Songs of Iron

Opposing the race to the bottom re. occupied, marginalised and exploited people everywhere.
Mineral pigment obsessive.
Side-note, covid ain't over.

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@skp118 @JuAvrilT @ann_meharg @MFWitches have posted these details...

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@shmeze @chefjoseandres @tovahlazaroff @WCKitchen Stealing International aid and prioritising terror over infrastructure? Sounds like another elected government in the general vicinity...

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@shmeze @chefjoseandres @tovahlazaroff @WCKitchen Oh, you mean the Hamas that Israel funded?

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@shmeze @chefjoseandres @tovahlazaroff @WCKitchen You acknowledge they need refuge? And who might that be from exactly?

[Adam Smith @adamndsmith]

“Nobody should be killed for their political beliefs” vs “every child in Gaza is potentially a terrorist” is a fun contrast

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@Kahlissee This is confirmed to be Isfahan nuclear research facility, not Ferdow. https://t.co/3aEzOWRBBN

[Dr. Ezzideen @ezzingaza]

Yesterday, the last warning came from Nasser Hospital: “In 24 hours, there will be no formula left for premature infants.” Not a metaphor. Not exaggeration. A clinical fact. And the response? Silence. Not one truck. Not one crate. Just the silence of steel-hearted men, satisfied with the mathematics of infant death.

That evening, a mother was brought to the clinic. Thirty-three years old. Unconscious. Skin cold. Breath shallow. A body so thin I could see the outline of her bones as I placed the IV. Her baby still clung to her, unaware that the breast it suckled had nothing left to give but the scent of death.

Diagnosis? Dehydration. Acute malnutrition. But in truth, she suffers from something medicine cannot cure: abandonment.

We administered fluids, stabilized her vitals. On paper, it will look like we helped her. We did not. We postponed the inevitable. She will return, again and again, until she dies or the world wakes up. And I am not sure which will come first.

My colleague, still untouched by this hell, whispered that she should stop breastfeeding. “She must regain her strength,” he said. I did not answer. What could I say? That formula is no longer a product here, but a dream? That a can of powdered milk now costs more than a month's worth of food, if there were food?

She cannot buy bread. She cannot buy air. And yet we speak to her as if she had choices. This is the cruelty of war: not just the bombs, but the absurdity of giving advice to the damned.

When she left, I saw her husband standing outside. He looked at me with the eyes of a man who has already buried too much. I gave him the money in my pocket. It will not save her. It might buy two loaves of bread. It might buy her three more days of life.

But she will return. And when she does, we will treat her again with our empty hands, with our useless medicine, and our unbearable guilt.

This is not medicine. This is triage in a mass grave that has not been dug yet.

Do not mistake this for a humanitarian emergency.
This is not a famine. It is a siege.
It is not collapse. It is calculation.
It is not neglect. It is intent.

And intent, cold and deliberate, makes it a crime.

The women who collapse in my arms are not statistics. They are executions carried out in slow motion.

And what is the world’s role?
It does not pull the trigger. It simply watches the gun fire, again and again, and calls it “complicated.”

But I will tell you what is simple:
Hunger kills. Thirst kills. Silence kills.

And here, in Gaza, all three work together with perfect efficiency.

#GazaGenocide‌

[Dr. Ezzideen @ezzingaza]

Today, I sat by the sea.
The wind moved in gusts. The water was gray. I had come seeking silence, but it was already there, settled like dust over everything.

Two girls passed. Barefoot. Their dresses were torn at the edges. No one stared at them. No one needed to. They were part of the scenery now, like broken stone, like rusted metal.

Each carried a small, worn purse on her shoulder. In better times, such a thing would have meant joy, a gift for Eid, a sign that a child had been seen, that she mattered. Here, it was a gesture preserved out of habit. A remnant of something that no longer existed.

That is Gaza.
Not the bombings, not the rubble, but this: a girl walking barefoot with a handbag she cannot fill.

Eid has arrived. We smile because it is expected. We say “Eid Mubarak” the way one might say “It will pass.” There is no celebration. There is only continuity.

The air stinks of metal. Since yesterday, the bombings have not ceased. Families die without fanfare. The names disappear. The houses collapse. We dig through concrete with our hands. The bodies are warm for only a moment.

Hospitals are full of the dead. The living are told to wait.

Bread is precious. Water is bitter. Aid comes late, and too little. There are no tears left in this place, only calculations. What time to run. Where to hide. Whom to carry if it comes again.

And from abroad, they speak. They wear suits. They sit in leather chairs. They call us a sacrifice. They say we are brave. That our death has meaning.

It does not.

A girl in rags is not a sacrifice.
She is a child.
She is hungry.
She is walking.

Cursed is the word that dignifies her suffering. Cursed is the sentence written on her behalf.

We are not symbols. We are not metaphors.
We are not strong, we have endured because there was no choice.
We are not hopeful, we are alive because the body clings to life.
And when it cannot cling, it falls. Quietly.

Somewhere in this city, a mother is heating water for tea she does not have.
A child waits.
A plane passes.
We do not look up anymore.

I sat by the sea.
It did not speak.

#GazaGenocide‌

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@Dawn_French NO. The video was honest and true, please reinstate it ❤️💚🖤

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@DavidLevyIL @IsraelMFA @AIJAC_Update @IsraelHebrew @IsraelinOZ @IsraelinNZ 'Our' is spelt "Palestinian' in this context. You're welcome.

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@SenatorWong My respect for you has utterly evaporated. Why are you simping for a lying genocidal regime and its cronies? The fact that you haven't removed this post speaks volumes. Bald liars (should) have no place in our parliament!

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@KintsugiMuslim Despicable. 'Private military contractors', and 'safe bubbles' don't belong together either.

[Jenny Difficult-Frecklington-Jones 🇵🇸🇱🇧🇮🇷 @JonesHowDareYou]

Israel continues to genocide the people of Palestine in plain sight but all we'll get in Australian media for the foreseeable future is saturation reporting of Senator Lidia Thorpe bravely telling a white English ponce to fuck off back to where he came from. White priorities.

[Dr. Jennifer Cassidy @OxfordDiplomat]

If you listen to anyone this morning, let it be Gideon Levy. A phenomenal Israeli journalist who has been speaking truth to power for decades. Share his words. Far and Wide.

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@AlboMP Did you coordinate the content of these tweets with Keir Starmer? They are oddly... in sync.

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@AlboMP We aren't stupid. There are many of us who have been keeping ourselves more informed than you it seems. It's not certain how they died at this point, but it's far more likely they were killed by Israeli actions rather than Hamas.

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@SMpwrgr @DonEford Is it possible to join the list of people trying to privately import it?

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@LakotaMan1 Like 😉

[Songs of Iron @philippajahn]

@RealAnitaWhite @Mon4Kooyong (Not that this should be the solution but) is there a source of information on neighbouring countries which are able to vaccinate tourists with Novavax (at a cost of course) - Singapore for example. Have looked hard and can't find anything.