Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
bloom
bloom's Journal
bloom's Journal
March 9, 2019
"What does the World look like from Somalia? Explaining why Ilhan Omar Scares the Horses in DC"
"...In neither case has the US Congress been used to hearing from the colonized.
The voice of former and present colonies has been heard, however, since last November, in the persons of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. They are all Americans, but of Puerto Rican, Palestinian and Somali heritage, respectively.
...European civilization doesnt look like something to be celebrated so effusively from the vantage point of Mogadishu, an ancient site of East African civilization likely founded by Iranian merchants, and a key node in medieval world maritime trade. Racist hierarchies and segregation, crushing wars of conquest, the disruption and displacement of entire regions, and then the debilitating intrigues of the Cold War and the War on Terror, along with the naked exploitation of Somali fisheries and the creeping deserts of global heating these are the legacies of civilization.
When the victims of this European Fascism and its less explicit successors speak from Congress, they do not forget. They do not forget the refugees and the displaced, whether Somali or Palestinian. They do not forget the powerless and subjected and forgotten, whether Somali or Palestinian or Puerto Rican. They do not forget the civilian victims of the war on terror, or the US coddling of the Saudis, who have sometimes inspired hard line movements to attack tolerant Muslim traditionalism...."
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/somalia-explaining-scares.html
JUAN COLE "What does the World look like from Somalia? ...."
"What does the World look like from Somalia? Explaining why Ilhan Omar Scares the Horses in DC"
"...In neither case has the US Congress been used to hearing from the colonized.
The voice of former and present colonies has been heard, however, since last November, in the persons of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. They are all Americans, but of Puerto Rican, Palestinian and Somali heritage, respectively.
...European civilization doesnt look like something to be celebrated so effusively from the vantage point of Mogadishu, an ancient site of East African civilization likely founded by Iranian merchants, and a key node in medieval world maritime trade. Racist hierarchies and segregation, crushing wars of conquest, the disruption and displacement of entire regions, and then the debilitating intrigues of the Cold War and the War on Terror, along with the naked exploitation of Somali fisheries and the creeping deserts of global heating these are the legacies of civilization.
When the victims of this European Fascism and its less explicit successors speak from Congress, they do not forget. They do not forget the refugees and the displaced, whether Somali or Palestinian. They do not forget the powerless and subjected and forgotten, whether Somali or Palestinian or Puerto Rican. They do not forget the civilian victims of the war on terror, or the US coddling of the Saudis, who have sometimes inspired hard line movements to attack tolerant Muslim traditionalism...."
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/somalia-explaining-scares.html
March 9, 2019
From Juan Cole
Criticizing Israel Isnt Anti-Semitic. Heres What Is
...Omar has criticized the U.S. governments support for Israeli actions that break international law. And shes spoken out against the role money in politics plays in shoring up that support.
Neither is anti-semitic.
What is anti-semitic is the cacophony of mainstream media and politicians saying that criticizing U.S. policy toward the state of Israel is the same as attacking Jewish people.
Like most American Jewish youth, I grew up knowing Israel....
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/criticizing-israel-semitic.html
-----
From Juan Cole - Criticizing Israel Isn't Anti-Semitic. Here's What Is
From Juan Cole
Criticizing Israel Isnt Anti-Semitic. Heres What Is
...Omar has criticized the U.S. governments support for Israeli actions that break international law. And shes spoken out against the role money in politics plays in shoring up that support.
Neither is anti-semitic.
What is anti-semitic is the cacophony of mainstream media and politicians saying that criticizing U.S. policy toward the state of Israel is the same as attacking Jewish people.
Like most American Jewish youth, I grew up knowing Israel....
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/criticizing-israel-semitic.html
-----
March 8, 2019
" Ilhan Omar in her own words, speaking last week at Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. While the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. This is a part of what she said.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Its almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that is supposed to be about foreign policy, our engagement, our advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get to be labeled in something, and that ends the discussion, because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with Palestine.
So, for me, I want to talk aboutI want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask: Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy? Right?
I want to ask the questionI want to ask the question of why is it OK for you to push, for you to bethere are so many people. I mean, most of us are new, but many members of Congress have been there forever. Some of them have been there before we were born. So I know many of them, many of them, were fightingwere fighting for people to be freed, for people to live in dignity in South Africa. I know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity, to have self-determination. So I knowI know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, Here is a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have, we get to be called names, and we get to be labeled as hateful?"
... snipped
Ilhan Omar in Her Own Words: I Know What Hate Feels Like (DemocracyNow!)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/ilhan_omar_in_her_own_words" Ilhan Omar in her own words, speaking last week at Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. While the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. This is a part of what she said.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Its almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that is supposed to be about foreign policy, our engagement, our advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get to be labeled in something, and that ends the discussion, because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with Palestine.
So, for me, I want to talk aboutI want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask: Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy? Right?
I want to ask the questionI want to ask the question of why is it OK for you to push, for you to bethere are so many people. I mean, most of us are new, but many members of Congress have been there forever. Some of them have been there before we were born. So I know many of them, many of them, were fightingwere fighting for people to be freed, for people to live in dignity in South Africa. I know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity, to have self-determination. So I knowI know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, Here is a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have, we get to be called names, and we get to be labeled as hateful?"
... snipped
March 8, 2019
" Ilhan Omar in her own words, speaking last week at Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. While the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. This is a part of what she said.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Its almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that is supposed to be about foreign policy, our engagement, our advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get to be labeled in something, and that ends the discussion, because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with Palestine.
So, for me, I want to talk aboutI want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask: Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy? Right?
I want to ask the questionI want to ask the question of why is it OK for you to push, for you to bethere are so many people. I mean, most of us are new, but many members of Congress have been there forever. Some of them have been there before we were born. So I know many of them, many of them, were fightingwere fighting for people to be freed, for people to live in dignity in South Africa. I know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity, to have self-determination. So I knowI know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, Here is a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have, we get to be called names, and we get to be labeled as hateful?"
... snipped
Ilhan Omar in Her Own Words: I Know What Hate Feels Like (Democracy Now!)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/ilhan_omar_in_her_own_words" Ilhan Omar in her own words, speaking last week at Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. While the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. This is a part of what she said.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Its almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that is supposed to be about foreign policy, our engagement, our advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get to be labeled in something, and that ends the discussion, because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with Palestine.
So, for me, I want to talk aboutI want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask: Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy? Right?
I want to ask the questionI want to ask the question of why is it OK for you to push, for you to bethere are so many people. I mean, most of us are new, but many members of Congress have been there forever. Some of them have been there before we were born. So I know many of them, many of them, were fightingwere fighting for people to be freed, for people to live in dignity in South Africa. I know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity, to have self-determination. So I knowI know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, Here is a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have, we get to be called names, and we get to be labeled as hateful?"
... snipped
Profile Information
Member since: 2002Number of posts: 11,635