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FarhadThe New England Journal of Medicine has finally broken its silence on Gaza, only to obscure the truth of an American-backed Israeli genocide unfolding in real time.At long last, the Journal’s silence has been broken. Its long-awaited intervention comes in the form of an article titled “Health Care Bridges—Pathways toward Trust in Gaza and Beyond.” A piece on such a charged subject would have been carefully edited by the Journal’s staff, including, most likely, its editor in chief. For a powerful American institution that has waited until now to address US-backed violence in Gaza, the article is as evasive and anti-political as we might have expected.The piece—written by Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Israelis Noam Alon and Avner Halperin, and Abdalrahman Ahmed, a Palestinian from Gaza—rejects any rigorous accounting of Israel’s crimes against Gaza’s medical infrastructure in favor of gauzy platitudes about how healthcare can be an avenue for “building trust” between two warring populations. “The four of us, Palestinians and Israelis, firmly believe in the need to foster hope and build trust,” the authors write. “While watching hospitals turn into battlefields, we’ve also witnessed firsthand the power of healthcare to overcome animosity and bridge the divides between populations in conflict.” It takes great pains to describe the destruction of Gaza’s hospitals and the deaths of its doctors and patients as an unfortunate byproduct of war, as though bombs simply fell from the sky independent of anyone motivated by genocidal intent and without any connection to a long-standing colonial project.Related Stories Israel Has Created a Medical Apocalypse in Gaza Mary Turfah The US Medical Establishment Is Making One of Its Worst Mistakes—Again Eric Reinhart and Mary T. Bassett Fraiha, Halperin, and Alon have appointments at Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative, which last year hosted Jared Kushner to discuss “finishing the job” in Gaza so as to clear the way for developing Gaza’s “very valuable, from a real estate perspective…waterfront property.” (Ahmed’s work is based at Brandeis University.) In a conspicuous conflict of interest that is omitted in NEJM’s author disclosure forms, at least one of the authors, Alon, worked for nearly three years in the IDF Special Intelligence Unit, according to her own LinkedIn page. (The length of compulsory military service for Israeli women is two years, meaning that Alon actively chose to serve in the Special Intelligence Unit for the remaining years.) Special Intelligence includes various units expressly devoted to psychological warfare via covert influence campaigns to shape perceptions, undermine adversaries, and control narratives about matters involving Israel or Palestinians. Alon and—presuming they were aware of this easily accessible public information—the NEJM editors appear to have decided that her years at Special Intelligence did not constitute one of the kinds of “relationships or activities that readers could perceive to have influenced, or that give the appearance of potentially influencing, what [the authors] wrote in the submitted work.” Also unusual for an author published in the NEJM is the fact that Alon, according to her LinkedIn profile, has no background in medicine, public health, or health policy.It is no accident that, after previously at least avoiding the directly genocide-enabling decisions of its peers at the Journal of the American Medical Association, this is who and what the NEJM has strategically allowed to appear in its pages. This editorial choice is not merely inadequate—it actively obscures the truth.One of the most insidious aspects of the NEJM’s article is its failure to explicitly name Israel as the actor responsible for the devastation it describes. Instead, in moves we have come to expect from genocide-laundering editors at major American news outlets (such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic) aligned with US imperial foreign policy, the article speaks in the passive voice. We get references to “hospitals turned into battlefields,” and lines about medical institutions having been “raided, bombed, and destroyed.” Who did the raiding, bombing, and destroying? We never learn. The phrase “targeted destruction” appears, but without a subject.The omission is no accident. This kind of deliberate vagueness allows the reader to imagine war as a chaotic, directionless phenomenon rather than a calculated campaign of destruction. It is a textbook example of “the Palestine exception”—the systematic censorship and distortion of Palestinian suffering in mainstream medical, academic, and humanitarian discourse. It is an editorial choice that functions to shield Israel and US foreign policy from accountability while allowing the NEJM to claim that it has, at last, addressed Gaza.Current Issue Cover of April 2025 Issue April 2025 Issue The piece insists on a depoliticized humanitarian framing (only where Palestinians are concerned—it comfortably mentions Hamas by name), and is silent on the decades of brutally oppressive colonial conditions that provoked a violent revolt. All of these are acts of complicity. By refusing to confront the reality that Palestinian health infrastructure has been deliberately obliterated as part of a broader settler-colonial and genocidal agenda, the Journal has chosen to launder repeated attacks on hospitals, health workers, and patients and broader civilian populations through the language of medical neutrality.The ongoing genocide against Palestinians is only possible because of unwavering US government support, first by Joe Biden and now by Donald Trump—through the direct provision of thousands of MK-84 bombs designed for mass destruction, of financial assistance, and of diplomatic cover that shields Israel from accountability in international courts and governing bodies. But this truth is nowhere to be found in the piece. As a US-based journal and a leading representative of the American medical profession, the NEJM has an obligation not only to recognize the scale of Israel’s crimes but also to condemn the US government’s role in facilitating them. Anything less is an abdication of moral and professional responsibility via a retreat into self-serving illusions of medicine and public health as apolitical fields.The Nation Weekly Fridays. A weekly digest of the best of our coverage. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign Up The Journal’s new article fits into a long history of imperial medical institutions claiming neutrality while, in practice, reinforcing the power structures responsible for mass violence. As Frantz Fanon warned in his 1959 essay “Medicine and Colonialism,” the medical profession is often an “integral part of colonization, of domination, of exploitation.” Whether through silence or selective narrative framing, institutions like the NEJM play a crucial role in making colonial violence appear reasonable, unfortunate, or at worst, a regrettable tragedy rather than intentional, preventable, and beneficial to a version of medicine aligned with empire.The piece presents healthcare as the ultimate peace initiative, describing it as “one of the few spheres in which Palestinians and Israelis work together and interact on a daily basis, treating each other with respect and dignity.” The decision to publish this narrative amid an ongoing genocide ignores the obvious reality that Palestinian health workers are not operating within a neutral space but under military occupation and blockade imposed by the occupying power.It is not “trust” that is lacking; health workers in Gaza have been murdered while performing surgeries, abducted from their hospitals, and tortured in Israeli prisons. An estimated 1,000 Palestinian health workers have been killed since October 2023. Israeli doctors have openly called for bombing Gaza’s hospitals, and reports indicate that some are complicit in the torture of Palestinian detainees. Trust is not possible in a system where one people depends on the erasure of another.Popular Who Is Funding Canary Mission? Inside the Doxxing Operation Targeting Anti-Zionist Students and ProfessorsWho Is Funding Canary Mission? Inside the Doxxing Operation Targeting Anti-Zionist Students and Professors James BamfordMAGA Money Targets Pittsburgh’s Progressive MayorMAGA Money Targets Pittsburgh’s Progressive Mayor John NicholsThis Executive Order Reveals the Trump-Musk EndgameThis Executive Order Reveals the Trump-Musk Endgame Elie MystalColumbia Expelled Me for My Palestine Activism, but I Won’t Be SilencedColumbia Expelled Me for My Palestine Activism, but I Won’t Be Silenced Grant MinerContrast the Journal’s aggressively anodyne approach with the findings of the International Court of Justice, which ruled in January 2024 that Israel is plausibly committing genocide. The ICJ focused heavily on Israel’s deliberate destruction of Gaza’s health system, its use of famine as a weapon of war, and its targeted killing of doctors, paramedics, and patients. These legal and political realities are entirely absent from the NEJM’s framing. To publish an article on Gaza’s medical devastation while ignoring the ICJ’s findings is not just negligent; it is providing cover for and genocide denial in real time.The Journal’s failure here is part of a broader characteristic of the American medical profession: the persistent, self-serving illusion that medicine can function as an apolitical space at all, let alone in the midst of colonial war. Doctors from rich nations like the United States, France, Britain, Germany, and elsewhere frequently present themselves as “neutral observers” rather than as participants in systems of power and the reproduction of inequalities. The assumption is that simply bearing witness to suffering is sufficient, that cataloging the wounds of the oppressed is a meaningful contribution even if it does nothing to stop the violence that creates them.This approach to medical humanitarianism—treating healthcare as a technocratic intervention rather than a political terrain—has long served to mask state crimes. The Red Cross, for example, famously refused to condemn the Holocaust in real time, choosing instead to maintain its “neutrality” in order to retain access to Nazi concentration camps. (The Red Cross later called this a “moral failure.”) Today, major global health organizations, including those with direct ties to the US government, are maintaining the same silence in Gaza.The NEJM’s approach is a form of violent collaborationism. By centering “bridge-building” rather than settler-colonial violence, it advances a narrative that is politically useful to those who wish to obscure the reality of genocide. It allows Western institutions to acknowledge Palestinian suffering without indicting the power structures responsible for it. It offers the appearance of engagement without the risk of consequence.“Building bridges” isn’t possible while simultaneously refusing to name, condemn, or try to stop ongoing war crimes and genocide—not to mention occupation and apartheid medicine. The NEJM’s publication record amid US-backed, Israeli-perpetrated genocide in Gaza will and should be remembered, much as its history during Nazism is now, as a profoundly shameful, cowardly, and—even worse than during Nazism, given the direct role of the US government in Israel’s actions today—collaborationist.Insistence on medical cooperation without accountability mirrors a broader American medical approach to Palestinian suffering: endless calls for reconciliation while the bombs continue to fall. This is not a peace-building strategy—it is a mechanism for indefinitely deferring both accountability and any possibility of justice. It’s to have a share in the harm, while pretending to do none.As the writer Robert Jones Jr. has aptly put it: “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” With this, Jones is not referring to indefensible claims by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to a right to exist regardless of its actions (and foundations) but rather to the universal rights of human beings to exist—something the Israeli government is denying to Palestinian people on a daily basis. The NEJM’s insistence on a depoliticized framework for trust-building disregards the foundational truth that trust cannot be built between those who are actively murdering and those being murdered. More generally, it cannot be built between colonizer and colonized..The destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure is not an unfortunate side effect of war. It is a core feature of Israel’s strategy to make Gaza unlivable, to dismantle Palestinian life at its most fundamental level. It is a war on hospitals, on doctors, on patients, on the Palestinian people, on Palestine. Any discussion of Gaza’s medical catastrophe that does not begin with this premise is not simply inadequate; it is a tacit endorsement of genocide.<a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Gaza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Gaza</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Genocide</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Israel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Israel</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Media" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Media</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Politics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Politics</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Palestine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palestine</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=WarCrime" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WarCrime</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Hypocrisy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hypocrisy</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Hospitals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hospitals</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Children" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Children</a> <a href="https://venera.social/search?tag=Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/palestine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@palestine</a> <a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/israel" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@israel</a> <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-england-journal-of-medicine-gaza-genocide/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">thenation.com/article/society/…</a>

Aral BalkanThe fuck you will, asshole, the fuck you will.<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/trump-us-control-greenland/story?id=120208823" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://abcnews.go.com/International/trump-us-control-greenland/story?id=120208823</a><a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#trump</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/greenland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#greenland</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/denmark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#denmark</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/war" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#war</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USA</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/tags/EU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EU</a>

David_grünI've read a few books more than once. But the books by <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Robinhobb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Robinhobb</a> I've found the most interesting on the rereading. I've read the Farseer books and the follow-ups a few times. Each time, at a different point in my life, I experienced them differently and always got something else from them. I'm currently rereading The Soldier Son series for the first time. The first time I read it, I felt very uncomfortable, mostly, I think, due to the social theme of people's worth corresponding with their appearance, particularly their weight. I'm not fat, but have always been heavier than I would like, and a family member has been struggling with these issues for most of their life. That theme isn't bothering me at all on the reread. Because of that, I've been able to spend more time dealing with the main theme of the series, colonialism. Anyway, worth a read if you like reading fantasy that has social themes. <a href="https://aus.social/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#books</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/fantasy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fantasy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a>

A. RiveraOn the costs of <a href="https://mas.to/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a> to the <a href="https://mas.to/tags/AmericanEmpire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AmericanEmpire</a>. > El colonialismo cuesta <a href="https://claridadpuertorico.com/el-colonialismo-cuesta/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://claridadpuertorico.com/el-colonialismo-cuesta/</a> via <a href="https://mas.to/tags/ClaridadPR" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClaridadPR</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/BackInTheUSColony" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackInTheUSColony</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/PuertoRico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PuertoRico</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/MastodonPR" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MastodonPR</a>

differx80 years of israeli crimes15 y.o. boy. Bethlehem, before Oct 7th.beaten by israeli soldiers for he was playing football near to a checkpoint.they shot him in the legs. one leg had to be amputated: this is <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/israel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#israel</a> - this is <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/colonization" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonization</a> - this has been going on for 76 years now. this is an ongoing and growing heap of crimes against humanity, and <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#genocide</a> *<a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/genocidio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#genocidio</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/Palestine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palestine</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/Palestina" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Palestina</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/warcrimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#warcrimes</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/starvingpeople" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#starvingpeople</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/starvingcivilians" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#starvingcivilians</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/iof" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#iof</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/idf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#idf</a> <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a>…<a href="http://slowforward.net/2025/03/27/80-years-of-israeli-crimes/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">http://slowforward.net/2025/03/27/80-years-of-israeli-crimes/</a>

Atlas ObscuraFlora Fountain in Mumbai, IndiaAn iconic fountain dedicated to the Roman goddess Flora stands in the heart of Mumbai.<a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=urbanplanning" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#urbanplanning</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=history" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#history</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=water" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#water</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=architecture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#architecture</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=gate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#gate</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=walls" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#walls</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=roman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#roman</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=fountains" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fountains</a> <a href="https://libranet.de/search?tag=section-Atlas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#section-Atlas</a> <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/flora-fountain" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Flora Fountain</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈See how Starmer doesn't answer the question but makes a sly colonial dig at Scotland instead. Know your place Scots, you can't look after yourselves, and would it hurt you to be grateful to your English overlords? Such a miserable race..../s <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Starmer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Starmer</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Austerity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Austerity</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SNP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SNP</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ScotPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ScotPol</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/UKPOL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UKPOL</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/UKpolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UKpolitics</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a>

BookI stumbled nosey-bugger-first into a thrift store and found a complete 1972 edition of Laotian stamps.They are gorgeous! The set was a couple of pounds so I'm not breaking the bank of anything, and the artwork is stunning.Lots of French all over the proofs and packing envelope. I'm guessing this was when France was still doing a colonialism in the SEA. Either that or it's an international hangover from such times.<a href="https://beige.party/tags/Stamps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Stamps</a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/stamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#stamp</a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Laos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Laos</a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/SEA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SEA</a> <a href="https://beige.party/tags/MastoArt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MastoArt</a>

GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ :verified:Greenland appoints Special Envoy to greet Trump DelegationAmeriKKKan visitors will be "greeted the moment they step off the plane" a Greenlandic spokesman said.<a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Greenland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Greenland</a>🇬🇱 <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/politics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#politics</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/FascistAmeriKKKa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#FascistAmeriKKKa</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Nazis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Nazis</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a>

Abolition MediaWhat is Esencia and What Will Happen to Puerto Rico if This is Constructed?Esencia is a massive $2 billion colonial development project aiming to seize over 2,000 acres of land, spanning three miles of beaches in Punta Melones, Cabo Rojo, by 2028. The United States has long justified its imperial presence in Puerto Rico under the guise of “progress” and “development.” With the complici<a href="https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/17866/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/17866/</a><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/News" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#News</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/caribbean" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#caribbean</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/imperialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#imperialism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PuertoRico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PuertoRico</a>

abolitionmediaWhat is Esencia and What Will Happen to Puerto Rico if This is Constructed? Esencia is a massive $2 billion colonial development project aiming to seize over 2,000 acres of land, spanning three miles of beaches in Punta Melones, Cabo Rojo, by 2028. The United States has long justified its imperial presence in Puerto Rico under the guise of “progress” and “development.” With the complicity of a local government that prioritizes U.S. interests, policies like Act 60—which grants foreign investors the ability to evade local and federal taxes—serve Puerto Rico on a silver platter to wealthy developers, speculators, and those eager to claim and exploit a slice of “paradise.”While Puerto Ricans face life-threatening austerity measures, the federal and local governments turn Puerto Rico into a neoliberal playground for foreigners. “Development” comes at the expense of Puerto Ricans’ lives, and their access to land, coasts, and cultural patrimony; it impedes their ability to work, thrive, and simply remain in the place they are from. “Development,” moreover, disregards the natural environment and the disruption of fragile ecosystems. For these projects, non-human life is reduced to a resource to be extracted.Esencia may hide behind Puerto Rican architects and “environmentalists,” but it is led by the Reuben Brothers and Three Rules Capital, with the later addition of Mandarin Oriental. These real estate and hospitality magnates are the people who will benefit from the construction of over 900 “elite” residences, 5 hotels, 2 golf courses, a private airport, schools, a trauma center, and more. Esencia will not benefit local residents in any way: it seeks to create a private city within Cabo Rojo, built to segregate its wealthy foreigners from Puerto Ricans and protect them from the reality that Puerto Ricans face outside its walls: a crumbling infrastructure, food insecurity, and frequent power outages.The Esencia project has a clear goal: to create a “paradise” in the Caribbean for foreigners while continuing to destroy the land and displace the native population of Puerto Rico. This project is designed to benefit the ultra rich and will control and limit the access of Puerto Ricans, who currently freely enjoy the lands, using them as recreational areas, coexisting respectfully alongside the plant and animal species that live there.The project would severely impact the delicate ecology of our land and waters. The area for the proposed project is home to several plants, including the endemic Eugenia woodburyana, cobana negra, and bariaco, that serve as a habitat for many animals. Some animal species that would see their habitats eradicated include: 1) The yellow shouldered blackbird and the Puerto Rican nightjar, both endangered birds,  whose habitat and breeding, nesting, and foraging areas would be affected by deforestation, 2) Antillean manatee, who can be found in the marine areas such as Caño Boquerón, 3) Sea turtles, who can be kept from nesting on the beach by artificial light and can become disoriented. These precious ecosystems sit on Specially Protected-Ecological Rustic Soil, with over 100 identified Taíno archaeological sites that have been preserved. Construction of this luxury project would also demolish and appropriate these historic sites.Esencia’s greenwashing efforts and supposed cultural respect and community involvement cannot deceive Puerto Ricans, who know the results of many other development projects that have taken over the coasts and lands. Esencia’s developers claim that the project will protect environmental conditions. One example of how these claims are unsubstantiated is that Esencia includes 2 golf courses in its calculation of green areas. Golf courses are not green areas and they are not ecosystems – they are leveled and highly manicured areas that require large amounts of water. They do not provide shelter, nesting grounds, or food for the local species. They are a direct habitat disruption to countless fauna and flora.Esencia also states that it will support archeological digs and build a museum within the project’s borders. Cabo Rojo is the town with the highest documented density of archeological deposits on the island. Esencia’s plan to appropriate these historical materials is a rampant violation of Puerto Ricans’ right to their ancestral patrimony. The lands, beaches, and Taíno historical artifacts should be stewarded by the Puerto Rican people, not owned by multimillionaires.Esencia also claims that it will develop Cabo Rojo’s industries and create employment. However, Esencia will benefit from tax exemption, an advantage that  local industries do not have. Instead of supporting local workers and businesses, this project will affect their livelihoods: for instance, many fishermen in the area will lose their access to the ocean. If anything, Esencia will foster precarious labor in the  service industry, thereby deepening the dependency economy and furthering legacies of slavery and colonialism.Furthermore, Esencia, like other resorts in Puerto Rico, takes away basic services from Puerto Ricans. When tourists and foreigners come to Puerto Rico, water, electricity, and other resources are strained and directed to these areas and away from the native population. A clear example of this can be seen as the project intends to build a trauma center for the resort; meanwhile, Puerto Rico is experiencing a health crisis, exacerbated by La Junta, due to loss of funding for hospitals across the archipelago. This has left many areas, like Vieques, without a single hospital.Locals, who already endure the crushing weight of high costs of living because of the colonial-capitalist system imposed on Puerto Rico, cannot afford for this project to come to fruition. The only people who will benefit from this project are the rich and powerful who profit from the exploitation of our land and nation. The local Puerto Ricans will face displacement and the destruction of their lands.In solidarity with the many groups resisting Esencia and other similar development projects across the archipelago, we demand that the Office of Permit Management, the Department of Natural Resources, the Cultural Institute of Puerto Rico, and the Autonomous Municipality of Cabo Rojo:<ol><li>Revoke the permit and stop the permit granting process now. </li><li>Ensure that the lands are not intervened upon in any way. </li><li>Heed and study our amply documented claims and materials, which have already been submitted. </li><li>Conduct a transparent investigation process where directly affected communities and specialists have prioritized participation. </li></ol>Puerto Ricans struggle against gentrification and displacement every single day, and the construction of Esencia would only add to the millions of our people uprooted and displaced from their homes. We must do everything in our power to stop this project from happening. Otherwise, we will surely see a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans.Join a revolutionary Puerto Rican organization today and fight for our land back!Follow @comiteesencia on Instagram to stay updated and sign the petition using the link in our bio.Sources: <ul><li><a href="https://hotelsmag.com/news/mandarin-oriental-to-open-luxury-resort-residences-in-puerto-rico/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kathakali Nandi, “Mandarin Oriental to open luxury resort, residences in Puerto Rico,” Hotels, January 24, 2025. </a></li><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/2396693497351709" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tatyana.trujillo, “POV los realtors . . . “ Facebook,  January 2025.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/v6R1dWyqYeI?si=lWMAjQ7O23YdxQtR" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jaime Torres Torres, “La verdad sobre el Proyecto Esencia en Cabo Rojo.” Presa Sin Censura, Youtube, January 2025. </a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SxfGTmt4us" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Plan de Contigencia, “Nota al Calce: No a Esencia.” Youtube, February 2025. </a></li><li><a href="https://www.todaspr.com/esencia-cabo-rojo-feminista-anticapitalista-antirracista-lgbtiq/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Beatriz Llenin Figueroa, La lucha contra “Esencia” es también feminista, anticapitalista, antirracista y LGBTIQ+” Todas, March 4, 2025. </a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQiMZa7x76I" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bianca Graulau, “Will Puerto Ricans Lose Access to Their Own Beaches?” Youtube, February 2025. </a></li></ul><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Aw5aD_rf4" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reniel Rodriguez Ramos, “ El Proyecto Esencia Amenaza Sitios Arqueológicos en Cabo Rojo.” Youtube, March 2025.</a>source: <a href="https://diasporapalantecollective.org/what-is-esencia-and-what-will-happen-to-puerto-rico-if-this-is-constructed/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Diaspora Palante Collective</a> <a href="https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=17866" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=17866</a><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/tag/caribbean/" target="_blank">#caribbean</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/tag/colonialism/" target="_blank">#colonialism</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/tag/imperialism/" target="_blank">#imperialism</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/tag/puerto-rico/" target="_blank">#puertoRico</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈America was the 'Land of Opportunity' for the downtrodden Europeans suffering under the rich, so we went to America and unloaded that grief on the Indigenous people we slaughtered and the African people we abducted to serve us. let's not make these mistakes again if we do make it out into Space, we can choose Elon's path or Star Trek. <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Diaspora" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Diaspora</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Whiteness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Whiteness</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈"you must apologise to your Abuser, it is your fault. If you want us to help you then you must do as we say. Stop being awkward, stop struggling."<a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/UKPOL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UKPOL</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/UKPOLITICS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UKPOLITICS</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Ukraine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ukraine</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Abuse</a>

Wokebloke for DemocracyThere will always be a Canada-<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvlVW0cFUA8" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvlVW0cFUA8</a> <a href="https://libretooth.gr/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Canada</a> <a href="https://libretooth.gr/tags/MarkCarney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MarkCarney</a> <a href="https://libretooth.gr/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> <a href="https://libretooth.gr/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈This Land is not safe, it is not free, it is not a land of Opportunity. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/24/donald-trump-imperial-plan-usa-peoples-rights" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/24/donald-trump-imperial-plan-usa-peoples-rights</a><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/USPOL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPOL</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Is it because Trump is Imperial and Starmer has a secret hard on for the British Empire?<a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#trump</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Starmer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Starmer</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BritishEmpire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BritishEmpire</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/24/donald-trump-imperial-plan-usa-peoples-rights" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/24/donald-trump-imperial-plan-usa-peoples-rights</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈The Rapist means what he says. He's a psychopath, they don't joke, they just tell you what they want to do to you and then watch you pretend it away and make yourself more vulnerable as you do.This is how a Predator thinks, this is how Gilead will act. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/greenland-usha-vance-mike-waltz-visit-anger" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/greenland-usha-vance-mike-waltz-visit-anger</a><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Greenland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Greenland</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Misogyny" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Misogyny</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Patricarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Patricarchy</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/USPOL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPOL</a>

🇺🇦 Je me souviens 🇨🇦"Greenland is hard to defend. As Trump threatens, the Danes are trying"<a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Russia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Russia</a># <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Crisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Crisis</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USA</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/EU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EU</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Europe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Europe</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/NATO" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NATO</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/News" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#News</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Democrats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Democrats</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/MAGA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MAGA</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Weapons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Weapons</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Ukraine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ukraine</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Greenland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Greenland</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Denmark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Denmark</a> <a href="https://www.postguam.com/news/world/greenland-is-hard-to-defend-as-trump-threatens-the-danes-are-trying/article_bd876dae-04c1-43cb-a16e-2e3b0abd024d.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.postguam.com/news/world/greenland-is-hard-to-defend-as-trump-threatens-the-danes-are-trying/article_bd876dae-04c1-43cb-a16e-2e3b0abd024d.html</a>

🇺🇦 Je me souviens 🇨🇦"Greenland PM furious at visits by US officials after Trump threatens takeover: ‘Highly aggressive’"<a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Russia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Russia</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Crisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Crisis</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USA</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/EU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EU</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Europe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Europe</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/NATO" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NATO</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/News" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#News</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Democrats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Democrats</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/MAGA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MAGA</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Weapons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Weapons</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Ukraine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ukraine</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Greenland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Greenland</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Colonialism</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Denmark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Denmark</a> <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/greenland-pm-furious-at-visits-by-us-officials-after-trump-threatens-takeover-highly-aggressive/ar-AA1BvCzo" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/greenland-pm-furious-at-visits-by-us-officials-after-trump-threatens-takeover-highly-aggressive/ar-AA1BvCzo</a>

Luigi'Down with <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/American" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#American</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/imperialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#imperialism</a>! Down with <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a>!'People's Republic of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/China" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#China</a>, 1960Via <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Socialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Socialism</a> Pictures

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