A call towards rehumanisation must make us think deeply about protecting childhoods
In Palestine and everywhere else in the world
A young girl, around 10 years old, sat in the row ahead of me on a flight earlier this week. She was seated between her parents, and from the crevice between the seats, I could see that she was enjoying her meal and watching Tom&Jerry cartoons. I couldn’t help myself from watching some of those episode scenes because it reminded me of the fun I had watching them when I was a kid. In some of the heaviest moments, going to childhood has offered me solace and comfort.
Israel military’s ongoing onslaught on the Palestinians, especially upon the children, has shattered the myth of humanity that we as a collective world believed to have held on to. The Israeli bombardment has led to deaths of thousands of Palestinian children and hundreds other injured and traumatised for rest of their lives. A few days ago, Palestinian children held a press conference at the Al-Shifa Hospital, asking the world leaders to stop the assault on Gaza. Children held a press conference, let this sink. A child whose first language is not English, read out from a piece of paper, “We want to live, we want peace, we want judgement for the killers of children. We want shelter, food and education, and we want to live as the other children live.”
And despite that, leading Global North world leaders have refused to call for a ceasefire. They have let the casualty numbers to rise, they have witnessed the cries and pleas of countless Palestinians and yet occupying forces show no sign of ending their onslaught.
What does this kind of humanitarian catastrophe indicate about the human condition? What does it implore us to look into? Amongst other things, it really shows how desensitised have we become as a collective.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, addressed the Australian press earlier this week and noted, “If in 75 years of time, the international community has still to realise what the Nakba is, here is what it is. Televised under our watch. The current reality epitomises how the international community has so epically failed to promote peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis premised upon international law...” In the ongoing Palestinian tragedy, more than 4,000 children have lost their lives and countless of them have been “‘unchilded’ from birth” as Albanese put it in her statement at the 78th session at the UN General Assembly.
As I sit with these realities, I cannot help but grapple with how deep does this dehumanisation go? To what extent have we been desensitised to the loss of children’s lives, dreams and hopes? How helpless do we think we are when we either stay quiet or feel distanced from this genocidal violence? And how powerful do settler-colonial powers think they are as they continue or continue to enable this massacre in front of the whole world?
We all once were children. We all understand how much a loving and safe childhood can positively influence our lives. Most of us go back to our childhoods when we want to be comforted, either by looking at photographs, having comfort foods that our parents / grandparents made for us, or rekindle relationships from that time.
Childhood is freedom. It is our gateway to look at the world without ego. It offers us respite and also resets us when needed.
To rob children of their childhood is an unforgettable betrayal to humanity. And we are witnessing that happening to thousands of children in Gaza. A few weeks ago, a young Palestinian boy was being interviewed by a journalist in Gaza and as he as describing the anxiety of living under the bombardment, loud noises and explosions took place as he ran to sought shelter. Since then, I have often wondered how will that child heal himself from the trauma of living through the current bombardment. The story of 13-year old Hala Abu Sa’da made me weep, who died along with her sibling and mother, due to the Israeli bombardment. Hala’s last recorded video was of her singing about the sun, and wondering why she had to be in a class while the world outside was so inviting. This is what children should be doing - looking up and thinking about the beauty of skies, not fearing missiles and bombs being dropped on them.
“In an attempt to rehumanizing the narrative of the discourse I devoted my last request to children because over an above the sterility of numbers I keep on reminding everyone…half of the Palestinian population under Marshal rule (law) is made of children. And no one has been victimised by Israel’s settler colonial rule more than Palestinian children throughout generations. While all Palestinians across the Palestinian Territory have been rendered vulnerable, it is the Palestinian children who are most disproportionately impacted, tormented beyond what their tender age can bear,” Albanese highlighted in her recent press conference with the Australian media.
Can we imagine what unchilding looks like for someone whose seen bombs being dropped on their homes and family members crushed under rubble? Children's innocence is a reminder for adults to live freely, to feel awed by a soap bubble like it’s the biggest wonder of one’s life. A child’s fervent giggle can catalyse joy in an entire room. “…Children are children, and today’s children are tomorrow’s adults. The necessity of reclaiming a more humane narrative is categorically imperative, both, to protect them and the society they will soon be part of,” Albanese added in her address.
While we raise hell to call for a ceasefire, we must let this horror rage hell within us. Our collective soul must weep at the horrors being committed in Gaza, and one of the many things we must do to support and work towards Palestinian solidarity is to rehumanise, to resensitise ourselves. We must promise ourselves that we hold childhood sacrosanct, and in doing so, we never, ever let children anywhere in the world, face such horrors. And when we protect childhoods, we protect each other.
Rehumanisation should deepen our sensibility and sensitivity towards the most vulnerable amongst us and the most vulnerable parts within us.
A friend living in the United States said the other day, “Wars do not help Americans, they help America,” but I would go on to add that they in fact worsen the situation for Americans and people anywhere that do not feel shaken to their core. When people, or parts of our minds are desensitised to the horrors then it will take them longer to be beholden by the human condition. A cruel, mind over heart way of life, cannot save a soul. We can land on Mars and send exploratory missions outside solar system, but we cannot survive without humanising the world we live in. To be sensitised is the essence of being alive, and to be rehumanised is perhaps the path to it.
Free Palestine. Demand a ceasefire and end to occupation. Do your bit. Do not be a bystander.
Mariyam Haider is an independent writer-researcher, producer & host of Main Bhi Muslim podcast, and spoken word artist creating works on feminism, culture and society. Her writing has appeared in Scroll, Kontinentalist, Asian Review of Books, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, AWARE, Livemint, Mekong Review, among others. You can follow Mariyam’s other work on Instagram or LinkedIn.
References:
Palestinian children plead for protection in Gaza press conference (Al Jazeera English, YouTube, 8 Nov, 2023)
IN FULL: UN Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories addresses Press Club (ABC News Australia YouTube, 14 Nov, 2023)
Statement by Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, delivered at the 78th Session of the General Assembly (UNHRC, 24 Oct, 2023)
13-year-old girl who wanted to be a singer killed in Gaza (Al Jazeera English, YouTube, 17 Oct, 2023)
Cover image credit to Slow Factory (Instagram, 2023)
A few years ago, I was researching about the refugee crisis for work, and I remember reading/finding out about the Syrian children. Those who were living through the horrors in their country, fleeing it, or living in refugee camps were being called the ‘lost generation’. I wondered then, will we be able to blame them if they grow up filled with anger and a desire for revenge?
Since then and given what’s happening now, I think of all the children who live through circumstances that are so horrific. Do we forget, these will be the immensely, immensely traumatised adults of tomorrow, and look how many of them will there be.
I never thought, I’d be able to see photos of dead children but here we are, and what’s worse is, I worry the repeated exposure might be desensitising us.
You’re right, we need to prioritise childhood as sacrosanct again. We need to be very vigilant and try as best we can to protect their futures. Speaking up is a reminder for us and we need this reminder, again and again.
Jazak’Allah khair, Mariyam.
A letter from Maram Humaid to her son and nephew -
A letter to my baby in Gaza: I’m sorry, I dreamt of a better future https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/18/letter-to-my-baby-in-gaza-im-sorry-i-dreamt-of-a-better-future