The Tenebrosity

Bondi and Palestine

Sydney has always been and will forever be my hometown, even though I haven't lived there in half a decade. The sun-drenched beaches, vibrant culture, and bustling streets like those of Bondi's iconic Westfield mall are indelibly etched into my memories. However, what unfolded there the other day was utterly horrifying, terrifying, and despicable.

With the staggering number of casualties – dead, injured, and deeply traumatized by fright – it is undoubtedly a terrorist attack that has rocked this city to its core. To some, labelling it as such may seem premature, but the damage inflicted upon the victims and the surrounding community was nothing short of terroristic. An act designed to instill fear and shake our sense of security. As a nation, we're left grappling with how to make sense of this atrocity on our streets.

Despite not coming across any official confirmation regarding the motives or intentions driving these actions, this was clearly the act of a deeply troubled and misogynistic individual, likely compounded by additional mental health issues. Was he explicitly targeting women? Given the majority of his victims were female, it certainly appears to suggest a conscious and sickening bias. But without a clear manifesto to confirm or refute, all we're left with is the horror of his deeds. Undeniably, the harrowing aftermath has left women feeling profoundly unsafe - a gravity I'd never downplay.

The sobering truth for women in Australia is that you are still most at risk of violence - be it sexual, emotional or physical - at the hands of someone you already know, often in a domestic setting. We are jolted by this incident because it deviates so drastically from the norm; we must resist allowing fear to circumscribe our lives. However, the deafening silence over the relentless, indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian women in stark contrast to the tidal wave of headlines this tragedy has produced is glaringly hypocritical. Our outrage combusts exclusively at violence perpetrated by men against women only when it pierces our privileged bubbles. Where are those same vocal female advocates so quick to decry the "terrorism of womanhood" when it afflicts women in Palestine?! Their silence speaks volumes.

The attack in Bondi feels acutely personal, cutting too close to home for a subset of women here - those who are white, middle class, and exist within the heteronormative status quo. Women who, under most other circumstances, don't have to fathom the perils of being killed by a bomb like their Palestinian counterparts or face unjust incarceration like Indigenous women routinely do. We only seem to pay attention when the threat feels tangible to "women like us."

If the only women we advocate for are those we see reflections of ourselves in, then we have demonstrated that our alleged humanitarian principles and supposed fights for universal human rights are merely extended to wherever our empathy is personally impacted. This strikes at the heart of who we are as a society. Their call to action is because they see this more as a random act of violence that threatens their comfortable perception of their life’s security. Because it means it could happen to any one of them. The privilege of their whiteness, wealth and class status couldn't protect them this time.

Magnify that rage and fear and multiply it by 35,000 for the people of Palestine who face such horrors consistently and as a lived reality of their current existence. We are not more precious or more deserving of human rights than Palestinian women and girls. It's a challenge to our own humanity - which injustices are we prepared to loudly condemn and fight against? Whose human rights do we truly believe are inalienable and universal? The ability to move beyond only advocating for "women like us" is a defining test of our evolution as a compassionate society.

This atrocity in the heart of Sydney has torn open societal wounds and exposed the inequities in how we value different women's lives over others based on demography. As we grapple with the aftermath, we must hold ourselves accountable to being unwavering advocates for the safety, dignity and human rights of all women - regardless of their ethnicity, geography or circumstances. Only then can we truly aspire to upholding the ideals of equality, justice and human dignity that our nation claims to embody.