Gaza Doomscrolling
Nearly two years on, the situation in Gaza can often feel hopeless and debilitating. But from our privileged seats in the west, we still have power to act.
Amidst the blackness of a muggy May night, my face lay bundled in bed, illuminated by my phone’s faint blue glow. I had found myself doomscrolling (as one is wont to do these days), which had brought me to yet another harrowing scene out of Gaza, as it has often done over the last couple of years. In it, a Palestinian man is embracing his young daughter beneath a collapsed roof. Israeli munitions can be heard exploding so violently nearby, one can almost feel their reverberation through the jostling camera feed. The girl is despondent, shrieking in horror as her father attempts to retain his composure through the blasts.
It brought me to tears.
Since Israel’s bombardment of Gaza began 20 months ago, many such grievous scenes have emerged across social media, thanks to pages like Eye on Palestine, Gaza Notifications, and Databases for Palestine, all of whom have painstakingly cataloged the work of heroic journalists on the ground in Gaza (an estimated 200 of which have been killed, a record number for such a conflict). The constant stream of horror has provoked a spectrum of negative and visceral feelings from myself and other people of conscience: disgust, distress, horror, anxiety... Though every once in a while, one of these scenes really sends me over the edge. I often feel awash with pain and powerlessness for the victims in Gaza, but especially so that night. It wasn’t the innumerable flayed corpses and bodies, the infantile body bags, the scenes of starvation, but this video in particular that recently served as the catalyst for tears.
Perhaps it wasn’t the moment in particular, but rather the culmination of all of those aforementioned atrocities which painted my imagination of what might happen to these people, who felt real, visceral, and living through this imagery. Perhaps it was a feeling of guilt; here I was, with shelter and amenities, while a young girl not much different than I is being subject to psychological torment, made to sleep in tents and on the floor, living at the mercy of haphazard Israeli bombs and drones that could make her the next underage civilian victim of genocide at any moment.
But how else is one to feel but forlorn when social media feeds have simply been a never ending deluge of the most extreme displays of pain and suffering for these people, with seemingly no end or recourse in sight? Never before in our lifetimes has a punitive military campaign been so obviously motivated by self-interested, expansionist, and ethnically supremacist desires, as has been expressed innumerable times by Israeli officials at all levels of government. And their desires are made manifest in the countless flayed corpses, the rate of civilian casualty, and the slow entrenchment of civilians into increasingly shrinking corridors and “safe zones” on their way to a full and permanent expulsion out of the south end of the Gaza strip. It is everything liberal western governments have long feigned to rebuke since the ethnosupremacist atrocities of fascist states in World War II laid bare what sick and twisted eventualities these modes of thinking always tend towards. And yet, at every step of the way, they have been the greatest benefactors and enablers of an Israeli society hellbent on exterminating Palestinians from the region and beyond, with chants calling for “Death to Arabs” becoming increasingly commonplace in Israeli society.
If one has been paying any attention to western foreign policy since the post-WWII era, then the only thing surprising about this latest hypocrisy is just how brazen and callous it has been. But that’s a story for another time; what I really intend to highlight here is just how powerless and hopeless the situation can often feel. In spite of dramatically shifting public opinion, both within the belly of the American beast and without it the world over, the corpus of Israeli statements painting genocidal intent, and the increasingly criminal and flagrant bombardment and starvation, global bodies have been extremely slow to take action, with most western governments either completely besides themselves or aiding and abetting the crime at every step, only paying hollow lip service to humanitarian concerns.
Even amongst those of us with conscience, many of even the most vocal among us have succumbed to complacency. How much of our donated aid is reaching its intended recipients? Are calls for justice, online and in the streets, simply ringing upon deaf ears? Is it easier to remain ignorant and at ease than to continue engaging with a fight that seems to go nowhere? These are questions I’m sure many are contending with and coming to unfortunate conclusions about. The numbers of attendees at rallies that often feel feckless and ineffectual seem to be steadily shrinking, and here in the States, attention is also being split by grave domestic concerns and the threat of being targeted by the government, especially for the very minority groups who are often more likely to be allied to the Palestinian cause.
Experiencing feelings of despair are natural. What matters most is how you channel them; do not let them immobilize you. Recently, I’ve been seeking solace through meeting others at events and rallies, continuing to talk to friends, family, and acquaintances about the issue, and recognizing the palpable shift in public opinion over the last nearly two years. It may take time to materialize through policy change, but a continued public relations campaign in favor of the Palestinian movement will force future elected and prospective officials to acknowledge the increasingly popular and obvious reality that increasing numbers of people are coming to terms with: that a state predicated on ethnic supremacy which subjects its native population to killing, torture, and displacement cannot be justified nor sustained with western tax dollars. Even Israel’s and the United States’ massive intelligence apparatuses have been largely incapable of preventing irreparable harm to the their global reputations in the wake of this genocide; there is no reason to imagine that public sentiment won’t continue shifting as Israel continues to act in increasingly brazen manners.
In the long term and through continued outreach, I am hoping to draw inspiration and find ways to contribute more meaningfully by meeting likeminded, experienced, and intelligent people. I am inspired by grassroots movements like the Freedom Flotilla, disruptive actions carried out by groups like Code Pink against public officials and corporations complicit with the genocide, and prominent intellectuals, lawyers, and academics coming together under the banner of the Gaza Tribunal. And although the Freedom Flotilla was seemingly unable to deliver even its minuscule amount of symbolic aid, its intent to provoke copycats appears to have been successful; more aid caravans are popping up. There is more to do than doomscroll and languish, and the people of Gaza need our help and voices more than ever.
Most importantly, realize that this level of injustice cannot and will not be left unaccounted. If the wills of the Palestinian people can remain unbroken through over 77 years of gradually escalating torment and displacement, then the least we can do is offer our continued rhetorical support in their darkest hour. Given their existence across the world, their total annihilation which Israel seeks is not feasible. So long as those who keep faith in the collective imperative for justice exist in the world and their ranks continue to expand, it will be a matter of “when”, not “if”. Have faith in that the arc of history always bends towards justice.