7 -13 December 2000
Issue No.511
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 7 -13 December 2000 Issue No.511 |
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Business as usual
By Fayza Hassan
Long ago, in a small town in Switzerland, I stood at the window of my room enjoying the quiet beauty of the surroundings. As I contemplated the changing colours of the majestic mountains, the snowy peaks and the lush forests, I had the chance to observe a strange scene. A young boy holding a toddler by the hand suddenly appeared down the winding path. At the bend, the couple was confronted with another boy, climbing in the opposite direction. The path being very narrow, the two parties had to stop, facing each other. I was too far to hear the exchange that must have taken place, but it was rather brief, resulting in the boy with the toddler attempting to motion his vis-à-vis out of the way.
The allegedly aggrieved party took no time to think, and swiftly slapped the baby who began to holler. Taken aback, the big brother abandoned the fight and busied himself with the baby, while his opponent walked off triumphantly. Being of rather large stature, there was little doubt that he could have managed the older boy quite well; instead, without hesitation, he had chosen to hit the helpless toddler. I mulled over the incident for quite some time, unable to understand his motive. I did not realise at the time that I was witnessing the illustration of a universal practice, usually referred to as the law of the jungle, but which applies mainly to the civilised world.
Children, the weakest link in our society, are raped, battered, shot, tortured and murdered, while their tormentors go unpunished. Pedophiles roam the globe in search of countries where their offense is viewed as tourist entertainment. Women are beaten and abused without recourse on a daily basis; the cruelty of parents and employers is often dismissed as disciplinary measures necessary in the home or the work place; wars are waged in which women and children are the main victims. We look the other way, or, at best, applaud the launching of well-meaning organisations expected somehow to ease our feelings of guilt at the havoc wrought on innocent and helpless people's lives. Aren't there international bodies taking care of young refugees, victims of rape or wars? Haven't we put together programmes of therapy that will bring closure to those who have somehow survived horrific tragedies? We have even invented special psychologists who are brought to the scene after the fact to help children who have lost their parents, and parents who have lost their children, cope with their bereavement. What else are we expected to do? "Life must go on," the media trumpets after major catastrophes, gruesome murders and bouts of genocide. This apparently gives us licence to carry on the business of the day, which more often than not involves oppressing yet more victims. Should we disgrace respectable heads of households or important businessmen who happen to be violent or partial to little boys or girls? No one civilised enough would dream of such aberrations.
One wonders how psychologists could assuage the pain of Palestinian parents whose sons have been maimed and killed for claiming their birthright, or explain away the death at the hand of neo-Nazi youths of six-year-old Joseph Kantelberg-Abdallah, lynched three years ago in the presence of 200 people in Sebnitz, a picturesque resort near the Czech border.
The Israelis claim that they shoot children in self-defence; Joseph -- whose only sin was to be half Arab -- was "beaten, tortured and thrown in the local swimming pool by about 50 youths, who then trampled him until he was dead," wrote Imre Karacs in The Independent on 28 November. A generation ago, the Nazis were targeting the Jews; now they want to do the same to the Arabs. But are the Germans a particularly cruel people? I think not, as I watch the Jews-turned-Israelis giving the Palestinian Arabs as much as they took from their torturers and more. The truth seems much simpler, and goes back to the jungle, from which we have not emerged regardless of our pretensions.
The police in Sebnitz declared that Joseph had drowned by accident and, finding no witnesses to contradict them, closed the case; the international community seems convinced that, in reparation for the crimes it once committed against them, it is kosher to give the Jews a land belonging to a people innocent of the Holocaust (does it hope to relieve its guilt by perpetrating another criminal act?). Do both the Sebnitz police and the international community imagine they are justified in their attitude simply because Joseph's parents and the Arabs are powerless and unable therefore to lash back? Let us not feel bad, however, for make-shift dressings will be provided: a make-believe peace process for the Palestinians to tell them they are really getting more than they deserve, and a meeting for Joseph mother's with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, expected no doubt to show her how wrong she is to attempt to bring her son's murderers to justice.
Victims, like little animals in the jungle, should accept their fate at the hands of their superiors with barely an occasional little squeak, just loud enough to allow the powerful and mighty to make a show of their humanitarian feelings. More would be intolerable. The important thing to remember is that life -- no matter how awful -- must go on.
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