Gaza: Crimson-Tinted Brands And Their Roles In The Genocide

With ongoing genocide at Gaza, finger pointing goes towards the direction of the culpable leader and his evil soldiers. Seeing that there are still eight fingers to point, the commercial brands, boasting popular products which have contributed directly or indirectly to the ethnic cleansing, are now given the aggressive silent treatment.

While human beings in Gaza suffered loss of life and limbs and displacement from the destruction of their homes, the ones who profited from it the most were naturally the merchants of death.

While governments like Israel and Russia, especially their respective leaders, prime ministers Bibi Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, get trashed for the atrocities in Gaza and Ukraine, respectively, watching from the sidelines, eyeing the gas-rich off-coast and mineral-scattered terrains, are the circling corporate vultures.

While the remains of women and children get combed out of rubble and concrete slabs, on the other side, architects and engineers would come running with their construction tripods, peering through the viewfinder like pirates eyeing treasure islands.

While, not too far away, these commercial entities, the military industrial complex, peer hungrily at the warzones like sharks around sluggish seals or vultures over dying wildebeests.

Defence Exhibitions

While it has been four months since Israel’s 3-in-1 incursion, genocide, and ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and some of those bigwigs in commerce are already complicit. The said industry players, which gleefully participate in defence exhibitions around the world every year (about 40 odd shows this year) showing off their deadly wares, have already played significant roles in the genocide, and that includes big names like Boeing, BAE System, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin, among others.

While they would have used these trade shows to show off their market size and potential ones, they now get easy PR as news, footages, and reels of the devastation caused by these products run on screen 24/7. Only they would lack testimony, considering that those who experience the might of these products have already been shot at, blown off, or crumpled under the weight of crumbled blocks of concrete.

Gaza: The First Genocide of the 21^st Century

Considering that genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war are ongoing and have been so since the beginning of the last century, one would be curious to know how many bags of cash are involved when commercial enterprises take part in the war. Fret not, take note of these numbers crunched based on the Sudan 2003 mayhem, often highlighted as the first genocide of this century (first of many sequels and spin-offs):

But Sudan is no longer making the headlines. The chewing gum had run out of flavour. Even this article in The Economics concurs with this subheading: America is distracted, and the UN is not interested.

(F)lash Back

Coming back to the latest genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, what follows and should be expected is the lash back against such atrocities, perpetrated directly and indirectly by the merchants of death and brands of destruction. The helpless and hapless citizens around the world—already being constantly bombarded by social media commentators calling for boycotts of anything Israeli or any companies that have shook hands with the commerce sector of that dastardly state—would react compassionately by properly boycotting whichever products and services linked to Israel. And preaching it.

Thus, we now have BDS, perhaps the baddest boy in the block for movements. For now, that is. It stands for boycott, divestment, and sanctions. Look, campaigns to save the environment are passe. Animal rights activism has to wait backstage. Alas, Greta Thunberg is nowhere to be seen. Shame that she could have boosted BDS as the flavour of the season (“How dare you, Bibi?”).

Embracing Boycott

Consumers, especially in Malaysia, are now very gung-ho embracing the boycott move. It makes them proud to have contributed to the pervasive outrage by not contributing to these Zionist sympathising scumbag brands. To them, there’s spiritual satisfaction in not stepping into a McDonald’s or Starbucks. Let alone stepping on Lego (ouch, and yes, they are also linked; see the picture below, nestled above Nestle).

But only two segments of society are adhering to the call for boycotts of these products in Malaysia. The Muslims and anyone else who are sympathetic to the victims in Gaza. That leaves quite a big section who are impartial, not being able to relate and prefer instead to ponder over other matters like the promised drop in fuel prices tomorrow.

This is because it has been proven that Malaysians prefer fantasy to brutal reality. When the Gaza news slowly slips down the slippery slope of editorial preference and when the advertisers start piling up pressures to bring hard-hitting news several notches down, the BDS will mean nothing.

Not especially when, after the now yearly Prosperity Burger tease, the briefly loathed McDonald’s has the next festive season specials lined up. Plus, there are just too many brands, some intertwined with local products, owned by God-fearing locals. They are halal too. Then, there are livelihoods to consider. Therefore, these brands and products will continue to linger, prosper, with or without blood on their hands. Or would they? – NMH

Rakesh Premakumaran Kumar

A movie buff, as opposed to film connoisseur or aficionado, because the last two words are hard to spell, Rakesh has been in the field of writing for more than two decades and hopes that one-day movie “buff”ing is lucrative enough to afford him a Batmobile, the Michael Keaton one.

newmalaysiaherald.com

Rakesh Premakumaran Kumar

A movie buff, as opposed to film connoisseur or aficionado, because the last two words are hard to spell, Rakesh has been in the field of writing for more than two decades and hopes that one-day movie “buff”ing is lucrative enough to afford him a Batmobile, the Michael Keaton one.

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