We may say "never again" so why do we still have war and genocide?

By Pat Hackett 

Democracy and what is going wrong?

In the UK and other countries in the West it has been stated that each of us have an equal say in the running of our countries because we can all vote and every vote is equally counted and yet we seem unable to play a meaningful path in preventing war and destruction or environmental damage across the world.

An economic system where we have a mix of regulations and laissez-faire is regarded aa sensible balance however I believe that our so-called democracy is more of an Oligarchy in which the most ruthless wield the most influence. The Oligarchs corrupt our politicians and media. The media influence society and in a vicious cycle society then tends to select leaders who are the likeliest to be corrupted. This I believe results in a consumerist and celebrity led society where self interest is encouraged.

How often do we see governmental economic budgets being evaluated by asking people "What's in it for you?" or "what will it do for economic growth?"

The laissez-faire aspects of our economy result in a laissez-faire whereby those constrained the least by morality have the biggest influence to the extent that it is only the powerful who get a say.

Unless we have a humanitarian revolution to change this the situation will only get worse.

The situation in Palestine exemplifies these claims.

Israel is carrying out a genocide, it has been an Apartheid regime with illegal Settlers and Western countries have enabled this for decades. The civilian population of the Western countries are only slowly becoming aware of this, and this is only because of responsible social media and global grassroot global campaigns.

Many people now realise that that it is beyond all reasonable doubt that Israel has created an Apartheid state in Palestine with illegal Settlers being supported by both the Israeli government and the IDF in ethnic cleansing over decades of time. International legal and humanitarian organisations around the world also describe Israeli's actions now as Genocide.

However when looking at the support given to Israel by politicians in the UK and other Western countries and the coverage from the main stream media, in particular the BBC, then it is must also be concluded that it is beyond all reasonable doubt that the government and the BBC must be being influenced by those who support the Israeli actions for ulterior motives. Incompetence or indifference alone cannot explain this support and hence the Israeli/Palestine issue exemplifies that our system is more that of an oligarchy than an effective democracy and has been so for quite some considerable time. So the question that must be asked is how has this come about?

Those with humanitarian values or those who practice the core values of the main religions of today rightly condemn the acts of aggression leading to war or apartheid and genocide.

After the holocaust of the Jews we said "Never again"  but sadly genocide denial existed then and it exists today. 

The Jews who were so brutally persecuted could not defend themselves but this was not defending themselves from Christianity and today the Palestinians cannot defend themselves but this is not defending themselves against Judaism.

While religious fundamentalism may be used as an excuse by the aggressors, or be used as the blame by other countries deflecting their involvement, or to divide and conquer, the real causes in general lie elsewhere:-

1. The general public are often not fully aware of their countries involvement.

2. Even in countries that are considered to be democratic, oligarchs, with extreme wealth in countries with great inequality, have huge influence on the elections, promotions and actions of the politicians and Media.

3. These oligarchs have an insatiable desire for more wealth and influence. The influence exerted creates a vicious circle where it inevitably results in the more ruthless Oligarchs having the biggest influence either directly or by corruption.

4. The oligarchs have persuaded the politicians, Media and public that we need constant growth in the economy. This is indiscriminate growth regardless of the consequences to the lives and the environment. This infinite growth directly increases their wealth but more and more requires exploitation of other people's resources. In the short term this maintains resources while boosting the massive consumption and sale of military equipment before this ultimately causes societies to collapse through destruction by war and of the environment.

It is not recession that we need fear but rather the irrational attempt to have infinite indiscriminate growth.

5. To prolong infinite growth before it's inevitable collapse, if not challenged and stopped, the oligarchs will promote the myth that society will be successful if we all pursue our own selfish interests as exemplified by the obsession or adulation of celebrities. This not only helps people to work more only to consume more than they need but also makes it more likely to distract as in point 1 above. It also is a useful tool in enabling corruption as in point 2 above by exploiting careerism.

 To prevent the cycle of war and destruction I would argue that we have to realize the flaws, in the economic fundementalism as expressed in the economic myths of consumerism and self interest of Laissez-faire (points 4 and 5 above), in any "system change" that follows. These flaws lead to vast inequality with a small number of people having vast wealth and influence.

A corrupt system will never self regulate. To change the system for the long term we need more and more people to undermine the flawed political and economic system, otherwise we will not stop the cycles of war and environmental destruction. This may be achieved by different approaches working in parallel to achieve a peaceful world with humanitarian values.

Continued:-

Never again must be never again for everyone.

April 26 2025