International Caucasian Court Arrests Yet Another Brownface

Duterte's prosecution will be celebrated in Western capitals not because it represents justice, but because it provides a veneer of legitimacy to a broken institution.

"This court is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin" - unnamed official to ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan.

The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines, for crimes against humanity reveals not a triumph of international justice but rather the selective application of law that has become the hallmark of our imperial age. The machinery of international justice creaks into motion only when it serves the interests of Western powers or can be deployed against those who have fallen out of favor with the global hegemon.

Let us be clear: Duterte's crimes are monstrous. His self-proclaimed "war on drugs" resulted in the extrajudicial killings of thousands of Filipinos, predominantly the urban poor. He boasted of personal involvement in murder. He joked about rape. The victims of his brutal regime deserve justice.

But the question we must ask is not whether Duterte deserves prosecution – he does – but rather why the machinery of international justice operates with such transparent selectivity.

The International Criminal Court has never indicted a Western leader. Not a single American, British, or French official has faced prosecution for the illegal invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Libya into a failed state, or the countless civilian deaths from drone strikes across the Arab world, Africa, and Asia. The ICC's jurisdiction seems to extend precisely to the borders of Western imperial power and no further.

Netanyahu's crimes in Gaza – documented in real-time, broadcast to the world, and acknowledged by Israeli officials themselves – have resulted in an arrest warrant but no meaningful action. Biden, who supplied the weapons that make this carnage possible, faces no legal jeopardy whatsoever. The message is clear: accountability is for others, not for us or our allies.

The cruel irony of the unnamed official's statement to Khan – that the ICC was "built for Africa and for thugs like Putin" – is that it inadvertently reveals the truth. International justice, as currently constituted, reinforces rather than challenges existing power hierarchies. It is a tool of the powerful against the weak, or against those who have fallen from grace.

Duterte's prosecution will be celebrated in Western capitals not because it represents justice, but because it provides a veneer of legitimacy to an institution that studiously avoids confronting the greatest purveyors of violence in our world today.

The outrage over Duterte must not blind us to this cynical calculus. Justice that is selective is not justice at all – it is merely power wearing the mask of righteousness. True justice would hold to account not just the Dutertes of the world, but also the Netanyahus, the Bidens, the Blairs, and all who have orchestrated mass suffering while claiming to act in the name of democracy and freedom.

Until that day comes, the ICC will remain what its defenders dare not admit: the International Colonial Court, or as some would say, the International Caucasian Court.

- Karim

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