group to reconstitute itself as a social, cultural, political group once the violence was over. Of course, it’s not over yet. I started thinking that in May. In August that year, I wrote an article that explained that.

    But the violence has only continued, and the attempt, as you just reported, to destroy Gaza entirely has continued since. And it is now clear that Israel is trying to concentrate the population of Gaza in the southernmost parts of the strip, to enclose them and to enforce, eventually, either that they would just die out there or that they would be removed from the Gaza Strip altogether.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, I mean, obviously, the points that you’ve made, Professor Omer Bartov, makes it completely indisputable, the argument that you make in the piece, indeed, that there is a genocide ongoing and that that is the long-term plan of Israel. You point out in the piece, though, that genocide scholars are often hesitant about applying the term “genocide” to contemporary events, in part because, as you write, quote, “it often serves more to express outrage than to identify a particular crime.” Of course, there are people who believe that that’s the case even today with respect to Gaza. If you could respond to that?

    OMER BARTOV: Correct. So, this is one reason that I did not come out right after October 7th and say, “Well, Israel is about to commit genocide,” because, despite those statements, one had to observe and see what was actually happening on the ground. And yes, it is true that the term “genocide” has been used more as an expression of outrage when seeing massacres, mass killings, but that does not necessarily mean that what you’re watching is genocide. “Genocide” is well defined in a U.N. convention from 1948. And under international law, only events that can — that conform to the definition can be seen as genocide. And that means that you have to show both that there is an intent to destroy a particular group, in whole or in part, as such, and that that intent is being implemented. And that, obviously and unfortunately, takes time to adjudicate.

    I think that the term, while problematic, is very important, because it does identify a very particular crime. It talks about the attempt to destroy not simply people in large numbers, but to destroy them as members of a group. The intent is to destroy the group itself. And it doesn’t mean that you have to kill everyone. It means that the group will be destroyed and that it will not be able to reconstitute itself as a group. And to my mind, this is precisely what Israel is trying to do. And many of its spokespersons, to this day, keep reiterating that, to the extent that it’s somewhat bizarre that so much of the rest of the world is not taking them seriously.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: Professor Bartov, could you also talk about — I mean, you are an Israeli American scholar and are in touch with people in Israel. How do you see perceptions of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza changing within Israel? And where are people getting their information there? There’s been talk of basically self-censorship of the mainstream media, but, of course, so many of these images and information are circulating not in the mainstream press, but on social media.

    OMER BARTOV: So, look, I should say first I am — I was born and raised in Israel. I spent the first half of my life in Israel. I served in the Israeli military. And for me, to see what is happening is personally, not only just as a mere human being, but also as an Israeli, heartbreaking.

    What I see in the Israeli public is an extraordinary indifference by large parts of the public to what Israel is doing and what it’s done in the name of Israeli citizens in Gaza. In part, it has to do with the fact that the Israeli media has decided not to report on the horrors that the IDF is perpetrating in Gaza. You simply will not see it on Israeli television. If some pictures happen to come in, they are presented only as material that might be used by foreign propaganda against Israel. Now, Israeli citizens can, of course, use other media resources. We can all do that. But most of them prefer not to. And I would say that while about 30% of the population in Israel is completely in favor of what is happening, and, in fact, is egging the government and the army on, I think the vast majority of the population simply does not want to know about it. And that goes back both to the inability to see anything on their own TVs and, in response to October 7th, a sense that after that — and that’s a widespread sense in Israel — after that, there is no way of finding any solution with the Palestinians, and the only way to deal with that issue is to eradicate it.

    AMY GOODMAN: Professor Bartov, can you talk about the genocide scholars across the world who have come to the same conclusion?

    OMER BARTOV: Yes. So, as I wrote in the op-ed, over time, many genocide scholars who are — and legal experts, experts in international law, who, like me, have been very cautious about applying this term, have gradually come to the conclusion that what we’re watching is genocide. And that’s important, in the sense that there is now, I think, a growing consensus over that view.

    As I wrote in the piece, unfortunately, scholars and institutions dedicated to researching and commemorating the Holocaust have generally, with few very courageous exceptions, have generally refused to say anything, to express themselves in any way, about what is happening in Gaza. And to my mind, by doing that, they, first of all, betrayed the very idea of “never again,” because “never again” was never about “never again the Holocaust,” it was “never again genocide and such other crimes against humanity.” So, there’s now a rift between genocide scholars, who have generally come to agree on Gaza being an Israeli genocidal operation, and Holocaust scholars and institutions that have remained mum.

    AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how the term “genocide” came into use? Can you talk about the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin?

    OMER BARTOV: Yeah, so, Raphael Lemkin was a Polish Jewish lawyer who, already in the 1930s, was trying to find some kind of terminology that would describe and legally define that particular crime of trying to destroy a group. And the example that he had at the time was the genocide of the Armenians during World War I by the Ottoman Empire. During World War II, he had to escape Poland as a Jew. Most of his family was murdered. He ended up in the United States. And in 1944, he published a book in which he defined what he understood as the crime of genocide, a term that he coined, which is a combination of Greek and Latin, meaning killing a group or an ethnic group. And he struggled for a few more years to have the U.N., the United Nations, just established in 1945, to recognize that crime, and he succeeded in doing so in 1948.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: Professor Bartov, I want to ask you about a question, indeed, that you ask in your piece, which is, quote, “How will Israel’s future be affected by the inevitable demolition of its incontestable morality, derived from its birth in the ashes of the Holocaust?” What’s the answer to that question?

    OMER BARTOV: Look, I mean, this is beside the horrific killing of human beings in Gaza. And I should just say, because you mentioned the distribution points of food, that between late May, when this so-called humanitarian group started distributing food, and today, more Palestinian civilians have been killed at these distribution groups than Israeli civilians were killed in the Hamas attack.

    Now, what is the — what does all this mean for Israel? As I suggested in the piece, first of all, I think Israel will no longer be able to draw on the credit, if you like, of having been the state that was created after the Holocaust as an answer to the Holocaust. It will no longer be able to say, “We can do whatever we like, because we were a nation subjected to genocide.” You cannot continue to use this argument following the mass killing of another group.

    I hope — and I write that, too — I hope that future generations of Israelis, who will not be clean of that stain — that stain will remain — but will at least be liberated from this shadow of the Holocaust and will start to look at reality as it is, and start to think of how can they reconstitute their own nation, not as a response to the genocide against the Jews, as a response to the Holocaust, but rather as a nation that knows how to share this land, where 7 million Jews and 7 million Palestinians live side by side between the Jordan and the sea, to share it with them with equality and dignity, and not with the use of bombs and violence.

    AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about this plan to make, build a so-called humanitarian city — the defense minister, Israel Katz, has proposed this idea — on the rubble of Rafah, and the opposition of two former prime ministers? You have Ehud Olmert, you have Yair Lapid. They’re saying if there is no exit, this is a concentration camp. The significance of these men saying this?

    OMER BARTOV: Well, I think it’s very important that Lapid, who’s been sort of on all parts of this debate, said something and that Olmert spoke out, although Olmert no longer has any political power in Israel.

    The plan itself, again, using the typical euphemisms that are used by organizations and states that carry out such crimes, calling that a humanitarian city, which would be a vast concentration camp, a sort of combination of ghetto and concentration camp, that would be built, as you said, on the ruins of Rafah — Rafah has been completely destroyed, there’s nothing there — build a tent city on top of it, bring in initially 600,000 people, who would be brought back from the Mawasi area, from the beach area, to which they were displaced when the IDF went in to destroy Rafah, enclose them there. The plan does not say that Israel would supply them with any humanitarian assistance in the camp, but some other international organizations yet to be determined. But they would not be able to leave unless they leave the Gaza Strip altogether. So, this is — and in continuation to that, the rest of the population is supposed to then join this camp, with a goal of removing them. So, this is extraordinary. The state of Israel publicly is speaking about the creation of a vast concentration camp whose goal is removal of the population to countries that have unanimously said they are not going to take them in.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Professor Bartov, I want to ask about the U.S.’s position on this, of course, their continuing support for Israel, which has enabled the assault to continue. I want to go back to the former president, Biden, his administration, the State Department spokesperson at the time, Matt Miller, who admitted earlier this year, in May, that he believes Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. This reversal came after more than a year, as the face of the Biden administration’s foreign policy, repeatedly defending Israel against allegations of war crimes and genocide. This was Miller speaking earlier this year — last year.

    MATTHEW MILLER: We have been very clear that we want to see Israel do everything it can to minimize civilian casualties. We have made clear that they need to do every — that they need to operate at all times in full compliance with international humanitarian law. At the same time, we are committed to Israel’s right to self-defense.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: But during an interview with Sky News last month, in June, Matt Miller says he believes Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza and that Israeli soldiers are not being held accountable.

    MATTHEW MILLER: I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think the — I think it is, without a doubt, true that Israel has committed war crimes.

    MARK STONE: You wouldn’t have said that at the podium.

    MATTHEW MILLER: Yeah, look, because I — I mean, when you’re at the podium, you’re not expressing your personal opinion. You’re expressing the conclusions of the United States government.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Professor Bartov, your response to that, and also your perception of how the Trump administration has both broken with and continued Biden’s policies on Gaza?

    OMER BARTOV: Well, you know, in November 2023, I published an op-ed in The New York Times in which I said that war crimes and crimes against humanity were clearly happening in Gaza, and that if this continued, it would become a genocidal operation. I was hoping at the time that someone in the administration would actually pay attention, because the United States, in November or December 2023, could have stopped all of this. It was not very difficult to do. Israel cannot act as it has without constant supply of arms from the United States and Germany — these are the two major suppliers; the U.S. supplies between 70 and 80% of all munitions to Israel — and without diplomatic cover — Israel has a diplomatic Iron Dome created by the U.S. veto in the Security Council. That did not happen. And, of course, the evidence was there. And so, first of all, one has to say that the Biden administration is complicit in what happened in Gaza.

    Secondly, when Trump came in, curiously, the first thing that happened, the day before he came into office, was that he forced a ceasefire on Israel. And that ceasefire, in January this year, made it possible to exchange Palestinian prisoners for a large number of hostages, but not all of them. The plan was to complete that exchange and to stop the fighting. But in March, Israel unilaterally broke that ceasefire without any interference from the United States, and, since then, has continued. And what is particularly galling is the fact that when Trump floated his plan, if you recall that, that the population of Gaza would be removed, and then Gaza would be made into a beautiful resort area, he later on didn’t really repeat that. But in Israel, that was seen as license to do exactly what is being done now — that is, using hundreds of bulldozers, engineers, explosives to systematically destroy every building in Gaza so that nobody would be able to live in, in that area, and then, well, maybe turn it into a resort area, more likely be an area for Jewish settlers.

    AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to name names here, that you do in your piece. “In November, a little more than a year into the war, the Israeli genocide scholar Shmuel Lederman joined the growing chorus of opinion that Israel was engaged in genocidal actions. The Canadian international lawyer William Schabas came to the same conclusion … and has recently described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as ‘absolutely’ a genocide.

    “Other genocide experts, [like] Melanie O’Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and the British specialist Martin Shaw (who has also said … the Hamas attack was genocidal), have reached the same [conclusion], while the Australian scholar A. Dirk Moses [of] the City University of New York described these events in the Dutch publication NRC as a ‘mix of genocidal and military logic.’ In the same article, Uğur Ümit Üngör, a professor at the Amsterdam-based NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, said there are probably scholars who still do not think it’s genocide, but ‘I don’t know them.’”

    Professor Bartov, as we begin to wrap up, can you talk about this consensus and whether Holocaust museums, which often address a number of holocausts, will be taking on what Israel has done in Gaza?

    OMER BARTOV: Well, so, as I said before, I think there is a growing consensus among genocide scholars and legal experts. William Schabas is a very good example, because he’s a highly respected expert. He’s very conservative. He took a long time to reach that conclusion. And he has. I just spoke with him recently in Europe, and he very strongly believes that what Israel is doing now is genocide.

    But the other side of it, as you indicate, is the tragedy that most Holocaust scholars and all of the institutions that I know that are dedicated to commemorating and researching the Holocaust have refused to say anything. And some, again, a minority of Holocaust scholars, have come out and claimed that genocide scholars speaking about genocide in Gaza are antisemitic, that this is an antisemitic argument. And that use of the term “antisemitism,” which, as you know, of course, and we spoke about, was also a tool to silence any protest last spring on American campuses, this abuse of the term is now creating a rift between Holocaust scholars and genocide scholars.

    And what I fear — and that’s what I write at the end of this piece — what I fear is that this will mean that the Holocaust, which had come, over decades, to be recognized as an event of universal importance, as an event that we have to learn from, because of the silence, because of the betrayal of the notion of “never again” by these institutions and these scholars, will go back to become a sort of ethnic enclave, only something that the Jews talk about among themselves.

    AMY GOODMAN: Omer Bartov, we want to thank you for being with us, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University and an Israeli American scholar, described by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as one of the world’s leading specialists in the subject of genocide. His forthcoming book, Israel: What Went Wrong? His previous books, Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine. We’ll link to your piece in The New York Times, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.”

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