The World Demands an End to the Unipolar Order
In a landmark ruling handed down on Jan. 26, the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) found there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims that the Palestinian population needs protection from genocide. The Court thus issued six orders to Israel to prevent the commission of any genocidal acts in Gaza, and to enable the “provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance” to the civilian population there (cf. below). While the provisional demands do not explicitly provide for a ceasefire, Israel will not be able to carry out the orders of the Court and continue its military campaign at the same time.
The government of Algeria, later on the same day, requested that the UN Security Council be urgently convened on Jan. 31, to “give an enforceable form” to the decisions of the ICJ, which has no enforcement mechanism of its own. Those deliberations will likely lay bare, once again, the hypocrisy and double standards of the West, led by the United States and the United Kingdom. The world, in any case, owes South Africa a huge debt of gratitude for having had the moral courage to raise this issue before the World Court and to present the case so competently, with the support of most countries on the planet.
That said, the root of the problem is not Israel, but rather the infamous Anglo-American “rules-based order”, which has carried out and condoned acts of genocide more than once and of which the Netanyahu government is but a fanatic instrument. That dying order now stands indicted in the eyes of the world, and must be replaced.
This new reality has been increasingly recognized by the Global South, which is demanding its right to development and sovereignty. Developing countries are turning to institutions and mechanisms of their own, such as the BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative, free of the neo-colonialist dictates.
And it is also increasingly recognized by the populations in the trans-Atlantic area. Mass protests have become a daily occurrence in almost all European nations against established parties and policies. Farmers in most EU nations are mobilizing against the Green Deal and endless restrictions imposed by Brussels, in addition to unfair national measures (cf. below). In France, opposition to a new anti-immigration law, pushed by President Macron, drew 100,000 demonstrators into the streets on Jan. 21, while record numbers of Germans turned out on the same day, most of them expressing justified fear for the future, although the action was manipulated at the start by the government parties (cf. SAS 4/24).
As the campaign for the European elections in June heats up, many more protests and revolts can be expected. What is essential, to avoid having them hijacked by the financial oligarchy and degenerate into blind rage or despair, is to give them a positive direction. The optimal basis for that, both here and in the Global South, is provided in the Ten Principles promoted by the Schiller Institute (cf. SAS 48/23 and here).
