Gerald Roche

Key Facts Visit the post for more.

See also research from the Monash Deakin Filicide Research Hub, including this helpful discussion of key facts about filicide.
addressingfilicide.org/key-facts/

Here's a thread from last year about filicide in Australia, including more on sympathetic media portrayals of people who murder their disabled children.
bsky.app/profile/gera...

What is filicide? In the past five years, over 548 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers. T hese acts are horrific enough on their own. But they exist in the context of a larger pattern: 1. A parent kills their disabled child. 2. The media portrays these murders as justifiable and inevitable due to the “burden” of having a disabled person in the family.7 3. If the parent stands trial, they are given sympathy and comparatively lighter sentences, if they are sentenced at all. 4. The victim is disregarded, blamed for their own murder at the hands of the person they should have been able to trust the most, and ultimately forgotten. 5. The media sends a message that if you kill your disabled child, you will receive attention and sympathy. The legal system sends a message that if you kill your disabled child, your punishment will likely be minimal. 6. Parents of kids with disabilities see these messages. 7. A parent kills their disabled child.

From the Anti-Filicide Toolkit:

Sympathetic portrayals of parents who murder their children "sends a message that homicide is a normal, understandable response to any discomfort one might experience while parenting a disabled child, and we can’t pretend that other parents of disabled kids aren’t hearing that message."

2026 Anti-Filicide Toolkit - Autistic Self Advocacy Network In the past five years, over 548 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers. On Sunday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across the nation to ...

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has recently published an "Anti-Filicde Toolkit" which contains warnings and advice about media reporting on filicide of autistic children.
autisticadvocacy.org/anti-filicide/

Preventing Filicide in Families With Autistic Children - Mark T. Palermo, 2003 Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social behaviors and parent-child interaction. It has been associated with an increased risk of soc...

After I learned (somewhat late in life) that I am autistic, one of the terms I was introduced to in my learning about autism was 'fillicide' - "the killing of one's own child".
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Yesterday in Australia two autistic children were murdered by their parents. @australia.theguardian.com felt compelled to report that "The family were described on social media as a lovely couple and a good family." Lovely couples don't murder children.

Key Facts Visit the post for more.

See also research from the Monash Deakin Filicide Research Hub, including this helpful discussion of key facts about filicide.
addressingfilicide.org/key-facts/

Here's a thread from last year about filicide in Australia, including more on sympathetic media portrayals of people who murder their disabled children.
bsky.app/profile/gera...

What is filicide? In the past five years, over 548 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers. T hese acts are horrific enough on their own. But they exist in the context of a larger pattern: 1. A parent kills their disabled child. 2. The media portrays these murders as justifiable and inevitable due to the “burden” of having a disabled person in the family.7 3. If the parent stands trial, they are given sympathy and comparatively lighter sentences, if they are sentenced at all. 4. The victim is disregarded, blamed for their own murder at the hands of the person they should have been able to trust the most, and ultimately forgotten. 5. The media sends a message that if you kill your disabled child, you will receive attention and sympathy. The legal system sends a message that if you kill your disabled child, your punishment will likely be minimal. 6. Parents of kids with disabilities see these messages. 7. A parent kills their disabled child.

From the Anti-Filicide Toolkit:

Sympathetic portrayals of parents who murder their children "sends a message that homicide is a normal, understandable response to any discomfort one might experience while parenting a disabled child, and we can’t pretend that other parents of disabled kids aren’t hearing that message."

2026 Anti-Filicide Toolkit - Autistic Self Advocacy Network In the past five years, over 548 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers. On Sunday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across the nation to ...

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has recently published an "Anti-Filicde Toolkit" which contains warnings and advice about media reporting on filicide of autistic children.
autisticadvocacy.org/anti-filicide/

Preventing Filicide in Families With Autistic Children - Mark T. Palermo, 2003 Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social behaviors and parent-child interaction. It has been associated with an increased risk of soc...

After I learned (somewhat late in life) that I am autistic, one of the terms I was introduced to in my learning about autism was 'fillicide' - "the killing of one's own child".
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Yesterday in Australia two autistic children were murdered by their parents. @australia.theguardian.com felt compelled to report that "The family were described on social media as a lovely couple and a good family." Lovely couples don't murder children.

"Abolish the Colony" Stencil

"Abolish the Colony"
Stencil seen in Meanjin / Brisbane

Five Key Concepts for Autistic Linguistic Justice: Securitization, Revitalization, Rights, Planning, and Ethics - Gerald Roche, 2025 This perspective article draws on my own lived experience as an autistic person, combined with my academic research at the intersection of languages and politic...

My article 'Five Key Concepts for Autistic Linguistic Justice' is currently the most-read article in the journal Autism in Adulthood. Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in this work - I hope you're finding it helpful.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

amazing - I just learnt who Louis Real is, like, a week ago

excellent, thank you

Please send recommendations for historical/ political graphic novels that you have enjoyed, if you have them.

there's a definite link that I'm too lazy to think about between the goofy, absurd, silly quality of British humor and their historical role as violent empire builders and the birthplace of capitalism

Five Key Concepts for Autistic Linguistic Justice: Securitization, Revitalization, Rights, Planning, and Ethics - Gerald Roche, 2025 This perspective article draws on my own lived experience as an autistic person, combined with my academic research at the intersection of languages and politic...

My article 'Five Key Concepts for Autistic Linguistic Justice' is currently the most-read article in the journal Autism in Adulthood. Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in this work - I hope you're finding it helpful.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

「當加薩成千上萬的屍體被炸得粉碎，兒童在瓦礫遍地的街道上餓死時，許多團體正利用這場苦難來推進反猶太主義和伊斯蘭恐懼症等壓迫性議程...他們的做法不僅褻瀆了種族滅絕的受害者，也破壞了國際團結，削弱了左翼應對未來暴行的能力。『我』指的是斯里蘭卡工會成員兼作家羅希尼·亨斯曼（Rohini Hensman）所說的『偽反帝國主義者』（pseudo-anti-imperialists）。他們自詡為左翼人士，卻反對某些形式的帝國主義，同時支持其他形式的帝國主義。具體來說，他們反對美國及其盟友的帝國主義，為了加速帝國的垮台，他們卻支持美國的主要對手──俄羅斯、中國和伊朗的帝國主義。」—Gerald Roche

"It sustains the idea that some people simply have to be sacrificed on the altar of the common good.
Whenever we allow ourselves to be persuaded by passivity propaganda, we therefore not only work against our most important political values – we also put up barriers to our own liberation."

Solidarity with People, Not States. Normalize calling out genocide denialism.

And finally, if you want to learn more about actual anti-imperialism that takes a consistent approach to state violence, a good resourc is the website 'People Not States.'
peoplenotstates.wordpress.com

Xinjiang Denialists Are Only Aiding Imperialism Denying China’s oppression of Uighurs helps empire—both China’s and the US’s.

So my last reading recommendation on pseudo-anti-imperialism is something I wrote back in 2021 that explores how this philosophy actually contributes to empire-building and oppression.

www.thenation.com/article/worl...

As I outline in the articles above, my own thinking about this goes back to my time living in China and observing reactions to the 2008 Tibetan uprising. Support for China, and denunciations of Tibetans and Uyghurs, is an important facet of pseudo-anti-imperialism today.

While my 2025 article helps identify the methods used by pseudo-anti-imperalist propagandists, the 2024 article helps identify individuals who subscribe to this idea, by looking at the tells in their discourse and their history of selective commentary.

"...the solidarity that [pseudo-anti-imperialists] build now by defending the Palestinian people will be extracted and later used as a weapon against other victims engaged in struggle with oppression elsewhere."

Gerald Roche, Rogue Journalists Are Denouncing The Gaza Genocide Because They Want You To Deny The Next One  - positions politics As thousands of bodies are blown apart in Gaza and children starve to death in the city’s rubble-strewn streets, numerous groups are exploiting this suffering in order to advance oppressive agendas su...

Back in 2024, I argued that pseudo-anti-imperialists were exploiting the Gaza genocide to build their support base, which in turn would be mobilized later to enable atrocities elsewhere.

positionspolitics.org/gerald-roche...

We are indeed seeing another surge in passivity propaganda as pseudo-anti-imperialists react to the Iran protests.