JOHNSTONE

When the slaughter stops in Gaza

I will get to those cobwebs, promise,

and water that monstera,

and clean out that goo in the fridge.

When the slaughter stops in Gaza

I will youtube how to grow strawberries,

and whether dinosaurs ever had feathers,

and what's the deal with hibachis - 

is it something to do with fondue?

When the slaughter stops in Gaza

I will brush my hair out finally,

and call my Mum god bless her

and make her a perfect lasagna - 

no, two; I'll make one for freezing,

and I'll give Dad back his drill.

When the slaughter stops in Gaza

I will teach myself to play 'Nightswimming',

and do a drawing of that face

that I took a pic of with my camera

in that packed tram in peak-hour

Back Before All This Happened,

and I'll make some kind of cake.

When the slaughter stops in Gaza

I will sit with my love in our camp chairs,

our fingers entwined with our heart strings,

kicking coals awake til magpies

chortle "oh boy are you guys still up?"

and then I'll let him give me an orgasm - 

the kind that rips through veils.

When the slaughter stops in Gaza

I'll have my friend for dinner,

and we can watch her vampire show

and talk about her Dad

who died seven millennia and three lives ago

in September of 2023.

And we will lay upon the couch

our teeth stained black with wine,

and we will giggle about dumb things,

and one of us will fart

and the other will fall off the couch,

and it will be good and kind and sweet,

and not once will we see dead babies

or kids ripped from their mums,

or servicemen lit on fire

screaming "Free Palestine, FREE PALESTINE!"

and have our hearts thump in our mouths,

teeth clacking like a piano,

nails digging into flesh,

because everything is awful

and nothing makes sense,

and those men are so horrible,

and why won't they stop them

and why won't they stop them

and why won't they stop

why won't they stop.

But until then, I will roll out of bed,

do a chore and eat a thing,

brush my teeth and drink some water

thump my chest and howl in sorrow

hug my babies, sniff their hair,

and get back in the fight.

Shortly before his final act in this world, Bushnell posted the following message on Facebook:

"Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?'

"The answer is, you're doing it. Right now."

Aaron Bushnell has provided his own answer to this challenge. We're all providing our own right now.

Reading by Tim Foley.

You simply cannot fit more America into a single incident than a man dying a horrifying death in protest of war crimes while a first responder screams at cops to stop pointing their guns at him and go get fire extinguishers.

Reading by Tim Foley.

You don't get to apply the label "lesser evil" to a president who is backing a literal genocide. That's not a thing. Past a certain point you're just plain evil.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Every single day these last four and a half months I've been inundated with comments from Israel supporters excusing the most monstrous acts imaginable in the most monstrous ways imaginable. People calling for the total destruction of Gaza. People saying the Gazans deserve what is happening to them. Saying the sickest shit you can possibly think of in response to news of terrible things happening to innocent children.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that if a Republican president were to back a genocide it would be an evil and unforgivable atrocity, whereas when a Democrat president backs a genocide it's a minor foible that you'd better shut up about unless you want Trump to win.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Look for fresh opportunities to show westerners that the mass media are deceiving and propagandizing them to get them questioning their assumptions about what they've been told about the world. Look for fresh opportunities to show them evidence that the US war machine is the most murderous and destructive force on this planet. Look for fresh opportunities to show them how status quo systems create a far less beneficial society and a far less healthy world than what we could have under different systems. You never know what could be the one thing that snaps somebody's eyes open.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israeli media are now reporting that ten hostages were killed as a result of Israeli attacks on buildings where the IDF knew hostages were located. Israel supporters can go ahead and stop babbling about hostages when trying to justify the attack on Gaza. It's never been about saving hostages.

Reading by Tim Foley.

One point I keep trying to drive home here in as many ways as I can is that this is the dystopia we were warned about. The main difference between this mind-controlled dystopia and the fictional dystopias in novels like 1984 is that in 1984 people knew they weren't living in a free society, whereas in this dystopia the people believe they are free.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Tim and Caitlin are back with another chat, this time about Assange, Gaza, the empire and propaganda. We also took a couple of questions, including "Where do you get your news and how best to parse fact from fiction?" and "Across the world are there any people you admire offering inspiration and hope?"