THANKS to social media, a lot of information has been provided to the world regarding the background, causes, and the terrible casualties in the Israeli war on Hamas, which has brought about global condemnation.
It has also shown to the world that the so-called international community (comprising the US and European powers) supports the genocide of Palestinians being carried out by Israel. It has also made public the manner in which the international media is manipulated, bought over, or coerced into fabricating news by the international community and those anchors and journalists who are not willing to bow to their pressure are sacked.
What has also emerged in this conflict is that the UN is being seen as corrupt, with many of its policymakers and bureaucrats in the global corporate sector, part of which works in coordination with powerful Zionist lobbies. Therefore, it is no surprise that as soon as the war began, corporate entities donated over $2 billion to Israel in support of its war on Hamas.
Also, for the first time, stories from the Bible have been openly used by Israeli media, civil society and politicians, justifying the murder of Palestinian women and children and the occupation of Palestine by the Zionists. According to the Old Testament, Moses asked the Israelites to kill women and children. This has been Israeli policy for the entire Arab-Israeli conflict for over 70 years.
Other war-related issues have also surfaced; one of them is related to the huge availability of petroleum and gas on the Levant coast, which Israel is exploiting off the Gaza coast, and is anxious to expand its exploitation.
The oil extends deep into Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and is the cause of war in these countries. It is also Israel’s desire to control the Suez Canal, the major source of revenue for Egypt, or to create an alternative that could substitute for the canal.
As a result of these realities, one can safely say that the UN is dead, as it cannot uphold its own human rights charter and prevent or even censor an unjust war and occupation of another country. Its fate is becoming very similar to that of the League of Nations (1920-1946), which ended in a world war.
The presence of US aircraft carriers in the Eastern Mediterranean, constant threats to countries in the region, and a very anti-US and Israel population in the Middle East can easily expand into a regional or international conflict.
Hundreds of thousands of young people are demanding a ceasefire.
An understanding of these issues, thanks to social media and an effective Palestinian media campaign, has brought out hundreds of thousands of young people, from all over the world demanding a ceasefire and freedom for Palestine. It is important to know who these people are and why they are protesting.
From all accounts, most of them are from the Z and millennial generations. They have been educated to love humanity, the environment, equality between all races irrespective of colour, not to body-shame anybody, and to stand for freedom of choice.
Credit goes to their teachers but also to those who, in the 1960s and 1970s, were the creators of the environmental movements and their struggle for the implementation of human rights.
A new world has been born, and even if, because of protest fatigue, these movements die down, they will certainly re-emerge. These movements are also a response to the failure of the welfare state and the search for a cause by the young generation, which is now suffering increasingly in a global order of economic fascism.
Many anchors have drawn parallels between the Algerian conflict against the French (1954-1962) and the situation in Gaza. In 1956, the casbah of Algiers, with its narrow lanes and crowded neighbourhoods, launched a movement against the French, which caused the French to lose a large number of their soldiers and supporters.
The movement was ruthlessly crushed through rounding up suspected supporters of the movement and carrying out summary executions. Within a year and a half, the French successfully crushed the movement, and, informally, the Algerian national liberation front surrendered.
However, in 1957-58, it re-emerged in a more forceful form than before, and in 1962, Algeria gained independence. Many analysts are of the opinion that Hamas will reappear stronger than before, and its freedom fighters will be those men and women who have seen their families, friends, and children massacred before their eyes.
The relationship between the pro-Israeli governments and their people has snapped. It is more than likely that there is a new world of conflict, and at the same time of hope, emerging on the globe.
The writer is an architect.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2023
