Gaza Storm has turned the tide
By Saeed Jalili
Iranian Leader’s representative in SNSC
The United States had established global dominance with a soft image and imposing authority, maintaining its power by keeping a distance from others. The resistance against the dominators was fearless and uncompromising; it rose and progressed. Operation Al-Aqsa Storm shattered the shining example of America’s prestige and authority, delivering irreparable blows to the dynamics of the previous soft and hard order. Order and transformation do not happen spontaneously; they are constructed through proactive actions. If we do not realize the correct foundation of principles, goals, and interests through cooperation, promotion, and dynamic engagement, the wounded hegemony will actively guide the transformations among the ruins toward a new order with a renewed language and explicit goals and actions.
This article comprises three sections. Firstly, we will identify the previous order, examining the thoughts and behaviors that governed the world. Subsequently, by reviewing reactions to the previous order, we will narrate the story of the conflict between the dominator, the dominated, and the disruptor (hegemony, oppression, and resilience). Then, from within that understanding, we will discuss how to seize the opportunities of this era for proactive architecture, finally warning how threats and negligence might again impose the danger of a new order, just like a century ago.
Hegemonic order: A blend of prestige and authority
The current historical order is a fusion of prestige and authority, coupled with a sense of legitimacy and power. Over the centuries, the West followed a path characterized by the expansionist agenda of ruthless colonialism on one hand, and the other, self-centered ideological thoughts. Whenever the balance of power shifted or a new self-centered ideological thought emerged, the self-serving spirit of aggression would prevail, imposing dominance over others. Fatigued from wars and reluctant reconciliations, self-centeredness would retreat, giving rise to a situation called “global order” through a facade of compromise. Thus, each era of the order consists of two pillars: a balance of forces and reconciliation of ideologies; one providing a necessary common understanding for accepting soft relations, and the other ensuring the hard relations to keep the situation in check.
The post-Soviet order aimed for a power that sought to maintain its stability by keeping a distance, and subordinates willing to submit, either willingly or forcibly, driven by the desire for prestige or the fear of authority. Two world wars and a Cold War shaped the prevailing order: soft prestige with the rhetoric of democracy, human rights, freedom, and trade; and hard authority with demonstrations of nuclear capabilities, military alliances, political coups, and economic treaties. Soft prestige accommodated ideologies, while hard authority maintained discipline, ensuring that the dynamics did not spiral out of control. America envisioned its leadership over the world for the next hundred years through a combination of freedom rhetoric and the image of a superpower. In this way, political coups guaranteed democracy, war crimes ensured human rights, and economic sanctions safeguarded free trade.
This continuum of contradictory behaviors not only has its roots in ideologies but also reveals that there is no inherent contradiction in the history of these actions! John Locke sees the end of a state of war as an exit from the natural state by accepting a social contract whose authority must protect the assets of civil society. Anyone outside the civil state of nature has no right to security and participation, even if they are slaves submitting to absolute power. With this situation, it is not surprising that the shareholders of slaveholding companies are called the fathers of freedom and the contradiction does not seem amusing. With this description, when the veto power in the Security Council aligns with despots and discriminatory freedom for a uniformity contract of global civil society, resolutions against technology, coups against democracy, and silence in the face of chemical bombings become the natural state.
The Zionist regime serves as a prominent example to understand these relations; on one side, it is introduced as a “shining example of democracy,” and on the other, it takes on the appearance of the world’s fourth-largest army to recreate the soft and hard relations of the hegemonic order in the global arena. The credibility of the global order’s prestige is also clearly tested here: the same actors who, in the first act, cry out against peaceful scientific activities through resolutions or shed tears for freedom in the face of an incident, in the second act, instead of resolutions, they take souvenir photos with the worst bombers and commemorate the agents of hospital bombings. Here, Jürgen Habermas, in the role of John Locke, steps in to warn against judging child killers. Yes, resolutions and tears are for the preservation of the assets of civil society, and indigenous nations in the natural state have no right to complain about misconduct!
Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and the resilience of Gaza shattered this deceptive prestige and false authority, shaking the foundations of the current global order. Hegemony had constructed a strategic depth with a deceptive prestige and false authority that gained worldwide support through either terror or willingness. Part of the grandeur of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm was in its soft conquests in the hearts and minds of people worldwide, shattering the foundations of the global order in their minds and extending the alignment of right and wrong to the streets worldwide. The hard conquest of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm brought irreversible blows to the current world order, but the soft conquest of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm planted an undeniable belief against the prevalent beliefs supporting the global order in the hearts of tired and strained people. Thus, examining the historical trend of events clarifies how the soft conquest of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm is historically more significant than its hard conquest.
Conflict narrative: Tale of hegemony, subjugation, and resilience
The soft origin and the hard land are the sources of power for nations. The secret of aggression against the identity and lands of free and independent nations lies in the essence of the hegemonic order, which maintains its stability by weakening others. Identity and land are the two fundamental components introduced by nation-states. However, hegemonic powers are only satisfied with a nation-state that accepts their soft and hard relations; otherwise, they not only do not recognize the right to the identity of nations but also have no qualms about their oppression and occupation. The hegemonic agenda over the past century has been soaked in blood as it sought to weaken the identity and lands of the region. Thus, World War I not only ended with the disintegration of the multi-part Islamic lands but also laid the foundation for the imposition of the fabricated identity of Zionism on the region.
World War II handed over the legacy of colonization in the region to American hegemony. The Zionist regime, along with its relations that monopolized arms and nuclear weapons, declared its existence. What America sought in Iran after World War II ranged from coups against national movements to economic dependency and widespread corruption in culture—a series of long-term plans aimed at stabilizing Zionist hegemony by weakening the foundations of identity and territorial power. In the cold of suppression of movements and the warmth of servitude to puppet rulers, amid the decline of internal movements succumbing to collusion with the relations of superpowers, the echo of the awakening cries of Imam Khomeini swept the Islamic world out of its wanderings, revealing the designs of the global order planners and sowing the seeds of resistance across the region.
What the US wanted in establishing Zionist dominance over the Islamic world was, on one hand, a liberal Islam to give in to its relations, and on the other hand, an isolated Islam to suppress. Imam Khomeini challenged both forms of American Islam with pure Islam.
The post-Soviet American era is a close experience for us, wherewith the face of a liberating force of freedom, the US was determined to repeat its military and political gains in Eastern Europe in West Asia. However, against its escalating arrogance, which became bolder with the weakness of nations, the resistance mentality not only did not retreat with fears and temptations but advanced steadily towards the forefront of the decisive battle against the declining superpowers.
The high spirit of resistance led the dreams of American superiority from the wicked laughs in Afghanistan and Iraq to the broken cries of defeats in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza. Despite sanctions, scientific and technological advancements tarnished the tale of the “knowledge gap” and forced the acknowledgment of the “economic superpower” to the humiliating failure of the sanctions tool. Standing firm on the principles of the people and the independence of regional nations contradicted the American democracy’s contradictions in coups against popular rule and collusion with dictators, and support for the formation of ISIS was exposed. Thus, unlike the good times when America accepted division and retreat with deviance and withdrawal from the struggle and progress, the logic of resistance neither trembled with fears nor deviated with temptations, and with resilience in the path of continuous progress, it shifted the balance of power towards the destiny-making battle.
Resistance is an active response to the ambitions of those who, to sustain their hegemonic order, accept fear or temptation towards others while maintaining a weak distance. This succinct narrative is the story of resistance against the hegemony of the ruling power and the subjugation of the dominated. Operation Al-Aqsa Storm must be seen as the latest radiance in the extension of this century-old conflict. What today takes the arrogance of Western superiority, the determination of the region’s achievements, which rises from Gaza one time and then from Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria another time, exposes the reality of force and deceit of the superior pretenders. The high determination and belief in the power of faith of the people are two soft forces of pure Islam that never fit into the foundations of submissive fear and the troubled mindset of terrorism. Resistance, with the efforts of the youth eager for martyrdom over these years, gradually overturned the balance of hard powers and transformed its soft power into the backbone of global developments.
Opportunities for future in proactive architecture
The transformation of the global order is not something to merely observe; rather, the order is shaped through proactive architectural actions, and every one of our behaviors contributes to a part of it. While gradual trends bring about the global order, pivotal moments define its face, much like how Zionists and Americans imposed current relations on the next hundred years of the world after World Wars I and II. What determines future relations in pivotal moments is a clear and robust logic beyond events that guides tough pinpoint actions. For the proactive architecture of the global order, there needs to be a recognition of principles, goals, and interests with a dedicated intellectual foundation and a literary discourse. This enables the harmonization of synergistic forces and the promotion of a new perspective among the nations of the world, preparing minds and hearts for an order without the presence of the arrogant, and ultimately directing timely pinpoint actions towards the course of transformative developments.
Minds must be prepared. This foundation gives meaning to principles, goals, and interests, shaping the literature of the future order. Soft forces in the Islamic world must, along with hard forces of resistance, “prepare the hearts and minds of the people worldwide,” as Imam Khomeini stated, “to reach a peaceful life accompanied by peace and freedom without the dominance of the arrogant powers.” This is the duty of the soft forces of the Islamic Revolution, demonstrating the possibility of a world without American and hegemonic domination and without a security order supportive of oppressors. However, soft warfare is not without substance. The soft forces of the revolution must enhance their foundation and skills for effective participation in this pivotal era. The foundation of soft warfare is “awareness, narrative, and insight,” and the skill of soft warfare is the “art of expression and language.” The futures shaped by pure Islam must be expressed artistically with comprehensive awareness of the narrative of the global order and in the language of each region’s people.
Perspectives must be aligned. Synergistic forces must be recognized and enhanced. The current change in the order benefits all independent and free republics and must be directed towards the foundations of a just global order with faith in the power of free nations. The soft forces of the Islamic Revolution must take advantage of unprecedented opportunities to connect with the hearts of restless people, enabling Islamic nations to actively strive for independence and freedom from the shackles of political tyranny that passively align with global injustice. The soft forces of the Islamic Revolution must take the initiative and, with an understanding of the historical narrative of the global order and regional dynamics, convey the inspiring vision of pure Islamic thought tailored to the conditions of each group of people worldwide, shaping innovative architecture for the future.
This pivotal moment demands timely pinpoint actions. Operation Al-Aqsa Storm was a momentous pinpoint strike at the crossroads of the world, drawing attention to a reassessment of the global order by scattering the chessboard of old and new plans. Although Operation Al-Aqsa Storm unraveled the schemes, a moment of hesitation, weakness, doubt, or complacency is sufficient for the arrogant powers to once again impose a new order on the next hundred years. History has shown that even amid the ruins of previous orders, the arrogant powers do not shy away from designing a new order for their benefit. The active enemy, witnessing the decline of its former prestige and dignity, will embark on more secure actions toward its explicit goals with the same intellectual foundation but with a new discourse and renewed dignity. The mistake is to remain within the outdated imported literature and become engrossed in short-sighted goals and fleeting interests with a confused intellectual foundation, missing out on profound and extensive developments.
Soft victory of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm
The soft victory of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm is more historically significant than its hard conquest. Apart from blatant crimes and endless indecencies, there is nothing left for the swaggering display of false glory and the pretense of dignity by the claimants of civilization and global order. The courage of resistance and vigilant patience have permanently nullified appeasement and suppressibility, marking a new era in the demise of the oppressive order. Now, without hesitation and with proactive measures, historical oversights must be rectified, or else the active enemy and the passive friend will, at will, construct a new order from the ruins of the previous order using more astute forces. This is an instructive story that “it is a peace that blows away all peace.” It serves as a beacon for the repetition of a burst of light that, contrary to the aspirations of the arrogant, steers the course of developments toward the future of Islam, confounding the perplexed eyes of the global populace.