In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius inquires, “What do you read my Lord? Words, words, words” Hamlet replies. This precisely is the case of Western freedom and its sham democracy, mere words without any substance. Decades ago, a prophetic statement by Herbert Marcuse exposed the reality of Western democratic freedom. “A comfortable, smooth, reasonable, democratic unfreedom,” he said, “prevails in advanced industrial civilization…”. That comfortable unfreedom existed because of the USSR and the threat of socialism.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the US became a single dominant power. Fukuyama pronounced the end of history, Huntington came up with an incomprehensible and rather vulgar theory of the clash of civilizations, and Rushdie endorsed that clash with his bleak vision of a loveless and Orwellian world by writing a controversial fiction attacking the prophet of Islam (PBUH).
Khomeini’s imprudence gave Rushdie the knighthood. His dream came true, and it simultaneously gave false credence to the manufactured theory of civilizational clash. A premeditated design to create hatred against Muslims, to generate Islamophobia, and to provoke or manufacture a backlash from the faithful.
Akin to Hollywood, Osama and men of his ilk were the American products and the US knew the psyche of its Trojan horses. The much-anticipated attack visited the US on 9/11. A calamity or a meticulously engineered, fully grasped, and expected terrorist attack gave the entire Muslim community a bad name.
It opened the doors for the US and Israel to overthrow all the populist leadership of the Middle East that once sided with the Soviets and challenged the legitimacy of Israel by openly supporting the Palestinian state. Once all of them were toppled by overt or covert meddling of the US, all threats to Israel’s illegitimacy were over. The Abraham Accord sealed the Palestinians’ fate.
However, history never fails to follow its dialectical path. It gave birth to a new axis of resistance. Akin to the “well-fed” Indian sepoys who initiated the war of independence in 1857 Hamas, an Israeli creation developed itself into a revolutionary force. When the tinpot crown prince of Saudia decided to recognise Israel, and in the UN Netanyahu, brazenly and flagrantly denied the possibility of a two-state “sham”, the people of Palestine, “more sinned against than sinning” were left with no options but to flaunt the flag of revolt. It wasn’t a spontaneous uprising, but a highly planned and organized one. The freedom fighters took a leaf from the books of Che Guevara and General Giap to fight the technologically most advanced army in the world.
They calculated the strength and weakness of their enemy, the possible duration of the battle, the resources at their disposal, and the strength of their allies before opting to take Israel head-on through guerrilla warfare. Gaza has become a second Vietnam. The horrible massacres of My Lai have become a norm.
More than 33,000 innocent civilians, including 15,000 children, are killed in cold blood. People are starved to death. It’s a man-made famine that is inherent to colonialism. In 1943, British imperialism starved 3-6 million Bengalis to death in united India. Between 1845 and 1852, one million Irish were starved to death by the civilized Britishers.
History did not start on the 7th of October, a month of revolutions. However, the beginning of the dissolution of Zionism started on that day with a bang. To annihilate the entire population of the Gaza Stripe, the assault of Hamas came as a blessing in disguise for the Israeli entity, but history has its imponderables.
In its narcissism, the Israeli hierarchy forgot that IDF was a petty-bourgeois army and could not fight guerrilla warfare, especially against those who had nothing to lose but their chains. The battle has entered the seventh month and despite massive destruction, Israel has neither hunted a single leader leading the resistance nor any of its hostages. Besides the Ansarul-Islam (Houthis) the only Arabs fighting for the liberation of Palestinians have made life miserable for the imperialist forces. Iraqi and Syrian resistance have certain impacts but not enough to dent the US-Israeli hegemony.
On the northern front of Israel, Hezbollah has engaged a major chunk of Israeli (IDF) forces. Hassan Nasrallah, the Islamic Lenin of Norman Finkelstein, is playing his cards close to his chest. For Nasrullah, “Israel is a spider’s web that can be blown with a single breath”, a paper tiger of Mao that is entirely dependent on US support.
The concept of a tail (Israel) wagging dog (US) is false. The case is the other way around. It’s because of the US that despite being condemned by the ICJ and demanded by the UN Security Council to stop its genocidal war against Palestinians it hasn’t taken a single step to stop the famine and bombing on Gaza.
Nevertheless, barring Arabs, the rest of the world, especially the countries of the global south, have openly supported the Palestinians. Akin to white minority apartheid South Africa -which now has valiantly taken the genocidal case against Israel to the ICJ- Israel has become an international pariah. Even its ardent supporters are not safe. Nicaragua has already taken Germany to the ICJ for being a partner of Israel in its genocidal policies. Columbia is also adding its name to the list and South Africa is considering taking the US to the same court.
In Australia, thousands of people from all walks of life have been taking out pro-Palestinian rallies for the last six months.Finding little outcome, a group called “A15 Action” has already started blocking the arteries of capitalism by jamming the wheels of production to hit the economy“. The blockade of the “choke points” started on Monday 15th April in all the capitals of the states.
The Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus has complicated the situation even further. Contrary to the desperate desire of the Israeli regime, the Iranian response “making assurance doubly assured”, has kept the US at bay. The Iranian response was scrupulously meticulous, directed to Israeli bases without causing human casualties. Its cheap Kamikaze drones that played havoc in Ukraine followed by missiles have not only penetrated the invincible Israeli iron dome but have destroyed two Israeli bases, one in the Negev desert and the other in northern Israel.
Despite the Western slogan-mongering against Iran, the war will not proceed. The US is fully aware of Iranians’ capabilities. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the joint response from the Iranian forces and its allies, and not proxies in the Middle East will not only destroy the Sheikdoms— the tents created by the Britishers after the collapse of the Ottoman empire—but simultaneously the economy of the world. A tiny entity of Israel will not be able to survive the apocalypse.
The internal contradictions in Israel are equally lethal for its survival. A massive privatization of public assets, the high cost of living in a constant state of war, and a conflict between secular and religious groups are causing permanent instability. The act of snatching power from the judiciary has already divided the people.
Lest we forget, Israel is not a nation. It’s a mob gathered from the world based on racial hatred. The country has no boundaries and no constitution, because of its settler-colonial nature constitution had to be formed according to its expansionist needs.
The corruption charges against Netanyahu may be playing some role in prolonging the conflict, but corruption is integral to capitalism. Every Israeli Jew is bloodthirsty, wanting the genocide of the Palestinians. Isn’t it a bigger crime than committing material corruption? Israel is a sick, decaying society where the health of the sick and the sickness of the society complement each other.
For Ghassan Kanafani, the Palestine problem could not be solved in isolation from the Arab world’s whole social and political situation. Dialectically, it’s true. However, it looks as if the Palestinian problem with the number of sacrifices offered by its people will solve the social and political situation of the entire Arab world because “man” he says, “is born suddenly—a word, in a moment penetrates in his heart to a new throb”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024