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Advocacy

Three quick thoughts

ContraPoints is a very successful creator of YouTube video essays that are critical of American politics and discourse from a progressive perspective. She has been silent on the genocide of the Palestinian people until about two weeks ago and while there are plenty of other commentators that have raked her comments over the coals. I want to pen my own thoughts down.

Also a Zio defended the concepts of ethno-states and I need to clarify my own thoughts there as well.

Finally AOC disappoints yet again.

Islamophobic attacks continue

Zohran Mamdani, Democratic Nominee for Mayor of New York City, has faced constant attacks targeting him for his faith since his campaign for Mayor started to see success.1

On the 2nd of July 2025, one day after Canada Day, a Muslim woman was swarmed in the city of Osahwa, her hijab pulled off of her as she was stomped in the head.2

Three Palestinian men were shot in Burlington Vermont for the sin of speaking Arabic and wearing keffiyehs, one of them will never walk again. 3

Six year old Wadea al-Fayoume was stabbed to death by his landlord in Plainfield Township, who yelled "You Muslims must die." 4

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day everyone. Let's take the opportunity to talk about something our Prime Minister, Mark Carney said on CNN in late June 2025. He said, and I am paraphrasing slightly that we cannot have peace in the Middle East unless we have a 'Zionist, if you will, Palestinian state' that recognizes the right of Israel to 'not live in fear'.

This is so incredibly insane that I am left wondering what Canadian values even are anymore. Let's quickly analyze this.

Being Shia

Us Shia people are in the news a lot lately. What with the groups and countries that are directly resisting Israel outside of Palestine being Shia, and Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City being Shia as well. And since it's the start of the Islamic Month of Muharram, which is an incredibly important time for us. It's a good time to talk about what that means.

The drumbeat succeeds once again

I was in Saudi Arabia in 1990 when the First Gulf War erupted. While I was never in real danger, I vividly remember, as a 9 year old, crowding into my parent's bedroom and putting on gas masks to ward off any chemical weapons Saddam might have lobbed at Saudi Arabia in retaliation for hosting American bases and troops.

Then, at least, there was a clear justification for the war, Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and the entire world, under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, was united in authorizing the use of force to liberate Kuwait.

In the 35 years since however, the pretexts for wars in West Asia, by the West, have grown increasingly flimsy, and yet the war drums never fail.

The reason why seems obvious to me.

Iranian Bias

I think it is safe to say that most people who grow up in the West have a negative bias towards Iran. This is neither a good thing or a bad thing. Being biased is just a core part of being human.

The problem comes when we treat our biases as conclusions instead of the first reaction that they actually are

The InterFaith we can do, but between ourselves?

I attended an inter faith dialogue event a few months ago in my hometown that was setup by a Shia Muslim group on the topic of end times prophecies. It was a well attended and well run panel with a number of religious leaders explaining their own theology's views of the end times. Most of the presenters were incredibly respectful of each other and the topic itself was a pretty neutral one.

So I was pretty flabbergasted when the Muslims on the panel started going after each other with aggressive rhetoric.

The Horror of Israeli logic spreads even further

On the 21st of May 2025, two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington were gunned down in what seems to be a premediated attack in Washington D.C, the capital of the United States of America. The two were not armed, they were not combatants.

It should go without saying that causing any injury to non-combatants is horrific and an act worthy of condemnation.

There are three takeaways here though, that if not realized and acted upon will keep the situation of the world degrading further and further.

Canada Election Result 2025. Everybody Loses but not completely

In a healthy and functioning democracy, all I would need to do is research the issues, the party policies, the candidates, cast my vote and go about my life with a minimal level of stress.

As I am not in a healthy and functioning democracy I instead pounded the pavement and campaigned for Vote Palestine and my local Liberal candidate, Adam Van Koverden, who publicly did everything that I could realistically expect of him on the Palestinian cause.

He won. But there's a lot in the election that gives me a lot of stress.

And here I will vent about it.

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