Yesterday I was asked by a friend who’s into Spirituality, if I believed that to reach a higher, spiritual level he had to go through penalties or Supplications (I dont remember the word I used.)
He replied yes fasting, meditations, rare yoga postures and those things …
I asked “if a slap in your face would improve your spirituality?”
He got quite pissed off, I don’t see why.
Let’s see.. if fasting makes you more spiritual and sanctified, then taking into account the amount of famine in the world, people would be be almost flying in Gaza, people who are literally dying of hunger due to the blockade by the state of Israel and starvation by Europe.
In reality we see that people who go hungry are dedicated to looking for food.
Ok there’s a big difference between fasting and forced hunger.
To fast and be spiritual, you have to be rich, or not have to work. In a famine, oh.. the baby dies in the arms of his/her mother! I don’t even want to think about it.
As for other Supplications such as meditating … Consider the amount of time we have survived without television or the Internet.
La mejor manera de evitar que un hombre enferme es matarlo mientras se encuentra bien. Vanzetti [1]
A bordo de un transatlántico procedente de las Américas, “El Adriático”, en la White Start Line, dos italianos charlan entre sí. Matan el tiempo hablando de la suerte de dos condenados a muerte, Sacco y Vanzetti.
¿Nicola Sacco y Bartolomeo Vanzetti? Precisamente. Italianos-americanos como ellos. Arrastrados ante los tribunales de Massachusetts por dos atracos, uno de los cuales salió completamente mal. Protestan que son tan blancos como el cordero recién nacido.
Si te gusta nuestro trabajo, considera la posibilidad de ayudarnos a poder continuar con nuestro proyecto, con un pequeño donativo.
Es lo que se habla en los cafés. Todo el mundo se pone en pie en su defensa. El “asunto” es como para darle vueltas a la cabeza: hay filosofías sobre la inocencia y la culpabilidad, sobre la política, la violencia y el crimen, sobre la xenofobia, sobre la tolerancia con la gente que no piensa como tú.
Los dos pasajeros parecen compinchados, pero es sólo una apariencia. En realidad, uno de ellos está interrogando al otro. Su interlocutor, un joven robusto, delgado y bien parecido, no es demasiado inteligente, sobre todo cuando se trata de responder a preguntas que podrían despertar sospechas.
Pero hablan el mismo idioma, una mezcla de inglés e italiano. Y ambos son, ¡per bacco! anarquistas.
¿Anarquistas, qué es eso?
Buena pregunta, camarada. Vanzetti, uno de los acusados, te informará:
Y, nosotros, modestos obreros anarquistas, crecimos sin la ayuda de la escuela, en nuestros pobres hogares, sobrecargados de trabajo y sufriendo desde el nacimiento, e hicimos y creímos lo que nuestros enemigos obreros hicieron, creyeron y vivieron. Éramos como nuestros enemigos y adversarios.
Sólo que, a través de un incesante trabajo mental, una larga y terrible prueba de conciencia, hemos llegado a ser diferentes, como somos ahora. Es decir, hemos analizado, condenado y repudiado todas las concepciones, creencias, todos los criterios y principios que nos fueron inculcados desde nuestra infancia hasta el día en que se inauguraron nuestras nuevas convicciones. [2]
En otras palabras, el anarquista es un individuo que excita su cerebro: es diferente del idiota.
Protesto, Señoría. Durante la Belle Époque, ésta no fue su única especialidad. En los grupos italianos y franceses, una minoría particularmente radical ensalzaba las virtudes de las pistolas y la dinamita.
Practicaban la “propaganda por los hechos”, el ejemplo de la revuelta contra los “tiranos”.El anarquista está en guerra contra “la camarilla de senadores malcriados, diputados corruptos y carniceros de uniforme, la podredumbre de los envenenadores de cerebros, la rapacidad de los que matan de hambre al pueblo”. Canta Ravachole. Se prepara para la Gran Noche. Un escupitajo de tinta diría que quiere “desestabilizar a la clase dirigente”.
Modern emancipatory philosophies can be summarized as: Liberalism, Marxism, and Anarchism; we need a minimum of political culture to understand what the 3 have in common and how they differ.
Anarchism Today, Anarchism in History— Christian Ferrer, on Anarchism and Anarchists 2025
Christian Ferrer, born in Santiago, Chile, in 1960, is a sociologist, essayist, and anarchist, specializing in his writings on issues such as networks of power and societies of control. He is a professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, where he teaches Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Technology.
Among other works, he has published El lenguaje libertario (Libertarian Language), a collection of texts on contemporary anarchist thought, and a compilation of essays by the poet and essayist Néstor Perlongher entitled Prosa Plebeya (Plebeian Prose). Mal de ojo (Evil Eye. Critique of Technical Violence) is an essay on the daily technical violence inflicted on people and the urban landscape.
With the analysis presented in this work, Ferrer aims, not so much to criticize as to show, to understand that the technical process is an emotional movement; as the author himself expresses, a true free spirit must, above all else, avoid the blackmail of having to pronounce oneself for or against this entire process with a decidedly optimistic or pessimistic attitude.
In his essays on anarchism, Ferrer recalls that anarchists were, from the beginning of modernity, the “black sheep” in terms of political proposals, in an era when the idea of the democratic republic was imposed.
******************
The hostility anarchism generated in other political movements, including those that called themselves progressive, and the numerous defeats it had to endure, are not surprising.
Christian Ferrer explains the survival and cyclical rise of libertarian ideas by the lack of a better theoretical and existential antidote to the society of domination: And this, despite the fact that anarchist society is often labeled as fanciful, and even dangerous.
Ferrer is also quick to break the link often made between the words “socialism” and “totalitarianism”; in the case of the anarchists, there were none who wished to offer overly planned outlines of the future.
Modern emancipatory philosophies can be summarized in three fundamental ones: liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism; a minimum of political culture is necessary to understand what the three have in common and also how much they differ.
I have worked in the bombed and starving hospitals, seen things no human should ever witness, let alone experience. I feel the suffering with a visceral intensity.
Skeletal babies and children with their limbs torn away. Mothers too weak to feed their newborns. Even the nurses and surgeons collapsing from hunger.We take an oath to protect our patients. And that goes beyond their immediate medical care.
That’s why I joined Avaaz, travelling to meet governments face-to-face. To tell them what I’ve seen — to make them face the reality of genocide, and the costs of their inaction.
Politicians cried. I saw them break down. Heard them admit they had no idea it was so bad. And I felt the room shift when they realised it could be their children getting bombed, starving and alone.
Some governments are finally announcing sanctions and cutting off weapons. But it’s not enough.
Now we must turn that trickle into a tidal wave — and I’m humbly asking for your support. Avaaz is organising to take many more doctors to meet with as many Presidents and Ministers as we can.
They have the power to stop this genocide and open the borders for a flood of humanitarian aid. We cannot deliver that aid ourselves — Israel’s blockade makes it impossible. But we can fight like hell to make our governments intervene.
There is a fire in me, burning for all the children I’ve held, and lost. And I promise you now, I will not stop. This genocide will end. What matters is how many children we lose before then.
Please, donate whatever you can — so we can change the hearts and minds of those with the power to end this horror. Your donation will be used to help end the genocide and unlock humanitarian aid. Donate what you can now:
This is not some natural disaster — it is mass murder and intentional starvation. Trucks packed with baby formula, food, and medicine are waiting just across the border. But Israel won’t let them in.
Politicians aren’t always moved by headlines or reports. But I’ve seen how they react to the personal, human testimony of doctors like me.One moment of connection between two people can crack indifference wide open. And when it’s paired with huge, relentless public pressure, the excuses fall apart, paving the way for real action.
Now if we raise enough from this email, we could: Fund many delegations of doctors to meet with Presidents, Prime Ministers, and governments across Europe and beyond; Support an uprising of protests and flotillas, from the heart of Berlin to the docks of Marseille, to help stop the supply of weapons to Israel; Organise media-grabbing stunts outside parliaments and international meetings, forcing politicians to confront the genocide and their ability to stop it; Expand Avaaz’s team of Gaza campaigners, storytellers, and communication experts to shift the narrative around Palestine; Fund Avaaz’s work on the ground in Palestine, helping to organise thousands of people to end Apartheid and the ongoing occupation.
The worst-case scenario is now unfolding in Gaza. But we can do something about it, together.
People often look back on previous genocides and wonder what they would have done.It’s whatever you’re doing right now.
So don’t look away. Don’t change the subject. Because in another life, it could be any of us running from the bombs, queuing for scraps of food, pleading for the world to do something. I believe in the power of what we are doing together. And while I didn’t know of Avaaz before we started these meetings, I have been utterly blown away by what this community can do, and your ferocious commitment to the people of Gaza. It is needed more than ever.+
For the children of Gaza, and the hopes of tomorrow,
Dr Graeme Groom and the whole team at Avaaz
What You Should Know About The Doctors
Dr Graeme Groom is an Orthopaedic Surgeon who has worked in Gaza over 40 times, including four missions since October 2023.
International doctors are some of the only eyewitnesses to leave Gaza alive. With international reporters almost entirely banned, and local journalists getting killed or trapped inside Gaza, doctors like Dr Groom are uniquely positioned to bear witness — and to confront governments with what they’ve seen first-hand.
Dr Groom is just one of the doctors Avaaz is working with. We are preparing for many more doctors like him to meet with leaders of governments such as Spain, Germany, France, and the UK. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner. This means they have enormous financial leverage to stop the genocide and open the way for humanitarian aid.
Everything Avaaz does is entirely funded by people like you. Your donation makes it possible for doctors like Dr. Groom to carry their eyewitness accounts to the halls of power and fuels our campaigning to end the genocide and bring peace to Palestine.
In this episode, we sat down with Margaret Killjoy and talked about the growth of anarchist culture within sub cultures as well as writing and a bit about themselves. lots of good info in this one!
One year after a flag was thrown on stage, the UK still arms Israel’s genocide, trains IGF soldiers on British soil and wishes to silence an Irish musician for ‘terrorism’.
Good day, spectators,And when we last discussed Mo Chara‘s farcical terrorism charge and trial, the British state was busy doing two things at once: firstly, it was prosecuting an Irish rapper for holding a flag and secondly, it was arming the Israeli warplanes bombing Rafah.
Tomorrow, Aug 20th, Mo Chara will stand in Westminster Magistrates Court for his second hearing, yet nothing has changed but the scale of the slaughter, the brazenness of Israel’s genocidal rhetoric and the UK’s utter desperation to silence dissent in whichever form.
Let’s recap. The so-called ‘crime’ is that Mo Chara briefly held a Hezbollah flag thrown on stage at a 2024 gig. Hezbollah is a group the UK banned in 2019…and that was only at the behest of their good friend and ally Israel..
Months later, Kneecap loudly denounced Israel’s genocide at Coachella with a message that swept the world:
19 Jun 2025 — Supporters of all ages, and even one cat, attended Westminster Magistrates Court to rally behind rapper Mo Chara as he faced trial for alleged terror offences.
This sparked a vicious smear campaign by Zionists and pro-Israel voices. Immediately after, charges were filed and all this happened on the exact same day the UK refused, in Parliament, to halt arms sales to Israel. For me, this is definitive proof this was always about punishing Palestinian solidarity.
Now, tomorrow the trial will resume, and the prosecution will still have no evidence of Mo Chara endorsing violence or anything of that description. His only crime from what I can decipher is ‘not immediately discarding a flag’.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it’s patently clear all they want to do is convict him in a show trial to restrict Kneecap’s travel.
If he’s convicted on terrorism, this will prevent him from travelling to most countries, sabotaging their tours, and sending a message that criticising Israel will cost you your freedom.
Since May, Israel’s mask has fully slipped, and I mean fully. There is a plethora of obscene war crimes, lies, statements and actions from Israel to choose from in the past few months. Each more evil than the last.
But I want to draw particular attention to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who has called to ‘burn Gaza’ and praised the destruction as some kind of ‘biblical justice.’
More than 60,000 Palestinians are dead, including 15,000 children, many of whom have been starved under a UK-funded blockade. UK arms exports continue flowing, with BAE and Elbit supplying parts used in the Genocide.
Yet the only ‘terrorism’ Westminster sees is a flag at a gig. The cognitive dissonance that we are witnessing here is not funny or silly or anything like that, it’s downright grotesque and concerning to the highest degree because these are the people that are supposed to be leading the UK.
The unwanted crackdown: how Palestine Action exposed Britain’s police state.
Whilst Mo Chara faces trial, the UK has unleashed its terror laws on peaceful dissent with surgical precision.
Last week, at Parliament Square, 466 people were arrested for holding signs reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action‘. This was the largest mass arrest at a protest in the UK in decades..
Among those charged under terrorism laws were an 81-year-old former magistrate, an 83-year-old retired priest, and a 67-year-old retired headteacher. Multiple nurses and a blind chap in a wheelchair…
Their weapon? Cardboard signs.
I would just like to use this opportunity to point out that, on the very same day, anti-immigrant protesters were throwing Nazi salutes next to police officers who did absolutely nothing.
Israel is so fucking evil that it has a military unit dedicated to coming up with excuses for the IDF’s atrocities. +972 reports that the IDF has a special unit it calls the “Legitimization Cell”, because it is tasked with finding justifications to legitimize the assassination of journalists and other war crimes for the purpose of “public relations”.
Probably goes without saying, but if Israel was on the side of truth and morality it would not have a military unit dedicated to manipulating the public narrative about actions which normal people would see as extremely evil.
❖
Israel: We can’t allow Palestinian journalists to remain alive in Gaza because all the Palestinian journalists are Hamas.
Western journalists: Okay so let us in, that way there can be journalists documenting what’s happening in Gaza who aren’t Hamas.
Israel: [long pause] … No.
❖
I have never been less open to people with different opinions than I am with Gaza. I am simply correct, and if you disagree with me you are wrong and I hate you.
I have alienated various readers and online factions over the years with the things I have written, but that has usually been unintentional; normally I don’t like to alienate people who resonate with my work. Gaza was the first time I’ve been happy to lose anyone who disagreed with me. It was like, You’re leaving? Good. Get the fuck out. I’m going to keep saying what I’m saying and if you don’t like it then I don’t like you. If you don’t leave then I’ll kick you out myself.
I like to stay open to different perspectives, and I like to have people with different perspectives stay open to me. But Gaza is such an easy and obvious moral question that I stand nothing to gain from any contact with anybody who answers that question incorrectly. I’ve never been so fast and so confident in making enemies than I have over this issue.
I’m nearly as impatient with people who haven’t taken a forceful side on this. It’s a sign of developing maturity to be able to see both sides of an issue, but it’s a sign of further maturity to understand that just because you can see both sides doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take sides on important and relevant moral issues with a clear right and wrong side. Stop fence-sitting on a genocide and grow the fuck up.
❖
If one side is bothered by images of starving children and the other is not, it's not "starvation" that divides them. What divides them is normal human decency. pic.twitter.com/n7FXceoStk
If a guy tries to rob you or rape you or murder you make sure you ask him his religion before trying to stop him, because you don’t want to be accidentally antisemitic.
❖
Nothing creates support for Hamas more than Israel’s actions in Gaza. Nothing creates hatred of Israel more than Israel’s actions in Gaza. Nothing creates hatred of Jews more than Israel’s actions in Gaza. Everything Israel’s supporters complain most about is caused by Israel.
❖
The strongest argument that Israel is committing genocide is that all major human rights groups say it’s a genocide, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Israeli rights groups like B’Tselem, along with the overwhelming majority of genocide scholars and human rights experts. The debate is over. This is a settled matter.
The hasbara machine hasn’t come up with a counter-argument for this. They hate it. Whenever I use it they always try to push the debate in some other direction where they have a counter-argument they’ve been trained to regurgitate, but when I stick to the universal consensus among human rights groups they always get mad and rage quit.
❖
It’s so undignified how western governments and news outlets keep talking about Israel’s officially stated reasons for its actions in Gaza like we don’t all know they want to get rid of the Palestinians who live there and have been trying to get rid of them for generations.
❖
I love when I criticize Israel for something and someone goes “Oh yeah well America does that too!” Like that’s a defense. It’s like yes, those are both evil states who do evil things constantly, and they work in conjunction with each other and are not meaningfully separate. Yes.
fasting, meditations, rare yoga postures and those things …
The Free 