By  Mowahid Shah

December 31, 2004

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Extremism and terrorism are the global epidemics of the 21st century in that they prey upon and terrorize innocent lives. “Extremism” and “terrorism” have also become buzzwords of dismissal, terms used to de-legitimize legitimate resistance movements. The talk of terror gnaws at the gnat of individual or group terror while swallowing the camel of state terror.

There has been considerable finger pointing in the West at Muslim extremism and accusations of Muslims waging a religious war.
Central to the spread of zealotry are unresolved hot crisis spots around the world. Most prominent among these is the Palestinian cause. During a recent gathering of Middle East luminaries in Rabat, Morocco, attended by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the common refrain, even among pro-American Arabs, was the need to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestine, along with conflicts in Kashmir, Chechnya, and Iraq, provide oxygen to global unrest.

The Baltimore Sun in an article of November 28 compared Indian-occupied Kashmir with Israeli-occupied West Bank. It made the case that more people have been killed in Kashmir in the past 2 years than in the Palestinian Intifada since the uprising started in 2000. Then, too, according to a Washington Post column of November 29, Iraq is proving to be a morass comparable to Vietnam: “Conditions are getting worse not improving. Let us not take false comfort. Man for man, soldier or Marine in Iraq faces a mission nearly as difficult as that in Vietnam a generation earlier.”

At the same time, it is instructive to cite Sam Harris, a Western author. Writing for the Washington Times on December 2, Harris said: “It is time we admitted that we are not at war with ‘terrorism’. We are at war with Islam. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but we are absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran.”

Recent actions in America – including the increase in police powers – seemingly support that view. BBC reported on December 18 that a Cornell University study found that nearly 1 out of 2 Americans support restricting the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Interestingly, researchers found that those Americans surveyed who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and to support limiting the civil rights of Muslim Americans. Presumably, such support also extends to US actions abroad and to its detention center in Guantanamo. The International Red Cross, as reported in The New York Times of November 30, charged that the US military has intentionally used methods ‘tantamount to torture’ on Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo.

The Christian Science Monitor of November 29 cites a report released by the US Defense Department and written by the Defense Science Board that flays the Bush Administration’s role in the Muslim world. The report says: “Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights … American efforts may have achieved the opposite of what they intended.”

Even the over-cautious UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has spoken of the dangers of Islamaphobia. At a UN seminar on December 7, he concluded: “The weight of history and the fallout of recent events have left many Muslims around the world feeling aggrieved and misunderstood, concerned about the erosion of their rights, and even fearing for their physical safety.”

As if to prove the point, The New York Times of December 12 reported that an Iranian couple working in the US were both summarily fired from their jobs, with no appeals allowed, because reportedly they had failed, without further explanation, a security background check.

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who was the keynote speaker at the December 7 UN seminar, noted that combating Islamophobia must take into account “not only the role of extremism in Islam, but also the role of extremism among Christians and Jews. Muslims must understand and take advantage of the role of the media, as well as of education.” The seminar stressed the importance of making Muslim voices and views heard.

In the post-9/11 world, where scant regard is paid to international law, Muslim scholars may consider presenting their views more forthrightly and less tentatively. The hearing they can now get in the West could be a surprise.

 
 
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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


2001

 

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