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After the dead are buried and the stories of the survivors come out, we’ll wipe our tears and solemnly say, “never again.�

Until it happens again. Until people are oppressed again.

And it will, unfortunately, happen again. Because we don’t learn from history. Truth is, many of us refuse to even look. We make excuses about if what we are seeing is true. 

This week, Canada, France and the United Kingdom vowed to recognize a Palestinian state. The U.K .added the condition that it will do so if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire in Gaza. Prime Minister Mark Carney called Israel’s denial of humanitarian aid in Gaza a violation of international law. At this point, we can’t ignore the images of starving children and a leveled land. According to the UN, roughly 1.9 million people, 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, have been displaced, most with nowhere safe to go.

In Sudan, the numbers are just as devastating. Their civil conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 11 million. Civilians face rampant human rights violations, including mass casualties and gender-based violence. Like in Gaza, the people of Sudan are being starved – trapped without food, water, or aid.

I saw someone post on Facebook this week questioning whether people in Gaza are truly starving. She believes it is an elaborate ruse of Hamas to engender sympathy in the West. There’s no shortage of misinformation online, but too many credible sources — like UN-backed food security experts — in Gaza. Starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving hunger-related deaths higher every day.

Sudan is a situation that people don’t know about or don’t seem to care about. The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) shows that African countries top the list of the world’s most ignored crises, with nearly all the worst-funded humanitarian challenges located in the continent in 2024. They highlight Cameroon, Ethiopia and Mozambique as the top three most neglected global crises.

In Cameroon, as violence continues between government forces and separatist fighters. More than 1.1 million people have been displaced. Over 2.8 million are going hungry. And more than 246,000 children aren’t in school because of violence, displacement and fear.

“Too many crises across the continent remain in the shadows – ignored because they don’t make headlines, or because they are not seen as of immediate strategic interest to international partners,�

“Crises that knock on Europe’s door – as happened in 2015 [with mass immigration] – tend to receive the greatest media attention, while those far away remain not only out of sight but also out of mind.�

Earlier this week, that conflict-driven hunger is spreading “from Gaza to Sudan and beyond.� He added, “Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war.�

Today is Emancipation Day in Canada. On Aug. 1, 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans across British colonies, including what is now Canada. While slavery was formally abolished, racism, segregation, and systemic discrimination continued, and continue, to shape the experiences of Black Canadians.

The system of enslavement and colonization is the same system that believes it is OK to starve people or ignore their hunger.

The people of Gaza, Sudan, Cameroon and countless others around the world are starving and dying while the world watches. Their oppression continues.

So, as we celebrate 191 years of freedom for our ancestors, we must remember the words of American civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer: “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”