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| Earthrise - Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968 |
Last Friday I was out at a salsa lesson with my friends when the attacks in Paris happened. Initially I
felt helpless, like last month after the attacks in Ankara at the peace demonstration. Than I felt anxiety, because I realized how many people that I know live in Paris, and started stalking all of them on social media. Yes, cultural and geographic vicinity affected my reaction, and for a while I felt really bad about it. Now that a week has passed, though, I feel a much heavier uneasiness: what the hell is going on? Why are we letting our governments speak about war so easily? Do you remember all the peace rallies that we did in 2001 and 2003-2004? I was 12 and I did not go, but I remember reading on the newspapers many disgusted comments to the Western reaction to terrorism. Millions of people across the world flooded the streets to say NO to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
What is different now? Why are we letting ourselves be tricked? Is it because those peace marches did not have any practical effect? Those wars started anyways, and we are still experiencing the consequences... Is it because this declaration of war was only symbolic? Effectively we were already at war, we were already training militias, we were already funding drone missions... Is it because Paris itself was hit? Are we so hypocritical? Why are we reacting to this by singing the French National Anthem, which talks about slaying wives and children of the enemy? Do we really think this whole national/european/western unity attitude is going to stop religious fundamentalism? Why can't we see that, in other culture's eyes, we have been and are the terrorists on every conceivable aspect?
How can we pretend that the oppressed Muslims of Africa and Middle East overthrow their bloodthirsty oligarchies, if we can't even show them that we fight against our own capitalist and imperialist system? We are oppressed, they are oppressed, and we are all fighting against the wrong enemy. Our governments are happy, because a couple of videos of French kids interviewed in front of flowers and candles are enough to quench our daily need for peace and positive feelings. We share on social media breathtaking open letters by the survivors of Bataclan, that make us feel pacifists. We play "Imagine" on loop, in all sorts of different versions. We are more aware of the daily suicide bombings that happen a bit everywhere...
Then we go back to our workplaces, fighting with our peers for the crumbles; complaining about the mirants that make the line at the hospital a bit longer, or about the excessive heat, excessive cold, excessive drought or excessive rain, while we eat a tasteless banana from across the ocean...
I don't want my world to be like this
