27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
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War of the worlds
Intolerance and fanaticism are descriptive of those who sponsor acts of terrorism, but also of those who blame a religion or a people for those acts, writes Thomas Gorguissian from Washington
The collateral damage anticipated due to an American military strike on Afghanistan has already been done to Arabs and Muslims across the United States, and to those who "look like them." A nation which only a few months ago lauded the multi-ethnic and multi-religious population depicted by the 2000 census results, has done a dramatic U-turn. Fear and xenophobia -- bigotry, one might say -- have crept into a polyglot nation, and speaking Arabic, wearing a beard or hejab, or simply being a Muslim have all come under suspicion.
"Someone who comes in, who's got a diaper on his head, and a fan belt wrapped around that diaper on his head -- that guy needs to be pulled over," Republican Congressman John Cooksey said on Louisiana radio station.
The callousness, while not surprising, still came as a shock. Political leaders are expected to pull the nation together in these tense moments, when hate crimes are on the rise and cultural sensitivities are heightened. A few days later, after coming under severe criticism, Cooksey apologised, issuing a statement fingering Bin Laden as the man he had in mind. "I never intended to disparage loyal Americans of Arab descent."
As with many a nation in crisis, Americans have unleashed both "the best and the worst of America," to use the words of Stephen Zunes, chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Programme at the University of San Francisco. The tense climate created by the attacks -- an underlying sense of the US having reaped what it sowed -- "makes it more difficult for Americans to understand why many people in the Middle East and the rest of the world hate us," Zunes told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Apologies and retractions for political missteps or diplomatic blunders have become the norm in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks. The White House itself carefully apologised for the president's use of the loaded term "crusade." "I think to the degree that that word has any connotations that would upset any of our partners, or anybody else in the world, the president would regret if anything like that was conveyed," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said. "But the purpose of his conveying it is in the traditional, English sense of the word, it's a broad cause."
Not long after Fleischer's partial retraction, President Bush stressed the idea that "Islam is peace" while visiting an Islamic centre. "Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America. They represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behaviour." The message was clear, but it doesn't seem to be getting through. Last week the number of hate crimes reported since the attacks topped 400.
More worrying is the encroachment of enflamed racial and ethnic bias on Arab American's civil liberties. Some 11 people of "Middle Eastern appearance" were either asked -- ordered, in fact -- not to board commercial airliners, or to leave after having done so. In one case the demand of the majority of the passengers became a unified call to throw out the "unwanted" passenger. In another case, Pakistani- American Ashraf Khan was approached by the pilot, who told Khan: "I'm not going to take you. Myself and my crew are not safe flying with you. They don't feel safe."
Mounting tensions have led many Arabs and Muslims to avoid flying and some are even avoiding public places. The phrase "Flying while Arab", as many Arabs have mentioned, has become part of the national dialogue -- an echo of the long-standing African American complaint of being stopped by police just for "Driving while Black."
America is at war, and a war mentality is one that engenders madness and cuts off the voice of reason. Militarism can often "bring up racism, phobias ... and other forms of prejudice," Zunes noted. But the struggle for calm can bring out the best in natural leaders. More than ever, many people on official and public levels -- whether in education or the media -- have been trying to offer the real face of Muslims and Arabs, to differentiate between what has been perpetrated by a few criminals and Islamic beliefs and Arab culture.
Many newspapers and television programmes, both local and national, have raised the issue of ignorance and bigotry, criticising the identification of the Muslim world with terrorism. Efforts to include Arab and Muslim voices, to show a realistic picture of Arab Americans as people just like everyone else, are evident. But they are swimming against the tide. A recent poll conducted by the Siena College Research Institute showed that 34 per cent of New Yorkers favour establishing internment camps for "individuals who authorities identify as being sympathetic to terrorist causes."
A description of such people unfortunately applies mainly to Arab or Muslim Americans. The internment camps set up by the United States to sequester thousands of Japanese- Americans after the country's entry into World War II has long been a strain on the historic record, but lessons from history are rarely learned.
A few days ago it was reported that due to the "diplomatic sensitivities" surrounding the choice of the name "Operation Infinite Justice" for the upcoming military campaign, the name would be changed. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned that the name had offended some Muslims and stressed that the administration wants a name that "in no way at all would raise any question on the part of any religion or any group of people." Cultural consideration or cultural sensitivity is one of the vital components of the desired international coalition.
No wonder in these circumstances that one of the most popular books in Washington currently is Samuel P Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. People have also been looking for Benjamin R Barber's Jihad vs McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World. These two books, as well as any book about Islam and the Middle East, are in high demand.
It is an ongoing cultural war indeed, especially when the question "Why do they hate us?" remains unexplored and unanswered.
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