Our Mothers Cry Loudest

"Until the philosophy which holds one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there is no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war"

- Bob Marley, "War"

This week has seen pervasive and quite sympathetic media coverage of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza strip. We have been treated to images of anger, frustration and despair as people have been forced to abandon their homes and become essentially refugees in their own land. The outpouring of grief is genuine and even Isreali Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was moved to tears over the situation. Palestinians however might be excused for wondering why their refugees (who number in the millions) rarely get such a sympathetic hearing. Which of course leads us to that wonderful phenomenon of perceived media bias.

The reality is that most media outlets either conciously or subconciously tend to pander to the biases of their readership. The same is true in Melbourne, New York, Beijing and Islamabad. Despite this however, consumers of news in the West certainly expect the HeraldSun and the New York Post to hold a higher standard of reporting than the People's Daily and the Pakistan Times. Unfortunately this belief is largely unfounded. The last few years have seen Arabs and Muslims demonised most unfairly. In Australia, this has included the shameful casting of asylum seekers as villainous criminals bordering on the sub-human - a portrayal that was shamelessly exploited by the governing Liberal Party to return to power in the 2001 elections.

This pandering to our tribal instincts, our fear of the other, is the key factor that lets governments fight wars in our name and run roughshod over civil rights at home. This division of society into "us" and "them" creates a climate where dissenting opinions are howled down. It leads to a racist and gruesome exchange rate of death where the deaths of "our folk" are only pushed off the front page as a result of thousands or more deaths of those "others" not in our tribe. Where the tears of our mothers outweigh the torrent of tears coming from the other side.

If we can't get past our own base instincts, see past the inflammatory rhetoric and see the other side as the same as us - human beings, we don't stand a chance to solve the problems we face. When we let fear and racism triumph over rationality, we are binding ourselves to a future of unending hatred and war.