Fixing Your Heart

Idag är det förintelsens minnesdag. Förintelselägret Auschwitz-Birkenau befriades för 80 år sedan och de brutala, otänkbara och oförlåtliga brott mot mänskligheten som uppdagades ekade ut över en värld i chock. Hur kunde vi låta det ske? Hur kunde vi undgå att förstå vilka fruktansvärda brott som judar utsattes för? Som värld tog vi kollektivt ansvar för vad som hände, vi lovade oss själva och framtida generationer att det aldrig skulle hända igen. Att vi från och med den här dagen, för 80 år sedan, skulle vara vaksamma, handlingskraftiga och orädda inför att stoppa massvåld, speciellt om det var baserat på etnicitet, religion eller nationalitet.  Med facit i hand är det, hjärtskärande nog, inte svårt att förstå hur detta kunde ske för 80 år sedan. Hur människor valde att blunda för tecken på brott. hur folkmordet på judar kunde hända utan att vi stoppade det. Folkmord är de värsta brotten människor kan begå mot varandra, och i en tid där information var mer sparsmakad och mer cent...

Even if you decide that you’re not cut out for street activism or are not in a privileged position to speak out without repercussions from the people and institutions you depend on to make a living, there is still something that everybody can do regardless of class or geographical location: boycott.  This effectively shows your empathy through how you consume, and make no mistake, without our collective consumption and money, we can severely hamper their means to inflict their agendas onto the world. So before you let apathy and fear clain your voice in the struggle for a more equitable, kind, and solidaristic society, ‘vote with your wallet.’ That is how you hit them where it hurts. The BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) has a very comprehensive guide on how you tackle specifically the Israeli-associated companies and conglomerates that enable the slaughter of thousands of innocents. (source: DBS Movement ). And before you ask, yes, it works. Historically, it's been a p...

One thing this holiday season made me realize is just how bad you become at parties once you start gaining class consciousness. All of a sudden, 1) it’s the only thing on your mind when people ask you things, meaning most conversations either end in awkward silence or in broken relationships, and 2) it makes pretty much all holidays, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year, etc. appear in the light of colonialism and how badly veiled they at hiding that particular historical legacy. Not to mention, it is almost impossible to find cheers and joy when you know that innocent people are being bombed as we open our first presents or that children are freezing to death as we begin our New Year's festivities. It’s a harsh reminder these holidays about how those who have everything versus those who have nothing live their lives. In a perfect world, I would simply wish everyone a Happy New Year. But I suspect 2025 will be a turning point for the Western Empire. We will initially not see any ...

2024 has brought about a tectonic shift in how many perceive the world. Many of the foundations we've taken for granted for most of our lives have been shaken and shattered. The inefficacy of International law, the lack of morals in our peers, the silence and apathy of our friends and family, the corruption of our world leaders, and the complicit gaslighting of the media. Like many, I have experienced a profound disappointment in humanity. It's been a year of awakening to not just an ongoing genocide but to the systematic injustices that have allowed the cataclysmic events in Palestine to unfold. The system has been revealed for how broken it is and how the unrestrained avarice that fuels the Western world. For me, it's been a year of realizing the power of change and action. Opening up from seemingly nowhere, discovering the world's horrors could have broken me. It should have. Seeing the images of dead children daily for the last six months, seeing their parents in ut...

The celebration of the supposed birth of a man who preached love, compassion, and solidarity with the oppressed is upon us. Whether or not he was real is irrelevant; it is the ideas he represents that are meant to shape our culture and values. Yet, as millions celebrate Christmas—exchanging gifts, feasting, and singing carols—there is a willful blindness to the bloodshed, horror, and death that unfolded in Gaza just last night. This hypocrisy reveals a deeper truth about who we are. We like to see ourselves as noble, empathetic, and just, but our actions betray this self-image. We are the people who, despite famine and war raging right outside our windows, choose to keep the party going. Christmas cheer offers no reprieve from this truth—it only amplifies it. While this weekend may seem to add another layer of ignorance under the guise of festive indulgence, the reality is far starker: ignorance is not incremental; it is absolute. Either we attune ourselves to the nature of the empire ...

We Need Sanctions on Israel Now — Not After Christmas, Not After Another Child Dies Sweden’s inaction in the face of Israel’s war crimes is a stain on its national conscience. We can no longer afford to hide behind neutrality, empty rhetoric, and diplomatic decorum. Every moment of delay, every hollow statement, every refusal to act with urgency marks us as complicit in the atrocities being committed in Gaza. We must demand sanctions on Israel, and we must do it now. Sweden, as a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, has a responsibility to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law. States are obligated to ensure that neither they, nor their partners, commit war crimes. By continuing trade and diplomatic relations with Israel, a state credibly accused of genocide and other war crimes, Sweden is failing to meet this obligation. ( Geneva Convention IV, Article 1 : " The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all ...