Anika Kiddoe | We have real and unprecedented opportunity to halt genocide

Ten months ago, most onlookers assumed that ordinary global citizens could do nothing to impact the future of Palestinians. A tiny, yet impactful, minority thought otherwise. Today, a seismic transformation in the geopolitical landscape is unfolding before our eyes.

World figures who had expressed unconditional support for the aggressions of an ostensibly exempt-from-law state are doing an about-turn; an application for arrest warrants for rival leaders in the conflict has reached the International Criminal Court; and as we witness bombings of refugee families in ‘safe zones’ (flagrantly defying multilateral calls, resolutions, and pronouncements for ceasefire), more countries are joining South Africa’s case against the occupying genocidal apartheid state.

What did the earliest activists know that most people didn’t? Why would anyone have expected to shift history’s course in such an unusually swift, intentional way? And where’s all this heading?

Socio-political events and circumstances are significantly shaped by the value of, and competition for, the general public’s attention. Just as businesses compete for our attention to get us to buy goods and services, political leaders the world over (governments, oppositions, major and minor parties) compete vigorously for us to buy into narratives and policies. Mass buy-in is a permission slip to do whatever. There’s little they value more.

There is a key difference with politicians, though: we don’t have to actively agree in order to buy in. We can agree or be quiet. So the misinformation, the intimidation, the distractions, and the incentivisation of apathy (through barriers to representation and voting) are all, in potential effect, equal to pandering. Attention is the whole ball game.

CONTROL YOUR ATTENTION

Your attentional decisions affect everything – at home and abroad. Foremost are our right to life and self-determination. Whenever, wherever, politicians lack impetus to act in humanity’s collective interest – treating human life as being of less importance than their personal ambitions – those are the circumstances for which your attention matters most.

To be precise:

• Your eyes, ears, and voice matter.

• What you leverage relationships and connections for matters.

• Boundaries you set on where your money can go matter.

• Far more than you’ are likely to realise, your daily presence online matters; your support of audience numbers for anti-genocide coverage is, in itself, helpful action.

And, undergirding all of that, your integrity and consistency matter.

OUR OBLIGATION AS JAMAICANS

With the unprecedented shift in public sentiment towards their plight having been crystallised by an exponential rise in public awareness across Earth’s most militarised societies, the global fight for Palestinian freedom isn’t over. It has, effectively, just begun.

We are obligated to escalate pressure on our own Government – earlier initiated by Jamaica Council of Churches, Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal, National Integrity Action, Stand Up for Jamaica, Advocates Network, Jamaica LANDS, opposition members, social media activists, street protesters, and (I imagine) very sensible strategic advisers within the administration – to accept and implement Jamaica’s majority will.

We respect the moral duties encoded in our National Pledge. We understand that brute disregard for international law poses greatest risk to small states en masse, and we know taking decided action will cost us less than the alternative. As such, our representatives must: (i) unequivocally decry all genocidal assaults and endorse South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice; (ii) demand the cessation of arms shipments to genociders, regardless of their location, in compliance with international law; (iii) fully disclose interests in and – until the humanity of Palestinians is equally honoured – cut all Jamaican-Israeli trade and diplomatic ties.

It is through holding present-day instigators, perpetrators, and accomplices to account that future genocides can be prevented. We must all do the most we can to achieve that outcome. Each of us has the capacity to discern and commit to particular roles we can play best. But it is important we do so right now.

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” (Though one may vehemently reject the politics of former Russian leader Vladimir Lenin, it would be unwise to reject the veracity of such a profound historical observation.) A palpable opportunity for humanity has arrived to assert right over might, and no one who cares should be standing on the sidelines in 2024.

Major political change requires many activities to unfold simultaneously. If even one necessary thing is missing, or ceases prematurely, the desired change will be delayed.

Let’s stop waiting on other people to do necessary things. Control your attention.

Anika Kiddoe is an economist and social impact consultant. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.