Defence of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is a collective responsibility fuelled by commitments to theory and ideology inherent in universalism. In domestic and foreign policies and in the conduct of personal relations, the values associated with universalism concern altruism and inclusiveness, each goal delivered in a spirit of generosity.
In total contrast to the ideals of universalism, the Trump-Vance swagger to defend and increase only U.S. interests is apparent in their MAGA doctrine and was revealed in their gangsterish Oval Office thuggery towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The unending Israeli slaughter is influenced by the same strong-man, authoritarian assumptions.
A key to combatting U.S. abuse of power and an Israeli Government’s enthusiasm for genocide depends on expressing and explaining universalism for Palestine, as depicted in principles of international law, in the goals of socially just social and economic policies and, in lighter terms, by aspirations expressed in poetry and music. Universalism can be substantiated in other ways, but I’ll rely on those three pillars: international humanitarian law, social justice policies plus high notes from singers and poets.
Contributions from international law
Passed at the UN in December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reached for the heights of universalism, as in the claim that it represented the highest aspirations of the common man. Consistent with that goal, Article 3 insists “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”.
At the same time, an international treaty to criminalise genocide, the Genocide Convention, was adopted unanimously by the UN GeneralAssembly and obligated states to enforce the prohibition of genocide. There were no exceptions to the rule, no caveat that states which might regard themselves as exceptional could claim to be above the law.
Building on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognised a person’s right to seek asylum from persecution, the 1951 Refugee Convention outlined the legal protection and assistance which every refugee would be entitled to receive. To further a sense of universal protection, the Convention’s principle of non-refoulement prohibited the return of refugees to dangerous countries.
In 1998, the Rome Statute explained the terms of a newly formed International Criminal Court with responsibility to prosecute crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide. The statute’s rationale is as memorable as legal specifics. States which are parties to this statute would be “conscious that all peoples are united by common bonds, their cultures pierced together in a shared heritage”.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank illegal, so too Israel’s governance by racial segregation and apartheid. Israel took no notice, increased its attacks on Palestinian civilians and encouraged more settler stealing and violence. In January 2024, the ICJ ruled that a plausible case of genocide, which had been committed by Israel, should cease immediately and all signatories to the Genocide Convention be obligated to implement that ruling. No exceptions to the rule. Universalism must mean that even Israel was not above the law.
Universalism in Australian domestic policies
Support for Palestinian sovereignty and for Palestinians’ rights to self determination is echoed in the universal human rights principles which also provide the basis of several Australian social policies. Commitment to those policies, reflected perhaps in reference to the Article 25 enunciation of citizens’ rights to a roof and shelter, obliges governments to provide habitable public housing. If so, how would international citizens do other than campaign against Israeli savagery in the destruction of Gazan homes and begin a vigorous campaign to contribute to re-building in that destroyed yet precious strip of land.
In the coming Australian election campaign, a vote for humanity would surely mean an offer to contribute to the re-building of Palestinians’ homes. Indifference to Israeli destruction could be replaced by a generous initiative.
Universal health insurance, fostered by tax-paying citizens’ contributions, has been described as the gift given to strangers without expectation of reward. That noble principle, born in Britain’s case by the immediate post-war policies to ensure that altruism dominated egoism, has flourished in Australia’s Medicare system, a policy of universalism which speaks also of civility.
Given the Israeli slaughter of patients, nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers and the destruction of almost every Gazan hospital, adherence to Medicare principles could and should mean contributions to re-building Palestinian health services in which access to medical care comes with rights of being a Palestinian. Why not aim as high as did the architects of Medicare?
Although Australia’s policy to close the gap between the life expectations and qualities of life experienced by Indigenous and non-Indigenous is mostly a failure, it nevertheless has universal goals. By the same token, closing the gap between Australian citizens’ life experiences and those experienced by Palestinians subject to famine as a weapon of war would follow international legal obligations and also pose questions about the nature of cruelty in Australian public policy. Not much universalism appears in the experience of many Aboriginal citizens or in the lives of powerless asylum-seekers and refugees.
Departing from domestic public policies, albeit with an international flavour, the 2015 UN Sustainable Development goals crafted benefits in health, housing, abolition of poverty, clean water and sanitation for all the world’s peoples. The UN spirit of inclusiveness includes recognition of the inter-dependence of humans and all living things, as in the overall objective to bring peace and prosperity for all people and for the planet.
Poetic and musical images of universalism
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King reminded his people, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” With typical poetic flair, he added that all peoples “are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny”.
In his poem, If I Must Die, Gazan poet Refaat Alareer requested his readers. “Tell my story, sell my things, buy some cloth and strings”… and from the kite made, he imagined a child in Gaza looking above and imagining an angel bringing down love. He concluded,
If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale.
Away from death and destruction, Alareer was killed in an Israeli air strike, Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade has given colourful, joyous, humane interpretations of a common good and the benefits of inclusiveness. In an election campaign asking electors to Vote for Humanity, the Mardi Gras revellers would surely support candidates respecting self-determination for Palestinians and would vote against those who refuse to condemn genocide and turn a blind eye to continuing Israeli aggression.
Understanding of universalism rests as much on emotional appeal as on apparent rational argument about international law or public policy. In that respect, consider John Lennon’s Imagine …
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you may say that I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one, one day we’ll be together and the world will be as one.
In ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, the legendary Bob Dylan might have had Palestinians in mind when he asked,
How many years can some people exist, before they’re allowed to be free,
How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?
Australian Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Nunucaal must have foreshadowed Dylan’s question. Seventy years earlier, faced with cruel discrimination, she wrote her panacea for racism, All One Race.
I’m for humankind not colour jibes, I’m international never mind tribes,
I’m international never mind place, I’m for humanity, all one race.
The language of humanitarian law, of social justice principles, in appeals made by visionary poets and musicians provides antidotes to the inhumanities of dictators, of self-centred demagogues and war criminals. Universalism is expressed with a language which cuts through party politics to a vision which says that in a dangerous, divisive age, a collective responsibility for the lives of Palestinians would be of mutual benefit. That’s the meaning of universalism. That’s what a vote for humanity means.