As the BBC reports, thanks to the Israeli blockade, the Gazan people are at the mercy of profiteers like this one. And just like any profiteer, he's making millions. A Marxist viewpoint also saw conflict as a money making enterprise for both sides, and this, unfortunately, is proof of such. The Balkan Wars, for instance, were equally to do with battles to do with controlling black marketeering lines than the superficial fight for religion and nation. This reminds me of a song by Bosnian musician Said Jušić, recorded in 1992 when his city of Tuzla was besieged and lacking regular supplies of electricity, called 'Sverceri, ratni profiteri' (Black Marketeers, War Profiteers).
Quite an interesting song as it details the real wartime experience. The lyrics say that he can't find a cigarette or any basic items for the love of money, but go to these black marketeers and they're like a pharmacy, and they casually ask 'so what do you want?', insinuating they have everything available. Subject for another blog post in future, this song was rare in its honesty for the time, as a majority of the songs produced then in ex-Yugoslavia were either escapist or, to put it in the words of the amazing Kim Burton, evidence for war crimes.
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