Thank you dear subscribers, we are overwhelmed with your response.
Your Turn is a unique section from ThePrint featuring points of view from its subscribers. If you are a subscriber, have a point of view, please send it to us. If not, do subscribe here: https://theprint.in/subscribe/
All the protests are only in democratic nations. As evident form the illustration, in the USA they are specifically in areas, like in the West and East coast, with a large number of immigrant population. Commentaries on ethics are only about actions by democratic nations and not about actions by autocratic states and nonstate actors like the HAMAS, Houthis and Hezbollah.
Non state actor, militants and terrorists
The attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have forced trade, including consumer goods and energy supplies, to be rerouted on a longer route which takes more time and cost more for goods to reach their destinations. Oil, natural gas, grain and everything from toys to electronics typically travel through the waterway separating Africa and the Arabian Peninsula enroute to the Suez Canal, where usually 12% of the world’s trade passes. The immoral attacks on shipping in Red Sea area by militia / terrorists have caused a large community of traders and consumers to pay more resulting in disruption of normal life including reduction in their incomes.
40% of Asia-Europe trade normally goes through the area, including a huge amount of oil for import-dependent countries. So also, food products like palm oil and grain and anything else brought over on container ships, which is most of the world’s manufactured products. The delays contributed to a 2.3% decline in world trade reflecting goods stuck on ships rather than being offloaded in port.
There are no protests against Iran or its proxies on this issue. Where are the liberals and wokes? Are thy not aware of the hardship faced by a millions of people all over the world as a result of such piracy attacks?
Palestine
More than 50 percent of Palestinians believe Hamas should govern the Gaza Strip when the current war ends, while just 11 percent want Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to administer the enclave, a survey by a leading Palestinian polling institute has found. The findings were published by the Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research (PCPSR) in Ramallah and done in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), as international alarm grows over the spiraling Palestinian civilian death toll in the Israeli offensive against Hamas. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents in Gaza and the occupied West Bank said they wanted Hamas to run post-war Gaza, a five percent drop from PCPSR and KAS’s previous poll. Another 13 percent said they hoped the PA would return to control the Strip but only under the leadership of someone other than Abbas.
There have been no protests along the Gaza strip or other Palestinian dominated areas like West bank et al, by those opposed to the militant group, against HAMAS for obvious reasons. HAMAS, is ruling the Gaza strip in an autocratic manner threatening a good percentage of the population there. The “liberals” and “wokes” in the Palestinian areas are afraid to protest unlike in democracies. Even in democracies, there are no protests against the suppressive rule by HAMAS and other militant groups / terrorists. Even a nation like Iran does not allow protests.
Israel
To the credit of Israel, which is a democracy, there are continuing protests against the policies and actions of their own government. They persistently call of cessation of hostilities, bringing back the hostages et al. Even though, as per survey, a substantial number of the Palestinians do not support HAMAS; they have no freedom to protest. They can’t call on HAMAS to release the hostages and work towards peace. This clearly shows, that in a free world, non-state actors, militants and terrorists are not called out by the liberals and main stream media or by those who are oppressed.
One way in which the establishment maintains its power is by creating a dominant discourse from which dissidents’ views are excluded. If people think differently, they may feel isolated, marginalized and powerless. Public demonstrations and marches empower people by showing them that there are thousands of people who think the same things. But what about those tens of thousands of Palestinians who are really fed up with HAMAS, thy can’t protest and nobody supports them in that cause. In this case by protests against Israel, the causes of HAMAS, Houthis and Hezbollah though flawed is strengthened. Unfortunately, the world or the UN does not recognise the victims of belligerent actions by undemocratic nations and their proxies.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.