Not to take away from the underlying point in the slightest (quite the opposite!). But I'm a Sydneysider, and Ahmed al Ahmed is not from Bondi, but from a suburb called Sutherland. That area is known as being a bit of a heartland for white supremacy, and while of course it is a small but loud minority that feel that way, there have been flyers circulating recently calling for the bashings of Arab people. I imagine he would have run into more than his fair share of hate in his time. I've been thinking a lot at how decisively he chose love anyway.
Powerful reflections here. The Baltazar Enriquez whistle story is one of those simple but brillaint tactics that shows how grassroots organizing adapts faster than institutions can respond. What I find compelling is the framing of neighbor-love not as sentiment but as strategic necessity, when systems fail or refuse to act, communities have to become their own first responders. The connection between Bondi Beach and Chicago ICE resistance shows this pattern playing out across wildly different contexts, same underlying princple though.
An important read 🩵
Not to take away from the underlying point in the slightest (quite the opposite!). But I'm a Sydneysider, and Ahmed al Ahmed is not from Bondi, but from a suburb called Sutherland. That area is known as being a bit of a heartland for white supremacy, and while of course it is a small but loud minority that feel that way, there have been flyers circulating recently calling for the bashings of Arab people. I imagine he would have run into more than his fair share of hate in his time. I've been thinking a lot at how decisively he chose love anyway.
Thank you for the correction and context. Such a brave courageous human being. We should all have that instinct to protect human life.
yes i agree!!
Powerful reflections here. The Baltazar Enriquez whistle story is one of those simple but brillaint tactics that shows how grassroots organizing adapts faster than institutions can respond. What I find compelling is the framing of neighbor-love not as sentiment but as strategic necessity, when systems fail or refuse to act, communities have to become their own first responders. The connection between Bondi Beach and Chicago ICE resistance shows this pattern playing out across wildly different contexts, same underlying princple though.
The big tent for " community" is humanity. It is not natural to kill . Even soldiers have to be drilled to do what humans just don't want to do.
May you find light in this darkness tonight