We Charge Genocide: Redux & Nous accusons de génocide: bis repetita

This piece analyzes some of the most recent pronouncements of international bodies on Palestine, to surface what they have chosen to  condemn as violations of community norms. The expressive power in naming  a given situation of mass atrocity a genocide or not, a crime against humanity or not, and so forth, has  social meaning and effects that are independent from legal connotations.  Yet, power has often resolved the question of who is entitled to define  and invoke these charges legally, socially, and practically. In this  context, appeals for more international law, or to the rule of law, and  universal principles, must be sensitive to how law is made, how it  operates in practice, and how it is often selectively applied and  enforced against racialized others.