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Articles by Kenn Orphan
The 'Rules Based Order' Has Always Been a Farce
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Let’s be clear about this thing called “international law.” There are laws and treaties and agreements on the books which are designed to hold power to account. The contradiction lies within its application. In this supposed “rules based order” that we have been told is now in tatters, the powerful have always manipulated the terms and conditions. This is no more apparent than in the genocide in Gaza.
Trump's 'Board of Peace' is a Grift on Global Scale
Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain The absurdity of our times may best be summed up in the Trump regime’s brand new oxymoronic “Board of Peace.” Established by Trump on January 15, 2026, the board was initially conceived to coordinate the “rebuilding” of Gaza following Israel’s genocide and complete destruction of all infrastructure and most of its buildings and landmarks.
The Glee You See From Fascists About State Violence is a Sexual Fetish
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair There is a psychology at the root of what we are seeing behind the behavior MAGA fascists and far-right media these past few weeks that isn’t being addressed. One which is behind how they so openly defend the murder of an unarmed woman. Or how they cheer on the Trump regime’s imperialistic fever dreams. And all of this, while none of it improves their own life circumstances in the least.
Dear Americans, You Live in an Evil Empire
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Since the Trump regime’s recent assault on Venezuela, a lot of Americans have been talking more about the nature of their country. This is significant because most Americans have been conditioned to see their nation as both a democracy and a superpower. But the two cannot exist simultaneously. These concepts are polar opposites. Yet, this is the contradiction most Americans still hold on to.
Palestine is the litmus test for every value the West holds dear
A friend of mine asked me recently why Palestine is so important to me. "As a human rights writer, why is it my main focus?" he asked. And I took the question as honest, because it was from a real friend. My answer may be surprisingly simple. Palestine is the litmus test for every single value the West supposedly holds dear. And we are failing miserably. Palestine doesn't matter more than Ukraine or Myanmar or Kashmir or Congo.
Witness to a Nightmare
A mother sits at the bedside of her baby girl, who appears more like a skeleton than a living human child. A team of rescuers frantically dig through the rubble of a bombed home, hoping to find any sign of life from within. They find a cat meowing weakly. She is covered in dust, her human companions all dead, suffocated by the bricks and concrete of their home or burned slowly to death. A father runs screaming down the street with his son in his arms. The boy’s face is almost unrecognizable.
Feeling Unsafe
… More people are reading the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Our independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. Unlike many news organizations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want our journalism to remain free and open to everyone.
Feeling Unsafe
… More people are reading the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Our independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. Unlike many news organizations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want our journalism to remain free and open to everyone.
Feeling Unsafe
I just watched a child’s last breath. Lying on a gurney, bloodied and terrified. Red pools forming under his head. Eyes glazing over with the unmistakable shroud of death. This is Rafah. This is what is happening now. And yet, I keep seeing people say they feel “unsafe” because of the mere existence of encampments on university campuses. Feeling unsafe because others are protesting a genocide. And I think about what it actually means to be unsafe.
If This Isn't a Picture of Hell, I Don't Know What Is
Last week, I saw a music video of Israeli children singing “annihilate everyone” in reference to Israel’s rampage on the besieged enclave of Gaza. I had to pinch myself to realize that what I was watching was real. How could anyone use children in such a manner? And then I remembered every other genocidal venture in history. Every other campaign against human beings for the stated purpose of revenge or for “purifying” a place.
It is Time to Stop Mincing Words. This is Genocide.
genocide /jĕn′ə-sīd″/ noun The systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group. The systematic killing of a racial or cultural group. The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, political opinion, social status, or other particularity. About a week ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible”.
Israel and the Gaza Prison Break
There are some are saying that the recent Hamas attack in southern Israel was that country’s 9/11. It’s hard to miss the inference there. A gruesome and “unprovoked” attack on innocent people. An outpouring of grief and international solidarity. A demand for retaliation. As in those attacks over 20 years ago, these were no less horrendous. But after 9/11, the Bush regime used its muscle to severely curtail civil liberties and start a “global war on terror”.
The South China Sea’s Resource Wars
It’s an ocean of conflict and ecological decline. Despite its vast size — — the South China Sea has become a microcosm of the geopolitical tensions between East and West, where territorial struggles over abundant natural resources may one day lead to environmental collapse. While the threat of a devastating military conflict between China and the United States in the region still looms, the South China Sea has already experienced irreparable damage.
I Don’t Want to be a Well-Adjusted Corpse
This summer I binged on disaster in my free time. I pored over videos of fierce floods sweeping through streets in Beijing. Of fires ripping through the Northwest Territories, Siberia, my own province of Nova Scotia and reducing Lahaina to ash. Of mudslides in Brazil, Italy and California. I know, not the kind of thing most people binge watch. Some might even say it is “disaster porn” and ill-advised. But I’ve never been “most people”.
Towards an Indigenous economics
With a profound sustainability crisis facing humanity, it may be useful to try and glimpse what a sustainable relationship between people and planet might actually look like. This essay explores how cultures and their host environments mesh together in pre-industrial societies.
I Don't Want to be a Well-Adjusted Corpse
This summer I binged on disaster in my free time. I pored over videos of fierce floods sweeping through streets in Beijing. Of fires ripping through the Northwest Territories, Siberia, my own province of Nova Scotia and reducing Lahaina to ash. Of mudslides in Brazil, Italy and California. I know, not the kind of thing most people binge watch. Some might even say it is “disaster porn” and ill-advised. But I’ve never been “most people”.
Not The World We Live In
That more people know about the reckless and expensive jaunt of billionaires to the bottom of the sea to gawk at a shipwreck on an unregulated submersible, than 500 migrants who are missing and presumed drowned after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean, is exactly what is profoundly wrong with our world. One disaster at sea happened after wealthy thrill-seekers made an ill-advised plunge in an unregulated metal tube that is sealed from the outside.
Pat Robertson's Legacy of Cruelty
So, a vile man is finally dead. Pat Robertson’s 93-year long life was a textbook example of willful ignorance and cruelty writ large. Here is a short list of how this was so (note: it only gets worse as you get to the bottom): Robertson said at the start of 2010 that God wouldn’t bless America that year because there was too much abortion and homosexuality and not enough prayer. “Fifty million babies slaughtered,” Robertson said God told him. “You can’t have legislation that is anti-God.
Hope is the Thing With Feathers: a Meditation About Empathy on a Dying World
Recently, I’ve been listening to The Lost Birds: An Extinction Elegy, by American composer Christopher Tin. It is an arrangement based on the poems of Emily Dickinson, Sara Teasdale, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Christina Rossetti. It is sung beautifully by Voces8 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Tin composed this marvelous arrangement as a memorial to various bird species that have been driven to extinction by habit loss, pollution and encroachment.
From Iraq to Ukraine
It was a crisp, sunny day in San Diego 20 years ago, when I stood on the curb next to friends and comrades. My placard read: “No War for Oil! No to Imperialism!”. We waited for hours before George W. Bush’s entourage arrived, there to protest his illegal war against Iraq. On the opposite side of the road, counter-protestors jeered and mocked us. One held a sign that said the exact opposite of mine.
Cop City is the Future They Want
Over this past weekend I went to see the new Avatar movie. I had seen the first one and, although it had flaws, I saw the overall message as compelling. Fair warning, here is a small spoiler: Simply put, the plot is one where humans in the future, with the help of gargantuan and lethal military might, attempt to colonize a planet called Pandora.
Political Violence is the Currency of Fascism
Whatever one thinks of the politics of Nancy Pelosi, American Democratic Speaker of the House, the violence perpetrated against her husband was nothing short of terrifying, and for many reasons. No spin can erase the fact that this was political violence. And it is becoming normalized in a country that has been rapidly unraveling for several years. The latest attack did not occur in a vacuum. It was fueled by the far right which is becoming more unhinged by the day.
The Fifth Horseman
By all accounts, it was a raucous and tumultuous summer few will forget: from a pandemic that, despite massive denial, is still raging, especially in the Global South, to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, which stands poised to descend into a nuclear nightmare no one can even begin to fathom and is causing major disruptions in fuel and food, to biblical floods that have inundated a third of the entire country of Pakistan, to the unprecedented drying up of several major rivers around the world.
The Far-Right Crusade Against Human Sexuality
It has become impossible not to notice the trend. Whether it is banning the word “gay,” or banning books that contain topics related to human sexuality, or the Supreme Court decision to overturn a woman’s federal right to an abortion, the war on human sexuality and those who are sexually divergent is ramping up on multiple fronts. Even I’ve been a target of this war. Because of my outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth, I have been labeled a “groomer” by a few figures on the far right.
A Meditation on a Nebula, Deep Time and Us
What is it about that photograph of the Carina Nebula, taken by the James Webb Telescope, that is so intriguing? We are looking at a nursery of stars, many far bigger than our own sun. And we are also looking back in time. Deep time. Yet there’s something intimate about it, even though there aren’t any pareidolic references for us to easily latch on to. I’ve been thinking a lot about this image.
American Nightmare
A father hid his young son in a dumpster as he searched for the rest of his family amid rapid gun fire… A war zone? No. Just another day in the US. Independence Day, in a nation whose Supreme Court is intent on demolishing independence for half the population, while granting even more rights to those who want to terrorize it. Even from abroad, I know many of my American friends are feeling anxious. Many are grieving.
Stonewall was a Call for Revolution, Not a Celebration of Conformity
As we observe Pride Month, we should remind ourselves that the original Pride Parade was a riot, not a celebration of conformity to society. There were no permits issued to the people who marched down those streets in New York City. There were no corporate, bank or military floats participating. And it was mocked by mainstream press like the New York Times. It was an answer to violent state repression, persecution, witch hunts, discrimination and theocratic authoritarianism.
The World Should be Forever Grateful to Shireen Abu Aqleh
I will be honest about something. Since the cold-blooded execution of Palestinian, veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh by an Israeli sniper I have felt rather nonplussed. A rarity for me. But it does happen. It happens when I feel overwhelmed with joy. It happens when I feel like I am overcome with despair. And when that despair is mixed with rage, I sometimes feel like I can’t even breath.
Fascism is Intentional
There was a part of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, that is perhaps the most unsettling to me. The protagonist, Offred, is walking past the notorious Wall in the Republic of Gilead. This Wall, once part of a prestigious university in Cambridge Massachusetts, is now being used as a place of public execution, where corpses are left hanging for days to send a message of compliance and terror to the citizens of this authoritarian, theocratic state.
Fascism is Intentional
There was a part of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, that is perhaps the most unsettling to me. The protagonist, Offred, is walking past the notorious Wall in the Republic of Gilead. This Wall, once part of a prestigious university in Cambridge Massachusetts, is now being used as a place of public execution, where corpses are left hanging for days to send a message of compliance and terror to the citizens of this authoritarian, theocratic state.
MLK and Unions
On February 12, 1968, 1,300 Black sanitation workers went on strike in Memphis, Tennessee. It began a few days after the gruesome deaths of two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, who were crushed to death by a garbage truck. These men were in thankless jobs that were extraordinarily dangerous, and they were paid a pittance for it. They were not allowed to form unions and were paid far less than their white co-workers. The strikers faced enormous police state violence too.
Putin and the Church: an Unholy Alliance
Following what appear to be horrendous war crimes, Putin continues his rampage through Ukraine. It is becoming an exercise in absurdity for anyone to defend this war, yet it still has its supporters. Some may still believe that he wants to “de-Nazify” the country. While Ukraine undoubtedly has a serious problem with fascism and far right extremists, one need only to listen to Putin himself to understand that his “justifications” are pure nonsense.
Just stop bombing
As the world watches the horror of Putin’s war on Ukraine unfold, there is another that must be remembered. Nineteen years ago, George W Bush launched his infamous war on the people of Iraq. It was a war based on lies. Yet Bush was never sanctioned. Never had to face charges. Never saw the inside of a courtroom, let alone a jail cell.
They Just Want the Bombs to Stop Falling
March 23, 2022 by Kenn Orphan “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.“ — George Orwell As the world watches the horror of Putin’s war on Ukraine unfold, there is another that must be remembered. Nineteen years ago, George W. Bush launched his infamous war on the people of Iraq. It was a war based on lies. Yet Bush was never sanctioned. Never had to face charges.
All humans
Let’s take a simple test. Ask yourself these questions: has Facebook ever placed a non-white nation’s flag on the top of the list as a choice for profile photo frames? Has Saturday Night Live ever had a Syrian, or Palestinian, or Yemeni choir open their show? Did liquor stores ever stop selling vodka when Russia was involved in the Syrian civil war?
No Human is Alien to Us
March 4, 2022 by Kenn Orphan Let’s take a simple test. Ask yourself these questions: has Facebook ever placed a non-white nation’s flag on the top of the list as a choice for profile photo frames? Has Saturday Night Live ever had a Syrian, or Palestinian, or Yemeni choir open their show? Did liquor stores ever stop selling vodka when Russia was involved in the Syrian civil war?
No Human is Alien to Us
Let’s take a simple test. Ask yourself these questions: has Facebook ever placed a non-white nation’s flag on the top of the list as a choice for profile photo frames? Has Saturday Night Live ever had a Syrian, or Palestinian, or Yemeni choir open their show? Did liquor stores ever stop selling vodka when Russia was involved in the Syrian civil war?
The Courage of Russian Antiwar Activists is Putting Many Western Leftists to Shame
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was painfully apparent within certain circles of the West that there was a thorough lack of even a rudimentary education on what the Russian government is today. Some erstwhile leftists have even been seen praising it in a fashion that would make even Putin cringe. So, let’s make a few facts clear. Putin is no socialist. His political party, United Russia, is a reactionary and far right, and it dominates the executive branch and the Duma (legislative).
Far-right uprisings
This past weekend, I attended a rally in my home city of Halifax. It was organized to counter the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ which continues to hold cities hostage around Canada. Our gathering was intended to build solidarity and care for community. It was encouraging to see so many people come out to oppose fascism. I only wish more showed up. Even though the other side is a minority in Canada, there were still many who came out to support the ‘Freedom Convoy.’ They not only convened in parks.
Fascism is a Fire That Burns Down the Entire House
February 17, 2022 by Kenn Orphan This past weekend, I attended a rally in my home city of Halifax. It was organized to counter the so-called “Freedom Convoy” which continues to hold cities hostage around Canada. Our gathering was intended to build solidarity and care for community. It was encouraging to see so many people come out to oppose fascism. I only wish more showed up.
Thought's on the Freedom Convoy
February 2, 2022 by Kenn Orphan To begin, I understand the frustration many people are feeling around the world after 2+ years of a global pandemic. It’s justified. I get the anger and fear for livelihoods many have. I get the concern for government mandates and many of Trudeau’s policies. But I decided to listen to several of the speakers at this so-called “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa and I found that there is an undeniable slant toward far-right, xenophobic and anti-science conspiracy theories.
A Scream Against the Madness
One of the most powerful moments on any trip I have taken in my life was at the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague. It was built at least 500 years ago, and now holds a museum. In one part there is a collection of children’s drawings from the Theresienstadt Ghetto during the Shoah (Holocaust). Artist and teacher Friedl Dicker-Brandeis encouraged the children of the ghetto to make drawings about their experiences. In silence, I pored over dozens of depictions. Visions of tender humanity living in a nightmare.
How a Battle for a Piece of Forest in Nova Scotia Echoes the Global War for Our Biosphere
January 21, 2022 by Kenn Orphan 2021 was a year that few would want to relive. Mounting climate change fueled catastrophes dominated much of the news around the world. Here in Canada, it was no different. Fires and record heat decimated large swaths of land in British Columbia and Alberta. Then the floods came. Decades of clearcutting old growth forests have led to a seemingly never-ending stream of disasters. In years to come, this existential crisis will only grow.
The Language of Violence
On May 22, 1856, Preston Brooks, a Democrat from South Carolina, beat Charles Sumner, a Republican from Massachusetts, with a walking cane on the floor of the US Senate. Brooks was a pro-slavery lawyer with a history of violent altercations. Sumner was an outspoken and passionate abolitionist. That day, Brooks hit Sumner as he sat writing at a desk. The blows held such force that it snapped his cane into several pieces. He continued to beat him with the part of the cane that had a golden head.
Thoughts on "Don't Look Up"
This week I posted on Facebook that people outside of the US are not obligated to watch a movie that is American even if that movie is on a topic of great importance. And that they should not be pressured or shamed for that decision. I, myself, was urged by a few people to watch the “must watch” film “Don’t Look Up” on Netflix. I kind of knew my objection might generate misunderstanding, primarily from my American friends, but I still stand by what I wrote.
Distinguishing Radical Liberation From Liberal Authoritarianism
“Puritanism has made life itself impossible. More than art, more than estheticism, life represents beauty in a thousand variations; it is indeed, a gigantic panorama of eternal change. Puritanism, on the other hand, rests on a fixed and immovable conception of life; it is based on the Calvinistic idea that life is a curse, imposed upon man by the wrath of God.
The Dangerous Myth of Woke Left Fascism
How anyone could believe that “left woke fascism” is actually a thing is staggering. But I have encountered this line of thinking many more times than I am comfortable with lately, primarily among Americans. Sadly, it has become very fashionable in some corners on the internet to bemoan and decry the supposed scourge of leftist “wokeness” and to equate it with the real menace of far-right authoritarianism, violence and brutality. It is a myth that has gained alarming traction.
The Dangerous Myth of “Left Woke Fascism”
How anyone could believe that “left woke fascism” is actually a thing is staggering. But I have encountered this line of thinking many more times than I am comfortable with lately, primarily among Americans. Sadly, it has become very fashionable in some corners on the internet to bemoan and decry the supposed scourge of leftist “wokeness” and to equate it with the real menace of far-right authoritarianism, violence and brutality. It is a myth that has gained alarming traction.
Censorship, the Myth of Free Data and the False Solutions on the Table
There is a line I keep seeing repeated on social media. It goes something like this: “They are allowed to decide what is acceptable to post and what is not. It’s free, after all.” Things like that may make snappy and snarky comebacks to people complaining about internet censorship. Only it isn’t true. Not by a long shot. Facebook, Twitter, and virtually every other social media company make billions of dollars off our personal information. Some of that information is freely given by us, most is not.
Toward an Undiscovered Country
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” –Hamlet by William Shakespeare. This quote from one of Shakespeare’s most famous of plays has been debated many times over the years. And I think that this is so because it taps into something unconscious within so many of us. The character Horatio was a skeptic. He required evidence of a thing for that thing to exist.
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