Thursday, December 29, 2005
It's too bad there aren't more guys like this. Or, more specifically, the conditions of free expression don't exist such that more guys like this can flourish, find each other, and create more.
Iyad Jamal Al-Din How come this country (Israel) has developed a democratic regime, although it too has been at war and is surrounded by enemies, whereas the Arabs have not developed democratic regimes, using the existence of Israel as a pretext? How come Israel is not using the Arabs as a pretext for delaying its democratic development, its free economy, and its free press? Are they better, smarter, or stronger than us? We have oil, we have water, we have land, we have great minds - we have it all. Nevertheless, we have backward, tyrannical, and dictatorial regimes - and the peoples readily accept this. There is no real demand for democracy in Arab countries...
...Of course, we are grateful to America for ridding us of school curricula which promote hatred and animosity. There are no indications of the reforms coming from within...
Is there really a conflict between American interests and our own interests - as individuals and as peoples? Some people whine about Iraq's natural resources and about its oil. They say that America has come to plunder Iraq's resources. I ask them: Were Iraq's resources ever yours? Did you ever benefit from these resources? We hear about this oil, but never see it. There has always been a gasoline shortage. Our countries are rich, yet our peoples are poor...
Al-Fayhaa TV, November 30, 2005:
Islam has various interpretations. Some of these interpretations are completely divorced from humanity, let alone from Islam itself. The well-known ideology of accusing others of heresy is an ideology of terrorism. Who turned Al-Zarqawi into a criminal murderer? Who? He was just a little boy crawling into his mother's arms, but then, out of his love for the religion and the mosque... He began to go to the mosque, and the imam got hold of him, and turned him into what he is. He didn't emerge from his mother's womb as a murderer, or as someone who makes car bombs, and so on.
We face a bloodthirsty religion, or rather, a bloodthirsty interpretation of the religion. This is the truth. Some people's interpretation of Islam is bloodthirsty, while others' interpretation of it is civilized and human. There is an abyss between the two...
Here's another good MEMRI video from an Egyptian sociologist:
http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=94005&ak=null
"Egyptian Sociologist Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim: The Tyrannical Arab Regimes Are Using Israel As a Pretext. I Am Grateful to America for Promoting Reform in the Middle East"
When I see things like these videos, I almost get a warm, fuzzy feeling. One of the things we are trying to do is change the hearts and minds of Iraqis and have it spread throughout the Middle East. Maybe it's working. Only time will tell.
the difference is crystal clear between this clear-sighted kind of comment (noting not only that the Arabs use Israel as an excuse, but also that Israel does not use the Arabs as an excuse) and the kind of whiney apologetic that we get from demopathic apologists ("yes, we have problems but..."). and as seawitch says, it stirs warm fuzzy feelings. anyone who thinks that people who criticize arabs harshly for their demonizing culture are racists doesn't realize that that criticism can come from a genuinely concerned and affectionate place. more people like the good Iyad and i could become an arabophile.
one of the things that many anti-zionists don't understand is that most israelis would love to have the arabs succeed (civilly). only then can israel hope to live in peace.
r
Re, the original post, an all too rare occurance, obviously enough. However, the likelihood of this view prospering and gaining vitality will not be aided by any naive, realpolitik acceptance of status quo despotic and totalitarian forms of governance. This seems obvious enough though contrary and obfuscating views proliferate, obviously enough. Still, all this once again emphasizes why Kuntzel's monographs on the historical lineage of the more virulent, hate-filled and highly exacerbating forms of anti-Semitic ideologies need to be confronted honestly and soberly, with real gravitas. The realities need to be assessed and faced, certainly without cynicism but also without any naivete or Oslo-like delusions or imaginings. (There are forms of cynicism which result from prolonged periods of delusion/disallusion - e.g., Oslo and the detritus Oslo has left in its wake - so avoiding half-measures and deluded, pseudo-solutions is primary.)
Rather, a well reasoned and honestly informed hope, one which can be constructively worked toward, needs to be formulated and sustained. Some levels of dhimmitude and anti-Semitism may always be present, as they were prior to the introduction of Hitlerian forms of ideologically invested anti-Semitism, with the aid of the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin el-Husseini, during Hitler's epochal period. However, the more virulently socio-pathological forms, albeit within an inter-generational scope and framing, do have prospects of being rolled back, but only if that historic/epochal task is rightly appraised and the requisite executions are initiated - and sustained. This is not a quixotic vision; Oslo was the quixotic vision.
Kuntzel's work is thus fundamental to an informed view of the problems which need to be fully appreciated, assessed for purposes of a wide-ranging, counter-offensive, and then executed, with full appreciation for all the contingencies and mistakes which are likely to ensue, within an inter-generational framing and landscape. Choices. Made. Executed. Resolve. All across an inter-generational horizon. The alternative is half-measures and irresolution and Oslo-like delusions, i.e., defeatism with a veneer of self-respect where little or none is due.