{"id":273623,"date":"2024-09-16T12:01:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T11:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=273623"},"modified":"2024-09-16T04:18:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T03:18:55","slug":"beyond-palestine-international-law-and-white-supremacy-a-personal-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/beyond-palestine-international-law-and-white-supremacy-a-personal-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Palestine, International Law and White Supremacy: A Personal Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_273624\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Al-Aqsa-Masjid-mosque-palestine-israel.webp\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-273624\" class=\"wp-image-273624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Al-Aqsa-Masjid-mosque-palestine-israel-1024x512.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Al-Aqsa-Masjid-mosque-palestine-israel-1024x512.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Al-Aqsa-Masjid-mosque-palestine-israel-300x150.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Al-Aqsa-Masjid-mosque-palestine-israel-768x384.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Al-Aqsa-Masjid-mosque-palestine-israel.webp 1300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-273624\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Al Aqsa Masjid (Dome of the Rock), Jerusalem, Palestine.<br \/>Photo: Muhamad Taufiq Bin Azmi, Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><em>Even if the issue is organically tied to you, if you offer a perspective that challenges the White Supremacist World\u2019s prevailing analyses and views, you would very likely find yourself swimming against the currents.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>12 Sep 2024 <\/em>&#8211; This interview of mine on my 9-days in Palestine was conducted by Ousman Noor, co-director of <a href=\"https:\/\/thecivilianagenda.org\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Civilian Agenda.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Burmese genocide scholar Dr. Maung Zarni interview after return from Israel &amp; Palestine\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/shIdmQvL1tM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Brother OUSMAN did a brilliant job of editing it down to 22 minutes from a very lengthy conversation we had. Thanks to him, it has made some educational impact in terms of understanding genocides as established processes or \u201cecosystems of methods of destruction of targeted population (s), under occupation\u201d. It has reached nearly one million accounts on Twitter on Ousman\u2019s twitter alone.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"swipebox no-underline\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9591 lazyautosizes lazyloaded\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"auto, 968px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1436w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-300x275.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-1024x938.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-768x703.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-1300x1190.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1300w\" alt=\"\" width=\"10006\" height=\"9163\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9591\" data-attachment-id=\"9591\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/forsea.co\/beyond-palestine-international-law-and-white-supremacy-a-personal-reflection\/zarni-and-ousman-noor-amman-jordan-6-september-2024\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1436,1315\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Zarni and Ousman Noor, Amman, Jordan, 6 September 2024\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Zarni and Ousman Noor, Amman, Jordan, 6 September 2024&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-300x275.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;fit=900%2C824&amp;ssl=1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1436w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-300x275.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-1024x938.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-768x703.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Zarni-and-Ousman-Noor-Amman-Jordan-6-September-2024-1300x1190.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1300w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"1436\" data-eio-rheight=\"1315\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-9591\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zarni and Ousman Noor, Amman, Jordan, 6 September 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In this I strove to go beyond the deeply impoverished legal definition of genocide, which left out the spirit, richness and depth of Raphael Lemkin\u2019s genius conception of genocide, the (intentional) destruction of \u201cnations\/populations under occupation\u201d, in whole or in substantial part.<\/p>\n<p>As a young law student at the university in the then Polish city of Lwow (now Lviv in Ukraine, thanks to Stalin snatching a piece of land into the then USSR post-WWII), Raphael Lemkin developed his ideas about population destruction as a crime at least a decade before the Nazi-genocide began. He was obsessed with the destruction of identity-based populations, all throughout different historical eras, from the Mongolian invasion of Krakow (where he briefly studied) to the Christian convert-persecution in Nagasaki region by the Samurai to the Armenian genocide.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8622\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"swipebox no-underline\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8622 lazyautosizes lazyloaded\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"auto, 968px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-300x240.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-1024x817.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-768x613.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=180&amp;ssl=1 180w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=540&amp;ssl=1 540w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=900&amp;ssl=1 900w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"958\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8622\" data-attachment-id=\"8622\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/forsea.co\/one-holocaust-does-not-justify-another-britains-national-march-for-palestine-and-the-worlds-moral-majority\/the-national-march-for-palestine-forsea-9\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,958\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"The National March for Palestine FORSEA 9\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;A memorial plaque on the building where Raphael Lemkin, \u201cfather of the term genocide\u201d, lived as a student in the then Polish city in the 1920\u2019s. FORSEA Co-founder and author paying homage to this great legal mind. \u00a0Photo: Maung Zarni&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-300x240.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;fit=900%2C718&amp;ssl=1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-300x240.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-1024x817.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9-768x613.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=180&amp;ssl=1 180w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=540&amp;ssl=1 540w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/The-National-March-for-Palestine-FORSEA-9.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=900&amp;ssl=1 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"1200\" data-eio-rheight=\"958\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-8622\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial plaque on the building where Raphael Lemkin, \u201cfather of the term genocide\u201d, lived as a student in the then Polish city in the 1920\u2019s. FORSEA Co-founder and author paying homage to this great legal mind. \u00a0Photo: Maung Zarni<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>My reason for breaking with the established wisdom on the predominantly juridical approach to genocide as a legal crime (since 1948) is twofold: first, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/instruments-mechanisms\/instruments\/convention-prevention-and-punishment-crime-genocide\" >the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide<\/a> is un-enforceable. For the United Nations\u2019s judicial organs \u2013 namely the principal or original International Court of Justice (ICJ) (for member states) and the additional court The International Criminal Court (ICC) \u2013 lack any law enforcing mechanisms; and second, the learned debates on what constitutes genocide is stupidly fixated by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0ZS2u1vEXfq7Ma7llG2nEs\" >the question of \u201csingle intent\u201d<\/a> while the essence of genocide is reduced to 5- disconnected clusters of \u201cacts\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Here is The Civilian Agenda\u2019s original Twitter post: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ousmannoor\/status\/1832506169715212540?t=Md5dBxllw-HdENkSJklx6Q&amp;s=19\" >https:\/\/x.com\/ousmannoor\/status\/1832506169715212540?t=Md5dBxllw-HdENkSJklx6Q&amp;s=19<\/a>\u00a0There have also been cross-postings on multiple social platforms, including Instagram, Thread, YouTube etc.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the big influencers on Palestine including Lowkey, a renowned British musician, helped spread the interview while the brave UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories of Palestine Francesca Albanese has urged her followers, \u201cMUST WATCH\u201d. Here is Francesca Albanese\u2019s post: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FranceskAlbs\/status\/1832733158904648064?t=oTX6Vr9FE2bSlYgUeaBqJw&amp;s=19\" >https:\/\/x.com\/FranceskAlbs\/status\/1832733158904648064?t=oTX6Vr9FE2bSlYgUeaBqJw&amp;s=19<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Beyond \u201cego\u201d or \u201cbeing pleased with myself\u201d, and making a small contribution to the Palestinian liberation struggle \u2013 which began decades before I was born, and which continues to be resolute and strong \u2013 I am pleased with my interview\u2019s global cyberspace reception for a simple reason: it broke the invisible barrier of the enveloping ideology of \u201cWhite Supremacy\u201d when it comes to individuals from formerly colonized world (or so-called Global South), \u201cspeaking out of turn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the last 36 years during which I began my educational and professional career in the US and subsequently in the UK, I have confronted with this pervasive view: that a Burmese scholar or activist or, in my case, scholar-activist (a scholar pursuing what Marx called \u201cpraxis\u201d, applying one\u2019s knowledge to improve human conditions) is deemed qualified \u2013 and commonly expected \u2013 to speak only on the Burma issues to which he or she is \u201cbiologically\u201d or \u201cpersonally tied\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=2560&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"swipebox no-underline\" title=\"\"  data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-9592 lazyautosizes lazyloaded\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-207x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"auto, 330px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-207x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 207w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-708x1024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 708w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-768x1112.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-1061x1536.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1061w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-1300x1882.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-300x434.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1415w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=540&amp;ssl=1 540w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=900&amp;ssl=1 900w\" alt=\"\" width=\"330\" height=\"478\" data-attachment-id=\"9592\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/forsea.co\/beyond-palestine-international-law-and-white-supremacy-a-personal-reflection\/my-palestine-an-impossible-exile\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1415,2048\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"My Palestine An Impossible Exile\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-207x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-708x1024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-207x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-207x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 207w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-708x1024.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 708w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-768x1112.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-1061x1536.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1061w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-1300x1882.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile-300x434.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 1415w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=540&amp;ssl=1 540w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/My-Palestine-An-Impossible-Exile.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=900&amp;ssl=1 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"207\" data-eio-rheight=\"300\" \/><\/a>Even if the issue is organically tied to you, if you offer a perspective that challenges the White Supremacist World\u2019s prevailing analyses and views, you would very likely find yourself swimming against the currents. That is something my dear Palestinian friend <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KEV45KTBIlI\" >Nada Tarbush<\/a>\u2019s late father Mohammmad Tarbush DPhi, (Oxon\/Oxford) recorded with palpable frustrations and pain in his posthumously published memoir,\u00a0 <em>My Palestine: An Impossible Exile, The more things change, the more they stay the same (Hause, 2024)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The minute I open my mouth, or pen an article, on any non-Burma issues, the White Supremacy World of think tanks, universities, governments, mass media outlets etc \u2013 all those ideological apparatuses \u2013 react with characteristic incredulity (disbelief).<\/p>\n<p>The trolls I have over the years received whenever I speak publicly on, say, American Fascism, British feudalism etc. are typically in the vein of \u201cStick with Burma\u201d, a variation of \u201cGo back to where you came from\u201d or \u201cwhat country are you <em>really <\/em>from?\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Never mind that this ideological, cultural, societal and institutional White Supremacist world \u2013 of power, money, prestige, standing and worldwide influence \u2013 has produced literally thousands of white-skinned experts on virtually any subject, including Burma or Myanmar Studies, that can be studied under the sun.<\/p>\n<p>That is why, I made a very self-conscious \u2013 and income-wise risky \u2013 decision <em>not<\/em> to be employed by or associated with any Western (imperialist) Ivory Tower, when I returned from Malaysia in 2014 where my family and I were living in a safehouse, under the government\u2019s protection. (As a lone voice crying \u201cgenocide\u201d when I realized my own Buddhist country was perpetrating a textbook genocide, in the disguise first of \u201ccommunal violence\u201d and subsequently of \u201cant-terrorism\u201d operations, I was a target of death threats and vilification by both the Burmese state and society.<\/p>\n<p>After some serious consideration, I politely declined the offer of a fellowship from the London School of Economics. And I succeeded in killing, once and for all, my slave-like temptation to even mention Oxford or Harvard as institutions which I was formerly affiliated.<\/p>\n<p>As a Fanon-ite, I am pleased to fight this lifelong personal war against all forms of manifestations of White Supremacist Colonialism, which is alive and kicking. Palestine is but one of the living examples where pervasive White Supremacist racism operates via American-Israeli joint genocide, also aided by former serial genocide offenders (including Canada, Australia and above all Germany).<\/p>\n<p>Against my own immediate professional interests, I reclaim my agency to decide what I wish to specialise in, as opposed to what tiny shithole in which I am expected to function, in this immoral, conscienceless world run by White Supremacists of all shades and forms.<\/p>\n<p>The oppressed and the subjugated have no choice but to fight on multiple fronts, concurrently and in their daily life, not only for their political liberation but also for their own intrinsic worth, dignity and intellectual independence.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"swipebox no-underline\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9593 lazyautosizes lazyloaded\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"auto, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance-198x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 198w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance-300x455.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=540&amp;ssl=1 540w\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"909\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9593\" data-attachment-id=\"9593\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/forsea.co\/beyond-palestine-international-law-and-white-supremacy-a-personal-reflection\/culture-and-resistance\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"600,909\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Culture and resistance\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The late Edward Said\u2019s grounded scholarship had left a paradigm-shifting intellectual-ideological legacy that has inspired so many of us in liberation struggles to look beyond our immediate concerns, such as our countries of origin.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance-198x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance-198x300.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 198w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance-300x455.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/eg9dn5hbx3e.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Culture-and-resistance.jpg?strip=all&amp;lossy=1&amp;w=540&amp;ssl=1 540w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-eio-rwidth=\"600\" data-eio-rheight=\"909\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-9593\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The late Edward Said\u2019s grounded scholarship had left a paradigm-shifting intellectual-ideological legacy that has inspired so many of us in liberation struggles to look beyond our immediate concerns, such as our countries of origin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The late Edward Said, a friend of Mohamammad Tarbush, would agree.<\/p>\n<p>Some 30 years ago as a youngish student at my alma mater at the University of Wisconsin -Madison, I heard Edward Said, the late renowned Palestinian thinker and revolutionary deliver his public lecture which shredded Samuel Huntington\u2019s bogus \u201cclash of civilization\u201d thesis. At the same event, and to my deep disgust, I also watched a group of Zionist American students heckling Professor Said, calling the latter \u201ca terrorist\u201d during the Q and A.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, all colonizing cultures, mindsets, systems and verbal articulations are typically and inherently Orwellian: the commonly parasitic settler colonialist European offshoots \u2013 most specifically the United States \u2013 billed themselves as \u201cthe (biblical) City upon the Hill,\u201d just as all European colonizers framed their wholesale loot, plunder, mass murder, and rape of the \u201cpeoples without history\u201d as \u201cCivilizing Mission\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Or contemporaneously, we are often tortured by the White Supremacist media\u2019s Goebbels-esque mantra of \u201cIsrael is the only democracy\u201d in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>My own historian teacher at Madison, the late Robert L. Koehl, rightly observed how clever the Nazis were in that they resorted to all types of euphemisms to refer to their darkest of crimes \u2013 \u201cprotective custody\u201d (ghettoization of the Jews), \u201cnatural causes\u201d (the Final Solution\u2019s articulation of mass-murder of inmates via diseases, as a matter of design), \u201cliquidation\u201d (mass extermination), etc.<\/p>\n<p>Let me repeat my long-standing observation: White Supremacist Colonialisms and the Nazi Genocidal Racism differ only in degree, not in kind. They both seek to subjugate, denigrate, dismiss, colonize and variously destroy you, your self-worth, and your lot.<\/p>\n<p>The more things change, the more they stay the same.<\/p>\n<p><em>___________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Maung-Zarni.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-228999\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Maung-Zarni-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> A Buddhist humanist from Burma (Myanmar), Maung Zarni, nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, is a member of the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/\" >TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a><em>, former Visiting Lecturer with Harvard Medical School, specializing in racism and violence in Burma and Sri Lanka, and Non-resident Scholar in Genocide Studies with Documentation Center \u2013 Cambodia.\u00a0Zarni is the co-founder of <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/forsea.co\/\" >FORSEA<\/a><em>, a grass-roots organization of Southeast Asian human rights defenders, coordinator for Strategic Affairs for <\/em>Free Rohingya Coalition,<em> and an adviser to the <\/em>European Centre for the Study of Extremism<em>, Cambridge<strong>. <\/strong>Zarni holds a PhD (U Wisconsin at Madison) and a MA (U California), and has held various teaching, research and visiting fellowships at the universities in Asia, Europe and USA including Oxford, LSE, UCL Institute of Education, National-Louis, Malaya, and Brunei. He is the recipient of the &#8220;Cultivation of Harmony&#8221; award from the Parliament of the World&#8217;s Religions (2015). His analyses have appeared in leading newspapers including the <\/em>New York Times, The Guardian <em>and<\/em> the Times<em>. Among his academic publications on Rohingya genocide are <\/em>The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar\u2019s Rohingyas<em> (Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal), <\/em>An Evolution of Rohingya Persecution in Myanmar: From Strategic Embrace to Genocide<em>, (Middle East Institute, American University), and <\/em>Myanmar\u2019s State-directed Persecution of Rohingyas and Other Muslims<em> (Brown World Affairs Journal). He co-authored, with Natalie Brinham, <\/em>Essays on Myanmar Genocide.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/forsea.co\/beyond-palestine-international-law-and-white-supremacy-a-personal-reflection\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 forsea.co<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><i><b>Join the<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><i><b> <\/b><\/i><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><i><b>BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><i><b>campaign<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> to protest the Israeli barbaric <\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>genocide<\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> in Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the many thousands of Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up and tortured in Israeli prisons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>DON&#8217;T BUY<\/b><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/b><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>BARCODE<\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b> STARTS WITH<\/b><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-large;\"><b>729<\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\">, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. <\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-large;\"><b>7 2 9:<\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b> BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE! <\/b><\/span><\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>12 Sep 2024 &#8211; Even if the issue is organically tied to you, if you offer a perspective that challenges the White Supremacist World\u2019s prevailing analyses and views, you would very likely find yourself swimming against the currents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":259910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[87,865,88,3120,1417,427,2497,103,880,70,1025,498,886],"class_list":["post-273623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-jewish-settlers","tag-maung-zarni","tag-palestine","tag-palestinians","tag-racism","tag-state-terrorism","tag-usa","tag-west-bank","tag-white-supremacy","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273625,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273623\/revisions\/273625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}