PRO-TIPS FOR PROFESSIONALS WHO FEEL THEY CANNOT SPEAK ON PALESTINE: This is my PSA regarding gaslighting and suppression of speech at this moment in history.
If you have an acquaintance, friend, colleague, mentor, boss, whoever… a person attempting to gaslight you into doubting your honest, moral response to the genocide in Palestine… if they try to spin your head around with rhetoric & w/ “DARVO” tactics (look it up, DARVO detection skills are life-changingly good), I am here to validate your instinct that you are better off with this person out of your life.
The scale of peer and professional gaslighting happening in the global north about current geopolitics is next level. Many of us, who are empaths, who defer to the hope that most people are fundamentally good, are having our better natures used against us. We are being bullied into silence by persons who have some sort of self-interest in sustaining our silence.
Here are my tips for International Law Fans / Anti-Impunity Folks for dealing with zionist bullies:
(i) Turn towards the words of the academic and human rights heros you respect THE MOST, and take reassurance and validation from them. For me, that would be Barb Jackman, Alex Neve, Audrey Macklin, Naomi Klein, Mehdi Hassan, Amy Goodman/Democracy Now, etc. In other words, calibrate your moral compass
(ii) Connect, connect, connect with media / journalism that is independent and that you trust, which is not tied to corporate interests. Vet your sources. For me, my first sources are Democracy Now and Zeteo, and then I have a number of independent journalists and academic experts who I support and replatform.
(iii) Learn and know your rights. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO A POLITICAL OPINION, AND YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO FAIRLY SPEAK. My red line is that I replatform fair, informed analyses of Canadian politics and geopolitics. I do not replatform or ever condone messages of violence against ANYONE. This is my choice and moral prerogative as survivor of domestic violence. I’m a peace activist to my core. I am totally allergic to violence.
(iv) Speak your moral conscience, if you can. If not, call for help. There are various organizations in CDA / abroad that support persons facing legal, personal, or professional reprisals for their exercise of free speech in support of universal human rights. E.g. I’m on the roster as a volunteer for Canada’s Palestine Legal Referral Service as a pro bono immigration consultant.
(v) Reach out and connect with community. If your own prior communities have let you down, this does not mean you have to subordinate your ethics. Build new community.
(vi) To leaders out there holding titles of authority (volunteer work or compensated), you have a duty to support your students, colleagues, peers who are facing oppression and violence at this time. Period. If you cannot fulfill that role, step down and pass things off to the next generation.
Don’t lose hope. The world is insane and brutal, not you.Activate to view larger image,
