Illusions and Awakenings

This article by Dianne Kirby first appeared in Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.

SPEAKING at the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reassured Europe that they were included in Trump’s MAGA plans. Deploying an illusionary, romanticised, sanitised and edited version of their mutual histories, Rubio insisted both continents were menaced by ‘forces of civilizational erasure’. The remedy: ‘An alliance ready to defend our people, to safeguard our interests, and to preserve the freedom of action that allows us to shape our own destiny – not one that exists to operate a global welfare state and atone for the purported sins of past generations.’

Barely concealed behind the rhetorical artifice was a call for a world of might is right, a return to the era in which European imperialism and colonialism spawned a New World built on genocide, slavery and subjugation.

Rubio’s speech was imbued with genocide denial, slaughter branded self-defence, endless war presented as peace. Lies at the top contribute to the construction of a controlled alternate reality.

A moral abyss in which the Guinness Book of Records awards the world record for kidney donations to Israel, known for organ theft, most recently from Palestinians detained in torture camps.

The Committee to Protect Journalists cancels its impunity index, published annually since 2008, because Israel ranks first among countries where journalists are murdered with no consequences. The GAA’s Ethics and Integrity Commission absolve Allianz, identified in UN reports as a contributor to Israel’s genocide, and once a monetary legatee of the Nazi regime. Western leaders unleash vitriolic attacks on a female human rights advocate, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, while they support the murder and maiming of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

Francesca Albanese, smeared, sanctioned and subjected to relentless state intimidation, rejects silence. A doctored report from a forum in Qatar accused Albanese of calling Israel a ‘common enemy of humanity’. Despite clear evidence that she made no such statement, Germany, France, Italy and Austria demand her resignation. Her crime: ‘speaking truth to power.’

In the age of Epstein, her reports and reflections resonate with revelations about privilege and impunity. Amid distortion and deceit, Albanese’s honesty and fearless pursuit of justice and accountability threaten elite enterprises dependent on war.

Before Epsteinism awakened publics to the forces seeking to control their destinies, Albanese tirelessly invoked Palestine as the touchstone showing us what becomes of the law when co-opted by the powerful, the connectivity between all injustices, structural poverty and inequality: ‘We have a common enemy and we need to face it, where politics is at the service of economic interests.’

Legacy media might ignore global opposition to genocide, but its presence is manifesting in the very institutions traditionally allied with class interests. Most recently via the acquittal of six Palestine Action activists who broke into an Israeli weapons factory in Filton, Bristol. The then home secretary, Yvette Cooper, subsequently proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, citing the Filton protest as justification. For the first time in Britain, a non-violent direct-action group was proscribed. Meant to be a politicised show-trial, the police released a highly edited, extremely prejudicial, video clip intended to present the defendants as violent.

The judge refused to allow testimony about Elbit Systems and genocide. He instructed the jury to convict. Defence barrister Rajiv Menon advised the jury of its 350-year-old right to ignore judicial interference. Following eight days of deliberation, the jury refused to convict.

This significant victory for the right of people to act according to their consciences was followed by a High Court ruling that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was ‘disproportionate’ and should be overturned. The government is, of course, appealing both cases. 

Nonetheless, although disregarded by the press, challenges to the enablers of genocide persist, evidenced by the masses still marching, striking unions, boycotts and divestments, even the consumption of information.

Research shows trust in mainstream media is declining globally as audiences perceive political parroting, witness billionaire acquisitions.  Awakenings may not save Gaza, but understanding its significance and who are the perpetrators matters.