just following orders
the three most cowardly words in language
Shared by
’s political correspondent Prem Thakker, this footage is from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ship ConscienceEarlier this month, the Conscience and her crew were on a mission to break the US-Israel blockade to deliver critical aid to Palestinian people in Gaza. On May 2, Israel committed terrorism in international waters against the unarmed civilian vessel with a series of drone attacks.
In a coordinated ring of complicity, the Conscience’s SOS calls were ignored by Türkiye, Greece, and Tunisia. The stranded crew appealed to the Maltese government for safety, citing danger to the vessel and fears of a second attack. Over radio, a Maltese Coast Guard member denied assistance and said, “I’m just following orders from higher authorities.”
Delay and denial of safe harbor left crew members stranded at sea. Thankfully, after public pressure, the Conscience’s crew have since been safely returned home. But neither Malta nor European Union authorities will permit an independent, international forensic investigation of the Conscience.
“The bombing of a civilian vessel in European territory, without international condemnation or serious inquiry, underscores a broader pattern: Israel’s escalating violence against civilians is met with silence and complicity from the international community,” said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. “The attack on the Conscience is not an isolated incident, but part of a decades-long pattern of impunity—now extending far beyond Gaza’s borders.”
This complicity is the result of thousands “just following orders.”
Nuremberg Defense
In October 1945, the first Nazi general tried for war crimes was Anton Dostler. He admitted to ordering the execution of prisoners of war, but Dostler insisted that he was simply following orders. He referenced Hitler’s Commando Order of 1942 that demanded the immediate execution of any Allies’ commandos captured by Nazi forces.
The Allies’ tribunal rejected superior orders as a legitimate defense, and Dostler was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. The Dostler case set a precedent. The concept was codified in the Nuremberg Principles.
At the end of the Nazis’ reign, no one escaped justice with claims of “just following orders.”
As we watch people violently torn from communities and disappeared by plainclothed officers to be sent to concentration camps abroad, we watch history repeated. While dissent is fleeced from the government workforce, Democrats show their readiness to appeal to fascists before meaningfully challenging the system in any way. The imperial boomerang cutting through Palestine has returned home, and far-right violence is escalating.
At some point, the regime will fall, and there will be comeuppance. The regime’s leaders will run from justice’s fist. More than likely, they’ll seek shelter from authoritarian friends abroad. Just as Nazis slipped away to Argentina, or when al-Assad ran away to Russia, or how Duvalier hid in France when his family’s regime fell, or how Idi Amin died in exile in Saudi Arabia after fleeing Uganda, Trumpist leaders will run away because fascists are cowards. They will leave the ones who were “just following orders” behind: ICE, DHS, police departments, far-right influencers, media outlets, university presidents, and city councils that said yes to authority.
In 2024, a 99-year-old woman in Germany was convicted as an accessory to 10,505 murders. She was a secretary to an SS commander of the Stuffhof concentration camp 79 years prior.
Just as we watch history repeat itself in the regime’s atrocities, so too will we see it in the trials to come.
As I told you in my last letter to you, Beloved, we are presented with a choice: comply or disobey. Every yes to authority is another bullet in the regime’s arsenal. Every no is a broken link in our chains.
It is not easy to say no. The system holds us hostage, threatening jobs, education, and opportunities, and by extension, access to food and shelter. I also must acknowledge that the risk is higher for others. For instance, I write to you as a young adult without children. I also write to you as someone without assets or savings. If the regime rips away my employer’s nonprofit status, I have even less. There may come a point where my newsletter, written on a borrowed company laptop, is too much of a risk, and my employer would likely choose to comply and fire me to maintain their status quo.
But always, always, compliance promises only temporary reprieve. Eventually, the monsters will come to your door because of every time you said yes. We’ve all read the poem.
In 2018, a man in Montana said no. Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts left a steady job with the Montana Department of Labor before complying with orders to process subpoenas and share labor data with ICE.
“‘I may be asked to help process some subpoenas for ICE, and I don’t think I can do that,’ I told [my wife]. I braced myself for A Conversation. My wife was still in graduate school, with 15 more weeks of late nights and frantic scrambling to turn in huge projects while caring for our toddler,” he wrote We were hoping her master’s would lead to a new job, which could upgrade us from drowning in debt to merely struggling financially. Me quitting my job was not in the plan.”
Dyrdahl-Roberts understood that complying would “forever make me a part of a machine that was going to be used to break up families.” He shared about his experience on social media, and a community of internet strangers started pouring in support. A GoFundMe campaign was started (by Juli Briskman, who herself was fired after flipping off Trump’s motorcade) and raised more than Dyrdahl-Roberts’ annual salary.
Unfortunately, no further action from colleagues followed. The machine churned on.
“Even as I’m surrounded by the warm glow of love and support from strangers, I still have a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wonder how many other people, working in other government offices, have unwittingly or unwillingly been drafted into ICE’s service. How many felt trapped by circumstance, or found a way to justify it to themselves.”
Help Huda’s Family
Dear friends, family, and kind-hearted souls,
I am Huda, reaching out with a heartfelt plea. My beloved aunt Sohad and her family are facing dire challenges amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. They were forced to flee their home due to relentless bombings and are now crowded into a small room with no access to water, struggling to meet their basic needs.
Huda’s family requires urgent support to evacuate from Gaza. As you may already know, evacuation to Egypt has been cruelly expensive. Many people have had to make the devastating decision between staying with their family and sending at least a handful ahead. For Huda’s aunt Sohad and everyone in the family, it will cost $50,000 to evacuate.
They also need another $10,000 for critical medical care, $10,000 more for 3 months of rent and basic living costs, and $8,400 to restore their business and reclaim their economic independence. This does not include GoFundMe’s obscene transaction fees ($1,600).
Please donate to help Huda’s family and share their campaign across your community to help them evacuate to safety. They are already 71% there!
I came across Huda’s campaign at Workshops4Gaza. Workshops4Gaza is a group of autonomous writers, artists, and educators organizing workshops and classes to raise money for Palestinians in Gaza. All proceeds from our workshops are donation-based and go directly to Palestinians in Gaza.
Get Organized
With a donation to Huda’s family’s campaign, you can also enroll in the workshop Organizing Fundamentals hosted on Tuesday, June 17, 7-9 PM EDT.
Malcolm X once said, “We are not outnumbered. We are out-organized.” Everything transpiring today reasserts this truth. Utilizing a skillset nurtured by centuries of proselytizing, the far-right Christian nationalist movement has consistently outpaced us in outreach, recruitment, fundraising, education, mobilization, lobbying, and direct action.
I highlight this workshop because we all must step into a movement work and organize adaptable, sustainable movements for justice. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a liberal arts degree from a private university or a long career in political campaigns to organize with your community. You do not need to wait for anyone’s permission to pursue a better future.
seedgiver seeks to share political education, resources, ideas, and opportunities to connect with movement work. If you would like to amplify an upcoming action, training opportunity, or mutual aid campaign, share them in the comments.
Seeds for Change
Support the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Join forces with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FCC) to end Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza. Volunteer your time and skills with their organizing teams, and be a part of their ground crew. You can also organize with your community to fundraise for the Freedom Flotilla.
The first step is also the easiest: Sign the FCC’s petition demanding an independent investigation on Israel’s terrorist attack on the Conscience.
If you and your loved ones are vulnerable to the regime’s wave of mass deportations, stay ready with a preparedness packet/paquete de preparación.
Educational and cultural institutions have granted prestigious positions to weapons manufacturers’ executives and directors, entrusting them with tremendous influence over how institutions respond—or don’t respond—to the destruction of life across our planet. Learn more with Genocide Gentry and their data-informed Gentry Geography.
Where do our tax dollars go? Look up your city or state to see how much of our tax money is spent on Israel’s weapons and bring this up at your next city council meeting.
Keep your money away from the occupier - boycott, divest, and sanction. Talk to your loved ones about the BDS Movement and Latino Freeze.
Disney is on the boycott list! Drop that Disney+ subscription and pick up Watermelon+ instead.
Are you an educator? Teach your students about Palestine with Teach Palestine’s curriculum, tailored for elementary to high school. They also offer webinars, articles, and additional resources to teachers.
Subscribe to the Electric Intifada.
All forms of oppression are interlinked and so is our liberation. Listen to the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights’ webinar, Our Struggle is One.
Red Card! Print out and distribute red cards to community members so they are informed on their rights if confronted by ICE. Multiple languages available!
Gather with a group of friends and go through the Abolish Data Criminalization Curriculum Workbook together. Designed by longtime organizers, this workbook is an educational tool for learning about and organizing against migrant surveillance and social control.
Connect with local legal providers to build Rapid Response Immigration Communications and Legal Clinics.
Read If They Build It: Organizing Lessons & Strategies Against Carceral Infrastructure.
Check to see if your community already has a bail fund! If not, establish a community bail/bond fund to support immigrants and student protesters.
The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund is a powerful example of how communities can fundraise to free neighbors from ICE custody.
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