The global order and the value of human life

 

We live in a world in which wealthy imperialist countries dominate and exploit the nations that are poor and oppressed

As the genocide in Gaza drags on month after month, a number of commentators have justifiably pointed to the dehumanization of the Palestinians, not only by Israel but also by politicians and conventional media in much of the Global North, as a root cause of the unfolding horror. Back in June, for example, Brice de le Vingne, head of the Doctors Without Borders Emergency Unit in Gaza, noted, “Since October (and certainly before), the dehumanization of Palestinians has been a hallmark of this war. Catch-all phrases like ‘war is ugly’ act as blinders to the fact that children too young to walk are being dismembered, eviscerated and killed.”

Such comments reflect the obvious reality that a sustained process of slaughtering civilians with weapons supplied by Western governments would not be possible without an assumption that the lives of the victims are sufficiently cheap to render them expendable. This has now been reinforced by Israel’s monstrous “pager attacks” in Lebanon. The United Nations has concluded, “Such attacks could constitute war crimes of murder, attacking civilians, and launching indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating the right to life.”

To drive home how the large scale booby-trapping of electronic devices, some of which must inevitably explode in public places, rests on a presumption that the lives of the victims are of little account, it is only necessary to carry out a simple mental exercise. If we imagine a situation in which such a tactic were to be employed by a foreign intelligence service in any major city in the West, it’s not hard to envision the kind of response that would ensue: the outrage would be unrestrained and the reprisals would be swift and severe. Yet, such a vile crime against humanity is tolerated when it happens in Lebanon.

“The industry standard is to dehumanize Palestinians,” observes Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed El Kurd in an article for The Nation on the attitudes of Western media. “Our grief is negligible; our rage is unwarranted. Our death is so quotidian that journalists report it as though they’re reporting the weather. Cloudy skies, light showers, and 3,000 Palestinians dead in the past 10 days. And much like the weather, only God is responsible: not armed settlers, not targeted drone strikes.”  (more...)

The global order and the value of human life