The nearly one thousand deaths in Gaza – including, certainly, too many civilians – is arousing emotions around the world. That is legitimate: no one wants to see people die, especially when it comes to a child. But shouldn’t we be discussing here the root issue: who is responsible? We have already made our position on this very clear earlier.
Though we obviously recognise the right of each person to go out and demonstrate in defence of his or her ideas – while respecting the law, other persons, and without exploiting children for the purpose, as was the case in Brussels, at the very heart of Europe, today, Sunday, 11 January – we cannot help being astonished by what seems to us to be a very selective case of indignation.
These past few days everywhere in the democratic world hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in support of the victims in Gaza. From London to Paris, from Jakarta to Washington, from Montreal to Oslo and from Milan to Berne, we saw the same slogans, the same banners. The same speeches by political personalities and the same editorials in the press. What touching unanimity!
But we should be allowed to ask a few simple questions.
In Iraq, the Sunni extremists have killed THOUSANDS of Shiites for years by blowing themselves up in the midst of a crowd, sometimes inside mosques. Where were the Muslim communities of Europe when these crimes were committed in the name of Islam?
In the Congo, MILLIONS of people died in appalling massacres (congratulations to Belgium, to the transition, for its effectiveness….). In which cities did crowds of demonstrators mobilise to protest over these victims?
In the Sudan, MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PERSONS have been murdered by Arab militia over these past several years. Not only did Europe not go out into the streets but France, which pleaded the case of humanitarian intervention not so long ago, has now become quite silent. Where are the demonstrators?
In Myanmar, a undetermined number of civilians has been imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the Junta. Where are Western politicians?
In Zimbabwe, Mr. Mugabe prefers that those who have survived famine and the troubles that his idiotic regime has caused should die of cholera rather than accept foreign ‘meddling.’ Who is mobilising against this?
In Cuba, the communist regime continues to imprison its opponents even when their sole crime is searching for objective information on the Internet. What are the European intellectuals doing about that?
In Iran, the enlightened regime of the Mullahs has invented machines to tear out eyes and to cut off hands so as to better apply the Sharia law and it hangs from cranes dangerous criminals like the human rights lawyer Ya’qub Mehrnahad (the father of four children…) and young homosexuals. Where are the defenders of human rights?
In Pakistan and in Afghanistan, fundamentalists or, simply put, the defenders of the patriarchal regime, throw acid at young school girls and rape women. Where do our defenders of the ‘women and children of Gaza’ stand on this issue?
And this list, unfortunately, is far from being exhaustive….
To be sure, a day has just 24 hours and a week, only 7 days, and one cannot be in a state of indignation all the time. We understand that very well.
But my dear ladies and gentlemen protesters, ladies and gentlemen chosen representatives of the people (better if you busied yourselves a bit more with the ‘silent majority’ and a bit less with the activist minorities…) and ladies and gentlemen editors-in-chief – who are surprised that you are losing more and more readers year after year… - we promise to take you seriously when your indignation will be somewhat less selective.
If there were not, behind your cries, blood and tears and behind your guilty absences, STILL MORE blood and tears, you would be merely laughable.
As things stand, you are pathetic. Very frankly so….
© ESISC 2008
