Sartre's Gaza: This Isn't A "Plausible" Genocide - It's One Of The Worst
Speech For Free Gaza, 31st August 2024
In a Nazi detention centre in 1941, Jean-Paul Sartre dwelt on his seminal work, Being & Nothingness. Man is “condemned to be free,” he said. No matter how absurd, horrific and even Godless life may be, nothing is inevitable; every choice matters.
Just days ago, escalation in the Middle East seemed certain, but Iran and Hezbollah have shown restraint. By all accounts, the whole region should be ablaze. Yet it is not.
In the West, too, our leaders face choices - between repression and… something better.
In this climate of repression—where the New York Times bans terms like ‘Genocide’ and ‘Occupied Territory,’ Facebook censors the word ‘Zionist’, and head of Telegram is in jail—it’s no wonder many feared Keir Starmer would be a bad sequel to New Labour. Tony Blair insisted “things can only get better”. This week, Starmer literally made a speech saying “things will get worse”.
Our new Prime Minister claims there is no “quick fix” for the “rubble and ruin” left by the Tories. But when it comes to imprisoning countless protestors and journalists for Tweets - or, indeed, invading Russia with British tanks to save Zelensky’s ass for another five minutes - Starmer seems remarkably eager for the “quick fix”. And there’s plenty of “rubble and ruin” for Der Kier Stürmer in Palestine, as he still stalls a legal decision on arms sales to Israel.
This state repression is all being done in the name of “opposing misinformation and disinformation online,” you know? Politicians say “don’t you dare be misleading!” Is it just me, or are politicians telling us not to lie like a gang of monkeys telling us not to throw turds?
Still, truth has never been more urgently needed. The level of crisis in the Middle East remains grossly under-appreciated. For those who believe we’re experiencing another 1948, ‘67, or ‘73 war, which cost tens of thousands of lives, you’re mistaken.
The Lancet medical journal says indirect deaths in Gaza will be many multiples higher than the 40,000 direct deaths
Gaza’s entire population of 2.3m people is currently besieged within 11% of its already tiny territory. Most buildings are rubble. Genocides like Sudan and Bosnia officially killed 5% of the population. The Cambodian genocide killed 20%.
I’ll save you the maths: Gaza isn’t just a “plausible genocide”. It is set to become one of the most intense genocides ever recorded.
You’ve got to feel sorry for future Israeli librarians: “Oh, you’re looking for a book about the Holocaust? Do you mean the one of us, or by us?"
It’s as if British Spitfire pilots had flown over transparent gas chambers in 1944, witnessed Nazis emptying their canisters, and then parachuted in to assist.
But we are not weak. At a protest last winter for Julian Assange, the leading legal expert gloomily told me the Wikileaks founder would be stuck in prison for years to come. The expert was wrong. Public pressure, alongside legal decisions, forced Julian’s release. Now he’s recuperating with his wife and kids in the Australian countryside.
Protest doesn’t always work immediately, but it has impacts—especially when combined with legal action.
And for Israel, the law HAS caught up.
Israel IS an apartheid state. It IS official.
The landmark UN rulings are devastating not just to Netanyahu but to insurance companies, banks, and pension funds. The Israeli economy is like Swiss cheese.
Israel’s Haaretz just published an editorial headlined, “Will Israel Get To Celebrate Its 100th Birthday? Only if Netanyahu resigns.” The Hebrew version censored its own answer. But in its heart, Israel knows - it must become a normal country, or it will die.
We are not outmatched. Our main enemies are weird fanatics obsessed with the past. At the last protest, someone interrogated us about “the persecution of the Jews at Solomon’s Temple.” I politely suggested they take up that one with King Nebuchadnezzar II of sixth-century Babylon.
And we are not hopeless. A ceasefire is close. International legal structures are at last explicitly leading the way. Regional players can make the world safer. A hardliner is leaving the Oval Office and Starmer’s legitimacy is tissue-thin on every street.
Things will improve, but every choice matters. Join us. Build these crowds—unite for Gaza, and let’s reclaim our streets, our country, and our future.