By  Mowahid Hussain Shah

Decemember 30 , 2011

Speaking out

 

During a discussion seminar in Washington, a Muslim lady queried an elderly Egyptian academic what to do when Muslims are being constantly denigrated. The response was terse: Speak out. This has not been done well enough and often enough.

The year 2011 has seen the epic unfolding of the Arab Awakening. The fervor and fever of the Arab Street crossed the Atlantic and ignited also the Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate greed in the US. Similar was its impact on the anti-Putin agitation in Moscow. Former US Presidential contender Senator John McCain sent out a message on Twitter telling how the Arab Spring was galvanizing Russia, infuriating Putin who lashed out that McCain had lost his mental balance due to his years as a POW in Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict.

The uprising against oligarchy is basically a fight for core human dignity values. Fittingly, then, TIME magazine has picked the protestor as its “Person of the Year.”

According to the magazine, the protestors are reacting to “sham democracies rigged to favor the rich and powerful and prevent significant change.” Elections are inherently polarizing. They can lead to bitter divisions, as they indeed did 40 years ago leading to the Dacca debacle.

Western polity, too, has been infected by the contagion of obscurantism. America is witnessing a decline of civility in society. For example, Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had the gall to say that the Palestinian people are an “invented people” (without realizing that the same reasoning may apply to the American people.)

There are 57 members in the Islamic Conference plus a mammoth Muslim embassy presence in Washington, not to mention a US Muslim community larger in size than the Jewish and Hindu community combined. Gingrich got away with it because their over-careful mindset makes such outrageous utterances a cost-free exercise. In striking contrast, when Jimmy Carter ran for the US Presidency in 1976, he publicly endorsed a Palestinian homeland. Compared to King Faisal’s bold stance 38 years ago, the Muslim elites now are swayed more by cash than by conscience. Their docility has been the nest that hatched the egg of militancy.

Clouding the picture has been the Iraq misadventure that devastated the US economy to the tune of an estimated 1 trillion dollars, leaving thousands of US soldiers dead, tens of thousands maimed and wounded, and many others with mental health trauma. It contributed to the crushing federal debt, economic downturn, and diminished America. In 2011 – according to new statistics – one out of two Americans is now living at near poverty level.

The dissent of the Arab Street has accomplished what the Arab Elite – with all its size and strength – could not. It has energized grassroots activism around the world. The upper tier may remain shackled and subdued with fear. But the youth-led lower tier by speaking out against despotism – in face of danger and death – is breaking the barriers of fear. It all started a year back when a Tunisian fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, had enough of the humiliation and lit a spark whose flames continue to glow.

 

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Clash or Coexistence?

The Radical Behind Reconstruction

POWs & Victors’ Justice

Islam on Campus

Community of Civilizations

Rule of Law or Rule of Men?

Unpredictable Times

The Quiet One

Turkish Model & Principled Resignations

Live and Let Live

Leadership & de Gaulle

Dark Side of Power

2002: The Year of Escalation

Whither US?

Politics, God, Cricket & Sex

The Company of Friends

Missing in Action : The Kofi Case

Accountability & Anger

Casualties of War

A Simple Living

The Nexus & Muslim Nationhood

The Kith and Kin Culture

It Is Spreading

Road to Nowhere

Misrepresenting Muslims

The value of curiosity

Revenge & Riches

The Media on Iraq

The Perils of Sycophancy

Legends of Punjab

Mind & Muscle

Islam & the West: Conflict or Co-Existence?

The Challenge of Disinformation

Britain on the Backfoot

Paisa, Power and Privilege

The Path to Peace

On Intervention

Countering Pressures on Pakistan

A World at War?

Raising the Game

The Argument of Force

Affluence withtout Influence

The Shawdow of Vietnam

Heroes of '54

The Imperative of Human Decency

Hollywood and Hate

Living in Lahore

Fatal Decisions

Singer or the Song

Arrogance

The Power of Moral Legitimacy

The Trouble with Kerry

Green Curtain

A Nation Divided

Election 2004: Decisive but Divisive

Muslim Youth & Kashmir in America

The Big Picture: Wealth without Vision

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Punishing the Punctual

Change without Change

Don’t Be Weak

Passionate Attachment

The Confidence of Youth

The Other Side of Democracy

Campaign of Defamation

Pakistani Women & the Legal Profession

A Pakistani Journey

Farewell to Fazal

Mukhtaran and Beyond

Revamping the OIC

7/7 & After

Nuclear Double-Standard

Return to Racism

Hollywood – The Unofficial Media

The Sole Superpower

The UN at 60

A Slow Motion World War?

Elite vs. Street

Iqbal Today

Macedonia to Multan

Defending our Own

2006 & Maulana Zafar Ali Khan

Error against Terror

The Limits of Power

Cultural Weaknesses

Aggressive at Home, Submissive Abroad

Global Storm

The Farce of Free Expression

The Changing Mood

Condi & India

Xenophobia

Looking inward

Re-Thinking

A Tale of Two Presidents

Close to Home

Flashpoint Kashmir

The Spreading Rage

Confronting Adversity

The Illusion of International Law

Other Side of Extremism

Five Years after 9/11

The Educated Ignorant

The Decline of Humor

Icons

Six Years of Insanity

The War Not Being Fought

Munir Niazi

Compliance & Defiance

Counter-Message

Miscast

The Goddess of Wealth

The Meaning of Moderation

The Tora Bora of Fear

Clash of Civility

The Early Race

Challenge & Response

Will & Skill

Zealotry

Movie-Media and Pakistan

Hug with a Thug

Quest for Integrity

Unconquered

Vanity

Bringing Back the Past

Stuck in Iraq

Islam, Science and the West

Turmoil over Turkey

Leaders versus Leadership

Might Does Not Make Right

Kursi First

Vision & Will

Battle of the Billionaires

Assassination Alley

Extremism and Change

Rosy Expectations

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain

Not Winning

Beyond Baghdad: Five Years after

The Hijab of Democracy

Hate, Fear & Hope

Weapon of Words

Hide N’ Seek

Yanking in the UN

Obama’s Breakthrough

Let Lahore Be Lahore

National Mood & Sports

Flirting with Fire

Trips Abroad

Georgia on the Mind

Duel for the White House

Zia to Zardari

Palestine: Avoiding the Unavoidable 

Not Working 

In the Ring 

Obama’s America

Smiles & Dreams

Quiet Deeds of Good

Crime and Indifference

Journey of Understanding

VIP-hunting

Terror via Counter-Terrorism

Umpires or Vampires?

The Long Road

Yesterday’s Reminder

Appeasement and the Real Threat

Israel’s Washington Agenda

New Challenges

Cairo and Beyond

Re-fighting Old Battles

America ’s Super Villains

Activism in America

Style without Substance

Overcoming Barriers

Ashes to Afghanistan

The Looming Change

Fear and Possibilities

What Is Not Debated 

Hired Guns

Rampage at Fort Hood

Manmohan in Washington

The Long Duel

Green Nukes

Vision and Division

Avoiding Why

Striving to Matter

Shame-proof

Anxiety and Opportunity

Putting Iraq in America

The Right Strategy

Looking Beyond

Rot at the Top

Strategic Folly

Daring & Caring

Over-Stepping on Turkey

Sudan : Perils of Provincialism

Old Fears, New Target

Europe ’s Stain

The US-Pakistan Enigma

The Status Quo Is Unacceptable

9 Years after 9/11

License to Steal

US Muslims at the Crossroads

Tumor of Terror

An Arab Voice

Disastrous Decisions

Double Game

Sticky Wiki

What Quaid Was Not

Money Conspiracy

Pharaohs & Pirates

Greed and Cricket

Change & Challenge  

Forty Years after 1971

Abandoning Our Own

Rewarding Failure

Osama and Obama

Tsunami of Tolerance

Representation and Presentation

Meek and Weak

Change or the Same?

No Easy Exit

Nation to Non-Nation

10 Years after 9/11

Shining India?

Big Power, Small Politics

Rule of the Gun

Proxy of the Powerful

Fight for Fairness

Republican Race

Actors or Directors



2001

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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