A Wake-Up Call in Favor of Truly Oppressed Nations

How moving it is to witness the moral compass of the international community sputter back to life. The conscience of the world has stirred, the drums of righteousness are beating, and the UN General Assembly is convened once more – to debate, of all things, yet another declaration of symbolic solidarity. One might have hoped for a resolution on Tibet. Or the Uyghurs. Perhaps even the Kurds. But no. The honor of global attention falls yet again on a nationhood concept cobbled together more by grievance consultants and destruction squads than by historians.

This is not to belittle all oppressed peoples – far from it. There exist, in this wide and weary world, actual communities with actual histories, genuine languages, functioning cultures, and the small inconvenience of having been ignored for centuries. Permit me to mention just a few of these: The Basques, who have spent centuries enduring the slow suffocation of Spanish uniformity. The Catalans, whose passion for self-determination is met with the cold fury of Madrid’s constitutional articles. The Corsicans, who alternate between nostalgic nationalism and forced Parisian bureaucracy. And, of course, the Kurds – the largest stateless people on the planet, heroically split across four repressive regimes, yet mysteriously absent from Western virtue-signaling rituals.

What unites them? A real language. A real culture. A real identity. And zero chance of being invited to the diplomatic masquerade ball in New York. Unlike the so-called “Palestinians” – a people largely invented in recent decades for destructive purposes – the following groups possess all the essential attributes of true nationhood: distinct languages, rich cultural traditions, and an unshakable sense of identity. Many of them have waged a determined and often heroic struggle for freedom and sovereignty over decades, if not centuries. Therefore, I raise my voice – and encourage all conscientious nations (including Israel, for reasons of poetic justice) – to immediately recognize the following states:

• the Basque Country
• Catalonia
• Corsica
• Kurdistan

As for the finer points of geography, security logistics, or the ever-thorny question of fair highway tolls – these can surely be addressed in due course, ideally through constructive dialogue with the states currently exercising illegitimate control over the regions in question. It is particularly fortuitous that Spain, France, and Turkey have recently positioned themselves as impassioned champions of Palestinian statehood. One may therefore reasonably expect them to show an equally warm and open-minded attitude toward these far more historically justified claims to independence. They simply need to be introduced to the idea – it’s bound to spark enthusiasm.

Let this be the beginning of something real. A world less obsessed with hashtags and more committed to history. Further recognitions are under review, pending the availability of moral clarity and decent internet access.

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