http://www.iviews.com/Articles/articles.asp?ref=IV0308-2065
So, what do you think?
Is the US Scrificing Liberty and Freedom (the Two Founding Quallitys of the Nation.) for the Illusion of Safety and Extremist Patriotism...?
According to a USA Today report [12/10/2002], one of the effects of post-9/11 war on terrorism is a significant rise in the membership of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a controversial organization that defends civil rights in many cases, popular and unpopular. It has been a one year surge of 22%, an unprecedented rise in the organization's 82 year history. While terrorism has been a global reality, with which the rest of the world more or less is all too familiar with, United States has been quite successful as well as fortunate in keeping terrorism off its shore. While its streets might have plenty of crime and violence, news of terrorism was primarily heard in the context of other continents, including major countries of Europe, such as United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and so on. We in America have enjoyed a prolonged period of domestic security, save for its thugs, gangs and criminals.
9/11 was a watershed event, robbing the country of its sacred sense of domestic security. Thus, the reaction of those in charge of policing and security is quite understandable. However, we all know that extremism in any such respect does not yield any positive result.
Before delving into the issue of reactive extremism, let us also highlight another aspect of American and global reality. Just this month, a truckful of illegal immigrants were found dead in Texas, who were seeking a fresh life in America, but died probably gasping for the last breath of air. Other illegal persons jumping ships and boats near America's coasts is an all too familiar a scene to America and the world.
Admittedly, this country is the land of immigrants. While many other countries in the West have seen significant migration to their countries, no other country, like America, has been such a melting pot of people from around the world and continues to attract people in droves on a regular basis. This steady attempt to come and become a part of the legendary American dream does pose serious legal, economic, political, demographic and security-related challenges. However, failure to properly understand or appreciate this attraction, especially by the American leaders, policy makers and administrators, is bound to undermine this country's special disposition and heritage of immigration and civil liberties.
People want to come to America for various reasons, a primary one of which is economic prosperity. But to define or describe this attraction in terms of wealth and prosperity would be underestimating as well as devaluing the aspirations that bring these people to the shores of America. America attracts professionals and academics as it offers them opportunities to seek to realize their full potential. It attracts refugees and other persecuted people, who seek an overall better life away from persecution and suffering. Working people come here to get a share of the American pie of unprecedented wealth and prosperity. The reality is that, whether it is acknowledged or not by the immigrants, most of them come here for more than just economic reasons. They like the general peace and security of life, rule of law, civil liberties, democratic environment and institution. Yes, in each of these categories, there can be serious criticisms about shortcomings of America and the life in this society. But the fact remains that despite these shortcomings, it has something unique and precious to offer that continues to attract people from around the world, the magnitude of the stream of which is unique and unparalleled.
In a more reductionist terms, civil liberties, rule of law and economic prosperity/opportunity are the pivotal attractions of America and that's what the founding fathers of this country dreamed of and toiled for.
9/11 poses special challenge to America, because much of the political and military violence around the world to which America is, directly or indirectly, a key contributor, so far largely has been outside America. Since the World War II, whether in the context of Korean War, Vietnam War, or Gulf War, no bombs or missiles fell on America. Modern media and communication technology allows the people of America to watch the horror of wars as well as the prowess of American military, but American people and its land are far removed from that reality. Thus, like they watch through the windows of TV or computer screen, the reality of horror, violence and suffering to them is, in some sense, no more than just virtual reality, to which their emotions and conscience are not functionally connected.
For reasons that are good or bad, right or wrong, those who dislike America, its foreign policy and its role in the global context, they now seem to have come to the understanding that in pursuit of their agenda, they must bring the reality directly to America and take away the precious sense of domestic security, from which vast majority of the world's population are deprived.
The challenge of 9/11 is special because America can't take domestic security as business as usual any longer. The fringe extremists, who hate America, have already made their message known; loud and clear. However, if the pursuit of security itself becomes hostage of America's own extremity in regard to its precious civil liberties, then the attackers have scored another crucial victory.
In this regard, a self-critical approach is a must. There are many in the Muslim world, including Muslims in America, who seem to see and define all their problems in terms of external factors. It is all too common human tendency to find someone or something else to blame, rather than ourselves. The tendency is quite typical of both the powerful and the powerless.
Since 9/11 became tied with a number of extremist Muslims, scrutinizing the pertinent issues from an Islamic perspective is very important. An important milestone in the decline of the Islamic civilization was the dismemberment of the last ceremonial/institutional chord of unity, the Ottoman Caliphate (btw, the use of the word Caliphate/Khilafah in this case is inappropriate). Since then the Muslim world was colonized aggressively and brutally, and it disintegrated into more than 42 nation states, often only as nominally independent countries. The Muslim countries aspire for a more functional and dynamic society, where the common aspirations of people can be successfully and effectively pursued. However, both for internal and external factors, the Muslim world is currently dysfunctional, disoriented and also entrapped in a very divisive struggle. The sense of helplessness and frustration is emboldening and empowering the fringe extremism. The existing political powers, often implanted, patronized and even protected by the West, are at odd with the interest of their own people.
Unless the Muslim mass organize themselves to rejuvenate their lives in a positive manner in accordance with their faith as well as the demands of our contemporary modern times, the tension and conflict will only widen and worsen. One of the real problems and obstacles for the Muslim world is that the global corridors of power, led by the sole surviving superpower of the world, is afraid of democracy in the Muslim countries, as the experience has shown that the real and immediate beneficiaries of democratic change in the Muslim world are the Islamic voices.
This has created a serious rift and disconnect between the USA and the West on one hand and the Muslim world on the other, because the west, the supposed champion of democracy, is unwilling to let democracy evolve and function in the Muslim world. Well, isn't this an example of finding someone else to blame? Partly, that is true. While countries, such as USA, is playing an adversarial role in this context, a conscientious and self-critical approach warrants that Muslims recognize that they have serious problems that are internal to themselves and rooted within, which goes back even long before the west surfaced as the dominant civilization. Those who want to see solutions to their problems in the Muslim world by merely blaming the West and targeting them for all their disappointment, frustration and anger are simply deluding themselves in thinking that it would bring any meaningful or fundamental change in their own society. Therefore, while external factors responsible for the maladies of the Muslim world must be identified, recognized and dealt with, it is critically important that Muslims first examine their problems in their internal context. They must remember that whatever the external factors are, a positive and determined pursuit for liberty, justice and prosperity can't be suppressed or thwarted by others permanently. Americans themselves could have heaped all the blames on the British colonial power, but their committed pursuit of freedom and liberty did finally overpowered the GREAT Britain. The start of the solution lies within, not outside.
Whether there is an evolving clash or dialog between the West and Islam at the civilizational level, or whether we actually desire and facilitate such clash or dialog to be realized, the future of the West and Islam have become integrally related. The West can't simply ignore or suppress Islam in an Islam-o-phobic fashion. Nor the Muslim world can ignore the West in a West-o-phobic manner. Either try to establish mutual common grounds for the sake of the humanity or the path of confrontation would be a foregone conclusion.
In this context, the role of the American Muslim community remains critically important. Recognizing this role, even the US government is trying to project to the Muslim world the presence of Muslims in this pluralistic society, especially in an attempt to show that the Muslims in America are doing quite well, like the rest of the society. Like many in the Muslim world, many Muslims in America might also have a love/hate relationship with America. They like the economic prosperity here, and they are both beneficiaries of and contributors to that prosperity in America. But more importantly they also like and enjoy the freedom and civil liberties in general in this country. Yet, it is not uncommon for Muslims in America to disagree with and even detest the role of the United States in the global arena, especially as it affects the Muslim world.
As Muslims must approach these issues in a self-critical manner in regard to themselves and their internal problems, they must not also be West-o-phobic and the same should apply to their attitude toward the United States. This is especially because there isn't really one America. Rather, there are "two Americas", as in the words of the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright. In his highly acclaimed and deeply insightful book, The Arrogance of Power, he writes: "THERE ARE TWO AMERICAS. One is the America of Lincoln and Adlai Stevenson; the other is the America of Teddy Roosevelt and the modern superpatriots." [p. 245; the emphasis is by Sen. Fulbright]
While this essay's rather limited scope can't deal with the overall issue of power and arrogance, the thoughts and analysis of Sen. Fulbright are truly valuable for better understanding an ongoing struggle within America herself. If Muslims themselves don't recognize and understand the nature of this struggle, then in a West-o-phobic manner chanting marg bar amrika (Death to America, in Farsi) and then seeing some misguided, fringe groups - riding on that anger in the Muslim world - delivering death to the doorsteps of America, especially to the innocent people, should not be unexpected. There is another reciprocity in regard to West-o-phobia: Islam-o-phobia. One phobia mutually feeds the other.
Sen. Fulbright's perspective on "the two Americas" is quite illuminating. In his view, "One is generous and humane, the other narrowly egotistical; one is self-critical, the other self-righteous; one is sensible, the other romantic; one is good-humored, the other solemn; one is inquiring, the other pontificating; one is moderate, the other filled with passionate intensity; one is judicious and the other arrogant in the use of great power." [p.245]
Just like the West can't lump Muslims and Islam into one monolithic entity, except to its own detriment of alienating and frustrating those vast majority of Muslims who endear prosperity, freedom, justice and decency, Muslims can't also treat America as a monolithic entity. If they do, then they are also dismissing and alienating that America, which is generous and humane, self-critical, sensible, good-humored, inquiring, moderate and judicious. This is the America that most people love. This is the America that has drawn and continues to draw people, including the immigrant Muslim community here, from around the world.
If there is any problem, it is with the other America. The America of Super-patriotism, which in Sen. Fulbright's view is "narrowly egotistical; ... self-righteous; ... romantic; ... solemn; ... pontificating; ... filled with passionate intensity; arrogant in the use of great power." There are great many Americans - the conscientious and self-critical ones - including persons such as Sen. Fulbright, who do not like this America. This is the America that is also repudiated and hated around the world.
In the context of the War against terrorism and the Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL; the originally proposed acronym, but not adopted as the OIL connection would have been too obvious), if the word "crusade" slipped through the mouth of President Bush, which was quickly corrected and never to be uttered by him again, it was no coincidence. More than 30 years ago, Sen. Fulbright pointed out: "The inconstancy of American foreign policy is not an accident but an expression of two distinct sides of the American character. Both are characterized by a kind of moralism, but one is the morality of decent instincts tempered by the knowledge of human imperfection and the other is the morality of absolute self-assurance fired by the crusading spirit. ... The crusading puritan spirit has had a great deal to do with some of the regrettable and tragic events of American history. It led us into needless and costly adventures and victories that crumbled in our hands." [p.245/p.251]
More importantly, "America, in the words of John Quincy Adams, should be 'the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all'", Sen. Fulbright, continues [p.258]. But the reality is that not only that America, the super-patriot one, has not been the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all, but also it has been systematically and actively subverting democracy and democratic spirit in many parts of the world.
So, what do you think?
Is the US Scrificing Liberty and Freedom (the Two Founding Quallitys of the Nation.) for the Illusion of Safety and Extremist Patriotism...?
MORONS!!!!!
