The Politics Of Grief

Norman Geras writes:

> From an article on the aftermath of Beslan by Nick Paton Walsh:

[A]round them are signs of how their grief has been internationalised, appropriated by the various "wars on terror" fought worldwide. The Israeli government has sent hundreds of bouquets that now line the walls along the gym.

It couldn't just be that they were sent in sympathy; it's an appropriation of their grief

I think that Paton Walsh,in his article, rather than trying to suggest that the Israeli government is somehow responsible for "appropriating" the grief of the people of Beslan, is merely pointing to how, because of the shadowy nature of the whole horrific event, that grief has become subject to manipulation from other sources - including the Russian government, which is keen to "internationalize" the Chechen conflict (though only in propaganda terms). Genuine human sympathy, the expression of which the Israeli government was trying to help and facilitate, becomes a political weapon in the hands of ex-KGB operatives such as Putin, whose own regard for human life is almost zero - witness his treatment of the people of Chechnya. It's a tactic that was practised by figures like Beria and Himmler.