02.28.06
Silenced by Extremists?
Fwd’d from Rad-Green
http://tinyurl.com/gkxyr
Toronto Star February 28, 2006
Don’t be Silenced by Extremists
A plea from 11 Canadian Muslim academics and activists
A curtain of fear has descended on the intelligentsia of the West, including
Canada. The fear of being misunderstood as islamophobic has sealed their
lips, dried their pens and locked their keyboards. With hundreds dead around
the world in the aftermath of the now infamous Danish cartoons, Canada’s
writers, politicians and media have imposed a frightening censorship on
themselves, refusing to speak their minds, thus ensuring that the only
voices being heard are that of the Islamists and the racist Right..
Emboldened by the free reign they have received, Canada’s Islamists and
their supporters flexed their muscles at Queen’s Park last week, with
speakers promising to drown the Danish people “in their own blood”. A
protestor carried the sign “Kurt Westgaard - countdown to justice has begun
… it’s just a matter of time.” Elsewhere, in Pakistan, a Muslim woman was
pictured carrying a sign, “God Bless Hitler”, and a Muslim cleric placed a
million dollar reward for the murder of the Danish Cartoonist. Embassies
were burned, churches ruined, and hundreds died in different Muslim
countries.
Undoubtedly, Muslims were angered by the insulting cartoons, but the
overblown reaction was partly due to their pent-up frustrations, and partly
the result of an orchestrated mischief of certain Islamist leaders. Islamic
societies, run by variances of autocratic regimes, are in turmoil. Ravaged
by rampant corruption, widening gap between rich and poor, and suppression
of dissent, the people in these societies have lost hope in their own
futures.
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the unending occupation of the
Palestinian territories and the quagmire of the Kashmiri dispute, has led
many Muslims and non-religious peoples of Islamic origin, to view the ‘West’
as the source of their countries’ problems. The growing popularity of the
Islamists in Muslim societies, the electoral success of the likes of
Ahmadinejad in Iran, Shi’a radicals in Iraq, and Hamas in the Palestinian
territories, rather than signifying the growing religiosity of the peoples
of the Middle East, reflect political despair in the region.
In the West, peoples of Muslim origin, be they religious or secular, are
facing growing racism, Islamophobia, and discrimination reflected in
immigration policies and anti-terrorist legislations.
The cartoon crisis was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Islamists
seized the opportunity and added fuel to fire. The calculated role played by
the two Danish Islamists, backed by Islamic fundamentalist regimes, is a
case in point. They not only aggravated an already inflammatory situation,
but added their own infuriating images, never published in the West, as they
took their case to clerics in the Middle East. Both, Imam Abu Laban and
Ahmad Akkari have escaped the attention and scrutiny their acts deserved.
These two men, who now sit in the comfort of their homes in Denmark, should
be held accountable for their criminal actions.
For too long the media has created an image that portrays communities from
the Muslim world as a monolith entity, best represented by the Islamists.
The media has created a false dichotomy that pits these Islamists against
the West. The fact is that in all Muslim countries, progressive citizens are
trying to break loose from the tyranny of the autocrats and clerics, and
wish to develop a civil society where citizenship is based, not on inherited
race or religion, but the equality of all, irrespective of faith, race,
sexuality or gender.
In Teheran today, the city’s bus drivers are on strike. Thousands have been
arrested; entire families have disappeared. Yet, this has not made a blip in
the western media. Imagine, if the same bus drivers were burning books or
embassies, this would certainly have been on the evening news. This is an
appalling example that only outrageous, violent expressions of faith by
Islamists are taken as the aspirations of people from Muslim societies.
It is time for Canadians to stand up for the hard-won democratic values that
the Islamists oppose. By rejecting the agenda of the Islamists, Canada’s
intelligentsia would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Muslims and
secular individuals from the region who reject both Islamophobia and
Islamism. Islamism is not the new revolutionary movement against global
forces of oppression, as a section of the Left in this country erroneously
perceives.
Today, the religious right and autocracies in the so-called Islamic world
are united in their call for passing legislation to make any discussion on
religion a criminal offence. This, at a time when many writers in Jordan,
Iran, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan are rotting in jails, facing charges
of apostasy and blasphemy.
We call on Canadian politicians and intellectuals to stand up for freedom of
expression. Our democratic values, including free speech, should not be
compromised under the garb of fighting hate. To fight Islamophobia and
racism, we do not need to sacrifice free speech and debate.
Signed:
1. Jehad Aliweiwi, Former Executive Director, Canadian Arab Federation
2. Reem Bahdi, Associate professor, University of Windsor
3. Taj Hashmi, Associate professor, Simon Fraser University
4. Amir Hassanpour, Associate professor, University of Toronto
5. Tarek Fatah, Host, The Muslim Chronicle, CTS-TV
6. Tareq S. Ismael, Professor, University of Calgary
7. Jacqueline S. Ismael, Professor, University of Calgary
8. El-Farouk Khaki, Secretary General, Muslim Canadian Congress
9. Shahrzad Mojab, Associate professor, University of Toronto
10. Haideh Moghissi, Professor, York University
11. Munir Pervaiz, Secretary, Pakistan-Canadian Writers Forum
12. Saeed Rahnema, Professor, York University