Genocide as Western Value
Illustrated Journal
“Let each person ready themselves for the worst–and best–that is yet to come: when the Leviathan falls, it will take down as much as it can with it. Its grip will tighten more than ever, so much that any sense of individual sovereignty will almost vanish.” — Farah El-Sharif
People are tired of hearing about Gaza, Palestine and its ongoing horrors. There is a sort of genocide fatigue, a despair about the failure of the international community to end the bloodshed, a sense of powerlessness. But now is not the time to give up or turn away because so much is at stake. “Palestine,” Angela Davis said, “is the moral litmus test for the world.”
What does this mean? Palestine is where the veneer of civility of Western countries has vanished. It is where those who claim to believe in human rights for all, are revealed to only believe in rights for some. It is, as Historian Vijay Prashad says, where we see clearly the international division of humanity: the line between humans that are worthy of life and those who are not. And, it may be where international law goes to die.
While the brokers of violence, mostly Western leaders and their legacy media, continue to peddle their Orwellian versions of reality, those who believe in truth, in human rights, in social justice, or just basic humanity, continue to methodically collect evidence for future accountability, and in the hope that this could change hearts and minds.
It hasn’t. At least not enough to bring about an end to the slaughter. While our post-truth world may play a part, there is a darker reality we have to face: that for many people annihilation, including genocide of those deemed less worthy, can be justified.
After all the United States was founded on genocide, with the elimination of over 90 percent of the indigenous population. The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Germany, all aspiring empires, committed mass slaughter through colonialism. Germany took it a step further and committed genocide on European soil, and on its own people. While Germany worked to reckon with its past, it didn’t succeed in preventing it from being complicit – or participating in – another genocide, it simply changed who is less worthy of humanity.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security asks whether genocidal societies can ever transform away from their genocidal pasts. “Many of us believed that Germany had really made strides in recognizing its genocidal past, at least in terms of the Holocaust, and was a stronger democracy for it,” they write, “We were wrong. Genocide begets genocide begets genocide. The German state and German elites … continue to persecute Jews without so much as a moment of hesitation if it serves their raison d'état. Now they have added Palestinians as new victims of German genocide.”
If international law cannot prevent or stop genocide, how do we respond to that?
Vijay Prashad explains that as the economic power of western countries declines, so do their morals. As its global dominance wanes, the west reverts back to seeking dominance through military expansion and the use of force. A dark chapter may be upon us.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese no longer buys the excuse of European guilt towards Jewish people. She thought that Israel was protected because it was part of the Western settler-colonial block, but now, she says, “I think it’s something deeper. The most convincing answer is not what is transferred to Israel – but it’s what Israel sells to the entire world in terms of tech, training, weaponry, surveillance technology, mass containment techniques.”
This would explain why all the big tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta and others are supporting Israel, both technologically and in suppressing dissenting voices: Gaza is a lab where Western powers have been experimenting with new and more destructive weapons and technology.
Palestine may well be the preparation, or rehearsal, for what Western powers will be able to get away with when climate emergencies start pushing more and more populations towards our borders. If they can get away with the broadcasting of genocide on our screens for over 16 months, how much will they get away with in the future?
Words, Veronica Yates and Illustration, Miriam Sugranyes.
See also: The Brokers of Violence / Narrative Warfare / Politics of Blame
References
‘Arab Regimes and the Betrayal of Palestine w/ Farah El-Sharif,’ The Chris Hedges Report, 5 February 2025. View here. You can read the transcript of the interview here.
‘Angela Davis: “Palestine is a moral litmus test for the world”’ | UpFront, Aljazeera English, 27 October 2023. Listen here.
‘Genocide in Gaza: Western Moral Collapse in the Age of Hyper-Imperialism | Vijay Prashad.’ Palestine Deep Dive, 11 November 2024. Watch here.
‘The International Division of Humanity: How Western Supremacy Enables Genocide.’ Bettbeats Newsletter, 24 December 2024. Read here.
Learning from the Germans, Susan Neiman.
‘The German government is attacking Jewish life in Germany,’ The Left Berlin, Nathaniel Flakin, 22 December 2023. Read here.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security, on X. See more here.
Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Edited by A. Dirk Moses.
‘Native Americans’, World Without Genocide. Read here.
‘Mass Killings of Native Americans,’ Equal Justice Initiative, 20 September 2019. Read here.
'We Cannot Be Clock-Worked Into Acceptance of This Brutal Violence,' Fatima Bhutto, Zeteo, 26 January 2025. Read here.
‘Investigation must be opened into Israel’s potential use of banned thermal weapons, which cause victims’ bodies to melt or evaporate.’ Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. Read here.
‘Dirty secret of Israel’s weapons exports: They’re tested on Palestinians,’ Paddy Dowling, AlJazeera, 17 Nov 202317 Nov 2023. Read here.
‘British troops using Israeli arms technology tested in Gaza,’ Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 5 November 2024. Read here.
Essential Reading
Orientalism, Edward W. Said.
Necropolitics, Achille Mbembe.
The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon.
Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Davis.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein.
Further Resources
The Association of Palestinian and Jewish Academics: https://pja-verein.de/.
‘Germany is a good place to be Jewish. Unless, like me, you’re a Jew who criticises Israel,’ Deborah Feldman, The Guardian, 13 November 2023. Read here.
‘Trumpocracy 2.0, the Collapse of the American Dream and the Battle for the Next System,’ Nafeez M Ahmed, Age of Transformation, 11 February 2025. Read here.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s - Arms Transfers Database