UK Prisons: Humanitarian Concerns Only for Select Nationalities
Al Jazeera reports the 'increasingly likely potential' of Palestine Action hunger strikers dying in UK prisons. These individuals, some held on remand for over a year, are protesting complicity in what they call genocide. Interestingly, while Al Jazeera (a Qatari-funded outlet) covers this, much of the Western press remains largely unconcerned, finding their narrative less palatable than, say,
focusing on 'Hamas accountability' in Gaza. This selective empathy isn't new. It’s the same media calculus that applauds 'democracy' in Ukraine while ignoring the crushing of dissent elsewhere, or frames resistance as 'terrorism' when inflicted by a state with extensive lobbying power. One might wonder if the concern for human life applies only when it doesn't inconvenience established
geopolitical alliances or challenge military-industrial profits. How many days without food constitutes a 'bad look' before intervention is deemed necessary, or is it already too late?