ACTIVIST, historian and journalist Dr Vijay Prashad condemned Israel’s onslaught in Gaza at a packed meeting at Oxford University on Monday evening.

Over 34,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israel so far during its campaign of collective punishment and revenge for the attack on October 7 by Hamas and other resistance fighters, during which 1,200 died and around 250 were taken hostage.

Dr Prashad, who spoke at the meeting organised by the Students Federation of India (UK) at Mansfield College, said there are things about war that rarely get talked about.

He said: “It’s really noisy. But even so, small children are still able to pick out the sound of a drone passing over them.

“War is also very dusty. There is dust and debris everywhere.

“When the buildings in what was a highly developed city were destroyed, tons of plastics and toxic resins were released.”

He said there is also likely to be tons of unexploded ordnance scattered around Gaza.

“The United Nations usually figures that in most conflicts 10 per cent of ordnance [remains unexploded] and takes around 14 years to clear,” he said.

“This means that the war will effectively continue for an extra 14 years.”

Dr Prashad talked about an important new document called Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage.

Authored by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, for which Dr Prashad is the executive director, it highlights five key areas in the international arena.

Three of these — finances, science and technology and control over natural resources — are contested, while two are not, with information such as news as well as arms largely in the hands of the US and its allies, said Dr Prashad.

He points out that around 75 per cent of global military spending is by Nato allies, with the vast bulk coming from the US and its 902 bases around the world. 

This is set against a 10 per cent share by China and around 3 per cent from Russia — both having virtually no bases outside their borders.

Dr Prashad said that socialists need to be clear about “what we stand for” as he slammed the leaders of the US alliance for having no political project.

He added: “We must have a positive project. People need something to believe in.

“We have to stand for something. The question is, what do we stand for?”