Belicistas de izquierda y de derecha

El mundo observa horrorizado como uno de los ejércitos más avanzados del mundo destruye una zona urbana cerrada en gran parte indefensa como si disparara a peces en un barril. No es de extrañar que exista una indignación generalizada y un llamamiento mundial para detener esta locura. Pero en lugar de detener la guerra, muchos en la izquierda quieren que continúe, del lado de Hamás. Y quieren que ignoremos la violencia contra inocentes cometida por su bando porque se hizo por una buena causa. ¿Lo fue?

Los apologistas de Hamás afirman que su ejército es un luchador autóctono que se alza por la libertad contra una potencia colonial y que la historia de las guerras coloniales demuestra que estos conflictos son inevitablemente brutales, con muchas víctimas inocentes en ambos bandos. Depende de los “luchadores por la libertad” el decidir como libran su lucha, afirman, y quienes apoyan la liberación del “pueblo palestino” no deberían cuestionar sus métodos. Sobre todo si son blancos y viven en países que tenían colonias. La vergüenza por el comportamiento pasado o presente de “sus” países debería silenciar cualquier pensamiento crítico sobre las tácticas y los objetivos de la lucha “anticolonial”. No están bien situados “para dar lecciones de moral a la resistencia”.  

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WARMONGERS LEFT AND RIGHT

The world watches in horror as one of the most advanced armies on earth is destroying a mostly defenseless enclosed urban zone, like shooting fish in a barrel. No wonder there is widespread outrage and a worldwide demand to stop this madness. But rather than to stop the war, many leftists want to continue it, on the side of Hamas. And they want us to ignore the violence against innocents committed by their side because it was done for a good cause. Was it?

The apologists of Hamas claim that its army are indigenous freedom fighters rising up against a colonial power and that the history of colonial wars shows that these conflicts are inevitably brutal, with many innocent victims on both sides. It is up to the ‘freedom fighters” to decide how they wage their struggle, they claim, and those who support the liberation of “the Palestinian people” should not question their methods. Especially not if they are white and living in countries which had colonies themselves. Shame about the past or present behavior of “their” countries should silence any critical thought on the tactics and goals of the “anti-colonial” struggle. They are not well placed “to hand out moral lessons to the resistance.”  

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CAPITALISM’S DEATH WORLD

A Banksy mural in Gaza

On the very first day of Hamas’ sadistic rampage, the Israeli authorities took to the microphones to declare to the world that this was Israel’s 9/11. And indeed, there are some striking similarities. Between the tactics and goals of Al Qaeda and Hamas, as well as between the imperialist opportunities their actions created for the US and Israel.

Both Al Qaeda and Hamas attacked civilians indiscriminately. Both are guided by an Islamist ideology1, based on myths of a glorious past and an even better future in heaven, feeding on the anger and resentment that poverty, repression, and discrimination amply produce. What do they want? A real state, a vast territory under their control, ruled not by “the people” but by themselves, a state that imprisons and tortures anyone who dares to disagree (as Hamas does in Gaza), claiming their authority cannot be challenged because it is sanctified by religious dogma. They have utter contempt for human life, including sometimes their own. They are a clear expression of the death culture that capitalism in this epoch produces. They are racist, not in the strict sense of classifying people on the basis of skin color, but in the broader meaning of dehumanizing people on the basis of their “otherness”, the conditions under which they are born, like their ethnicity or culture.  

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