Artistic drawing of Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque connected by arteries to the Arab world. Photo: Mohammad Nouhad Alameddine/Al-Akhbar.
By Nidal Khalaf – February 13, 2024
The Arab national cause and the war imposed on the Palestinian people has never been and will never be about individuals. Even those heroes who sacrifice the most precious thing a human being can possess and break the barriers of fear and submission with their bodies, even their actions are only valuable in terms of their impact on the community.
However, we live in a world where the individual is manufactured to be an end in itself. Within the existing consumerist system, the individual becomes a commodity that is bought and sold according to the benefit it provides to the buyer. It is on this basis that the phenomenon of the “influencer” has emerged, and it has been grafted onto our Arab societies as a replica from the Western consumerist jungles.
The Arab influencer is a commodity whose market value lies in the audience, i.e., in the number of followers, views, and interactions that the content they produce achieves, regardless of its form or material. The current phenomenon of the influencer is an update to the commodities that were previously offered by the consumerist media system through television programs and websites.
Therefore, we find that the path of development for any Arab “influencer” is essentially the same: it begins with presenting an attractive model that gathers enough followers who become the influencer’s market value. Then, the influencer presents their “goods” to the kings of media empires and the advertising capital of Arab oil kingdoms. The one with the best offer buys them, and the “influencer” becomes a mouthpiece for their financiers by injecting its political agenda (direct and indirect) into the minds of their followers.
The content that Arab influencers produce varies from sports (football) to artistic/social to cultural/political content, and even vacuous content with no substance. If we look at the map of the distribution of financial control over Arab influencers, we will find, for example, that Saudi Arabia monopolizes sports and artistic content, while the UAE focuses on soft content such as science and some art (Syrian artists, for example), while Qatar continues to monopolize political media content through direct control over the news industry and its analysis, in addition to indirect control by strengthening its influence over research and study institutions, social media, and political “influencers.”
This last category constitutes the most insidious type of influencer in a colonized society like the Palestinian society. This is because the influencer with political content contributes to the promotion of the “fast food culture” that revolves around presenting a “take” or “stance” on political events, peeling off information for the viewer in a fast-paced manner that deliberately fragments the information and hides the complete picture in favor of focusing on sensory attraction (visual and emotional). This method of reduction and obfuscation is dangerous for all issues, but it becomes even deadlier when it comes to an issue of genocide like the Palestinian issue.
For Palestinian political content, we see two types of political “influencers”: one that promotes the “fast food” policy and presents the agenda of the funders through emotional-sensory broadcasting, while the other relies on titles (activist, researcher, specialist) to gain legitimacy and credibility to promote the same agenda of the funders mentioned above. It is not shameful to admit that the impact of these people is based on a significant part of the audience that interacts on social media. However, no matter how widespread it is, the poison remains a poison that must be treated.
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As the days go by in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, certain themes have arisen from these Arab “influencers” with political content. For example, we found a quasi-consensus among these influencers (whether they were political researchers in the US or media personalities and comedians orbiting the Arab oil kingdoms) to omit reporting on the events from the other open fronts [in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq] in support of the resistance in Gaza. Some might justify this with ignorance, but it is easy to notice the insidious narrative of “you are alone, Gaza” that relies on downplaying the role and size of the open fronts against the United States in the region. Ironically, these influencers themselves eagerly seek out any Western voice protesting in a demonstration for Palestine to start promoting the melody of “global solidarity” and the discourse of “South Africa is better than all of the Arabs.” This discourse, which may seem innocent or emotional, is systematically broadcast by these influencers to distort the image of the battle and prevent it from taking its necessary radical course.
The harms of this content go beyond simply distorting political consciousness, it also promotes “laziness” in the process of shaping political consciousness. Instead of shaping consciousness through political and social mobilization programming linked to reality and facts, the follower takes the “shortcut” to choose their political positions in the same way they might select cigarette brands in a store. Over time, the follower gets accustomed to this pattern and becomes a parrot repeating the terms and narratives of the “influencer” as if they were absolute truth, regardless of their correctness.
On the other hand, we find influencers with graduate degrees and research centers insisting on showing their obedience to the Western hegemonic powers. They prostrate themselves in the morning to prove their non-anti-Semitism and the discourse of a “common state for all,” and they prostrate themselves in the evening to appease the United States by promoting the myth of Palestine as an island isolated from its surroundings.
These influencers focus on establishing themselves as untouchable gods. You, as a follower, must “pay” the price to attend their seminars! In this way, they put themselves above society, and thanks to the channels, spaces, and support they receive from their funders, they can present themselves as legitimate and credible “representatives” of the Palestinian or Arab voice abroad or in the region. Once this grounding is established, they begin to plant their corrupt seeds by depicting a superficial Arab reality in arrogant ways that have no purpose other than to distort the Arab people’s perception of their own reality.
Despite the differences in methods, both groups deliberately distort the face of the ongoing war and obscure its real parties to secure funding sources and clout.
Imagine, for example—just imagine, no wishes—that the United States’ Al-Udeid base in Doha was destroyed, and Al-Jazeera lost its pre-eminent position in the Arab consciousness. What would be left for these influencers, researchers, and specialists? What halls will welcome them after that? What airtime will be offered to them? It is a direct causal relationship: if it were not for the military base, there would be no security for the oil kingdoms with their surplus of looting, and if it were not for the surplus of looting, money would not have been spent on these influencers to spread their content and promote them. So, the US military base is a necessity to secure the livelihood of the Arab political influencer, including the Palestinian one. If the military base disappears, the star that all those planets revolve around will be extinguished!
This topic may seem small compared to the size of the events happening today, however, the battle of consciousness is a daily jihad that must be fought without hesitation or procrastination. Our role today is to protect ourselves and future generations (for whom this content will be an essential part of the process of the formation of their political consciousness) from disguised and malicious phenomena.
If our position was behind in the battle until now, let us make “The Flood” a gateway of righteousness and reclaim our respect for our minds and dignity. Political awareness is not developed through the money from the puppets of the United States, and a political stance consistent with the will of the nation and its right to liberation and dignity will remain alien and besieged as long as the looted Arab oil continues to finance the machine of our extermination and enslavement.
In the past, poets were the tools of the sultans to anesthetize the people. Today, the sultans’ contempt for us has reached the point of anesthetizing us with clowns. Will we accept it, or are we the people of The Flood?[¹]
[¹]Translators Note: The author uses “the people of The Flood,” referencing a previous article, to describe the political and sociological shift from the mindset of the era of the Arab Spring which prioritized individualism and not threatening the United States, to the mindset of the era of Al-Aqsa Flood which recognizes the US hegemony as the primary enemy, and which supports armed resistance and prioritizes the Arab national liberation struggle against Western occupying powers.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/DZ/SC
