Gaza Is Liberating the World — Even Before It’s Fully Liberated
I’ve written many times about the universal nature of the battle in Gaza—how it transcends the Palestinian struggle for national liberation, emancipation, and freedom. It is a confrontation between two visions for humanity: one rooted in ethnic supremacy, militarism, surveillance, and the deployment of both subtle and extreme violence by a privileged few to maintain control over land and resources—while consigning millions to rightlessness, perpetual misery, and exclusion from politics at best, and from humanity at worst. The other vision stands in direct opposition to this. It is rooted in universalist, humanist principles—equality, liberty, and justice for all, regardless of who they are or where they come from. The war in and around Gaza, and its wider regional fallout, is fundamentally about the clash between these two visions.
Gaza’s rebellion has been a rejection of a draconian and tyrannical vision for what life in the 21st century might look like. For that reason, Gaza has inspired millions around the world. It has offered meaning in an era that felt as “post-ideological”—a time when masses of people live and die as devoted consumers, glued to their phones, doom-scrolling while watching influencers perform basic human acts like traveling, eating well, buying homes, or starting families. Gaza gave meaning and purpose to many at a moment when meaning and purpose—spiritual, ideological, political, and cultural—were being deliberately erased and dismantled.
Gaza showed that the poorest, most isolated, and besieged people on earth could still live—and die—for a cause. It showed entire generations that subjugation can be refused, even when the cost is unimaginable, beyond what most people can fathom. But Gaza did more than inspire. It exposed the enemy. It revealed corrupt politicians, inept political parties and systems, and the fragility of the so-called international order. More importantly, it uncovered the conglomerates and billionaire alliances propping up oppressive states and regimes—those advancing a tyrannical program designed to strip away rights, dismantle societies, and reduce the rest of humanity to digital serfs living in fear and despair.
The billionaire class’s rush to defend Israel and Zionism during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza—and its unchecked aggression across the region—laid bare their true intentions. It revealed them for what they are: cynical and aggressive, willing to pay lip service to certain social issues while resisting any meaningful change to the systems that uphold their power. At the same time, they are fully committed to dismantling any space, institution, or platform where criticism of Israel might take shape. Gaza exposed Israel’s central role in this broader project of tyranny, militarism, surveillance, and the erosion of civil society.
Gaza tore away the veil behind which these forces have operated incrementally and quietly for years. In doing so, it helped people become bolder, firmer, and more confident in their pursuit of political change—even in a moment of profound uncertainty. It is a terrifying time, one in which the very institutions and spaces where people are organizing for justice are themselves under threat of being dismantled.
In this context, Zohran Mamdani won—proving that it is possible to run and win an electoral campaign while openly embracing positions that, just a few years ago, could have ended a politician’s career in the West. Mamdani’s victory came at a moment when his opponents were more exposed than ever. Their unwavering support for Israel was no longer seen in isolation, but as part of a broader reactionary, exclusionary, and elitist agenda—one aligned with the billionaire class and its push for a tyrannical vision of the 21st century.
The battle isn’t over. In fact, it’s just beginning. The pro-Israel billionaire class will not accept Mamdani’s victory as a defeat—they will escalate their aggression. If, in response to student protests and encampments—basic expressions of political speech—they were willing to threaten and undermine revered academic institutions central to the West’s identity, imagine what they will do in response to Mamdani becoming mayor and pursuing policies that benefit the working class. Their playbook is clear: suppress dissent, punish political defiance, and protect the status quo at all costs.
The pro-Israel billionaire class will only intensify its efforts in the months and years to come. They will continue fueling the “Muslim Question” in the West (stay tuned for a full piece on this soon), pushing for the dismantling of democratic institutions, uprooting the foundations of civil society, and pouring resources into the 21st-century surveillance state—powered by Israeli technology and repression methods field-tested on Palestinians. The fight is not over. It is only just beginning.
In the meantime, Gaza—the place that set these unprecedented political shifts into motion—remains under constant threat of renewed genocidal violence. It lies in ruins. Its people remain displaced in tents, facing yet another brutal winter without proper shelter. Gaza must not be forgotten in moments like this. Victories anywhere, no matter how big or small, should be moments to remember Gaza—moments to recommit to Palestinian liberation, to ending the genocide, and to demanding accountability, rebuilding, and healing for our people there.
