In May 2021, clashes in Palestine took their habitual toll of innocent human lives. After a “ceasefire” agreement was reached with both sides unsurprisingly claiming victory, some establishments responded with smears, character assassination, and legal attacks on human rights campaigns. For wary observers, this amounted to a “same [expletive] different day” situation, except that what most of them failed to predict this time, and still struggle to comprehend, are the new “nuances” in public debates. The repeated use of terms like #apartheid, #settler-colonialism, and #ethniccleansing prompted many to ask “Has Israel’s ‘narrative control’ collapsed?” While the usual suspect lineup of commentators and self-anointed experts continue their debate ad nauseam about right or wrong narratives, the real issue should highlight the momentous change in the way people are consuming information and questioning narratives. This discussion goes beyond conversations about the mainstream press’s hard editorial lines and catering to special interest groups
Alexis Baghdadi is co-founder of the SOILS Permaculture Association – Lebanon, and a communications consultant for agroecology donors and grassroots movements
