I want to publicly apologize to Arik for him having to see murdered Palestinian bodies and hear uncomfortable truths.
I do however prefer the term accountability over harassment, but I understand that being coddled with the privileges afforded to white men in power (and being backed by deeply concerning conflicts-of-interest) that the two terms can be confusing.
Brandon, this isn't a snarky or sarcastic question. What do Duluth City Councilors have to do with Palestine? I'm struggling to connect the dots on how the 2 impact one another.
I think everything is interconnected (intersectionality/one shared struggle for liberation) and while you are correct that Duluth city council positions have negligible impact there was a nation wide effort to push municipalities to dissent from national policy toward aiding the apartheid/genocidal regime of Israel. Labor unions and municipalities across the country passed resolutions for peace.
In regard to how national aid trickles down to states and cities, as well as continued policies of austerity imposed by the Feds, it’s important to highlight how our tax dollars are being used to protect imperialist ambitions abroad while we persist in increasing domestic austerity.
In Duluth, Minnesota, $6,222,539 of federal tax dollars from Duluthians to Israel's weapons could instead fund one of the following:
3,901 Households with one month's free rent, 13,093 Families with one month's free groceries, 2,165 Children's free or low-cost healthcare for one year, 67 Elementary school teachers' salaries for one year, 17,715
Households with solar electricity produced for a year, or 164
Students with their loan debt cancelled.
It’s also a great case proving how our city council holds the views of their constituents in contempt for not supporting a fairly symbolic peace resolution that hundreds of Duluthians fought for simply to show that Duluth stands for peace and against U.S./Israeli genocide.
As to bringing Palestine up again: Arik did in his Substack. We shamed councilors for their moral failure as they called us uncivil and claimed our concerns were invalid or that we should reach out to federal reps (which we were doing and being ignored by them) and we pointed out their conflicts of interest which they don’t like…hence him bringing it up again and trying to paint me as uncivil or someone who is harassing them when it really is just holding them accountable.
In a way I do have to thank Arik and other councilors for their contempt shown toward us because it highlighted their paternalistic attitudes toward governing and galvanized my desire to stay civically engaged locally while advocating for greater transparency and getting more folks involved in local governance.
One day you're going to grow up, and you're going to understand the world is a much more complicated place. The Feds are warmongers and wars have historically been fought because of money and resources, that's not going to change (sadly). It's most certainly not going to change because all the city councilors of small towns across America turn their focus from their local issues towards Palestine, either, or because you're afraid someone will get triggered by the pledge of allegiance.
You were going to run for Council, then shortly thereafter decided not to for health reasons, did it have anything to do with putting yourself out there to serve your community, only to realize you get harassed by people like yourself online on the daily?
It's a risk these days to run for public office, and people like you are making it harder for even keeled people to put themself into the public's eye and try to do something good for their community.
To answer your question, my reason for dropping out didn’t have to do with any pushback felt from people or comments online. Rather a few too many things going on at one time in my life (try running a campaign during kitchen renovation) and I needed different strategy for an electoral campaign (I learned a lot and made mistakes). Mostly I wanted to inspire others to get more involved locally and show that anyone can and should be able to run for office though tbh I’m not really the biggest believer in electoral politics or reformism anyway (it won’t save us from the polycrises humanity collectively faces due to global capital…revolution might).
Otherwise thanks for sharing your opinion. Coffee sometime?
Many of the people that are in seat now on the council have juggled campaigns, council duties, children, and their professional careers.
You couldn't handle a kitchen remodel + campaigning? That's nothing, especially when your day job is making coffee - that's not a job that requires a ton of critical thinking.
What you sound like is a child who wants attention and your antics online have shown that.
As far as coffee, I do appreciate the gesture as I believe every human on this earth has more in common than we don't, and at our cores we all want the same things, but for the life of me I can't imagine spending time with someone who treats others so poorly and is just a judgmental online bully.
Be the change you want to see in the world, Brandon!
Thanks, Arik, for sharing your perspective in a format that we can respond to. However, there’s a lot of information you don’t cover, leaving out the parts that don’t align with your interests. I hope to find some time soon to share this information with your readers. It’s crucial that they have access to more information.
The first one is where Terese made her "apology". I believe it was on her FaceBook page, not exactly public. Where Brandon had the courage to share his thoughts on the original post within the Duluth Monitor's FaceBook page. It takes courage to be a good councilor among other traits.
Informational, as always. 👍
I want to publicly apologize to Arik for him having to see murdered Palestinian bodies and hear uncomfortable truths.
I do however prefer the term accountability over harassment, but I understand that being coddled with the privileges afforded to white men in power (and being backed by deeply concerning conflicts-of-interest) that the two terms can be confusing.
Brandon, this isn't a snarky or sarcastic question. What do Duluth City Councilors have to do with Palestine? I'm struggling to connect the dots on how the 2 impact one another.
I think everything is interconnected (intersectionality/one shared struggle for liberation) and while you are correct that Duluth city council positions have negligible impact there was a nation wide effort to push municipalities to dissent from national policy toward aiding the apartheid/genocidal regime of Israel. Labor unions and municipalities across the country passed resolutions for peace.
In regard to how national aid trickles down to states and cities, as well as continued policies of austerity imposed by the Feds, it’s important to highlight how our tax dollars are being used to protect imperialist ambitions abroad while we persist in increasing domestic austerity.
In Duluth, Minnesota, $6,222,539 of federal tax dollars from Duluthians to Israel's weapons could instead fund one of the following:
3,901 Households with one month's free rent, 13,093 Families with one month's free groceries, 2,165 Children's free or low-cost healthcare for one year, 67 Elementary school teachers' salaries for one year, 17,715
Households with solar electricity produced for a year, or 164
Students with their loan debt cancelled.
It’s also a great case proving how our city council holds the views of their constituents in contempt for not supporting a fairly symbolic peace resolution that hundreds of Duluthians fought for simply to show that Duluth stands for peace and against U.S./Israeli genocide.
As to bringing Palestine up again: Arik did in his Substack. We shamed councilors for their moral failure as they called us uncivil and claimed our concerns were invalid or that we should reach out to federal reps (which we were doing and being ignored by them) and we pointed out their conflicts of interest which they don’t like…hence him bringing it up again and trying to paint me as uncivil or someone who is harassing them when it really is just holding them accountable.
In a way I do have to thank Arik and other councilors for their contempt shown toward us because it highlighted their paternalistic attitudes toward governing and galvanized my desire to stay civically engaged locally while advocating for greater transparency and getting more folks involved in local governance.
One day you're going to grow up, and you're going to understand the world is a much more complicated place. The Feds are warmongers and wars have historically been fought because of money and resources, that's not going to change (sadly). It's most certainly not going to change because all the city councilors of small towns across America turn their focus from their local issues towards Palestine, either, or because you're afraid someone will get triggered by the pledge of allegiance.
You were going to run for Council, then shortly thereafter decided not to for health reasons, did it have anything to do with putting yourself out there to serve your community, only to realize you get harassed by people like yourself online on the daily?
It's a risk these days to run for public office, and people like you are making it harder for even keeled people to put themself into the public's eye and try to do something good for their community.
To answer your question, my reason for dropping out didn’t have to do with any pushback felt from people or comments online. Rather a few too many things going on at one time in my life (try running a campaign during kitchen renovation) and I needed different strategy for an electoral campaign (I learned a lot and made mistakes). Mostly I wanted to inspire others to get more involved locally and show that anyone can and should be able to run for office though tbh I’m not really the biggest believer in electoral politics or reformism anyway (it won’t save us from the polycrises humanity collectively faces due to global capital…revolution might).
Otherwise thanks for sharing your opinion. Coffee sometime?
Many of the people that are in seat now on the council have juggled campaigns, council duties, children, and their professional careers.
You couldn't handle a kitchen remodel + campaigning? That's nothing, especially when your day job is making coffee - that's not a job that requires a ton of critical thinking.
What you sound like is a child who wants attention and your antics online have shown that.
As far as coffee, I do appreciate the gesture as I believe every human on this earth has more in common than we don't, and at our cores we all want the same things, but for the life of me I can't imagine spending time with someone who treats others so poorly and is just a judgmental online bully.
Be the change you want to see in the world, Brandon!
😢💔
Thanks, Arik, for sharing your perspective in a format that we can respond to. However, there’s a lot of information you don’t cover, leaving out the parts that don’t align with your interests. I hope to find some time soon to share this information with your readers. It’s crucial that they have access to more information.
The first one is where Terese made her "apology". I believe it was on her FaceBook page, not exactly public. Where Brandon had the courage to share his thoughts on the original post within the Duluth Monitor's FaceBook page. It takes courage to be a good councilor among other traits.
dead people are extremely disturbing to see, I would imagine especially so when you know your friends at AIPAC are responsible for them.
Ooo good point! I know Manny Houle digs Arik.
I had to look up Manny Houle, thats what I like about you, you make us think and learn outside our boxes!