"Naught But A Single Nation"
‘And mankind is naught but a single nation.’ (The Quran, 2:213)
My friend from the Mosaic International Summit 2010 Sayka Hussain summed it up best to her inquisitive colleagues when asked what the Mosaic International Summit was all about_ ‘What would you make of a place with 80 people from all over the world, different cultures, languages, backgrounds... conservative Saudi Arabia rubbing shoulders with secular Turkey, Pakistan with Bangladesh... and guess what_ true respect for difference, a genuine desire to know and understand, celebration of diversity, sharing, learning, enlightening discussions, and some real fun.’
A paradigm of refreshing rarity in this puzzling, jostling world_ that’s the Mosaic International Summit. I remember the dismal air of gloom that hung over my city as it still reeled from the scars of a horrific terrorist attack earlier in July. I also remember the nervousness and anxiety, the clammy hands clutching the crumpled bit of paper with ‘safar ki duaein (prayers for travelling)’ written across it on the way to the airport. I remember reading worrying reports about the banning of veils in Europe, and the likelihood of it happening in the UK too, and getting jittery about the whole thing... and I remember how soon it all became a distant memory.
I’ve often read and heard of unity in diversity and seen bespectacled intellectuals make a big deal out of it, but these past few days I actually saw it work, witnessed it all around, experienced it, lived it. Eighty people from all over the world, and yet the instant bonding, the connectedness, the fraternal feeling, almost. You say that magic word ‘Salam alaikum’, and there you go_ the tautness leaves you, the stiffness goes out, and you feel warmed up, bursting into a smile_ as simple as that.
Now that I can reflect on the extraordinary experience, I know it was the ‘Muslim connection.’ Because beneath all our colours, shades and shapes, we shared core values. With all our diversity, we converge in a Unity that arises out of the faith we all share. Even as we travel on our own marked out pathways and make our own individual journeys, we are linked to the Centre that holds_ like those myriads circling the Sacred House_ always moving, yet always firmly linked to the Centre that holds_ Homeward bound.
To write down what I learnt at Mosaic International Summit is to try and put an abysmal intensity in black and white. However, one of the many lessons that was significant to me personally was the tremendous force with which the reality of the resounding ‘Verily, We have honoured the Children of Adam’ (The Noble Quran, 17:70) was driven home to me; that we all are honoured in being human; and that every individual is a piece in the Mosaic painted by the ‘Moving Finger’, adding to the colour, completing the design and making it whole. Every individual fits into and adds to that bigger picture; every individual is intrinsically valuable for his God-given humanness.
The experience of meeting spirited, visionary young Muslims from the world over revived in me the Hope that was so dangerously dwindling with news alerts, breaking news updates and appalling headlines. If 80 people, as my friend had so candidly put it, could foment the most enduring ties in two weeks and eighty different voices could break out in chorus ‘Different colour, one people...’, there was promise on the horizons. If this spirit could be magnified onto the world scene, a lot of obstacles could be surmounted, a lot of barriers could fall and stereotypes shatter.
Meeting people who had made it big in life and had substantially contributed to society reinstated my Idealism, and convinced me it was not foolish or vain to dream and to idealize. It was not stupid to have a vision for a better world even in your smallness. Every journey begins with a single step. You only have to know it will take you there. The signposts on the journey come from the faith you subscribe to, and guidance is to stay the course signposted for you. As a Muslim, I was awe struck to find that for every issue we discussed or focussed on_ be it leadership, sustainability, poverty alleviation or interfaith harmony_ there was a clear and comprehensive guideline, a definitive pointer, a solution indicated in the sacred texts of Islam. And hence Islam is no religion, but a Code of Life. Truly. It has always been faith that has inspired people to attain the highest of human aspirations, and it is Islam that informs our response as Muslims to the challenges confronting us today. On leadership, Islam tells us we have to be followers before we can lead; it tells us we all have a leadership responsibility within our own spheres, and that we are all as ‘shepherds to our flocks’, as the Prophet (SAW) used the analogy. On sustainability, Islam tells you to respect the natural Balance Allah has created: ‘And We have set up the Balance; so do not transgress the due Balance.’ (The Quran, 55:9) On poverty it tells you it must be eliminated by all means, as Ali (R.A) said, ‘If poverty was a person, I would have killed it.’ It teaches the importance of charity, and gives a system to regulate and establish it as a permanent means to bridge socio-economic disparity. However, it also tells you charity may help lift people out of a crippling animal existence, but that the real need is to create sustainable means of income generation through vigorous economic activity and an egalitarian, inclusive culture_ just as the Prophet (SAW) preferred to teach the beggar who approached him to fend for himself rather than just give him charity. It teaches you that while you put your faith in God, you also have to ‘tie your camel tight’, and that ‘Allah does not change the condition of any nation, until they change themselves’(The Noble Quran, 13:11) _ putting the onus on human initiative, individual and communal effort rather than Messianic hero-worship and inaction. I leant, as Councillor Afzal Khan CBE quoted from a hadith, that ‘He whose Today is not better than his yesterday, is a sure loser,’ and as Mr. Arif Zaman quoted in his parting message, ‘Value five things before five others... youth before old age, wealth before poverty, free time before getting busy, health before illness, and life before death.’ (hadith of the Prophet SAWW, narrated by Abu Dharr R.A) I learnt, as professor Keeler put it, that ‘Islam is a Balance produced by a Unity imparted through Revelation: the highest and most powerful form of Knowledge...’, and that it depends on us what we wish to take from the thousands of years of the Islamic experience and its heritage.
I noticed also that all of the extraordinary leaders we met_ Muslim or non Muslim_ shared one common, basic value_ they all had vision that transcended the immediate, short term material goal. They all had their eyes fixed on Yonder, and rose above the pettily personal. That is what made them people of personal integrity, character, principle, upstanding virtue. I learnt that this is the most fundamental component of true leadership, in whatever capacity. Because, as Imran_ a delegate from from UK put it, at the end of the day, we are all going into our own graves, and we are all going to have to answer for our actions. So it really is about your individual/personal choices in life, your sensitivity to the moral voice, your intentions, your sincerity. Even when we work for our fellow human beings, the punchline is that ‘in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.’
I look back with both nostalgia and thanksgiving. Some Mosaic moments come to haunt, instruct, enlighten, reassure and cheer up. From so many of my friends I learnt that beneath our skins and appearances we had so much in common, so much to share... I learnt how fickle our stereotypes are, how infantile our preconceived notions. I learnt that freedom and liberty is to be yourself and let the other be, and to respect their right to be themselves. I learnt to rise above external trappings and value the essence within; I learnt the importance of self-awareness, a sense of identity and the strength to profess it in order to venture into someone else’s sacred space. I learnt to embrace diversity and respect difference. I felt the warmth and the strength of holding hands and together walking the tedious Path, yet sure of the Guiding Hand, moving on, hoping to get There, eventually (thanks, Sayka). I relished that wonderful feeling of being understood, trying to understand, sharing, exchanging, learning, unlearning. (Thank you to ALL my newfound brothers and sisters). To my Pakistani friends, you give me so many reasons to be proud of and hopeful for my country.
A recurring memory is of the last night before departure, when John (or John O’Brien, executive head of MOSAIC) sat with some of us, sharing his journey to Mosaic, and what Mosaic had come to mean to him. He confided in us the values this had imparted to him, and how his encounter with every single one of the extraordinary people at Mosaic had been part of the personal journey of Self Awareness he had been chosen to make. He shared how it had made him look at some of the subtle biases he had grown up into, with maturity, critical insight and a humanistic vision. John’s experience resonated with many of our own stories of what Mosaic had come to mean to us. And in the magic of that moment, the diversity of the little group we were, the Welshness, whiteness and blue-eyedness, the brownness, blackness and veiledness, holiness or unholiness dissolved away into nothing_ for we were as one, able to feel, think, respect, empathize, understand, respond, laugh and weep_ just different colours, but one people... thank you, John!
I remember how during the presentations at Mosaic, whenever any of the presenters talked of the ‘Eighty extraordinary young leaders’, I would shrink into myself, thinking ‘seventy nine, actually.’ After this vigorous, overwhelming, transforming experience, I feel inspired, motivated, driven, sure of myself, confident of my vision, hopeful, energized, empowered, connected and resourceful... And so do the seventy nine others. I browse through my mailbox reading messages from Bangladesh, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan expressing not merely concern over the recent devastating floods in my country, but activism, responsibility, empathy and a desire to lend a hand. I am reassured, heartened... and a familiar hadith rings in my ears: “The believers, in their mutual mercy, love and compassion, are like a (single) body; if one part of it feels pain, the rest of the body will join it in staying awake and suffering fever.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari).
I rise on the wings of Hope_ all is not lost!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
In Memory of Dr. Israr Ahmad
THE WAYFARER
Maryam Sakeenah
As I walked through the dust and heat, threading my way through the throng of unfamiliar faces, I felt an indescribable kinship, an invisible bond that linked me to the faces I walked among. We were drawn towards the same_ a personage, a symbol, a phenomenon, an institution, an era, a life larger than Life. I was a nobody among the crowd, one among many_ and yet I felt I needed to be there, to draw in the moment, to feel the meaning in the cool shade of the towering white minaret and the gentle wind’s whisper, to see it writ large, to savour blessedness, to understand what it meant to truly live, and to live well. That was one of the many realizations the departure of Dr. Israr Ahmed brought home to me. I looked around at the silent, sombre crowd I felt we were all suddenly bereft, forlorn, derelict. There was the huge, gaping void it would take decades, perhaps centuries to fill.
He was rare_ not just as a scholar, but as a person too_ as a family member tearfully confided in me how he had been the unifying factor, helping resolve differences, sorting things out, solving problems, strengthening ties; how he had been the advisor, guide, patron, father figure, guardian, comforter, confidante.
There were tearful eyes, one of them a friend’s who reminisced of her time at the Quran Academy as a student. She said it had only struck her now that the personal revolution that had given her an entirely new orientation had been just one of the many, many transforming experiences thousands like her had undergone, made possible by the conviction and endeavour of a single ‘possessed’ man_ a man obsessed with a Single Idea. I had never before understood with such crystal clarity the meaning of ‘sadaqa e jarya.’
In one of his interviews, Doctor sahib, in his candid demeanour, had said he didn’t think he had been successful in any significant measure_ except perhaps that his work had helped create religious awareness and inclination among the country’s educated middle class. Understated indeed, considering the enormity and significance of the task. His tireless mission spanned decades, and his tenacity in pursuing the goal he believed in with all his soul was commendable. The depth of his knowledge and insight had been garnered over years of painstaking, unaided personal effort. The maturity of his seasoned vision, the sense of balance and the conviction in the face of formidable odds were a rare combination. His passion for the Cause he held dear and strove tirelessly for was powerful and moving. He dreamt alone, and dared to act it out. He was thoroughly immersed in the Quran, thoroughly in love with it. You couldn’t doubt the love, it was so there. He had its glow on the face, its brilliance in the eyes, its ring in the voice. And it was infectious.
As I stepped into the place where he had lived for years, I was instantly struck by the simplicity, as it was so utterly shorn of any semblance of comfort and luxury. ‘Live in this world as a stranger or a wayfarer.’ The Wayfarer had lived it out, eyes firmly fixed on the Greater Beyond, and moved on. And when I stepped out of the simple place that had been home to him all those years I noticed the offices of the Tanzeem i Islami, the library of the Khuddaam ul Quran, the hordes of people attired in the beauty of the Sunnah _ bearded, wearing prayer caps_ and the edifying structure of the masjid, I knew I was witnessing an edifying legacy. And all of a sudden I could feel the humungous power, the might, the impact of individual initiative and effort. I could suddenly see the miraculous divine power that invests sincere action, blessing it with barakah that outlasts lifetimes, even generations. I could see the unstoppable, spreading luminosity of that lone spark in the blackness. I could see it bursting into flame.
In one of his interviews he had explained how as a child he had been struck with the powerful meaning of the verse by Iqbal: ‘Woh zamaney mein muazzaz they musalman ho kar, Aur tum khuwar huwe tarik e Quran ho kar.’ He said the verse had possessed him, and then there was no turning back. He had been Handpicked, marked out, chosen. The Moving Finger was at work. His last Friday lecture barely days before his passing away, was about the meaning of Shukr_ gratitude to God_ for being chosen to discover and share and disseminate; for the man that he was, and for the legacy he left. In this last lecture, he mentioned at length the blessings awaiting believers in Al Firdous, and that only on receiving that true and lasting reward would the actual and full meaning of ‘Alhamdulillah’ be experienced in its totality. ‘Jab hum Jannat mein jayein gay,’ he had said, ‘to sub se pehlay zaban se yehi niklay ga: ‘Alhamdulillah.’
Alhamdulillah for your being there. Alhamdulillah for passing it on.
In class when I shared the news with students I could not at first explain to myself the calm that suddenly overwhelmed me_ perhaps out of a sense of comfort in the hope that he would be in that Happier Place. A student wrote of him, “I would go to Jannat al Firdous and meet him there inshallah. I would shake hands with him_ I always wanted to do that but he has died, you know, so I can’t. But in Jannah I shall shake his hands and he will smile and say, ‘My son, I am so proud of you.’”
The Dream lives on, beckoning us.
Maryam Sakeenah
As I walked through the dust and heat, threading my way through the throng of unfamiliar faces, I felt an indescribable kinship, an invisible bond that linked me to the faces I walked among. We were drawn towards the same_ a personage, a symbol, a phenomenon, an institution, an era, a life larger than Life. I was a nobody among the crowd, one among many_ and yet I felt I needed to be there, to draw in the moment, to feel the meaning in the cool shade of the towering white minaret and the gentle wind’s whisper, to see it writ large, to savour blessedness, to understand what it meant to truly live, and to live well. That was one of the many realizations the departure of Dr. Israr Ahmed brought home to me. I looked around at the silent, sombre crowd I felt we were all suddenly bereft, forlorn, derelict. There was the huge, gaping void it would take decades, perhaps centuries to fill.
He was rare_ not just as a scholar, but as a person too_ as a family member tearfully confided in me how he had been the unifying factor, helping resolve differences, sorting things out, solving problems, strengthening ties; how he had been the advisor, guide, patron, father figure, guardian, comforter, confidante.
There were tearful eyes, one of them a friend’s who reminisced of her time at the Quran Academy as a student. She said it had only struck her now that the personal revolution that had given her an entirely new orientation had been just one of the many, many transforming experiences thousands like her had undergone, made possible by the conviction and endeavour of a single ‘possessed’ man_ a man obsessed with a Single Idea. I had never before understood with such crystal clarity the meaning of ‘sadaqa e jarya.’
In one of his interviews, Doctor sahib, in his candid demeanour, had said he didn’t think he had been successful in any significant measure_ except perhaps that his work had helped create religious awareness and inclination among the country’s educated middle class. Understated indeed, considering the enormity and significance of the task. His tireless mission spanned decades, and his tenacity in pursuing the goal he believed in with all his soul was commendable. The depth of his knowledge and insight had been garnered over years of painstaking, unaided personal effort. The maturity of his seasoned vision, the sense of balance and the conviction in the face of formidable odds were a rare combination. His passion for the Cause he held dear and strove tirelessly for was powerful and moving. He dreamt alone, and dared to act it out. He was thoroughly immersed in the Quran, thoroughly in love with it. You couldn’t doubt the love, it was so there. He had its glow on the face, its brilliance in the eyes, its ring in the voice. And it was infectious.
As I stepped into the place where he had lived for years, I was instantly struck by the simplicity, as it was so utterly shorn of any semblance of comfort and luxury. ‘Live in this world as a stranger or a wayfarer.’ The Wayfarer had lived it out, eyes firmly fixed on the Greater Beyond, and moved on. And when I stepped out of the simple place that had been home to him all those years I noticed the offices of the Tanzeem i Islami, the library of the Khuddaam ul Quran, the hordes of people attired in the beauty of the Sunnah _ bearded, wearing prayer caps_ and the edifying structure of the masjid, I knew I was witnessing an edifying legacy. And all of a sudden I could feel the humungous power, the might, the impact of individual initiative and effort. I could suddenly see the miraculous divine power that invests sincere action, blessing it with barakah that outlasts lifetimes, even generations. I could see the unstoppable, spreading luminosity of that lone spark in the blackness. I could see it bursting into flame.
In one of his interviews he had explained how as a child he had been struck with the powerful meaning of the verse by Iqbal: ‘Woh zamaney mein muazzaz they musalman ho kar, Aur tum khuwar huwe tarik e Quran ho kar.’ He said the verse had possessed him, and then there was no turning back. He had been Handpicked, marked out, chosen. The Moving Finger was at work. His last Friday lecture barely days before his passing away, was about the meaning of Shukr_ gratitude to God_ for being chosen to discover and share and disseminate; for the man that he was, and for the legacy he left. In this last lecture, he mentioned at length the blessings awaiting believers in Al Firdous, and that only on receiving that true and lasting reward would the actual and full meaning of ‘Alhamdulillah’ be experienced in its totality. ‘Jab hum Jannat mein jayein gay,’ he had said, ‘to sub se pehlay zaban se yehi niklay ga: ‘Alhamdulillah.’
Alhamdulillah for your being there. Alhamdulillah for passing it on.
In class when I shared the news with students I could not at first explain to myself the calm that suddenly overwhelmed me_ perhaps out of a sense of comfort in the hope that he would be in that Happier Place. A student wrote of him, “I would go to Jannat al Firdous and meet him there inshallah. I would shake hands with him_ I always wanted to do that but he has died, you know, so I can’t. But in Jannah I shall shake his hands and he will smile and say, ‘My son, I am so proud of you.’”
The Dream lives on, beckoning us.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Israel's Attack on Aid Flotilla
‘A BIT LESS RIGHTEOUS, BUT A BIT MORE WISE’
Maryam Sakeenah
Israeli journalist Sima Kadmon, concerned over recent events that caused an outpouring of rage and condemnation against Israel the world over (almost), reminisced of a time when her country was ‘a bit less righteous, but a bit more wise’. She held that Israel had been ‘unwise’ in attacking the aid flotilla with its ‘pro Palestine’ peace activists; unwise for not accurately predicting and calibrating its response to the scale of the outrage it provoked. She may have paraphrased the ancient Israeli dictum most aptly to the occasion, but she is not unusual in her perception. Among the Israeli writers who ventured to be critical of the attack, many expressed disapprobation on account of the lack of caution, the stupidity of the move as it failed to gauge the overwhelming responses it could generate the world over. Ben Kaspit thought it important to clarify before expressing his resentment against the unwise move, “First of all, let it be clear: We are on the right side in this story.”
Kadmon‘s comment is interesting and reflective of the mindset that prioritizes things on the basis of expediency, puts interest before rightness or wrongness_ a mindset only too rampant in the kind of world ours is. I like her choice of words... ‘less righteous’ and ‘wiser.’ Lesser righteousness, it implies, is directly proportional to wisdom_ the only wisdom known by the world out there, of course, being maximization of interests; ‘ínterests’ in turn, are defined by whatever accentuates national power and international clout. ‘All do good who work towards that end’_ making sure a lot of suspicion is not aroused for one’s motives, and rhetoric provides effective cover.
At times, however, the rhetoric too can do little to hide the crudeness, the brazenness, the bad taste. The official Israeli statement after the tragedy said: “Israel had no choice but to stop the flotilla from breaking the blockade....While Israel was forced to take action in international waters, its actions are supported by international maritime law... personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks." Washington, not surprisingly, mumbled that it was ‘working to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.’
What is visibly amiss is a reference to morality and to basic human values. What is absent is a consciousness of the fact that lives of real human beings was involved_ both in besieged, oppressed Gaza, and in the ship that carried volunteers on an aid mission. What is absent is that same understanding Shakespeare expressed ages ago in his memorable lines: “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” Only the names and identities change, the roles switch, never the human essence.
In my study of International Relations (upper case), just as in my layman’s observations of contemporary international relations (lower case), I have always encountered a cold rationalism, a rock-hard empiricism, a lack of propensity for and a sneering denigration of the normative dimension. I have encountered, as Kadmon stated, an overweening emphasis on being ‘worldly-wise’ in the pursuit of selfish national interest, and an unconcern towards the ‘rightness’ of an act. It is the way of the world, we are told. And it sure is. But the normative question of ‘does it really have to be so?’ is not asked. The rules have been set, compliance demanded.
As we grew more sophisticated and complexly technical in our theoretical groundwork and jargon, and as we devised fancier research methodologies, we convinced ourselves that to be authentic and credible, one had to be harshly amoral, ‘value-free’. This moral ambivalence or ‘neutrality’ characterizes International Relations discourse. It separates in most cases, raw fact from its accompanying context and deeper implications that emerge from the simple understanding that we deal with human beings and their lives, histories, cultures, attitudes and values. The flotilla attack is condemnable not because it was unwisely planned and unwisely executed, but because it was wrong. And it was wrong not because it was stupid, but because it was disproportionate, unprovoked aggression against virtually defenceless peace activists in international waters, and that it killed innocents who had no intent to confront and attack.
Kadmon’s stated cliché is the very heart of the matter.
The ‘value-free’ approach to I(i)nternational R(r)elations has been standardized, and lies at the base of both neo-realist and neo-liberal approaches_ think tanks, research institutes, opinion and policy-making circles that hold the strings, set the directions, orient policy, initiate and inform decision-making. Out of the many such entities dedicated to the dissemination of valueless International Relations, many happen to be run and influenced by lobbyists subscribing to the neo-Conservatist and Zionist worldviews.
The mainstream media too stems from these sources ideologically and otherwise. Roughly the same groups and individuals both own it and set the trends that govern the two domains. Care is taken to preserve an image of ‘objectivity’ and ‘neutrality’_ euphemisms for the moral vacuity that gapes behind the coverage of international affairs by the popular news media. Objectivity and neutrality in the wake of blatant inhumanity, violation of international law, oppression and injustice is criminal_ in fact, it is not really possible for a sensate human being to remain coldly ‘neutral’, and wherever one finds a decorous attempt at dispassionate ‘neutrality’, one ought to smell prejudice and bias. You have to take sides when one party is the victim and the other the perpetrator, and the flotilla incident does not leave us guessing at all. You have to realize your moral obligation and your duty as a human being. You have to stand by the truth and not escape from your moral duty by claiming to be ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’. Indifference and nonchalance in matters like this is tragic.
Media biases in covering the aid flotilla incident were glaringly obvious and have been highlighted by several independent writers. The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) expressed its deep apprehension and anger over the BBC coverage regarding the freedom flotilla. The BBC’s coverage of the event was clearly lopsided, and any fool could see that. The incident was portrayed as a sort of battle, an action-reaction phenomenon_ not as piracy in the high seas, not as slaughter of peace activists in international waters, not as state terrorism. The official account of the Israeli deputy foreign minister was presented, which stated that the flotilla organizers’ intent was violent. Israeli spokespersons received ample air time to tell their side, while the counter argument was merely made mention of in passing. The viewers did not have versions to even choose from, so relentless was the assault on hearts and minds. The American mainstream media had a similar tenor. Not surprisingly, therefore, opinion polls show that nearly half - 49 percent - of likely U.S. voters believe that ‘pro-Palestinian’ activists were to blame for the deaths that occurred when the Israel Defense Forces raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, according to a new Ramussen poll survey. To set the record straight, one only needs to know that officials from the Israeli Defence Force had made clear their intent to thwart the passage of the aid flotilla towards Gaza. One only needs to see the bare statistics of the fatalities to know who was the victim and who the perpetrator.
This may have come to the fore this strikingly now, but the media biases in covering the Palestine-Israel conflict have been ever-present. The terrible plight of Gaza has not been adequately brought to light in its full intensity except in statistics quoted in opinion pieces on independent blogs and websites. Perhaps we have grown too used to the Palestinians in particular and Muslims in general being killed off like flies. It is nothing to be shouting about from the rooftops.
The ‘analysts’ and ‘experts’ on the Middle East, diplomats and heavily paid crisis managers too have not realized in full the gravity of the plight of the Gazans since the three-year-old siege with any zeal and commitment_ too bored by now, perhaps, of this weeping sore of history since over sixty years. This plays right into the hands of political leaders who pay no more than lip service. U.S rhetoric on the issue has turned positively meaningless, utterly predictable and pathetic. Puppets and dictators installed throughout the length and breadth of the Middle East measure carefully what and how much is to be said or done for Palestine, maintaining a cautious balance on the tightrope_ keeping their bosses in the U.S happy, not alarming Israel and dexterously taming and toning down the public opinion of millions of frustrated Muslim masses at home. If that is wisdom for you, I wish we were a bit less wise.
The flotilla has brought into the limelight the shocking reality in Gaza the world has quite forgotten. The blockade cripples the lives of 1.5 million people of Gaza. While Israel maintains that basic needs are met with the aid supplies that Israel allows, the fact is that these do not meet even 20 percent of the populations’ needs. The result has been 80 per cent population living in abject poverty and misery, and hundreds of deaths from lack of medical equipment and other necessary items. Ismail Patel writing for Al Jazeera states, “Never mind the fact that the blockade has been accompanied by near constant attacks from the Israeli army and navy, which totally eclipse any home made rockets from Gaza. The death toll speaks for itself, with four civilian deaths on the Israeli side and over 2,000 on the Gaza side since June 2007. This is not a just conflict between Israel and Gaza, it is an annihilation of one group of ill-equipped people by one of the mightiest armies in the world.”
Israel has worked hard both through its ‘wise’ state policies of censorship, propaganda, blockade and its influential lobbyists all over the world, to keep the terrible plight of Gaza eclipsed from view. Israel’s allies have been willing accomplices. Amnesty International complained in its annual report for 2010 that the U.S. and members of the European Union had obstructed international justice by using their positions on the UN Security Council to shield Israel from accountability for war crimes allegedly committed during last year’s Gaza war. The rights group also accused Israel of continually violating human rights in the Gaza Strip. It cited Israel’s ongoing economic blockade as violating international law, leaving Gaza residents without adequate food or water supplies. (reported by Haaretz News Service, May 31, 2010.)
If the contorted logic of ‘self defence’ for Israel is wisdom for you, I wish we were a bit less wise, and just a bit more righteous.
What makes the peace activists and aid workers on board the flotilla truly heroic is that they forced the world to look squarely at the plight of Gaza and managed to expose the ruthless ways of the occupier. They are heroic for their determination and resoluteness to challenge the brutal siege that makes Gaza what a journalist called ‘the largest open air prison in the world.’ What makes them heroic is their courage to confront the unabashed aggressor and through their personal sacrifice, to awaken the world’s sleeping conscience. They dared to confront the humungous Goliath with the conviction and moral power_ allegorically speaking_ of David’s lone slingshot. And just like that unequal confrontation eons ago in a distant history which, as later events unfolded, brought the mighty enemy to his knees, so will this little pioneering mission gather the unmitigated strength of humanity’s conscience and spearhead a formidable, global resistance from those who insist on retaining their humanity and defending their right to think, feel and act morally. Turkey has been jolted awake, and the world’s senses still reel from the shock of the brazen violation of law, human rights and basic morality that was witnessed. It will go a long way, to teach us that it is more important to be ‘a little more righteous’, and that this in fact is the highest wisdom. As a friend wrote, ‘I can see the winds of change blowing.’
Maryam Sakeenah
Israeli journalist Sima Kadmon, concerned over recent events that caused an outpouring of rage and condemnation against Israel the world over (almost), reminisced of a time when her country was ‘a bit less righteous, but a bit more wise’. She held that Israel had been ‘unwise’ in attacking the aid flotilla with its ‘pro Palestine’ peace activists; unwise for not accurately predicting and calibrating its response to the scale of the outrage it provoked. She may have paraphrased the ancient Israeli dictum most aptly to the occasion, but she is not unusual in her perception. Among the Israeli writers who ventured to be critical of the attack, many expressed disapprobation on account of the lack of caution, the stupidity of the move as it failed to gauge the overwhelming responses it could generate the world over. Ben Kaspit thought it important to clarify before expressing his resentment against the unwise move, “First of all, let it be clear: We are on the right side in this story.”
Kadmon‘s comment is interesting and reflective of the mindset that prioritizes things on the basis of expediency, puts interest before rightness or wrongness_ a mindset only too rampant in the kind of world ours is. I like her choice of words... ‘less righteous’ and ‘wiser.’ Lesser righteousness, it implies, is directly proportional to wisdom_ the only wisdom known by the world out there, of course, being maximization of interests; ‘ínterests’ in turn, are defined by whatever accentuates national power and international clout. ‘All do good who work towards that end’_ making sure a lot of suspicion is not aroused for one’s motives, and rhetoric provides effective cover.
At times, however, the rhetoric too can do little to hide the crudeness, the brazenness, the bad taste. The official Israeli statement after the tragedy said: “Israel had no choice but to stop the flotilla from breaking the blockade....While Israel was forced to take action in international waters, its actions are supported by international maritime law... personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks." Washington, not surprisingly, mumbled that it was ‘working to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.’
What is visibly amiss is a reference to morality and to basic human values. What is absent is a consciousness of the fact that lives of real human beings was involved_ both in besieged, oppressed Gaza, and in the ship that carried volunteers on an aid mission. What is absent is that same understanding Shakespeare expressed ages ago in his memorable lines: “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” Only the names and identities change, the roles switch, never the human essence.
In my study of International Relations (upper case), just as in my layman’s observations of contemporary international relations (lower case), I have always encountered a cold rationalism, a rock-hard empiricism, a lack of propensity for and a sneering denigration of the normative dimension. I have encountered, as Kadmon stated, an overweening emphasis on being ‘worldly-wise’ in the pursuit of selfish national interest, and an unconcern towards the ‘rightness’ of an act. It is the way of the world, we are told. And it sure is. But the normative question of ‘does it really have to be so?’ is not asked. The rules have been set, compliance demanded.
As we grew more sophisticated and complexly technical in our theoretical groundwork and jargon, and as we devised fancier research methodologies, we convinced ourselves that to be authentic and credible, one had to be harshly amoral, ‘value-free’. This moral ambivalence or ‘neutrality’ characterizes International Relations discourse. It separates in most cases, raw fact from its accompanying context and deeper implications that emerge from the simple understanding that we deal with human beings and their lives, histories, cultures, attitudes and values. The flotilla attack is condemnable not because it was unwisely planned and unwisely executed, but because it was wrong. And it was wrong not because it was stupid, but because it was disproportionate, unprovoked aggression against virtually defenceless peace activists in international waters, and that it killed innocents who had no intent to confront and attack.
Kadmon’s stated cliché is the very heart of the matter.
The ‘value-free’ approach to I(i)nternational R(r)elations has been standardized, and lies at the base of both neo-realist and neo-liberal approaches_ think tanks, research institutes, opinion and policy-making circles that hold the strings, set the directions, orient policy, initiate and inform decision-making. Out of the many such entities dedicated to the dissemination of valueless International Relations, many happen to be run and influenced by lobbyists subscribing to the neo-Conservatist and Zionist worldviews.
The mainstream media too stems from these sources ideologically and otherwise. Roughly the same groups and individuals both own it and set the trends that govern the two domains. Care is taken to preserve an image of ‘objectivity’ and ‘neutrality’_ euphemisms for the moral vacuity that gapes behind the coverage of international affairs by the popular news media. Objectivity and neutrality in the wake of blatant inhumanity, violation of international law, oppression and injustice is criminal_ in fact, it is not really possible for a sensate human being to remain coldly ‘neutral’, and wherever one finds a decorous attempt at dispassionate ‘neutrality’, one ought to smell prejudice and bias. You have to take sides when one party is the victim and the other the perpetrator, and the flotilla incident does not leave us guessing at all. You have to realize your moral obligation and your duty as a human being. You have to stand by the truth and not escape from your moral duty by claiming to be ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’. Indifference and nonchalance in matters like this is tragic.
Media biases in covering the aid flotilla incident were glaringly obvious and have been highlighted by several independent writers. The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) expressed its deep apprehension and anger over the BBC coverage regarding the freedom flotilla. The BBC’s coverage of the event was clearly lopsided, and any fool could see that. The incident was portrayed as a sort of battle, an action-reaction phenomenon_ not as piracy in the high seas, not as slaughter of peace activists in international waters, not as state terrorism. The official account of the Israeli deputy foreign minister was presented, which stated that the flotilla organizers’ intent was violent. Israeli spokespersons received ample air time to tell their side, while the counter argument was merely made mention of in passing. The viewers did not have versions to even choose from, so relentless was the assault on hearts and minds. The American mainstream media had a similar tenor. Not surprisingly, therefore, opinion polls show that nearly half - 49 percent - of likely U.S. voters believe that ‘pro-Palestinian’ activists were to blame for the deaths that occurred when the Israel Defense Forces raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, according to a new Ramussen poll survey. To set the record straight, one only needs to know that officials from the Israeli Defence Force had made clear their intent to thwart the passage of the aid flotilla towards Gaza. One only needs to see the bare statistics of the fatalities to know who was the victim and who the perpetrator.
This may have come to the fore this strikingly now, but the media biases in covering the Palestine-Israel conflict have been ever-present. The terrible plight of Gaza has not been adequately brought to light in its full intensity except in statistics quoted in opinion pieces on independent blogs and websites. Perhaps we have grown too used to the Palestinians in particular and Muslims in general being killed off like flies. It is nothing to be shouting about from the rooftops.
The ‘analysts’ and ‘experts’ on the Middle East, diplomats and heavily paid crisis managers too have not realized in full the gravity of the plight of the Gazans since the three-year-old siege with any zeal and commitment_ too bored by now, perhaps, of this weeping sore of history since over sixty years. This plays right into the hands of political leaders who pay no more than lip service. U.S rhetoric on the issue has turned positively meaningless, utterly predictable and pathetic. Puppets and dictators installed throughout the length and breadth of the Middle East measure carefully what and how much is to be said or done for Palestine, maintaining a cautious balance on the tightrope_ keeping their bosses in the U.S happy, not alarming Israel and dexterously taming and toning down the public opinion of millions of frustrated Muslim masses at home. If that is wisdom for you, I wish we were a bit less wise.
The flotilla has brought into the limelight the shocking reality in Gaza the world has quite forgotten. The blockade cripples the lives of 1.5 million people of Gaza. While Israel maintains that basic needs are met with the aid supplies that Israel allows, the fact is that these do not meet even 20 percent of the populations’ needs. The result has been 80 per cent population living in abject poverty and misery, and hundreds of deaths from lack of medical equipment and other necessary items. Ismail Patel writing for Al Jazeera states, “Never mind the fact that the blockade has been accompanied by near constant attacks from the Israeli army and navy, which totally eclipse any home made rockets from Gaza. The death toll speaks for itself, with four civilian deaths on the Israeli side and over 2,000 on the Gaza side since June 2007. This is not a just conflict between Israel and Gaza, it is an annihilation of one group of ill-equipped people by one of the mightiest armies in the world.”
Israel has worked hard both through its ‘wise’ state policies of censorship, propaganda, blockade and its influential lobbyists all over the world, to keep the terrible plight of Gaza eclipsed from view. Israel’s allies have been willing accomplices. Amnesty International complained in its annual report for 2010 that the U.S. and members of the European Union had obstructed international justice by using their positions on the UN Security Council to shield Israel from accountability for war crimes allegedly committed during last year’s Gaza war. The rights group also accused Israel of continually violating human rights in the Gaza Strip. It cited Israel’s ongoing economic blockade as violating international law, leaving Gaza residents without adequate food or water supplies. (reported by Haaretz News Service, May 31, 2010.)
If the contorted logic of ‘self defence’ for Israel is wisdom for you, I wish we were a bit less wise, and just a bit more righteous.
What makes the peace activists and aid workers on board the flotilla truly heroic is that they forced the world to look squarely at the plight of Gaza and managed to expose the ruthless ways of the occupier. They are heroic for their determination and resoluteness to challenge the brutal siege that makes Gaza what a journalist called ‘the largest open air prison in the world.’ What makes them heroic is their courage to confront the unabashed aggressor and through their personal sacrifice, to awaken the world’s sleeping conscience. They dared to confront the humungous Goliath with the conviction and moral power_ allegorically speaking_ of David’s lone slingshot. And just like that unequal confrontation eons ago in a distant history which, as later events unfolded, brought the mighty enemy to his knees, so will this little pioneering mission gather the unmitigated strength of humanity’s conscience and spearhead a formidable, global resistance from those who insist on retaining their humanity and defending their right to think, feel and act morally. Turkey has been jolted awake, and the world’s senses still reel from the shock of the brazen violation of law, human rights and basic morality that was witnessed. It will go a long way, to teach us that it is more important to be ‘a little more righteous’, and that this in fact is the highest wisdom. As a friend wrote, ‘I can see the winds of change blowing.’
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