By LUIZ MARQUES*
The signs are spreading in Israel, with the winds of the struggle for peace coming from all over the world
In the 19th century, many researchers thought that physics was coming to an end. But nature continued to surprise scientists. In the 20th century, liberals believed that history was coming to an end, with the victory of representative democracy and the market economy symbolized by the Fall of the Berlin Wall. But society reinvented itself – for the better, with ecosocialist awareness; worse, with the triple rise of economic neoliberalism, religious fundamentalism and neo-fascism that spread like a storm across the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
In the 2023st century, Zionists believed in the belligerent possibility of putting an end to an unelected people, the Palestinian people. But the Israelis on the penultimate day of the year XNUMX, in street demonstrations with a crowd of protesters in the cities of Tel Aviv and Caesarea, where the prime minister resides, shouted “No” and demanded “New elections”. The newspaper The Times of Israel announced that the demonstrations took place “in a sober and solemn manner”. A careful euphemism to say that the events brought together important sectors in the balance of local public opinion – for peace.
Part of the Israelis, in the political center, concluded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the failure to release the rest of the Hamas hostages, puts Israel (yes) at risk of coming to an end with the bombings on the Gaza Strip. The government's ongoing genocidal practice is reminiscent of the Nazi executioners in the Holocaust. The risk for victims of the past is to exchange positions with their executioners. Fortunately, the voice of the world echoes within the borders of the State endorsed by the UN, in the post-War period.
Great news
The State of Israel caused the displacement of one and a half million people from their homes. On the other hand, it added moral bricks for the reconstruction of Palestine, with the solidarity of the majority of nations on the world map, with exceptions that are increasingly reticent in the face of genocide. Like the Paris Agreements in 1973, which ended the United States invasion of Vietnam thanks to the massive mobilizations of young Americans – the dramatic cry of Israeli mothers (“Get our soldiers out of Gaza”; “Israel will not survive”; “ Diplomatic Agreement now; Down with Netanyahun”) indicates that the Zionist discourse of tergiversation about the massacre of women, children and civilians loses credibility among the hosts themselves. This is the big news for New Year's Eve.
Coexistence in the region is possible, without the State of Israel feeling threatened by a State of Palestine. In fact, it is the second that will still have reason to be afraid of the first. After all, in the 2021 Census survey, Israel has 9,3 million inhabitants. 2,3 million live (or used to live) in the Gaza Strip. It's easy to know who, as a rule, has the advantage in international relations. The population difference matters between countries, not to mention military military power.
Between 1815 and 1914, there was confidence in the balance between European powers (Germany, France, United Kingdom), in the defense of private property, the gold standard and colonial domination. Factors considered sufficient for the accumulation of capital and the prosperity of the continent. They just forgot that internal social inequalities are destabilizing elements. It was seen in the Revolution of 1917 with the deposition of Czarism and the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (former USSR).
The alliances between the United Kingdom and France, in 1904, to divide Egypt and Morocco, and with Russia in 1906 to divide Persia, at the same time that Germany consolidated alliances with Austria and Hungary, broke the balance that ensured the relative peace. While individual countries had equivalent magnitude, competition to avoid imbalances between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries helped to impose mutual respect. Size served equanimity.
Dare to live together
In 1800, the population of France (30 million inhabitants) was 50% larger than the population of Germany, which had not yet undergone Otto von Bismarck's unification. In a way, it explains the extraordinary French military and cultural hegemony in Europe and the imperial plans of Napoleon Bonaparte at the time. As France's growth stagnated for a long century, things changed depending on early birth control attributed to de-Christianization. In 1910, Germany (60 million inhabitants) became almost 50% larger than France. The problems restart, remembering the cyclical conceptions of history and eternal return.
The liquid geopolitics at the dawn of the last century accentuated the errors inherited from the conflict of 1870-71, which brought heavy economic penalties to France. France takes revenge with the end of the First World War, imposing an absurd reparation to be paid by Germany, around 350% of the national income of 1919-1921. The amount was priceless. The Second World War was predicted, with 20 million dead Russians, 8 million Germans, 6 million Jews and 500 Americans. It is best to memorize the numbers manufactured on an industrial scale. As Thomas Piketty says, if the demographic issue does not exhaust the reasons for conflicts, it raises ideas of power that can be picked up by adventurers. Perhaps bloodbaths have taught politics prudence.
The fact that several countries have atomic bombs today does not diminish human folly. The responsibility of its rulers increases in the face of the concrete possibility of a new war, of proportions and consequences unimaginable by the criteria of common sense. Once the diplomatic agreement for the creation of a State of Palestine has been sealed, given the disparity in military forces and highly lethal equipment, the Palestinians' insurance policy in the coming decades will be the world's ability to rescue the values of the Enlightenment, to “dare know” beyond ethnic and/or religious prejudices – and also “dare to live together” under a universal rule.
To establish and maintain lasting peace, the world depends more and more on tolerance, and less on the idiosyncrasy of today's great powers. The adherence of the United States and the European Union in proclaiming “unconditional support” for Israel's right to defense soon turned into the right of a self-defined democratic state to employ terrorist methods to combat terrorism. It resulted in paroxysmal hatred. Several nations are now pulling the handbrake and asking for peace.
The year 2024
In this sense, leaders of a country with a long tradition of concertation (Brazil) and a president with recognition and influence on the world board (Lula da Silva) have a role to play, despite the comments from the southeastern mongrel press. We must support the Israeli people against the unique thought of far-right Zionism, whose monster exponent is Benjamin Netanyahu. The signs are spreading in Israel, with the winds of the struggle for peace coming from all over the world. May 2024 be the year of reconciliation (without amnesty) in Brazil, and the founding of the State of Palestine. Let's toast.
* Luiz Marques is a professor of political science at UFRGS. He was the state secretary of culture in Rio Grande do Sul during the Olívio Dutra government..
the earth is round exists thanks to our readers and supporters.
Help us keep this idea going.
CONTRIBUTE
