World leaders are disconnected from the youth

The killing is relentless, merciless, consistent. It is an enactment of scenes from a gory war movie over and over again. Men carrying children with limbs blown off; women wailing and clasping on to their dead babies; young men being carried by old men, their legs useless and bloodied, faces covered in dust from bomb blasts. Faces frozen in the sheer bewilderment of not knowing why. Why the horror is not stopping. Why the most powerful nations in the world, the champions of human rights and cheerleaders of peace, cannot end this obscene carnage that spits on the notion of a “civilised” world.
In other news, US President Joe Biden has categorically said, “What is happening in Gaza is not genocide.” It makes one wonder: what exactly is genocide? Killing over 35,000 people (half of whom are women and children), bombing hospitals, schools, residential areas, refugee camps and even the so-called “safe zones,” creating a famine-like situation by blocking essential food aid—do all these somehow fall short of the threshold of human rights violations that would fulfil the definition of genocide? Or must we wait till the last Gazan has been declared dead and the last sliver of a structure has been flattened to the ground?
While the US, UK and other Western countries continue to supply money and arms to enable this horror show in the name of Israel’s right to defend itself, their own citizens are passionately protesting these actions and demanding that the atrocities stop. Most moving has been the resoluteness of the thousands of student protesters in major US universities, starting from Columbia, in their call for a ceasefire and demand that university administrations divest from all groups who may profit from the ongoing conflict. The students have been joined by protective faculty members. The US protests have inspired students from many other countries from Europe and the UK to the Middle East, to join this movement for peace and justice.
But these mostly peaceful protests have been met by unbelievable violence from the police forces. Video footage of US campuses we have seen are truly shocking, with both students and teachers being treated with brute force leading to serious injuries. It was clear why such excessive force was being applied: to instil maximum fear. Enough to make sure these “misguided” youth would be discouraged; enough to stop challenging the official narrative and causing embarrassment for a government that makes lofty speeches about human rights and democratic values.
Yet, neither the threat of arrest (over 2,000 demonstrators), suspension, deportment (in the case of foreign students), nor the possibility of serious bodily harm has stopped these young people. The numbers swell every day, and the movement is spreading everywhere. In fact, these brave hearts are gearing towards demonstrating at campuses during the graduation ceremonies, scheduled for this month. They have said they will not stop protesting and demonstrating, no matter what the consequences.
Tragically, there is a big divide between these young people and the authorities they are under—the university administration that is supposed to protect them and the government mandated to ensure their right to free speech and assembly. These demonstrators, whether they are in the US or in any other part of the globe, represent the moral compass of the world—the one that seems to be missing among those in power. It reminds one of so many student movements in recent times that have been met with excessive force from the police and other actors working for the state, such as the passionate quota reform movement by Bangladeshi university students and the road safety movement by Bangladeshi school students in 2018.
No genocide has been so widely witnessed through social media as the atrocities in Gaza. Which is why people all over the world have been so deeply affected. This is especially true for young minds who have not been brainwashed into believing that some humans are less equal than others. These young people, regardless of their faiths, backgrounds or ethnicities, have joined together to form a resolute, fearless force against injustice and untruths. They are risking their university education, many of them from the most prestigious institutions like Columbia, Harvard, Yale and Berkely. Ironically, it is these very universities that are now trying to censor them, that have given them the opportunity to learn about the evils of neo-liberalism and modern-day imperialism, that have helped develop the analytical minds to be able to dissect and critique the sins of the past and present.
These young people are not fooled by political rhetoric and obfuscation of truth perfected by the powers-that-be. They are calling out the double standards of Western powers and the blatant discrimination against those who are vulnerable and disempowered. They are exercising their constitutional right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. They are embracing wholeheartedly the universal ideals of freedom, peace and equality. They are demanding an end to bloodshed that is needed to sustain the war machine. And they have managed to discard all their differences and come together as one voice, one force.
It is unlikely that in the next few days, we will not hear about yet another drone attack on a hospital or a refugee camp, killing or maiming more children, women and men in Gaza. But the protesting voices of the young, thousands of miles away, will only get louder and continue to reverberate all over the world. How long can those at the helm of power pretend not to listen?
Aasha Mehreen Amin is joint editor at The Daily Star.

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