From Los Angeles to Gaza

It has been a while since the air over Los Angeles has been thick with smoke due to this year's first wildfires. Flames have ravaged some of the most prestigious US neighbourhoods, engulfing the mansions of many high-profile celebrities. Shock and distress by the destruction from the Palisades fire has dominated Western media, and rightly so - but, when paradise is set ablaze the response is that of comradery.

Celebrities like Jamie Lee Curtis compared the scenes in Los Angeles to that of Gaza. True, the force of Mother Nature spares no one. However, the destruction caused does not impact everyone in the same way and the distinction ought to be made there.

Despite a shared sense of suffering, we are not all in it together and we certainly do not recover in the same way. The inequities within economic, political, social and geographical landscapes are the indicators of the degree of suffering we experience.

It is the undertone of disbelief that echoes through Western media outlets when those facing a crisis are not people in Africa, the Middle East, South America or Asia. The reporting on the LA wildfires is symptomatic of a culture of privilege that, in the face of chaos, is unable to comprehend the different depths of suffering by systematic oppression and a relentless destruction of a people and its territory.

Privilege is audacious, as it orbits within its own made-up reality. To suffer has become synonymous with the Global South. With over 17,000 children killed in Gaza, the scenes of mothers, fathers and siblings holding the lifeless bodies of their loved ones have become normalised. Equally the tens of thousands displaced in Sudan are statistics whose stories rarely make front-page news. How different would these scenes play out if this was not Gaza but LA?

The politisation of aid in the case of Gaza has demised the standing of Western countries that speak of upholding rights, but simultaneously profit from sending arms to Israel. From the wildfires of LA to Gaza these two very different crises have exposed a difference in political will.

Funding does not pour in the same way as it does when there is an emergency in the West. It is precisely why the comparisons that have been made to Gaza are so disrespectful, rather, compassion should be what needs to surface when as humans we face suffering.

What are the lessons that need to be learnt from the LA wildfires and how can we push for greater care in the narratives that are told? The mobilisation of around 900 imprisoned firefighters to support rescue efforts demonstrates that the ingenuity is there regarding humanitarian response.

In contrast, innocent civilians in Gaza have been left with no recourse in navigating a political and legal abyss. The speeches on human rights and the right to life have not managed to move beyond the walls that contain them. Protection and assistance are a privilege given to a few.

Chaos and suffering will always be a normal part of life; death, illness and calamity are interwoven human experiences. What is not normal is the brutality that humans are waging on each other and the planet. The LA wildfires have also ignited a debate on the double standards that go for the most part unnoticed and rears its ugly head at the difference in response.

The climate crisis is our shared crisis. A crisis that has been a consequence of forced industrialisation financed by the pillage of the Global South. Regardless of postcodes, it is evident that more needs to be done collectively to secure peace. The disregard for another's pain is not an intrinsic human quality but a learnt behaviour from systems that can only survive through the exploitation of others.

At the heart of this disaster, lies human frailty, and although we are in different cabins we remain on the same ship. A backlash to audacious comparisons, and sneers at celebrities that live in different realities from most ordinary folk is a reaction to a symptom, not a solution to the root problem. Who we mourn is politically charged and sobering up to this reality may allow for a newfound sensitivity to make its way back to Western society. How many more wars and disasters will it take for a halt to human induced chaos?