Mehdi’s Memo on the results of our new poll on Gaza and Iran
The only political power you have within
America’s political systemelectoralism is a game of chicken wherein you withhold your vote unless change occurs. If you’re mad at people saying they won’t vote for Biden, I urge you to direct your energy at Biden and the DNC.There are other avenues to change, but they get your head bashed in by cops, so I’m confident the people tut-tutting about voting will never get involved at that level. Must feel great to ignore the devastating impact of American foreign policy just because it doesn’t happen near you!
The only political power you have within America’s political system
Within electoralism, anyway. It’s not the only power we have, it’s just the only one we’re taught, and the only one in corporate media’s Overton window.
ETA: Thanks to two (now three) red scares, I probably should spell it out for the peanut gallery: Labor power.
Yeah, I agree. I definitely meant “electoralism” where I said “America’s political system”. Thanks for the correction!
He and his party are doing the calculus and figuring that they’ll do better supporting Israel because, frankly, where else are those voters going to go? Trump? He’d nuke Gaza if Netanyahu co-signed a loan for him.
Democratic voters need to vote blue no matter who, and then primary out the corporatist candidates at the earliest opportunity.
This has to be a two-pronged effort: keep the Republicans out of office permanently, and clean the Democratic slate from within.
This is really the only strategy and we’ve seen how incredibly effective it has been as the GOP changes into rabid racists.
But better democrats can’t employ exactly the same strategy as their far right insurgent counterparts, because we’re not racists assholes trying to undermine democracy.
the fact 38% of the us believes theres no genocide going on is what catches my attention here
Eh. “A Majority of Voters” is not that impressive. According to Gallup’s running poll, Democratic Party affiliation is currently at 28%. A slim majority of a minority is… nice? It needs to be reflected strongly among independents and perhaps the opposite party to be reflected in the general population. For comparison, the majority of Republicans think the 2020 election was stolen. This view is not reflected among the general population.
I actually think a more notable statistic in this poll is the Republicans at 23%. That tells me that reactions to what is happening in Gaza has had a bipartisan effect, which has often not been the case with Israel.
a bipartisan effect, which has often not been the case with Israel.
Unconditional Support for Israel is absolutely bipartisan. It’s one of the few bipartisan issues that all 3 branches of government agree on. The other being unlimited funding for MIC projects.
- shiveyarbles ( @shiveyarbles@beehaw.org ) 3•2 months ago
I feel like the administration thinks the ends justify the means. Israel is a tactical ally, but at the end of the day how can we not step in and prevent the siege and displacement of innocent Palestinians?
By simply not giving a fuck about innocent Palestinians. Israel is a vassal state of US empire.
- List of Atrocities committed by US authorities
- A Detailed Chronological List of US Interventions, Invasions, Destabilzations, and Assistance to Oppressive Regimes (ending in 2002)
- The U.S. Did Not Defeat Fascism in WWII, It Discretely Internationalized It
- Shock therapy (economics)
- Are We The Baddies?
- The blueprint of regime change operations How regime change happens in the 21st century with your consent
- Michael Parenti: Africa is Rich
.
Voters have virtually no say in the matter.From a military and geopolitical standpoint? Yeah… Israel is actually super important. There might have been a time (… decades) ago when we could have allied with a nation that the majority of the Middle East didn’t hate but that ship has sailed.
It is increasingly complicated because actually giving a shit about the Palestinian people won’t even help those relations. Look up how Egypt and other nations have treated Palestinian refugees. They are largely considered to be criminals and terrorists who will try to overthrow nations (at least some of that is thanks to Hamas being terrorists who will try to overthrow nations). But the best comparison I have seen is “Imagine if a country was committing genocide against the Romani people (again). Every European nation would complain about that and say it was wrong. How many would open their borders to the refugees en masse?”. The genocide of the Palestinians is a useful political tool against Israel but it isn’t like any nations are going to step in to actually protect them.
And (Israel assisting) Hamas more or less wiping out the PLO and becoming the de facto (and increasingly de jure) leadership of the Palestinian people immediately eliminates any chance at a two state solution for obvious reasons. And a one state solution would largely be a return to the open air prison status quo… unless we wanted to play peacekeepers again and have another decade or two of pointless occupation that just destabilizes the region even more.
Fuck Biden for his decades of unflinching support of Israel’s genocide. But this is very much a situation where there is no solution.
Well, if you want a serious answer, treaties. Our treaties with Isreal limit what we can do to them when they do bad stuff.
“Has been”, “is escalating”