Name Israel

Some of you may have noticed that, in my many videos and in what I write about the Palestinian genocide, I very rarely, if ever, make statements about the "universal tragedy of the world". And there's a reason for that.

When I write or speak on the Palestinian genocide, I've tried to avoid saying phrases like:

"Humanity is doomed"

"The world is just a terrible place"

"Nothing is going right" "People are horrible"

"What's wrong with humanity"

That sort of thing.

And the reason why I don't do that is not necessarily because that isn't true (although I don't agree with all of it) but it's because by me doing so, it feeds into a common experience of abuse victims, and people who experience systemic oppression, suffering, and injustice. Namely, a generalising or unversalising of their suffering. Treating specific injustices in this way is a very common behaviour found in the general public, and especially the general white public.

Instead of acknowledging the named and specific guilty party that is causing the suffering, the oppressor's choices and actions are drowned out in a sort of generalised lament. And one of the main problems with doing this is that it fails to hold to account the people who are doing the harming. It fails to move towards any form of accountability, reckoning, or consequences. Justice cannot happen without truth and honesty. And peace cannot happen without justice. And neither can love.

This is not the way of justice, this is not the way of social justice. If we want change, if we want a betterment of the suffering in the world, we need to get specific about the people, the groups, the institutions, the nations, the individuals who are enacting the harm, who are enacting the abuse. Victims very often experience this generalising, blanket statements of tragedy; blanket statements of lamentation, which in essence erases their unique experience. And erasure of their stories is exactly what they've been experiencing again and again and again in the world. They don't need more of that.

An oppressed person has a very specific experience with very specific oppressors who specifically need to be called out and need to be held to account for their crimes.

So no, I don't do that. And as much as my heart sometimes wants to just pour out in general statements of anguish and all-encompassing lament, I try not to do that. Because, again, it erases the narrative of the victims who are experiencing this suffering.

And I would invite you to not make blanket statements like that either. I speak especially to those of you who might be Christians as well. So many people church people, in response to the Palestinian Holocaust, answer with: “Yes, the Lord will return soon” and “This world is truly full of evil”.

Imagine a starving child coming up to you and asking for bread and you set out in an extensive soliloquy about how horrible starvation is, and how regrettable it is to live on a planet where there is abundance of resources, but due to a greedy few, so many are made to be hungry. There's a specific child standing in front of you asking for some of the bread in your hand! Stop making it about you and your feelings. Shut down the speeches and hand them some bread. And then go after the person who is starving them to begin with!

I see a lot of very well-meaning people doing this dance of generalising and unversalising in posts online. Sort of: "Oh, the world is going to hell, I no longer believe in the goodness of people, I've given up hope in this world. This was the year I lost all hope, everything should just end, all human beings are evil."

Whatever your personal beliefs are, you're allowed to have those beliefs. But when we speak about the Palestinian genocide, I would urge you to centre their narrative and their reality, not yours. I would also argue that this applies to other issues of oppression and abuse as well: you have to get specific.

The oppressor isn't faceless, isn't nameless. Injustice doesn't happen in a vacuum. And what is happening to the Palestinians is not a disaster, is not misfortune, or an accident. It is deliberately done evil by the Israelis.

When you talk about the suffering of the Palestinians, you have to mention the Israelis, you have to name Israel, you have to say who is doing the harming. NAME THEM! Call them out! Point your finger! Accuse! Condemn!

If you struggle with "feeling mean", or not wanting to come down on one side or the other, I don't know what else to tell you than: you need to work on yourself. You need to change. Because you will not be a loving, justice-seeking person in this world if you don't.

Injustice cannot be faceless or nameless. It demands that we take sides. And it often demands conflict or discomfort.

Do not let the Israelis safely hide behind the shadowy cloud of your general woe.

This story has a victim and it has a villain.

Let's make sure we tell the story right.