On one hand, the joint family system, and on the other hand, the nuclear family system, what is the Islamic perspective about it? And this is where we'll have to go to the Qur'an at the Seerah of Muhammad and Alem Muhammad Salawatullahi A.A. What does Islam say about it? Does Islam go with the joint family system? Or does it totally agree with the nuclear family system? Islam actually has looked at both systems. It has taken the positive elements of both, and it had left alone the negative elements of both. What Islam would say, and this is what I would like to say that, you know, Islam has preferred. I hope the elders don't get it wrong here. Islam has preferred. I'm using the word preferred because this is not an issue of wajib and haram.  I'm using these terms from the real estate business. So Islam talks about semi-attached family system. What do I mean by that? It means that, you know, the families, as far as their households are concerned, as far as their maqanah are concerned, they are separate. But as far as their hearts are concerned, they are not separate. They can live in separate housing, whether they are neighbors or far away, doesn't matter. But they have to maintain the relationship by the value in Islam, which is known as sila tul raham. What is sila tul raham mean? Even in Urdu, we use that term. Raham means the womb, sila means the link. Sila tul raham means the relationship that Allah SWT has established among the members of the family because of the common mother. And that is a tie which has to be maintained at all the times. So you can have grown up children who after marriage move away from the parents. It wouldn't be a problem as long as they have still maintained their relationship, their attachment, and their sila with their parents and the rest of the family. Salawat. Let me just put the three systems in perspective here. The joint family system, where the maqanah is same, but the hearts are divided. They live under the same roof. But if you look inside, they are not together. In the nuclear family system, the houses are divided and even the hearts are apart. What Islam is talking about is that you can have a separate household, but your heart should be linked and close to one another. Salawat. This issue of sila tul raham and its opposite, qata ul raham, to severe the ties that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has established among the relatives. This is an issue which has been mentioned in the Quran. So many times there is more than the mention of namaz in the Quran, where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says Bama Amara and Yusuf, the command he has given to maintain the ties or the prohibition where he says where the ties are being broken. So this is actually the foundation of the family life in Islam, that when it comes to the physical space and the maqanah, you can be separate from one another as long as your hearts are there together, your concern is there and your love for one another is still there. Salawat. And I think this is what we have to understand. Mashallah, you know, the immigrant generation also now is reaching to the old age. They've grown up children, you know, they're already married, they have grandchildren now. And this is where we have to realize that we have to look at things from the perspective of Islam. In laws on both sides, have to look at this issue, that you know, the new family, they need space. They need kind of privacy. They need to establish their own roots. As parents or in-laws become a good Baqban, become a good gardener. You know, in summer what do you do here?  You want to put a new one in the middle. The first thing you do is you look at the distance, because the mature plants, if they are already that close, and if you plant a new one in between, where the sun is not coming, that new plant is not going to get energy, it will die and wither away. So you need that space in between. So when you are planting a new family in your own garden, look at that space that they require to establish their own roots, to create this bond strongly among themselves. And this is as far as the perspective of the, you know, the parents on both sides are concerned. And on the other side, of course, the new family has to look at the issues. And in Islam, there is nothing like just moving away and that's it. You know, that relationship, silat-ur-ra'am has to be there. The support has to be there. The respect has to be there from the other side.


What's up everyone it's your girl Kenzie here from Layton Sports Cards and I am ripping 22-23 Panini Prison Basketball hobby 4 box break number 31 pick your team gonna go over the teams here, and then we will get ripping last basketball of the day Moving on to some football afterwards All right, we've got Anthony C Kings Chenkai w bowls Chiakai L Hornets Clayton T Thunder Derek J Bucks Eric W Rockets and Grizzlies and Jess Jeff T Warriors Jeffrey H magic Hawks Mavs Justin D Lakers Lursak Y Pacers Lucas P T Wolves Marvin and Nuggets Morgan L Heats Niko Arnett Paul G Nicks Richard G wizards Robert P Blazers Robert. I'm sorry. I got two Roberts P's again Robert PAW Blazers Robert PA our Pelicans Ryan B with the Sun's Clippers Steven W Raptors Thomas V calves Thomas F sixers Wendy J Celtics you on Z Spurs and Zach B Pistons All right, best of luck everyone here we go Here we go. Here we go. Good luck. He's not big here. How's it been the best case so far? Ed Eric Gordon to 299 rockets prismatic Jalen Green. We've got a Pulsar Evan Mobley Jones a Bajie rookie and Kendall Brown Silver fireworks KD widescreen the honest silver rookie Andrew Nemmar Pacers BG Jalen Durand rookie and you know High scoring game to be in the second quarter. My goodness 57 is 64 Not like crazy Palo on the lottery got hyper of George ne'ang I said his last thing reminds me like watching NASCAR Neon Matherin Jones and Caleb Houston neon Some crayons. How's it going? There's Maddie Jalen Brown Silver Scotty Barnes Jaden Hardy rookie base Peyton and Terry Ruby of a Bajie rookie they go Jeff's fearless curry all Pulsar James Harden sixers Shaq Williams It's gonna be Duncan Robinson on the orange to 49 heat James Harden fireworks silver Jalen Smith Christie Numbarn and Ladelle Ruby is gonna be the Karusha fearless Lamello Lamello on the hyper Kellen Johnson Walker Kessler rookie and Robin Silver lottery of Usman dang Usmani dang Silver rookie EJ Ladelle pelicans Van Carroll rookie base the cell and Coloco Red cat for the T-Wolfe's to 299 now. We've got a kominga on these silver signatures Warriors hold the moody right of the last break and now kominga Pulsar Harrison Barnes Ron McGready Walker Ruby Kyle Lowry Looker and Silver Diallo Shade on sharp rookie base and shut hole room purple ice Bradley Beale for the Wizards that one is 20 of 149 And we've got Warriors Jason Richardson Old school Warriors there Hyper rookie Josh Minot T-Wolfe's King Grom dang AI last pack box See Marley's doing good Chris Doing good. She's gonna be six months here Nice how about red Power Lamello for the Hornets to 75 3475 there on the 20th Next week Aladipo Minot Mollins and Alofton can't believe it's gonna be a half a year already She started eating solid foods last week. She's loving it. It's so hilarious She was not a fan of avocado that was her first her first food Not a fan, which I don't understand because it doesn't taste like anything, you know Bulls our wilt Chamberlain Ben Wallace Barclay and Tari Eason big fan of sweet potatoes spinach and Greek yogurt Yeah, yeah, she is gonna be walking soon Ruby wave. Oh Kong woosh. He's trying to stand up already silver Lou d'Or She's got some strong legs on him on her random We've got blue for the Thunder to 199. It was money dang Thunder and a as a bouquet on these Silver sensational signature Jordan pool hyper Got Keegan Murray on the rookie base Danny Green Silver prismatic of Anthony Edwards No, that's gold. Wow four of ten on the gold prismatic ant-man Almost almost went right past me No tea wolves These one there just got them That is Lucas P ice gold ant-man first gold of this case Got Luca widescreen silver Kpj Roddy Baldwin jr We've got Ruby wave Rudy gay Johnny David's luck of the lottery cat hyper Parker Williams murphy Silver prismatic ant-man on the base A silver rookie Jalen Durand business Rollins marriage Got Tyrese Martin to 299 Hawks next auto up is gonna be nice Pacers signatures rookie auto Benedict Matherin This one there Indy We've got tie-tied on the hyper rookie Arabia McCollum keels You are welcome Yanis firework silver Ben Simmons Malone Martin dirt Ruby wave rookie Dyson Daniels Hawaii fearless we've got nice Pulsar Chet Holmgren You go thunder Jane and Ivy rookie Zion Duncan Robinson Red power coming up. It's gonna be rookie of David Roddy for the Grizzlies 57 of 75 there Memphis Silver Norman Powell Jabari Smith jr. Wilts and tie-tie got blue rookie for the Pacers to 199 Kendall Brown Somatic Paul George Kenner But you champ rookie base last pack Silver widescreen loopy Donchich firework speedy silver jenobley Jane and Hardy rookie base Peyton and Terry box three Danielle. We are all sold out for the daytime. Thank you again Do appreciate it nice cards gonna pull today more breaks tonight with Sam all of his baseball is sold out I believe the first break he's looking the fell is gonna be a four box prism EPL soccer Jaren Jackson jr. Redd 299 Got Pulsar rookie Tyree smart and Hawks Dermot boat champ rookie base and Jaden Hardy Solid, I don't know if we've pulled a color blast out of a soccer prison soccer yet this year I don't think we have prismatic silver Lillard. I'm crazy silver rookie of the abate clippers Peyton Terry Shaq Luck of the lottery of bank. Carol. We've got black the Joker Wow Nicola Yolk it's that is sick Denver that is going to Marvin and Wow beautiful Yolk it's there That's sick One of one fireworks of the Joker We'll make that Vince Williams Richardson and Christie that's disgusting Someone asked for a one-on-one There we go Ruby Eric Gordon Booker silver KD for the Nets Nambar Ladelle and Jones real water bringing the one-on-one vibes back Got blue Jalen Brunson for the Nix 199 we got T wolfs again hitting we got a Jada McDaniels this time on the signatures Baldwin Patrick Baldwin Jr. Hyper rookie Bajie rookie brown and KG Purple and 99 Kita for the Kings off color match there baby fireworks silver Patrick Beverly ran Genoblee and Matherin rookie base Ruby wave Evan Moblee caps Randall fireworks Malcolm Brogdon on the pulsar for the Celtics 20 Parker Williams trade Murphy silver lottery of Chet Fearless you'll catch you got Blaine and Brandon Clark silver. Oh, Cody Martin. So you won 99 Hornets We've got warriors sensational signatures silver rookie Otto Ryan Rollins Moses Moody hyper Arabia McCollum Kiehl's Got prismatic Jalen Brown Robert Williams silver Martin Dirk and Jaden Ivy Thanks, no Got Ruby wave red AJ Griffin for the Hawks Hyper DeMar DeRosin Robin St. Jabari Smith Jr. Rookie Warriors at Kings tonight. Ooh red power It's gonna be a Jonathan Isaac for the magic to 75 Silver Frans Ty Ty Herbert Jones Box for all the one-of-one. Let's see Get to what a one-of-one and in gold out of this break smarts Martin Jane Ivy rookie Let's see a numbered auto. How about that? Let's see. Let's see a numbered auto Seth Curry for the Nets to 199 curry hyper Jonathan Isaac Bo champ rookie and Jaden Hardy Rick babes. Yeah, they are Victor. That's the first one that I've pulled I think we've only pulled maybe one or two other ones so far Silver fireworks Lamello widescreen Zion. We got silver rookie of Brandon for the spurs Thanks for subscribing. No, Peyton Terry and Shaq lottery shade on sharp Got Pulsar of Tim Hardaway Jr Vince Williams Richardson Max Christie Zion fearless Shaq hyper KG Zion Robinson and Jabari Smith Jr. Well, AJ Griffin the 99 there you go Hawks 58 of 99 Kawaii silver Kendrick Nunn Wilts Ty Ty and Herbert Jones Ruby Collins Sexton for the Jazz Fearless Mitchell Pulsar Tim Duncan for the spurs Ty's Jones Kayla Pustin Silver prismatic Scotty Barnes fearless Hardin silver stottemire shade on sharp rookie and groom and shut hole groomer And after this break, we are ending the daytime with some football My first look at playoff football. Um, we got Lori marketing and jazz to 149 not playoff playbook Signatures Tari Easton for the Rockets. There you go Houston. Another nice hit there That is Eric W Nice one there Eric Tari Easton Big bodgy on the hyper rookie Dang AI and Minox Got Ruby Terence man Matic a D silver Josh Giddy Nambard rookie Liddell and Jones That rain red to 299 Finney Smith and Ron Harper Jr. Silver rookie sensational signatures Raptors on that one Thought of a Mitchell hyper Bajie rookie base Brown KG Last pack here blue ice of Dale and Terry for the bowls to 125 silver moody Ran rookie at Mather and rookie and genoble. All right, great way to end prison basketball for the daytime Nice break there. All right. We had the Ron Harper Jr. Raptors Tari Easton Rockets Brian Rawlins Warriors J. McDaniels T-Wilkes Mather and Pacers. That's a boogie silver jazz Richardson Warriors silver Kaminga and the black one-of-one fireworks Nicolae Yolkich Sick hit. All right, that'll do it for basketball. We got football coming right up


Hello, everybody. I'm back with a very exciting lecture series on my second favorite molecule ever, DNA. My first favorite molecule ever has to continue to be ATP. ATP is totally related to DNA because ATP is a nucleic acid. It's like a fancy nucleotide. So hopefully some of this DNA conversation will feel a little bit familiar to you because of the background that you have with energy and ATP. But for the purpose of this next series, we're going to spend three lectures talking about DNA from a really molecular standpoint. And the first thing we're going to do is talk about the structure of DNA. And that leads us to, again, of these super powerful themes in biological sciences, structure determines function. So we're going to start out with the structure of DNA, and that will lead us to the function of DNA. And then we're going to look at all these really cool sort of biomolecular applications of what we learned about in these first two lectures. Before we go anywhere, DNA is a nucleic acid that codes for the building of proteins. I know we've said that before in this class, but put it in the memory box. Now it becomes the thing that you hang on to for context. Everything that we're going to learn, all the little crazy details are to support how DNA works, which is to build proteins.  Enzymes are proteins, skeletal muscles are proteins, hormones can be proteins, proteins are transporters and channels, proteins, they're found everywhere and they're the workhorses of our bodies, they're the workhorses of the cell. Having a strategy for keeping organized the instructions for building proteins, that's what DNA is doing. That's why we're here. I'm going to do, in this lecture, we're going to start with sort of a big overview of DNA through a life cycle. And so we're going to just spend a second looking at getting some vocabulary and looking at the human life cycle.


Here, we are with the module 30. This 30th model will define the creativity and innovation. Lastly, we have discussed innovation and digital divide. As I mentioned, the difference between digital divide and innovation is that there is a technological reimbursement. Digitalization is being used in R&D. Your cloud computing, digitization, digitization has differentiated things. You must have seen the sharp information that your time was when people only knew about the dollar price. Today, everyone knows how much is the dollar today. You don't have to do anything with the dollar. You need the dollar price. But it is about the market. The market changes from the blaster of information to the market. As an example, let me tell you that creativity and innovation are usually said that the dollar's price increases and the inflation increases. By slamming the dollar and snapping it, it is a loss if you artificially snap it. Let the dollar go from its routine until you become your own reserve. If you become a south east station model, you will think that you are doing Euro bonds or developing reserve buyers on gold. That is a different thing. When you have a dollar, you let it go into organicism. But the money market will plunge it differently. The money market is different, the spending market is different, the industrial market is different. Now, let's try to understand these things. So, let's move forward with creativity and innovation. Here, we see that researchers have closely linked employer creativity with empowerment. Then they say, two major perspectives on the empowerment phenomena have emerged in the literature. There are two points that we need to understand in literature. One is the social structure approach, which was adopted in Canter in 1977. And the psychological empowerment approach was adopted in 1995. Now, let's talk about the social structure approach. What is the social structure approach? In different countries, in different worlds, in different things, it can be different. Now, culture, values, attributes, norms are different. When you come into McDonald's from globalization, and sometimes you mean McDonald's means you come into technological enhancement. There, your culture, norms are there, but they don't stay that way. That means, they go into a lot of minuses. That means, technology covers the whole culture, norms, attitude, behavior, and even anthropology will minus it. And it will increase in the coming times. Whereas, you must have seen in recent times, people who were pioneers in AI technology say that they shouldn't leave it. But because we have return on investment in digitization, and when this came into the digitization industry, there was a lot of return on investment in marginal effects. So, the second approach is how to get empowerment. Now, this is a fight. Where is the difference between creativity and innovation? What will technology give you? Innovation? Will the cost of production work? One. Then what will happen? Will your price work? Then what will happen? Will the market change? Will the market influence change? Will the average cost come to your reference? The wage rate of your employment will start to be defined. That industry will do it. Or if your employee unions have increased, then they will talk to their power, they will talk about their labor wage rate. Then what will they do in that competition? Will they do their innovation better? They will minus the labor or unions. They will say that they will innovate their industry and factory. That is why you need less and less people. Now, the social structure approach is changing. Now, the psychological empowerment approach is changing. Look, creativity is in people. I am talking to you today. You can do whatever you want. But when I am reading a literature in front of you, but while reading or explaining, I suddenly get an idea. And I will share it with you. Because I want that in the next century, or whatever you are listening to me today, if you listen to me after 10 years, then you should know that I had given you this idea. The idea is that there is no competition of human creativity. AI technology will go to minus. After some time. It is important that you use it as a tool technique. Use it as a resource utilization. Use material management. Use materialization for industrial management. Use it as a waste reduction. But the competition of human creativity is not with technological innovation. You need human creativity, human capacity, human development. What I am presenting to you today is that a whole crew works behind it. A whole set of designing works on it.  This is everything.  Innovation is the by-product of the technology. Now you understand the idea. With this, we can fit our ideas in the best outcome results. But we cannot rely on it completely. Thank you very much.


Two people are dead after a three-vehicle crash near Deer River that happened just before six last night on Highway 46. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a semi being driven by 47-year-old Jason Evans of Deer River was southbound on Highway 46 when it collided into the side of a pickup traveling the opposite direction. The semi then hit a car traveling behind the pickup head on. 34-year-old Stephen Kubaszewski of Wyoming, Minnesota in 57-year-old Arthur Kubaszewski of Chisago City who were both in the Impala died from injuries suffered in the crash. No injuries were reported for Evans or either person in the Ford or in the the vehicle I should say the car all people involved were wearing seat belts. Road conditions were reported to be snowy and icy during the time of the crash. Alcohol is not believed to be a factor. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.


Earth, as seen from space, is a beautiful sight. These amazing images of Earth are just one of the many benefits of space activities. Around 5,000 active satellites are currently orbiting Earth and providing tangible social, scientific, security, and economic benefits to billions of individuals all over the globe. This includes enhancing things that we rely upon on a daily basis such as cell phones, the internet, electronic banking, navigation, weather forecasting, communications, news, and entertainment. Indeed, space systems applications are now so intimately woven into the fabric of our modern information society that many people take the continuity of these space-derived data and services for granted. Yet the ability to continue to provide these important benefits from outer space is now threatened by a number of challenges. The Earth's orbital space environment is a finite resource and it's being used by an increasing number of space actors in potentially unsustainable ways. In the early days of the space age, the Earth's orbital environment posed only natural hazards to spacecraft operating there, such as space weather and impacts from meteoroids. However, in the decades that followed, more and more countries got involved in space and the environment has become much more congested. The number of satellites we're putting into space is increasing rapidly and there are also tens of thousands of defunct satellites and rocket bodies and other fragments that we collectively refer to as space debris. All of this poses an increasingly serious collision hazard to operational satellites and human spaceflight. There are currently about 28,000 pieces of human-generated debris in Earth orbit larger than 10 centimeters in size, each of which could destroy an active satellite in a collision. Statistical modeling indicates there are an estimated 700,000 pieces of orbital debris between 1 and 10 centimeters in size that are largely untracked. This existing orbital debris is largely concentrated in the same altitudes that are heavily used by satellites and in particular low Earth orbit and geostationary Earth orbit. These debris objects may also collide with each other, generating yet more debris. In 1978, NASA scientist Donald Kessler studied what would happen if such cascading debris growth continued unchecked. The Kessler syndrome predicts that there would be a critical point where the density of orbital debris would result in random collisions between debris objects. These random collisions would in turn generate more debris at a rate faster than it is naturally removed from orbit by the Earth's atmosphere. Although this process takes place relatively slowly over decades or centuries, we are already seeing it impose a cost on space activities. Satellites operating in congested regions have to manage a growing number of close-approach warnings and may need to expend precious fuel to avoid potential collisions with debris. As the amount of orbital debris grows, so do the risks of collisions, making some activities too unsafe, risky, or unprofitable to continue. In the early days of the space age, the financial and technological barriers to becoming a space actor were very high. Only a few countries had the wherewithal to build their own satellites. However, there are now many more affordable options for launching satellites into space. This is driving innovation of new space technologies and space applications at a pace never seen before. Together, these factors have led to an explosion of space activities all around the world. We are also seeing the emergence of space systems with hundreds and even thousands of satellites. These very large constellations of satellites hold out the promise of delivering low-cost space data and services to every corner of the globe on a continuous basis. But they also raise a number of questions about the safety of space operations and about equitable access to space for countries that are not yet at the point of building and operating their own satellites. One of the factors that has contributed to the proliferation of space debris and the high cost of space activities in the past is that rockets and satellites have traditionally been single-use systems. Unlike cars and planes, they don't get refueled or fixed when they break. However, we are starting to see the development of satellite servicing technologies that are paving the way for in-orbit activities such as refueling, repair, assembly, and manufacturing. These technologies could also be harnessed to remove the larger debris objects from space, thus reducing the risk of a cascade of debris collisions envisaged in the Kessler syndrome. These technological capabilities will be foundational for a future space economy with the potential to benefit billions of people on Earth. Such a space economy will only be sustainable if we balance the opportunities and needs of the present users of space with the need to preserve the space environment for future generations. Space sustainability is addressing these challenges to ensure that the space environment remains suitable for exploration and use by the current and future generations of all countries. Such is the growing international concern about space sustainability that in 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space adopted a set of 21 guidelines for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities. In the preamble to these guidelines, space sustainability is defined as the ability to maintain the conduct of space activities indefinitely into the future in a manner that realizes the objectives of equitable access to the benefits of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes in order to meet the needs of the present generations while preserving the outer space environment for future generations. Meeting the challenges of space sustainability requires coordinated action at a global level from governments, industry and civil society. It requires that we implement regulatory measures and other incentives to promote responsible behaviors in outer space, informed by principles similar to those that we already use to promote environmentally and socially responsible investment and development on Earth. In short, ensuring the sustainability of activities up there in space is foundational to ensuring our economic prosperity, peace and sustainable development down here on Earth. The Secure World Foundation works with governments, industry, international organizations and civil society to develop and promote ideas and actions to achieve the secure, sustainable and peaceful uses of outer space that will benefit Earth and all its peoples. To find out more, visit SWfound.org.


The best use of PR by a brand by definition is a very wide area and therefore we had huge number of entries. Clearly the competition was tough. I can proudly say as one of the jury members that the entries which finally won would easily win on any international stage as well. The other thing that stood out was the cross-section of work that we saw which means we had a celebrity association with a brand as a winner as you will see when the entries are disclosed. The winners are disclosed to you. We had a social impact campaign winning and we also had someone who's done brilliant movie PR. All the best to the winners. They were truly deserving. Thank you.


I would like to introduce Cal, who will be speaking on the question of Israel and Palestine a revolutionary way forward. Now Cal is the London organiser for Socialist Appeal and he's been leading a lot of the demonstrations that we have been participating in Socialist Appeal. Now this discussion, this topic today, a revolutionary way forward for Palestine is very important. The last few weeks Israel has been increasing its violence and oppression of the Palestinian people. Its bombing campaign has murdered over 10,000 innocent Palestinian people, including over 4,000 children. There is no end in sight and Cal is going to be discussing the history of the situation in Palestine. Why, contrary to what the media and the bourgeois are telling us, this so-called conflict did not begin at a desert party on the 7th of October. It's been going on for over 75 years and that has been a history of oppression, genocide and brutalisation of the Palestinian people. So how long will we be speaking for Cal? We'll be speaking for about 40 to 45 minutes and then we'll open up the floor for discussions afterwards. It will be a popular session for contributions so please ask you to keep to 5 minutes absolute maximum if you can. But without further ado, I think I'll welcome Cal to the podium. Thank you Nelson. Well Comrades, a political witch hunt is underway against those standing on the side of the Palestinians. And every capitalist politician has rushed to the defence of Israel. Rishi Sunak flew out to see Netanyahu to tell him, we want you to win. Sir Keir Starmer, the former human rights lawyer, seems to have forgotten that collective punishment breaks countless international laws. And Soella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has branded demonstrations as hate marches and urged the police to use the full force of the law.  For our international visitors, welcome Comrades to free and democratic Great Britain. Here on this rainy little island, the wonderful values of free speech apply only if it chimes with what your ruler has to say. If you brought a Palestinian flag, think twice about waving it too provocatively on the streets of London. But despite these best efforts from the establishment, these tactics have not worked. The repressive measures being used are backfiring spectacularly because in our thousands, in our millions, the solidarity movement is growing to new heights. And millions place the blame for the war, not just on Netanyahu and the Zionist ruling class, but the hypocrites in London, in Washington, in Berlin. And the chickens have really come home to roost for the rulers at home. People have drawn the correct conclusion that it is the decades of grinding poverty, of everyday oppression and the continued occupation that has once again made war inevitable. And so they refuse to join in with the chorus of condemnation coming from their rulers. Once again, our racist, corrupt, murderous ruling class is moving heaven and earth to conceal the real reasons why the war broke out, what it represents, and how we got here. But to understand anything about Israel or Palestine or the region for that matter, you have to go back to this very city over 100 years ago, where a plan was hatched by Britain and France to divide up the region for themselves. Of course, what I'm referring to is the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, which was a clandestine carve-up of the region between the imperialists. That's why you will find arbitrary lines crisscrossing throughout the Levant. And the Ottoman Empire crumbling presented a real reason for the British and French to fervor their own interests in the region. Emerging as victors from the war, that is the foremost robbers of the world, Britain was recognised with a mandate over modern-day Iraq, Palestine and a protectorate over modern-day Jordan. It should be noted that whilst the First World War was taking place, the British promised a homeland to both the Jews and to the Arabs as a cynical way of trying to curry favour with both peoples. But the Balfour Declaration, secretly written by a British Lord in 1917, was the real turning point in the situation. Here, a homeland was promised for the Jews in historic Palestine, which was a real starting gun for the Zionist project. Around this time, the slogan of a people without a land for a land without a people was popularised in the British press. Palestine was presented as a land of desert and destitution, a barren land that Jewish settlements could make loom. Now, despite how this might seem, or the modern spin on the matter, Balfour was not motivated by religious considerations in the slightest. One of the considerations behind promising the Jews a homeland elsewhere out of sight was actually the rampant anti-Semitism of the ruling elites at the time. It was a cynical bid to appeal to these downtrodden layers of society, because the Jewish people had been relecated to a caste-like status across Europe, reduced by class society to a social role that could easily be scapegoated. And so the Zionist project, which aimed to stop the persecution of the Jews, was actually pushed most heavily by some of the most anti-Semitic characters in politics at the time. Another very important consideration was to cut across the burgeoning national Arab consciousness, which stretched all the way from Iraq down to Morocco. And this was seen as a threat to the British interest and something that had to be prevented. So after the First World War, Britain continued to promote Jewish settlements and brutally put down Palestinian resistance. This led to an almighty revolt, the Great Palestinian Revolt of 1936, which commenced with a six-month general strike, followed by the boycott of the British and Zionist parts of the economy, and this was mercilessly put down by the British army, who destroyed the Palestinian leadership and trained up the Zionist forces in the process. The British had no qualms with terror organisations, such as the Haganah, volunteering alongside them, training them up in the dark arts of warfare that would be later unleashed on the Palestinian people. And whilst the revolt was ongoing, the Peel Commission was presented to British Parliament. And this was a rudimentary partition plan and was really the starting gun, a real spur for the Zionist forces in everything they wanted to see. Now the next 10 years saw many twists and turns, and I'm not going to be able to go into all of them, but suffice to say, British imperialism played the age-old game of divide and rule during the Second World War, not exactly promoting the formation of Israel, but seeking to create an internally divided state. But despite these best-laid plans, they were scuppered, emerging severely weakened from the war, the British mandate was collapsing, and the British had conjured up forces they could no longer control. They then handed over the question of partition to the United Nations, which we must remember was primed at the time as being the saving grace for the free world, there to stop atrocities from happening, crimes against humanity, and to establish a so-called rules-based order. Of course, in reality, it did nothing of the sort. It was a shield for US imperialism, and it picked up exactly where the British had left off. A partition plan was drawn up, discussed, and decided upon by everyone but the Palestinians themselves. So the war's victors presented their fate accompli on 30 November 1947, which was naturally rejected by the Arabs. But at this point, all Zionist forces turned to the point of attack. We saw it all laws collapse throughout historic Palestine, and the British army in their tens of thousands stood idly by as a campaign of terror began. Now, Israel was proclaimed on the 14th of May 1948 over the ruins of the British mandate and over the bones of the Palestinians, which, by the way, had the full blessing of Stalin, adding to a long list of betraying the oppressed masses in their struggle. Now, May the 15th is commemorated by the Arabs as the Nakba, which literally translates to catastrophe. And what a catastrophe it was. In this six-month period, we saw 531 villages raised to the ground, and over 700,000 Palestinians expelled from their land. This at the time, just to put it into perspective, was over half the Palestinians that resided there. A massacre after massacre took place at the hands of the Zionist forces. You can read about Der Yasin, you can read about Tantora, where today you will find Israeli malls and theme parks to conceal the real history of the bloody beginnings. Now, this is all part of the historical record. This is not up for debate. You can also find the minutes of the meetings held by David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of Israel, writing out the orders to his military advisors to purge the land of Palestinians, these commands being written out in the letters of fire and blood to use the expression of Marx. Now, this is the much-needed context to the question of Israel-Palestine. And it is, of course, left out by our Western leaders for good reason. Because the beginnings of Israel was based on the oppression of the Palestinian people, who had been kept prisoners in their own homeland, or have been forced to spill out into the region as refugees over the last 75 years. And it's this fact that determines our unequivocal support for the Palestinians in their struggle for a dignified existence and also a homeland. Now, one interesting observation was made by Leon Trotsky, the leader of the Russian Revolution alongside Lenin in 1914. He wrote that the creation of a Zionist state of Israel would be a bloody trap for both the Jews and the Arabs. Such a state lacking an advanced industrial base and requiring a strong military army would become a tool of imperialism. And he was right. Israel was created by the imperialists to serve the interests of the imperialists. Now, capitalism and Zionism have created a living hell on earth for Palestinians. That much is clear. But the promise of a dignified life for Jewish people, as it was initially pitched, is also a cruel joke. These blood-soaked beginnings have stained the whole of the country's history. The reckless actions of the Zionist rooting class have put millions in harm's way and provoked countless conflicts. Now, Israel has changed quite significantly since 1948. What was laid out in the partition plan was always to be a mere starting point. And David Ben-Gurion even said as much, the following year he said that no border is absolute. And he actually said that since the West Bank hadn't been seized during the fighting, this would be the lament for generations to come. Now, there are two main ways in which this has taken place. The first, creeping annexation and land grabs, where manipulating the land laws has proved absolutely essential. Go back to 1950. The absentee property law was introduced, which was an Orwellian classification that meant if you had been expelled from your land, refused entry back to your land, the Israeli state could seize your land and your bank accounts. And these kind of legalistic smoke and mirrors play a role in the struggle today. Look at East Jerusalem. Look at Sheikh Jarrah, where the Supreme Court approves of the settler project time and time again. Now, the second way in which the map has changed has been under the cover of war through lightning attacks. And one worthy example is the Six Day War of 1967. During the Six Day War, you saw Israel seek control of Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Golden Heights. So this, these two mechanisms are how the map looks the way it does today, roughly 60% of the West Bank is under Israeli control. And the toothless United Nations reckons that 750,000 illegal settlements are to be found in the West Bank, where the life of Palestinians has been made intolerable by the Israeli ruling class. Now, to really understand this, we have to understand what Zionism is. Zionism emerged as a political project in the 1800s, which is popular only amongst a few left intellectuals at the beginning. It was one of many different solutions to the problems blighting the Jewish population. And it was always a reactionary ideology, hence why every single Western leader wears the label as a badge of pride. And a rather candid explanation of the aims of Zionism were given by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister in the 2000s. He explained the intention of Zionism was never to bring democracy, needless to say. It was solely motivated by the creation in Eretz Israel of a Jewish state belonging to all the Jewish people and the Jewish people alone. As we can see, it is the racist, poisonous ideology of the Israeli ruling class. It depends upon divisions between the Arabs and the Jews. And the Zionist ruling class justifies the occupation through its incessant fear mongering about the Palestinians saying they are the mortal enemy to blur over the class lines in Israeli society and also to justify the egregious state violence of the IDF. So Zionism, though it's often phrased in religious verbiage, is a political tool wielded to divide the masses and breed distrust amongst them. This is why we unequivocally oppose it. And we completely reject the equivalence between Jewishness and Zionism as do many Jewish people that you find at the demonstrations but the media doesn't think their voices should be amplified. Now you can look at Netanyahu and his king-makers to see the logic of this poisonous ideology. The current Israeli minister of the interior, Itamiah Ben Gavir, who is a very deranged individual, he has very often said that he wants the whole of the West Bank for the Jews and the Jews alone. And what does that look like? Wiping out the Palestinians en masse, causing another Nakba. He talks openly about how David Ben Gurion got cold feet during 1948 and what is necessary is to expel the Palestinians once again.  And by the way, they have been saying this stuff for years. It didn't start after October 7th. So no wonder why millions of Palestinians say that the Nakba never relented. For millions, the catastrophe never finished. But this has not been taken lying down by the Palestinians. The struggle of the Palestinians to break from their chains is a massive source of inspiration for the working class and youth of the world that sympathize with their plight. Much to the dismay of the Israeli ruling class and the Western leaders, resistance runs like a thread through the history of the entire conflict. But comrades, it has had many different shades. Islamism, secularism, nationalism, socialism, et cetera. And this puts all the more responsibility on communists to understand the conflict and its complexity. We must understand what is reactionary, what is progressive and draw a balance sheet on this basis. Because 75 years on, we can say rather confidently the lack of revolutionary leadership, the lack of revolutionary perspectives has led to, as Lenin would say, horror without end. Now, if we go back to the proclamation of Israel, it is almost unbelievable that the Zionists succeeded in their initial aims surrounded by hostile Arab states. How did this come to pass? Well, the lackluster response from the Arab leaders is indicative of a fact that has not changed.  They didn't back then and they don't to this day. And it's this that provided an opportunity too good to be missed by the Zionists. So the Arab League was set up nominally to represent the interests of Arabs on hearing the news of the Nakba, on hearing the news from Der Yassin. What did they do? They did nothing and they waited for the United Nations to re-intervene. And if you think that this is bad, look at the role of the Jordanian monarchy. After the partition plan was presented back in November, what did they do? They entered into secret negotiations with the Zionists to annex the West Bank for themselves. In fact, the Jordanian Prime Minister flew to Britain to give assurances that they wouldn't fight against a fledgling Israeli state as long as they could have a piece of the pie. Now, of course, this didn't come to pass, but it shows the cynical calculations of the Arab rulers in bright colours. The bourgeois nationalism of these leaders, of these warlords, never represented the interests of the poor and oppressed. And that fact has not changed. Now, the Arab League established the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1964 in an effort to control Palestinian nationalism but to pay lip service to their cause. But soon enough, this was conquered by the Revolutionary Guard of Fatah and other groups, which at the time had a very strong secular tinge to them. They earned their stripes through organising Palestinians, not just in historic Palestine, but in Lebanon and Jordan. And once again, the reactionary role of the Arab regimes alongside the Israeli Defence Force aimed to behead the movement. We had Black September in Jordan in 1970, which saw up to 20,000 Palestinians murdered. The PLO then moved to Lebanon, where the ruling class unleashed a civil war through phalanges, fascist squads against the Lebanese working class and the Palestinians. This resulted in the gruesome massacres of Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982. And the PLO fled from town. Well, in fact, it fled from the Middle East, all the way over to Tunis in 1982. But the limits of the PLO were becoming clear at this time. Gaza Arafat, who headed up the PLO, had no clear idea as to what form the struggle would take, or, for that matter, to what end. And this led to vacillations between the so-called armed struggle and diplomatic pressure. You can see this, in fact, in Arafat's speech to the United Nations, where he said, I come bearing a gun, and, obviously, the other thing he said, an olive branch. Don't let the olive branch break. In reality, though, the armed struggle was just acts of individual violence and terror divorced from the masses. And in the end, diplomatic pressure won out. The idea that liberation would come from the Palestinian people themselves was completely abandoned. And instead, the Palestinian militancy was used as a bargaining chip to parlay with the greater imperialist powers. The Palestinians were reduced to being passive observers of their struggle. But the Palestinians had very different ideas. And whilst the officially recognized leadership was nowhere to be seen, what happened next took the whole world by surprise. And, of course, I'm referring to the 7th of December, 1987, when the ruling class was caught aghast by news from Palestine. After 20 years of direct Israeli military occupation, the Palestinian masses burst onto the scene of history after four gardens were murdered by an Israeli trucker. Now, acts of wanton violence like this are commonplace. You will find them today as well. But as is the case with all revolutionary movements, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. And the usual methods of putting down Palestinian resistance in the occupied territories by bullets did not work. The interfader was born, and it was unlike any form of resistance we had ever seen before.  And it was different from the PLO's slogan, thawra hatal nasal, which means struggle until victory. It was very popular in Beirut amongst their militants. And I think this is significant because the interfader was the most democratic and massive movement you could have ever found on Palestinian soil. That remains the case to this day. And the entire psychology of the past, one of submission, was shattered in a matter of weeks. We saw popular committees mushroom across historic Palestine where young men and women would assume the day-to-day responsibilities for struggling against the occupation, food, healthcare, protests, self-defense. This was all organized from the grassroots. And liberated zones were set up in Palestinian camps, in villages, where the young Palestinian men, the foot soldiers of the revolution, the Shabbabs, would chase the IDF out of town with its tail between its legs. Typically armed with sticks and stones, these courageous people would come up against the might of the Israeli war machine.  A true David and Goliath battle. But in this version, it was the Palestinian youth wielding the slingshot. And this sudden and sustained struggle led to general strikes, to commercial strikes, to roadblocks. And civil disobedience ran through the veins of the first interfader. The famous tax revolt in Beit Sahur brought international attention to the question. And it completely undermined the Israeli lie that they were dealing with terrorists. It was the mass character of the interfader which gave it its strength. The entire population of Palestine rose up. And that, comrades, is why we proudly call for interfader until victory. And that, comrades, is precisely why we are attacked in the press. Because for the serious strategists of capital the idea of another interfader fills them with horror. This is because their faithful ally in the Middle East completely lost control of the situation. The struggle of the Palestinians began to resonate within Israel itself, loosening the grip of Zionism on ordinary Israelis. Israelis began to see women and boys armed with sticks and stones be attacked, be killed for the crime of resisting the occupation. They saw people refusing to pay taxes besieged by the Israeli forces. And so the might of the Israeli army began to wane as a consequence. It spurred on the Refusenik movement where young IDF soldiers were repulsed by the occupation and refused to serve. And this mood percolated up to the higher commands of the army as well. On the flip side, it showed the Palestinians where they belonged at the forefront of their own struggle. It showed them where the power really lay in society and it threatened to teach the workers and youth of the entire region that lesson as well. This was not something that could be tolerated by the dictators in the Middle East whatsoever. And this is what worries all of the imperialists in the region, the butchers in Tel Aviv, the butchers in Cairo, the butchers in Amman about the call for an interfader.  Now the first interfader opened up a truly unprecedented situation. So unstable did the situation become that the U.S. had to lean on the Zionist ruling class in order for them to at least pay lip service to a two-state solution. And as far as the official Palestinian leadership were concerned, the spontaneous grassroots movement had completely run out of its control. And so they were keen to apply the brakes. Arafat viewed the conflict through a purely nationalist lens. He had no faith in the masses to transform society. In fact, he felt undermined by the masses. And as a result, saw the peace process catered by U.S. imperialism as a means of regaining his leading role. The Zionists therefore could make use of him. And the result was to divert the revolutionary power of the masses down the blind alley of the Oslo Accords. Now what did the Israeli ruling class want out of these accords? I would say two things. They sealed off the Palestinians into a series of small prisons masquerading as a state with no territorial integrity and completely dominated by Israel. Tick. The second was to find a new jailer for the Palestinians in the form of the Arab world. And this is exactly what they got. Look at life of Palestinians 30 years on. They live in little enclaves separated by watchtowers and military checkpoints. And a new jailer was found for the Palestinians in the form of the Palestinian Authority or PA which was headed up by Arafat. This was naively seen by some on the left as a government in waiting for a fledgling independent Palestinian state. But this was a mirage. Arafat and his gang started carrying out the wishes of Israeli imperialism and now the PA is completely discredited and it functions more like a dysfunctional local council of Israel. Arresting, surveilling, even killing their own people was the price worth paying for the Petit Bourgeois lifestyle that were afforded to them and the status of being the official leadership of the Palestinians. As is always the case during any national liberation movement I would say, the rich will always betray the poor. So the left nationalism of Arafat was put to a test and it failed miserably. The 1993 Oslo Accords marked a humiliation of everything that the Palestinians had fought for. The Accords in fact legitimized the main thrust of Zionist expansion since 1948. The right to return for all of the refugees was not even placed on the table. As with all peace processes this buried the Nakba and its victims. Now there is some on the left that still believe that with the right kind of leadership and the right kind of pressure a two state solution can come to pass. Now underpinning this idea is the idea that Israeli imperialism will cease to be imperialist. Now even more ridiculous than that is the suggestion of how this will come about. It should not be brought about they say by the Palestinians or the masses of the region the youth of the region it should be brought about by the so called international community whatever that is supposed to mean. It is them that should apply the pressure and make sure that the Israeli ruling class abide by international law and the principles of justice. Now does anyone in this room believe this is what motivates the international community? Well Comrades we have heard a lot about the high sounding values of democracy, of self-determination, of freedom. We've heard a lot about this in the last couple of years but forgive me that's only when we are arming the fascist militias in Ukraine that they talk in such language. Now if these are the same principles of justice that were used and sworn by when they were terrorizing the people of Yugoslavia of Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya then we should want nothing to do with these so called values. No we have no faith in the international community to solve anything. It is precisely international imperialist meddling that has the longest record of death, destruction and destabilization in the region. Moreover the idea that the Israeli ruling class could tolerate an economically viable independent Palestinian state is a mirage. It is a complete utopia. This was the case 30 years ago and it remains the case to this day. Now once we concretize what this looks like we see how ridiculous it is. Where would we draw the line in the sand? The idea that the Israeli ruling class would have any desire to disentangle themselves from the West Bank or revert back to the 1967 borders as the so called Communist Party in Britain would like is a utopia. Listen to what they have to say. They say they want to digest the whole West Bank for the Jews and Jews alone. Never mind disentangle themselves. Now would the Israeli ruling class allow an economic competitor on its borders? Well I would say that the transformation of East Jerusalem which was once prized as the future capital for an independent Palestinian state definitively suggests otherwise it has become a settler's dystopia for the Palestinians. And this sham solution in fact perpetuates a state of no solution whatsoever. And this became very clear in due course. Seven years after Oslo a wave of rage hit the streets of Palestine once again. With the settlers doubling in the West Bank and provocations from the Zionists the second interfather was born. And it was born as a popular non militarized protest at the beginning but it was characterised this time by bitterness and desperation. And this was because of the betrayals of the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat who had switched their military attire for silk suits and were enjoying the benefits of their connection to the Israeli military command. It was this that led to the rise of Hamas. It was the venal capitulation of the so called leaders of Palestine that led to the desperate acts of terrorism of bombings of kidnappings etc. But even during the second interfather it was the Israeli state that had the monopoly on violence. Let's be very clear about that point. The lethal violence and desperate tactics were teased out by this murderous ruling class who had flouted all of its commitments to peace readily deployed bulldozers to turn Janine to rubble and used attack helicopters to destroy a population that was generally speaking unarmed. Three Palestinians for everyone Israeli were killed during the fighting. But let's also be clear on another point. Hamas is a religious fundamentalist outfit that no genuine communist should support whatsoever. They speak in the language of religious holy war which is a game the Zionists know all too well how to play. Hamas has no perspective for mass struggle which is precisely why it was promoted by the Israeli security services, by the CIA during the first interfather to cut across the strong socialist currents in the liberation movement and it has been personally nurtured by Netanyahu himself. Now communists understand that Hamas's rockets do not advance Palestinian liberation one millimetre. These kind of tactics completely relegate the role of the masses. They do not build the confidence and unity of the masses and it plays right into the hands of the Zionists. The interfather was once again derailed by the self-starred leaders of Palestine. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority drew up a roadmap to peace with George W. Bush of Hall People in 2005. But at the time a lot of people were asking a roadmap to where exactly? Well I think the last 20 years speak for themselves. A roadmap to more war, to more settlements to more murder. These are the bitter fruits of imperialist peace. Now the first interfather has certain lessons for revolutionaries. It showed that the masses of the region have enormous power when they end to struggle. They are the only force that can destroy Zionism and capitalism. And there is a bitter lesson from both of the interfathers that this potential is a revolutionary communist leadership that fights for a meaningful peace between the peoples. Now unlike the imperialists we want to see a meaningful peace between the peoples but we cannot get there on the basis of pacifistic phrase mongering. And Lenin was very clear on this point he wrote this was in relation to the First World War by the way the struggle for such a peace cannot be waged by repeating general, vapid, benign, sentimental, meaningless and non-committal pacifist phrases which merely serve to embellish the foulness of imperialism. Now comrades every single reformist has called for a ceasefire or slightly left to that a humanitarian pause which is just calling for an end to the butchery for how long it's undisclosed and then we can just go back to this quote as before now these people are completely unable to envisage anything beyond capitalism so they resort to what seems practical what's realistic and in fact this is the worst utopianism of all these pleas are proving impotent Netanyahu has made it very clear just listen to what he has to say now is not the time for ceasefire now is the time for war and the occupation which let's remember the liberals were saying is the lesser evil has actually blocked all of the humanitarian pause motions from going through the United Nations Security Council so let's be clear on this this war is a result of peace on Israel's terms the occupation is the bitter fruits of imperialist peace and communists are not a solution to the conflict now it was Lenin that explained that there is such a thing as bad peace a bad peace is one that makes war inevitable later down the line and it's a no surprise in fact that the Oslo Accords are compared to the Treaty of Versailles in this sense Lenin continued meaningful peace can only be waged by telling people the truth by telling people that in order to obtain democratic and just peace the bourgeois governments of all the belligerent countries must be over thrown so what is the truth that Palestinian liberation can only come about through the revolutionary overthrow of the Zionist state as part of the revolutionary transformation of the Middle East now by the Zionist state I mean the armed bodies of men which have a monopoly on violence this in no way means that Jewish people should be thrown into the river or any of that reactionary nonsense and just to be crystal clear so I can't be misinterpreted communists are for the revolutionary overthrow of every single bourgeois state we do not discriminate in the slightest and the Arab masses have a key role to play within this after all the majority of people in Jordan are Palestinian the only way of achieving meaningful peace is mass struggle revolutionary struggle interfather throughout the entire region of the poor and oppressed we are for a class war against the system that breeds misery and violence and we will not handering with the pacifists who quake about how terrible war is war is the logical consequence of capitalism and imperialism and that is why we stand for its overthrow this is the precondition for letting refugees return to their homeland this is the only way toward against a second Nakba we stand for a socialist federation of the whole of historic Palestine as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East this is the only way to solve both national questions it will not come from a UN resolution it cannot be solved on a capitalist basis why because capitalism relies on division between the people it is only through a social revolution that we could have all the vast wealth of the region pooled under a democratic plan administered by the working class the fact is as long as issues of housing education jobs healthcare remain enmity will fester between the peoples and it will be provoked by various political agents the only successful way of breaking this down is revolutionary struggles and revolutions in the Arab world could provide a massive impetus to this this would provide the basis for rapid economic development the creation of autonomous zones where minorities are guaranteed rights and it would change the entire psychology of the peoples now for those realists that say that this is impossible eventually saying there is no solution so perhaps we should just wash our hands of the Palestinians but there is historical precedent revolutionary struggle has and will continue to break the age old spiral of violence between the peoples now to give but one example because I'm running out of time before 1917 there had been a terrible conflict between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis through the socialist revolution that saw workers come to power that buried the sordid history of pogroms and persecution on the basis of economic growth where socialist republics eagerly joined the USSR we saw the distrust and ill feeling break away it melted into a we saw mixed marriages become the norm and no matter where you lived your rights would be guaranteed nevertheless so the basis of national oppression was severely undermined and it's no wonder in fact that these hostilities have resurfaced with the restoration of capitalism you need only look at the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to see this today in a word a socialist federation of the Middle East is the only way for guaranteeing the autonomy of the Jews of the Arabs and other national groups that isn't based on oppression you might think that this is a little fanciful but let's place this war in it's rightful context the world is being shaken by revolution and war and a very dangerous situation has opened up in historic Palestine the peace accords are a dead letter and the summits the road maps, the foreign intervention it signifies one thing betrayal and this has produced a crisis of confidence in the Palestinian camp the Palestinian Authority is reviled by the youth they see the participation in the blockade as the clearest sign as to where their allegiances actually lie and the death of the two state solution marked the death of the Palestinian Authority but it's not just the PA look back to the Palestinian general strike of 2021 known as the Unity Interfrada which galvanized the Palestinians from the West Bank to Gaza and in the Israeli Green Line it was not Hamas it was not the PA it was the self-organized committees of the youth that drove this forward and the class struggle methods point the way in how the struggle needs to go and a new interfrada is being prepared and this time the imperialists won't have a stable pair of hands to rely on instability looms within Israel itself Netanyahu has staked his future on completely destroying Hamas which will prove rather difficult and this could backfire as it's projected to be a very protracted war there is already mass anger towards Netanyahu that goes back yours and once the fumes of nationalism begin to wear off a very dangerous situation will come about I'll sum up the solution to this conflict goes way beyond the artificial lines drawn up in 1916 social instability looms over the entire region revolutionary developments impend in fact, revolutions have swept the Arab world very recently think back 12 years to the Arab spring what did we see 4 dictators toppled huge ramifications in Israel and none of the burning class questions addressed from Iran to Jordan Egypt to Lebanon and amongst the Palestinians themselves the masses have begun to stir and the youth of this region have everything to gain and nothing to lose but the struggle is not just limited to the region as it's been said over the congress this has become a focal point for the radical youth of the world and you can see this on the demonstrations the anger directed towards the butchers in London in Washington in Berlin it shows the struggle against imperialism assume a mass character and people don't believe that there is no solution to this conflict increasingly they see that there is no solution on a capitalist basis it's in times like this where we must use it to build the genuine forces of communism building a hardened revolutionary international is the task we have set ourselves bringing about a socialist revolution in Britain putting a worker's government in power and a foreign policy based on internationalism this is the best solidarity we can offer to the Palestinian people no longer will Britain be a prop to Israel no longer will it apologize for the crimes of a genocidal ruling class in times of war just like in times of peace the main enemy remains at home and Britain has blood on its hands and we the communists must win over the radicalized youth to our banner we will not be cowed we will not back down and we will continue to raise the slogan from London to Gaza we'll have an interfather


Welcome to another episode of Think Tech Hawaii. My name is John Strandberg. I'm your host for your business in Hawaii. And thank you for tuning in today. For those of you who would like to turn in live, visit www.thinktechhawaii.com and you can view live or you can find us on YouTube stations later. So today I have Kathleen Lee who is rejoining me from a different show to talk about branding and how it affects your career. So I want to welcome Kathleen. Hi John and Think Tech Hawaii. Thank you for having me here today. I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah, so thank you again. I know Think Tech studios were changing our format a little bit. We're able to, instead of being in studio, work from our offices, wherever we are.  So I hope everyone enjoys this new format. This is my first time doing it and looking forward to continuing on with this. So Kathleen, tell me about yourself and what made you come up with this idea about branding? Sure. So I am again, my name is Kathleen Lee and I am a consultant with Kathleen Lee Consulting, which is my career coaching and resume writing company. I came up with the concept of my company based on my experiences professionally. So along with that, I'm also a PR consultant and a video journalist for the Filipino channel.  So you kind of see everything in the world. So let's dive right into it because everyone that tunes in usually is a career person or professional in Hawaii and hopefully around the world that sees this. So how do you present yourself? Okay, so what's important to be mindful of? Right. So I, you know, today we're going to talk about the importance of branding for the advancement of your career. So branding is essentially how you would like, how you carry yourself and how you would like people to perceive you accurately. And that, and then we're going to cover three points like how you present yourself in social media, how you can maximize networking opportunities, and how you can really bring out the best of who you are in order to advance towards a career that works for both your interests, your passions and what you're good at. We can start with a social media divide. Let's go and start social media because I'm, I'm thinking my ego and LinkedIn could use an update. Right. Okay. So because we are shifting towards getting our sources through technology these days, a lot of recruiters actually go through social media networks to do a little bit of a background on potential candidates or people that they want to join their companies. And that's through LinkedIn, Facebook, or even, you know, Instagram or Twitter. And if you do like a quick Google search, you'll, you'll see that about 90% of recruiters are actually going that route, you know, a lot of them still go through LinkedIn, of course, to get an idea of a candidate's profile, especially the ones that have their profile publicly exposed or available. But people do go through Facebook, the casual social networking avenues that, you know, we post our, you know, photos of our friends and things that we do on the weekends, people go through that as well. And so on our end, if we, we can use those particular mediums to advance ourselves. So for Facebook, for instance, employers will look at, you know, what type of things you volunteer for the people that you associate with, even like the way you spell words. So I always advise people to be very mindful of what they post. And one guideline that I personally use is post things on any post anything that you feel you would be comfortable with talking about publicly or in an interview. So basically anyone walking on the street, if they came up and asked you a question, you'd be okay answering.  I like to think you like me versus that. It is a team. Like you can, you can do that. You know, they do say that the general guideline is to for mindfulness and tactfulness is to avoid talking about politics, religion, sex, or money. But it depends on your branding. If you would like to be someone that wants to be involved in politics, you know, post things that you believe in. And those particular things could open you up to other opportunities. People might be looking for someone that could be a government affairs representative for that particular, or a particular nonprofit might be looking for someone to represent them. So it really depends on how you would like to brand yourself. Okay. So as we're talking which social media platforms, I know we talked about Facebook and LinkedIn as now, which other platforms should we be concerned with in terms of branding ourselves? I think we should be concerned with all of it, especially if, because everything nowadays, even if we believe that something that we post is private or blocked, we have friends or friends of friends that, that may be able to, that have the access to share that with other people and possibly potential employers. And this is why I always tell people to be careful. It's not prioritizing one particular social media medium over the other. We really have to be mindful of everything that we use out there because whatever we post is published. And it's so easy to take a screenshot these days and have, you know, your particular post be distributed rapidly. You know, we see a lot of that in the media now where someone said something and they can't retract it because there's a screenshot. Right. Yeah, I tell my kids, whatever's on the internet is forever, no matter if they can delete it or not. And I believe someone discovered a repository of old Snapchat somewhere online. So because Snapchat will so disappear after a little bit, it's forever. Don't, don't, don't count that online. Anything online, anything online that you post can be easily retrieved and used for you for your advantage or against you. It depends on whatever you post. So yeah, coming from an old IT world, I would say emails count in that as well. For my experience, you definitely want to control your words and emails. Spelling is huge. I'm a proponent of grammar, spelling and grammar. So yeah, I see where social media can be. So when you talk about branding, let's go back to our primary target, branding yourself. We talk about social media. What is the next evolution after social media that you want to talk about in terms of how do I brand myself to find that perfect job or to get that job? When it comes to using your social media accounts and outlets, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. So only because if I'm looking for a nonprofit job, do I want to show off to have been volunteering all these years, even though it's not for that nonprofit? Or, yes. I think that's a, you bring up a great question, John. So I would say yes to that, especially if you're looking for, let's take that particular example. If you are looking for a job in a nonprofit, you want to give them the accurate idea that volunteering for certain things is something that you have done naturally. So if you'd like to post certain photos of you doing these things, go ahead. Some people might feel uncomfortable doing that. I know a lot of times people who volunteer don't necessarily want to take credit for what they've done for that particular day. But you can do both ways. You don't necessarily have to take credit for it, but you can just have it presented in a way that makes it so that you're appreciative of the opportunity for you to volunteer for these certain things. And so when a potential employer looks through it, they can say, oh, that's really cool that this person has gone out and done this. And while your experience or like your volunteer experience may not necessarily be directly connected to the company that you work for, isn't that how we get a lot of a good amount of our positions anyway? The reason we show them what we have experience in is to let them know that we have skills that are transferable to whatever they're looking for. Skills and interests, because we were talking about volunteer opportunities. Okay. How about instead of volunteerism, let's call it, I want, I need a new job in an accounting world. Okay. Give me an example, how would I? Yeah, sure. So if that is something, if you are going to pursue something in the accounting world and you would like to give, if you want to leave the imprint or impression that that's the position that you're particularly looking for, look through articles online and post the ones that you feel have helped you out. Make it intentional in a way where you can say something like, oh, like since I'm in this field or this is what I've studied, I found this article to be helpful to me and maybe it could be helpful to you too. So be intentional in what you post and what you share online and have it be reflective of your interests, whether it's, you know, your academic interests, your professional interests, or your personal interests. Oh, very good. So we're going to move on. What's to the next topic? I guess you said, we're going to discuss three of them. Just move on to number two. What do you suggest on number two? Sure. So our number two was how to maximize networking situations so it could help you one with your branding and two, again, keep going back to the theme with the advancement of your career. If anyone should know anything about networking, it's you, of course. And we know that networking, that's how we met. That's how you and I met was through a networking opportunity. And I told people that opportunities like that aren't necessarily a race for you to get as many business cards as you want. So whenever you find yourself in situations where you can meet people within your industry or towards industries that you want to move towards, make a genuine connection by building rapport with them. Have a target two to three people that you would like to meet. You can definitely still distribute your business cards to, you know, a lot of people, but focus on making genuine connections for the day after or the week after and relate back to whatever you had connected on during that networking event. So again, let me reiterate, networking events are not a race to give your business cards to as many people as possible, but to make genuine connections with people so you could, so those connections could be mutually beneficial for the parties involved.  I just took a phone call a few months before this interview of an old friend says I came across your business card in a colleague's business card box I left. And she gave me the name. I don't recall meeting that person. And I jokingly said, I think I gave him my card as a get out of town three, like, thank you very much for your time go away. So it was one of those where you just hand off a card to get rid of that person. Because that's what they're there. They weren't there to make a genuine connection. And obviously, because I don't recall meeting this person and I'm like, no, I don't remember the person, but I do remember the company. So that's at least something there. Well, there you go. And I'm going back to the line. Make yourself, how should I say this? Present yourself in a way where you're comfortable enough, dressed comfortably enough to be memorable.  But, you know, some people have like distinctive things that that they know can can work for them. Like, I know some professionals that style their hair a certain way that make people remember them, or wear a particular like piece of clothing that seems to be consistent.  But make sure it's comfortable enough and not too gimmicky, but comfortable enough for you to feel confident enough to, you know, know that you are going to be memorable when you make these connections. I'm a dark blue kind of guy myself, obviously. But when you say something memorable, for me, I find that most of the events I attend, I'm usually the tallest person in the room. Welcome to Hawaii. And that's how they remember. I feel horrible when I'm meeting people again. And they go, oh, we met the last time and I forgot because they weren't memorable. And it bothers me. But at the same time, it's like, help me help you by doing something memorable, or at least reaching out after we are meeting. Right. Which I do like to do. Well, don't don't feel too bad about that because because if you've made an impression and you don't remember the individual, and if they approach you again, it just gives you a second chance to reinforce that connection. So don't feel too bad. Well, I do. It's part of my job to grow business. And it's like, if I forgot someone's name, I'm not growing the business. So you said first impressions count a lot in networking events. That's something I've always believed in. And you mentioned attire wearing something memorable. I mean, how important is it to fit in quickly with dress? Very important.  I think that it's always good to get to know people on a deeper level aside from the first impression that they make.  I say dress for the part. If you would like to meet certain, or if you're in a particular crowd, you know, kind of read the room. If you're going to an event, pay attention to, you know, what the nature of the event is, if like here in Hawaii, if it says, hey, Aloha where you're requested, you know, go with that theme out of respect for the particular event and the people that are throwing it together. But going back to first impressions, because these events are targeted towards inviting a lot of people, it's always good to dress. I like to say dress sharp. It's the safest way to go, you know, dress sharp, dress comfortably, and dress in a way that if someone said, hey, you know, like, what if I took you for an interview today, you would be comfortable enough and doing it. And those particular networking events anyway. Okay, so we talked about dressing for success or dressing for potential interview at a networking event. How do you pick the networking events? Because I think that's just as important as going to one is which one's the right one to go to. That's kind of the next one I ran too. Okay, and I think that's a great question, especially since there are particular months where there are a lot of things going on. For instance, this month we had the opening day of the Hawaii State Legislature, so a lot of networking events in town are geared towards, you know, meeting our local legislators. So it really depends on your interest. In order for you to figure out which best fits your needs and where you would like to go in your career, look up certain events that you feel may have the people that you would like to connect with. For example, if you would like to be involved in a nonprofit that focuses on the advancement of women, there are a lot of events and a lot of nonprofits that put together fundraisers and just mixers catered towards those particular causes and that demographic. If you are into, let's say just meeting people or entrepreneurial endeavors, there's also a lot of that. Because I searched that out, what happens when I look through my social media accounts and the invites that I get is that they're geared towards what people think that I may be interested in. And this is why I say, again, it's important to deliver what you are genuinely interested in, because then the world and the people around you respond accordingly. If I know that you are not going to be interested in like a running gig or a race and I'm not going to forward that to you, but I've had people say, hey, Kat, I noticed that you hosted a running photo, would you be interested in meeting this individual who also runs and I make a connection that way. And sometimes that connection turns out to be like a business transaction or a business partnership. And that's why I think it is always important to go back and define what you are interested in and where you want to go, just so that that's the brand that you are genuinely putting out there. Did you want to join a running group, John? Yeah, no, my knees are preventing me from running. We talk about networking, we talk about social media. Let's go on to the third. I mean, we're rolling along. I don't want to leave this train of thought. So what else can you help enhance? I know every one of us has good and bad. So let's talk about how do we enhance the good? The bad always shows up quickly. We know that, but let's talk about good. How much better can we be? How do we enhance the good? So we can always do a deep dive of again, and I've said this numerous times, of what we are interested in and what we feel that what we do would make a difference. I like to think that people have a general idea of what they like, whether it's like a sports activity, a volunteer opportunity. And if it's something that you are interested in, but you haven't delved into it, research that and see how you can get involved. Again, let me take a personal example. So I like volunteering for campaigns, for instance, people who are running for office. And in doing so, I've learned that when I go to particular events, I meet people with the same interests. And then that kind of connects to, hey, I'm part of this organization, or I'm with this company, would you be interested in this? So in order for us to be headed towards where we want to, we really have to know who we are and what we are good at and where we think we can make a difference. I know it's daunting for some people to do that kind of deep dive, I think, but it's helpful in the long run. So if you know where your interests lie, you can start anywhere is what I say all the time. If you don't have to volunteer right away, go to a meeting. Because a lot of times, like-minded people meet together in the same places. So that's one way to kind of enhance the best of what you can offer to the world. So how would I enhance my best qualities to make it easier for others to realize, hey, I might be the best choice for that promotion, or that job, or to get a job? Well, how do we enhance our best qualities to make it known that, hey, I am the right person to get that promotion? In truth, in many of my jobs over my career, people sought me out, not so much as me applying for a job. So how do I get that out to the community to understand that this is who I am? And these are my best qualities. Sure. Let's go back to something that I said earlier is start anywhere.  It really goes back to doing your research and starting anyway, like it doesn't matter where just start anywhere. Like I know volunteer opportunities have actually opened so many doors for me professionally. For like one example is that I, you know, I've been writing for the Phyllian career since 2014 as a volunteer writer and through that particular opportunity because I love writing and that's why everything that I currently do in my career involves writing. But through that volunteer opportunity, I was able to, someone had offered the video journalist position as an option for me to further my career, to further my interest. So start anywhere. I really mean that start anywhere, start today, don't procrastinate, start anywhere. Okay. So let's go back to enhancing my best qualities. What should I make sure is a stand out on my resume? Because websites like LinkedIn, I could actually post my resume and reside there. How do I get my best qualities on a resume without, it's a Hawaii thing to be humble so you don't promote yourself. But you need to do it somewhere. Hey, I think I want you to be my next assistant, my next VP, whatever position or title you're looking for. So the resume is important. I'm just trying to figure out how to do that without patting myself on the back. Well, I genuinely thank you for tying it back to that with the whole representing yourself through your resume. So I feel like a good amount of times people have a need to regurgitate certain job descriptions when it comes to representing themselves on your resume, which is, I don't think it's the way to go at all. People already know what the job entails. What I recommend for people to do is to highlight what was it about what they did in particular positions that made them stand out or that made them excel in that particular or the particular positions that they have posted on your resumes. Again, we already know the job descriptions and you can use that as a guideline to figure out how to tailor your resume towards a particular position. But you mentioned that we struggle with dealing with this happy medium between humility and letting people know what we're good at. And that is definitely a line that everyone, even I myself, straddle daily. But if we are not going to be the ones that say, Hey, by the way, we did this, then who's going to do it? And that's why I tell people, you work hard for whatever it is that you did in whatever position that you were in. Put that on there because not a lot of people were able to accomplish what you did. And if you were the best at it, write that on there. If you were the only person or you were the first person that initiated a program in your particular company, put that in there because the point for people and employers is to hire who they think is the best person for the job. And if you don't have experience, right, if you don't have experience in that particular position, you show them why you were the best in these particular jobs you held before and how that motivation and drive is transferable to any job that you can tackle on next. Well, you know, we've been talking now for a whole 28 minutes. Right. We do have the shows only up in our long. But I do want to thank you for coming onto the show and sharing. I can hear the passion and I definitely want to continue with this conversation. So maybe a future show we can continue on. But thank you again for being on the show today. Viewers out there on Think Tech Hawaii to come back every Thursday for your business in Hawaii, whether it's myself on or one of the other hosts. But check us out at www.thinktechhawaii.com To come on the show or suggest show episodes, email it in and we will take a look at it. And at the same time, if you're there, you want to contribute because we're trying out this new online type of interview process, be more than happy to have you come on and join us. Until next time, this is John Strandberg from Think Tech Hawaii.


I've been learning a bit about what has been going on with the war in Ukraine, and there's many different analysis, and it's all a very conceptual understanding of what is going on. So what would be a transformative way of understanding what's going on and a transformative solution to the atrocities that are happening right now? Speaking about this war is always qualifying everything they say by declaring that they are horrified by these atrocities. That's a noble sentiment, but we do have to see and realize that there are lots of wars going on at the moment in different parts of the world, and atrocities are happening everywhere. So we can only look at what's happening in Ukraine now as another example of human stupidity from all sides. Of course everyone wants it to stop. There's no question about that. But these atrocities and these wars will not stop unless there is a paradigm shift bottom up. It's a movement from the conceptual into the transformative that has to happen if these atrocities have to not perhaps come to an end but reduce significantly. The thing is that finally it's all about money. It's not about ideals. It's not about visions of great quality. It's about money. And money is something that has been created by humans. It's one of the big aberrations that have appeared in human life. Animals don't have money. Plants don't have money. They don't use it. They didn't create it. Humans created it and it was created by the conceptual ability of humans. That conceptual ability has now become a disability. Humans think too much and they know too little. So when that collective transformation happens from being led by the conceptual to being led by the transformative, that's when you'll see a very significant change in all of this. And the change in all of that happens because the less conceptual a human being is, the less they will depend on money. Because the more their transformative abilities will create possibilities where they don't have to be greedy about money. They don't have to fight for money because they have transformative abilities, occult abilities, what we consider the occult abilities. So what I'm saying now is not, it's not new age. It's very, very concrete stuff that is happening and is increasing in its pace, but not fast enough for us not to have to see what we are seeing in Ukraine, in Syria, in many parts of Africa, in every continent actually. If one is a spiritual seeker and a spiritual finder, one has to be able to step back and see what's going on for what it is.  What to do about all this? To start with each person who has to deal with these horrors on their screens in their ears and in their eyes every day, has to first protect their own selves, their own bodies from the assault of all of that information, which actually is simply feeding a vampirical need to tune into human suffering. One has to keep it at a minimum one needs to be informed. I understand that keep it at a minimum first deal with the suffering that's happening in yourself. That is what a spiritual seeker does. They first find the truth within themselves because that strengthens them and when it strengthens them they can handle that assault, that assault on the physical because it brings up fear, that assault on the emotional because it brings up sadness and anger, that assault on the conceptual because it makes you think thoughts you shouldn't be thinking. It makes you so confused that you don't know what you should be thinking. You don't know what to believe. You don't know what to think. You don't know what not to think. These are assaults that are happening on your system. So as a spiritual seeker you have to first protect your system because if you protect your system you can also protect the one next to you. So that's where you start. On a more conceptual level what is to be done about all this greed has to be reduced in human beings. It's not going to happen so easily. That entire complex structure, the weapons manufacturers, the tech giants, that entire industrial crust, they're not going to just stop doing what they're doing because they want to make money. So the only way one can actually do something concrete is to try and consume as little as possible of what they produce. That's one thing one can concretely do. One can pray. One can pray for those conflicts to come to an end. Prayer is very powerful. And on a surely geopolitical level one has to ensure that they don't make each other too angry so that one or the other starts to get really destructive. They're all walking this very thin line because they want to be able to produce and sell their weapons. All the parties involved. They want to be able to play with the power of their oil. They want to get wealthier but they also know that they have to be careful not to push things too hard so that one or the other presses the button. And they all believe that no one's going to do it. But it's also possible that somebody does it. It's been done before. The Americans now have an especially important role because they are still the biggest power and so they have to also act with the responsibility that comes with that kind of power. So perhaps there'll be a sudden change which will result in some sense coming into this entire thing. There's also that possibility of human beings retracting from these huge nation states into smaller self-governing communities which can support each other, have larger infrastructural support systems where required but be essentially living in smaller communities and being more independent rather than these huge nation states that are actually only a couple of hundred years old. So those are the various aspects with which one can look at all this. And there are arguments for both sides. Putin has his argument, Biden has his argument, Zelensky has his argument. But as a spiritual seeker, it is not incumbent on you to suggest any solution but to protect yourself, your system to start with from any kind of assault. That's the first thing. To go inward and strengthen and then let that strength move outward so that you can actually be a source of strength in a world which is depleted and getting more so.