This Is A Tipping Point.

All of this mess is connected, and we must act.

Photo by Hansjörg Keller on Unsplash

So much has happened this week… I could talk about MAGA’s hypocritical decision to “cancel” anyone who didn’t drop to the ground and sob at Charlie Kirk’s killing, despite the fact that they openly mocked the murder of George Floyd and applauded people who committed heinous acts of political violence, like Kyle Rittenhouse. Or what about the fact that Trump is considering labelling Antifa a domestic terrorist group? ‘Antifa’ just means ‘anti-fascist’; it isn’t a group or even an ideology. It is a political stance that various different groups from across the political spectrum share. In other words, this would allow Trump to label anyone who opposes him a terrorist and abuse them beyond belief. But there is a bigger, more impactful story at play right now, and no one seems to be listening.

A few days ago, the UN commission announced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. No shit, Sherlock. Huge numbers of humanitarian lawyers, virtually all human rights charities, and the vast majority of genocide scholars have recognised this as a genocide for months. But with the UN finally providing its stance, we have now reached an inarguable consensus: this is a genocide.

So, why is that a bigger news story than the tidal wave of fascism flooding the most powerful nation on Earth?

Two reasons.

This verdict means that nearly every Western nation is currently breaking international law. And not by a little. We are talking rogue state levels here.

You see, the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, of which most nations on Earth are signatories, makes it illegal for nations to fail to intervene when a genocide occurs. The first article of this convention states, “Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.” So, as a UN spokesperson said, “All states are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza.”