Ahlulbayt News Agency: “Nothing else matters right now. ... I can’t live a normal life.” These are the words of a young American woman who participated in a protest rally around the Capitol in Washington D.C. on October 17. She uttered these words after a reporter asked her why she left her job at this hour, took the risk of being arrested or suspended from college, and came here for a demonstration in support of the people of Gaza.
Today, in the cities of European and American countries, one can hear sentences like: “I couldn’t stay home; we spent the whole night here to do something; not saying and doing anything is complicity in crime; I consider myself responsible before the Palestinian children; I have come here to preserve my humanity.” These days and nights, the images and videos of the large crowds who have come out in European and American cities in support of the Palestinian people attract attentions. The demonstrations have been going on for almost two months despite restrictions imposed by Western governments, and in some cities such as London (Specia et al.) and Washington (Frantz and Singh), the number of gatherings set new records.
The unique rise and support of the people of the world in the Western hemisphere is, on the one hand, a source of pride and a spectacular phenomenon, but, at the same time, it is a bit complicated and requires analysis. The complexity of this phenomenon shows itself when the volume and quality of this defending of the Palestinian people — that is, the extensive and continuous support of the European and American nations for “a Muslim nation in the Middle East” — who have been subjected to the bombardment and genocide by the Zionist regime is happening in a political, intellectual, cultural, and media environment that is not at all a fertile ground for such developments.
In the US, on average, a person is targeted by more than 4,000 advertisements on the internet each day (Simpson) — ads that invite people to consumerism based on a materialistic view (“Kids for Sale”). In 2021, large American commercial companies spent $1.6 billion on targeted ads for children and teenagers (Faria) to ensure their own continued existence by bringing up one-dimensional, materialistic, and consumerist people (and of course, they were successful to some extent: In 2018, American teenagers alone spent $77.2 billion dollars on buying products (Belmonte)). The culture of organized individualism and consumerism in liberal-capitalist America is so powerful and long-standing that it startled Arnold Schoenberg, the famous Austrian composer, when he faced it: “There’s a picture of a man who has run over a child, which is lying dead in front of his car. He clutches his head in despair, but not to say anything like ‘My God, what have I done!’ For there is a caption saying: ‘Sorry, now it is too late to worry—take out your policy at the XX Insurance Company in time’” (MacDonald 73).
It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that in the West’s cultural climate today (that is, societies where the liberal-capitalist culture prevails), surviving the hegemony of materialistic individualism, which produces and develops values such as “I buy, therefore I am,” is difficult and perhaps impossible. This intellectual and cultural structure always puts others’ needs, sorrows, and problems as secondary, and defines the material self of a person and meeting his/her needs at the top of human endeavors and attention. Now, this volume and quality of support for the Palestinian people in such a cultural climate is noteworthy.
Meanwhile, another component makes the widespread support of the American and European nations for the Palestinian people more surprising and attractive, namely the fact that this nation is Muslim and Arab. Jack Shaheen in his classic book Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People examines 1,000 Hollywood films made between 1896 and 2000 and concludes that only less than 7 percent (that is 64) of the films have had a normal and fair approach toward Islamic and Arabic characters and concepts, while more than 93 percent (that is 936) of them have had Arabophobic and Islamophobic approaches. Although the timespan of Shaheen’s research was up to 2000, which is over 20 years ago, the practice of Islamophobia and Arabphobia seems to be still on the agenda of Hollywood and Western media conglomerates, because not so many years ago, films that clearly portray an upside-down and biased image of Islam, Islamic communities, and Arabs, such as American Sniper, The Hurt Locker, and Argo have been Hollywood flagships and have reaped the awards at the Oscars.
What is it in the call of the people of Gaza that has managed to shatter the image of Hollywood legends made of lust and violence from thousands of kilometers away and make a defenseless Gazan child—who is neither bullet-proof like Batman nor sexual, erotic like Barbie—the focus of attention of a significant number of people in the West? It seems that the truth of what is happening in Gaza today is the key to understanding at least part of the answer to this question.
What is happening in Gaza today? For more than a month, Gaza, one of the most densely populated regions of the world, has been bombed day and night by the Zionist regime of Israel. The Zionist regime has dropped 35,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to three atomic bombs, on Palestinian women and children, young and old, in Gaza. It has cut off water, food, and fuel to that area. In hospitals, babies on ventilators die due to lack of fuel and electricity. Hospitals have been bombed. A total of 15,000 Palestinians have been martyred so far, including more than 6,000 children.
In Gaza today, the confrontation between a nation and a completely evil force is in its most naked form possible. Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, drew attention to this issue in his fourth speech after the bombing of Gaza: “The war in Gaza isn’t a war between Gaza and Israel. It’s a war between falsehood and truth, a war between the Arrogant powers and faith. On one side is the power of faith, on the other side is the power of the Arrogant powers” (“Ultimate victory”). With his/her innocent yet powerful and honorable martyrdom, the Gazan child emitted an effect that the Jews in New York, Harvard University students, representatives of the British Labour Party, and even some members of the Joe Biden administration were also affected by it. The powerful, victorious, and innocent resilience of the people of Gaza against this utter oppression — the Zionist regime and its supporters — created an effect which can be called “the Gaza effect.”
The Gaza effect on the people living in the West seems to have at least two sides: first, through their genuine and pure resistance and sacrifice, the people of Gaza managed to expose and show the real face of the Western values — human, women, children rights — with which the Western people, especially the youth, have been spoon fed for the last century. In this way, the Gaza effect shook the heart, mind, and conscience of the Western people. Second, the unique resistance of the people of Gaza against the rapacious Zionist regime during the last two months created scenes long gone from the world as defined and painted by the Western, materialist culture. Scenes indicative of a genuine courage, patience, and honor not tainted with materiality of today's world. The scene of a Palestinian father who after taking the body of his beloved, martyred son from under the rubbles of his house (destroyed by American-Israeli bombs), so great are the values of justice and freedom embodied in the cause of Palestine for him that starts praising Almighty Allah, perhaps for being able to resist against the army of injustice. Or the scene of a wounded young boy reciting the verses of the Holy Quran while being treated without anaesthetics or only weak pain killers. The Palestinian Resistance in Gaza has created so much interest in itself that it has drawn some European’s and American’s attention to the root and intellectual foundation of the Resistance. That’s why in the middle of the bombardments of Gaza, waves of Western and non-Muslim supporters of Palestine began studying Islam and the Quran (Demopoulos).
The Gaza effect on the one hand "exposed" — the hollowness of the values of the liberal-capitalist system — on the other "revealed" — some of the cherished but lost values of humanity.
It seems impossible to prevent this inspiring and life-giving effect from bringing together justice seekers and freedom seekers of the world, even in the age of artificial intelligence and hybrid media wars.
References:
Belmonte, Adriana. “Here's what American teens spend money on.” Yahoo, 8 April. 2019, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-american-teens-spend-money-on-180051795.html
Demopoulos, Alaina. “Young Americans are picking up the Qur’an ‘to understand the resilience of Muslim Palestinians’.” The Guardian, 20 Nov. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/20/palestine-quran-islam-americans-tiktok
Faria, Julia. “Advertising spending on children's products and services in the United States in 2021 and 2022.” Statista, 14 Feb. 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1361594/kids-advertising-spending-usa/.
Frantz, Elizabeth, and Kanishka Singh. “Pro-Palestinian protesters oppose Biden war policy in Washington.” Reuters, 5 Nov. 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/protesters-oppose-biden-war-policy-large-pro-palestinian-rally-washington-2023-11-05/.
“Kids for Sale: Online advertising & the manipulation of children.” Global Action Plan, 3 Aug. 2020, https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/files/kids_for_sale.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov. 2023.
MacDonald, Malcolm. Schoenberg. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2008.
Sayyid Ali Khamenei. “Ultimate victory which is not too far away will be for Palestine.” Khamenei.ir, 1 Nov. 2023, https://english.khamenei.ir/news/10278/Ultimate-victory-which-is-not-too-far-away-will-be-for-Palestine. Speech.
Shaheen, Jack G. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Updated ed., Olive Branch Press, 2009.
Simpson, Jon. “Finding Brand Success In The Digital World.” Forbes, 25 Aug. 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-in-the-digital-world/.
Specia, Megan, et al. “Major Pro-Palestinian March Staged in London as Police Ramp Up Security.” The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/world/europe/uk-israel-palestinian-protest.html.
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Today, in the cities of European and American countries, one can hear sentences like: “I couldn’t stay home; we spent the whole night here to do something; not saying and doing anything is complicity in crime; I consider myself responsible before the Palestinian children; I have come here to preserve my humanity.” These days and nights, the images and videos of the large crowds who have come out in European and American cities in support of the Palestinian people attract attentions. The demonstrations have been going on for almost two months despite restrictions imposed by Western governments, and in some cities such as London (Specia et al.) and Washington (Frantz and Singh), the number of gatherings set new records.
The unique rise and support of the people of the world in the Western hemisphere is, on the one hand, a source of pride and a spectacular phenomenon, but, at the same time, it is a bit complicated and requires analysis. The complexity of this phenomenon shows itself when the volume and quality of this defending of the Palestinian people — that is, the extensive and continuous support of the European and American nations for “a Muslim nation in the Middle East” — who have been subjected to the bombardment and genocide by the Zionist regime is happening in a political, intellectual, cultural, and media environment that is not at all a fertile ground for such developments.
In the US, on average, a person is targeted by more than 4,000 advertisements on the internet each day (Simpson) — ads that invite people to consumerism based on a materialistic view (“Kids for Sale”). In 2021, large American commercial companies spent $1.6 billion on targeted ads for children and teenagers (Faria) to ensure their own continued existence by bringing up one-dimensional, materialistic, and consumerist people (and of course, they were successful to some extent: In 2018, American teenagers alone spent $77.2 billion dollars on buying products (Belmonte)). The culture of organized individualism and consumerism in liberal-capitalist America is so powerful and long-standing that it startled Arnold Schoenberg, the famous Austrian composer, when he faced it: “There’s a picture of a man who has run over a child, which is lying dead in front of his car. He clutches his head in despair, but not to say anything like ‘My God, what have I done!’ For there is a caption saying: ‘Sorry, now it is too late to worry—take out your policy at the XX Insurance Company in time’” (MacDonald 73).
It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that in the West’s cultural climate today (that is, societies where the liberal-capitalist culture prevails), surviving the hegemony of materialistic individualism, which produces and develops values such as “I buy, therefore I am,” is difficult and perhaps impossible. This intellectual and cultural structure always puts others’ needs, sorrows, and problems as secondary, and defines the material self of a person and meeting his/her needs at the top of human endeavors and attention. Now, this volume and quality of support for the Palestinian people in such a cultural climate is noteworthy.
Meanwhile, another component makes the widespread support of the American and European nations for the Palestinian people more surprising and attractive, namely the fact that this nation is Muslim and Arab. Jack Shaheen in his classic book Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People examines 1,000 Hollywood films made between 1896 and 2000 and concludes that only less than 7 percent (that is 64) of the films have had a normal and fair approach toward Islamic and Arabic characters and concepts, while more than 93 percent (that is 936) of them have had Arabophobic and Islamophobic approaches. Although the timespan of Shaheen’s research was up to 2000, which is over 20 years ago, the practice of Islamophobia and Arabphobia seems to be still on the agenda of Hollywood and Western media conglomerates, because not so many years ago, films that clearly portray an upside-down and biased image of Islam, Islamic communities, and Arabs, such as American Sniper, The Hurt Locker, and Argo have been Hollywood flagships and have reaped the awards at the Oscars.
What is it in the call of the people of Gaza that has managed to shatter the image of Hollywood legends made of lust and violence from thousands of kilometers away and make a defenseless Gazan child—who is neither bullet-proof like Batman nor sexual, erotic like Barbie—the focus of attention of a significant number of people in the West? It seems that the truth of what is happening in Gaza today is the key to understanding at least part of the answer to this question.
What is happening in Gaza today? For more than a month, Gaza, one of the most densely populated regions of the world, has been bombed day and night by the Zionist regime of Israel. The Zionist regime has dropped 35,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to three atomic bombs, on Palestinian women and children, young and old, in Gaza. It has cut off water, food, and fuel to that area. In hospitals, babies on ventilators die due to lack of fuel and electricity. Hospitals have been bombed. A total of 15,000 Palestinians have been martyred so far, including more than 6,000 children.
In Gaza today, the confrontation between a nation and a completely evil force is in its most naked form possible. Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, drew attention to this issue in his fourth speech after the bombing of Gaza: “The war in Gaza isn’t a war between Gaza and Israel. It’s a war between falsehood and truth, a war between the Arrogant powers and faith. On one side is the power of faith, on the other side is the power of the Arrogant powers” (“Ultimate victory”). With his/her innocent yet powerful and honorable martyrdom, the Gazan child emitted an effect that the Jews in New York, Harvard University students, representatives of the British Labour Party, and even some members of the Joe Biden administration were also affected by it. The powerful, victorious, and innocent resilience of the people of Gaza against this utter oppression — the Zionist regime and its supporters — created an effect which can be called “the Gaza effect.”
The Gaza effect on the people living in the West seems to have at least two sides: first, through their genuine and pure resistance and sacrifice, the people of Gaza managed to expose and show the real face of the Western values — human, women, children rights — with which the Western people, especially the youth, have been spoon fed for the last century. In this way, the Gaza effect shook the heart, mind, and conscience of the Western people. Second, the unique resistance of the people of Gaza against the rapacious Zionist regime during the last two months created scenes long gone from the world as defined and painted by the Western, materialist culture. Scenes indicative of a genuine courage, patience, and honor not tainted with materiality of today's world. The scene of a Palestinian father who after taking the body of his beloved, martyred son from under the rubbles of his house (destroyed by American-Israeli bombs), so great are the values of justice and freedom embodied in the cause of Palestine for him that starts praising Almighty Allah, perhaps for being able to resist against the army of injustice. Or the scene of a wounded young boy reciting the verses of the Holy Quran while being treated without anaesthetics or only weak pain killers. The Palestinian Resistance in Gaza has created so much interest in itself that it has drawn some European’s and American’s attention to the root and intellectual foundation of the Resistance. That’s why in the middle of the bombardments of Gaza, waves of Western and non-Muslim supporters of Palestine began studying Islam and the Quran (Demopoulos).
The Gaza effect on the one hand "exposed" — the hollowness of the values of the liberal-capitalist system — on the other "revealed" — some of the cherished but lost values of humanity.
It seems impossible to prevent this inspiring and life-giving effect from bringing together justice seekers and freedom seekers of the world, even in the age of artificial intelligence and hybrid media wars.
References:
Belmonte, Adriana. “Here's what American teens spend money on.” Yahoo, 8 April. 2019, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-american-teens-spend-money-on-180051795.html
Demopoulos, Alaina. “Young Americans are picking up the Qur’an ‘to understand the resilience of Muslim Palestinians’.” The Guardian, 20 Nov. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/20/palestine-quran-islam-americans-tiktok
Faria, Julia. “Advertising spending on children's products and services in the United States in 2021 and 2022.” Statista, 14 Feb. 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1361594/kids-advertising-spending-usa/.
Frantz, Elizabeth, and Kanishka Singh. “Pro-Palestinian protesters oppose Biden war policy in Washington.” Reuters, 5 Nov. 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/protesters-oppose-biden-war-policy-large-pro-palestinian-rally-washington-2023-11-05/.
“Kids for Sale: Online advertising & the manipulation of children.” Global Action Plan, 3 Aug. 2020, https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/files/kids_for_sale.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov. 2023.
MacDonald, Malcolm. Schoenberg. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2008.
Sayyid Ali Khamenei. “Ultimate victory which is not too far away will be for Palestine.” Khamenei.ir, 1 Nov. 2023, https://english.khamenei.ir/news/10278/Ultimate-victory-which-is-not-too-far-away-will-be-for-Palestine. Speech.
Shaheen, Jack G. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Updated ed., Olive Branch Press, 2009.
Simpson, Jon. “Finding Brand Success In The Digital World.” Forbes, 25 Aug. 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-in-the-digital-world/.
Specia, Megan, et al. “Major Pro-Palestinian March Staged in London as Police Ramp Up Security.” The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/world/europe/uk-israel-palestinian-protest.html.
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