I know I should care about other things that are going on in the world right now, but it all feels inconsequential in the face of what’s happening in Gaza. I’ve asked one question many times in the last nine months, to many different people; and it is this: ‘if you don’t stand up against the brutality, injustice and murderous campaign that is being committed by the Israeli regime and the IDF against Palestinian civilians, what will you stand for?’. I’ve continued to ask myself, what is the point of me if I can go on living my life peacefully, whilst children are bombed, maimed, orphaned and at the same time told to justify their suffering against an ‘it’s complicated’ rhetoric.
It pains me to watch us consume the imagery we see on social media, feel moved by it but then get on with our lives as if nothing happened. Personally, I don’t know how to carry on as normal anymore. The events of the last nine months have changed me irrevocably. I find myself rudderless in the pursuit of ‘social justice’ and the frustration of not being able to do anything tangible has pushed me to the brink. I’ve often wondered what the point of my activism is in a situation that never changes, in which we have to justify every day why it’s not okay to murder, maim and annihilate 50,000+ people as a response to anything.
I watched the documentary ‘Where Olive Trees Weep’ the other day and felt such a mix of strong emotions which I didn’t know what to do with. The main one I felt was utter disgust towards a people whose ancestors suffered so horrifically during the Holocaust, to then turn around and commit the same atrocities on another population. The film itself is poignant, moving and heartbreaking all at the same time as it documents life for everyday Palestinians living under the occupation. It is set against the backdrop of persecution, violence and dehumanisation that Palestinians endure each and every day under the occupation. It speaks to broken dreams, of a people that should be destroyed due to the nature of their oppression; but who are endemically resilient and brave in the face of unimaginable terror. As I watched the film I remembered thinking, the resilience of these people is something else and honestly the least I can do is boycott eating that chocolate and drinking that coffee.. (BDS all the way).
Over the last few days US lawmakers have voted to censor the death toll in Gaza, and they’ve voted to severely punish American universities that allow Pro-Palestine encampments on their premises. All at the same time when in Australia, our Prime Minister and ruling party voted to exile from their party, a young, Muslim, woman of colour and first generation migrant, Senator Fatima Payman, for refusing to tow the embarrassing party line which supports a genocidal state. Senator Adam Bandt recently aptly proclaimed that the Australian Government has done more to sanction their own party member for calling out injustice than they have to sanction a genocidal, maniacal state committing ethnic cleansing for the whole world to see.
Let me tell you right now, the prevailing world order is about to be toppled. Those in positions of power, do not represent their constituents and right now they are afraid. In the past mainstream media has been able to control the narrative on Palestine simply by not covering the war crimes that are committed daily by the occupation. However, the age of social media has changed all of this and allowed us, as every day citizens, to see first hand accounts of the terror being waged on innocent Palestinians in Gaza. We no longer rely on Western media outlets to provide us our information; which by the way was severely biased in the first place anyway.
As I write this today I ask you to remember that all colonies fall. I say this because in spite of the dystopian reality that what we’re witnessing right now, hope never fades. The silver lining in all of this for me is that the world is now much more aware of Israel as a pariah state. People are aware of the actions of a brutal settler colonial regime which incarcerates children, dehumanises and violently oppresses an entire population and commits the most heinous war crimes all under the banner of their own ‘security’. We are astutely aware that colonisation, whitewashing and institutional racism underpin everything that we are seeing Western leaders parrot out and action in ‘solidarity’ to and ‘in defence’ of Israel. As aptly identified by Aamer Rahman “All colonised people see themselves in Palestine; and all colonisers see themselves in Israel”; what more needs to be said?!
*As I end this piece to today, I encourage you all to watch Where Olive Trees Weep at the link below:
I blog for Change. 