Chris Hedges: The World After Gaza (w/ Chris Hedges) | The Chris Hedges Report
Feb 26, 2025
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Pankaj Mishra, an acclaimed essayist and novelist, joins Chris Hedges to discuss his book, "The World After Gaza." Mishra argues that the Holocaust's impact is perceived differently globally, particularly in the Global South, which has its own narratives of historical atrocities. The conversation highlights how narratives are weaponized by political figures to manipulate perception, the psychological effects of witnessing atrocities, and the complicated relationship between Holocaust education and Israeli state actions. It calls for a reassessment of historical narratives to better understand current conflicts.
Pankaj Mishra emphasizes that the Global South's experiences of genocide and colonialism must reshape our understanding of historical victimhood beyond the Holocaust.
The podcast critiques the Western media's failure to accurately report on the Gaza crisis, indicating a troubling decline in moral integrity and accountability.
Deep dives
The Impact of Historical Atrocities
The argument is made that the post-war global order was significantly shaped by the memory of the Nazi Holocaust, which serves as a benchmark for atrocity. This perspective, however, neglects other mass exterminations, such as the genocide of the Herero people, the Armenian Genocide, and the Bengal Famine, which were met with indifference from global power figures like Winston Churchill. These historical atrocities highlight that the concept of victimhood is not unique to the Jewish experience; there are countless others, including black, brown, and Native Americans, who also faced significant atrocities yet remain largely unrecognized in Western narratives. By framing the Holocaust as an isolated tragedy, it diminishes the broader context of colonial violence and genocide that has affected various peoples worldwide.
Moral Failings of Western Media
The response of Western media to the crisis in Gaza reveals a troubling moral and intellectual decline within influential publications. Internal communications from major newspapers indicate a deliberate effort to avoid terms like 'refugee camps' or 'ethnic cleansing,' which reflects a failure to confront the realities of Israel's actions. This represents not only a ethical lapse but also a complicity in the normalization of extreme rhetoric related to the conflict. The critique points to a major downside for these outlets, suggesting they may struggle to restore their credibility in the face of such overwhelming evidence of bias and falsehoods.
Holocaust Education and Its Failures
The conversation addresses the limitations of Holocaust education, which is often framed to primarily support the state of Israel, fostering a one-dimensional understanding of the atrocities committed. This educational focus risks overshadowing the lessons that should be drawn from history, suggesting that the remembrance of past atrocities does not inherently shield against their recurrence in modern contexts. In Germany, for example, historical guilt has led to unwavering support for Israel, without critical examination of the implications of such support. The result is a dangerous lack of accountability for violence committed under the guise of historical restitution, where past crimes are used as a justification for ongoing aggression.
Jewish Identity and Political Complicity
The notion of Jewish identity, particularly among Western Jews, has been shaped by a sense of existential need to find meaning through support for Israel, often overshadowing the complexities of Zionism and its implications. This yearning for connection to a shared heritage can lead to an uncritical stance on the political actions of Israel, even when those actions conflict with broader moral imperatives. The discussion reveals a trend where disparate national identities, such as Hindu nationalism or Jewish identity in America, can create a blind spot for the individuals involved, leading to complicity in oppressive systems. Additionally, the rhetoric connecting Jewish safety to the state of Israel poses dangerous implications, suggesting an inherent vulnerability that is often politicized to justify violence against others.
The Holocaust is the quintessential example of human evil for people in the West. In the rest of the world, especially in the Global South, the atrocity of the Holocaust — genocide — has had a closer proximity both in time and place. Colonialism in Africa, destructive wars in Asia and most recently, genocide in the Middle East, have shaped the lives of billions of people.
On this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra joins host Chris Hedges to discuss his latest book, “The World After Gaza.” Mishra argues that the shifting power dynamics in the world means the Global South’s narrative on atrocity can no longer be ignored and the genocide in Gaza is the current crux of the issue.
“Large parts of the world have a cultural memory, historical memory of the atrocities that were inflicted on those parts of the world by Western powers. And that has actually gone to the making of their collective identity. And that is how they see themselves in the world,” Mishra tells Hedges.
Mishra explains that in the case of Israel, Zionist leaders weaponize this narrative by tying the safety and existence of the state of Israel to the defense against the evils of the Holocaust. In other words, the Zionist state exploits the suffering of millions for the benefit of the powerful.
“The words of politicians like Netanyahu, the rhetoric of people like Joe Biden insisting that no Jewish person in the world is safe if Israel is not safe, consistently connecting the fate of millions of Jews living outside of Israel to the fate of the state of Israel, I cannot think of anything more antisemitic. And yet these people keep doing it, endangering Jewish populations elsewhere,” Mishra says.
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