Gaza, South Africa and the Return of the Third World: Toward a Postcolonial Humanism

Abstract

International law has historically served to create exceptions that render acceptable the suspension of liberal normative standards when it comes to violence and suffering perpetrated against non-Western populations. Yet the litigation initiated by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice illustrates the Global South’s unwavering commitment to challenge the international world order through legal means. Can the case of Palestine propel the ‘return’ of the political project of the Third World on the international stage and revive its insurgent and decolonial spirit at the very moment when genocidal erasure looms in Gaza?