Al-Ahram Weekly | Readers' corner

		21 - 27 November 2002 Issue No. 613 Readers' corner	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Cartoon by Ossama Qassim

A thousand words
Sir-- Thank you for publishing the photos of the prisoners being transported on the C-130 military aircraft along with the article 'An insider's job' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November). These only present a tiny portion of what really happens. As a trained sociologist in the interpretation of photography as applied to human behaviour, I invite you to take a closer look.
The shackled prisoners are sitting on blue and white underpads, which indicates they are forced to sit in their own urine, excrement and filth probably for the duration of the flight and long afterwards. I am sure these underpads are used only to protect the military equipment. Please take note of the photo of the soldier identified as MP (military police) standing over a prisoner with shackles, bindings, goggles, and face mask. This prisoner's head is twisted to his right, straining in an avoidance posture with neck muscles protruding. It is without a doubt and a certainty that the prisoner cannot see or hear and his spoken words are muffled. So why is his head twisting away from the MP who is standing over him? It is obvious the prisoner has been beaten, slapped and/or punched by the MP.
Upon closer inspection of an enlarged photo, the MP appears to be holding a small rod of some sort in the palm of his hand used to strike the prisoner. The use of this type of hand-held device is illegal. I am sure that further inspection of these photos will reveal other questionable tactics and violations of human rights.
R Akana
Nevada
USA

Deceptive rhetoric
Sir-- If a referendum were conducted today among the people of the United States, the result would show that the overwhelming majority are opposed to war, notwithstanding the rhetoric of our politicians. Any foreign journalist who states that there is a war fever among the people of the United States mistakes the statements of some of these politicians with the desires of our people.
Many in our nation do not understand why our government has alienated itself from the Muslim world which, like all other people, are our brothers before God. Many in our nation are opposed to the identification of our government with the State of Israel in its oppression of the people of Palestine. We are well aware that there has never been in the United States a national, forthright discussion of the relationship of our government with Israel and the risks attached to that relationship.
The notion of the existence of a pro-war unified front among our people is one of the grotesques of our political culture. It is a mask worn to deceive the innocent and to put the torch to the fires of war.
Harold Reynolds
Scarsdale, NY
USA

Doing as the Spartans
Sir-- I think Mr Cook's article 'Finishing the job' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November) on the dilemma currently facing Israel is one of the most perceptive ones I have seen on this subject. However, he uses an analogy with South Africa's former apartheid state that I think is wrong or at least imprecise. A better comparison would be with the Helot system imposed by Sparta on its subject population 2500 years ago.
Consider the similarities: The Helots were, like the Spartans, ethnically Greek; they spoke different but closely related dialects of Greek; the Helots were forced to live in the countryside and perform the lower forms of labour although they were not slaves in the ordinary sense of the word; Helots had no rights of any kind; killing Helots was a favourite sport of adolescent youths; and as a result of all this, Helots were constantly rebelling in both large scale actions as well as smaller conflicts. One result of this is that Sparta became a garrison state, and men spent most of their lives either in the army or in the reserves.
What gave the Spartans the idea that all this repression was just? The Spartans were Dorian Greeks who invaded the area around Sparta probably around 1000 BC. They were driven by a myth that they were descendants of Hercules who had once ruled the area; the land was theirs by right of inheritance. It was to use a more current phrase a "myth of return". They were justified in treating the Helots (i.e. the people who were already there by right of their ownership). Perhaps the Spartans thought of themselves as a disinherited people without land, looking for a land without a people (at least a people of any importance).
S G Briggs
New Orleans, Louisiana
USA

Useless banter
Sir-- Regarding 'Learning through letters' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 November). I myself am not eagerly anticipating the verbal tennis match between Saudi and American intellectuals. They are all spokespersons for power. The Saudi and American governments obviously differ greatly in their characteristics, but each abuses power to the detriment of their populations.
The American government is the seat of an empire, and all empires practice aggressive foreign policy. The Americans now have a government that shows increasing indifference to the health, wealth and safety of its own people. The repressive nature of the Saudi government is well known around the world.
So ultimately, having these experts, these intellectuals or spokespersons for power, bandy words about the injustices perpetrated by others will serve no purpose other than to amuse those of us who have a dark sense of humour.
Gerry Durkhov
Toronto
Canada

Bad favour
Sir-- I agree with your article 'Protocols, politics and Palestine' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 November) that the furore of the Bush administration, Israel and the Jewish lobby in the US over the Egyptian television series Horseman Without a Horse will probably result in record number of viewers, reinforcing anti-Jewish hate among it's viewers.
But the argument in your article defending this production -- that this is a public display of Egypt's "freedom of the press" -- won't hold water with those who know about the Egyptian legal system. There is enough real material for the Egyptians to use to defame Israel without having to resort to regurgitating old anti-Semitic myths.
How would the Egyptians like it if Hollywood made a major motion picture demonising the Muslim faith with a mixture of fact and mostly horrid anti-Muslim fiction about their designs for global domination?
The Arab Anti-Defamation League and every other major Arab/Muslim organisation would attack the production as provocative and inciteful -- which is exactly why the Bush administration, Israel and the American Jewish lobby are against this production.
Shep Fargostein
Memphis, TN
USA

Doing justice
Sir-- Several letters in Readers' Corner in the last issue (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November) were repetitious arguments denouncing "the shocking racism" of Mohamed Sobhi's Horseman Without a Horse. It seems that the letter writers were genuinely worried that the TV series' exhibition of the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion might actually incite Arab hatred of Jewish people and Zionists.
Hello?! Arabs have not been in love with Zionists for quite a while now, and it has little to do with Mohamed Sobhi or the fake protocols. It has everything to do with the endless practice of terror by the state of Israel -- the murdered children, the forbidden lives and the abducted lands of Palestine -- not to mention the violent ripples of instability that Israel has (maybe forever) created for the whole region.
"Arab" discontent with "Jews" is reactionary and mostly Israel-focused. It is not supported by a racist ideology and would not stand alone if Israeli transgressions in Arab life were to disappear. Arabs hold no fundamental convictions against Jewish people per se -- only against those aggressive ones who have abused and continue to threaten our lives from Israel.
Those displaying agonised indignations over the broadcast of anti-Semitic propaganda would do better to channel their moral energies towards the defence of an impartial justice for Arabs and Israelis, and in fact for everyone else on the planet, ahead of community loyalties.
A secular democracy integrating all of historical Palestine, or a viable separate state for Palestinians (instead of the silly joke proposed after long years of Oslo talks) would be a good first step to that end. In such a context, when the Palestinian people are first afforded an equal right to even exist, passionate protests against anti-Semitic language or negative media messages would be more appropriate.
In today's reality of Israeli military occupation and state-terrorism however, those protests can only make a peripheral statement, and one that reeks of hypocrisy. Justice on the ground is what the Middle East needs. People are being killed.
My thanks to all the staff for a wonderful and important newspaper.
Tarek Elshimi
Cairo
Egypt

Preaching hate
Sir-- Several of your readers have recently sent letters denouncing a TV series 6000 miles away. Meanwhile, those same readers have been turning a blind eye to a hate show that has been airing in their own living rooms for more than 10 years.
I am talking about Evangelist Pat Robertson's programme The 700 Club. This programme has been consistently demonising Islam and Arabs through repeated lies, and is constantly preaching hate among its viewers against anything related to Muslims or Arabs. We must cease allowing such hate-inciting shows on our own TV stations before lecturing others on what they should show on their own TVs.
Ricky Johnson
San Jose, CA
USA

House of glass
Sir-- I have several questions concerning the campaign to ban the TV series Horseman Without a Horse. The series had not been shown yet anywhere in the world, so how does ADL know its contents? Why are all those Al-Ahram Weekly letters with unproven accusations based solely on ADL rumours? Have they seen the TV series in their dreams or is this a new wave of intellectual terrorism? The US Embassy in Cairo is always blabbing about freedom of speech in Egypt, so why is it now against it?
Why hasn't Richard Boucher -- or any of the numerous politicians who are trying to ban this TV series -- ever even questioned the repeated showing of Steven Emerson's Islamophobic production Jihad in America on the federally-funded PBS network? That show is filled with forgeries, lies and hate incitement against Islam and Muslims and is responsible for several hate crimes against Arab-Americans.
Why hasn't any of those politicians said a single word of condemnation of the bigotry exhibited by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson? Why have those politicians never questioned Hollywood's constant portrayal of Arabs as villains in its movies?
Instead of writing letters based on rumours and unproven accusations, why don't those Al-Ahram Weekly readers address the facts in the latest report of Human Rights Watch (14 November), on the hate crimes against Arab and Muslim Americans to know what hate speech has resulted in.
If my house is made of glass, why am I throwing stones at others' houses?
Ayman Adeeb
Michigan
USA

Serving the enemy
Sir-- I agree with Salah Eissa's comment in 'Protocols, politics and Palestine' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 November).
The issue in my opinion is not about dramatising Zionism, but to deal with Zionism head on and to get rid of all the Arab despots who serve nobody in the region but the interests of Zionists. Only when the Arabs adopt the Iranian model of politics will they make a mark and gain respect on the international arena. It is unfortunate there is none so far.
I am not trying to be cynical about the above issues, but trust me what is to come is worse than what you see in Palestine and Iraq.
Abdo Rabbo
London
UK

Press tigers
Sir-- Your brilliant journalist Amira Howeidy who wrote 'Secret dialogue' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November) deserves all the praise due to her, she's doing a great job. I wish her the best success.
I read your publication, although it is not entirely independent, to spot all the young tigers of journalism. I can foresee a wonderful journalism future.
Ramadan Jarbou
Weisbaden
Germany

Hope in the young
Sir-- I read Al-Ahram Weekly frequently and enjoy the articles by Edward Said because they are profound and usually easy to read. I am glad that he is in a position now to observe the divergence between the majority of Europeans and the new emotionally swayed group in America as seen in his article 'Europe versus America' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November). Have these matured as an integral part of our newer technology generation? It seems to me that older, wise men have been absent and dictatorial rule has been given the stamp of approval.
I hope, dear Professor Said, that your voice will be heard throughout American academia by our students. They are the only hope for peace in the world.
Boris Rybka
Philadelphia, PA
USA

Beyond fundamentalism
Sir-- Edward Said is always intelligent and nearly always right, or at least pertinent and penetrating. It is unfortunate that in his interesting article 'Europe versus America' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November) he should make himself vulnerable by asking how anyone could love anything as abstract and imponderable as one's country.
Robert Frost somewhere in his essays has answered this question, but I would even appeal to any man's remembrance of his own boyhood for the love of place, family -- for those familiar lost things with which love of one's country is lastingly fused.
I do say, however, that his critique of American fundamentalism is welcome and urgent, although as one long-trained for the Lutheran ministry and spending about a decade in the ministry (latterly Unitarian), I know that the problem extends far beyond fundamentalism, which is itself a reaction against the underlying problem -- of radical doubt and decay in one's religious convictions.
We Americans have in the Protestant churches an intimidated ministry because the congregations themselves demand this, lest the drastic existential situation be exposed.
Ernest Werner
Trumansburg, NY
USA

Déjà vu politics
Sir-- 'Europe versus America' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November) is an absolutely great piece by Edward Said.
I wonder how many Arabs are aware of how downright weird and dangerous the political climate is in this country. For a Vietnam veteran such as me, this is all too familiar.
Cleve Shearer
Bonners Ferry, ID
USA

Wrong side
Sir-- I enjoy reading your Web site, since it gives a different perspective than the one we are used to here.
My comment is that Mohamed Sid-Ahmed errs in his article 'Has World War III begun?' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 November) when he describes the opposing forces in WW1. Japan did not ally itself with Germany, but technically with the Allies. It did not, however, participate in the war other than in a token sense.
William Rigby
Fountain Hills, AZ
USA

Demanding respect
Sir-- I must take issue with a statement made in Mr Salama's 'Carriage before the horse' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November). He states "When preachers close to President Bush (Falwell, Robertson) insulted Prophet Mohamed, Islam and Muslims on US television, no uproar was heard." Mr Falwell received death threats from Muslims in the US and from respected religious leaders in Iran. Half a dozen people were killed in India because of riots over Mr Falwell's statements. Prominent religious and civil rights leaders -- Christians, Jews, Hindus and secular vehemently denounced and protested his remarks.
Yet it is clear, both from the tone and content of the article, that Mr Salama is playing to the self-pitying audience that seems to make up quite a bit of the Muslim population. Many of his statements are false but they feed into this fanaticism that is often prominent in the Muslim and Arab media -- the need to see oneself always on the receiving end of injustice, never on the giving end. This is especially dishonest considering how frequently Muslim religious leaders encourage hatred against other religious groups -- hatred that is quite frequently acted upon with violence in the name of Allah.
The only religious hatred that sparks an uproar in the Muslim world is when it is against yourselves. When do you protest to defend Jews, Christians and Hindus from disrespect? Never. Therefore, who are you to demand that the world care about you. You never demand that Muslims give respect, only that they receive it.
Bryan Hagerty
Portland, Oregan
USA

Merits of self-criticism
Sir-- Thanks for publishing Abdel-Moneim Said's 'Iraq, Sudan and others' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 14-20 November) as well as the other articles in his ongoing series. I think it is a great feather in Al-Ahram Weekly's cap, and a testimony to the fact that freedom of speech is not dead in Egypt, that you would publish an opinion piece that so obviously runs counter to the underlying editorial slant of your newspaper (not to mention running counter to the prevailing political sentiment in your country as a whole).
Here in the US, the greatest failing of the current political debate is that there is only a determined minority of voices in the media who offer useful criticism of US foreign policy. But if Al-Ahram Weekly is any indication (and I'm assuming that Egypt's Arabic press is even more anti-American), there is virtually no one in Egypt encouraging vital self-examination or offering useful criticism of the Arabs' reflexive and all-encompassing anti-Americanism. Abdel-Moneim Said is a refreshing exception to this rule.
I apologise for the dime-store psychoanalysis, but one sometimes has the impression that the reality underlying Arab anti-Americanism is the simple fear of taking effective action. It is so much easier to sit on your clenched fists and curse Israel and the United States for doing ill in the world, particularly in Palestine, while not so much as whispering a word of complaint about the exponentially bloodier conflicts inflicted by Arabs upon non-Arabs and each other.
But of course these conflicts -- Sudan, Iraq, Algeria, Somalia -- are the ones where Arabs might actually be effective in limiting human suffering if they cared to get involved. But it is all too clear to people outside the region that concern for human suffering is not a genuine plank in the Arab political platform.
I think Abdel-Moneim Said does a great service to Egypt and the Arab world by encouraging critical thought on these issues. Now if only more Egyptians would listen closely to what he says, and more Americans would listen more closely to their own critics, we might actually develop a political discourse worth taking part in.
Shahin Abdel-Rauf
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
USA

Well-balanced
Sir-- Regarding Abdel-Moneim Said's 'The perverse logic of slogans' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 November). Excellent analysis, without bias or nationalistic undertones. Well done.
Harry McHugh
Victoria, BC
Canada

Blood money
Sir-- After the dust has settled, after the last blood has dried, and after the last Palestinian has been butchered in Israel -- who bears the greatest guilt? The Zionists who drove the tanks and fired the missiles? Or the Arab nations who stood by and did nothing?
What happened to the magnificent courage and decency of Sallahuddin? Was it sold for American dollars?
Aaron Kfir
St John's, Newfoundland
Canada

Open mind
Sir-- I am an Arab-American who regrettably does not speak or read Arabic very well. I appreciate your editorials that are in English, and truly wish that Al- Ahram would put out a daily newspaper in English. It would be sublime to hear an Egyptian perspective on daily news.
I am among many Arab-Americans who are struggling against the misunderstanding and ignorance of most Americans here. Reading differing news sources helps to balance things out. Everyday I try to read Arabic, Hebrew, European, Australian, Canadian and American news sources. Thank you for your news reporting.
Charles Hall
North Carolina
USA

Bed of lies
Sir-- Shame on you that you lie and stir up hatred amongst your people. The Jews don't "shoot indiscriminately" -- and you know it. It is a shame that you guys are mired in such Third World poverty and can't get out from under your hate and lies.
Please don't for a moment think we Americans don't know the reason you lie to your people. Your newspaper is government-run and if your people didn't take out their anger on the Jews (or America) they'd probably take it out on their leaders who keep them in poverty.
E Sanchez
Los Angeles
USA

Seeing all
Sir-- 'Removing the blindfolds' (Al-Ahram Weekly, 3-9 October) is a great article by Paul Findley. We have read his books and believe he is a great man to speak out about the truth.
Paul and Carol Bradford
Central Massachusetts
USA

No clash
Sir-- The hoped for admission of Turkey into the EU will be one more step towards a refutation of Huntington's ideas of organic civilisational "blocs", in favour of a more detailed and complex vision of the human mosaic.
Clark Taylor
Washington, DC
USA

Going West
Sir-- Shame on whoever was responsible in Egypt for banning free speech. Egypt, which has for long bragged its openness and tolerance for all ideologies and political orientations, seems to have lost its patience with one single man. Is it true that after hosting ousted presidents and monarchs of other countries such as Iran, Sudan and Libya, Egypt is no longer willing to tolerate one single scholar?
I am talking about the known preacher Amr Khaled who has been harassed by some officials for years for guiding youth out of perversion through his moderate and widely received words. It is now said that eventually -- as the rumour goes -- he has been driven out to the UK, where he broadcasts his daily speech from there instead of the large mosques of Cairo. Why? Under what pretext can this happen?
I hope Al-Ahram Weekly, with its bold reporters, dares to investigate this issue. In an era of open skies and trans-global communication, banning enlightenment is increasingly old-fashioned.
Ayman Mohamed
Cairo
Egypt

Bring back the dancers
Sir-- The Aswan Folk Troupe was here in September for only one night in the Spoornet State Theatre. When we found out about it, the tickets were sold out. Can't we have them back? There are lots of us who want to see it, and why was it not advertised in all the newspapers? Bring them back and fast please.
What about a December show?
Gerda van Schalkwyk
Pretoria Gauteng
South Africa

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