What the genocide in Gaza teaches us

As a social work educator, I’m committed to helping students learn the knowledge, skills and values they need to – amongst other things – assert and protect the human rights of the people with whom they work. The IFSW (2014) definition of social work states, “Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work”. But our understanding of human rights is informed not only by academic learning but also by our observations of the operation of international institutions in the real world.

Today, in Palestine, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been turned to ashes. The post-war global vision of a rules-based international order asserting that “All human beings are born free and equal” has been disavowed by hate-filled Israeli politicians and hobbled by Anglophone states led by the white supremacist superpower of Amerika, with Genocide Joe at the helm.

The relentless bombardment of homes, hospitals, refugee camps and schools continues to rain down on the civilian population of Gaza. Today the death toll is over 30,000 including 12,500 children. This rises every day in the most intense slaughter of a civilian population since World War Two. Israel targets medical staff, humanitarian workers, journalists and even dissident poets with impunity. In an enclave where “at the beginning of 2023, UN Agencies reported a literacy rate of 97.7 per cent for young Palestinian students” there is not a single university left standing. Air strikes and ground forces have systematically demolished them.

The few orchards, farmlands and greenhouses the Strip managed to sustain during years of siege have been deliberately obliterated. Gazan fishermen–who could net a meagre harvest from the six nautical mile fishing limit enforced by the Israeli navy–have had their fishing boats turned to charcoal on the beach.

In the Occupied West Bank, IDF raids on refugee camps arrest and assassinate hundreds of Palestinians tearing up infrastructure and demolishing houses with their bulldozers of collective punishment. These arrests and detentions include human rights defenders like the social worker Munther Amira. Plans are in place in Occupied East Jerusalem to restrict access to Al Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in the Muslim world, during Ramadan, the most sacred month of the Muslim people.

In time, the act of solidarity by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, with massive support from the global south, will ensure that history recognises the reality of Israel’s genocide. Still, today, we are helpless to halt it from happening. We don’t need an ICJ decision to confirm the horror we watch daily on social media and Al Jazeera News.

So what have we learned? There are points in history when events reveal the true nature of our world. What has Israel’s war on Gaza revealed to us? It has uncovered:

• the genocidal intentions of Israeli politicians to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians and expand the colonial, ethnonationalist state of Israel.
• the massive gulf between the political elites we elect and the true will of the people who have marched and rallied in their thousands for a ceasefire.
• the dysfunctional nature of the United Nations and its Cold War Security Council controlled by imperialist powers using their veto to maintain naked self-interest. 

We have been reminded that our world is a deeply unequal and unjust place where a self-interested matrix of global political elites and billionaire capitalists dazzle and distract the multitude with symbolic statements, docile media, sparkling commodities and an endless stream of disinformation. The global elite are adept at masking inherent systemic violence playing out at home and overseas. 

Of course, there is no worldwide conspiracy of the global elite with a shared plan to dominate the world. They are not that organised. No, the truth is closer to the idea of a constantly shifting set of powerful and well-financed networks and alliances that support and bolster each other in a wide range of social and economic domains in the context of the capitalist world order. Money and power seek more money and greater power. A good example of this dynamic played out recently in Aotearoa when the media reported on the coalition government’s connections to the tobacco industry and a right-wing think tank called the Atlas Network.

Another world is possible. A new international order committed to the idea that “All human beings are born free and equal” is achievable. That is another lesson we can take from the staunch and steadfast Palestinian people. Given the chance, the people of Gaza and Palestine as a whole will rebuild, restore and reimagine their devastated land. We must march, rally, and organise to support their right to do so. 

But the lessons from Gaza and Palestine are broader than that. A new world is possible here in Aotearoa too. A decolonised world that respects te Tiriti, addresses climate change, tackles poverty and inequality, dismantles neoliberalism, and pushes for peace on the world stage. There is no shortage of good ideas on how to progress this plan. For example, the recent proposal that we should abolish the military instead of signing up for the dangerous AUKUS alliance. 

Bringing new worlds into being takes mahi. We cannot achieve this by watching yet another “fight the system” Netflix movie. Altering our reality will take time, courage, and motivation. The international labour movement has always known this. We have marched and we have rallied but we need to do more. We need the leverage that can only be gained from the power of our organisations. We must mobilise the labour movement, faith-based organisations, political parties and trade unions.  We need to educate, agitate, and organise. These are ideas that have been part of the workers movement since the end of the 19th century:

• We must educate, because we need all of our intelligence.
• We must agitate, because need all of our enthusiasm.
• We must organise, because we need all of our force.

Mā pango, mā whero, ka oti te mahi

With black and with red the work is completed.