<<the "moral problem" is who we choose as objects of sympathy. who
are the victims of "history"?>>
I would state this a little differently. The lesson to be learned from
human suffering is not to make a hierarchy of human suffering. Otherwise
we replicate the strategy of the Holocaust industry itself where it has
become fashionable to place the sufferings of one group as being so
greater than anyone else's that the term genocide belongs to a category
of one, and only one, peoples of the world. Carrying the honors to
such a title can be a heavy burden to other peoples.
I find myself, as an Arab American, focusing on one topic, and only
one, as though all that mattered in the world is the suffering of one people
in the world. Maybe it is political opportunism on my part, probably so.
The anger I feel living in a country that so mischievously misrepresents
the issue of Palestine, in such a cruel and cowardly way, leads
sometimes to my own obsession with a single topic. After many years
of learning about capitalism, with the knowledge of other peoples history,
I cling to only one issue. Why?
African Americans, the Jews, Native Americans, Palestinians,
Vietnamese, Kurds, the working classes, peasants, women . . . all have
suffered, admittedly some more than others. The thing to learn from
human suffering is not to use any one given suffering against the suffering
of others. Most of all, we should never use it as a political spectacle,
as a tool to silence the voices of other sufferings, especially those we
oppress ourselves. I'm not speaking here of only Zionists who use
Jewish suffering to silence Palestinians, but also of "Arab" nationalists
silencing the Nawal Sadawis, the "Kuwaities" and "Jordanians" oppressing
Sri Lankian servants . . .
The problem with trying to figure out who deserves our sympathy is
that it leads to absurdities, at times becoming oppressive to other
peoples sufferings. The way the Holocaust is used by Zionists today
is that by giving themselves the highest award of the most victimized
peoples of the world has allowed them the luxury to victimize others.
So let us not make an inventory, listing who is deserving and who is
not, for in the end it will lead to another victim industry, to be
appropriated
for causes unintended.