We Will Never Forget Hind Rajab

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Two years ago today, five year old Hind Rajab was murdered by the Israeli military as she phoned emergency services for help, bleeding and surrounded by the bodies of her family in a car. An ambulance was sent to save her. It was bombed by an Israeli airstrike as it approached her. The paramedics were incinerated.

Hind was shot 355 times by IDF soldiers.

In the months following this coldblooded murder of a child, her family and the medical professionals sent to help her, Western media repeatedly referred to Hind as a “young woman.” Many news sites ignored her story completely.

But we will never forget Hind. We will never forget what Israel did to her and to tens of thousands of children like her. Tens of thousands of children who were buried under the rubble of their homes, shelters or schools, deliberately starved, or who succumbed to disease from tainted water or malnutrition. We will never let them erase her life or any of the others who have died or who continue to suffer in this genocide.

Rest in peace, Hind. You will always live on in our hearts.

*artwork by Shepard Fairey, Instagram account: obeygiant

Step Aside, Eva Braun

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As Melania Trump’s “documentary” flops, it is worth looking into the people and corporations behind this monumental waste of film.

Director Brett Ratner, whose last name seems astonishingly synonymous with his character, has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. Elliot Page said Ratner sexually harassed him and outed him when he was only 18 years old, prior to Page coming out as a trans man.

Ratner, who identifies as a proud Zionist, immigrated to Israel in October 2023, just as the country was beginning its genocidal campaign in Gaza. He sits on the board of directors of Tel Aviv University’s School of Film and Television. And he is good friends with wanted war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu, who personally invited him to his speech at the United Nations.

In addition to this, the film was financed by billionaire, Jeff Bezos who owns Amazon and MGM. He actually spent $75 million on this snuff film for good taste. But several other major broadcast corporations competed for the honour too. Disney and Paramount Studios tried to buy the rights.

Regardless of billionaire suck-ups and their willingness to humiliate themselves for cash, most of the crew requested that their names be left out of the credits. In fact, many privately hope that the film flops.

In the meantime, Melania will likely go down with other notable nobodies in fascist history. Step aside, Eva Braun.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

How the State Justifies Violence by Smearing its Victims

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Fascist bootlickers are foaming at the mouth because Alex Pretti was allegedly filmed spitting in the direction of ICE and kicking out the taillight of one of their unmarked, kidnapping vans in the days or hours before he was executed by them in cold blood. And this is supposed to make us think he deserved being brutalized and murdered.

It goes something like this: Did you ever do porn? Been drunk in public? Smoke cannabis? Have sex with multiple partners? Shoot up heroin? Tell a dirty joke? Shoplift from a department store? Attend a strip show? Wear a seductive outfit? Throw a piece of trash on the street? Have an unpaid speeding ticket? See! You weren’t a saint! You had it coming!

This is how the state manufactures an excuse for its violence. How it justifies its actions by smearing its victims. How it sets up the idea that if a victim did something either illegal or that is deemed immoral by some people, they deserved what was done to them. George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Virginia Giuffre, Renee Good. Now it is Alex Pretti’s turn.

This kind of postmortem slander isn’t anything new. Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, women, queer people and immigrants have all been demonized following their brutalization. Palestinians have gone through this for over 80 years. In fact, all colonized, marginalized, occupied, besieged or oppressed people are very familiar with this type of reputational litmus test.

Alex Pretti wasn’t a saint. He was a human being. But even if he was a criminal, he did not deserve what was done to him. And that is the point.

What is astonishing in this case is that fascists truly think we care that Pretti spat on them and vandalized their vehicle. On the contrary, those things only make him even more of a hero.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

None of this Started with Trump

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Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez was an eight-year-old migrant girl who died in U.S. Border Patrol custody in May 2023. Despite having a chronic heart condition and rare blood disorder, U.S. Border Patrol medical staff refused to see her.

The CPB medical staff knew of the little girl’s serious health condition. But the nurse practitioner denied at least three requests from the girl’s mother for an ambulance. The day before she died, she developed a 40.5C fever. On the ninth day of her internment, she had a seizure and died.

This happened in 2023 under the Biden administration. Under a system which has always been racist and cruel. Under an arrangement of rationalized brutality that most Democrats have supported, albeit with a few tweaks that are more about optics than operation. And they are still supporting it by continuing to fund it and by refusing to abolish ICE.

Without a doubt, the Trump regime relishes in sadism. It is openly fascist and now no one is safe. Whiteness will no longer act as a buffer. An openly fascist regime isn’t interested in PR or optics. It is only interested in expanding an environment of terror and fear.

America has been on this trajectory for decades. Only its terror has been mostly reserved for racialized communities within the US and the Global South outside its borders. The most recent and egregious example of the latter is the Biden administration’s support and funding of the genocide in Gaza. One which Trump has gladly continued.

Unless white American liberals see the big picture, the unflattering one that shows the 250+ year American project for what it is, nothing will change. Absolutely nothing.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The Holocaust Taught Us that No Human Being is Illegal

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It is utterly loathsome to see this kind of dehumanization and Holocaust denial from anyone. But from a rabbi?

Anne Frank and millions of Jews, Roma and other ethnic or religious groups were rendered stateless for the very purpose of deporting them to death camps. Anne violated the law by hiding from authorities in a secret annex concealed in their father’s office building. She was not in the Netherlands legally because the Nazis changed the laws.

Laws do not equate morality. They do not equate ethics. They represent control and power. Sometimes they are good. Often they are reprehensible.

The Holocaust was perpetrated by a regime that stripped millions of their citizenship, even in the nations that it invaded and occupied. This regime created laws that reinforced this otherizing and demonization in order to seize their property and annihilate them. And without passports or other documents, these people were trapped, unable to flee to other countries.

This is no different than what the Trump regime is doing (and other administrations, both Democrat and Republican, have done). They are dehumanizing people based on their colour, or accent, or immigration status. They are rendering them stateless for easy internment in their concentration camps. For easy disposal.

But this is the moral bankruptcy at the heart of Zionism. A political ideology which relies on ahistorical myths and supremacy, and which cannot recognize these simple facts because doing so unravels their narrative. And thus, it makes the only choice it has left, which is to support fascism.

If the Holocaust taught us anything, it is that papers and passports are all temporary and arbitrary based on who holds power. It taught us that no human being is illegal. And no excuse made by a ruthless and brutal regime will change those immutable facts.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Dear Americans, China is Not Your Adversary

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Americans have been living in denial for decades. So many of them honestly believe that they live in the greatest country on earth. This, despite having no universal healthcare, few protections for workers, little time off, low wages, crumbling infrastructure, antiquated transportation and vast economic inequality.

They often like to portray China as either a backwater or as an existential threat. Most of this comes from the millions of Americans who have never once left their own state, let alone country.

But if they opened their eyes and stopped believing the propaganda, they would see a stark reality. The American Empire is in steep decline. It has been for decades. And during this time, China has risen.

Today, China is rapidly building modern cities with stunning architecture and efficient transportation. It is leading the world in technology and engineering. Its vast landmass is crisscrossed by high speed trains, enabling people to get from one side to the other in mere hours.

No other imperial state on the planet compares with China. Not Russia. Not the United States.

This is not to say there aren’t serious human rights concerns. There are. And it not to say there isn’t poverty in China. There is. But the country has been able to lift 800 million people out of poverty in a record short time. It has a huge middle class who work, study and travel.

Meanwhile, America slides further behind. And this is partly due to its arrogance and willful ignorance.

Most Americans have not yet fully realized that China is not their adversary. Their own ruling class is.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The Holocaust Taught Us That No Human Being is Illegal

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It is utterly loathsome to see this kind of dehumanization and Holocaust denial from anyone. But from a rabbi?

Anne Frank and millions of Jews, Roma and other ethnic or religious groups were rendered stateless for the very purpose of deporting them to death camps. Anne violated the law by hiding from authorities in a secret annex concealed in their father’s office building. She was not in the Netherlands legally because the Nazis changed the laws.

Laws do not equate morality. They do not equate ethics. They represent control and power. Sometimes they are good. Often they are reprehensible.

The Holocaust was perpetrated by a regime that stripped millions of their citizenship, even in the nations that it invaded and occupied. This regime created laws that reinforced this otherizing and demonization in order to seize their property and annihilate them. And without passports or other documents, these people were trapped, unable to flee to other countries.

This is no different than what the Trump regime is doing (and other administrations, both Democrat and Republican, have done). They are dehumanizing people based on their colour, or accent, or immigration status. They are rendering them stateless for easy internment in their concentration camps. For easy disposal.

But this is the moral bankruptcy at the heart of Zionism. A political ideology which relies on ahistorical myths and supremacy, and which cannot recognize these simple facts because doing so unravels their narrative. And thus, it makes the only choice it has left, which is to support fascism.

If the Holocaust taught us anything, it is that papers and passports are all temporary and arbitrary based on who holds power. It taught us that no human being is illegal. And no excuse made by a ruthless and brutal regime will change those immutable facts.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Racist Caricatures and Dog Whistles are Nothing New in America

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The White House altered the photo of Civil Rights Attorney, Nekima Levy Armstrong, following her arrest after participating in a protest at a Minnesota church where the pastor is an ICE agent. Homeland Security director, Kristi Noem, shared the correct image (on the left) on social media, but called the peaceful protest a “riot.”

Employing racist caricatures are in keeping with this regime’s political ideology. And following the Supreme Court’s heinous decision to allow for racial profiling, they have taken this to the extreme. ICE, under the direction of the DHS, has been mostly targeting Black, Brown and Asian people in their recent pogroms in Minneapolis.

Of course, none of this is new in the United States. There is a long legacy of denigrating Black women. Whether it be the mammy, or the “angry Black woman” or the Jezebel, or the “welfare queen.” Stripping the humanity away from Black women has been a fundamental feature of white supremacy in America. Along with this dehumanization of Black women came the terror and violence of the state, with rape, medical experimentation, forced sterilization and lynching being the most common methods.

The protest on the church in Minnesota was also not a “riot.” And the use of that term is loaded with racist dog whistles itself. In truth, the protest was totally justified given that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, is an ICE agent.

White Christians have long supported the white supremacist arrangement of power in the United States. In particular, southern white evangelicals, who played a major role in justifying slavery with Bible verses and later supporting Jim Crow discrimination and segregation.

Throughout the centuries-long history of white European colonialism and conquest in North America, racism has played a central part in its ideology and culture. And little has changed in this regard. Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian communities have long suffered under the boot of American “democracy.” Now that the net has widened to include white people, perhaps some will begin to understand that none of this is new.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Jared Kushner’s ‘New Gaza’ is in Keeping with Zionism’s Colonial Project

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One of the most striking features of the Trump-Kushner plan for Gaza is that it erases anything resembling Palestine. The ancient architecture, most of which has been reduced to rubble by Israel, is replaced by something more akin to Dubai. And this is no accident.

Like so many Americans, Kushner and Trump view the entire Middle-East region as a monolith. One people. One culture. No variations. No complexities. The clothing, language, food? All the same.

The only cities they are familiar with are from the Gulf monarchies. Gaza, whose history stretches back at least 5000 years, was filled with ancient souks, mosques, hammams, churches, Roman mosaics, alleyways and ports, is transformed into a glittering hyper-capitalist dystopia. One which could sit comfortably in any of the Gulf nations.

When one considers the notion that this city would be built over the mass graves of hundreds of thousands of people, it becomes obvious how odious it all is. But this is also the story of Israel.

The Zionists came into this region with the claim that it was a “land without a people, for a people without a land.” But this was always a lie. And they knew it.

This is why they destroyed so many villages and planted forests on top of the ruins with trees not indigenous to the Levant. The result has been wildfires every year, as these European pines ignite in the dry, hot climate.

The seaside Palestinian village of Tantura was referred by the ancient Greeks as Dor. During the Nakba, a Zionist death squad from the Haganah, which came under the command of one of Israel’s founding fathers David Ben-Gurion, murdered hundreds of the inhabitants and buried them in mass graves. A kibbutz was later erected on the site. Today, it is a popular beach for Israelis.

Kushner’s grotesque vision for Gaza is in keeping with the Zionist project, which never sat comfortably in the Levant. It attempted to import its European identity on to a land that already had a long and rich culture of its own.

Despite its glittering skyscrapers, casinos, hotels and 5-star restaurants, this “New Gaza” will forever be stained with the blood of thousands. Their bones will be in every foundational stone. Though they will try their hardest to whitewash its edifice, the genocide will never be forgotten, nor forgiven by the millions of people around the world who have witnessed its horror.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

A Glimmer of Hope in Very Dark Times: a Personal Reflection

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As someone who has dual citizenship, watching the unraveling of my country to the south has been incredibly saddening and horrifying.

This regime, which is undeniably fascist, is headed by some of the most overtly sadistic people in its history. One which tells lies so often that it has become its only consistent policy

The United States was founded on Indigenous genocide and 400 years of the enslaved labour of Africans. Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, immigrant communities, women and queer people have always been the target of the brutality of the state. And the US has always been vicious in its imperialistic wars and covert actions throughout the Global South. But now, as the empire declines, the violence is widening. All of the pretenses and platitudes have been shattered.

In truth, this happened long before Trump. If a government can support, fund and defend a genocide, the very worst crime against humanity, it can justify anything. Gaza was screaming out to us, and so many Americans turned their heads.

But I cannot view this only from the lens of analysis. This was my country. One I had always criticized. One that I opposed for its wars and violence abroad. One whose social hatreds, racism and obsession with money I have always been appalled by.

It is also the cradle of most of my childhood memories. Where I first felt a sense of awe as a little boy when looking out at the Statue of Liberty or over the Grand Canyon. Where I marched with friends and comrades with the hope of change. Where I worked with dying and grieving people for over 20 years. Where my Canadian mother came to when she was just 18 years old. Where my Greek immigrant grandparents are buried. Where my father is buried. Where I attended elementary and high school and university. Where I first fell in love. Where I was married. Where so many family and friends still live.

So, to watch what is unfolding dispassionately while living in my other beloved country is an impossibility.

I would be lying if I said I had optimism for the United States right now. I don’t. I have fear. As a sociologist and student of history, particularly fascist movements, I know this is only going to get far worse before there is any light at the end of the tunnel.

But I am also encouraged to see the people of Minneapolis right now. The ones defending and protecting and assisting their neighbours. The ones showing up in the freezing cold to film and oppose the ICE death squads. The ones providing food and shelter and warmth. The ones who risk being murdered by the state for merely being out on their street and who will then be called “domestic terrorists” by a regime whose entire raison d’etre is terror.

What you are up against is no different than every other murderous tyranny in every other place on earth. But your unwavering humanity is what gives me a glimmer of light to focus on in these very dark times.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026