Are you an REI member? The REI worker union is asking members to vote NO/withhold in their current board elections. More here: https://www.ourrei.com/2025-rei-board-elections

2/ Here are two definitions of antisemitism that are more careful on precisely these issues:

1. The Jerusalem Declaration On Antisemitism (2020)
https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/

Excerpt: Examples of conduct that are NOT antisemitic: "11. Supporting the Palestinian demand for justice and the full grant of their political, national, civil and human rights, as encapsulated in international law…12. Criticizing or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism, or arguing for a variety of constitutional arrangements for Jews and Palestinians…13. Evidence-based criticism of Israel as a state. This includes its institutions and founding principles. It also includes its policies and practices, domestic and abroad, such as the conduct of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza."

2. The Nexus Document (2021)
https://nexusproject.us/the-nexus-document/

Excerpt: "Using accusations of antisemitism as a tool to suppress criticism of Israel is dangerous on many levels. It distracts attention from bona fide antisemitism, infringes on the principle of freedom of expression, and militates against constructive dialogue and debate among people with differing opinions."

1/ #Harvard just adopted the #IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of #antisemitism for the purpose of campus rules on harassment and discrimination.
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/01/harvard-settles-antisemitism-lawsuits

If you're new to these definitional difficulties, there are many prominent and non-equivalent definitions of antisemitism, and the debates about them can be bitter.

I'm a Harvard employee of Jewish descent who lost family in the Holocaust, and I'm not happy with the recent decision.

The IHRA definition (2016) is not careful to distinguish criticism of #Jews from criticism of #Israel. On the contrary, most of its 11 examples of antisemitism deliberately mix the two.
https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism

🧵

Quoting Daniel Blatman and Amos Goldberg (historians of the #Holocaust and genocide at the Hebrew University):

[…] No one gave the soldiers in the Netzarim Corridor, who are killing innocent people, an order to do so. But those who do it (certainly not all the soldiers) understand that no harm will come to them. A combination of hints from above (from politicians and army officers, such as Brigadier General Yehuda Vach) and murderous recklessness from below—this is how genocide is carried out.

Blatman and Goldberg, who specialize in the #Holocaust and genocide, argue that #Israel's actions in #Gaza constitute #genocide, emphasizing that while not identical to the Holocaust, the events share the same underlying crime of extermination.

They refute counterarguments by pointing to historical precedents where democratic nations committed atrocities deemed genocidal, such as during the #Algerian and #Vietnam wars. The scholars highlight the devastating impact of Israel's military operations, including the high number of civilian casualties, the destruction of infrastructure, and the dehumanizing rhetoric employed, concluding that these factors align with the definition of genocide as the destruction of a collective's ability to exist.

[…] Genocide is any action that causes the destruction of a collective's ability to exist, not necessarily its physical killing. It is estimated that nearly 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 110,000 have been wounded. The number of those who remain buried under the rubble is unknown, and may never be known. The vast majority of the victims are uninvolved civilians. 90% of the population in Gaza has been displaced from their homes and lives in dire conditions that increase mortality.

[…] The killing of children, starvation, the destruction of infrastructure, including the infrastructure of the medical system, the destruction of most homes, including the obliteration of entire neighborhoods and towns like Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the ethnic cleansing in the northern Gaza Strip, the destruction of all universities and most cultural institutions and mosques, the destruction of government and organizational infrastructure, mass graves, the destruction of local food production infrastructure and water reservoirs—all of these paint a clear genocidal picture. Gaza as a human, national-collective entity no longer exists. This is exactly what genocide looks like.

[…] In this context, it is worth noting that most acts of genocide are perceived by their perpetrators as an act of self-defense against their victims. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict undoubtedly belongs to this category; the genocide in Gaza is perceived by most Israelis as a defensive war that came after the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7th.

[…] Can intent be proven in the case of Gaza? Aside from the idea of using an atomic bomb, Israeli politicians, senior military officials, and media figures have made many statements indicating genocidal intent, and all of them have been documented: There are no innocents in Gaza; we will carry out a second Nakba; we must destroy Amalek, and more. And yet, the concept of intent is very problematic. William Schabas, one of the leading jurists on the subject of genocide, explains this in his important book, Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes, in which he analyzes the decisions of the special international tribunals that tried the perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

[…] Schabas states that proving the intent required to convict a person or a state of genocide is much more demanding and complex than proving the intent required in a regular criminal murder trial. Especially when it comes to a state—after all, on what basis can the intent of a state be determined? If the murderers carry out their actions while making a declaration, instruction, speech, or the like, that has genocidal significance, it is of course easier to establish that intent. In the absence of such material, the prosecution must rely on evidence from the crime itself and the persistence with which the murderers carried out the killing, which indicates a clear desire to destroy the group.

[…] The appropriate definition for the atrocities that Israel is causing in Gaza is an issue that has been under discussion for over a year among researchers, jurists, political activists, journalists, and others—a discussion that most Israelis are not exposed to. Indeed, for the tens of thousands of children killed, wounded, and orphaned, and for the babies freezing to death in Gaza, it does not matter what definition will eventually be given to this crime by the International Court of Justice or by historians.

Hebrew https://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/2025-01-16/ty-article-opinion/.premium/00000194-6ee1-d545-a39e-eee9a59a0000

Note: order of quotes different than in the original article

@histodons
@israel
@palestine
#IsraelOccupation
#IsraelWarCrimes
#GazaGenocide
#Palestine

I was already signed up for reading everything that Andrei Cimpian ever publishes but this just re-subscribed me

"Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661324003292

edison

🚨BREAKING🚨 The MIT Coalition for Palestine representing 20 student and faculty groups just released an 83-page report 'MIT Science for Genocide' on how MIT conducts war research on campus sponsored directly by the Israeli military.

Read: https://archive.org/details/mit-science-for-genocide #antireport

For context, 14 tons is almost 3x the average CO2 emissions of the average EU citizen.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

One flight. One billionaire.

#ClimateDiary

https://mastodon.social/@elonjet/113675826311280839

I was clearing out my inbox and had notes about a blog post I'd been thinking of. So here it is! In it, I argue that it might be useful to think about "liability shedding" as a key complement to "opportunity hoarding" in the (re)production of group inequalities. https://scatter.wordpress.com/2024/12/18/liability-shedding-as-the-complement-of-opportunity-hoarding/

I mean, you still shouldn't, but they have no grounds to complain when someone does, taking them at their word. But please don't, regardless. https://bird.makeup/users/_zachfoster/statuses/1865122881048580568

Replace "AI will be trained on your posts" with "someone will datamine your posts". Those actions are not passive, _someone_ is making choices that you might not agree with.

NEW YORK: Make sure Majority Leader Schumer hears from you! Tell Sen. Schumer you’re disappointed by his deal that will allow Trump to fill four critical judicial vacancies instead of filling them now with pro-democracy judges. We expect Senate Democrats to fight back against GOP obstruction efforts, not reward them! https://act.indivisible.org/sign/newyorkers-tell-senator-schumer-youre-disappointed-he-isnt-fighting-confirm-all-judicial-nominees?source=mastodon&medium=directpost

Next up on the
#FemQuant
events calendar: Dr. Jamie Budnick presenting 'Thinking surveying sexuality: imagining queer demography beyond the health paradigm and charmed circle'. Join us on Zoom 5 Dec 2024 11:30 EST/16:30 GMT/17:30 CET https://femquant.wordpress.com/seminar-series/

"Increasingly, it’s becoming clear that the only way out of the frat problem at Cornell is a complete, permanent ban, replacing frats with democratic, inclusive spaces that don’t commit unspeakable crimes seemingly every semester."

https://cornellsun.com/2024/11/12/editorial-ban-the-frats/

This is what we mean when we point out that German “philosemitism" is dehumanising to Jews. https://wisskomm.social/@mmzpotsdam/113474618449238509

Claiming this happens “despite" the US ultimatum is giving them too much credit. It might well be happening because of the ultimatum, just to really drive home the point that absolutely nothing will happen regardless and they can do whatever they want. They are basically deliberately restricting aid even further to call Biden's bluff und humiliate him a bit more. https://norden.social/@stephie_hamburg/113468711896941445

600 academics and writers, including Thomas Piketty and Deborah Feldman, have signed a public letter accusing #Germany of "complicity in crimes against international law" and demanding the country "stops supporting the annihilation of Palestinians" #Genocide #Israel #Gaza

https://www.fr.de/kultur/gesellschaft/israelisches-bombardement-deutschland-als-mittaeter-93405541.html
https://www.fr.de/kultur/gesellschaft/israelisches-bombardement-deutschland-als-mittaeter-93405541.html

Climate tech is full of grifters making ridiculous claims. Do y’all remember when this company claimed that they remove 20 tonnes of CO₂ to make a 1-carat diamond? 😆 1 carat is by definition 0.2 g. 20 tonnes of CO₂ is 5.45 tonnes of C. That’s seven orders of magnitude difference. Alchemy indeed!

WORDLE INCOMING

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/business/media/new-york-times-tech-guild-ends-strike.html

The 'Woke Agenda' is actually just Human Rights. Every time someone says 'woke agenda', mentally substitute 'human rights' and the conversation will become clearer.