The value of life: recovery or relinquishment

Stark figures

These figures call for more than momentary attention. They demand reflection not only on their sheer scale but also on what they reveal about the place of the human being in the 21st century. They urge us to reckon with the fate of the ordinary individual—those with no direct involvement in conflicts that nonetheless end their lives.

Since the Enlightenment and the rise of European modernity, human life has been regarded as a paramount value, worthy of protection against senseless destruction. The safeguarding of life moved from a religious and moral domain into the framework of international legal responsibility.

The death toll in wars—deliberate undertakings by human agents—became a measure of each side's commitment to humanitarian standards. It served as an indicator of the moral credibility of the political or ideological projects leading the conflict, and as a benchmark of how advanced or regressive a society might be, based on its reliance on violence to settle disputes.

The West often viewed wars and massacres in the Third World—whether in Rwanda, the Great Lakes region, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo— with a degree of detachment. Such violence was interpreted as a product of regional backwardness. Similarly, the wars of the Middle East were frequently dismissed as tribal struggles, supposedly rooted in centuries-old rivalries and destined to continue indefinitely. Atrocities in Cambodia, the Soviet gulags, and the famines accompanying Mao Zedong's policies in China were explained with a mix of condescension about presumed Asian barbarity and ideological antagonism towards communism.

The Holocaust thus occupies a singular position in Western consciousness. It is remembered as a crime produced by the industrial age itself and as a profound rupture with the claims of the modern state, even though Nazism was also portrayed as a regression from those very claims.

A matter of debate

The value of human life has always been a matter of debate, especially when weighed against grand ideals of nation, religion, homeland, or historical mission. These lofty abstractions have often rendered individual lives disposable.

Today, what deserves scrutiny is the still largely unexamined link between the decline in the value placed on human life, evident in rising numbers of war casualties and victims of state repression, and the changing nature of human relations. New ideals have come to dominate public and political life: the relentless pursuit of profit, the unregulated race for wealth, and the ease with which millions are subordinated to immediate material interests.

These shifts can be seen in state policies and reflected in the value systems now promoted under the banners of "success," "the deal," and "efficiency." The result is a steady erosion of the social fabric that once held communities together. The readiness to kill "surplus" populations bears uncomfortable resemblance to the mass dismissal of workers and the elimination of the human element from large swathes of the economy. Both are defining features of the current age.

**This is a direct translation of the oped that appeared in Arabic**