Genocide in Duluth
Authors note: As I was finishing this article the news of a tentative ceasefire in Gaza was announced. This is good news, but there is no indication this agreement will result in peace in the region. The root causes of the conflict are not being addressed. The blockade of Gaza is not being lifted. Hamas remains in place. Israel’s attitudes toward Palestinians remain unchanged. The U.S. support for Israel remains unconditional and likely to get worse with the new administration. Therefore, the message of this article remains relevant.
“If the U.S. and Israel can spin mass murder in Palestine as not just defensible, but even positive (“defeating Hamas terrorists”), what hope do we have as a species? Is this the future we have to look forward to, an endless echoing of our murderous past?” William Astore, retired USAF officer and commentator on military issues.
The genocide in Gaza has been going on for 16 months. Recent casualty reports list 55,192 killed, including 17,492 children, 11,000 missing and 107,338 people injured.
These atrocities have been committed with the full political, financial and military support the United States. Both political parties and many Americans support Israel in killing innocent people. Many prefer to “spin mass murder” as acceptable and justified with no empathy for the Palestinians and no remorse for being complicit in genocide.
Since the 20th century all our wars have been fought in other countries. Despite millions of American casualties and broken lives coming home from these wars, the vast majority of us have never suffered the devastation of war. We have been detached observers with little empathy for the victims of our militarism.
This article asks people to consider what life would be like – and how they would feel – if a similar tragedy came to Duluth. What if the Twin Ports had been subjected to decades of ethnic strife, with the dominant group imposing a repressive system of economic and political apartheid? What if Duluth had suffered under 76 years of occupation, 17 years of military blockade and 16 months of a genocidal bombing campaign?
Imagine living in a situation where St. Louis County (the Iron Rangers) have been waging war on the residents Duluth. Since 2007 Duluth has been surrounded by three layers of walls, fences and military fortifications. The lakeshore and bay are booby trapped. There are only three points of entry and exit that are guarded with access severely limited. Most air travel is prohibited. Imports and exports are also severely restricted.
The city is dependent on St. Louis County for most of its water, electricity, fuel and medical supplies and other necessities. Electricity is intermittent and 78% of the piped water is unfit for human consumption. Even in good times unemployment is 45%, 65% live below the poverty line, and 80% of the population (half of whom are children) depends on foreign aid.
Gaza and Duluth are similar in geographic size. Gaza is only 25 miles long and 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide (141 square miles). Duluth is 27 miles long and (if we add Proctor and Hermantown) 118 square miles). The populations are very different (2.3 million vs about 100,000) but for our purposes the geographic size comparison is apt.
Now image that for the last 16 months the Iron Rangers have been conducting a genocidal war on Duluth. The homes, hospitals, schools, churches, businesses and refugee camps are being bombed, shelled and invaded. There is no safe place to flee or take shelter.
Since October 7, 2023, the proportional damage in Duluth has been:
- 7500 people killed, injured or missing. Over half of the 2500 killed are women and children
- 80% of the city is ruble, 88% of schools, 68% of streets, 68% of cropland destroyed.
- Water, power, and fuel supplies have been cut off or disrupted.
- All the hospitals are damaged and half of them destroyed. Infectious and other diseases are rapidly increasing.
- Unemployment is 80% and the economy is in total collapse.
- 95% of the population (95,000 people) is suffering “acute food insecurity” and many are dying of starvation and dehydration.
The Iron Ranger military forces have illegally blocked or limited humanitarian aid coming from Canada and Wisconsin. And the Russian government continues to send the Iron Rangers billions in military aid and supplies.
You may think this scenario is far-fetched. But these are the statistics on Gaza reported from reliable sources. Given our government’s complicity in all this, one wonders when the rest of the world will declare us a “rogue nation?” When will sanctions be imposed for our frequent use of military and economic violence toward other people and nations?
As the journalist Jeremy Scahill has written, “If we lived in a just society, one which was governed by a rule of law applied evenly and fairly to all nations, U.S. officials would be appearing in international war crimes tribunals alongside the Israeli leaders whose criminal actions they are facilitating in every measurable manner.”
Although the current killing may temporarily stop with the ceasefire, none of the injustice suffered by the Palestinians has been resolved. The conflict in Palestine will continue to fester as it has for 75 years. The United Nations website says, “From the Nakba – a catastrophe marked by the destruction of Palestinian communities and the displacement of a majority of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 – to this day, the Palestinian people have experienced constant dispossession, displacement, and the denial of their human rights.”
Khaled Quzmar, the Director of Defense for Children International – Palestine, has written, “Palestinian children in Gaza are undoubtedly targets as repeated Israeli military offensives destroy their homes, schools, and neighborhoods, as Israeli forces use U.S.-made and funded weapons to kill them and their families with impunity…While people protest in the streets, world leaders…lack the temerity to end the catastrophic and unprecedented destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza. We need the American people to join us to force an end to this genocide.”
William Astore, sums up the situation, “…when countries make genocide…possible and defensible (as a sign of uncompromising “toughness” and perhaps the defense of “freedom”), you know that their leaders are …morally obtuse monsters… And who or what are we if we choose to follow such monsters?…We are certainly not a peace-loving people trying to live up to the ideals on which our nation was founded.”