Our silence is complicity

Jul 13, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Every day, for months now, Israel has been bombing hospitals, shelters, schools, and food lines in Gaza. Every single day, Palestinians are being killed—mothers cradling their starving babies, fathers and children trying to find bread. What is taking place in Gaza is nothing short of ethnic cleansing. It matches the worst horrors of the Holocaust. And yet, the world is quiet.

Where is the outrage? Where are the voices of the world? Where are the governments that like to preach about human rights and democracy? Apart from a few brave ones, most of them are silent. Even worse, some have chosen to punish those who dare to speak up. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory, is one of the few bold enough to call out Israel.

She did not mince her words. She said, “All eyes must remain on Gaza, where children are dying of starvation in their mothers’ arms, while their fathers and siblings are bombed into pieces while searching for food.” For saying that, she has been sanctioned by the United States.

Albanese has gone further. In a recent report, she accuses major corporations of helping and profiting from Israel’s occupation and bombing of Gaza. Arms companies are providing the weapons—jets, drones, guided missiles. Shipping companies are moving the military equipment. Banks are funding the expansion of settlements. Technology giants are providing the surveillance systems, the cloud computing, the artificial intelligence that help Israel track, target, and kill. And she is clear: these companies are not innocent. They know what their technology and money are doing. They are not just part of the problem. According to the report, they may be committing war crimes.

It’s a wake-up call. Not just for the powerful governments of the world, but for all of us. Because when people stay silent, when they do not speak out, they allow injustice to grow. That silence is not neutral—it is a green light. When leaders face no pressure from their people, they become more shameless. And when companies realize no one will hold them accountable, they do not stop—they dig in deeper and take even more.

We are seeing the same thing here in Guyana. For decades, Guyana has supported the Palestinian cause. But now, with so much blood being spilled, the government has said not a word of condemnation. Nothing. Not even a press release. And certainly not any real action, like breaking diplomatic ties or freezing cooperation. And the worst part is—they are not feeling any pressure to act, because our people are not demanding it.

Francesca Albanese’s report reminds us that it is not only governments that carry out or support oppression. Corporations do it too. Let us not forget how a major oil company was involved in the arrest and killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others in Nigeria in 1995. All because they dared to speak out against the environmental destruction of the Niger Delta. That same greed and violence is at play today—in Gaza and, yes, even in Guyana.

Here, in our own backyard, foreign oil companies are raking in billions while we get scraps. The oil deal signed is one of the worst in the world. It gives us next to nothing in royalties. And yet, our people are quiet. No massive protests. No roadblocks. No demands that this issue be front and centre in the upcoming elections.

Guyanese are heading to the polls on September 1, but we are doing so like sheep—without even demanding that the royalty rate be put on the ballot. The government knows this. The corporations know this. And so, they continue to loot.

When we do not stand up, we make it easier for those in power to keep ignoring us. Our silence becomes their strength. They use our inaction as proof that we are satisfied. And that is how bad governments and greedy corporations thrive—when the people stay passive.

But it does not have to be this way. Around the world, change has always come when ordinary people refuse to stay silent. When they take to the streets. When they speak out. When they write, protest, boycott, and vote with their conscience. That is how apartheid fell in South Africa. That is how colonialism was defeated. That is how civil rights were won.

Francesca Albanese stood up, even though it cost her. She called out the killing and starvation of children. She named the corporations. She named the allies. And she was punished for it. But she is not wrong. And we should not abandon her voice in the wilderness.

The people of Guyana must understand this: if we do not stand up to injustice—at home or abroad—we are helping it. If we stay quiet while oil companies rob us blind, we are letting them win. If we say nothing while Palestinians are massacred, we are giving approval. Our silence is not just silence. It is complicity.

So let us break that silence. Let us speak out. Let us demand justice—for the people of Gaza, for our own people, and for all those suffering under greed and tyranny. Because if we don’t, then we are just as guilty as those dropping the bombs, signing the deals, and counting the profits.   (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)           

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• complicity, Israel, Palestine, Peeping Tom, Silence

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