Gaza: Who Will Rise to Stop the Genocide against Palestinians?

Israel’s Western allies, including Denmark, continue to support the genocide in Gaza behind the narrative of defence against terrorism. The alarm bells are ringing louder and louder over the Western allies as the death toll of Palestinians reaches unprecedented levels and the catastrophic conditions, including a severe desperation for food and water face those still alive after 132 days. If we still want confidence in a world order based on universal human rights and our common humanity, Western leaders must find their moral compass now – and face the truth about the genocide in Gaza.

More than 28,000 Palestinian lives have been lost during Israel’s 132-day cold-blooded massacre in Gaza. 70% are women and children. Every 11 minutes a Palestinian child is brutally killed and every hour 2 mothers are killed. 1,9 million are internally displaced and in severe need of humanitarian assistance, which the UN’s United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA heroically struggles to provide. Despite international law, hospitals, UN schools and refugee camps, religious places continue to be attacked. Journalists continue to be targeted and killed as they bravely fight to get glimpses of the heart-wrenching atrocities out to the eyes of the world. Around 75% of all journalists killed in war zones in 2023, lost their lives in Gaza.

In sum, drawing up a clear case of systematic genocide while the UN alongside other international institutions and people in the streets across the world continue to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire.

Complicit in the crimes in Gaza

Israel’s Western allies, including the Danish government, have been disturbingly silent and complicit in the crimes in Gaza and are contributing to the epidemic of impunity unfolding globally as they fail to keep Israel accountable.

We are currently witnessing a moral collapse in the West, where Israeli allies are paving the path for a breakdown in the values and norms that bind us together as a global community – not seen since World War II. Several Western countries led by the US are taking even more extreme measures by defunding UNRWA, turning humanitarian assistance into a weapon of war based on unproven allegations.

This brings the world to a sharp moral crossroads: how can we sustain a global community with confidence in universal human rights in the face of the horrors unleashed on Gaza? The world position on Gaza will set the direction for much more than the future of Palestinians and Israelis. It will become a moral compass for the future of the entire world.

Consequently, the West is losing its credibility with the global south and with their own populations who day in and day out continue to witness “hell on earth” in Gaza. Mogens Lykketoft writes in Jyllands-Posten 13 December 2023 “in the global south, the West’s failure to distance itself from Netanyahu’s war policy is seen as an expression of cynical double standards about human rights. The war creates the risk of more unrest throughout the region and the world. There is a fear of terrorism in Europe. There is a risk that nationalist, xenophobic and semi-authoritarian movements can break down unity in the climate fight and in the war against Russia”.

Truths to offer direction for a new Western course of action

Israel’s Western allies, including the Danish government urgently ought to face a series of truths about Israel and the current escalation of the conflict, placing it at the scale of genocide. The only way to peace is through a new course of action by Western leaders anchored in truth.

One truth is that Israel’s occupation of Palestine the past 75 years is the root of the conflict. The report “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians” in February 2022 by Amnesty International referred to the fact that the occupation actually is illegal according to the international conventions reported by the UN’s independent international commission of inquiry. Hence, it is not only a lasting ceasefire that is needed right now, the systematic oppression, discrimination and violations of the freedom and human rights of the Palestinian people need to end for peace to become possible.

A second truth is that when people live under occupation as in the case of the Palestinians, they have a right to defend themselves under international law, just as an occupying power has an obligation to protect people under its control. Yet the Palestinians in Gaza continue to be dehumanized and starved by the Israeli Government through denial of water, food, health care, electricity, shelter and human dignity at all levels.

Thirdly, it is vital to remember that a deep pain exists across generations among both Israelis and Palestinians. The pain, anger and hatred that naturally arises from being oppressed, possessed, excluded, displaced and unjustly deprived of human dignity and basic human rights. A feeling the Palestinians have lived with since 1948. On the Israeli side, people are born into an “us or them” narrative, brainwashed to see Palestinians as less human and some are fueled with fear to kill, control, oppress and discriminate against Palestinians. It is clear that Israel’s response to the 7 October attack and the unconditional support of its Western allies has not served the welfare of the Israeli people nor the peace process – it has only escalated the pain and created higher walls and more monsters.

Western leaders lack moral global responsibility

A fourth truth is that while the UN Chief continues to loudly call for a return to our common humanity, the position on Gaza by Western leaders continues to fuel polarization across societies. When pro-Palestinians are called anti-Semites, and when calling for a lasting ceasefire and the rights of Palestinians, make us advocates of terrorism and against Jews. When the many legal demonstrations all over the world are being labeled divisive rather than the civic human rights activism that is currently bringing millions of people from Copenhagen to Johannesburg, from Brasilia to Kuala Lumpur to Sydney on the streets to protest against the systematic genocide that is making people’s hearts bleed for the people of Gaza everywhere. The world urgently needs leaders that unite us – not divide us.

A fifth truth is that the International Criminal Court is investigating Israel’s war crimes, with a plausibility of genocide as the scale of Israel’s massacre on Palestinians reaches unprecedented levels. South Africa is demonstrating the moral courage that the Western leaders lack, to do what is right by bringing Israel to justice – offering the world a bright example of the moral global responsibility needed right now.

Time is running out in Gaza

The truth accounts that drive the current course of action by the majority of Western leaders to continue to stand with and be complicit in Israel’s crimes are false and outdated. Time is running out for Gaza and for the trust in the Western leaders. Fortunately, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Spain are so far starting to voice a different stance on Gaza.

How many more Palestinian children have to be killed in Gaza before the West changes its course? The future of Palestinian children is intertwined with the future of the world. Protecting the Palestinians has come to equal protecting a world order based on universal human rights and our common humanity.

Before this day is over and while Western leaders stumble to operate their moral compass, hundreds more Palestinian children will be brutally killed or open their eyes to a traumatizing scene with no parents, siblings or grandparents – filled with hunger, hopelessness, death, grief, anxiety, destruction and a world that screams we don’t care enough to protect you.

By Helene Guldborg, Board Member, Crossing Borders & Garba Diallo, Director, Crossing Borders

We Are All Palestinians

Right now, the world is witnessing a systematic massacre on the verge of genocide happening against the Palestinians in Gaza. It is turning more horrific every day. A Palestinian child is brutally killed every 11 minutes. Pregnant women and their babies are dying in unsafe hospitals. Palestinian families are unbearably destroyed, blasted and buried under the rubble with more than 11000 innocent lives lost. Unforgivingly, hospitals, UN schools, refugee camps, religious sites and homes continue to be bombed against international law. Journalists are unjustly killed, threatened and silenced while they bravely fight to get glimpses of the horrific atrocities out to the eyes of the world.

The world is at a stark ethical crossroad and the question is whether we will rise to protect the humanity of others or not?

Humanity Bleeding in Gaza
Living in Gaza has for the past 42 days been a living hell, a nightmare out of proportions that none of us will ever be able to comprehend, endure nor to accept if it happened to us. Yet, Palestinians are bravely, steadfastly and resiliently continuing to fight to survive, fight to exist and fight to save and take care of each other. The humanity of Palestinians is devastatingly bleeding and shining bright at the same time. Let’s remember that Palestinians are people with dreams and aspirations – with families to care for, raise and laugh with – with talents to grow – with a rich culture to enjoy and share – with everyday lives to live and homes to nurture just like the rest of us. Different from us, they have been born into a fight to survive and exist – living on occupied land under illegal siege for 20 years and illegally occupied for 75 years.

Still, we continue to watch horrific and heart wrenching images every day of children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, parents, loved ones injured, traumatized, starving, fleeing, grieving, scared, dead or buried while the ceasefire is still catastrophically and unforgivingly delayed. Enough is enough.

Time again it is evident that our world starts to crash when we become careless about the humanity of others. The restoring of peace will start when we get in touch with other people’s humanity and suffering – in this case the Palestinians in Gaza.

We Are Bound Together

The situation in Gaza is a matter of the humanity of the Palestinians – how we embrace, protect and value the humanity of others in our interconnected world is on the line in Gaza right now. The horror in Gaza is bigger than Gaza – it is paving a path for a world that is out of touch with the humanity of others, that is out of touch with our common humanity and global interconnectedness. If the world will not rise to protect Palestinians now, who is next?

In fact, we are all Palestinians right now. None of us are free until Palestinians are free. “My humanity is bound by yours cause we can only be human together”, said Desmond Tutu. This is why the people of the world stand with Palestinians, amplify Palestinian voices – and why we will not look away nor back down.

People Power in the Streets

At the moment, the millions of people uniting in the streets across the world demonstrating for a ceasefire and a free Palestine are truly leading the way. Everywhere hearts are bleeding for the Palestinians in Gaza. The civic uprising for the humanity of Palestinians is offering a glimpse of hope for peace, unity and justice right now.

On the contrary, where is the heart and humanity of today´s Western leaders? When will they rise to protect the lives of Palestinians equally to those of others? On our watch Western leaders are allowing the crimes against humanity to continue in Gaza. Even with the Israeli Government confirming that they are “rolling out Nakba in Gaza”. We owe it to those innocent Palestinian lives lost to make this the moment in history when we collectively decide that we will put the humanity of each other first.






Global Reset: Reimagine What is Possible

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes the defining global health crisis of our lifetime. By the end of 2020 we are still in it and even with the exceptional historical arrival of the vaccine, we haven’t yet experienced the full brunt of its socioeconomic and emotional impact worldwide. Our world has changed, our lives have been uprooted in 2020 and the uncertain horizon continues to lie ahead of us. While we may stumble over the struggle, losses, fatigue, uncertainties, invasion of our freedoms, despair and everything else it has brought us, what if COVID-19 also is a call on us to reimagine what is possible for us and together reimagine our world? What if we together can even birth a better world?

Reimagine Yourself

COVID-19 arrived as a whirlwind forcing us to reset and fare in unthreaded territories. Winds of change were inevitable. The dimensions of change were unimaginable, even unbearable and most of the time unrecognizable. We were forced to see beyond our lives as we knew them to be. Losing our footing and sometimes losing ourselves became a part of the human experience in 2020. 

The COVID-19 whirlwind may have knocked us down, yet it proved to us that change is possible and provided us with a possibility to reimagine and reset ourselves and our lives. To rediscover our footing, we had to allow ourselves to be human. We had to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and nurture ourselves with a new level of compassion and care. We also had to vulnerably cross over new borders in ourselves and see ourselves and our lives with new eyes.

We had to ask ourselves some tough questions about how we stay true to ourselves and how we refocus on what truly matters to us in the face of the pandemic. We may also have had to navigate opposite poles of rediscovering connection and love despite social distance; finding freedom in the heavy restrictions; recreating joy and meaning in times of despair and reigniting new courage in the face of loss and desperation. With the possibility in front of us to reimagine, we can ask ourselves: what has 2020 taught me about myself, what is possible for me, and how can I stay more uncompromisingly true to myself in 2021? 

Reimagine Us

The COVID-19 whirlwind has been a social upheaval and it made us see how interdependent we are and how much we actually need each other. Some of us were locked up together at home, others locked up alone or separated and isolated from loved ones for months on, others had to leave home and yet some depended on others to overcome and survive the pandemic. 

We faced the same COVID-19 whirlwind, we shared the experience of disruption that framed our 2020, yet how it impacted us and how we thrived differed enormously based on the pre-existing structural, social, economic inequalities worldwide. Still COVID-19 may just have made us relate more compassionately to each other. It may just have made us see each other anew, whether in the case of our loved ones, our neighbors, the frontline health providers or people on the other side of the world. It may just have brought us closer together. We may just have rediscovered ourselves in each other; who we can be for each other; how we belong to each other and how we actually can be the change for each other. 

Examples of community, solidarity and togetherness marked some of the most heartfelt highlights of 2020 across the world. What does that teach us about who we are and how can those highlights inspire us to reimagine who we can be together?

Reimagine a Better World

The COVID-19 whirlwind uncovered the need to come together and unite across families, neighbourhoods, communities, people and countries in being humans together. It highlighted to us that we are bound together in our common humanity and how interdependent we are in overcoming the pandemic. We are only as strong as the weakest of us, and to overcome the COVID-19 whirlwind, we are bound to ignite a new level of local and global solidarity towards those hardest impacted. 

The pandemic brutally uncovered the deeper inequalities that disproportionately continue to make the poorest, most vulnerable and those living on the margins of society bear the brunt of the COVID-19 whirlwind. Such as people living in zones of war and humanitarian crisis; in refugee camps; slums; the homeless; women working in the informal sector; women everywhere facing heightened risk of domestic violence and vulnerable teenage girls forced to exchange schooling for marriage or unwanted pregnancy across the world. The unequal access to rights, opportunities and social welfare, revealed by the pandemic, echoes an urgent need for a new global social contract.

The COVID-19 serves as a possibility to reset and reimagine a more equal and inclusive world. Birthing a better world requires courage at the individual and collective levels – the courage that drove the inspiring actions of people across the world in “being someone for someone” to overcome and survive the COVID-19 whirlwind. It taught us what is possible when we embrace the humanity of others and see each other with new eyes. How can we be better humans together globally? How can we be someone for someone to equalize an unequal world?  

Global Reset: The Emergence of a Feminine Future

While the times we live in right now are radical enough in themselves, they also constitute a potential breeding ground for a change in how we relate, lead and conduct our affairs as a global community – individually and collectively. How we will fare post COVID-19 will depend on the courage to lead right now and on making the right and hard decisions in service to the collective good. This crisis presents a loud call for renewed leadership and some local and global leaders are already showing us what it takes to rise to this moment.

Unlocking the Feminine

“Unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word”, Martin Luther King

What appears to be making a difference right now, and a promise for the future, between who is rising to this moment and who is not, is the extent to which feminine leadership is unlocked as a timely alternative to wielding power – not necessarily bound to only female leaders. Feminine and masculine qualities live in all of us, yet the feminine are usually being downplayed as competitive edge to global leadership in the 21st century. However, COVID-19 is currently revealing to us that what we need more than ever, across the world, is leadership of collaboration, truth, integrity, courage, compassion, authenticity and collective purpose. COVID-19 is unlocking the feminine.

Courage to Be Authentic

“Daring leaders who live into their values are never silent about hard things” Brene Brown

These times are hard and uncertain, and the leaders who are rising to the moment are staying committed to communicating, discussing and leading from truth. Not because it is easy, or because the truth is easy – rather because it is who they are and what is right. When times get hard is when we get to see what people are truly made of. Jacinda Arden, Andrew Cuomo and Angela Merkel are examples of leaders unlocking the feminine when showing up with compassion, listening and putting themselves in the place of the people they serve – because it is who they are. Leaders exhibiting emotional intelligence (self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management), are unlocking the feminine, which often makes them trailblazers in the face of the old, hierarchical, top-down and control-driven leadership. Leaders who allow us to experience them falling short or being vulnerable in the midst of the hard and uncertain COVID-19 times are unlocking the feminine, which actually is what creates trust and integrity, and make them human and relatable – especially needed in times of crisis.

Courage to Lead

“I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong”, Jacinda Ardern

Forbes, The Telegraph and others have made the connection between countries with female leaders and the successful response to the pandemic, from Iceland to New Zealand, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Taiwan and Norway. Apart from being willing to communicate truth and quickly inspire and foster collaborative efforts, they are also commended for acting and making hard decision early. Leaders leaning into the feminine in how they lead are selflessly driven by a cause or purpose larger than themselves – with or without a crisis. They are placing emphasis on collaborative leadership, empowering and bringing people together around a common purpose, making every one play its part – with or without a crisis. They see beyond individual credit, gain or fame and are incorruptibly and courageously serving the collective good – with or without a crisis. Perhaps in these times of crisis, the well-rounded, trusted and value-based foundation of who they already are as leaders and what drives them to lead is what enables them to swiftly, naturally and brilliantly rise to the moment of the COVID-19 crisis – echoing a promise of a more feminine future.

Global Reset: Incorruptible in Caring for Ourselves

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”, Victor Frankl.

Out of the turmoil caused by COVID-19 across the world right now, a collective vulnerability has naturally emerged with multiple individual faces from uncertainty to despair, hope, gratitude, overwhelm, discomfort, humility, love, fear etc. On some days we are experiencing all of them at the same time. We are made inconveniently powerless and suddenly out of control of the unfolding of our lives, and 2020 as we envisioned it, is becoming more unrecognisable by the day. It is natural to experience moments of loosing our footing, loosing our focus or loosing ourselves right now. These times both challenge and encourage us to be more caring and standing incorruptible for ourselves.

See and Embrace our Own Humanity

“Surrender is a journey from the outer turmoil to the inner peace”, Sri Chinmoy

The possibility in front of us may lie in surrendering to the pausing of the world rather than resisting the uncontrollable. COVID-19 is inconveniently slowing down our lives, yet allowing us to pause and silence the outer noise to be present with ourselves, each other and our lives. One of the fruits we can harvest from this downtime is to see ourselves, each other and our lives in a clearer light. Deeper truths; what we love; our gratitude gems; our unresolved issues or wounds that we previously suppressed or forgot; or even dreams we long to make come true – may all rise up in our awareness. Those moments are calls on us to see and embrace new layers of our wholeness as women and the full humanity that make up who we truly are. It is a call to return to ourselves. The key is to compassionately and incorruptibly be with whatever may rise for us right now.

Being with our Truth

“It is only when we silence the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts”, K.T Jong

Once we allow ourselves to see, embrace and be with what is true for us right now, we are also creating a sanctuary of freedom and possibilities to incorruptibly care and stand for ourselves through owning and expressing our truth. Maybe we will discover needs we never really attended to before, or layers of ourselves that we had previously suppressed or ways of sharing what is in our hearts. The key is to practice being with what is true for us right now and respond to our needs with some soothing self care and empowerment rituals. Maybe this means creating a special morning ritual; immersing ourselves into creative playtime with loved ones; carving out time to just be silent with ourselves; establishing new ways of being with and connecting with our family, community and tribe; creating new routines to meet a goal; meditating; singing or dancing; enjoying the bliss of nature and sunlight; exercising; scheduling weekly virtual sundowners or discovering a new hobby or talent etc.

Look Beyond

“She discovered who she was, and the game changed”, Lalah Delia

Even if the vulnerability rises up differently in each and one of us right now, we can all approach it as a gateway back to ourselves. When we allow our vulnerability to be a call to embrace new layers of our wholeness as women and the full humanity that makes up who we truly are, we are taking our power back independently of the outer turmoil. What if our frequent stumbling in the face of these unprecedented COVID-19 times, is part of the emergence of a new world? What if fully embracing and showing up in our unique wholeness makes us part of the ripple effect of goodness unfolding everywhere right now? What if being incorruptible in standing for ourselves actually equals standing together for a better world?

Global Reset – See with New Eyes

While the COVID-19 pandemic is transforming our world as we knew it; breaking down our lives as we knew them to be; distancing us from those we love and who add meaning to our lives; robbing our freedoms under the strict lockdown measures, turning us into what sometimes feel as prisoners in our own homes – a light is still shinning through the destructive cracks.

Last week a soul sister shared with me how she had caught herself in noticing the flowers growing into springtime bloom in the pots on her balcony, something she had not paid much attention to before. “These times are making us pause and see things we never saw before even if they always were there”, she said.

Open Your Heart to This Moment

It is natural to be in resistance to the new realities thrown upon us over night, it is also natural to try to escape the truth of those realities because they are causing so much havoc, fear, uncertainty and discomfort – and it is also in all of us to become rather impatient with the COVID-19 grip on our lives. This is all real and it is messy, and yet we are still left with the simple freedom to see it all with new eyes.

What if these times are also a launching pad for us to pause, look closer and see with new eyes – catching the light that is getting in right now. We might suddenly discover the magic of the blooming flower on our balcony, become aware of the morning sunlight in our faces, immersing ourselves fully into playing with a child, noticing the gaze of a loved one, walking barefoot and connecting with the ground underneath us after days in quarantine, appreciating laughing together across the world on a Zoom call, seeing the springtime beauty surrounding us, and truly listening to someone’s storytelling over morning coffee at home.

A Gateway to Gratefulness

“Be grateful for what you have and you will end up having more”, Oprah

When we allow ourselves to see with new eyes, a new appreciation of small moments, small things, and small experiences may just emerge in us. COVID-19 is providing us with a gateway to truly pause and soften ourselves into this moment, allowing ourselves to be right here and rediscovering what in fact is right in front of us.

This is not making the havoc, fear, uncertainty and discomfort go away, yet it is providing us with a simple freedom to take back our power in each moment. Seeing with new eyes can provide us with a different lens on those new realities – and maybe in the midst of the grip of COVID-19, seeing with new eyes can ignite a new gratitude in us – gratitude for something that maybe always was right in front of us. My eyes continue to catch the togetherness, community and solidarity emerging everywhere and I lean deeper and deeper into the soothing calm and beauty of nature as it emerges and unfolds right here in front of me.

What is catching your sight right now when allowing yourself to see with new eyes?

Global Reset: See Your Humanity in Others

Maputo’s beaches and streets are deserted and the country is on the verge of a state of emergency. In the footsteps of the rest of the world, heavy clouds full of uncertainty, fear and alarming collective vulnerability are hanging over the socially vibrant and colorful capital of Mozambique by the Indian Ocean.

As we are approaching a complete lockdown, people are staying at home, business is frozen, supermarket shelves are emptying and the wheels of society are coming to a standstill as everywhere else in the world right now. The socioeconomic turmoil is in full spin in one of the poorest countries in the world, where the majority of people live from day to day. The crushing socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 will hit us all, hence with alarming disproportions and speed across the world – especially in Africa.

In countries as Mozambique, a lockdown will immediately put millions of people deeper into survival mode, struggling to put food on the table and take care of loved ones.

Lets be Human Together

“My humanity is bound by yours cause we can only be human together”, Desmund Tutu

COVID-19 is calling on us to be human together. Rights, opportunities and social safety nets have been disproportionately distributed among us before COVID-19. However, COVID-19 is now revealing the raw, and for some, inconvenient truth to us that we are just far more interconnected and interdependent than we had ever believed – and only as strong as the weakest of us.

Lets ask ourselves what does it mean to be human together right now?

With nearly 3 billion people in lockdown globally, we will be able to see a reflection of our own experience and humanity in people in most corners of the world right now. We are even called to look at our own humanity as the turmoil of COVID-19 has been turning our lives upside down over night. The collective vulnerability is real.

Uniting in Global Solidarity

These times call on us to stand together and unite across families, neighbourhoods, communities, people and countries in being humans together. I truly believe it is in our inherent nature to unite for a common cause greater than ourselves. We already witness the emergence of incredible initiatives of global solidarity across the world; retired health professionals are voluntarily reporting to duty everywhere; companies have changed their product line to now produce personal protective equipment for healthcare workers; people are volunteering grocery shopping for the elderly; safety masks are being produced and handed out to people at no cost; free services are offered to those majorly affected by COVID-19; collective hand clapping from the windows in Madrid and elsewhere for the healthcare heroes and heroines saving our lives every day and many more.

We can all play a role in making sure that our global human tribe makes it out on the other side of COVID-19 and beyond: what collaborative, innovative or volunteering role can you play in being human together right now?

Global Reset – A Call to Standing Together

While the coronavirus epidemic is putting our lives in turmoil across the world and turning our societies unrecognisable over night with limited mobility; empty streets, schools and airports; lockdown of countries; restrictions on our social pursuits and freedoms and militant directives on social distancing in order to urgently diminish its spread, it might just also provide a necessary reset and (ironically) connect us closer together.

Infusing Interconnectedness

The coronavirus is affecting us across continents, borders, ethnicity, skin color, gender and income levels – it does not discriminate or favorize, and social status or privilige will not set anyone free. We are not only equal in the risk to be affected, we are also bound together in our interconnectedness, depending on the action and responsibility of each other. Additionally, wherever we look across the world right now, the coronavirus grounds are common. The interruptive avalanche on our socioeconomic lives is similar, the protective and preventive measurements taken are similar, and the fear, anxiety, overwhelm, and uncertainty we experience is similar – we are in the same storm – we can relate to each other and find compassion for each other from the experience of our own current reality.

Standing Together

We are all in this together and we will only win if we stand and come together. The coronavirus is demanding us to pause and to reset our lives as we know them – and to stand tighter together, whether as a family, neighbourhood, country or global community. What if the coronavirus is a call to reset our lives and come back to what truly matters to us? What if it calls on us to see ourselves, each other and our world with new eyes? What if it is a call on us to be, come and stand stronger and better together? What if it is a call on radical compassion for each other across the world, reminding us that in fact we are equal in our common humanity?

While the turmoil of our everyday lives is real, equal to the deep uncertainty and overwhelming fear we might be experiencing, take a moment to reflect upon what the coronavirus reset came to teach you.

Reset our Compassion for Each Other

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together”, Desmund Tutu

What if the lesson the coronavirus is passing on to us is radical and actionable compassion? When seeing this epidemic with new eyes, we might start to witness the possibility in front of us for an emergency of more compassion for each other. At the heart of compassion is acceptance; the better we are at accepting the reality in front of us right now, the more compassionate we can become towards ourselves and each other. This is true for the coronavirus times as well as beyond.

Just imagine for a moment if these months of isolation, restricted movements and time in quarantine became our everyday lives, and now imagine that this “experience” in fact is what life looks like for millions of people around the world from slave camps in Libya, refugee camps in South Sudan, Lesbos, Bangladesh, DRC, Turkey, Syria etc., indigenous people fighting for their survival (and ours) in the Amazonia, women being restricted in their movements across the world, across Latin America notably due to the risk of femicide and in Saudi Arabia due to the male guardianship system among other examples.

In these times of complete global reset, lets recall that with or without the coronavirus we are equal and bound together in our common humanity and interconnectedness. Recognising our shared humanity is a reflection of real compassion because it means that we are able to clearly see ourselves in each other.

Global Reset: We All Need to Be Antiracist

“The healing of our society starts when we get in touch with other peoples’ suffering”, Tara Brach

The horrific murder of George Floyd in the streets of Minniapolis by a white police officer on 25 May, 2020 has caused a ripple effect of outrage, anger, pain, heartbreak and weeks of protests demanding change across the United States and the world. Enough is enough. We cannot look away from the racial injustice of a brutal murder of another innocent African American man in bright daylight. We cannot not be outraged. We cannot not be heartbroken. We cannot stay silent. We cannot not join the voices for justice for those in the black communities whose everyday is an injustice. We cannot not feel compassion and solidarity for those who loved him.

We cannot separate ourselves from George Floyd because his humanity is bound and equal to ours.

Racism, black oppression and racial injustice exist everywhere, and George Floyd’s death represents the ultimate fear many blacks wake up with every day in United States. African Americans before George Floyd have led lives that felt as having a “knee on their neck” of their rights, access, opportunities, worth etc. George Floyd’s brutal fate became an earthquake of truth into racial injustice in the United States and across the world. The “black experience” demonstrates that we are still failing to embrace the full humanity and equality of black lives. It is truly a moral emergency that systems and beliefs across our societies still perpetuate the illusion of the inferiority of black lives and discriminate against people because of the race they were born into.

White privilege

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”, Desmond Tutu

Why does Klu Klux Klan still exist? Why are our societies discriminating against people who are born into a different race from our own? Why do blacks more often than whites get stopped or arrested by the police in our streets? Why do we not learn about the unjust, inhumane and primitive trade of slaves as part of our history in Western countries? Why are we avoiding the conversations concerning the inconvenient truth of the fact that racism still exists everywhere?

A core part of white privilege is to look away from racism because we can and decide that “it doesn’t concern us” because we can. This is only possible because we have decided to separate ourselves from the humanity of others – or even dehumanize the other. When we do separate ourselves from the injustice happening to George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery, Brianna Taylor and others before them, we are not staying neutral, we are indirectly standing for the injustice.

The only right and moral stand to take is to be an antiracist according to Ibram Kendi’s book “How To Be an Antiracist”.

George Floyd’s fate became an earthquake of truth and we can never unsee what we saw. The outrage over his death has sparked a movement. A movement that is challenging us to not look away and to instead look at ourselves. The moment right now is essentially about being better humans together as New York Times Bestseller, Author and Speaker Austin Channings refers to it, to vulnerably rumble with the reality of white privilege – and rise to our responsibility for correcting the wrongs of racism.

George Floyd has become a call for action in the US and across the world.

Be the Change

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept”, Angela Davis

Firstly, we need to embrace the fact that this moment in time is concerning us all and that we can be the change through cultivating antiracism in our own lives, families, communities and societies.

Secondly, we need to be brave in engaging in conversations, asking questions and listening to the experience of blacks and other racial groups in our societies. We need to lean into this moment and be humbly learning and unlearning how and where we can play a part in acting and advocating for antiracism.

Thirdly, racism is rooted in a hierarchy of human value and it is reflected in how we see the world and each other. To correct the wrongs of racism we need to rumble with the vulnerability of seeing and being with where we are run by white privilege in our lives, also when we may feel uncomfortable or discover that our beliefs or actions are actually racist.

Finally, we can scan the spheres in which we take part whether it is within Government departments, private sector, kindergartens, schools, supermarkets, police, sports, media etc. and consciously consider where and how we can play an active role in correcting the wrongs of racism, stand for antiracism and even out the inequalities that face blacks and other racial groups every day.

Years back Martin Luther King said, that justice truly is about restoring love in our societies: “Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love”. Love is our common ground, and in that place, once we see ourselves in each other – no otherness, separation or racism can continue to exist. Now is the time to commit to make antiracism the new norm.