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Palestinian Solidarity Is Achieving Critical Mass
No other country, no other conflict, no other cause has permeated public spaces as profoundly as that of Palestine.
Aug 03, 2025
I rarely visit Rome without stopping at the Campo de' Fiori to pay homage to Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher who, in 1600, was brutally burned at the stake by the Roman Inquisition. His crime was daring to challenge entrenched dogmas and to think freely about God and the infinite nature of the universe.
As I stood beneath his imposing statue, a strange ruckus suddenly erupted, growing louder as a sizable group of protesters drew closer. Dozens of people of all ages banged on pots and pans with fervent urgency.
Following the initial shock and subsequent confusion, it became clear that the protest was an urgent attempt to awaken people to the horrific famine unfolding in Gaza. In no time, more people spontaneously joined in, some clapping, having arrived unprepared with their own tools for protest. Waiters from the square's osterie instinctively began to bang their hands on anything that could generate sound, adding to the growing clamor.
The square stood momentarily still, pulsating with the collective noise before the protesters marched on to another square, their numbers visibly swelling with each step.
Palestinians, Arabs, and all supporters of justice worldwide must urgently seize this critical opportunity to decisively defeat the Israeli Hasbara for good.
In the bustling streets of Rome, Palestinian flags were conspicuously the only foreign flags to occupy public spaces. They hung from light poles, were glued onto street signs, or flew proudly atop balconies.
No other country, no other conflict, no other cause has permeated public spaces as profoundly as that of Palestine. Though this phenomenon is not entirely new, the ongoing Israeli war and genocide in Gaza has undeniably amplified this solidarity, pushing it fiercely beyond the traditional confines of class, ideology, and political lines.
Yet, no other space in Italy can truly be compared to Naples. Palestinian symbols are everywhere, permeating the city's fabric as if Palestine is the paramount political concern for the entire region's populace.
What was particularly fascinating about the solidarity with Palestinians in this vibrant city was not merely the sheer volume of graffiti, posters, and flags, but the very specific references made to Palestinian martyrs, prisoners, and movements.
Pictures of Walid Daqqa, Shireen Abu Akleh and Khader Adnan, alongside precise demands tailored to what would have been considered, outside of Palestine, largely unfamiliar specifics to a global audience, were prominently displayed.
How did Naples become so intricately attuned to the Palestinian discourse to this extent? This vital question resonates far beyond Italy, applying to numerous cities across the world. Notably, this major shift in the deeper understanding of the Palestinian struggle and the widespread embrace of the Palestinian people is unfolding despite the pervasive and unrelenting media bias in favor of Israel and the persistent intimidation by Western governments of pro-Palestinian activists.
In politics, critical mass is achieved when an idea, initially championed by a minority group, decisively transforms into a mainstream issue. This crucial shift allows it to overcome tokenism and begin to exert real and tangible influence in the public sphere.
In many societies around the world, the Palestinian cause has already attained that critical mass. In others, where government crackdowns still stifle the debate at its very roots, organic growth nevertheless continues, thus promising an inevitable and fundamental change as well.
And this is precisely the haunting fear of numerous Israelis, especially within their political and intellectual classes. Writing in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on July 25, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak sounded the alarm once more. "The Zionist vision is collapsing," he wrote, adding that Israel is "stuck in a 'war of deception' in Gaza."
Though Israel's pervasive Hasbara machine is relentlessly striving to stave off the surging flood of sympathy with Palestine and the rising tide of rage against Israeli alleged war crimes, for now its focus remains intently fixed on complicating the extermination of Gaza, even at the high price of global condemnation and outrage.
When the war is finally over, however, Israel will undoubtedly exert its utmost efforts, employing numerous creative new ways to once more demonize the Palestinians and elevate itself—its so-called democracy and the "right to defend itself."
Due to the growing international credibility of the Palestinian voice, Israel is already resorting to using Palestinians who indirectly defend Israel by faulting Gaza and attempting to play the role of the victim for "both sides." This insidious tactic is poised to grow exponentially in the future, as it aims directly at creating profound confusion and turning Palestinians against each other.
Palestinians, Arabs, and all supporters of justice worldwide must urgently seize this critical opportunity to decisively defeat the Israeli Hasbara for good. They must not allow Israel's lies and deceit to once more define the discourse on Palestine on the global stage.
This war must be fiercely fought everywhere, and not a single space must be conceded—neither a parliament, a university, a sports event, or a street corner.
Giordano Bruno endured a most horrific and painful death, yet he never abandoned his profound beliefs. In the Palestine solidarity movement, we too must not waver from the struggle for Palestinian freedom and the accountability of war criminals, regardless of the time, energy, or resources required.
Now that Palestine has finally become the uncontested global cause, total unity is paramount to ensure the march toward freedom continues, so that the Gaza genocide becomes the final, agonizing chapter of the Palestinian tragedy.
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The Gilded Lie: Trump’s Ballroom, a Ballooning Deficit, and the Reign of Useful Splendor
Trump’s defenders will call the ballroom symbolic. They are right. It symbolizes a state that has abandoned the moral obligations of government and replaced them with architecture.
Aug 03, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump’s $200 million plan to construct a new golden ballroom at the White House is not just a monument to narcissism. It is statecraft by spectacle, financed by national rot. The timing is not subtle. It arrives alongside his “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” a federal budget that slashes Medicaid, food stamps, public housing, and climate programs, all while inflating the national deficit past $40 trillion. In this juxtaposition—architectural self-glorification for the ruling executive, fiscal starvation for the governed—we are not witnessing innovation. We are watching reruns of Versailles.
Louis XVI’s France operated on the principle of dépense utile, or “useful splendor”—the idea that royal extravagance was a form of political investment. Gold leaf and crystal chandeliers weren’t indulgence. They were instruments of authority. Versailles was never merely a residence. It was theater. It showcased the king’s ability to dominate not only his nobles but the metaphysical order of the kingdom itself. Every garden vista, every mirrored hallway, whispered the same thing: Obedience is beautiful, and beauty belongs to the crown.
This logic broke the country.
Calonne, Louis XVI’s finance minister in the 1780s, argued with sincerity that royal pageantry had diplomatic utility. France, he said, could not afford to appear poor. To reduce spending would be to lose face, both at home and abroad. It would risk undermining the delicate myth of royal omnipotence that kept the aristocracy groveling and foreign rivals guessing. So he doubled down. The state borrowed to cover Versailles’ operating costs. The result was a debt spiral so vast that it cracked the ancien régime wide open.
The French monarchy believed it could govern through performance. It fell because people eventually realized they were not guests at the party. They were the bill.
Fast forward to 2025. The United States now faces annual interest payments approaching $2 trillion, nearly one-third of all federal revenue. Unlike France in 1789, America has no tax-exempt aristocracy. Instead, it has tax-exempt billionaires. And instead of court ballet, it has cable news. But the fiscal structure is no less absurd. Trump’s budget performs the same dark magic: redirecting public funds toward elite vanity while accelerating structural collapse
The ballroom is a symptom. A projected $200 million marble-and-gold performance space, modeled loosely on Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, will sit at the center of Trump’s renovated West Wing. It will host foreign dignitaries, Republican fundraisers, and presidential photo ops. This is how kleptocracy dresses itself—in borrowed grandeur, gilded walls, and florid illusions of permanence.
Meanwhile, Medicaid is being “restructured.” Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are being “realigned.” These are words chosen to disguise cruelty. The One Big Beautiful Bill is an exercise in anti-governance. It is designed to shrink the public sphere until only the strong, the connected, and the loyal remain. The money isn’t gone. It’s just moved—upwards.
There is bitter historical irony here. The French Revolution did not erupt because peasants lacked bread. Bread shortages had existed for centuries. What changed was the visibility of the farce. The illusion cracked. People saw a monarchy bleeding the treasury dry for glitter and pride, while demanding austerity from everyone else. The palace at Versailles, once a symbol of majesty, began to look grotesque. The line between luxury and insult collapsed.
Today, Americans are watching that same shift in real time. A president calls himself “king” on social media and receives thunderous applause from his base. He designs a ballroom while communities lose clinics. He throws gala dinners while food pantries see record demand. The White House is not a palace, but it is being remade into one.
The parallels to 18th-century France are not metaphorical. They are operational. Royal France justified excess as necessary to preserve order and prestige. Trump’s America justifies it with the language of branding. In both systems, the result is the same: obscene pageantry disguising political decay. The court is televised now. The courtiers wear microphones. And the people foot the bill.
There is no modern equivalent of Calonne’s Assembly of Notables. No gathering of billionaires will be summoned to justify the deficit or explain why America can afford a golden ballroom but not insulin. The rituals of accountability have vanished. The theater remains.
Trump’s defenders will call the ballroom symbolic. They are right. It symbolizes a state that has abandoned the moral obligations of government and replaced them with architecture. It is the spatial embodiment of policy by spectacle. The Roman emperors built circuses. Louis built Versailles. Trump builds ballrooms. The continuity is not ideological. It is psychological.
And it is ending the same way.
History offers no guarantees, but it does offer warnings. The French monarchy believed it could govern through performance. It fell because people eventually realized they were not guests at the party. They were the bill.
The question is not whether America can afford another ballroom. The question is whether it can survive the regime that thinks it should build one.
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The Secret to Saving Democracy in the US Is a New Kind of Civics Education
We need a huge pile of money to explain the truth of Trump’s authoritarian overreach to the millions who have checked out from political life.
Jul 05, 2025
Are you part of the newly reinvigorated resistance? Are you someone who recognizes that President Donald Trump is an existential threat to everything wise and decent in this country? Do you believe democracy in the United States is dangling from a high cliff hovering above rocky terrain?
I would bet that every person who reads this article will answer all three questions with a thunderous, “Hell, yes!”
I am right there with you. But here’s the problem: I would also bet that no one who is not already of this mindset will ever read this article. And the same is true, or at least largely true, of hundreds of other articles, books, news reports, speeches, and the like raising the warning of growing autocracy. It is now conventional wisdom that left-wing Americans live in a different-informational universe than right-wing Americans. Progressives generally rely on sources like major media, NPR and PBS, and progressive websites. MAGA enthusiasts rely on hard-right propaganda sources like Fox News, Breitbart, right-wing radio, and, yes, for some the internet ravings of QAnon.
We are talking to ourselves.
This would be expensive. But then, how much is democracy worth to us?
These stark differences in the news consumed by the two groups has led to the left and right existing in two different perceived realities. One sees the world as it is, and the other sees it as portrayed in a far-right fever dream. Realistically, few hardcore MAGA supporters will change their outlook whatever they are told. Indeed, polls suggest that many would be perfectly happy with an autocratic form of government. But given the close political division in the United States, nudging even 1-2% of them into the real world could be enough to save American democracy.
There is, however, a more promising pool of Americans to try to recruit into the fight for democracy. The biggest opportunity isn’t MAGA (although we should still try). The better opportunity to find converts would be from, let’s call it, Team Oblivious.
They are out there by the millions. The term oblivious isn’t employed here as an insult. It’s a descriptor. These are people who pay absolutely no attention to politics or national news because they have absolutely no interest in them. Most aren’t stupid, and at least some would probably be reachable if we could somehow convince them to look up and see what is happening. Before we could do that effectively, however, we would first need to know how and where to talk to them.
The United States is flunking civics. Civics education in schools has been dramatically reduced. When the Founding Fathers spoke of the importance of widespread public education, they didn’t emphasize preparing children for employment as is true today. People like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams supported public education so the young would grow to become part of the informed citizenry necessary for a functioning republic.
Increasing civics education in schools, while important, obviously isn’t the answer to the current menace. We need to act now. Authoritarianism is on the march, and the rule of law is crumbling shockingly fast. It took Donald Trump only a few brief months to completely corrupt the Justice Department—turning it into his personal attack dog. He orders investigations of political opponents at the same time he protects his followers by deep-sixing investigations and abusing the pardon power. He is rapidly politicizing every part of the federal government, firing public servants in what are supposed to be apolitical positions and replacing them with unqualified hacks who will blindly follow him.
The good news is that the resistance is now largely past licking our wounds over Trump’s election and is ready to fight. But there is something else we should do. And that is where, at least in my dreams, a huge pile of money comes into play.
We need a new kind of civics education—and we need it soon.
This new form of civics education would feature a series of brief, professionally produced messages to be posted anywhere and everywhere “members” of Team Oblivious, and to a lesser extent MAGA, can be found. This would sometimes involve expensive media advertising, and at other times free messages such as emails and social media posts.
For this idea to come to fruition, people with the necessary skills (which I don’t have), and some initial funding, would need to create an organization dedicated to spreading the word of the attack against American democracy. Its mission statement could be educating the citizens of the United States about the growing threat to our democracy. The leadership of such an organization would need to be beyond reproach. Complete transparency would be essential as would vigorously auditing of the organization’s funds. I would personally suggest that no effort be made for such an organization to qualify as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization as that would open it to harassment by government officials answering to Trump.
Once set up, the organization’s first priority would have to be fundraising. Lots of fundraising. This would be expensive.
But then, how much is democracy worth to us?
Any such organization would be wise to consult with experts who can help paint a picture of Team Oblivious (group characteristics not personal information). What are their demographics, what they are interested in, what media do they consume, what social media do they visit, what type of work do they do, and what might move them. The answers would vary with different ages and other differing characteristics. The data would therefore need to be broken down into categories. At the same time, experts on every type of media, online and traditional, should also be consulted to assist in determining the best way to reach as many people as possible.
In terms of the actual messages to be sent, the best starting place would be the warning signs of authoritarianism. This would be combined with showing the many ways in which these signs point at Donald Trump. For example, experts agree that one particularly worrying sign of authoritarian government is the use of police and prosecutors to attack political opponents, something Trump is doing right now. This could be demonstrated in as little as 10 to 15 seconds, driving the point home before boredom grabs the wheel. This could be followed by new messages discussing other signs of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, as well as other relevant topics.
These messages would be spread anywhere and everywhere that Team Oblivious, and to some extent MAGA, can be found. As noted before, this would obviously be expensive, but well worth the cost.
Because if ever America needed an informed citizenry, it is now.
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