Remarks similar to these were delivered by MAPA board member Jeff Klein at a worldwide vigil for Pakistani victims of terror, January 16, in Copley Square.
All lives matter but, in societies like ours where the color line still rules, some lives matter more than others. In the US, as in France, the killing of white folks – especially if at the hands of black or brown people – carries much more impact in the mainstream media and the public consciousness. That’s why the recent slaughter of possibly thousands in Nigeria, the killing of 132 schoolchildren in Pakistan last month – not to mention 2300 mostly civilians in Gaza last summer – barely make an impression or soon disappear from the press. The same racialized view of “terrorism” obliterates from memory the 2011 murder of 77 Norwegians by Anders Breivik, a man who claimed he was a “100% Christian” acting out of hatred for Islam and support for Israel. That’s also why it takes organized protest and a Black Lives Matter movement to draw attention to the hundreds (thousands?) of US African-Americans killed by the police.
As many as one million people have died in US/NATO wars in the Middle East since 1990. When former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked about the 500,000 children who may have perished from a decade-long US blockade of Iraq – before the 2003 invasion – her opinion was that “the price was worth it.”
The killing of staffers at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo was horrific – and even more so the targeting of Jews ata Paris grocery store – and is not to be excused or justified in any way. But we do ourselves and the victims no good by refusing to look at the context. People of North African origin live in France as a consequence of 100 years of colonialism, and “Muslim” in this context remains a highly racialized concept. (In colonial Algeria non-Muslims, including indigenous Jews, were granted French citizenship; “Muslim” waslegalized as a racial category). A study a few years back indicated that French Muslims, who make up 8-10% of the population, constituted 60-70% of the prison inmates. Sound familiar? Blaming “Jews” for the murderous policies against Palestinians and other Arabs is delusional, but the Zionist assertion that all Jews have their true home in Israel – and the reciprocal acceptance by many – contributes to this derangement.