The Fall of the Fourth Estate

‘Truth is the first casualty of war,’ according to Aeschylus, the father of Greek tragedy. The classical literary tragedy is a drama the follows someone who falls from a high place in society to a terrible fate through their own character flaw.

In a world beset with multiple, overwhelming tragedies, it’s worth returning to this original definition to show the dire consequences of the fall of the Fourth Estate. The noble principle of this Estate is for journalists to report facts without fear or failure, to be undaunted and non-partisan in that duty. The erosion of this Estate is a true tragedy.

At a time where evidence of the ongoing genocide in Gaza is manifest beyond all doubt, the failure of mainstream media to report verifiable facts about such significant matters makes us all complicit.

#MilesTweediePhotography

In such a time, the ancient tradition of bearing witness becomes an urgent moral duty. Into this space step the Red Rebels. This is an international movement that is affiliated with Extinction Rebellion (whose first demand is “Tell the Truth”). Using techniques derived from traditional Butoh, Red Rebels follow principles and practices which originated in a theatre form developed in response to the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

#MilesTweediePhotography

#MilesTweediePhotography

Their silence speaks volumes. On 9 November 2024, Red Rebels around the world found ways to honour the call for an International Day of Mourning for ecocide and genocide (both of which are the ultimate outcomes of violent imperialism). Here, at Dyoondalup and in Walyalup, #XRWA Boorloo (Perth) Red Rebels, made the choice to move consciously, slowly, and silently, in strict Butoh style, from the river to the sea. Their collective intention was to fill the tragic gap left by the silence of the Fourth Estate, who have been derelict in their traditional duty to speak. And by this action acknowledge that “never again” means that historic genocides can never be used to justify current genocides.

Here’s a rather beautiful photo essay of the Red Rebels filling the silence on 9 November at Dyoondalup and Walyalup.

* By Dr Liana Joy Christensen, poet and academic

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I was shocked to read this sentence in your last edition when introducing the item about the manifestation by the Red Rebels –

At a time where evidence of the ongoing genocide in Gaza is manifest beyond all doubt, the failure of mainstream media to report verifiable facts about such significant matters makes us all complicit.

Before looking at ’the evidence’, let’s clarify how genocide is defined by the United Nations in THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE (1948), adopted 9/12/48 and now by 150 states, Australia was the second country to ratify the convention.

DEFINITION OF GENOCIDE IN THE CONVENTION:
The current definition of Genocide is set out in Article II of the Genocide Convention:
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

I hope never to meet anyone who isn’t appalled at the sufferings of the populations of Gaza and Lebanon (and let’s not forget Israel), and I believe Israel has to be held to account for its actions there, but nothing they are doing falls under the terms of the Convention. While Israel has clearly stated its intention to destroy its enemy Hamas, it has never stated that it is intent on destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Hamas, on the other hand, along with Iran and its other proxies, has clearly stated such an intention, implicit in their cry of ‘from the river to the sea’, echoed by the Red Rebels.

The statement that the mainstream media are failing to report verifiable facts about such significant matters, is also highly contestable. I grant that it is rare to find on Your ABC a rational, well-informed debate on any major issue, but there is an abundance of serious commentary and analysis of the conflict to be found in the print media that references historical sources and verifiable data. It is not hard to find, but it takes work and taking the time to sit down and read contributions from sources as diverse as the ABC, Sky, The Australian and The Guardian.

What makes us all complicit is not the reporting of verifiable facts but failing to search for them before rushing to judgement.

Gerry MacGill
24 November 2024

RESPONSE FROM DR LIANA JOY CHRISTENSEN

Dear Correspondent,

Legal cases are necessarily lengthy, but on November 21st, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Israel’s President, another former Israeli government member and a member of Hamas, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. As signatories to the Rome Statute of the ICC Australia indicated, on November 25th, that they would “comply with international law”.

With respect to the convention cited in your letter, in order to deny allegations of genocide, the International Court of Justice takes the following, less dismissive position:
“As to whether the acts and omissions complained of by the Applicant appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the Genocide Convention, the Court recalls that South Africa considers Israel to be responsible for committing genocide in Gaza and for failing to prevent and punish genocidal acts. South Africa contends that Israel has also violated other obligations under the Genocide Convention, including those concerning “conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to genocide, attempted genocide and complicity in genocide”.
In the Court’s view, at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the Convention.
3. Conclusion as to prima facie jurisdiction (paras. 31-32)
In light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that, prima facie, it has jurisdiction pursuant to Article IX of the Genocide Convention to entertain the case and that, consequently, it cannot accede to Israel’s request that the case be removed from the General List.”

I submit these as a very small sample of verifiable facts on public record.

Dr Liana Joy Christensen

FURTHER LETTER TO EDITOR

Being tuned in, FSN has responded to the actions of the Red Rebels in Fremantle with Dr Liana Joy Christensen’s article, and has published my good friend Gerry MacGill’s rebuttal. Despite Palestine being far away, a century of contestation there has engendered an intense interest amongst many in the Fremantle community so, if I may, I’d like to comment on Gerry’s letter.

The fundamental realities of this tragic situation aren’t changed by definitions. I thought the charge of genocide was self-evidently plausible. Gerry’s dissent seems to be based on the proposition that the population of Gaza is not a national, ethnical, racial or religious ‘group’ as defined by the Genocide Convention. However, if the population IS a group, then it’s not controversial that the war there is being waged to destroy part of the group through ‘killing’, ‘harm’ and ‘physical destruction’. We learn about this destruction thanks to the good work of the Fourth Estate.

What about the definition of ‘Israel’? Is it the nation state, the (divided) people, the parliament, the executive government, the PM, or the extremists in the cabinet who explicitly want control of Gaza and an Israel from the river to the sea? Gerry doesn’t say, and here the Fourth Estate has failed. Lazily, or wilfully, the media report on the actions of the PM, the cabinet and the river-to-the-sea ministers as the actions of ‘Israel’.

Jeremy Dawkins