What causes the sensation of an itch?
Do actors ever feel silly doing what they do?
If we should stop the production of soy to save the planet, why are vegan alternative meats full of soy?
Why was JK Rowling excluded from the Harry Potter reunion?
And finally; Whose idea was it to drop that atomic bomb on Hiroshima? And then Nagasaki?
Hello.
It is not anti semitic to oppose apartheid.
It is not anti semitic to oppose zionism, which stands for ethnic cleansing and brutal murder.
It is not anti semitic to condemn the ripping apart of small children bodies. Children who do not have air raid shelters or air raid sirens. Children who can be seen on video screaming in terror every time an airplane flies above their house. Children who can be seen in literal shreds.
I have seen children whose heads have been blown apart, pieces of their bodies hanging together by shreds of skin.
It is not anti semitic to oppose the strongest army in the middle east, to oppose a propaganda machine which imprisons the natives of a land in favour of white european settlers.
This is apartheid. It is happening again.
Why did we overcome Hitler, only to allow the trauma of a past generation to inflict horrendous crimes on a new one?
I support all Jews and condemn antisemitic attacks, but I condemn Israel severely. I condemn its propaganda. I condemn its war crimes on Palestinians, on their children, on their livelihood. I condemn its apartheid.
Enough is enough.
Why are people so afraid to speak out?
Because Israel and its propaganda has seeped into every part of our lives.
This is not a religious issue. If it was, Christian Palestinians would not be massacred along with their muslim brothers and sisters.
This is a human rights violation.
To say there are two sides is to be wilfully ignorant of the truth. The truth is that Israel has a 500,000+ army, an iron dome which deflects most attacks, while Palestine has nothing. Palestinian refugees cannot even return to the villages from which they were expelled, and Israeli law states that only people of Jewish religion can apply to build homes and can take over ‘abandoned’ land… land which Palestinians are not allowed to return to in the first place.
This is not a conflict or a clash. This is not an equal war. This is the same thing that happened in South Africa.
Wake the fuck UP.
Explosions in the sky. Bright colours cascading their light like thousands of stars, only louder and more vicious. Like thunder, with clouds that drift away. Erratic, and always risky.
Perceived with happiness and joy on one end of the globe, and terror and fear on another.
Perceived with welcoming eyes, children staying up late to welcome the new year.
Perceived with dread and gut wrenching pain, houses torn to pieces and babies under mountains of rubble.
Heaving loss.
Brilliant eyes.
Souls ripped apart.
Eager excitement.
Anticipation.
Of good things to come.
Of loved ones never to be seen again.
Dear Amelia,
One day, when I return, there will be summer and rain at the same time. There will be a rainbow over our apple tree, and we will watch the seasons merge into each other, the apples growing larger and sweeter. One day, there will be a future for us. After the rot of the city has lifted. After the destruction has become a faint memory, we will live again. Life will sprout through the cracked crevices of what once was our solid foundation. It has been shattered, but we haven’t, dearest. We haven’t.
Yours truly,
Dean
Walking down the street with his hands in his pockets. He always cleaned up so nicely. His hair slicked back, his face tidy and trim, his suit brushed and straight with the crease in the trousers, shoes shined up to perfection, like brand new, reflecting the street lamps in their gleaming glory.
The pavement was shining with the mist of rain that floated down upon the town. Heels clicked and shoes scraped with the faint gravelly echo of damp street sand. The evening twilight descended upon the world, combining with the golden glow of the street lights to create a surreal dusk stillness, when the streets emptied and families sat around dinner tables, and shops were empty and dark behind their shutters because shop keepers had long gone home.
I stared. Thomas? No. It could not be. Impossible.
But it was, and he was!
He whistled a little as he walked, his step jaunty, and my heart ached. I loved his whistle, his cheery, melodious tunes. His whistle meant he was happy. He turned quickly into an alleyway and vanished.
I peered into the darkness of the alley, squinting a little. It was like a cavern, swallowing up all light, so I couldn’t make anything out. What was in there? Should I follow?
My footsteps sounded loud on the pavement, so I bent over and slid my dainty heels off, holding them by the straps by my side. I followed him.
I heard his whistle, faint, further down. So I hurried, further and further and I still could not see him.
‘Amelia?’
I froze, my toes curling inwards on the cold, damp concrete beneath me. My eyes focused in the gloom; the brick walls on either side of me were illuminated by the faint lights out on the street; they were glistening.
‘Thomas?’
His voice was so clear, as though he was standing right next to me.
‘Thomas?’ I said again. The whistle sounded again, even fainter, and I knew then that the voice I had heard could not have come from Thomas, his whistle was too far away. Or was it?
‘Amelia..’
I jumped. It sounded right in my ear. I looked around frantically; nobody. Nothing. Just the damp concrete and the strangely glistening walls. My heart beating wildly, I tried to shake off this panic that rose within me like bile.
There is nothing to be afraid of, just carry on, it is not real.
I could not do it. My fingers clutched my shoes as I turned and raced out of the alleyway, the long rectangle of light from the street ahead of me looking so far away, every hair on my body standing on end, screaming at me to go faster faster get out of here before I am grabbed.
Finally I burst into the light, as a car sailed past me on the road. A gentleman walked across the street, head cast downwards. Lights twinkled at me in the shiny, shiny, post-rain twilight world.
I glanced behind me and shivered as I walked hurriedly, still barefoot, along the pavement. It was not Thomas. It could not be Thomas. Not my Thomas, at any rate.
It was not real.
Dear Amelia,
I write you from the depths of this ship. My cabin is fairly tight, four beds confined to a space not even wide enough to fit my length. But it is alright, the boys are friendly, we all await the end of our journey nervously. What will the war hold in store for us? I have spoken to some boys who have already been on the front line. They are cagey, and I heard one telling the the lieutenant that it was hard to remain cheerful about it all. I know they don’t want to terrify us with horror stories, and so we carry on. The closer we get to our destination, the more sombre everybody becomes, but we mask it with our jokes and tales of women and joy, and we smoke and smoke and smoke. Write me, Amelia, keep me updated, all the time. Fill your pages with tales of home.
Yours,
Thomas
Once upon a time there was a street on which lived a bunch of families. They all knew each other, and their children played together out on the road. The women called on each other almost daily, dropping in for a cup of tea in each other’s kitchens, rushing over to tell a bit of news, help with some painting, visit a poorly neighbour. There were street parties every so often, to celebrate a marriage, a graduation, or to welcome somebody home.
Laughter was shared, happiness was spread, and they even felt sadness together, everybody gathering into the home of the afflicted, paying respects, giving hugs, pies in tow. Nobody was left to experience sadness alone, and everybody shared each other’s joy.
They were like a big, happy family.
Of course there were the feuds and the fights. Mrs Mack didn’t like the way Mrs Jameson got involved whenever the kids had an argument, Mr Willis thought Mr Hans was a bit of a rogue, but they had big hearts, and good ones, and that is what bonded them together and made them stronger.
Nobody dropped bombs on innocent children, nobody used religion as an excuse to kill other people, nobody hated anybody because they were black or blue or orange (trust me, there were some very blue people on this street, but that’s another story), nobody had a hidden agenda, nobody decided they wanted more money than they already had so therefore no innocent civilians were killed as a direct result of this greed. People lived and let live.
But that story is not real. And there are so many people on earth.
The most dangerous and corrupt people are in power.
Ocean Bream 