Rory Winter
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Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 1107
Location: Free Scotland!
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 Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 7:57 pm Post subject: The Way Forward - Solidarity |
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The Way Forward
http://www.icssa.org/what_to_do.php
| Quote: | | The following is a Paper by Abid Ullah Jan, a Canadian Muslim and Director of the Independent Center for Strategic Studies and Analysis, calling for a common struggle against totalitarianism. |
The only solution:
Presented in the conclusion of A war on Islam?, written in 2002.
A felicitous conversation between two characters of Robert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons” goes like this:
Sir Thomas More: The Law, Roper, the Law, I know what is legal not what is right. And I will stick to what’s legal…
William Roper: So now you’ll give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?
Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
More: And when the last law was down, and the devil turned on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast – man’s laws, nor God’s – d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?
In real life, Thomas More would have been decidedly of the view that there was something called the law of nations, which was prior to and above the laws of England. Since September 11, 2001, no such awareness seeps through the thicket of ignorance in the West. Ever since, the media prosecution has proven Muslims guilty of terrorism and all justifications are being put forward in support of cutting down all international rights, laws and codes of ethics to eliminate “the evil.” A war on every aspect of Islamic civilisation under the banner of “war on terrorism” is considered a panacea to all ills afflicting the United States. But, is it the only solution?
The post September 11 experience further forces us to ask: has the US occupation of Afghanistan reduced the chances of any attack on its interests? Would support of dictatorships in the Muslim world eliminate threats to US security? Would the US-backed drive for secularisation substantially reduce anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? The answer to all these questions is an emphatic “NO.” The only solution to eliminating anti-Americanism and the subsequent anti-Westernism and associated violence for the establishment in Washington is to live and let the Muslims live with the same rights to liberty, independence, sovereignty and dignity as it wants to enjoy for itself. This solution can never be materialised as long as the US does not feel concerned about the rights of Pakistanis, Egyptians, Algerians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Kashmiris, Chechens, etc., as much as it is concerned about the rights of Muslims to throw off burqa, shave off their beards and adopt any of the lifestyles from straight to bi-sexual, homosexual, transsexual and omnisexual. The Muslims’ collective rights as independent nations are as much important as individual human rights of their public.
The implementation of the aforementioned solution depends on overcoming the following basic hurdles of misconception on the part of the US and its Allies. These misconceptions can be discussed, debated and implemented in one go or in phases, but the idea to continue living with them will never help the US achieve the objectives that it expects to achieve through its “war on terrorism.”
* Misconception 1:
Global apartheid will survive: The first misconception of the US and its Allies is that Muslim nations will ultimately learn to live with the pervasive inequality, unlimited double standards and domination. Calls from the Muslim world for equal rights, as enjoyed by other “civilised” nations, are labelled as the voices of extremists and terrorists. The American “war,” if it is indeed launched for peace and not domination, can only succeed if it is free of the hypocrisy, cynicism and partisan exploitation that surround it. Liberty and independence is as dear to the Palestinians and other Muslims around the world as they are to Americans. If other countries do not have the right to impose or overthrow governments in the US, UK, then neither do they have the right to overthrow populist governments in Muslim countries. Twentieth century colonialism has led to international apartheid. However, quelling Muslims’ resistance to repression and domination is a short-term policy, because regardless of their economic, technological, organisational and military weakness; and political instability, Muslim nations will never surrender their rights to live as equal nations in the world.
* Misconception 2:
Authoritarianism is bliss: This misconception leads to yet another myth that US interests can be safeguarded forever through imposing, sponsoring and sustaining pro-US authoritarian regimes in Muslim countries and that is a lesser evil. Just a year ago, the US could not do “business as usual” with “dictator” Musharraf, but suddenly all the principles went up in smoke and he is now the most beloved “President” of Pakistan. Considering authoritarian regimes as bastions of US interests is one of the main impediments to the US understanding the suffering of the Muslim masses. The unrepresentative governments like Hosnie Mubarak, Islam Karimov's and Pervez Musharraf will not remain a blessing for the US for too long. Once they start backfiring, the global apartheid will crumble just like the colonial empires of the 20th century.
* Misconception 3:
Secularisation will dilute the Islamic threat: It is an extremely disappointing fact that the US and some opportunistic Muslim leaders have started presenting the establishment of an Islamic government as a threat to civilisation. Global efforts are underway to secularise all Muslim states, keeping Turkey as a role model before them. Such attempts ignore the fact that Islam is not an “ism”; nor any degree of manipulation can make it so. By dislodging the Taliban government in the most illegal and inhuman way, the US is trying to establish that all the propaganda against the Taliban regime was based on facts and that any government established in the name of Islam will be a copy of the Taliban government. To make secularism palatable, the war against the Taliban was underway since long. Long before the final showers of cluster bombs, the US was raining down dollars to buy out Muslim scholars and the close associates of Mullah Omar, for influencing major decisions. All these efforts paved the way for demonising the Taliban as much as possible, and the idea of an Islamic state. The fact, however, remains that the task of diluting Islam in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, etc., is daunting and its consequences will be far worse than allowing Muslims to form and run governments of their own liking. For this to happen, the US has to get rid of its morbid dread of Islamic states. If allowed to flourish on an equal footing, such governments would be more sincere and friendly to the US than self-centred despots.
* Misconception 4:
The root causes can be ignored: The fourth hurdle to realising the only solution is the wrong assumption that the US will win the “war on terrorism” without specifically addressing its root causes or defining the meaning of terrorism. Taking advantage of the ambiguity, politicians and governments worldwide have expanded the war against terrorism by re-designating their own enemies as terrorists and extremists. This has been easy because Washington's definition is elastic and arbitrary, and it has cut down many laws that could hinder the smooth implementation of occupation and repression of Muslim states.
Indian exploitation of the politico-religious conflict, Russian reinterpretation of its war on the Chechens, and Israeli attempts to consummate its occupation are but the initial pinpricks compared to the impending horrible consequences of the US’s ambiguous war on terrorism. The US needs to stop its disregard of the plight of the oppressed by labelling it as propaganda of the terrorists. Life is not so different under the direct occupation of Israel in Palestine and indirect US domination in Egypt or Pakistan. The marginalized masses are growing entirely insensitive to violence and the value of life. There must be some reason that they not only dance at the death of Americans but also when their own brothers and sons blow themselves up.
* Misconception 5:
Propaganda and lies will endure:The recent success of Western news channels to lie about almost every aspect of the Muslim world has embolden American policy makers that they will forever maintain their supremacy by concealing the facts from their public and make them love and hate personalities, nations and different issues according to the strategic priorities of Western capitals. They ignore the fact that people on both sides of the artificial divide are seriously looking for change.
* Misconception 6:
The UN can be exploited indefinitely: For maintaining the status quo in the international apartheid, the US believes that it can enjoy forever the unchallenged, one-against-all position with its veto power; that it will continue to use the UN as an oppression-legitimising agency; and that its managers of genocide will indefinitely bow down to US pressure. Keeping the growing resentment against US policies in mind, one can safely predict that an upheaval in the Muslim world could soon trigger a rejection of the unjust and undemocratic UN mechanism.
For peace, the US has to make a war on injustices. Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa has been a proponent of what is probably the best way to fully reconcile differences and expose injustices. In this age of global apartheid, we now need his "truth and reconciliation commissions" on an international level for exposing and acknowledging all the bad, dishonest and evil things, done by all sides, with the hope of getting justice, making restitution, and trying to prevent them from ever happening again. This is consistent with the statement, "the truth will set you free" and this is one of the ways towards the only solution.
The proposed international "truth and reconciliation" commissions need to be independent and without any power, with anyone, to veto the truth. There are too many good Muslims and good Americans, that would hate to see an escalation of war between people who should be best partners in peace, except for the acts of a few terrorists, dishonest leaders and broken promises on all sides. Unfortunately, any future acts of terrorism against the people of the United States or the continued unequal treatment, occupation, repression and killing of Muslims around the world will not lead to greater understanding of the problem or justice for people who do have genuine grievances. The US cannot make the world a better place by cutting down all the laws while crusading against the devil in others. All of us need to honestly face the mirror, no matter how hard it may be and how long it may take.
What to do?
Presented in the conclusion of a book “After Fascism: Muslims and the Struggle for Self-determination, 2006.
What is the next step for Muslims and non-Muslims who are not interested in wars and domination, and who are helpless before the might of the oppressors, but want change nevertheless? The truth-tellers’ strategy of exposing the facts rightly began by focusing on the atrocities of the United States and its allies over the last century. Now a longer-term approach is needed, one that will serve human interests and human values, and one that will ensure equal opportunity for all to freely live their own way of life.
The good news is that besides those individuals waging wars to impose a convoluted form of democracy on the Muslim world, there are people—mostly non-Muslims—who are struggling as a counter force. They expose the truth that would provide a viable collective solution for bringing the values of liberty and freedom into the structure of the state. This struggle on the part of reformers in the United States and elsewhere is the way of a future, pregnant with the possibility of Muslim success in their struggle for self-determination and self-rule.
Besides, both Muslims and non-Muslims struggling against the fascism of our age need to demystify the myths, which have not only pitted Muslims and non-Muslims against each other, but also Muslims against Muslims and vice versa.
The world is observing the historical process with its eyes open. There are analysts realistically examining each new situation. They foresee its possible consequences, warn of its dangers, and indicate the correct course. In everything essential, their analysis and prognosis have been confirmed by events.
Despite all this forewarning, if the Americans and the British, as well as the Muslim opportunists, choose to remain silent and let the modern day fascists lead the world into the ultimate tragedy of human history, they will have no one to blame but themselves. Even at the time of Hitler, no one could imagine the impending wider war. It was a British Prime Minister who gave Hitler the benefit of the doubt, as the majority of the Muslim and non-Muslim world today is giving the super fascists a deal, hoping upon hope that they are treading the right way to peace; while, in fact, they are heading towards bloodshed and crimes against humanity that history has not seen so far.
The problems of modern-day fascism—its manifestations, its underlying causes, and its propensity to meld with other social and political conflicts—make it an extremely complex issue. There is no one correct approach or response, and there certainly is not one identifiable “fix,” particularly in the absence of an alternative model for human governance and due to the determination of the fascists never to change course. Even for the reformers, truth differs, and people struggling for real democracy and freedom have no solid system to offer. Presently, their force is limited to identifying problems and crimes of the empire and to putting the guilt of the responsible individuals and organizations into proper perspective. What is called for is a mixed approach that rests on a firm and decisive commitment to the fundamental American values of freedom, justice, and equality.
This approach seeks to strengthen and foster the development of solid opposition to the creeping tyranny. In the post-9/11 environment, Americans have had the opportunity to forge alliances in the name of public investigations, public hearings, inquiries, and other joint forums. These processes have provided them with the opportunity for interaction and the necessary flexibility to deal with different settings appropriately, which has reduced the danger of the unintended negative effects of their struggle to unearth roots of the parasitic, fascist system. Those roots are the collection of immensely wealthy multinational corporations and Islamophobic alliances of different shades and forms. The worldwide acts of the modern day fascists can only be understood as serving the interests of big business. The following outline describes what such a strategy might look like:
Demystify the myths that the Muslim struggle for independence and self-rule is directed at destroying the West and that the non-Muslims struggle to expose the truth is nothing but concoction of conspiracy theories.
Compare crimes of colonialism with those of fascism and terrorism and show the world that the colonial curse never ended. It has taken the lives of more people and committed more crimes against humanity than any other ism or ideology. The roots of current regional and global problems lie in continued colonialism. Without this realization and understanding, it will be hard to identify the right solutions.
Support the anti-war reformers first, promoting their research about 9/11 in particular by providing them with a broad platform to articulate and disseminate their findings. 9/11 has become the Achilles’ heel of the overt and covert fascists who have been ruling and maintaining the status quo for so long. These peace activists should be cultivated and publicly presented as the face of contemporary America.
Support the findings of the truth diggers, some of which are still under the influence of corporate media to some extent but support its conclusions on a case-by-case basis.
Encourage institutions and programs that promote international harmony and respect of others’ way of life and right to live independent lives without the influence of the totalitarians in London and Washington.
Expose the hypocrisy and double standards of the corporate media, which has already lost its grip due to the force of Internet. It would keep the pictures from Abu Ghraib to itself if it had been confident enough that this evidence of U.S. atrocities would not spread like wild fire if it fell in the hands of alternative media.
Support alternative media sources, which are fast becoming the real mainstream. Keep them viable against the so-called mainstream media. The world still has time to take action before the fascist totalitarians slap some unprecedented kind of restrictions on the Internet when they see their fig leaves falling apart.
Finally, oppose the Zionist-fascist alliance energetically by striking at vulnerabilities in their fake claims for democracy and human rights, exposing things that neither the tyro-idealists nor the consummate fascists can afford to go public: their lies, their deception, their brutality, their ignorance, the bias and manifest errors in their application of foreign policy, and their inability to lead and govern.
Some additional, more-direct activities will be necessary to support this overall approach, such as the helping break the Zionists and fascists’ monopoly on defining the values for which they hardly hesitate in taking thousands of American and others’ lives; and promoting the books, other work, and websites of reformers in the United States, and using popular regional media, such as radio, to introduce the research and thoughts of reformist Americans to broaden the international view of what the world is actually facing due to totalitarian designs of the modern day fascists.
Muslims and non-Muslims need a mutual understanding to join in a common struggle to avoid unnecessary losses as the totalitarian forces see power and dominance slip out of their hands and go ever more out of control.
_________________
One Planet - One People - One Destiny
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