The War of Terror Against the Muslims

[tom]

Some years ago, I was in Delhi and an Indian told me with great certainty:

“Look anywhere in the world where there is war or problems and you will find Muslims behind it.”

He was, of course, talking about conflict zones like Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, riots in Paris by North African Arabs, uprisings in Thailand, China and Indonesia, not to mention the communal violence in India. Throw in the crusades and at first glance the history of the Muslims can be seen to be closely intertwined with violence and war.

Certainly that’s the impression you get reading any newspaper these days or watching any TV report. Despite the politically correct declarations of Blair and Bush that they have no issue with the majority of law-abiding Muslims, the climate is one of fear, suspicion and xenophobia. The Muslims are violent, they hate our way of life, they oppress their women.

In fact, the climate of debate is so extreme now that it seems a relatively moderate opinion to associate terrorism and Islam in the same breath – and even if the average Westerner is too liberal to say so, the sentiment is already there in the heart.

The truth is, the current witch hunt against Muslims and Islam in general is just another example of how the masses can be swept up in hatred and fear against a section of the population deemed to be responsible for all that’s gone wrong.

The Church used to whip up similar hatred against witches, the Nazis against the Jews and the Americans used fear of communism to justify almost everything they did for almost half a century. I remember when the Berlin Wall came down, people joked that they’d have to find a new enemy fast.

And they’ve found it. Islam represents the greatest single social and sometimes political alternative to the Western consumer dream. It’s often a backwards, archaic alternative where the common folk are manipulated to suit the agendas of those in power but it does represent a way of life that has all but disappeared in the West.

But as anachronistic as Islam appears, for the majority of the past 1400 years it was light years ahead of the Christian west. Whereas even 100 years ago women were the legal property of their husbands in most of Europe, lacking the vote or any kind of basic rights, Islam had guaranteed a form of child support and social respect for women since the 7th centuries. The veils over the face and relegation to the kitchen reflect more cultural extremes than religious commandments.

As much as anything, Islam is a victim of the times. Human society and culture are changing at exponential speed, side by side with technology and the economy. With only the oil to guarantee the wealth of the Arab Gulf, most of the Muslim world has been cut off from the fruits of the 20th century by combinations of colonial misrule, geographic isolation and tyranny across the world.

Sure, Muslims are in armed conflict across the globe – but only because in most cases they’ve been systematically oppressed and marginalized. Take the 1993 riots in Bombay where the local police actually aided the Hindu nationalists to burn the homes and murder the families of thousands of Indian Muslims.

But that’s all hidden from the Western media. All we see on TV are images of fanatics, suicide bombers and armies of men with their bums in the air at the Friday mosque. Head to any Muslim country though and try to walk around for more than a day without someone trying to feed you or pour tea down your neck.

‘The guest is the face of god’ is a sacred commandment to practicing Muslims and the hospitality is unparalleled. Save for where bands of the fundamentalist faithful have been stirred up by militant groups, you’re far safer traveling in most Muslim countries than anywhere else in the world.

The world is changing fast and Islam isn’t. Tradition and the example of the Prophet must be followed to the letter, the religion says, so change and modernity are hardly welcomed with open arms.

Yet change is almost certainly inevitable. Human nature is pretty damn similar whether in Dubai or Dublin and head to any Arab country and you’ll find bunches of young guys who spend most of their time thinking about girls. They like to listen to rock music and they love to watch movies.

Sure, governments such as the regimes in Iran, Algeria and Syria are corrupt and brutal – but most of the population agree. The Muslims on the ground are no more to blame for their fanatical leaders than Americans are for having a death-wishing Christian fundamentalist in charge.

People are just people and it’s awful to see the Muslims demonised in this way.

[markymark]

Good points. This is well-written and I agree. I always have felt that the appropriate way to deal with people is to take them on an individual by individual basis and never let generalizations cloud your view of people; that said, I also think certain stereotypes can keep you safe. Not necessarily in this case, but I feel that overall visual impressions gathered in the moments prior to meeting someone (or going someplace for that matter) can play a very important role. I don't let this hinder my interest in getting to know people, but it will determine the level of caution I bring to initial encounters.

I recently saw some article about how the entertainment media (so not journalists in this case, but that is an arguable point) portrays Muslims as antagonists all the time and how that is hurting the image of Islam. I understand their point, but I always thought it was the suicide bombers that were hurting the global perception of Islam. Obviously, that's not a majority, but I heard a comedian say that a fundamentalist Jew won't turn on the lights on Saturday, a fundmentalist Christian will knock on your door to attept to convert you, but a fundamentalist Muslim will blow himself up in a crowded area (the actual wording and delivery were funnier).

I don't make judgements about your everyday run-of-the-mill Muslims just like I don't want to have judgements made of my for being from the US.

[ohio]

Yeah, good points, and I too agree that islam is an incredibly hospitable religion, but there is alot of responsibity for the current global conflict in the hands of muslim extremists. It does seem like everywhere in the world where islam meets other religion there is violence, and islam did spread by the sword. The Koran gives contradictory messages on how to deal with other "peoples of the book", but parts do call them infidels and say to push them off their land.

Of course, Islam does have a right to want to protect it's culture and has been under attack for a long time. Right now, it's pretty damn obvious that the entire world is fed up with America's greed for oil and is fighting back, from Venezuela to Indonesia to Iraq. Islam ia a very strong geopolitical force and is obviously winning in this new global war. Israel lost it's war in Lebanon and the USA is losing it's ass in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush's failed policies both domestically and internationally have brought about a real decline in American power and an incredible global power shift.

I personally am glad that Islam is fighting back. Regions and cultures need to unify to resist the horrid corporate infection. I won't go so far to say that al Qaeda is right (for fear of getting thrown in Guantanamo Bay), but maybe they represent the most important force in the anti-globalization movement. Maybe radical islam can become a model for resistence that could be used by socialists in latin america, for example. I better just shut up, god knows these maniacs in power don't give a shit about democracy or free expression.

[Tal]

Good stuff Tom. Really liked the article. Not alot of people realise how contemporary and liberal islam once was, but sadly, like organised religion itself, it is dated.

I think you're right. Even in the most non prejudiced individuals it's tough to fight the seeds that have been planted. I'm muslim myself (not a very good one if the truth be told), but ask me what image pops into my head when you say 'terrorist' and it's the image of an islamic suicide bomber. Probably wearing a black and white head scarf and screaming 'Allah Akbar'. I can intellectualise all day long that 'terrorists' exist all over the world, come from all cultures and religions, and are for just as many people 'freedom fighters'. But i still have this immediate mental image. The seeds are still planted no matter how aware, well meaning and well travelled we are. Such is the power of the media.

And even political correctness is used as a tool by the media to segregate and demonise further. Take Christmas. In all my life I have never met a Muslim in the UK (and i've known a fair few including obviously members of my own family) that objects to Christmas, either the use of the word, or it being celebrated in schools or what have you. Yet here, the media were telling us that we were offended by it. Well meaning christians even say things like 'happy holidays' so as not to offend us. It all just goes to fuel the fire. The image that the mulsims who aren't terrorists are still awkward fundamentalist 'who come to our country and want to ban xmas blah blah blah', when it's all simply nonsense.

All in all it's a sad state of affairs. An age old trick used by governments to deflect attention from the problems within, and blame a common enemy for the problems of the world. It probably won't be sorted out until there is a new enemy to start gunning for.

Oh yeah, and that stand up commedian guy might have mentioned that fundamentalist Christians run the world's most power country, start wars and kill thousands for oil and may or may not have orchestrated the events of 9/11 (Sorry - just watched 'Loose change' - google it if you have't seen it, worth a watch), while fundamentalist Jews will relocate, murder and oppress an entire race to support a biblical claim for land.

Suddenly blowing yourself up doesn't seem so bad.....

[jim]

http://digg.com/politics/The_War_of_Terr...he_Muslims

Some comments on this article from Digg in case you're interested.

[Ataman]

Dear Tom,
I happen to be a Turkish Muslim that has lived my entire life in Australia.  I thank you for posting the above.  Fundamentalism is a curse in which ever religion.  Religion is a system of beliefs and values, for many years the moderate Muslims have not had their voices heard in the media.  The media want to sensationalise news stories to sell papers and make money.  The Muslim world is made up by and enlarge of Moderates, yet when we write to the Newspapers and or politicians condeming people like Osama Bin Laden and other MUSLIM TERRORISTS the papers do not print our articles.

In Australia for example their is an idiot called Shiek Hil Alaly (or however you spell his name) The Australian media have called him the leader of Australian Muslims or the Mufti of Australia a position not recognised by thousands of Australian Muslims, yet every time this idiot makes a stupid comment the media portray it as him making it on behalf of the Thousands of Muslims that live here.

This site is fantastic because people really only get to know each with travel and dialogue.  Your experiences and what you have written are indicative of that.

I just want to relate an example if I may after 9/11 (which was a huge tragedy) and the bullcrap that those who killed themselves in those planes would go to heaven is not in the Kuran or anything similar, but I'm getting off track.  Muhammed Ali the boxer was at ground zero inspecting the site, (and we all know he is suffering from Parkinsons disease) a journalist asked him how he felt sharing the same religion as the people that caused that devastation, and he replied to her, "How do you feel sharing the same religion as Adolf ?"

Which I thought was quite insightful, that comment however was not publicised as widely as some of the illiterate Muslims playing and cheering in the streets after those MURDERS.  Those scenes were replayed over and over again in an attempt to marginalise all Muslims.

We the wider community need to hold to account the huge money making media cartels to accountability and transparency.  I am not talking about putting restrictions on freedom of speech but making sure what the media portray is the full truth.  Let me show you what I mean by reproducing for you what Justice Brian Sully of the Supreme Court of NSW said at his retirement function after 18 years on the Supreme Court bench;

"The media, as we know, react with savage vindictiveness to any attempt to apply to them those standards of transparency and accountability that they are insistent on applying to other people … The media are not a constitutional arm of government … To suggest that [they are] is legal fiction, a political subversion and a moral absurdity. The media are major money-making cartels. They are not knights in shining armour. Their agenda is power. Their strategy is fear and their tactics are a combination of ridicule, sometimes of the most savage personal kind.

The media deal in lies and worse, "finely calibrated half-truths"; they fuse fact and opinion, and there's been a campaign in recent times in the Sydney metropolitan media "which in my time has never been surpassed for the persistent, wilful and vicious mendacity with which it has been conducted.

It's about time the Bar Association did something about it,, It should take the fight to the media by insisting they say not what they are against, but what they are for."

I couldn't possibly of articulated that myself better what a legend.

Cheers to all.
Ataman  

[olddog]

Yeah, nice stuff.

You know, Ronald Reagan's secretary told Congress that the environment wasn't worth worrying about because 'in all honesty i don;t know how many generations we have left until the Lord returns'.

So if we're talking about scary fundamentalists threatening our very way of life, we don't need to look any further than the elite power set of america who currently surround Bush. We're fast over-populating, over-polluting and using up every resource we can.

As resources begin to run out (oil, water, food) the convenient thing to do is follow the examples of past empires and build huge standing armies and declare war on enemies without and within the state. Sorry Muslims, you're just the most convenient target.

Islam is a mad desert religion founded by someone who thought the world was flat. Just like Judaism. Just like Christianity. In addition, Islam and Christianity are practically the only two religions that insist on trying to convert non-believers. They've both spread by the sword and are both easy banners to whip up hatred and war.

Then again it was only recently that the Hindu nationalists announced they were forming their own suicide squads to keep up with the Muslim threat...

[markymark]

i just want to add that i agree with tal about the whole fundamentalists of other religions thing. muslims are not the worst thing out there, and i wasn't trying to imply that so much as go along with the whole idea that actions by the few are blown up (pun not intented) by the media - and a lot of the worse actions are hushed - but all bias aside these things do happen. you just need to read between the lines a lot.

also, i'm getting this vibe that as a general concensus on this thread that bush is a fundamental, fanatical christian... let's be clear that he is about as christian as he is a texan: just enough to get a vote. neocon america uses christianity as a foil to swing votes their way, but they are not christians when it comes down to it. ministers preaching against gay marriage only to be found strung out on meth with a male prostitute? it's political name-dropping when they mention god.

[Tactless]

Whereas it's possible Bush might be faking it, he professes to be extremely religious and he IS surrounded by nuts who think the world is 6000 years old.

Check out the Guardian on Bush as a fundamentalist Christian

and the war of fundamentalism

So whilst fundamentalist muslims may be blowing up buses, fundamentalist christian forces are killing tens of thousands of civilians with bigger bombs dropped from planes. 50,000 civilian dead in Iraq alone.

Or remember when Clinton bombed Sudan? he hit a pharmaceutical factory that made medicine against nasty local viruses - with the factory destroyed thousands as a result of not having medicine. Westerners don;t know about that but you can that almost any Muslim living in the Middle East does.

[ohio]

The number is way, way higher than 50,000 man. You probably need to add another zero to that, not to mention 2,000,000 refugees. Bush is worse than saddam