“Obscenity is a moral concept in the verbal arsenal of the Establishment,” Herbert Marcuse wrote. “Obscene is not the picture of a naked woman but that of a fully clad general who exposes his medals rewarded in a war of aggression.”
On November 17, the world witnessed the greatest display of such obscenity at the very institution meant to restrain it. The UN Security Council opened a new chapter in colonial history by rewarding the aggressor and punishing the already punished-the wretched of the earth fighting for a freedom supposedly guaranteed by the UN Charter.
Many dreams were shattered that day. Stark reality stared humanity in the face; humanity, ashamed, covered its own. It was a moment of silence and lamentation as the UN surrendered its moral authority to an oppressed nation’s persecutors and empowered a narcissistic president who behaves like a Pharaoh and acts like a Nero.
The right of self-defence, the Two-State Solution, and the creation of a Palestinian state-all recognised by the UN-were tossed aside to appease an apartheid, genocidal, borderless entity. The day exposed the illusion that a parallel world order was emerging. Many believed BRICS Plus would offer alternative leadership. Instead, both China and Russia abstained from their responsibility to defend an indigenous people. Their paralysis revived memories of the “Trail of Tears,” when Andrew Jackson forced thousands of Indigenous Americans off their land. Capitalist expansion demanded Indigenous dispossession to enlarge territory-Lebensraum, a concept Hitler later borrowed-and to expand slave labour for American agriculture and industry. Russia, the diminished remnant of the Soviet Union, refused to veto a neo-colonial project that promises to enrich Trump’s circle, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, recipient of billions from the Saudis. Corruption is not confined to underdeveloped countries; many of them remain underdeveloped precisely because of Western expropriation. “The West,” Fanon reminds us, “is the creation of the East,” built on the pillage of Eastern resources-a process still underway. Russians remain Europeans whether Europe admits it or not. Rosa Luxemburg wrote: “In Russia, questions are posed but not answered.” Under Putin, Russia resembles a country ruled by a modern Czar, not a successor to revolutionary internationalism.
Clara Zetkin warned that barbarism triumphs when the world proletariat fails to bring socialism into existence. Her warning has proven painfully relevant.
Russia’s capitalism seeks concessions from the US, but Trump cannot secure them, either by removing sanctions or by ending the war of attrition in Ukraine. Both countries may bleed until Ukraine is wiped from the world map. This marks Russia’s second betrayal of the Arab cause. The first was Syria, where Russia hindered aid meant for Assad and even targeted Hezbollah, one of his supporters. And lest we forget, it was Stalin who helped establish the Jewish state. His veto could have crushed the project before birth, yet now Putin labours to preserve it. “The evil that men do,” Shakespeare said, “lives after them.” Czechoslovakia, too, had armed Zionist militias that carried out the Nakba in 1948. Luxemburg warned us: “The whole mass of the people must take part in it; otherwise socialism will be decreed from behind a few official desks.” We Marxists must answer not only for Palestine but also for Greece, where, after World War II, the Soviet Union withdrew support as three-quarters of the country fell under communist control, allowing Britain to invade and cause destruction greater than that wrought by the Nazis. Lenin, the foremost advocate of national self-determination, did not live to witness these betrayals. Had he lived, such catastrophes would have been unthinkable. No amount of Marxist penance can now restore Palestine’s liberation. Today, Greece functions as an Israeli colony, with Zionist-controlled zones inaccessible to Greek citizens and its air force effectively subordinated to Israel. Cyprus shares a similar history. Dominating Cyprus is essential for any imperial design over West Asia.
China fares no better. “Capitalism with Chinese characteristics” seeks to preserve the global capitalist order, ensuring that the abundant capital China has accumulated can expand peacefully. The Belt and Road Initiative aims not at anti-imperialist liberation but at connecting Chinese capital to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Chinese socialism has become Chinese nationalism. The China of Mao Tse-Tung, which supported oppressed peoples worldwide, has disappeared from history, remembered only for the Cultural Revolution-not for its international solidarity. “In pure Marxism,” Gramsci wrote, “men taken as a mass obey economic necessity and not their emotions. Politics is emotion; patriotism is emotion but history is driven by material causes.” All countries that voted-or abstained-acted according to this logic of economic self-preservation. Among Muslim-majority states on the Security Council, only Algeria possessed a legacy of armed struggle against colonisers. Algeria knows how liberation is won; it remembers France’s cold-blooded slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Algerians. When the early UN cried “no more blood,” French colonial minister Robert Lacoste replied: “The best way is to ensure there remains no blood to shed.” One wonders what weight of history lay on Algeria’s representative when he refused to endorse Trump’s plan to colonise Palestine forever.
Clara Zetkin warned that barbarism triumphs when the world proletariat fails to bring socialism into existence. Her warning has proven painfully relevant. Craig Mokhiber, former director at the UN Human Rights Office, called the vote a “day of shame,” accusing governments of kneeling before the US Empire and its violent Israeli client. He denounced the resolution as a blatant violation of international law.
By stripping Palestinians of the right to self-determination and self-defence, the UN has exposed the illegitimacy of its own structure. No one expects justice from an institution in which five nations control the fate of the world through veto power. These “more equal among equals” have tolled the UN’s death knell. Lenin once called the League of Nations a “thieves’ kitchen”; the UN is not far removed. Even the General Assembly, dominated by the Global South, failed to take action. They could have imposed financial and diplomatic boycotts. Instead, the only courageous stand came from Colombia. President Gustavo Petro stood firm inside the house of imperialism, waving the Palestinian flag and shaming the world. Sometimes one man is enough to expose the moral emptiness of an entire system. What lies ahead? Terror and international complicity did not break the Vietnamese, Algerian, or South African struggles. Palestine, abandoned by the Global South, will be no exception. The US Empire now faces its own internal contradictions and approaching crisis. American capitalism is not merely seeking military-industrial profit; it is driven by a desperate need to dispossess nations to fuel further accumulation. With Palestine “handled,” attention turns to Venezuela. An aerial assault could occur at any moment. María Corina Machado, a US-backed figure, has prepared a so-called “freedom manifesto”-in reality a document of surrender, selling Venezuelan resources to Washington. Empires in decline seek war to mask weakness. Russia and China watch quietly, knowing the US risks entanglement in another prolonged guerrilla conflict that may hasten its downfall. How Palestinian resistance will continue is unclear. They must confront not only Israel but the occupying forces of foreign nations. Who will send troops to the graveyard? The UK has refused. Israel has pre-emptively rejected Turkish involvement. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have no real armies. The buck, as always, stops with the imperial guardians of the region. The recent arrival of a “half-bred monarch,” eager to please the West, reveals this consensus clearly. The same forces once assisted the Jordanian king during “Black September.” The Trump doctrine is riddled with contradictions; it will inevitably crack. Once again, it falls to the people of the world to stand against fascism-not only in Palestine but in the streets of global capitals.
The writer is an Australian-based academic and has authored books on socialism and history. His Latest Work: “God’s Republic Making & Unmaking of Israel & Pakistan” is available in Pakistan & on Amazon.com. He can be reached at saulatnagi @hotmail.com