War sparks reactions, peace needs organisation
Originally published in Malaysiakini on 21 November 2023
We shake our heads in disbelief, we are traumatised.
Anyone would be after seeing image after image of bodies charred and in pieces, the heartbroken faces of people fleeing their homes for safety, or anything better than being buried under rubble.
I was too young to remember the Bosnian genocide, but I remember very well the events of 9/11 and the ensuing pummelling of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Shock and Awe”; that was how the aerial recordings of bombings were framed as replayed repeatedly on 24-hour news channels.
The many press conferences and international hearings laid the case for war. To safeguard the world against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD), to protect “our” freedoms, to destroy the axis of evil.
It is strange to recall that all this was not some distant history, but only 20 years ago.
‘War on terror’
The drums of war were beat in time to the dropping of bombs over Baghdad, Iraq — beamed to TV screens across the world. That was how the 21st century began. To think that these tragic scenes were past us as a collective human race seems naïve now.
In retrospect, perhaps that streak of violence never left but only some instances received more publicity than others.
The bloody wars and ethnic violence that broke out in different continents, the violent crushing of public uprisings and violent reprisals thereafter, the wholesale removal and rejection of vulnerable communities, as well as enslavement, are all recent history.
Even today as the world debates Gaza, dire situations are unfolding as well in Congo, Ethiopia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, and other places around the world.
They all warrant our and the world’s attention, as any instance of injustice and violent aggression committed by a vastly superior military force with the intention of displacing and destroying a people is unacceptable, but even more so when it is perpetrated with the blessings of the world’s great powers.
The use of genocide is not to be taken lightly but to mean the commission of violent acts with intent (emphasis added) to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as defined in the UN’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
When top Israeli officials have in turn described in dehumanising terms the targets of their military operations (“We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly”; “It’s an entire nation that is out there that’s responsible,”; and Benjamin Netanyahu’s invocation of the biblical punishment of the Amaleks), and the obviously disproportionate response to Hamas’ attacks on Oct 7 in terms of sheer physical destruction and human deaths, on top of the 15-year blockade, what else can we call this situation?
A global shock
With this much devastation on display, naturally, there is a desire for justice and a response.
With a lack of trusted leadership at home or globally, the public has gone in each and every direction to do things that make sense to them.
The organic boycott movements emerging in Malaysia and around the world are almost a reflex to the shock at the level of violence on display.
Is it strategic? Does it not do more harm to ourselves? These are questions that need to be discussed but at the same time, miss the visceral motivation behind the boycott.
There is a deeply felt need to do something to help in any way possible, even when the damage to the local economy and to one’s own personal circumstances is clear.
Clear guidance and direction must be given to prevent unnecessary harm. Officially, the global boycott, divest, and sanction (BDS) movement only asks that consumers avoid companies that are complicit in violations against Palestinians’ rights.
An ever-growing boycott list not supported by strong evidence of complicity or support of genocide and unclear goals risks achieving little.
Purpose and organisation
But after the initial flames of anger abate and time passes — is the first reaction, the only reaction? It may have been an honest, intuitive, and at the time correct reaction, but a month on, the reaction must evolve into organisation.
How can Malaysians and Malaysia become a bigger influence on stopping this genocide and preventing future ones from occurring?
We have a track record of offering aid and funds towards urgent humanitarian relief and we can also surely be actors that function as bridge-builders between different religions, cultures, and geographical regions.
If as a society, we can agree to work together to create goodwill and peace in the world and understand the need to combat apartheid and discrimination, we also foster greater understanding and desire for change across ethnicities, cultures, and religions here at home.
