My dear friend Dr. Thoreau Redcrow has been completely erased by Facebook over night for a post he made outlining Turkey’s invasion of Afrin. Fb deleted his page without any warning or the usual ban from posting. Thoreau has completed his PhD focusing on the Kurdish liberation movement and as a result of his outspoken activism has been banned from entry and travel to Turkey.
Fb has been an active silencer of pro Kurdish voices with regular bans from posting, sometimes up to 30 days. But this latest ban, which appears to be not an isolated thing is extremely worrying. I urge all Kurdish and pro Kurdish activists posting right now in relation to Afrin to save and back up your photoes, data and contacts as it seems none of us are safe.
Never forget that the active silencing and literal erasure of the oppressed and those who speak for and with us is a systematic and structural. Fb is a powerful tool in that silencing process.