All hail these audacious lovers

Of course George Bush Jnr. did not disappoint them. He went ahead to prove with every word and deed his total affliction with moral leprosy. From his staging of the 9/11 terror hoax, to his invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, his setting up of Guantanamo and similar gulags in different parts of Europe; in total […]

Of course George Bush Jnr. did not disappoint them. He went ahead to prove with every word and deed his total affliction with moral leprosy. From his staging of the 9/11 terror hoax, to his invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, his setting up of Guantanamo and similar gulags in different parts of Europe; in total disregard for international laws, Bush Jr. epitomised the moral leper. Don’t forget that even his emergence as president was the result of a flawed election in which his brother Jeb provided the rigging machine when he manipulated votes in the state of Florida, where he was then governor. (If you are hearing this for the first time, please read the book, ‘The best democracy money can buy’ by Greg Palast).

By 2008, we were ready to put that nightmare behind us when a major change came to America.  Not only are the Democrats back in office there is now officially a Black man in the White House. Barack Obama was not only a REAL breath of fresh air he also came with what seemed like a sincere agenda for World peace. Exit from Iraq, closing down Guantanamo, dialogue with Africa, Asia and the Muslim world. Now almost three years later, most of these haven’t happened and we can’t help thinking that President Obama had contracted the moral leprosy bug.

How else can you explain his failure to put in a word for his audacious compatriots whose sheer love of humanity prompted them to arrange humanitarian aid all the way from United States to the dehumanised residents of Gaza? They called their aid ship among the Flotilla ‘Audacity for Hope’, borrowing from the title of his biography ‘Audacity of Hope’. Even though imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Barack Obama is not flattered enough to stand by them when Greek authorities detained them in order to stop the flotilla from fulfilling its mission.

Though Greek authorities, reportedly acting in this queer fashion due to intense pressure from Israel, have finally released John Klusmere, the 60-year old American captain of the ‘Audacity for Hope’, they are still refusing to let the activists go on their way to Gaza. Another American, Adam Shapiro, of the Free Gaza Movement was quoted by Reuters as saying ‘Our destination remains the freedom of the Palestinian people’. In all, 350 activists are on the Flotilla with thousands of dollars worth of medicines, food, gifts and building materials. Some of them are from Spain, Canada and Australia. Surely whatever can inspire this kindness and solidarity towards total Arab strangers thousands of miles away ought to move world political leaders towards acting in sympathy? Apparently we have not reckoned with the intimidating reach of the Jewish state.

The latest on these audacious lovers of justice and humanity, these genuine heroes of today who can recognise a real human tragedy when they see one, is that some of them have decided to take flights into Israel and are preparing to demonstrate at the West Bank. Meanwhile the world looks on. Those who can say ‘no’ to Israel lack the political will to do so. Yes we all know about the United States’ undying and unconditional support for Israel and its brand of state terrorism. Indeed to show how much he was toeing the traditional White House line, President Obama recently told a mainly Jewish audience at the AIPAC conference on May 22nd ‘Because we understand the challenges Israel faces, I and my administration have made the security of Israel a priority. It’s why we’ve increased cooperation between our militaries to unprecedented levels. It’s why we are making our most advanced technologies available to our Israeli allies. And it’s why, despite tough fiscal times, we’ve increased foreign military financing to record levels. ‘

This traditional American subservience notwithstanding, is it asking too much to expect Obama to stand by these activists and have them safely deliver their humanitarian supplies to those needy Palestinian civilians? Did he have to look the other way while they were harassed and detained because he lacked the courage to say ‘This is not military aid and the Israelis should understand’? It is ironic that the same US which has sent a powerful delegation to celebrate South Sudan’s liberation today is totally averse to any move to give Palestinians their well-deserved liberation from intolerable Israeli occupation. Mincing no words in voicing his opposition to Palestinian Authority’s planned declaration of Independence scheduled for September, Obama had told his AIPAC audience that ‘No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state.’ Truly amazing coming from a man whose country also got its independence through a declaration.

When Thomas Jefferson, stood up to read the American declaration of independence from Britain 235 years ago, all he could cite as reason were ‘repeated injuries and usurpations’ imposed on them by the mother country, stationed thousands of miles away, across an ocean. Yet it is hailed as a heroic act. In the case of Palestinians we are talking about people living under real and inhuman occupation, right next door to their oppressors and Obama says they have no right to declare themselves free? If this isn’t moral blindness and leprosy rolled in one, I don’t know what to call it.

But looking at the regularity with which Barack Obama had broken every campaign promise which aimed to douse global tension, we shouldn’t be too surprised.  He had failed to withdraw from Iraq, beyond the cosmetic ceremony we saw earlier, and the instability still bedevilling the Middle-Eastern country is a direct result of that. He failed close down Guantanamo’s Camp Delta dungeon, and today hundreds of inmates, including Dr. Afia Siddiqui, the only female there are languishing in captivity. While spending two billion dollars every week to execute the Afghan war, according to Dewayne Wickham, a USA Today columnist, he couldn’t wait to start another in Libya. In the first 17 days of the Libyan engagement, a total of 608 million US dollars was reportedly spent. Even when he gave in to the recent pressure and released a time-line for leaving Afghanistan, it spelt a troop’s withdrawal that will begin next year and leave behind 68,000 troops to provide support for the Karzai government in Kabul, so what kind of a withdrawal is this?

While we must tolerate celebrated world leaders who are selfish, with double standards as their moral yardstick, we must accept that our real heroes are the men and women who defy powerful governments in order to salvage our shared humanity. They are the people who abandon their comfort zones just so as to reach out and help those who need them. They are the selfless individuals aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla, true and audacious lovers of humanity.