GAZA AND THE DEATH OF MORAL POLITICS
Saba Naqvi
From Mumbai to Gaza, profit now outweighs human rights in modern political decision-making.
The plan to purge Palestinians from Gaza and develop the strip into some kind of holiday destination is built on the presumption that some people have little control over their destiny and others can therefore kick them off their land. The poor, the stateless, and the victims of war can be pummelled and killed in thousands and when the earth is flat, the construction of the “Riviera of the Middle East”, as described by US President Donald Trump, can begin.
Imagine happy pictures of people sunbathing by the Mediterranean Sea and forget the misery of the past. It is the sort of image someone like Trump would like to conjure up, and it may actually go down well in parts of the US where many people have no clue where Gaza is and do not really give a damn; but they can get excited about the idea of evicting or killing the “bad guys” and “terrorists’’, all the same.
The plan for Gaza is pure unadulterated Trumpism, as the US President is a real estate developer, and this is possibly the kind of deal that he would love to make: he has suggested financing by the Arab states, profits for private realtors, and bliss for vacationers. Maybe the plan envisions some Gazans staying on to serve the hospitality industry—but oops, they could be a security threat. So maybe non-Muslims could be brought in for such tasks instead.
The world has moved a long way from the sort of morality that once shaped human consciousness and political endeavours. The daily news we see and read coming out of the US would seem surreal if it were not all so real. It seems like a computer game where the bad guys, as determined by the algorithm, are zapped with rays of executive orders until another villain pops up. Now we have a row of villains and diktats zapping them: throw out the immigrants (more points if they are in chains with handcuffs); take down the LGBTQIA+ people because, heck, there are only two sexes; fix those who go on about racial and gender injustice, those annoying wokes; and terminate contracts, deals, allocations of the past while shiny new billionaires prop up the New Order. If there is a raging fire in California, it is the Democrats who are behind it; if an airliner crashes into a helicopter, it is because diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives (now scrapped) have led to the hiring of less qualified personnel (or so Trump seems to suggest).
In the real estate business Trump has actual experience, and every visitor to Manhattan in New York city would have walked past the Trump Towers. His real estate portfolio extends, reportedly, to West Asia and South-East Asia. In Indonesia, a 3,000 hectare development project featuring a golf course and resorts has just been halted by authorities citing environmental concerns. The project was the initiative of Trump’s business partner in the country who attended the President’s inauguration. The President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also a property developer and investor, who has also referred to the Gaza coastline as “very valuable” real estate.
But why blame the Trumps for their real estate dreams when we in India have for years been demolishing homes and promising people new and better ones that never materialise. We can use the word “genocide” to what has been orchestrated in Gaza, but the demolition plans for “smart cities” in India have always had their own levels of heartlessness. The right wing is on the ascendent, so a regime can give free rations and benefits to women and simultaneously seek to remove millions from their homes. Indian courts are lock-jammed with special leave petitions seeking to block demolitions and/or seeking slum rehabilitation.
This is an age, from the US to India, where Big Capital appears all the more grotesquely powerful and people in its path frequently powerless. We have our own mega building plans that literally trump Trump’s. The plan to remove the population of Dharavi, located in the heart of Mumbai, and develop gleaming real estate there, is one of the biggest building ventures in the world. It has been awarded to the Adani Group.
The Dharavi Redevelopment Project is expected to impact a million residents directly. There are categories such as residents eligible for free housing units and residents not guaranteed compensatory units there although they have lived and worked in Dharavi for decades and have roots in the place. Although the state and the developers have promised that the project will eventually improve the people’s living conditions, sanitation, and other amenities, it is not a welfare scheme but a commercial project on what is perhaps one of the most expensive parcels of land in the world.
Now that the BJP has won the Assembly election in Delhi as well, it would be interesting to see what will come forth in the national capital. The former ruling party in the city-state, the AAP, had opposed large-scale slum clearance—one reason it held on to its vote share in lower income areas and slum clusters while losing the middle class. Still, it is worth mentioning that in the course of the campaign on February 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised at a rally that “not a single slum would be demolished in Delhi”.
The story of Gaza is altogether different in the epic scale of cruelty envisaged here.
Countries such as Egypt and Jordan have opposed the forced displacement of the people but are under pressure from the US to take in the Gazans. Many world leaders have also condemned the idea as has every shade of Palestinian leadership. But Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is, naturally, delighted, and said the plan could “change history”.
The main thing to remember in all the talk of real estate development is this: the war, occupation, and genocide happen because Israel is not ready for any real representation for the Palestinian people. Hypothetically, if Israel occupied Gaza and the West Bank, took the entire territory, and gave everyone a right to vote, it would fear Palestinians outnumbering the Jews. So, a one-state solution is ruled out, and a two-state solution has not even come to the table yet and is unlikely to either, given Israel’s deep resentment of Palestinians.
Anything could happen in the region now. The fragile ceasefire could also end. But what we do know is that the Trump vision zaps an entire people, the original inhabitants, out of the frame of Gaza altogether. Still, Trump cannot be blamed for the state of affairs. His predecessor, Joe Biden, did much the same, and he did not even bother to conjure up a pretty solution like vacation homes on a future Riviera.
Saba Naqvi is a Delhi based journalist and author of four books who writes on politics and identity issues.