Lebanon’s health minister has said what is happening in his country is “carnage”, as hospitals struggle to cope with the number of casualties from two days of widespread Israeli air strikes targeting the armed group Hezbollah.

Dr Firass Abiad told the BBC it was “clear” that many of the 550 people killed in Monday’s attacks were civilians, including children and women.

  • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    I’m voting party for Socialism and Liberation in November and you can too.

    They’re running on a platform of Palestinian statehood and an end to arms shipments to Israel.

    No word on their position with regard to Israel’s war with Lebanon, but I’m confident it’s one that I’ll support.

    • If it didn’t have negative repercussions for others I would encourage you and then laugh in your face when Trump wins.

      But since it does have repercussions for others:

      Please don’t actually do that. I know that your voting system is unsatisfying and I know that you don’t want to participate in it anymore. I know that the large parties are profitting from it disproportionately and people are forced to vote for people that they don’t really want in power, just to stop someone else.

      I understand all that. But please also understand that the stakes of these Elections could be the highest stakes of any election during your lifetime.

      I understand that this is unsatisfying and undesirable. But please, like often said, “don’t waste your vote”. I just want to give you a small annectote: Pacifists are always noble. They always deserve to be praised. But that doesn’t mean that they’re always doing the right thing. Hitler was very fond of french, russian and US-American pacifists.

      I don’t think that you’re a fascist. But I do know that you’re doing exactly what the fascists want you to do.

      • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Sorry for the late response. Disasters happen!

        I will not vote for the democrats and no argument will convince me.

        I do want to participate in the electoral system and am not forced to vote for people or parties I have no interest in.

        You aren’t going to convince anyone with the most important election rhetoric. If a person isn’t already saying it along with you then they’ll be driven away by those words.

        I’m not throwing away my vote. It’ll be counted just like all the others. I know this from being involved in the process of elections.

        I’m not concerned with what the fascist want.

        If the democrats want my vote they can adopt a platform I support, actively pursue it to some real material ends and maybe I’ll cast a ballot for them in two years or four years.

      • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Hey, in case you’re not familiar with it, the Party for Socialism and Liberation is a communist party, not some right wing formation like the tea party or whatever.

        So nothing about my support for that party would make me a supporter of trump.

    • thesporkeffect@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Facts:

      1. Either Donald or Kamala is going to be elected, unless something really bad happens.
      2. Neither candidate is great or even good. But one of the candidates is WAY worse.
      3. In our FPTP system, not voting is exactly the same as voting for the candidate you want less.
      4. Accelerationism is bad. Vote for the least bad candidate and keep pressuring local and state representatives for RCV.
      • distantsounds@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Fact: Joe Biden is the current president and the one allowing this to happen by supplying the weapons to enable the Israeli escalation

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            2 months ago

            It wasn’t supposed to. I just didn’t want this key fact to be scrubbed from understanding the situation.

              • distantsounds@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                No worries, it’s a tense situation that most of us are unhappy about. The gaslighting and whitewashing of the situation by the current administration is something I believe that needs to be called out and challenged. It’s all a hot mess but we should always demand better from those with the power to make change

      • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Not voting for is the best strategy. If everyone who was dissatisfied would stop voting, there would be more progress than continuing to choose the “lesser of two evils” (who happily enable and cheer for genocide, BTW)

        • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          That is one of the stupidest takes I have ever seen, and I’ve been on the internet since AOL chatrooms.

          Not voting makes politicians less accountable to you. If you somehow organized everyone who thought like you do, regardless of your agenda, and convinced every single one of them to not vote, then you would achieve the lofty political goal of… absolutely ensuring that no politician would ever try to pursue your goals.

          Voting, by definition, is what makes politicians give a shit about your cause. There’s a reason why the Greek word meaning “one who does not take part in public affairs” is the root of the modern word “idiot.”

          • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            I wish anybody would pay me!

            If enough people stop voting it would force the government to legitimize itself. It would show how many people are actually dissatisfied and empower all of us. It could lead to more people refusing to vote in future, further eroding the appearance of legitimacy of the current arrangement

            • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              it would force the government to legitimize itself

              LOL, no. It wouldn’t force the government to do anything.

              Since you’ve never seen a ballot, try googling one. You’ll see a bunch of downballot races in which very few people vote. Those races all have winners, and those winners always have and always will give zero fucks about legitimizing themselves to nonvoters.

                • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  It’s not the same result. Politicians have to appeal to voters, they are free to ignore nonvoters.

                  If you’re not voting, then you’re not voting for Trump as well as not voting for Harris. Are you surprised that Trump isn’t courting your vote? You shouldn’t be.

                  But Harris has no more reason to court your vote than Trump does. You’re a nonvoter, so they are both ignoring you.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          “The best strategy is to stay silent on Gaza. Because if everyone is silent on Gaza, then politicians would be forced to ask us: Hey, what are you thinking about Gaza?”

          Of course the Silent Treatment strategy won’t work. Refusing to vote is the same strategy.

          • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            OK well tell me about Michigan Arabs and how much power they are holding in this election.

            If not voting is so powerless then why are you all so upset about the idea of people not voting?

    • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      And what is your proposed solution?

      Pointing out the obvious problem without proposing a solution is a giant waste of everyone’s time.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Let’s elect the old man that barrages AI slop and all caps posts on his socials eighty times a day

      • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        I won’t vote at all

        Trump winning would be hilarious though, watching liberals melt down after justifying genocide for a year

        • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Not participating in your own governance is the worst idea imaginable. I’d rather someone vote third party than proudly not voting at all tbh. Theres some socialists on some ballots that could use your tally for their numbers games at the very least.

          • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago
            1. Voting is the easiest, least frequent form of participating in democracy

            2. Not voting is a valid democratic choice until they give us a choice that includes “none of the above” on every ballot race

            3. It’s not on me, it’s on the candidates and parties to court my vote. They don’t even bother 🤷

            4. Not voting gets to systemic change. Voting tells the system that you’re satisfied with its current form

            • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Complete backwards logic in an electoral democacry. You must vote. If you only show up to vote for president and you aren’t fist fucking your local elections like its going out of style (by your comment it seems to be) then you aren’t participating in your own governance and allowing others to decide for you. Not voting is how we got here, because that allows unpopular people and ideas the privilege of no competition. Not voting is how you get your rights taken away.

              • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                Address each point?

                1. You MUST NOT vote. If you don’t like the choice then you have freedom to abstain

                2. You can vote in local elections and abstain from races in which you don’t like the choices. I firmly believe we need “none of the above” on all ballot races

                3. Participation in government is not only limited to voting. See my Point 1 in the previous comment. If anything, insistence on voting as the be-all-end-all allows people to ignore the actual hard work of democratic responsibilities

                4. “unpopular ideas get no competition” is logically false. If both choices are unpopular or unsatisfactory, the ideas are competing against the threat of losing the race due to apathetic voters

                5. What rights have ever been gained by voting? In the US, pretty much every positive social and legislative change came via collective direct organization and action and/or threat of violence (if not actual violence).

                Your talking points are tired, illogical, and smack of received wisdom rather than coming from a deliberately thought-out set of ideas and understanding of the world.

                I ask you this: How do you know I will vote how you want me to vote?

                • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  I dont. But you should partake in your government. I’m not answering all your points. Go ahead and dont vote. But dont go around convincing people that the only way to win is not to play. Thats exactly how you surrender in this sort of system. You can propose shit and get it ratified as well, but abstaining from voting in elections outside of party primaries as a protest means nothing when most of the country doesnt do it anyway.

            • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              It’s not on me, it’s on the candidates and parties to court my vote.

              You completely misunderstand politics.

              Voters aren’t consumers. Politicians aren’t companies trying to maximize market share. All they need is 51% of the people who actually vote. If you don’t vote, then you literally aren’t part of the equation.

              “It’s on parties to court my vote” is like “It’s on Starbucks to court my filling out a comment card”. Starbucks doesn’t care at all if you fill out a comment card or not. They just want the people who do fill them out to write positive comments.

              • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                This is totally illogical and you know it. And your Starbucks gift card “metaphor” is a complete false equivalence.

                Why do parties run campaigns if their job isn’t convince voters? Billions of dollars and endless hours of research are spent courting votes but you say it’s not their job and they don’t care? Wha???

                • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  Yes, their job is to convince voters. The people who will actually vote. They are not trying to convince nonvoters. Nonvoters don’t matter.

                  How many Harris campaign commercials are playing in Paris? Zero, because Parisians can’t vote. Harris isn’t trying to court Parisians, and for the exact same reason she isn’t courting American nonvoters. You’ve been written off as irrelevant to this election.

      • Maalus@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Are you angry because they are right? Neither Kamala nor Trump plan to stop the weapon shipments and support for Israel.

            • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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              Because I’m tired of reading shit takes by people who are either getting paid to post their nonsense or are so fucking stupid that they’re doing it for free.

              • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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                Would you rather I stop posting here and vote for Trump instead?

                Is genocide OK because Biden and then kamala Harris will be letting it happen?

              • Maalus@lemmy.world
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                How is what they said nonsense? The facts stand - Kamala won’t stop arms shipment to Israel, and the support for Israeli government. Democrats endorse her and what currently is happening. Palestinian speakers are turned away at the democratic convention.

                Going “but Trumpf!” is whataboutism and nothing more. Kamala deserves all the shit she gets for policies that directly lead to more death and more war.

                • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  Going “but Trumpf!” is whataboutism and nothing more.

                  That’s where we disagree. Others have explained this already, if you don’t get it that’s on you.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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      Kamala has openly stated in the debate that she believes the only way is a two-state solution. Whether that’s realistic or not, it’s a pretty strong statement, and there’s some hope on the horizon. Unless until she actually gets to do anything, da Joe will sleep through the conflict turning into the entire region being nuked to the ground by the IDF.

      Fix your fuckin democracy already instead of posting trump bad memes on lemmy.

      • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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        She said that but then she had a private meeting with Netanyahu. She is a coward who didn’t show up the day he was addressing Congress so that she wouldn’t have to be seen clapping for him

        If Dems lose this election (they probably won’t) it would be in large part because of her party’s cowardly stance on the Palestine issue and continuing fealty to Israel.

      • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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        If Democrats see Gazan children as totally expendable, what makes you think they see anybody else differently?

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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          Politicians see Gaza as relatively unimportant because American voters generally see Gaza as relatively unimportant. Poll after poll shows that voters are far more interested in affordable housing and women’s rights. And by “voters” I mean the people who will actually vote, so that doesn’t include you.

          When voters think Gaza is more important than affordable housing and women’s rights, politicians will too.

        • Madison420@lemmy.world
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          And Republicans don’t? They’re seen as a commodity by Republicans and one they aren’t willing to invest in hence every argument being about money at heart.