No pride but prejudice
By
Salama A Salama
The threat of war continues to loom over the region as Muslims say farewell to the holy month of Ramadan. Inspections have already started in Iraq, but continuing US threats against that country suggest that whatever the findings of the UNMOVIC inspectors war is the most likely outcome. Meanwhile the hate campaign against Muslim countries continues apace. Islamic culture must be dismantled, we are told, or at least purged of anything the US right-wing sees as incompatible with the Western and, more specifically, the American way of life.
Throughout -- and perhaps because of -- Ramadan, the beginnings of a religious and cultural war have been clearly in evidence. Tempers flared as the Americans continued to chase the remnants of Al-Qa'eda. Reprisals against US and Western interests were widely expected and widely trailed. Bin Laden was heard, in recordings of dubious origin, threatening retribution against the West. All of which widened the gap between Arabs and the US, Muslims and the West. Suspicion became a common currency, credibility ebbed and fears were heightened.
It has become common to blame all violent and criminal acts in the world on extremist Islamic movements while ignoring the root causes of violence -- historic, ethnic, and regional. Even the sniper who wreaked terror in the Washington area by firing at random victims was somehow associated with Muslim terror. Isolated attacks against US soldiers and citizens in Kuwait, Lebanon, and Jordan were blamed on Al-Qa'eda, rather than on the mounting disillusionment with US policy, a policy that has become rabidly anti-Arab and pro-Israeli.
Despite the full cooperation of Arab countries with US security services in matters concerning Al- Qa'eda, America continues to blame those same countries for being somehow responsible for the actions of Al-Qa'eda and other Islamic movements before and after 11 September. Apparently the US Administration has forgotten its central role in aiding and abetting Al- Qa'eda leaders when they were of service to US strategy in Central Asia. Islamic charities and public figures are coming under suspicion. Even the Saudi ambassador to Washington and his wife have been subject to these outbursts of vitriol.
The anti-Muslim smear campaign is now an integral component of US and Western political and media life. The campaign levels historic and cultural charges against Muslims and the latter are losing heart, ground, and perspective.
Some Arabs have called on the Arab and Muslim worlds to play it safe and quit alienating the West. We have to understand America, we are told. We have to appease it and refrain from raising thorny issues that may irritate US politicians and impede their global schemes. But how can one forget the political and economic conditions that have persistently obstructed the progress of Arab nations? How can one forget the problem imperialism planted in Palestine, and the ongoing efforts to obscure the tragedy of the Palestinians? Even if our political and intellectual elites were to do the West's bidding, the rest of our people can hardly be expected to follow.
Some of us say that we have to ditch our obsolete way of life and hop onto the global bandwagon of progress. Others call for cleansing Islam of the violence and extremism that have lost us the sympathy of our contemporaries; the assumption here being that the Muslim world is a timebomb that must be defused.
A more sensible approach is needed on both sides. We need dialogue not capitulation, for capitulation to America is tantamount to capitulation to international Zionism, to Israel. Purging Islam to please others is not a solution, for it would only deepen the alienation, extremism, and loss of identity that have already taken root in our midst.
