By now, we should all be clear that the genocide in Gaza is not an isolated event. It doesn't matter where we live. Fascism is spreading everywhere, and this is no coincidence.
If we still believe that what is happening in Palestine doesn't affect us, a day will come —not too far off— when we will no longer be able to ignore it. It will be so evident that we will throw our hands up in despair and ask ourselves: "How did we get here?". Quite simply, we haven't done enough. Comfort leads us to apathy, and apathy kills us. To stay silent is also to stoke the fire.
We humans are probably the only species that drifts away from its own name. The tiger has always been a tiger, the elephant has always been an elephant. We, if we lose our humanity, what are we, then? As we grow, we become poorer as humans. Over the years we lose instinct and naturalness.
We sacrifice the planet with technologies that control us. We believe that value lies in power and money, when all life deserves to be cared for. We have drifted away from our essence by wanting to hoard, accumulate, and destroy: the more and the faster, the better.
Those of us who grew up in the West must recognize that we have an abstract view of life, far removed from reality. We tend to consider ourselves wiser simply for having been born in a privileged country, at the expense of impoverishing others. Exploitation is a historical practice that has always been carried out by the same ones. In this, nothing has changed.
Essential values —respect for life— must resurge. Let us not think that by staying silent our lives will improve. What we will achieve is to live in agony through a reality that is unjust for everyone.
** Photo taken in Trastevere, Rome, Italy.
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