Part of the Series
Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation
For over four months, the TVs in our homes have been broadcasting reel after reel of suffering, torture and humiliation experienced by Palestinians. It’s difficult to find the words to describe what’s unfolding in Gaza as Israel’s violence becomes more acute, sadistic and brutal. Objective language aimed at appealing to our morality may distance us from the visceral suffering that can motivate action. On the other hand, subjective language meant to appeal to our senses is not capable of capturing the extent of the destruction to the land, to the people and to humanity as whole
The struggle to communicate the atrocities Israel is committing can be isolating for Palestinians experiencing them. We hope that by using words like “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” “settler colonialism,” “apartheid,” “siege” and “open-air prison,” we can persuade international bodies and publics in the Western world to grasp the urgency of our situation and take decisive action to change the situation.
And though we have succeeded in convincing a popular international solidarity movement and many powerful institutions to embrace this language, Israeli violence and crimes not only carry on, but increase with impunity.
So then, does anything go? Will the charge of genocide in international courts mean absolutely nothing? Does the murder of over 30,000 people not embarrass or trouble Israel’s allies and enablers?
What terrifying world have we created where the perpetrators of genocide seemingly face no accountability for carrying out unspeakable violence?
Simply put, the United States speaks in the name of the international law and universal ideals when they work in its favor but completely disregards them when they don’t. We see this clearly when the U.S. and its allies condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while flagrantly defying international laws in the case of Israel’s horrifying, well-documented crimes in Gaza.
The pausing of funding by the U.S. to UNRWA after the ICJ ruled against Israel and stressed the necessity of letting humanitarian aid into Gaza demonstrates this scornful attitude towards international law.
What does such a hypocritical instrumentalist approach to universal rights and freedoms tell us? It clearly shows us that the U.S. has no real interest in creating a world that genuinely upholds these values.
Instead, it invokes a battle between the forces of the West, which claims to be the true bearer of humanist values, and the East, which they label terrorist, antisemitic and barbaric.
Unfolding before our eyes is a world shaped by this antagonistic identity politics of West versus East and a total disregard for that which is universal. In response to the West’s support for Israeli actions, which numerous United Nations officials have labelled a genocide, we may see rising levels of cynicism across the world toward the notion of universal values. Powerful states may weaponize this growing cynicism for their own equally disturbing agendas. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have often used the argument that they are fighting U.S. double standards and a unipolar imperial order to justify suppressing democratic movements and pursuing their own imperial policies across Asia and Africa. But at the end of the day, we must combat rising authoritarianism across the world everywhere with a language that reminds us this is not an East versus West struggle but one of oppressed people versus oppressors.
It is urgent for us now to resist the hypocrisy of Western governments deciding when international law applies and when it does not.
U.S. and other states enabling Israel’s genocide need to consider how it is they, while speaking in the name of international law and universal human rights, that have hollowed out the very institutions purportedly created to uphold such values.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy