Silence
Complicit in genocide. Innocent bystanders absolve the perpetrators of violence by appropriating and sharing the burden of responsibility for the act.
Gaza appears to be a hellscape of extreme brutality, suffering, devastation and horrendous, unfathomable violence against innocent children, women and men. Of course, I haven't been there, I'm observing this the same way most Australian's are, through social media. Not the news, no, I didn't see anything about the Gaza genocide in Australian news media. Obviously Australian journalists have access to social media and see the same horrors reported by doctors and aid workers on the ground in Gaza, trying to fulfil humanitarian roles, and they have seen all the same videos of starving, sick and dismembered children just as clearly as I have. Not to mention the various live broadcasts of war crimes that have also emerged over the last 415 days, the ICJ and ICC rulings/recommendations and now the arrest warrants for Israeli terrorists Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. We see Australian news media's silence. Regardless of Australia's willingness to arrest these criminals, the news media fails to report the genocide with integrity. Their silence is clearly the biggest elephant in the room. The unprecedented suffering and destruction of a people is undertaken, observed by the world, intentionally misrepresented by the United States, hidden behind the propaganda machine of capitalism, and an insidious but completely intentional media "screen of silence" throughout the western world including Australian news media.
You may not feel responsible now, but in years to come, you will carry this silence and inaction heavily in your heart. How could you have stood by watching innocent people die? Are you a monster?
This silence must be there to confuse the public, mustn't it? They want to make us feel so uncertain that we cannot act in good faith. Too afraid to speak up, too bewildered to speak out in case we bring ridicule upon ourselves or look foolish in front of our peers. I think what's happening is that the public are being scapegoated. Used by those complicit in the genocide, they hand the public complicity through our silence, spreading the full burden of responsibility across the population who take it on as personal and individual shame in years to come, which makes us unable to accept our role and perceived responsibility, even though it was passed on to us in betrayal. We then run away, instead of tackling it head on, we let them off the hook. Our complicity, stops us from demanding accountability. The government successfully absolves themselves of their co-conspiracy to genocide through the shame of the broader population. Don't you think that's utterly insane?
If your silence today, is going to become your shame tomorrow, it becomes your children's shame, and their children's shame. Don't you want to solve this problem, by breaking the silence and acting with bravery today? Don't be fooled by slick and manipulative rhetoric, or the media smoke-screen. When the violence is finished, the perpetrators are counting on your complicity through your silence. That's their exit strategy, to pass the shame on to you, to diminish their own accountability. You, too, will be running from your accountability and that's exactly what they want. (I'm trying to help you see it before it's too late, don't shoot the messenger)
The truth is, if the media told the truth, our western co-conspiracy to genocide would become evident putting an end to Gaza's destruction because the general population wouldn't stand for it. Your silence shows you're a co-conspirator, that's the truth.
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
- Desmond Tutu
Prayer as a proxy for tangible action
Praying does not constitute action in this context. If you think your prayers somehow absolve your accountability you are still a co-conspirator. Under the circumstance of mass-deception or the circumstance of oppression, don't pray. If you have nothing to voice, you have nothing to pray for, SHARE YOUR VOICE.
If you don't share your voice, you do less than the minimum. The bare minimum you can do is to voice your dissent, support those who suffer even if they live on the other side of a wall, or outside your ring of loyalty. Only once you've shared your voice, then you can pray. After you've been ridiculed, mocked and silenced for your voice... Then you can pray.
I used to think prayer was a useless waste of intention. I blamed people who prayed for their inaction and prayed "they" would somehow wake up to their failure to choose tangible action over mindless, hollow flattering or begging Gods for things they should be doing themselves.
My perspective has shifted when there isn't a useful or meaningful action to pursue other than to wait. In those cases, when waiting, I think it's worthy to at least pray. The bare minimum would be to pray. And if you were in Gaza, where the gag is stuffed so far down your throat that your mouth is filled with blood and shit from the hands of those who oppress you, it's a good idea to pray.
Don't dare you pray if your life consists of all the creature comforts, the heating, air conditioning, your immediate gratification for all the things you extract from the vulnerable world around you. It doesn't matter what brand of coffee you drink. All the giggles and in-group jokes you disingenuously exchange for your sense of family and loyalty, putting superficial union and cohesion before the humanity and life of others, without lifting your voice for fear of being left out in the cold, don't you dare whisper a single prayer. Fuck your silence, fuck your inaction, fuck your lack of integrity, you have nothing to pray for before raising your voice. Speak up and save yourself from the shame that will absolve the perpetrators of atrocities of theirs.
This is your reality check. You are "the oppressor" and you are "the villain" if you do nothing when you could have raised your voice. Wake up and check your fingernails for blood and shit. If you have nothing to voice, you have nothing to pray for. Don't pretend. This is not the time to sell humanity out. Stand on values, the suffering continues unless you raise your voice.
I stand for and believe in radical truth, aspirational humanity and unconditional kindness. I think that's what the world needs. Let's stop hurting one another.