Skip to main content

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. Omer El Akkad. Key Points and best quotes.

 


Omar El Akkad's "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This" is a compelling critique of Western liberalism, especially in light of the Gaza conflict post-October 2023. Through interconnected essays, El Akkad examines the moral inconsistencies within Western societies, emphasizing the gap between declared values and actual practices. Drawing from his personal experiences—being born in Egypt, raised in Qatar and Canada, and working as a journalist covering global conflicts—he offers a unique perspective on identity, belonging, and moral responsibility.

Key Themes:

  1. Western Hypocrisy and Moral Contradictions:

    • El Akkad highlights the disparity between Western nations' professed commitment to human rights and their actions, particularly regarding the Palestinian plight. He critiques the performative empathy that often conceals a deeper indifference to systemic injustices. As he notes, "Rules, conventions, morals, reality itself: all exist so long as their existence is convenient to the preservation of power."

  2. The Role of Journalism and Media Bias:

    • Reflecting on his journalism career, El Akkad discusses the challenges of maintaining neutrality in the face of evident oppression. He argues that the media often perpetuates biased narratives, leading to public apathy. He emphasizes that "journalism at its core is one of the most activist endeavours there is. A journalist is supposed to agitate against power, against privilege... A journalist is supposed to agitate against silence."

  3. Personal Narrative and Identity:

    • El Akkad intertwines his personal journey with broader political commentary, exploring the complexities of being an immigrant and a journalist in the West. He shares experiences of systemic racism and the struggle to find belonging in societies that often view him with suspicion. He poignantly states, "I live here because it will always be safer to live on the launching side of the ... ."

Omar El Akkad's "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This" offers a profound critique of Western liberalism and its contradictions, especially concerning the Gaza conflict post-October 2023. Here are some notable quotes from the book and others books of him. 

  1. On Performative Empathy:

    • "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this."

  2. On Western Liberalism's Contradictions:

    • "It's difficult to live in this country in this moment and not come to the conclusion that the principal concern of the modern American liberal is, at all times, not what one does or believes or supports or opposes, but what one is seen to be."

  3. On Historical Narratives and Oppression:

      • "While the terrible thing is happening—while the land is still being stolen and the natives still being killed—any form of opposition is terroristic and must be crushed for the sake of civilization." 

4.                On Western hypocrisy.

 West you talk about doesn’t exist. It’s a fairytale, a fantasy you sell yourself because the alternative is to admit that you are the least important character in your own story. You invent an entire world because your conscience demands it, you invent good people and bad people and you draw a neat line between them because your simplistic moralities demands it. But the two kinds of people in this world are not good and bad, they are engines and fuel. Go ahead, change your country, change your name, change your accent, pull the skin right off your bones, but in their eyes they will always be the engines and you will always, always be fuel."

From the book, "On strange Paradise"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

🏗️ Corporate Complicity in Genocide: The Global Economy Behind Gaza’s Ruin.

📅 July 5, 2025 “We are witnessing not just genocide in Gaza—but a genocide made profitable.” — UN Special Rapporteur, A/HRC/59/23 “This report is written from the heart of darkness . It is penned with a broken hand from a broken land for a broken people . But its words are not broken . They are the words of law and of longing . They are the words of those who are not yet silenced . It is written for Palestinians , first and foremost. It is also addressed to those who remain silent , indifferent or complicit . And it is a call to action for those who are not.” — Introduction, UN Report A/HRC/59/23 In an unprecedented and unflinching report to the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has laid bare the truth that much of the world’s corporate, academic, and financial architecture is actively complicit in Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and now, genocide in Gaza. This isn’t just about military aggression . This is about the mac...
3 comments
Read more

The Ceasefire of Exhaustion: When Empires Collapse from Within

  By Malik Mukhtar — ainnbeen.blogspot.com Two years after Gaza was first set on fire , the war that began with biblical vengeance has stumbled to an exhausted ceasefire . On October 9, 2025 , Israel and Hamas — after endless carnage, famine, and rubble — have signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement mediated in Sharm el-Sheikh . Trump called it a “ historic peace plan. ” History may call it a truce of attrition — a war that collapsed under the weight of its own hubris. What the Ceasefire Says — and What It Doesn’t Under the agreement, Israeli forces are to pull back to a designated “yellow line” within 24 hours of cabinet ratification. Hamas, in turn, will release all remaining hostages — alive or dead — within 72 hours after the withdrawal. Israel will free about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, though it made sure to exclude political figures like Marwan Barghouti , whose freedom would remind the world that Palestine still breathes. Humanitarian convoys — food,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tumbling of American Banks amid weak economic data that sparks recession fears.

 " Citigroup led big bank losses with a near 5 per cent fall. Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs fell about 4 per cent each, while JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America declined 2.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively. Lenders typically feel the squeeze as recessions heighten concerns over credit losses due to higher unemployment, while loan demand – a key factor in profitability – also takes a beating." https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/banking-finance/us-banks-tumble-weak-economic-data-sparks-recession-fears
Post a Comment
Read more

WORLD OF EXCESS. Quotes of Corrine Maier

" we live in a world of excess: too many kinds of coffee, too many magazines, too many types of bread, too many digital recordings of Beethoven's Ninth, too many choices of rearview mirrors on the latest Renault. Sometimes you say to yourself: It's too much, it's all too much." ~  " We live in a society of ants, where working and reproducing represent the ultimate objective of the human experience. Work is the opiate of the people; will children be their consolation? A society where life consists of earning a living and raising your kids is a society with no future, since it has no dreams. Having a child is the best possible way to avoid asking what the meaning of life is, as everything revolves around that child, who is a marvellous substitute for the existential quest." "When you are "recruiting" people in temporary positions for the firm ( short term contracts, free lancers) treat them well, remember: they are the ones who actually do a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dr.Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

The first witness is thine own consciousness - See thyself, then, with thine own light. The second witness is the consciousness of another ego - See thyself, then, with the light of an ego other than thee. The third witness is God’s consciousness - See thyself, then, with God’s light. If thou standest unshaken in front of this light, Consider thyself as living and eternal as He! That man alone is real who dares - Dares to see God face to face! What is ‘Ascension’?Only a search for a witness Who may finally confirm thy reality - A witness whose confirmation alone makes thee eternal. No one can stand unshaken in His Presence; And he who can, verily, he is pure gold. Art thou a mere particle of dust? Tighten the knot of thy ego; And hold fast to thy tiny being! How glorious to burnish one’s ego. And to test its lustre in the presence of the Sun! Re-chisel, then, thine ancient frame; And build up a new being. Such being is real being; Or else thy ego is a mere ring of smoke! ...
Post a Comment
Read more