My Take | What Albert Camus might think about Palestinian suffering and the West’s responsibility for it
- Zionism has followed the twisted logic of a long line of modern ideologies that ended up committing mass murder
On the day when crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself … It is a question of finding out whether innocence, the moment it begins to act, can avoid committing murder.
– The Rebel, Albert Camus
Dying Gazans Criticised For Not Using Last Words To Condemn Hamas.
– Headline from satirical publication, The Onion
Unlike some of his other books, Albert Camus’ The Rebel is more difficult to read because it requires a knowledge of the ideological, artistic and literary movements he referenced. But it may be politically his most important as well as morally challenging work.
The moral-political problem of his time – and ours – that Camus presented is clear enough. It is that modern political ideologies that often begin with noble intentions and aspirations – and sometimes not so noble – end up committing mass murder.
Camus’ claim is still true today, in the 21st century. It’s just that many Westerners, so drunk on their high morals and humanitarian enlightenment, have appropriated and rendered him harmless – so much so that he is routinely taught in North American high schools.