Thursday, March 28, 2024

There are no...

Children of all colours holding hands

...settler colonialist children. There are no capitalist children. There are no wealthy children, for all children come into the world with nothing, and depend on others for their needs.

Every child deserves the support and love of the community. Every child deserves protection in conflict, relief in disaster, care in sickness, education, and connection with a family to love and care for them.

Above all, children have the right to freedom from deliberate harm. Inductive logic applies here: to protect any children, we have to uphold the rights of all children.

In the present circumstances, to stand up for the children of Gaza and curse the State of Israel and its military forces for bombing their homes, requires responding to the reports of murders of children in Israel by Hamas fighters. The rights of children are not conditional. None of us have to believe the reports coming from either side without question. We are free to use phrases like "assuming the truth of..." and "to the extend that", but we are absolutely not free to condone or ignore child murder on the grounds of any ideology.

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