Large segments of the population of the West have empathised with Palestinian cause while it is the governments/establishments who have shown no apathy. The question is whether this is true democracy, sham democracy or autocracy. Palestine has exposed many countries to question and introspect their own human rights and democratic norms. While the Third World has always been blamed for having no democratic values and no empathy for human rights, the Western countries belonging to the First World have starkly shown low standards of human rights, freedom of speech and a sham democracy.
In recent pro-Palestine protests, students and faculty all over the famous Ivy League universities – supposedly beacons of human development – were treated like criminals for merely protesting, a fundamental right to freedom of expression as provided by their Constitution.
We are a mere Third World country, with very basic low standards of freedom, so what is the difference between us and them? I always looked up to the West, as to me, they protected human rights but alas! Palestine has proved that they do not protect anyone’s rights, and are concerned only with the policy of their ‘Establishments.’ Most Third World countries have establishments infamous for violating every democratic norm and fundamental rights. The question arises as to whether the West is justified in criticising the Third World’s record, since at present the West is exactly doing the same, if not worse.
My entire ideal about the West has been shattered. All the hue and cry on minority rights, freedom of expression, human dignity and laws of war is all on paper and done away with when it does not serve their purpose.
Generation Z has exposed everyone, outdone the millennials and exposed shallow Generation X, as they have refused to accept this sham Western concern for human rights – and we should support them. Our generation did not have empathy enough to have the courage to do what they are doing today. Real peace and harmony is what they want to bring to the world. Let’s support them: it is their century, their future and we owe it to them.
Hats off to all students and faculties who walked in protest, even when threatened and beaten like criminals. Praise for all those students across universities in the West, who are protesting despite being threatened, with dire consequences risking their careers and future. When across the world from Ivy League colleges in the USA to universities in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, students came out in huge numbers protesting an ongoing genocide of Palestinians, it restored my ideals and gave many me some hope for a better world tomorrow.