The Common Ground News Service, October 26, 2004
The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations.
Please note: The views expressed in the articles and in CGNews-PiH are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.
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UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL ARTICLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR RE-PUBLICATION.
Article #1
Title: Why Muslims Always Blame the West
Author: Husain Haqqani
Publication: International Herald Tribune, Opinion
Date: October 15, 2004
Haqqani investigates the impact of propaganda in the Muslim world on the development of the "cult of the warrior". He suggests that "ringing alarm bells about an iron curtain between the West and the Islamic world without acknowledging the internal flaws of Muslim rulers and societies helps maintain the polarization as well as the flow of Western aid for the flawed rulers."
Article #2
Title: US shouldn't ignore Syria's new strategy
Author: George S. Hishmeh
Publication: AMIN.org
Date: October 21, 2004
At a time when most of the U.S. government's comments on Syria are negative, Hishmeh provides a different perspective. Based on meetings between Syrian leader Bashar Assad and Western diplomats and academics, he points out some indications that Syria has shifted gears and is willing to cooperate with the United States in the War on Iraq.
Article #3
Title:A holy month of spiritual richness and urgent political challenges
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Daily Star
Date:October 15, 2004
"This Ramadan is a moment of profound challenge for all Muslims, who face the ugly specter of being squeezed between three equally untenable and debilitating forces, two in their own societies and one in the West." This editorial urges Muslims to reclaim their faith's public identity from all of these unflattering influences.
Article #4
Title: Why we do not get on - and what to do about it.
Author: Steven Everts
Publication: ~~Common Ground Series~~ in partnership with Al Hayat
Date: September 25, 2004
Everts' article is the first in a series on Arab/Muslim - Western Relations commissioned by Search for Common Ground that has been running in Middle Eastern publications over the last month. He advocates reducing the barriers of ignorance through exchange programs that increase exposure and promote access to accurate information.
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~~NEW YOUTH COLUMN~~
CG News: Youth Views - In its work around the world, SFCG has come to recognize the power of youth perspectives. Because the conflicts in the Middle East and the tensions between the West and the Muslim world have a tremendous impact on young people, CGNews is launching a column dedicated to the voices of youth. The column dedicates a regular space for young writers between 14 and 27 to introduce their ideas into the global dialogue on building peace.
We are always looking for youth who are interested in contributing and we will work with them to pair them with other interested writers and assist in editing. If you or someone you know might be interested, please contact mshipler@sfcg.org.
The first article, entitled "Briding the Arab-West Cultural Divide" and written by Benjamin Quinto, founder and executive director of the Global Youth Action Network, and Kuwaiti university student Mohammed Al-Ghanim, sets the scene by looking at some of the ways youth are already involved in the Western - Muslim dialogue.
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BRIDGING THE ARAB-WEST CULTURAL DIVIDE:
Forging cultural exchange, media reform and youth participation in decision-making
Benjamin Quinto and Mohammed Al-Ghanim
October 26, 2004
A survey conducted by RoperASW for National Geographic in 2002 revealed that only 13% of American youth could find Iraq on a map. It's not surprising that young people in the US know little or nothing about Arab culture, Middle Eastern philosophy or the religion of Islam. Adding to this gap, most Arab youth get their understanding of American culture through the media and entertainment industry, which paints an inaccurate picture of society in the US today. Something must be done to bridge this chasm, and young people may have the answer.
The United States and Arab World are deeply connected when you consider the political and economic influences that come into play with the Arab Gulf and oil producing states. Were it not for the USA's dependence on crude oil (the United States being its largest consumer nation), perhaps the relationship might not be as contentious. Although some countries in the region do have a stable relationship with the United States, many other Arab states have had a turbulent one dating back to 1948, with the declaration and unconditional support of the State of Israel.
For over half a century, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has persisted, deeply affecting the country and occupied territory, as well as the region, feeding the animosity that has only grown in that time between the Muslim and western world. The underlying social issues, which may be common to both Arabs and those in the western world, are obscured by the level of misinformation and public apprehension each population has about the other; and these widening misperceptions are perpetuated by the media.
Those most directly affected by the conflicts in the region are, as usual, women and children, but particularly youth, who suffer the greatest impact on the front lines. Decades of conditioning have provided a fertile ground to capitalize on the despair of young people with little hope for the future, who can be recruited to fight for a cause that gives them a greater sense of purpose and value in society-as extremist groups have been successful in doing. The fundamental question is how do we effectively move a population from being the unwitting perpetrators of violence to becoming a positive force of youth-led development and peace-building, when the political culture does not encourage youth participation in the decision-making process? The answer is simple: when youth are afforded such opportunities, the likelihood of them making positive contributions increases exponentially.
The tragic incidents of September 11th have perhaps been the most significant turning point for the United States in examining-or having the chance to examine-its foreign policy, as it relates specifically to the region. When preliminary reports suspected that Al-Qaeda were the terrorists, later confirmed through evidence, there was a measurable increase in the purchase of books on the fundamentals of Islam and, most importantly, the call for Jihad or a 'Holy War'.
It is not the type of information Americans began to seek, but rather the fact that now, and unfortunately after such a horrific incident, America wanted to learn about Arabs and Islam. The events of September 11 also introduced a new thinking: "Islamophobia." Many Americans continue to be under the perception that Islam is a religion that evokes hate and anger, and that this is the claim for Jihad. On the other hand, few Arabs and Muslims believe that September 11th was inevitable, that it represented the ideals of their culture, or was congruous in any way with their political or religious ideology. If anything, those in the Arab region may have believed that the American people ought to have blamed their government's foreign policy, which continues to support Israel politically and financially and lately occupy strategic points in the Arab region.
The fact is that pointing fingers will lead us nowhere. This fear of Islam and animosity towards America can only be avoided if Americans, Arabs and Muslims are willing to build bridges between their cultures, and a common vision for the future. Young people may be closer to possessing the answer than anyone else. It is through their hope and idealism, their energy and enthusiasm that we can have the greatest chance of creating peace between the US and the Arab World.
Consider the successes achieved by programs such as Seeds of Peace (www.seedsofpeace.org), which for decades has created safe spaces and camps where small groups of Israelis and Palestinians live in close quarters for an extended period of time. They share perspectives, concerns, and their feelings with each other, argue or fight, and ultimately resolve their differences through a facilitated process. Experiences like these, and cultural exchanges between the western and Arab world, create a greater level of respect among young people through dialogue and spaces for learning.
Pioneering projects today, notably Chat the Planet (www.chattheplanet.com), through their Bridge to Baghdad and Baghdad 2-way television special recently on MTV, have created a unique environment in today's mass media for real, unscripted conversations that transcend borders of culture and geography. Yet it remains critical that these diverse voices be more accurately and positively represented in the media at large. With unprecedented instant and global communication networks, opportunities to connect abound, and are being exploited by young people. They provide a new avenue for fresh dialogue and a tool for outreach and organizing.
International forums and summits, as well as organizations like TakingITGlobal (www.takingitglobal.org), the Global Youth Action Network (www.youthlink.org), the International Youth Parliament (http://iyp.oxfam.org), and the International Education and Resource Network (www.iearn.org), help young people from diverse backgrounds come together to share ideas and move from conversation to positive action. Young people should have greater access to such opportunities-imagine the impact of high level government officials going through a process such as the one offered by Seeds of Peace-that bridge cultures and find a common path to ending hatred and violence.
Hundreds of organizations with thousands of members are working at the grassroots level to build understanding among young people in the region and across the world. By fostering and expanding these programs, organizing broader cultural exchange programs and increasing the channels of honest communication between youth and policy makers, young people today can become key players in the process of ensuring peace. Our present commitment lays a pathway to a future of non-violence.
**Benjamin Quinto is founder and executive director of the Global Youth Action Network, an alliance of thousands of organizations in over 180 countries. He is a 26 year-old US citizen with 8 years of experience advocating for youth participation, and currently resides in New York City. He acts as Strategy Coordinator for Chat the Planet TV.
**Mohammed Al-Ghanim is a 20 year-old Kuwaiti, studying Political Science at the Lebanese American University, in Beirut. He is the Arab Regional Coordinator of the Global Youth Action Network, an advisor to Grantmakers Without Borders and sits on the Youth Advisory Board of the United Nations Population Fund.
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Article #1
Why Muslims Always Blame the West
Husain Haqqani
When Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, warned against the descent of an "iron curtain" between the West and the Islamic world, he appeared to put the onus of avoiding confrontation only on the West.
The Palestinian issue and the pre-emptive war in Iraq have undoubtedly accentuated anti-Western sentiment among Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia. But the conduct and rhetoric of Muslim leaders and their failure to address the stagnation of their societies has also fueled the tensions between Islam and the West.
Relations between Muslims and the West will continue to deteriorate unless the internal crisis of the Muslim world is also addressed.
After 9/11, General Musharraf switched support from Afghanistan's Taliban to the U.S.-led war against terrorism. He has since received a hefty package of U.S. military and economic assistance and spoken of the need for "enlightened moderation."
According to an opinion poll conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center as part of its Global Attitudes Survey, 86 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable view of General Musharraf while 65 percent also support Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden is viewed favorably by large percentages in other Muslim countries with "moderate" rulers.
Quite clearly, some Muslims find it possible to like Musharraf, who is regarded by the U.S. as the key figure in the hunt for bin Laden, while admiring his quarry at the same time. The contradiction speaks volumes about the general state of confusion in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan.
Instead of hard analysis, which thrives only in a free society, Muslims are generally brought up on propaganda, which is often state-sponsored. This propaganda usually focuses on Muslim humiliation at the hands of others instead of acknowledging the flaws of Muslim leaders and societies.
The focus on external enemies causes Muslims to admire power rather than ideas. Warriors, and not scholars or inventors, are generally the heroes of common people. In this simplistic "us vs. them" worldview, both Musharraf and bin Laden are warriors against external enemies.
Ringing alarm bells about an iron curtain between the West and the Islamic world without acknowledging the internal flaws of Muslim rulers and societies helps maintain the polarization as well as the flow of Western aid for the flawed rulers.
Ironically, a cult of the warrior has defined the Muslim worldview throughout the period of Muslim decline. Muslims have had few victories in the last two centuries, but their admiration for the proverbial sword and spear has only increased.
Textbooks in Muslim countries speak of the victories of Muslim fighters from an earlier era. Orators still call for latter-day mujahedeen to rise and regain Islam's lost glory. More streets in the Arab world are named after Muslim generals than men of learning. Even civilian dictators in the Muslim world like being photographed in military uniforms, Saddam Hussein being a case in point.
In the post-colonial period, military leaders in the Muslim world have consistently taken advantage of the popular fascination with military power. The Muslim cult of the warrior explains also the relatively muted response in the Muslim world to atrocities committed by fellow Muslims.
While the Muslim world's obsession with military power encourages violent attempts to "restore" Muslim honor, the real reasons for Muslim humiliation and backwardness continue to multiply. In the year 2000, according to the World Bank, the average income in the advanced countries (at purchasing price parity) was $27,450, with the U.S. income averaging $34,260 and Israel's income averaging $19, 320.
The average income in the Muslim world, however, stood at $3,700. Pakistan's per capita income in 2003 was a meager $2,060. Excluding the oil-exporting countries, none of the Muslim countries of the world had per capita incomes above the world average of $7,350.
National pride in the Muslim world is derived not from economic productivity, technological innovation or intellectual output but from the rhetoric of "destroying the enemy" and "making the nation invulnerable." Such rhetoric sets the stage for the clash of civilizations as much as specific Western policies.
Ironically, Western governments have consistently tried to deal with one manifestation of the cult of the warrior - terrorism - by building up Muslim strongmen who are just another manifestation of the same phenomenon.
**Husain Haqqani is a leading journalist, diplomat, and former advisor to Pakistani prime ministers.
Source: International Hearld Tribune
Visit the website at: www.iht.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.
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Article #2
US shouldn't ignore Syria's new strategy
George S. Hishmeh
A new Syrian dynamic is slowly emerging that has the United States baffled. The initial official reaction in Washington has been cautious and mixed, ranging from the lukewarm "relatively positive" to the slightly warmer "little more positive," both expressed by none other than Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in the same breath.
For the record, for about a year the Syrians have been urging the Bush administration to speak clearly and pinpoint the issues that have divided the two governments, especially regarding the turbulence in war-ravaged Iraq, Syria's all-important neighbor.
Moreover, the Syrian leadership has repeatedly offered to resume peace negotiations with Israel, but these statements fell on deaf ears in both Tel Aviv and the Bush administration. Now it is unlikely to be considered since Ariel Sharon is preoccupied with his unilateral pullout plan from the Gaza Strip.
Typical of the administration's attitude toward the other key problem in the Middle East, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Bush administration dragged its feet.
It allowed other groups, if not governments in the region, with sinister agendas to impose their policies, be they the Syrian Accountability Act or the devastating and bloody Israeli assaults on the hapless Palestinians and their wretched homes in refugees camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The issues that divided the two countries include the situation on the Syrian-Iraqi border;, alleged money laundering in Damascus and the presence of Palestinian rejectionist groups in the Syrian capital. And lately the question of Syrian military presence in Lebanon has surfaced unexpectedly, if not threateningly.
Secretary Powell has recently told Al Hurra, the US-funded Arabic-language TV station beamed to the Arab world, that Syria's border with Iraq remains "very porous and we are still very concerned that the terrorists and material are coming from across the border."
Positive discussions
He, however, acknowledged that "we have had some relatively positive discussions with the Syrians over the last several weeks" during talks with a US military delegation and a visit by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns.
"And the Syrians have said they would work with us and with the Iraqis to do more to seal the border ... (but) I am not sure it will ever be totally sealed ... and we hope that this new attitude on the part of the Syrians will produce results."
Powell acknowledged that "the Syrians are doing some other things that are a little more positive with respect to (Iraqi) financial transactions and financial presence in Damascus." Anyhow, he continued, "we will measure Syrian attitudes in terms of their behavior, not just their attitudes."
But this Syrian diplomatic offensive is unlikely to show immediate results because the US is in the midst of a tight presidential race and, then, there are anticipated disruptive deliberations at the upcoming UN Security Council over Syria's presence in neighboring Lebanon.
In most assessments here by people within and without the administration, the issue of Lebanon would play a secondary role in the face of the Bush administration's new-found attempt to seal Syria's border with Iraq, an issue that will remain a top priority even if Senator John Kerry settles in the Oval Office next January.
In the meantime, a view offered after a just-concluded visit to Damascus and Beirut by two former ambassadors, Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center, and Ed Gabriel, counselor at the Middle East Programme of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has submitted a new and intriguing image of President Bashar Al Assad with whom they had a three-hour meeting.
Their assessment contrasts sharply with those of the administration, particularly Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's characterization of the Syrian posture heretofore as "unhelpful."
Indyk told a closed briefing attended by both the Syrian and Lebanese ambassadors here that "something is going on in Syria, and I think it's time for us here in Washington to pay attention to it, and also to test it."
He found President Bashar as "candid and open ... (and) non-ideological" and surprisingly not chaperoned by the ever-present Foreign Minister, Farouk Al Shara, who apparently was also asked to leave from an earlier meeting to allow the Syrian leader a tête-à-tête with visiting Assistant Secretary Burns, "an interesting indicator ... that Al Shara and others of the old guard are being systematically sidelined."
Wrong side
In Indyk's opinion, he thought that the Syrian leader "has figured out that he was on the wrong side in Iraq and has redefined Syrian interests to justify cooperation with the United States."
Assad seemed concerned about the "possible disintegration of Iraq ... and the way that could spill over and impact on Syria's own interests."
He continued: "I think the Syrian government decided some time ago to cooperate with the United States over Iraq, and was actually sending signals here of a willingness to do so. Not surprisingly, within our administration that triggered a fight and the usual paralysis as to how to deal with a rogue state, and so it took some time for us to take up the offer."
This new Syrian "strategic approach," as Indyk guardedly described it, has raised many eyebrows here because of the implications this could have for the region and Syria itself as seemed possible in the recent Syrian cabinet shakeup.
Whatever is up the Syrian sleeve, a new American administration cannot sit idly by and ignore this Syrian "turnaround."
** George Hismeh is an Arab American columnist based in Washington DC.
Source: AMIN.org
Website: www.amin.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.
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Article #3
A holy month of spiritual richness and urgent political challenges
Daily Star Editorial
The first day of Ramadan in most of the Islamic world marks the start of what has always been a very special month of deep spirituality, introspection, material self-control and religious piety for Muslims everywhere. These days, however, Ramadan is much more than that. This Ramadan is a moment of profound challenge for all Muslims, who face the ugly specter of being squeezed between three equally untenable and debilitating forces, two in their own societies and one in the West.
First is the barbaric militancy of a small number of Muslim terrorists who now operate throughout the world, using modern communication technology to disseminate and amplify their ghastly inhumanity, including kidnappings, bombing civilians, beheadings and other such deeds that run counter to every moral fiber and principle of the Islamic faith. Second is the prevalence of autocratic, sometimes dictatorial, governance systems in many Middle Eastern and other predominantly Islamic societies. Their thin veneer of participatory or democratic politics is outweighed by the perpetuation of power that is centralized in the hands of small groups of unaccountable people. These two indigenous problems that plague many Muslims are compounded by a clear tendency in the West, especially in the U.S., to fear and demonize Islam as a whole, including through using military force, economic sanctions, media misrepresentation and diplomatic pressures.
The vast majority of ordinary, decent, God-loving Muslims are uncomfortably squeezed between these three terrible forces - at once morally ravaged by the few criminal terrorists among them, immobilized by their own autocratic political systems, and politically assaulted by growing segments of the West. This is not a situation that can be allowed to persist. These tendencies will cause irreparable damage to the societies in questions, while sparking greater strife between Islamic and Western societies.
Muslims must rise to the challenge of reversing all three trends. This Ramadan is a moment whose spiritual intensity is matched by the great urgency for Muslims and Islamic societies to define themselves via their rich and humanistic values. It is tragic that many people throughout the world today would associate Islam with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden and others of their ilk who are a great travesty of basic Islamic values. Religious leaders, scholars, public figures, media personalities, activists and concerned citizens in Islamic societies would do well this Ramadan to go beyond the basic tenets of this holy month. Muslims everywhere must start reclaiming their faith's public identity and global perception from those extremists and killers who have managed to hijack them in recent years.
Source: Daily Star
Visit the website at: www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication.
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Article #4
Why we do not get on - and what to do about it.
Steven Everts
In the past few years, something has gone wrong in the broader relationship between the so-called West and the countries of the Arab and Muslim world. Distrust, recriminations and resentment have mounted. Minor misunderstandings or disagreements have taken on highly symbolic importance and fed the cycle of suspicion. When France passes a law to protect the secular nature of its state-run education system by banning religious symbols from the classroom, Muslims all over the world see an intolerant West, bent on denying Muslims the right to practice their faith. Conversely, when some Arab leaders react equivocally to Palestinian suicide bombing, many in the West see a failure to take a stand against all forms of terrorism, while most Arabs point to the suffering of the Palestinians and their valiant struggle to end the Israeli occupation. When terrorist groups in Iraq kidnap and murder European hostages and put the pictures on the internet, the public outcry is, understandably, visceral and severe. But commentators pronouncing on the background of these killings will somehow suggest that the words Islam, terrorism and fundamentalism are all inextricably linked. Meanwhile, for Arabs and Muslims, the most important images of the Iraq war were those documenting the degrading treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, confirming their long-held suspicions about Western motives and behaviour.
How did we get here? The September and March 11th attacks in the US and Spain; the 2003 Iraq war and its aftermath; and the never-ending violence in Israel-Palestine are all contributing factors. But in a sense, relations between the West and the Muslim world have been on the slide for years. Lazy thinking and ignorance on both sides have created one-dimensional images of 'the other'. Too few have spoken out about the problems of stereotyping; the dangers of uncritical thinking and self-righteousness, and the urgent need to search for common ground.
In 1921, when Britain controlled Palestine and Iraq, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote a famous poem called The Second Coming. It is a good description of the contemporary Middle East and worth re-reading for that reason alone. To paraphrase Yeats slightly: when the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity, the centre cannot hold. In the past few years, the metaphorical centre has collapsed, drowned out by voices of intolerance and conceit.
So what is to be done? Part of the answer is an attempt on both sides to take political risks and change long-standing policies. A genuine effort to bring about the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that we all pledge to seek but for which time is fast running out, would be a great help. So too would be a different US approach to Iraq and Iran, and a more generous European stance on visas and agricultural exports. On the side of the Muslim world, more honesty is needed to acknowledge the damage of decades-long stagnation and political authoritarianism, plus a genuine attempt to implement the reforms necessary to reverse these trends. The desperate need to advance the status of women and to ensure a genuine free press cry out for special attention and early action.
But such political measures, while necessary and useful, won't suffice. Arguably the biggest problem is that we know so little about each other. Most people get their information from the media. And when Western media do stories or films about the Muslim world, they tend to use the familiar templates of 'the war on terror'. The same is true for most Arab media: they too prefer to stick to the mental maps of Western hostility, exploitation and moral decadence. Despite the internet and the 'death of distance', few people actually travel from the West to the wider Middle East and vice versa. Even from Cairo, a political, commercial and social hub in the Arab world, only a handful of flights depart every day to European destinations. To compare: literally hundreds of flights depart for destinations in the West from Heathrow alone, which is just one out of five London airports.
More dialogue per se may not guarantee better relations, but it can help and would at least reduce the barriers of ignorance. Thus we need a dramatic expansion of scholarship programmes and workplace exchange schemes so that more people know about life on the other side. Europe has been transformed through political and market integration, driven by supranational institutions. But the most successful EU programme has been the Erasmus scheme, which gives tens of thousands of students the chance to do part of their university degree in another EU country. Similar schemes also operate for professors and other categories of workers. Together with low-cost airlines, they have probably done more for European unity than the deadweight of the common agricultural policy. We need a similar scheme to link educational establishments in the West to those of the Arab and Muslim world. And, why not, we must also explore the possibilities of introducing low cost air travel on routes to and from the Middle East. There is no reason, other than politically inspired protectionism, why a ticket from London to Beirut or Jeddah should costs twice as much as one to New York. The overwhelming evidence suggests that if people are exposed to more factual information and different experiences, they moderate their views and factor in greater complexity. We may still differ on many things, but at least we should get the facts straight.
** Steven Everts is a senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform in London.
Source: This article is part of a series of views on the relationship between the Islamic/Arabic world and the West, published in partnership with the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.
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About CGNews-PiH
The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. This service is one result of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.
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E-mail: cgnewspih@sfcg.org
Editors:
Emad Khalil
Amman Editor
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Rabat Editor
Juliette Schmidt
& Elyte Baykun
Washington Editors
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