At 2023’s UN climate conference in Dubai, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro warned that the war on Gaza was a ‘rehearsal’ for the violence powerful nations would deploy against the Global South in a climate-ravaged future. By aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide, rich carbon-guzzling nations were offering a preview of the type of force they too would be willing to use against poorer countries going forward. As global crises collide, Petro argued that the lack of international action on Gaza risks ushering in a new age of impunity – and the poorest nations will bear the brunt.
He did not perhaps expect to be proven right so soon, or so close to home.
