Who Gained from
the Cartoons?
By Paolo Pontoniere
An Italian priest
in Turkey, murdered. Some of "Old Europe's"
embassies burned. A great deal of mass protests
even in Europe's old squares. Twelve caricatures
of the prophet Mohammed appeared to coalesce the
Muslim world in a way that not even the invasion
of Iraq had achieved. In fact, not one of America's
or the UK's embassies were ever torched on that
account.
As a European transplant in America, I can't help
but wonder why, of all times, is the Muslim world
ablaze with outrage now, over 12 cartoons? I can't
help but think it has more to do with political
opportunism by some political quarters than with
religious zeal.
I don't mean to dismiss or underestimate the revulsion
that my Muslim brothers and sisters rightly feel.
As a Catholic who has had to endure on many occasions
exposure to lampooned images of a pregnant Virgin
Mary, the constant defacing of the image of Jesus
or hearing the Holy Pope dubbed an "old fart"
by members of other religions, I truly understand
their anguish and rage. I wish I had words good
enough to soothe their wounds. That said, we must
try to make sense of what is happening, because
history teaches us that in instances of political,
social and religious disturbances, someone always
gains and someone who loses. So, who are the winners
and losers in the cartoon controversy?
Certainly, the United States and the United Kingdom
can now divert the attention from their violations
of human and religious rights and refocus world
attention on the records of governments that stand
in the way of their efforts to win over Muslim masses
around the world. Forget the US record on torture
of Muslim detainees, or the UK's complicity with
America in preparing the ground for the Iraq invasion,
or the latter's checkered treatment of Muslims and
immigrants at home. Now, both can be holier than
the opponents of the invasion -- Scandinavians,
Germans, French -- by taking the side of the aggrieved
Muslims.
Al Qaeda must also be included in the winners' column.
Having been recently marginalized by the electoral
processes in Egypt and Palestine, Al Qaeda is again
in the middle of the game and able to stir the fire
of extremism among the masses for whom it has done
very little.
Al-Fatah is also a winner. It is no mystery why
the principal attackers of the European Union's
diplomatic legation on the Gaza Strip were Fatah's
militants, and not those of Hamas. Al Fatah is trying
to recover its recent loss in the polls by trying
to out-militant Hamas; so are all the forces who
saw in the Hamas electoral victory a sign that the
Bush administration plans for the region were finally
working and that even the most extreme elements
of the Palestinian Intifada were becoming a central
part of the Middle-Eastern political process.
Also Iran, which has it own issues with the EU on
nuclear proliferation and has been recently referred
to the UN Security Council, has found fit to call
people to the streets to denounce European "evildoers."
Needless to say, the assassination of a Catholic
priest in Turkey, the attacks on EU's buildings
in Beirut and the Palestinian territories and the
destruction of the Danish and the Norwegian embassies
in Syria will play into the hands of anti-immigration,
anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi European forces. They
were already clamoring across Europe for the expulsion
of immigrants. They want to strongly curtail immigrants'
right to live according to their religious beliefs
inside the EU; now they've been "proved right"
by the Muslim outrage. Right-wing politicians in
Italy, France and Denmark are now framing the whole
issue as a clash of cultures and warning that Muslims
are attempting to take over Europe. The manifestations
in London, where a little group of fanatics promised
a new July 7 (train and bus bombings), have been
broadcast globally. Anti-Muslim zealots don't need
to speak anymore. Muslim fanatics are now speaking
for Islam's believers across the world.
Among the losers, of course, are Europeans, who
have been lumped together as anti-Muslim. Forget
that up to now, the Europeans have been the major
contributors to the Palestinian Authority's budget,
that it was Europeans who provided refuge to Ayatollah
Khomeini when he had to seek asylum abroad. Forget
that it was the European extreme left that supported
Iran's mujahedeens in their fight to free Iran,
and the Palestinians in their quest to free their
land. It is Europe that now looks anti-Arab, even
though Europe voiced the strongest opposition to
the US-UK military action in Iraq.
European Muslims unfortunately now risk suffering
Europeans' potential wrath for the actions taken
by their counterparts in the Middle East, Asia and
even some European capitals.
It's a pity that all of this should take place while,
according to the Helsinki Federation For Human Rights,
public awareness against Islamophobia is on the
rise on the European continent. Let's only hope
that the voices of reason and wisdom on both sides,
such as that of Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who has
reaffirmed the primacy of justice, love and brotherhood,
can overpower the forces of doom and despair and
those who seek a needless revenge. – New America
Media
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