Free Palestine!!!! from the peak of the Central tower of the Paine. While we yell this Israel continues to bomb the few overcrowded refugee camps that it permits full of defenceless, innocent, traumatized families despite the so-called “cease-fire” agreement; continues to restrict access to the plentiful accumulation of aid supplies on the other side of its artificial borders that it continuously pushes further inwards; indiscriminately rapes, tortures and kills prisoners without trial including children and women (not that the lives of Muslim men should in anyway be diminished), and continuously seizes more Palistinean territory all under the protection and full support of a compliant USA and it’s weak political allies all of whom are completely infiltrated by the Anglo-American-zionist lobbies which control the worlds capitals. These governments may issue “concern” or at the worst “condemn” certain actions whilst continuing to supply weapons and political support. The mainstream western medias (including liberal sources) continue to hide the true scale of the horror whilst social media owned by those that support the genocide continuosly shadow-bans and filters content coming out of the territory. So entrenched and deep is the reach of the Israeli instituion that those that dare speak out risk being imprisoned, losing their jobs and of course are labeled as anti-semits and are shunned by “higher” society. As of today although Israel has finally admitted that the official death toll of 72,000+ Palestineans is accurate, the more realistic figure exceeds well over 100,000 (to give a comparison the 9/11 attacks which triggered much destabilization and death through the middle east resulted in less than 3,000 American lives).
Meanwhile here in the Torres del Paine national park in the very austral tip of South America where I work as a guide during the summers (and risk losing job opportunities for posting this) we have large numbers of young Israeli tourists who are soldiers on vacation to “destress their minds” as Patagonia is one of the key regions earmarked from decades ago by Israel to assure and establish their presence and control (Plan Andina). As climate change reduces the hospitability of the central hemesphere and access to portable, clean water becomes increasingly a scarce and key resource (which is wasted on datacenters for the AI industry) the Israeli institutions with the aid of Zionist rightwing governments (Millei in Argentina and now Kast in Chile) have actively been buying up land and rights to water (Merkorat) in Patagonia. Meanwhile wildfire rages throughout Patagonia, each summer bringing even more devastating results due to years of irresponsible close-packed Pine and Eucalyptus tree monoculture plantations which have replaced old-growth and delicate forests in Patagonia (which have a spiralling effect way beyond changing the landscape) due to Chile and Argentina’s hyper neoliberal capitalist economic models installed by CIA orchestrated dictatorships (because we can’t be having any socialist, environmentally responsible governments that won’t sell their natural resources to the imperialists and their corporations). There is increasing evidence that many of these fires are intentionally lit to obtain quick insurance money and due to certain clauses that allow for fire affected lands to repurpose their usage and low and behold these lands are bought on the cheap by Israeli interests.
As local guides we create narratives to paint a picture to interpret the landscapes that visitors come to appreciate from all over the world. Many of these visitors are members of the upper class of their respective societies due to the high expense nature of trips to Patagonia and such it’s inevitable that some will come with certain biases, especially with politically explosive issues such as this. As a guide I maintain political neutrality, both out of respect for the agencies I represent and to maintain my profesionalism (to maintain my reputation to secure more work). However this creates skewed narratives that avoid the uncomfortable truths. It sells a pristine Disney-like narrative that sweeps under the rug the dirty and tragic history of Patagonia and the rest of latin-american. A history of the land drenched in the blood and tears of its original inhabitants whose image is repurposed to sell once their resistance has become a memory.
History is written by the victors, a truth that becomes all too apparent to those that really read into history and listen to survivors, those whos voices are diminished, silenced and forgotten with the passage of time and the overriding projections of the conquerors. Power resides in those who control the narrative. Many of the most worshipped in the history books in national narratives are those whom commited the worst crimes in their pursuit of glory and recognition. Crimes which are reinterpretted as necesities or even for the greater good or else simply brushed away with the ease that the recent Epstein revelations are exposing.
The past is the past. We can only sympathise and try to glean something of human nature and society from it. Yet when things are ongoing in present time, when we see the above in action, when we see a great injustice play out on our screens, the matter changes. It exposes the hypocrisy and cracks the narrative of this society we live in. The Palistinean cause has been one of the greatest injustices of our time. True, there have been some incidious political events during the last roughly 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union marking the end of the Cold War (the majority of which are due to Western interventionalism and interests) such as Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Sudan, Congo, etc (this is a very superficial list of a long depressing list). However what truly grates about the Israeli-Palistinean issue is the massive level of political, military, economic, social, and cultural support the colonizers have recieved from the majority of the first world, especially the USA. Injustice after injustice have either been unreported or reported in a form as the Israeli’s right to self-defence. The majority of the world remained ignorant or uninterested to the Palestineans plight until October 7, 2023.
On the day when I read the news, I was filled with dread. I knew that the repercussions would be harsh but watching it unfold over the last 3 years, the scale, the mercilessness, the absolute evil of it all has been beyond horrifying. Even though there is no evidence (unlikely to ever surface) that this day was a false flag operation to justify Israel’s genocidal policies, you’d have to be very naīve to believe that Mossad, the worldś most advanced and resourceful secret intellegence institution that has had an absolute stanglehold on Gaza, would have no idea of the large scale and long-term organizational planning of the Hamas operation. Nor that one of the most heavily monitored and guarded walls in the world just happens to have the most meagure defence at the time and that the response would take so long. Due to the seriously repugnant moral nature of the Israeli institution it is not so uncredible to believe that they would allow their own citizens to be killed (which they did, bombing places where their hostages were held) and kidnapped to justify their objectives (Hannibal Directive).
One of, if not the only, positives to come out of this (and really from a Hamas point of view it would seem the main objective of the attack) is that the wider world finally becomes aware of what has been a decades long oppresion actively supported by their governments and media. Protests against the apartheid and genocide have sprung up, most notably in the Chile, Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. However the backlash and repression against the Palestinean cause has shown just how truly entrenched Israel’s long fingers are in our institutions and media; most damning of all in the USA with protests being banned with those showing even the slightest bit of support having their visas revolked, losing scholarships, their jobs, and even incarceration.
In the climbing world almost all the influencers and rock stars have stayed silent throughout. Those that do performative and safe PR, such as against ICE or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have stayed notably silent. The IFSC continues to allow Isreali climbers to compete in international events even though they banned Russian climbers. Adam Ondra, the undisputable best climber in the world, has promoted Israeli climbing on stolen Palestinean land sponsored by the Israeli tourism ministry with no mention of the Palestineans. In the football world, by far the world’s most followed sport and a far bigger audience than climbing, all have likewise stayed silent with the exception of Muslim players, most notably the Egyptian superstar Mohammed Salah. The world’s most famous coach Pep Guardiola (notwithstanding his hypocrisy in working for the United Arab Emirates who are heavily responsable for their own active genocide in the Sudanese civil war to control resources) has repeatedly spoken out for the Palestinean cause despite attempts by Zionist pressure groups to silence him.
Three years on what all this has resulted in is the Trump led so called ‘Board of Peace’ controled by Israeli interests with the most atrocious pro-zionist personals leading the conversion of the Gaza strip into some sort of grotesque vacation land for the super rich; all while the worlds media moves on to other issues with the false pretense that “peace” has been achieved whilst Israel continously kills and tortures Palestineans. These three years, along with the US-Venezuela/Iran debacles have truly ripped away the facade that international law or human rights mean anything beyond public relations; it has shown that people power has next to no influence on policies as the oligarchy’s control only grows stronger.
Why even protest then? Why care? Why stand up for these poor oppressed people? Why not just be willfully ignorant of what’s going on? If you ask me it’s because that is pathetically cowardely. Borders and nationalities are political illusions. If you don’t care for the rights of others, the wellbeing of the most vulnerable amongst us, you deserve no rights. If you cannot find the compassion and empathy in your heart to care for those whom are so oppressed, whose rights to live a dignified life are denied simply for where they are born, then you deserve none when you find yourselves in the same position. I cannot but find the overall direction human politcal society is taking to be pathetic, illustrating our worst vices; the most egocentric and cowardely version of ourselves. For people to only raise their voices when it is politically safe to do so, when everyone else is doing it, as a token gesture, perhaps for self-image, then absolutely no care when it is not trending is pathetic. We are all much more connected then we realize. I remember reading a post where a Palestinean expressed that though our support may appear futile, that we show that we care for them, that we have not abandoned them means so much.
On the flip-side there is the very understandable need to protect our personal mental well-being. There are so many compassionate and well-meaning amongst us whom are being driven to a dark place; those who are naturally optimistic being brought down by pessimism as things only get worse and worse. The more we investigate, the more we realize that things are just so wrong with this world. Our natural biology was developed to comprehend a much smaller, simpler world of our immediate environment and those we share our lives with. The current world which far exceeds our ability to influence with its infinite complexity and unpredictability is too overwhelming in the best of times.
As Rafah is announced completely exterminated and inhabitable; as the investigations show more and more dead than initial numbers represent, the truly horrifying scale of destruction and suffering is likely to be hidden for some time if ever revealed. Witnesses are silenced and killed. Journalists actively targeted and killed (data from research institutes, the United Nations, and press freedom watchdogs indicate that the number of journalists killed in Gaza in less than two years surpasses the total journalist fatalities from both World Wars, the Vietnam War, and other major 20th-century conflicts combined). Many traumatized children will grow up without family, mutilated and forgotten by the rest of the world. Innocent children who once laughed and played will be left with a burning ache and anger in their souls at the injustice. Who can blame any actions taken on their part? Imagine it was YOU that this happened to? Of course you would resist and fight the overwhelming death star empire that have persecuted your people. Of course they will be labeled as terrorists (a convenient political word to justify illegal actions against a people) by western institutions and they will be used to justify further atrocious acts by the west. This is but history repeating itself (replace terrorist with barbarian/uncivilized/savages/cockroaches etc).
The Israeli diasphora constantly victimizes itself to immune itself from any and all criticism. Just as the “terrorism” card is used by governments to legitimize the use of extrajudicial violence against a people, so the zionists use the “racist” card (despite the majority descending from white eastern europe) to silence all opposition and give themselves immunity. Why does an openly racist and fascist american regime which has marginalized and limited opportunities to its black, hispanic, and native american communities vehemently attack and prosecute “anti-semitism”? Today American presidencys are won by how much capital can be accrued through campaigns. The zionist lobbies (a fancy word for bribes) donated hundreds of millions to the Trump campaign. The western media/hollywood has propaganticized the Jewish holocaust (completely ignoring the genocide during the same holocaust of the gypsies/romanos whom continue to be the most persecuted and openly discriminated group in Europe) which it rightly should given the harrowing event it was. That the descendants should do the very same to another group of people is beyond nausating. This was never a “war” between two sides. It has always been the total oppresion and crushing of resistance by a overdominant colonizing force against a native population.
Every week it seems that Israel somehow outdoes itself with a new revelation or impunitive act. One week it was purposely starving the Palestinean population whilst setting traps to indescriminately gun down desperate young men who walked long distances to the very few points where it allowed aid to trickle in, another week it was discovered that they mixed opiods in the sacks of grain they allowed (very much following the old colonial strategy of drugging indigenous populations to kill resistance), another week it destroys hospitals and aid workers, another week its revealed that the bodies of prisoners mysteriously killed in its dungeons are returned with their organs missing (harvested), another week it unprovokedly attacks Iran under the pretense (zero evidence) of it developing nuclear weapons (Iran is a part of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and has complied with all requisite international inspections whilst Israel is not a part of any international treaty or oversight despite holding over 200 nuclear warheads) whilst it uses the international media distraction to intensify its indescriminate killing of Palestineans whilst unilaterally slaughtering and siezing Lebanese territory.
Sometimes I feel that any protest or boicot action is futile. That the world’s collective institutions that call the shots just don’t give a shit. That the ball keeps rolling on the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinean people while the rest of the world goes on as business as usual. I feel sorrow and despair. But then I inevitably get a spark of anger, razor sharp, at the Western world, especially the USA that has continued to defend and encourage the genocide. I want to scream a collective FUCK YOU! to the Americans for allowing and abetting this. As the genocide reaches its harrowing conclusion I want to say that this won’t ever be forgotten or forgiven. May your empire which has stolen the peace and dreams of so many societies as you bask in the gluttony of stolen resources crumble. But I know that this is just repeating the very same pattern which causes the dehumanization of the other side. Breeding hate. That which destroys us from within. It is so easy for righteous anger to become that which you professed to destroy. It is human nature. I try to practice Buddhist principles and learn much about human psychology from its teachings. However one thing that sits uncomfortably for me is its total passivity when it comes to injustice. Cultivate your inner spirituality, isolate yourself from the rest of the world whilst you try to escape Samara (the eternal cycle of suffering). So the teachings go that when you find illumination, you can either become eternally blissful, or become a Boddhisatva to return to the cycle to help others escape the cycle in compassion for their sufferings. I feel that you cannot truly be enlightened if you are so concerned for only your selfish salvation.
Three years on since October 7 it’s clear that the world’s public awareness and opinion has shifted dramatically towards Palestinean support. It’s clear from images all over the world, from what one sees friends sharing on social media, from articles and news posted on previously compliant news media, comments which would not have appeared previously, that there is a significant paradigm shift. One can only hope for a change in the tide. I believe that more than ever it is important to educate people in this chaotic information overload world we live in, in which the narratives become more skewed and manipulated. Information and knowledge is power. We are reaching a critical juncture in human history and passivity and ignorance will only lead to everyone’s sorrow. As much as the naysayer will tell to keep politics out of things, that in itself is a political decision, the decision to cede all power to the oligarchy. Everything is political and neutrality exists only for those that turn a blind eye to reality.
I would like to leave this with these following words from the Palestineans themselves:
“One time we were playing in the yard of the school, and the gates were open, and the watchman, he was so precious, he was praying. So we packed our bags and ran for it. There were five of us girls. The watchman saw us and began to call us back, and all of them ran back, except for me. I kept running. The only thing is—I literally had nowhere to go. My uncles worked in the middle of the city. If I went there, they would see me. Nothing ever happens in Gaza City without everyone finding out and everyone talking about it. So I just went home. That’s the thing about this place; it’s the only place I feel like I belong, but it was always so suffocating. There wasn’t even space for a teenager to be rebellious. I think the craziest thing we did was paint on walls. Like all teenagers we were convinced that everything was so dark, and the world was ending. So we’d graffiti Pink Floyd and Cold Play lyrics onto walls: ‘Lights will guide you home.’ Meanwhile home is literally two blocks away, two streets away. The entire neighborhood is rubble now. Honestly I don’t even like to talk about the past because it feels like the world keeps begging us to prove that we’re human beings. And if we could only do that, if we could prove that we once lived in nice houses, and listened to Cold Play, then we could prove that we deserve to live and eat and exist and survive. I hate it. I hate pity so much, because it belittles the person you’re pitying. Please don’t feel sorry for me. Don’t feel sorry for us. We don’t need anyone, I promise. We don’t need anyone. We have farmers with farmlands, but they cannot harvest their own farmlands without being shot. We have fishermen who can collect fish from the sea, but they’re banned from using the sea. We have these beautiful, beautiful cuisines. We can feed ourselves. Just let us, we’ve reached that point. Just let us. Don’t feel sorry for us. Feel sorry for yourselves, that you’re living in a country that is arming Israel, that is sending weapons overseas to kill children. Your bombs are killing children. If that bothers you, then don’t feel sorry for us. Feel sorry for yourself. That you don’t have enough say in your own country to stop it.” (@humansofny)
“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in seven pounds of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ I’m a humanitarian aid worker. Why would there even be a limit on food? I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate. I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening. And I say this as a pediatric ICU doctor who sees children die as part of my work. Among our own staff we have doctors and nurses who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted. They’re living in tents. Some of them have lost fifteen, twenty members of their families. In the hospital there are kids maimed by airstrikes: missing arms, missing legs, third degree burns. Often there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!’ I hate to only focus on the kids, because nobody should be starving. But the kids, it just haunts you in a different way. When my two months were finished, I didn’t want to leave. It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in nearly twenty years of humanitarian assignments. But I felt ashamed. Ashamed to leave my Palestinian colleagues, who were some of the most beautiful and compassionate people that I’ve ever met. I was ashamed as an American, as a human being, that we’ve been unable to stop something that is so clearly a genocide. I remember when our bus pulled out of the buffer zone. Out the window on one side I could see Rafah, which was nothing but rubble. On the other side was lush, green Israel. When we exited the gate, the first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers, sitting at a table, eating lunch. I’ve never felt so nauseous seeing a table full of food.” (@humansofny)
“I cannot cry. Before the war—any little thing, it would make me cry. But now I cannot make myself. I want to but I can’t, even when my heart is breaking. I used to be a schoolteacher; I love children. But now I see them walking in the streets with no shoes. They come into our clinic and you can see how tired they are. Some of them are mutilated: they’ve lost a leg, or an arm. You see children crying because they cannot walk again. Yes, there is a lot of children like this now. But even the ones who aren’t injured are changing. Before the war it was not normal to find a child who wasn’t in school. There were organizations that would find the parents and force them to enroll. But now Gaza’s children haven’t been to school in two years. They’re changing. They’re beginning to think: ‘I will never go to school. I will just work to bring my family food or water.’ Even my own daughter; she’s twelve years old. She was a leader in school and she dreamed to be a doctor. She has a cousin in Canada, the same age. They have video calls, and my daughter can see the difference. She sees how far behind she’s fallen, and recently she told me: ‘I won’t be a doctor anymore.’ This broke my heart, but still, I could not cry. It’s like something is blocked in me. I don’t share my pain with anyone. I don’t share with my husband, or my father, or my sister. Because all these people come to me to feel safe. A few months ago when they bombed the house of my husband’s family—I went to collect the body parts. It was too difficult for my husband. He lost fifteen members of his family that day. His mother, his father, his brother, were beneath the rubble. So I went. I had to start looking: this is the head for who? This arm, this leg, is for who? Afterwards I sat alone, and I tried to cry. I felt that if only I could cry, I will feel better. I will feel less full. But even then, I could not. I have a colleague in the work, who tells me: ‘Kholoud, after the war, you are going to collapse. Because you do not cry.'” (@humansofny)
