内容摘要：Writing in defence of Palestinians – of their humanity, dignity, and rights – is not meant, nor can it be dismissed, as a polemical provocation.

Writing in defence of Palestinians – of their humanity, dignity, and rights – is not meant, nor can it be dismissed, as a polemical provocation.

The money laundering plan Rushwaya outlined to our reporters involved using dirty cash to buy Zimbabwean gold — which our reporters could then sell in the international market in exchange for legitimate money.The dirty money would be flown into Zimbabwe on Angel’s plane, which would circumvent customs checks because of his diplomatic status. “I’m always available, I’m here at your disposal,” she told Angel, on a phone call where the plan was discussed.

Rushwaya did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for a formal comment about the investigation.Ewan Macmillan aka Mr GoldPattni’s arch-rival in Zimbabwe’s gold-smuggling industry, Macmillan is loud and loquacious. He was first jailed for gold smuggling in the early 1990s, when he was just 21 years old. By his own account, he has been to prison on several occasions since then.

Now, he partners with the same Zimbabwean state machinery that once used to arrest him. Also known as Mr Gold, Macmillan is among a set of smugglers — including Pattni — who each work with Zimbabwe’s state-run refinery, Fidelity. He is also an acquaintance of Simon Rudland, a Zimbabwean millionaire who has been accused by South African authorities of money laundering.These smugglers have deals with Fidelity to deliver a quota of gold bought from small-scale miners to the refinery. They then export it to Dubai and provide hard currency for the Zimbabwean government. But like Pattni and Angel, this mechanism allows smugglers like Macmillan to also launder millions of dollars.

“There is an opportunity, a hell of a big opportunity to wash money here,” he told our reporters. “I can give my partner gold in Dubai and he can just pay you anywhere in the world.”

Macmillan did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for a formal comment about the investigation. Rudland said that all allegations against him were false and formed part of a smear campaign by an unidentified third party.Returning means tackling – head-on – the mess, the contradictions, the tarnished ideals of a battered nation still worth the imagination and effort.

Public figures ought to leverage their popular platforms not just to condemn, but to galvanise, to convey resistance not as elitist scorn but as shared obligation. That would impress more than a pointed opinion column in the New York Times or a thread of disparaging tweets ever could.Zelenskyy knows that hard work is always done on the ground. This is where returnees can make a tangible difference – not as saviours parachuting in, but instead as allies to like-minded collaborators who do that hard work without notice or applause.

Trumpism may be ascendant, but it is not invincible. What it fears most is solidarity that bridges class, race, and background – solidarity that declares that America is not Donald Trump’s to disfigure or define.The bruised and disillusioned exiles can reclaim their rightful place in that grave fray – if they come home.