Another perspective on "ALL EYES ON RAFAH"
Shifting focus towards the perpetrator.
We have been witnessing acts of unjust and illegal military violence against various marginalized peoples for over a decade all around the globe. I grew up with stories and pictures of the Armenian Genocide, as it has shaped the identity of my parents. It has always been important to them that my sister and I understand our history, why it is important to learn our language, and anything that has formed our culture. My parents are from the Iranian part of the Armenian diaspora. Armenians were allowed to build a church in Tehran to practice their faith and have their own gated community center called “Ararat”, where, for example, women were allowed to take off their headscarves – only Armenians were allowed to enter.
The Armenian Genocide was the systematic mass extermination and deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, starting in 1915. The genocide resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians through forced marches, starvation, and mass killings. The Ottoman government targeted Armenians for their Christian faith and perceived political threats. The events of the Armenian Genocide are now widely recognized as one of the first modern genocides. Many countries and international organizations have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, while some, including Turkey, still do not use the term "genocide" to describe the events. Uruguay was the first country to recognize the Armenian genocide in 19651, following Cyprus in 19752. The phrase “Armenian Genocide” did not appear in the official press in the USA, for example, until 2004 in the New York Times3.
We have seen tons and millions of images of dead bodies, not only from the Armenian genocide but also from the Holocaust, the Tamil genocide, the Darfur genocide, the Kurdish genocide, and many more. But have we seen imagery of the perpetrators? Have we seen just as many photographs circulating of healthy war criminals? Why aren’t these circulating as much as dead bodies? Why aren’t we motivated by those who perpetuate? By those who execute?
I wonder what the point of "ALL EYES ON RAFAH" is. Can we change our visual information circulation for once? How much more do we need to concentrate on the victims to understand that we have to be active? How much more do we have to use these images of suffering? They can’t be the sole intellectual material or emotional stimulant for us to be motivated or understand what’s going on in a conflict, war or genocide.
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "ALL EYES ON USA, GERMANY, AND ISRAEL"? Shift the focus away and fix responsibility directly where the violence comes from. We are again focusing the view on the people who have already been targeted by military violence. We've already seen "enough" for months, haven’t we?
I don’t know, I am thinking out loud here. I can't look at any more dead bodies, but I want to look at the ugly, untouched, and unbothered politicians and war criminals. That's why I go to demos and watch and read German media reporting. I want to be aware and know what’s going on because I work, live, and pay taxes here. I want to understand my direct involvement and implications. Looking solely at dead bodies and destruction helps me to get only so far as to activate me. Looking at the perpetrators, giving them faces and a space where I can direct my anger towards, is very much needed as well. I need to see who I am working with. I need to refocus my attention. There has to be a shift in perspective, not having only the perpetrated in our sights but also the perpetrators.
Additionally:
I also do not care about whether an individual person cared before or you care for it now – of course I am disgusted by how long it took for some people to be able to actively engage with everything going on, especially us in Germany. If an AI generated Image campaign is what gets the populace going, then it is what it is. More people need to be active, especially the ones living in countries where their freedom is built on imperialism. The ego has no place in resistance. What I am describing above is more so that I care about the perpetrators to be at the center of our wrath now.
This one is just a short impulse I wanted to share. Writing always helps.
Type away and let me know how you feel and what you think ~
c. f. https://www.armenian-genocide.org/Affirmation.166/current_category.7/affirmation_detail.html
c. f. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyprus-armenia-turkey-idUSKBN0MT0YS20150402/
c. f. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/armenian-genocide#aftermath-and-legacy
I edited the text to add this at the end:
"I also do not care about whether an individual person cared before or you care for it now – of course I am disgusted by how long it took for some people to be able to actively engage with everything going on, especially us in Germany. If an AI generated Image campaign is what gets the populace going, then it is what it is. More people need to be active, especially the ones living in countries where their freedom is built on imperialism. The ego has no place in resistance. What I am describing above is more so that I care about the perpetrators to be at the center of our wrath now."
Also not to forget how ALL EYES ON RAFAH repeats the same media loop as the black square for BLM 2020: if anything, it diffuses attention from the actual multi-national-scale infrastructural megaproject that is GAZA 2035, orchestrated in Unison by the US, EU, Saudi, and Israel nationstates under the auspice of progressiveness. So messy, but as a plan so unlikely to be rivaled by IG posting...