Re: Quora: fascists welcome; Palestinians, not so much
Dear Kathleen Kern:
So sorry to hear that Quora continues to provide a safe haven for Zionist bigotry and act as an active participant in spreading Israeli propaganda. Zionism is a racist ideology and Quora, I am convinced, is a Zionist organization. It is therefore no surprise to me that bigoted Quora practices extend, not only to canceling Palestinian culture and history, but also to the creation of an environment hostile to Muslims and people of color.
Thank you for the principled stand you continue to take. The good news is that the tide is turning on other social media platforms, if not yet on Quora.
For example, you might have heard of the recent Zionist effort to deplatform me from Medium (See: Why the Far-Right Campaign to Cancel my Medium Blog will Fail: https://medium.com/political-sense/the-far-right-campaign-to-cancel-my-medium-blog-will-fail-419442fcf9ef?sk=0164db5644a95adf109949f4065708fa).
That campaign fizzled out almost as soon as it was born. I'd like to share with you a letter below sent by Palestine Legal to Medium executives that articulates how Palestinians are fighting Quora-like mob-orchestrated Zionist tactics such as the ones you describe in your blog post:
From: Amira Mattar
Subject: Efforts to censor Palestine rights advocates on Medium
To: <aaron.gell@medium.com>, <eclarkwilliams@medium.com>, <ian@medium.com>
Cc: <legal@medium.com>
Dear Aaron, Shawn, and Ian,
I am writing on behalf of Palestine Legal to share some information about campaigns to censor individuals who support freedom, equality and fundamental rights for Palestinians. Medium was the focus of a recent attack seeking to dispose of professor and writer Rima Najjar Merriman from your website.
By way of background, Palestine Legal is an organization dedicated to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of people in the United States who speak out for Palestinian rights. Over the past seven years, we have responded to over 1,700 incidents of repression of U.S. based activists, students, professors, journalists and organizations, who have been targeted because of their support for Palestinian rights.
Advocates often face online censorship campaigns seeking to repress their solidarity with Palestinians. "Deplatforming" has become an increasingly common tactic used in these efforts. Organizations opposed to Palestinian rights and those who advocate for them fabricate false information or misrepresent advocacy for Palestinian equality as anti-Jewish or violent in order to pressure service providers into canceling their accounts, and by extension of that, their voice.
Platforms are inundated with complaints as a result of these coordinated and well-resourced disinformation campaigns. Groups promulgate content vilifying individuals, often who are people of color, and instruct their networks to pressure service providers into removing them. These initiatives sometimes rely on online machinery to expedite the process of lodging complaints en masse. For example, a mobile app by the name of "act.il," an app with funding from the Israel government, rewards users with badges and points for sending pre-drafted, generic grievances. (More on that here). Platforms are pressured to believe that the public outcry appears a response to grassroots community concerns rather than at the helm of organized harassment campaigns.
Efforts to limit Palestinians from open platforms are part of a broader political strategy to silence their advocacy and the solidarity of their allies. Palestine rights advocates are punished, expelled, fired, sued, investigated and threatened for stating that Palestinians deserve equal rights, too.
I urge you to take into account the goals and tactics of denying Palestinians and their allies basic access to your services, and to take any information from such campaigns with a grain of salt.
You can find additional information about this here:
https://palestinelegal.org/efforts-to-redefine-antisemitism-as-a-means-of-censoring-criticism-of-Israel
If you have any questions or would like to discuss these issues further, you can reach me by email or at (917) 370-4424.
Best regards,
Amira Mattar
Michael Ratner Justice Fellow
Palestine Legal
(917) 370-4424
PalestineLegal.org
Kathleen, You might also be interested in reading/sharing this recent blog post of mine: If Facebook Were to Engage with Me about the Term “Zionist,” Here is What I Would Say
https://medium.com/the-shadow/if-facebook-were-to-engage-with-me-about-the-term-zionist-here-is-what-i-would-say-af9e20fc1e1a?sk=ec55d722ff41cefcde35eef6248bb3cf.
In solidarity,
Rima Najjar
