“No Business as Usual”: The Price of Oppression
By Dean Malchik, unREVISE Editor
Several people have been using the phrase “No Business as Usual” to explain the way some individuals and groups have decided to react to oppression around the world.
Rights Hawks and unREVISE believe the implementation of this slogan is often exactly what is needed today.
Basically, the phrase means that if a government is committing ethnic cleansing, genocide, torture, intentional starving, mass murder, enslavement of others, etc., we who oppose them will not let them go on with “business [or life] as usual,” but we will instead strive to disrupt their lives and activities through protests, boycotts, strikes, shutdowns, and, in some cases, other means.
A good example is the Houthis of Yemen, who are blocking shipping in the Red Sea to try to end the ethnic cleansing and genocide efforts of the Israeli and U.S. governments against millions of civilians in Gaza, Palestine. The Houthis say that until the attacks on Palestinian civilians by Israel and its allies, including the United States, stop, they will shut down all shipping that aids Israel.
The Houthi attacks on shipping are not a perfect solution, of course, because innocents might be harmed, even though they have clearly warned certain ships to avoid the area. However, their stated purpose is to stop a genocide in which tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, including men, women, and children, have been murdered. And, in fact, there could be thousands more who are still buried in the rubble from Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing campaign.
“No Business as Usual” means those nations committing or supporting oppression against innocents will not be able to do so without a high cost to themselves.
As individuals and relatively small groups struggle against nations with large armies and immense resources, sometimes we have no choice but to respond to those who are committing war crimes and crime against humanity in an imperfect way to deter them. They must know that if they continue to harm others, it will not be cheap.
Rights Hawks and unREVISE will support many of these efforts by trying to spread awareness and building a following of people who believe in such slogans as “No Business as Usual” and “No Justice, No Peace.” We will report on and comment on such efforts around the world.
Together, we can make a difference–and maybe even save lives!
