world we live in today is experiencing an unprecedented political crisis for decades. This crisis is leaving profound impacts, with far-reaching consequences on people’s lives, security, and future. Until the end of the last century, politicians constituted at least a clear cornerstone of political debates and realities. In the global arena, forces with different or conflicting ideologies are competing, each striving to clarify their agenda and objectives in order to attract followers, supporters, and allies. Political figures and their credibility play a crucial role in this polarization, which is why parties have always strived to develop their cadres and meticulously study every aspect of their leaders’ personalities to ensure they surpass their rivals. Countries were often identified by the names, reputations, and presence of their leaders, who gained global recognition for their balanced stances, even among their adversaries.
Today, however, statesmen who are mindful of their legacy have disappeared from the political scene. These were individuals who cared not only about their status while holding high office, but also about how they would be remembered by future generations, considering that their legacy extends far beyond their short lives. Today, it has become difficult to count even a handful of true statesmen in the world. As for those who remain, they severely dishonor the positions they hold, the titles they bear, and the responsibilities entrusted to them. They have left the governed masses stunned by the enormity of what is happening, shocked by the strangeness of events, and utterly dismayed by the complete inaction or blatant neglect in addressing these situations in a manner that aligns with reason, logic, and the basic principles of human behavior that should guide people’s actions. All of this was painfully clear to me on the face of a Palestinian father pulling the remains of children from a school near al-Mawasi, which had been bombed by Israeli warplanes, turning the tender bodies of children into unrecognizable, nameless fragments. He held some of the remains and lifted others with his shattered body and hands, then looked aside and said, “What can we say? We have said everything, yet no one listens or sees. So, why should we say anything at all?” That is to say that words have lost their significance, effectiveness, and meaning because they fall on ears that do not hear and hearts that do not feel. And what is the stance of Western politicians toward such crimes against humanity? Their disgraceful position is to pump more money and weapons for the war criminals to kill more children under the pretext of self-defense.
One of the manifestations of this world, which can be described as a state of severe disarray where politics has lost its meaning and politicians have lost their status and credibility, is that politicians of Western industrialized countries have failed to condemn the killing of children whom God created in His image and endowed with His spirit. Moreover, after the killer has ravaged cities and capitals, perpetrated the most horrible massacres against innocents, and openly threatened to exterminate civilians, the leaders of these countries convene to express their fear of being unable to protect the killer from retaliation. At the same time, they release billions of dollars to facilitate the killer’s continued atrocities, provide them with internationally banned bombs to sustain their slaughter, and enable the torture and abuse of detainees in prisons worse than the Nazi and American prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. They shamelessly don’t hesitate to flood the media with noise and clamor about safeguarding the security of the killer.
Furthermore, most of these countries hold accountable those who sympathize with the victims, those who are outraged by the sight of such atrocities, and those who call for an end to them. Meanwhile, the killer is encouraged to eliminate whomever he wishes and continue his deliberate and calculated genocide with no deterrent or fear.
At the root of all this lies an ingrained racism in the literature, culture, and practices of Western countries, which have yet to overcome their colonial legacy that devalues the lives of non-Westerners compared to those of Westerners. Consequently, they denounce and hold accountable any Westerner who shows empathy with non-Western victims, as if these victims do not merit the same regard and dignity afforded to Westerners. Just as they only recognized the threat of Hitler after the Soviet Union entered the war and made immense sacrifices to counter him, today they have yet to realize that the very racism on which they base their calculations will eventually knock on their doors and bring them all the deadly consequences they thought they were shielded from. Racism has begun to rear its head in some of their countries, and when it fully unravels, its poisons will not be limited to migrants and people of color; it will become a plague from which no one will be spared.
As they continue to shirk their political, ethical, and international responsibilities, they ignite the flames of conflict through their brutal occupations of our countries and then ask their citizens to leave the region. They send warships, bombs, and funds to the perpetrators, provide them with endorsements and guarantees of security, and ensure they face no accountability for their actions. Then they urge their citizens to retreat to safe areas within their own countries, away from the fires they themselves have ignited, in which they have sided with terrorism, terrorists, occupiers, settlers, killers, and criminals. In this context, media voices that strive to convey the truth are being silenced and assassinated, so that their messages do not escape the realm of fire and leave no mark on the consciences of those who cling to their humanity and strive to express it despite all threats, extortion, and targeting.
Those who remain here, holding onto their principles and sacrificing their children and martyrs, while bowing on this sacred land and reaffirming their commitment to its sanctity, security, and defense, live by a set of values and ethics that are entirely disconnected from the practices of the West and its Zionist creations against them. They work for the legacy of future generations and for the continuity of the trust they have carried since their youth, believing that the justice of their cause will ultimately prevail against aggression and crime. How could it be otherwise, when this is their land, their history, and where they toil for the future of the remaining children?
Do these politicians not feel any shame as they urge their citizens to leave the lands where they have ignited a war? Are they not embarrassed by the gaze of the people; children, elders, and inhabitants, regarding the wrongs they have committed against them, only to retreat to their own safe havens, indifferent to what might happen outside? There is no doubt that the political crisis and particularly the leadership crisis currently faced by the West is the root of all the crises we are experiencing today, whether economic, ethical, or societal. The problem today is that the West, which is indeed grappling with a profound structural crisis, is bypassing and ignoring it, stubbornly refusing to confront it. Instead, it uses weapons, money, and terrorism to assert its power and dominance, supporting terrorism and terrorists and intimidating anyone who dares to defy its authority.
If we were to examine everything happening in our world today, from Gaza and Palestine to Venezuela, Colombia, countries of the African Sahel, the Maghreb, China Sea, and Ukraine, we would find that the root of these conflicts and wars lies in the desperate attempts of Western centrism to maintain its position of leadership, despite having lost all its political, ethical, and international credibility, and now relying only on its military superiority, possession of lethal weapons, and wealth, with a readiness to use all of these assets to preserve its continued dominance. However, history has repeatedly shown that empires cannot endure solely through wealth and military power. The moral, political, and societal decay of an empire is a clear precursor of its inevitable and imminent downfall.
