“We the Jewish people control America and the American know it “
.Ariel Sharon.
By Syed Qamar Hasan.
UAE based journalist &writer.
Since the early fifties Israel by courtesy of the powerful Jewish Americans living in the US, who control all major media and business conglomerates is conducting a highly successful propaganda war to paint the Arabs of Palestine as the real culprits and themselves as victims of Arab terror.
Unopposed by the Arabs doing nothing strong enough to counter this negative blitz , the Israeli Public Relations war has reached new intensity. For the Muslim countries(I prefer Muslim to Arab, as the later gives wrong message of dichotomy within the Ummah)) to compete with the Jewish lobby make its presence felt in the American polity on the same dimensions and dynamics as of Jews/Zionist entity will be an exercise in futility.
The need of the hour for Muslim nations is to search and find partners and friends from among the new emerging economic powers. By the time the Muslim set up lobbies in America to counterbalance the Jewish lobbies, America will be a skeleton of its present muscular self.
China will be the new super. It is making its presence felt, if not as the immediate successor to American militarily might, it has already established itself as an economic power to reckon with and is a step nearer to diluting American world hegemony, ushering in a new world order Power The Muslim world should now look towards BRIC for any future partnerships and defense pacts. The “Arab Spring” is signaling rapid changes within and without, the Middle East, their rumblings can be felt even in the stable regions of GCC countries.
However, Muslim nations should take a leaf Israel in learning how to build and generate support for its causes in the coming new world order.
The Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organization claims 52 listed Jewish organizations in America that lobby on regular basis for Israeli interests.
According to Jewish Peoples Policy Planning Institute and the Jewish Encyclopedia, there are an estimated 13. 2 million (practicing and secular) Jews in the world. It is hard to assess the real number of world Jews, say the two organizations. The total population of Jews in the Americas (North, South and Central) is around 6 million( JPPPI).
Since the creation of the Israeli state in 1947, the American Jews have played a central role in American finance industry and are among the chief beneficiaries of various corporate mergers and reorganizations that happened in late 80’s and mid -90’s
Seymour Lipset and Earl Raab, two noted Jewish writers in their book , Jews and the New American Scene, wrote that “since the last three decades(the book was published 1995) Jews in the United States have made up 50 percent of the top two hundred intellectu¬als... 20 percent of professors at the leading universities ... 40 percent of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington ... 59 percent of the directors, writ¬ers, and producers of the 50 top-grossing motion pictures from 1965 to 1982, and 58 percent of directors, writers, and producers in two or more primetime television series.”The three main newspapers, the Washington Post, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are owned by Jews.
Actor Mell Gibson of movie “Brave Heart “fame, ruined his career making the film “Passion of Christ” .It clicked at the box office world over but not in Israel and the US. His remark, “Jews are responsible for all wars’ has pushed him into wilderness. Three decades back the same happened to historian Paul Kennedy for his book” They Dare to Speak” .The South African Judge, Richard Goldstone, Chairman of the fact-finding mission on the atrocities committed by the Israeli Defense Forces on civilians in Gaza in the bloody 2008-2009 Gaza war, is now in the cold for damning Israel in his report .Benjamin Nethanu’s comments on the report,”it should be thrown in the dust bin,” got more media coverage in America than the report itself.
When Israel planned its bombardment of Gaza in 2008 it formed a new National Information Directorate that prevented reporters from entering Gaza during the bombardment. Again in 2010 when the Gaza Aid Flotilla was attacked by the Israeli Armed Forces, it released an edited footage to the world with its own caption showing the unarmed volunteers on board, as armed and firing on IDF. This contentious and false propaganda film was taken up by all major networks in Americas and Europe, while the UN sponsored report was hardly given any coverage. All their brutal and savage military acts against Palestinian, men, women and children are shown with specially edited comments blaming Palestinians for bringing upon them the wrath of ID..
The Jewish state works on a two pronged policy of using Muscle to kill Palestinian leaders and acquire their land and the Media to win the “Hearts and Mind” of international community. (However, recent reports suggest they are now gradually losing on this front after the two unjust wars on Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza).
As they ruthlessly decimate Palestinian civilians and assassinate their leaders, destroying their property, impose sanctions on their movements, on the diplomatic front they operate NINE Consulates, in addition to the embassy in America working 24x7, liaisonning with American media under directives of the Israeli governments, specially set up, Permanent Institute of Public Relations known as “Hasbara”. Hasbara in Hebrew means Public Diplomacy. This is a very sophisticated and complex four- tier process of preventing exposure of Israeli atrocities and war crimes in the occupied territories from reaching major media networks in America and Europe, while promoting its own versions that blame the Palestinians for the eruption of hostilities.
A. Involving and exploiting the interest of the owners and CEO’s Media who are all Jews( Rupert Murdoch of Fox network is a Gentile but all his CEO’s are Jews).The more Israel is portrayed as victim of Arab terrorism ,the more diversion of advertising revenues.
B. Political Support- Congressmen, past,present and politicians are on the pay list of major Jewish American corporate business houses. L.A. Times, reports, Congressmen at Capitol Hill are paid anywhere between $400,000 to $600,000 yearly for lobbying for Israeli interests.
C. The Israeli government’s has a special secretariat that monitors Pro and Anti media both electronic and print. Pro-Israeli media is referred to AIPAC and other Jewish Organizations for financial support and business opportunities.
D. The guiding force is the Israeli Media Watch Dog that is ever on the watch to block and black -out any anti-Israeli news reaching the major media networks. To this another new outfit has been added recently, , The National Information Directorate, that was responsible for falsifying reports on Gaza and Aid Flotilla attacks (the armed assault of ID on the Turkish International Aid Flotilla –Marvi and the phosphorus bombs dropped on civilians population in Gaza 2008 war).
The Jewish Diaspora of over 2500 years has to have this kind lobbying and greasing of the American political machine to legitimize its illegal occupation of Arab lands and its criminal acts of genocide against the people of the land they have occupied.
Muslim countries presently the means, the power, and tools to undo what has been done to the Palestinians and other global flash points. They have 37 per cent of the world power resources (oil& gas). This weapon has been put to successful use in 1973 making the world powers come to Riyadh with folded hands requesting to open the taps. The oil rich countries of the Middle East and Gulf have 800 /900 billion dollars of foreign reserves. Their gold stocks if put to the market can wreck havoc on world financial markets. What is needed is collective, calculated and determined effort to leash Israel. (End)
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Digging old bones? One is sure to find that the Congress as party wanted the Babri Masjid to be demolished, since the BJP and other Hindu right wing parties were using it as an election ploy. Every election time the issue was being raked by the Hindutva forces and threatening Congress of losing votes. So the December 6th gathering at Ayodhya carried a hope for Congress. " What if the frenzied Hindu zealot destroy the Masjid and take away the wind from BJP's sail unknowingly ?
It was golden opportunity which the Congress as party never wanted to miss and made the best of it. The architect of this scheme was the crafty Narshima Rao, the Brahmin from south, who was often called the Chanakya of his time.
When minute by minute reports from ground zero were passed on to Narshimha Rao, he,realized that the frenzied crowd that was getting out of control and even refusing to hear to Advani and Shingal would breakdown the structure. He waited for that moment. When finally around 4 PM when the high on hooch Hindu vandals destroyed the 16th century structure, he called a cabinet meeting which was nothing but en eye wash, shedding crocodile tears over the demolition. In fact the Congress was a sleeping partner to the destruction of the Mosque. It was like the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone. The BJP and Hindutva parties were stigmatized at global levels and the Mosque gone for ever
-no more Mandir card for the BJP.
POLITICS IS ONE WORLD WERE MOTIVES BEHIND WHAT THE COMMON MAN CALLS GREAT ACTS NEVER COME TO SURFACE. " THE WORLD WOULD BE ASHAMED OF PEOPLE, WHOM IT CALLS GREAT, IF IT COMES TO KNOW THE REAL MOTIVES BEHIND THOSE GREAT ACTS."
It was golden opportunity which the Congress as party never wanted to miss and made the best of it. The architect of this scheme was the crafty Narshima Rao, the Brahmin from south, who was often called the Chanakya of his time.
When minute by minute reports from ground zero were passed on to Narshimha Rao, he,realized that the frenzied crowd that was getting out of control and even refusing to hear to Advani and Shingal would breakdown the structure. He waited for that moment. When finally around 4 PM when the high on hooch Hindu vandals destroyed the 16th century structure, he called a cabinet meeting which was nothing but en eye wash, shedding crocodile tears over the demolition. In fact the Congress was a sleeping partner to the destruction of the Mosque. It was like the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone. The BJP and Hindutva parties were stigmatized at global levels and the Mosque gone for ever
-no more Mandir card for the BJP.
POLITICS IS ONE WORLD WERE MOTIVES BEHIND WHAT THE COMMON MAN CALLS GREAT ACTS NEVER COME TO SURFACE. " THE WORLD WOULD BE ASHAMED OF PEOPLE, WHOM IT CALLS GREAT, IF IT COMES TO KNOW THE REAL MOTIVES BEHIND THOSE GREAT ACTS."
Thursday, February 24, 2011
ARAB-MUSLIM THINKERS AND PHILOSPHERS
Arab- Muslim intellectualism is alive.
Why are Muslim writers, academics and intellectuals always lamenting about the absence of Arab and Muslim intellectuals?
They make a passing reference to the glorious past of our heritage pointing out the stunning contributions made by Arab/Muslim thinkers, writers, poets and philosophers and then woefully go on to paint a very bleak picture of Ummah’s intellectual bankruptcy .
Why do they not deep dig into Islamic history to look and search objectively for names that by their knowledge wisdom, intellect, education and thinking are still held in high esteem and are regularly mentioned in intellectual and academic circles in the West
Why is that their search for Arab/Muslim thinkers, intellectuals, philosophers and social scientists begins with Ibn Sina, Al Razi, Mohammed Abdu, Jamalluddin Afghani, Hasan Al Banna, Syed Qutub and ends with Iqbal and Azad.
Why do they tend to ignore contemporary intellectuals of the Arab/ Muslim world. Why is that they do not mention Mohammed Arkoun, the
outstanding Algerian Islamic scholar who died in 2009. His theory of "Applied Islamology" a scientific discourse on Islamic heritage employing western academic tools of epistemology and psychoanalysis is a much debated work in intellectual circles.
The Moroccan thinker Mohammed Abed Al Jabri, who also died in 2009, leaving behind a rich legacy of knowledge. His much applauded and appreciated work, "Naqhad al Aqhl al Arabi,” (Critique of the Arab Mind ) dealing with the constitutional, political and ethical stages of Arab character and rationality in context of Hellenistic and Renaissance doctrines. His argument that that main contours of Islamic knowledge did not shape during the seventh century, but were formed as Islam spread over vast lands and began interaction with people and cultures alien to it.
His explanation of the three distinct forms of Islamic knowledge each of which had its own particular way of interacting with the religion of Islam was based on three theories of Al Bayan-drawing from the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Al Irfan or mystical knowledge that draws from spirituality related with esoteric streams of Islam like Sufism etc and the third, knowledge derived from observation and empirical evidences called Al Burhan( proof)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, the Egyptian scholar who died in 2009 was another great thinker-philosopher of the Arab/Muslim world.
Apparently the year 2009 was jinxed and proved tragic for the Islamic intellectualism .These men who are no more and as the trend goes will be forgotten, have contributed greatly in generating a healthy debates on issues in the Arab/Muslim world that were taboo or under-debated. These were giants of the Arab/Muslim intellectual world, they posited issues, providing in their own thinking the need for renovation of Islamic thoughts to match the needs of the hour.
Yes, some of the names i have mentioned were controversial personalities, often severely criticized from breaking away from tradition, or delving deep into traditionalism. Yet their contribution to world of knowledge, understanding and free thinking cannot be sidelined.
Take a stroll down the hall of history, it is adorned with great names from the Arab/Muslim world, if not towering over their contemporaries from the other side, are no less in stature. The great Ibn Khaldun, Abul Hasan Mawardi, Ahmed Ibn Taimiya, Hamid Ghazzali, Muhammed Ibn Idris Al Shafi, the Syrian, Abd Al Ghai Nablusi, and Mohmoud Mohammed Taha, Dr. Taha Hussein.
The fresh lot of our thinkers, intellectuals and philosophers are, if not more, are as inspiring and thought provoking as the past lot. The Algerian, Malik Binnabi, philosopher, thinker and educationist whose complex theory of rise and fall of civilizations written in French (Colonisibilite) made ripples across intellectual circles of Europe and Arab world.
Syed Muhammed Naqib All Attas, the genius with Arab ancestry from Hadramouth, who galvanized Islamic thoughts in the Far East by his thought provoking writings .He founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia. He was instrumental in creating the concept of Islamisation of knowledge
The problem is our writers and journalists are in awe of Western intellectualism and philosophies. The hangover from several years of despondency that gripped the Arab/Muslim people under stifling colonial rule could be one strong cause for holding every western aspect of life in awe. This undermining of our thinkers and intellectuals is driven by the torrent of new thoughts and ideas that were imposed by the occupying cultures..
When one talks about scholars like Ibn Khaldun, who is considered the father of Sociological Sciences even by western experts in the field and others of same ilk, there is an immediate rebuke," that's history, they are old hats, the world has changed, times have changed, their thinking and ideas hold no good." But by the same measure, there is lot of appreciative twittering and tweeting about the philosophies and doctrines of western intellectuals, philosophers and writers.
Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire,Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer
Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Russell, Santayana, James and Dewey are all alive and kicking in the thought and writings of our educated elite.
Machiavelli's "The Prince" is bible in power politics and art of governance, while the great Arab philosopher, political writer and activist Mohammed Ibn Zafar Al Saqili, who proceeded him by three hundred years and is acknowledged by the West as Machiavelli Precursor, wrote a master piece, Sulwan Al Muta Udwan Al Atba( consultation of rulers during hostilities of subjects) a far comprehensive and brilliant work on empirical analysis of power remains unknown.
There is another brilliant brigade of writers and thinkers that is emerging across the intellectual sphere of the Islamic world. Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Hassan Al Bana. The Moroccan, Fatima Al Mirsini, Dr AbdelWahab Meddeb, the Egyptian novelist, writer and poet, Iraq’s Dr Ali A. Allawi, Senior visiting Fellow Princeton University, Syed Hossain Nasr, Tunisian poet Abul Qasim Al Shabi, whose captivating one line on Tunisian revolution “The people wanted life and the chains were broken,” which is more than a magnum opus, if ever to be written on the Arab revolt of February 2011.
By Syed Qamar Hasan.
Syed Qamar Hasan is Abu Dhabi based writer.
He may be contacted at qamarhasan50@hotmail.com.
Why are Muslim writers, academics and intellectuals always lamenting about the absence of Arab and Muslim intellectuals?
They make a passing reference to the glorious past of our heritage pointing out the stunning contributions made by Arab/Muslim thinkers, writers, poets and philosophers and then woefully go on to paint a very bleak picture of Ummah’s intellectual bankruptcy .
Why do they not deep dig into Islamic history to look and search objectively for names that by their knowledge wisdom, intellect, education and thinking are still held in high esteem and are regularly mentioned in intellectual and academic circles in the West
Why is that their search for Arab/Muslim thinkers, intellectuals, philosophers and social scientists begins with Ibn Sina, Al Razi, Mohammed Abdu, Jamalluddin Afghani, Hasan Al Banna, Syed Qutub and ends with Iqbal and Azad.
Why do they tend to ignore contemporary intellectuals of the Arab/ Muslim world. Why is that they do not mention Mohammed Arkoun, the
outstanding Algerian Islamic scholar who died in 2009. His theory of "Applied Islamology" a scientific discourse on Islamic heritage employing western academic tools of epistemology and psychoanalysis is a much debated work in intellectual circles.
The Moroccan thinker Mohammed Abed Al Jabri, who also died in 2009, leaving behind a rich legacy of knowledge. His much applauded and appreciated work, "Naqhad al Aqhl al Arabi,” (Critique of the Arab Mind ) dealing with the constitutional, political and ethical stages of Arab character and rationality in context of Hellenistic and Renaissance doctrines. His argument that that main contours of Islamic knowledge did not shape during the seventh century, but were formed as Islam spread over vast lands and began interaction with people and cultures alien to it.
His explanation of the three distinct forms of Islamic knowledge each of which had its own particular way of interacting with the religion of Islam was based on three theories of Al Bayan-drawing from the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Al Irfan or mystical knowledge that draws from spirituality related with esoteric streams of Islam like Sufism etc and the third, knowledge derived from observation and empirical evidences called Al Burhan( proof)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, the Egyptian scholar who died in 2009 was another great thinker-philosopher of the Arab/Muslim world.
Apparently the year 2009 was jinxed and proved tragic for the Islamic intellectualism .These men who are no more and as the trend goes will be forgotten, have contributed greatly in generating a healthy debates on issues in the Arab/Muslim world that were taboo or under-debated. These were giants of the Arab/Muslim intellectual world, they posited issues, providing in their own thinking the need for renovation of Islamic thoughts to match the needs of the hour.
Yes, some of the names i have mentioned were controversial personalities, often severely criticized from breaking away from tradition, or delving deep into traditionalism. Yet their contribution to world of knowledge, understanding and free thinking cannot be sidelined.
Take a stroll down the hall of history, it is adorned with great names from the Arab/Muslim world, if not towering over their contemporaries from the other side, are no less in stature. The great Ibn Khaldun, Abul Hasan Mawardi, Ahmed Ibn Taimiya, Hamid Ghazzali, Muhammed Ibn Idris Al Shafi, the Syrian, Abd Al Ghai Nablusi, and Mohmoud Mohammed Taha, Dr. Taha Hussein.
The fresh lot of our thinkers, intellectuals and philosophers are, if not more, are as inspiring and thought provoking as the past lot. The Algerian, Malik Binnabi, philosopher, thinker and educationist whose complex theory of rise and fall of civilizations written in French (Colonisibilite) made ripples across intellectual circles of Europe and Arab world.
Syed Muhammed Naqib All Attas, the genius with Arab ancestry from Hadramouth, who galvanized Islamic thoughts in the Far East by his thought provoking writings .He founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia. He was instrumental in creating the concept of Islamisation of knowledge
The problem is our writers and journalists are in awe of Western intellectualism and philosophies. The hangover from several years of despondency that gripped the Arab/Muslim people under stifling colonial rule could be one strong cause for holding every western aspect of life in awe. This undermining of our thinkers and intellectuals is driven by the torrent of new thoughts and ideas that were imposed by the occupying cultures..
When one talks about scholars like Ibn Khaldun, who is considered the father of Sociological Sciences even by western experts in the field and others of same ilk, there is an immediate rebuke," that's history, they are old hats, the world has changed, times have changed, their thinking and ideas hold no good." But by the same measure, there is lot of appreciative twittering and tweeting about the philosophies and doctrines of western intellectuals, philosophers and writers.
Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire,Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer
Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Russell, Santayana, James and Dewey are all alive and kicking in the thought and writings of our educated elite.
Machiavelli's "The Prince" is bible in power politics and art of governance, while the great Arab philosopher, political writer and activist Mohammed Ibn Zafar Al Saqili, who proceeded him by three hundred years and is acknowledged by the West as Machiavelli Precursor, wrote a master piece, Sulwan Al Muta Udwan Al Atba( consultation of rulers during hostilities of subjects) a far comprehensive and brilliant work on empirical analysis of power remains unknown.
There is another brilliant brigade of writers and thinkers that is emerging across the intellectual sphere of the Islamic world. Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Hassan Al Bana. The Moroccan, Fatima Al Mirsini, Dr AbdelWahab Meddeb, the Egyptian novelist, writer and poet, Iraq’s Dr Ali A. Allawi, Senior visiting Fellow Princeton University, Syed Hossain Nasr, Tunisian poet Abul Qasim Al Shabi, whose captivating one line on Tunisian revolution “The people wanted life and the chains were broken,” which is more than a magnum opus, if ever to be written on the Arab revolt of February 2011.
By Syed Qamar Hasan.
Syed Qamar Hasan is Abu Dhabi based writer.
He may be contacted at qamarhasan50@hotmail.com.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
lessons from Tahrir square
LESSONS FROM THARIR SQUARE
Syed Qamar Hasan.
G. K Chesterton, the English novelist and critic once remarked, “You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.” Egyptians living under the most oppressive regimes of the time by kicking out President Hosni Mubarak who ruled over them ruthlessly for thirty years have proved Chesterton wrong.
What a sight it was to watch live on television the grit and determination of Egyptian men, women, children, Muslims and Christians, lawyers, doctors, bankers, academics, barbers and butchers holding together, night after night for 18 long grueling days to oust the dictator. These 18 days of despair, anxiety and uncertainty, bordering on hope and apprehensions were the real pangs of birth of new Middle East, so different from the pangs of birth that George W Bush and his Secretary of State Condi Rice, told the world in 2005,when Israel using American provided weapons was pummeling Hizbollah.
Egypt has always enriched history, with its heritage from Prophet Yusuf( Joseph)to the plotting and cattish beauty Cleopatra, to the great warrior Saladin, who liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Yet again a new feather has been added to its glorious history. The peaceful revolution, that humbled the most powerful man and the most feared regime of the region, deserves higher ranking, than the French and Bolshevik revolution. It pales Ayatollah’ Kommeni’s bloody and revengeful upheaval that sent waves of terror and fright across the world. The 1979 Iranian revolution that toppled Reza Shah Pahlavi cannot be called a revolution in the real sense of the word. It never had the appeal and fascination that makes people risk their lives and come out on the streets to change systems and governments.
Genuine revolutions by the hungry and jobless citizens unable to get justice from its rulers, spurred on and led by one or more among them, like in Tunisia and Egypt are contagious enough to infect other societies suffering repression and injustices.
History, they say is a great teacher, yet seldom do people learn from it. The 18 days people’s movement with its epicenter at the Tahrir square is a fresh lesson for kings, monarchs, presidents and dictators and democracies that deny freedom to its people in the name stability and security. And their leash holders should be aware of the fury of disgruntled and dissatisfied people, when they rise, as they did in Tunisia and Egypt, no power, however, strong can stop them. So also governments and countries harboring flash points, like Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir, where people are fighting for independence are equally prone to popular public uprising.
Those kings, monarch, sheiks and presidents who wanted Mubarak to stay put notwithstanding the anger and anguish of millions of Egyptian deprived of justice and basic necessities of life, should by now feel the rumblings,that if not addressed soon, will throw them off their thrones and palaces. Their survival depends on the goodwill and contentment of their people, who want opportunities to participate in nation building and decision making, not necessarily in the same pattern as Western systems. That far away and distant allies and time serving relationships will not sustain them in the longer run.
When nature wants something to happen it creates circumstances and situations for it to happen. The 18 long day struggle of the people of Egypt to get rid of Husni Mubarak has also brought to fore and exposed the double standards and hypocrisy of our and their leaders who have been fooling the world with their constant harangues on democracy, freedom ,human rights, peoples empowerment and human dignity.
The most hardened of the pro-democracy nations, and their refrain on virtues of democracy, who do not spare any occasion accusing Islam of not having the depth and compatibility with democracy and human rights, the US and its allies, must take a leaf from Tahrir Square. The citizens of the most populated ,the strongest and the most strategic country of the Arab world has shown its penchant for democracy and that it is capable of ushering it in a far better and decent manner, than the main exponent of it , the US, exporting it on Abram Tanks, Bradleys, Humvees, F-16’s, Apache helicopter, killings innocent men, women children while its gallant soldiers indulge in rapes and murders .
Residents of White House, White Hall, and Elsyee Palace are eager to promote democracies in the Muslim world, but they are not happy with the results, that democratic processes in Muslim world spawn. When will Obama, Cameroon and Sarkozy, realize that “Arab Streets” the terminology, west derisively coined to describe mass protests in Arab world , will not be contend with selective and limited versions of democracy. They want full version of democracy and not the abridged. They will have it their own way and time. No dictations and patronage required.
It is time the west changes its perception and understanding of the Arab and Muslim sensibilities and put a full stop to support of tyrants and despots, kings and monarchs. What is wrong if the feared Muslim Brotherhood or the Islamist win elections and form governments? Are not right wing parties and extremist winning more and more seats in parliaments, assemblies and decision making bodies in Israel, Holland, France, Germany, Denmark and India?
If people in the Arab and Muslim countries vote the Muslim Brotherhood, Gama Islamia and other Islamic political parties to power through the ballot, so be it. The better it would be, for if they fail to deliver good governance, end corruption, un-employment, the same people who voted them will get rid of them, and bring in others, that is what democracy is about.
Syed Qamar Hasan is an Abu Dhabi based writer and former Abu Dhabi Bureau Chief,Khaleej Times and Emirates Today.
He may be contacted at.qamarhasan50@hotmail.com
Syed Qamar Hasan.
G. K Chesterton, the English novelist and critic once remarked, “You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.” Egyptians living under the most oppressive regimes of the time by kicking out President Hosni Mubarak who ruled over them ruthlessly for thirty years have proved Chesterton wrong.
What a sight it was to watch live on television the grit and determination of Egyptian men, women, children, Muslims and Christians, lawyers, doctors, bankers, academics, barbers and butchers holding together, night after night for 18 long grueling days to oust the dictator. These 18 days of despair, anxiety and uncertainty, bordering on hope and apprehensions were the real pangs of birth of new Middle East, so different from the pangs of birth that George W Bush and his Secretary of State Condi Rice, told the world in 2005,when Israel using American provided weapons was pummeling Hizbollah.
Egypt has always enriched history, with its heritage from Prophet Yusuf( Joseph)to the plotting and cattish beauty Cleopatra, to the great warrior Saladin, who liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Yet again a new feather has been added to its glorious history. The peaceful revolution, that humbled the most powerful man and the most feared regime of the region, deserves higher ranking, than the French and Bolshevik revolution. It pales Ayatollah’ Kommeni’s bloody and revengeful upheaval that sent waves of terror and fright across the world. The 1979 Iranian revolution that toppled Reza Shah Pahlavi cannot be called a revolution in the real sense of the word. It never had the appeal and fascination that makes people risk their lives and come out on the streets to change systems and governments.
Genuine revolutions by the hungry and jobless citizens unable to get justice from its rulers, spurred on and led by one or more among them, like in Tunisia and Egypt are contagious enough to infect other societies suffering repression and injustices.
History, they say is a great teacher, yet seldom do people learn from it. The 18 days people’s movement with its epicenter at the Tahrir square is a fresh lesson for kings, monarchs, presidents and dictators and democracies that deny freedom to its people in the name stability and security. And their leash holders should be aware of the fury of disgruntled and dissatisfied people, when they rise, as they did in Tunisia and Egypt, no power, however, strong can stop them. So also governments and countries harboring flash points, like Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir, where people are fighting for independence are equally prone to popular public uprising.
Those kings, monarch, sheiks and presidents who wanted Mubarak to stay put notwithstanding the anger and anguish of millions of Egyptian deprived of justice and basic necessities of life, should by now feel the rumblings,that if not addressed soon, will throw them off their thrones and palaces. Their survival depends on the goodwill and contentment of their people, who want opportunities to participate in nation building and decision making, not necessarily in the same pattern as Western systems. That far away and distant allies and time serving relationships will not sustain them in the longer run.
When nature wants something to happen it creates circumstances and situations for it to happen. The 18 long day struggle of the people of Egypt to get rid of Husni Mubarak has also brought to fore and exposed the double standards and hypocrisy of our and their leaders who have been fooling the world with their constant harangues on democracy, freedom ,human rights, peoples empowerment and human dignity.
The most hardened of the pro-democracy nations, and their refrain on virtues of democracy, who do not spare any occasion accusing Islam of not having the depth and compatibility with democracy and human rights, the US and its allies, must take a leaf from Tahrir Square. The citizens of the most populated ,the strongest and the most strategic country of the Arab world has shown its penchant for democracy and that it is capable of ushering it in a far better and decent manner, than the main exponent of it , the US, exporting it on Abram Tanks, Bradleys, Humvees, F-16’s, Apache helicopter, killings innocent men, women children while its gallant soldiers indulge in rapes and murders .
Residents of White House, White Hall, and Elsyee Palace are eager to promote democracies in the Muslim world, but they are not happy with the results, that democratic processes in Muslim world spawn. When will Obama, Cameroon and Sarkozy, realize that “Arab Streets” the terminology, west derisively coined to describe mass protests in Arab world , will not be contend with selective and limited versions of democracy. They want full version of democracy and not the abridged. They will have it their own way and time. No dictations and patronage required.
It is time the west changes its perception and understanding of the Arab and Muslim sensibilities and put a full stop to support of tyrants and despots, kings and monarchs. What is wrong if the feared Muslim Brotherhood or the Islamist win elections and form governments? Are not right wing parties and extremist winning more and more seats in parliaments, assemblies and decision making bodies in Israel, Holland, France, Germany, Denmark and India?
If people in the Arab and Muslim countries vote the Muslim Brotherhood, Gama Islamia and other Islamic political parties to power through the ballot, so be it. The better it would be, for if they fail to deliver good governance, end corruption, un-employment, the same people who voted them will get rid of them, and bring in others, that is what democracy is about.
Syed Qamar Hasan is an Abu Dhabi based writer and former Abu Dhabi Bureau Chief,Khaleej Times and Emirates Today.
He may be contacted at.qamarhasan50@hotmail.com
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Why do we have to be apologetic?
By syed Qamar Hasan.
Doubts and lack of confidence in one’s own self, one’s own beliefs, faith and one’s identity, become instrumental in giving birth to apologies and conciliatory attitudes towards those who do not share our values and morals.
An apology means, “I am sorry. I was/am wrong. ”That’s OK, with individual philosophies and ideologies of life, but it does not suit more than billion strong followers of a Universal Faith and its divinely revealed tenets put successfully to governance for several hundred years to be sorry, regretful and embarrassed at the shallow, baseless and biased criticism of Shariah laws, by those ignorant of their own faith and beliefs and for whom religion is an affair to be kept at home away from the rustle and bustle of life.
Death in itself is tragic, be it of friend or foe. If not for onlookers, it is for the dear and near ones of the dead. In principle Mumtaz Hussein Qadri cannot be condoned for killing Salman Taseer, despite Taseer being provocative and disrespectful to a very touchy and sensitive issue.
Mumtaz Qadri ‘s action was doctrinaire driven, rather than terroristic . Nobody, come what reason, has the right to take the law in his hands. But, when there is no law and order in a country, where crooks, criminals and murderers are let off the hook, there are no options, but take the law in hand. That’s what Mumtaz Qadri did.
Now going beyond that, developing a gloomy picture and building an imagery to portray the killing as Islamic terrorism and bigotry and a naming a whole nation of 160 million people bigots, intolerant and fanatics is unfair.
We forget that Pakistanis are being battered from within and without. Within Pakistan there is no law and order, the weak and the poor are at the mercy of the rich and powerful. There are day light robberies and killings. Uncontrollable price hikes, food is not available, no electricity, no gas, no cooking oil. Recent floods have devastated millions of people and homes. From the other side innocent men, women and children are being killed daily by the ruthless and incessant drone attacks by the Americans fighting insurgency in Afghanistan, they have occupied since the last nine years. What does one expect from such a mass of people?
It is easy, sophisticated, polished and a fashion to call for restraint and tolerance from comfort zones. Our sympathies are skin deep. It is easy to preach and pontificate about tolerance from distance. One cannot fathom and experience the pain and misery of the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, unless we experience the same.
Some of us have become so obsessed, and enamored with western governance and corporate board room transparencies. That our love and infatuation is inclusive of the decadent social and moral values of the West.
We speak from a behind a screen of hypocrisy, hiding our real feelings of despair, hopelessness and frustration at being booted everywhere, by our own tyrant and despot rulers and regimes, and by our sworn enemies under the leadership of the Americans. In public and media we shower praise on them only to be labeled enlightened, progressive and tolerant, a civilized lot, citing and singing hymns of western justice, social equality and human rights.
They say, “it is the onus of the accused to prove his innocence”. We say “One is innocent till he is proved guilty”.They say,” Turn a state approver we will let you off the hook lightly”. We say, “if, guilty, even Fatima bint Muhammed’s hand will not be spared.”
QHUDD BADAL TEY NAHIN QURAN KO BADAL DE TEY HEIN.
Qheesas, blood money, stoning for adultery, cutting of hands, lashing, four wives, Hijab, Jihad, have come to be barbaric acts and laws and source of embarrassment for many of us. We succumb to western pressure and taunts of reviving 7th century Islam and go on a spree shelling away excuse after excuse, apology after apology. “No, no, it is not like this.” No it is so and so, no it was this and that etc, etc.”
Have the British and other European nations apologized for the crimes they committed against the people of Africa, India and the East Indies. Have the Americans repented on Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Have they even verbally condemned Israel for killing hundreds and thousands of Palestinian men, women and children raining phosphorus bombs on them. Has Israel apologized for supervising the killings thousand of unarmed Palestinian men, women and children in Sabra and Shatilla camps.
What impudence from Hillary Clinton to comment on Taseer slaying. While her country, the pseudo champion of human rights and freedom broke all international norms when its Cowboy president George Bush invaded Iraq saying, that man Saddam wanted to kill my dad. Hundreds of men, women and children were killed for the ego of one paranoid man.
And here we are ashamed and embarrassed of our cultural, social, political and moral values and governance, that take its strength and roots in knowledge revealed?
Shaitan ko rajeem jo khey dia tha ek din.
Ek shoor macha kilaf –e- tehzeeb hai yeh.
By syed Qamar Hasan.
Doubts and lack of confidence in one’s own self, one’s own beliefs, faith and one’s identity, become instrumental in giving birth to apologies and conciliatory attitudes towards those who do not share our values and morals.
An apology means, “I am sorry. I was/am wrong. ”That’s OK, with individual philosophies and ideologies of life, but it does not suit more than billion strong followers of a Universal Faith and its divinely revealed tenets put successfully to governance for several hundred years to be sorry, regretful and embarrassed at the shallow, baseless and biased criticism of Shariah laws, by those ignorant of their own faith and beliefs and for whom religion is an affair to be kept at home away from the rustle and bustle of life.
Death in itself is tragic, be it of friend or foe. If not for onlookers, it is for the dear and near ones of the dead. In principle Mumtaz Hussein Qadri cannot be condoned for killing Salman Taseer, despite Taseer being provocative and disrespectful to a very touchy and sensitive issue.
Mumtaz Qadri ‘s action was doctrinaire driven, rather than terroristic . Nobody, come what reason, has the right to take the law in his hands. But, when there is no law and order in a country, where crooks, criminals and murderers are let off the hook, there are no options, but take the law in hand. That’s what Mumtaz Qadri did.
Now going beyond that, developing a gloomy picture and building an imagery to portray the killing as Islamic terrorism and bigotry and a naming a whole nation of 160 million people bigots, intolerant and fanatics is unfair.
We forget that Pakistanis are being battered from within and without. Within Pakistan there is no law and order, the weak and the poor are at the mercy of the rich and powerful. There are day light robberies and killings. Uncontrollable price hikes, food is not available, no electricity, no gas, no cooking oil. Recent floods have devastated millions of people and homes. From the other side innocent men, women and children are being killed daily by the ruthless and incessant drone attacks by the Americans fighting insurgency in Afghanistan, they have occupied since the last nine years. What does one expect from such a mass of people?
It is easy, sophisticated, polished and a fashion to call for restraint and tolerance from comfort zones. Our sympathies are skin deep. It is easy to preach and pontificate about tolerance from distance. One cannot fathom and experience the pain and misery of the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, unless we experience the same.
Some of us have become so obsessed, and enamored with western governance and corporate board room transparencies. That our love and infatuation is inclusive of the decadent social and moral values of the West.
We speak from a behind a screen of hypocrisy, hiding our real feelings of despair, hopelessness and frustration at being booted everywhere, by our own tyrant and despot rulers and regimes, and by our sworn enemies under the leadership of the Americans. In public and media we shower praise on them only to be labeled enlightened, progressive and tolerant, a civilized lot, citing and singing hymns of western justice, social equality and human rights.
They say, “it is the onus of the accused to prove his innocence”. We say “One is innocent till he is proved guilty”.They say,” Turn a state approver we will let you off the hook lightly”. We say, “if, guilty, even Fatima bint Muhammed’s hand will not be spared.”
QHUDD BADAL TEY NAHIN QURAN KO BADAL DE TEY HEIN.
Qheesas, blood money, stoning for adultery, cutting of hands, lashing, four wives, Hijab, Jihad, have come to be barbaric acts and laws and source of embarrassment for many of us. We succumb to western pressure and taunts of reviving 7th century Islam and go on a spree shelling away excuse after excuse, apology after apology. “No, no, it is not like this.” No it is so and so, no it was this and that etc, etc.”
Have the British and other European nations apologized for the crimes they committed against the people of Africa, India and the East Indies. Have the Americans repented on Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Have they even verbally condemned Israel for killing hundreds and thousands of Palestinian men, women and children raining phosphorus bombs on them. Has Israel apologized for supervising the killings thousand of unarmed Palestinian men, women and children in Sabra and Shatilla camps.
What impudence from Hillary Clinton to comment on Taseer slaying. While her country, the pseudo champion of human rights and freedom broke all international norms when its Cowboy president George Bush invaded Iraq saying, that man Saddam wanted to kill my dad. Hundreds of men, women and children were killed for the ego of one paranoid man.
And here we are ashamed and embarrassed of our cultural, social, political and moral values and governance, that take its strength and roots in knowledge revealed?
Shaitan ko rajeem jo khey dia tha ek din.
Ek shoor macha kilaf –e- tehzeeb hai yeh.
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