It Wasn't Possible Just To

If You Look At Some Of The Language In The Basic Writings Of Hamas, There Is That Famous Call To Push The Israelis Into The Sea. Now, I Would Say That Most Palestinian Politicians On The Ground Say, Of Course That's Not What We Want, And Even Within Hamas There Is Some Published Debate About That Claim, But Until The Claim Is Removed, It's Still Noxious.

No Matter What Someone Else Has Done, It Still Matters How We Treat People. It Matters To Our Humanity That We Treat Offenders According To Standards That We Recognize As Just. Justice Is Not Revenge - It's Deciding For A Solution That Is Oriented Towards Peace, Peace Being The Harder But More Human Way Of Reacting To Injury. That Is The Very Basis Of The Idea Of Rights.

What Would It Mean If We Lived In A World In Which No One Held Out For The Possibility Of Substantial Political Equality, Or For A Full Cessation Of Colonial Practices - If No One Held Out For Those Things Because They Were Impossible?

We Have To Be Able Track The Ways In Which Fear, For Instance, Is Monopolised By State And Media Institutions, Ways In Which Fear Is Actually Promoted And Distributed As A Way Of Bolstering The Need For Greater Security And Militarisation.

It Is Always Brave To Insist On Undergoing Transformations That Feel Necessary And Right Even When There Are So Many Obstructions To Doing So, Including People And Institutions Who Seek To Pathologize Or Criminalize Such Important Acts Of Self-definition. I Know That For Some Feels Less Brave Than Necessary, But We All Have To Defend Those Necessities That Allow Us To Live And Breathe In The Way That Feels Right To Us. Surgical Intervention Can Be Precisely What A Trans Person Needs – It Is Also Not Always What A Trans Person Needs.