The most famous Palestinian Jew in history, whose birthday is celebrated on December 25, imprinted the values of compassion, peace and justice into the ethos of a new religion some 2000 years ago.
Indigenous to the region, then under the control of the Roman Empire, this great teacher embodied truth and resistance. He was persecuted by the religious and state powers of his time. His story has exemplified the fate awaiting anyone who dares speak truth to power and whose actions are capable of initiating a people’s movement for justice and peace.
But the deterrence intended by his execution has not worked. Not then and not now.
For regardless of times or persuasions, people know injustice when they see it. Many stand up against it, moved by indignation and an innate sense of compassion, sometimes fortified by a spiritual compass, but always underpinned by intelligent understanding of fact. Driven by a burning clarity, they will attempt to right unbearable wrong.
We have seen proof of such humanity in action in the global mobilisation of people from all walks of life in solidarity with the contemporary victims in that region of oppression and injustice perpetrated by the current Empire and its vassals.
These modern truth-tellers, like their historical counterpart, know very well that solidarity with the illegally occupied people of Palestine does not come without danger. Yet they are willing to risk their job, qualification, reputation, even their freedom, for this urgent cause — the dismantling of all constructs that feed the tyranny of racism, patriarchy, colonialism and manmade climate change.
Those in power deny the Gaza genocide is a genocide. The mainstream media try hard to lull society into believing there is a ceasefire. Civil rights are under threat. The media, politicians, public institutions and cultural bodies are self-censoring, or blatantly biased, as they bow to the Empire’s pressure and intimidation tactics.
Prominent citizens are dragged into costly and protracted court cases for criticising a corrupt and brutal regime. It is seductive to become cynical and give up hope.
One moment when hope plunged was when the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2803, on November 17, endorsing United States President Donald Trump’s paternalistic, colonial-style, 20-point Gaza peace plan. It gives legitimacy to the enablers and executors of genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and occupation, while rendering the victims of these crimes voiceless.
The fact that Russia and China abstained from using their right of veto made the endorsement even darker: It hammered the final nail into the coffin of international law and human rights charters.
As Palestinian lawyer Raji Serrani famously said: “Gaza has become the graveyard of international law”.
The death of international justice took place in a hollow house, permeated by the stench of utter betrayal and hypocrisy. It pushed the world closer to the frightening abyss of global tyranny and lawlessness.
Power intoxicates and corrupts. The majority of those currently pulling the strings have lost touch with their own humanity and sold their conscience. They determine what goes on in the closed-door world of the geopolitical arena, then look away from the devastation.
When pressed they will put up a facade of “deep concern”, but their syrupy words show up their callousness.
Those who have been coming out en masse in just about every country in the world to campaign for an end to a system of genocide, ecocide, exploitation and perpetual war, won’t be able to persuade such heartless human beings.
I am painting a desolate landscape. Not a day goes by or a new barbaric scene could be added, including in Australia, where after the Bondi massacre, we grapple with the horror of terrorism and the dangerous politicisation, misinformation, false finger-pointing and shameless curbing of our civil rights.
However, the counter movement to the Empire’s depravity is not diminishing. If anything, it is increasing. This is because we who have been witness to the unspeakable horrors have learnt how the Empire works. We are all Palestinians.
Have we not come together in unprecedented numbers to protest the Empire’s normalisation of extreme evil? Have we not gone on strike? Have we not proclaimed "Not in our name" and “Never again for everyone?”
Solidarity is a form of love and the antidote to Empire. It empowers humanity. For truth and resistance are the things most feared by those who maintain their power by brute force and lies.
Change only comes when enough see that a better world is possible and when enough are working towards it.
Therefore we cannot give up. Palestinians have a word for it — Sumud or steadfastness. It describes their determination to remain on their land despite occupation, displacement and economic hardship. Not to give in to despair, nor be consumed by hatred. To stay unshaken in the face of adversity and make the conscious choice to persist.
What if it turns out enough of us are choosing to embody Sumud together? That would be something to celebrate.
[Jepke Goudsmit is an activist with Jews Against the Occupation ’48.]