devan pillay

Believes in informed discourse - more light, less heat. Low tolerance for conspiracy theorists, racists, patriarchs, homophobes & bigots of all stripes. 🧘🏽‍♂️

[☧ Milad ܝܠܕܐ @PalCatholic]

اطفال فلسطينيين في دار ايتام في بيروت عام 1948 ، بعضهم خسروا اهاليهم خلال النكبة والبعض الآخر تم فصلهم عن اهاليهم بعد تهجيرهم.

الصوره من كتاب "فلسطينون" للمؤرخ الياس صنبر.

Palestinian children in a Beirut orphanage, 1949. Some had lost their parents, while others were separated from their families amid the upheaval and displacement of the time. Photograph reproduced from Palestinians by Palestinian historian Elias Sanbar.

[Sarah Wilkinson @swilkinsonbc]

Once called Palestine’s Mandela, activists unveil a new statue of Palestinian parliamentarian Marwan Barghouti in Parliament Square

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

Now that Gaza lies in ruins—shattered, like a beloved face after a long brutality—Israel moves with a terrible confidence to the next act: The act of leaving every soul there not merely wounded, but permanently disabled. Injured, sick, hungry, homeless, without work, without hope. This is not war’s collateral damage. This is design.

As my friend Gideon Levy writes—and he knows, he knows—this is the prelude to expulsion. Think of it: a society without teachers, without doctors, without social workers, without engineers, without clerks. That is not a society. That is a holding pen. A slow erasure. And when nothing functions—no school, no hospital, no office, no heart—then it becomes ‘easy,’ they tell themselves, to scatter the people to the four corners of the earth. Like seeds from a broken pod, except no soil will take them.

We must name this. Not with rage alone, though rage is honest. But with the cold, clear tears of recognition: they are making life impossible so that departure becomes the only ‘choice.’ And the world watches, adjusts its spectacles, and calls for restraint. Restraint! There is no restraint in a slow drowning.

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

Arsenal’s former kit manager Mark Bonnick was sacked in December 2024 after making a series of social media posts criticising Israel.

In an interview with Palestine Deep Dive, Bonnick says Arsenal made statements about Black Lives Matter and supported anti-discrimination campaign Kick It Out – but refused to stand up for Palestine.

Explaining his actions, he added: “If we don’t speak out, the boot hits harder – we're stamped on more.”

[Peace 🇵🇸 🇱🇧 🇳🇮 🇻🇪 🇾🇪 🇮🇷#StopGenocide @Peacemonger256]

This brutality was carried out by the RIOT UNIT (black uniforms) of the Ertzaintza. This RIOT UNIT was trained in Israel.

The rest of the Ertzaintza (a very different uniform) owes its allegiance to the Basque people, who are overwhelmingly supportive of the Palestinians.

There is no contradiction with the policy of the Spanish government against the genocide-Zionists.

Personally I found the Ertzaintza to be quite friendly, in contrast to the Guardia Civil (GC). The GC wanted to throw me in prison (for taking a photo of them), but hesitated once they realised I was obviously English, with a British passport.

The Guardia Civil are widely loathed because of their murderous behaviour in the Franco era.

[Suppressed News. @SuppressedNws1]

Massive demonstrations erupted in Bilbao, SPAIN, after Basque police ATTACKED activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla at Bilboa Airport yesterday.

Protesters say the mobilization was called to denounce the “REPRESSIVE FORCE” used by Basque security forces.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

Shame on the Basque police @ertzaintzaEJGV for brutalising Flotilla members returning home after being abducted, unlawfully detained and ill-treated by Israel. May those responsible be held accountable.

We must resist the Israelisation of our societies.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

"The most soulless people in the universe."

Australian activists detained by Israel while on a flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza have returned home, and organisers allege abuse, sexual assaults and beatings that put some detainees in hospital.

🔗: https://t.co/dDKLjMWxna

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Protesters in Naples, Italy have unfurled a giant shroud bearing the names of 18,457 Palestinian children killed by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is utterly ridiculous clickbait.

What actually happened: the Pope released a 235-page encyclical saying AI needs to be "disarmed" and should NOT be used to "secure geopolitical or commercial dominance" (https://t.co/LR5R22vQWj).

Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei explicitly advocates using AI to establish "robust military superiority" of the West and publicly dreams of an "eternal 1991" of Western dominance enabled by AI (https://t.co/R02pmoOU3M). Anthropic also has $200M in Pentagon contracts in partnership with Palantir, and Claude AI was notably used by the Pentagon to kidnap Maduro (https://t.co/0zyhg5t5GP).

In other words, Anthropic is doing the exact opposite of what the Pope advocates.

Furthermore, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah - who wasn't there as a partner but as one of six speakers alongside cardinals and theologians - told the room that AI decisions "should not be left to people in the industry," and that even well-intentioned researchers operate inside incentives that "can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing" (https://t.co/UxBgGNqMc0)

So he too is saying, essentially, "don't trust us on finding the way." Which is the exact opposite of "working together to find the way for humanity."

In other words this is the perfect example of taking a quote out of context to make it say the exact opposite of what was meant. The Pope said AI companies like Anthropic are going the wrong way. Anthropic's own co-founder said "don't let us define the way." https://t.co/vKAWCFnLE3 says: "they're announcing they're working together to find the way for humanity." 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[Daniel Lambert @dlLambo]

A father and his young daughter lie dying having been hit with a precision missile (US made) by Israel.

The ambulance crew arrives to try help.

Israel then hits them with a missile.

All on camera.

Proven.

War crimes.

Yet our leaders still arm them & support them.

Why?

[Sarah Wilkinson @swilkinsonbc]

Israelis rioted for the right to rape, ministers defended it, rapists are celebrated, Peter Oborne explains: it isn’t just Ben-Gvir: ‘this is israel’

[Senator Chris Van Hollen @ChrisVanHollen]

This is how National Security Minister Ben-Gvir treats detainees when he knows the cameras are rolling — to say nothing of what happens to Palestinians behind closed doors.

This conduct is abhorrent. He should've been sanctioned by the U.S. long ago.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

If you want to understand why so many people - leftists, Arabs, Muslims, antiwar folks - like and promote Tucker Carlson right now - despite his reprehensible views on plenty of other issues - it’s because he says stuff like this, which most others in the US media refuse to.

[Redi Tlhabi @RediTlhabi]

Fellow South Africans, I keep telling you that the Pro-Israel lobby's intentions to influence US politics is not a secret in the US. It is spoken and written about openly. They design fancy campaign graphics, endorse their candidates and state openly why there are supporting that person. They OPENLY throw money behind their chosen candidates and state how much was raises. So quoting them verbatim and stating that their intentions is to fill Congress with pro-Israel voices, using multiple methods, including financial patronage, IS NOT ANTISEMITIC.

[Redi Tlhabi @RediTlhabi]

Firstly, thank you for leaning forward and acknowledging the moment. I appreciate that you support non-aligned community initiatives. That's what I always thought until a significant shareholder and son of the founder implied otherwise.

However, you are not condemning Mark's attacks on me, including using a misogynistic term (bitch), repeatedly, prior to this moment. Dischem cannot place the two of us on the same footing or treat our statements as equivalents. He initiated the attack with his misogyny and a blatant lie that maligned me personally and professionally. I also note your safe avoidance of mentioning him by name and referencing the significant words that were an activator of my response: I.e that I received money from his mommy and you as an institution. Until you make it clear that this is false, and that a significant shareholder calling me a bitch is unacceptable, then your words below are.....okay, I guess, but lack moral conviction and steadfastness.

[Redi Tlhabi @RediTlhabi]

Hello. Some of you mean well and I always appreciate and reflect on your counsel. But not always. For months, @Dischem 's Mark Saltzman (who has now deleted his account ( called me a bitch. I did nothing. I assumed he was another angry troll. I didn't know who he was until he outed himself and talked about his mommy's money.

Last week someone accused me of taking CR17 money. They retracted and apologized. Previously it's CIA, Stellenbosch Mafia, USAID and mysterious "handlers." I let it go so many times. So when you advise me to be restrained you must know I HAVE BEEN restrained. But there are days when things must be addressed. Today is one of them.
Presumably @Dischem is familiar with Mark's vocabulary and they know that he exercises his freedom of speech by calling people who disagree with him "BITCHES" for opposing Israel. I do hope that unlike Mark, they don't demand that their philanthropic interventions are conditional to South Africans supporting Israel. We don't have to. But I can live with the son of the founder of @Dischem and a major shareholder calling me a bitch. Repeatedly. But don't accuse of taking any money that I have not earned. I have also lent my name, time and access to worthy courses. Including for the some of the people who now call me antisemitic. The difference between me and them is that I don't think contributing to OUR South Africa must be transactional and conditional on them bending to my will. In conclusion, please do call me a bitch any time you want. But do not lie about serious things. I won't play along.

[Nathan J Robinson @NathanJRobinson]

Most interesting thing here is that the Israeli Foreign Ministry now acknowledges the Nakba happened. They just think it was justified. A shift from the long history of Nakba denial that said Arabs fled of their own volition because their leaders told them to.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

The interim decision by the US judge gives me respite but the battle is not over. ICC judges and Palestinian NGOs remain sanctioned with no recourse to justice. The stakes are incredibly high.
Please sign and share the petition: DEFEND THE DEFENDERS!

https://t.co/DiWhUOx0Ks

[Democracy Now! @democracynow]

Hear from @mollycrabapple about her new book "Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund," chronicling the 20th-century socialist revolutionary party that fought antisemitism in Europe and opposed the formation of a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine.