Notes on Ashura and Muslim protests over Danish cartoons
Presented here are some random thoughts on Ashura and the global almost-uprising of Muslims around the world in response to the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed:
On Ashura:
It seems that every year since 2001 the American television media has carried live footage of Ashura commemorations in Shii countries, notably Iran and Iraq. Ashura is an extremely important holiday to Shii Muslims; Sunnis don't recognize it. It is the rememberance of the death of Ali. Every year, Shii Muslims gather in the holy city of Karbala and in other cities as well and march. During the march, the men especially flaggelate themselves about the face, neck, and upper chest, usually bringing blood that they then don't wipe away.
Why have we shown this footage in the US since the spring of 2002 (the first commemoration of Ashura since 2001)? Because it is scary. Americans witness thousands of brown skinned Muslims walking together, crying loudly, beating themselves, and covered in blood. Americans can't tell what they are saying, right? Many are probably afraid of the sounds of Arabic or Farsii whether they know this consciously or not, since so many of the "bad guys" in our television shows and movies speak Arabic. The mourners could be crying "death to America" for all they know. They aren't, though. In fact, they are doing something that most Americans, especially the most conservative among us, should be intimately familiar with: the Shiis are marking a day that is analogous to Christians' Good Friday. They are mourning the taking of their leader, honoring his sacrifice for Islam, and pledging through their flaggelation to be prepared to sacrifice themselves. These tenants are identical to what Christians are supposed to feel year-round, especially during the lenten time and on Good Friday. Our monks, although the practice was far more common 1000 years ago, still flaggelate themselves as a sign of repentance. This is exactly what the Shiis do on Ashura, but they do it in public. Shouldn't the American Christians honor this kind of religious fervor and aspire to be more like Shiis, willing to feel that kind of passion and display it in public for the honor of God? However, that is not the picture we see, and that is not what we are inspired to feel when CNNFOXMSNBCABCCBSNBC show us Ashura footage. We are supposed to be horrified, scared, and shocked that the Shiis are doing something so brutal and barbaric. We find the thought "today their own skin... tomorrow ours"... creeping into our heads, thinking bloody jihad is what they are preparing for with those beatings instead of repentance.
Muslim Protests over Danish cartoons
I am not going to say much about this except to point out two things:
1. European and American newspapers apparently feel that certain groups are ok to ridicule and certain ones aren't. Case in point: a emotionally charged headline today is that Iranian newspapers are seeking cartoons that poke fun at the Holocaust. The point is not that either should be ridiculed, necessarily, but at least we have to realize that in the end we are defending politically incorrect cartoons because they attack people we inherently distrust and view as inferior. We view Islam as crazy and silly. Would we defend a cartoon making fun of Judiasm or the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? If the answer is no, then we aren't defending freedom of speech or the press here, because if we truly are, we are willing to defend even the things that offend us personally.
2. Notice where these protests have been the worst. Some of those places, while populated by Muslims, some of whom are extremist, are not exactly the biggest hotbeds of right-wing extremist Islam. However, it seems that they are all places where in recent times Muslims have felt under attack by the West and the "war on terror." Palestinians in Gaza... do I have to explain how they might feel under attack? Afghans in Kabul... again. Muslims in Syria... Syria has been isolated since the "war on terror" began and Washington has issued rhetoric condemning the government and their support of "terr". Some bandied about that Syria might be next after Iraq. It seems that a good chunk of those protesting and damaging property, etc, are viewing the cartoon as a direct overture of the West's desire to subjugate the Arab world.
On Ashura:
It seems that every year since 2001 the American television media has carried live footage of Ashura commemorations in Shii countries, notably Iran and Iraq. Ashura is an extremely important holiday to Shii Muslims; Sunnis don't recognize it. It is the rememberance of the death of Ali. Every year, Shii Muslims gather in the holy city of Karbala and in other cities as well and march. During the march, the men especially flaggelate themselves about the face, neck, and upper chest, usually bringing blood that they then don't wipe away.
Why have we shown this footage in the US since the spring of 2002 (the first commemoration of Ashura since 2001)? Because it is scary. Americans witness thousands of brown skinned Muslims walking together, crying loudly, beating themselves, and covered in blood. Americans can't tell what they are saying, right? Many are probably afraid of the sounds of Arabic or Farsii whether they know this consciously or not, since so many of the "bad guys" in our television shows and movies speak Arabic. The mourners could be crying "death to America" for all they know. They aren't, though. In fact, they are doing something that most Americans, especially the most conservative among us, should be intimately familiar with: the Shiis are marking a day that is analogous to Christians' Good Friday. They are mourning the taking of their leader, honoring his sacrifice for Islam, and pledging through their flaggelation to be prepared to sacrifice themselves. These tenants are identical to what Christians are supposed to feel year-round, especially during the lenten time and on Good Friday. Our monks, although the practice was far more common 1000 years ago, still flaggelate themselves as a sign of repentance. This is exactly what the Shiis do on Ashura, but they do it in public. Shouldn't the American Christians honor this kind of religious fervor and aspire to be more like Shiis, willing to feel that kind of passion and display it in public for the honor of God? However, that is not the picture we see, and that is not what we are inspired to feel when CNNFOXMSNBCABCCBSNBC show us Ashura footage. We are supposed to be horrified, scared, and shocked that the Shiis are doing something so brutal and barbaric. We find the thought "today their own skin... tomorrow ours"... creeping into our heads, thinking bloody jihad is what they are preparing for with those beatings instead of repentance.
Muslim Protests over Danish cartoons
I am not going to say much about this except to point out two things:
1. European and American newspapers apparently feel that certain groups are ok to ridicule and certain ones aren't. Case in point: a emotionally charged headline today is that Iranian newspapers are seeking cartoons that poke fun at the Holocaust. The point is not that either should be ridiculed, necessarily, but at least we have to realize that in the end we are defending politically incorrect cartoons because they attack people we inherently distrust and view as inferior. We view Islam as crazy and silly. Would we defend a cartoon making fun of Judiasm or the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? If the answer is no, then we aren't defending freedom of speech or the press here, because if we truly are, we are willing to defend even the things that offend us personally.
2. Notice where these protests have been the worst. Some of those places, while populated by Muslims, some of whom are extremist, are not exactly the biggest hotbeds of right-wing extremist Islam. However, it seems that they are all places where in recent times Muslims have felt under attack by the West and the "war on terror." Palestinians in Gaza... do I have to explain how they might feel under attack? Afghans in Kabul... again. Muslims in Syria... Syria has been isolated since the "war on terror" began and Washington has issued rhetoric condemning the government and their support of "terr". Some bandied about that Syria might be next after Iraq. It seems that a good chunk of those protesting and damaging property, etc, are viewing the cartoon as a direct overture of the West's desire to subjugate the Arab world.
posted by thankgodforpbr at 2/07/2006 10:06:00 AM
4 Comments:
What is necessary is for people from all cultures and all places, of all races, religions, political parties, to be able to differentiate between representatives of that group and that group as individuals. For example, not all Danes think of Islam in the way that cartoonist does. Not all Westerners want to declare war on Islam , the Middle East, or Arabs. Not all Arabs are bent on harming Westerners.
But when our government insists on speaking on behalf of all Americans, or even "all those who love freedom", it sends the message to the world that we are all hell bent on ridding the world of fundamentalist Islam. The kind of message invites the kinds of attacks that angry Muslims are carrying out. Don't forget: we, as the United States, as an entity, declared war first. So many public Western figures characterize this as a "clash of civilizations", as a cultural war, and extremist Muslim thinking as the root of the trouble. They don't separate extremist Muslims from those extremist Muslims who carry out violent actions. The former are in far greater number than the latter, but no one attempts to separate the two. Where is the same push for moderate Christianity in this country? But we have the right to push for a change in their religious beliefs from the outside, solely because we think it will make us more safe? Even moderate Muslims in the Middle East cannot feel safe from America's imperialist wrath: remember, Iraq was a secular government and a huge chunk of the population were not extremist right-wing Muslims. But they got attacked anyway as part of the war on terror.
Without this global context of the West's war on terror, which has been interpreted by and large as a war on Islam and for imperialism of the US, the cartoon would have never provoked this kind of attack. Of course its wrong. But it is not further proof that Muslims hate Westerners or are barbaric monsters.
I enjoy your comments mostly, but your unexamined defense of the violence and destruction exacted by Muslim adherents worldwide in response to a cartoon diminishes your ethical capital. While members of the Muslim world may feel under attack from the international policies of the neoconservative regime in Washington, there is no defense to the destruction and hooliganism exhibitted by several Muslim groups... and not condemned by Muslim religious leaders. If the Muslim world wants to join the rest of civilized world, they collectively must foster the civil institutions and discourse required.
"I enjoy your comments mostly, but your unexamined defense of the violence and destruction exacted by Muslim adherents worldwide in response to a cartoon diminishes your ethical capital...there is no defense to the destruction and hooliganism exhibitted by several Muslim groups... and not condemned by Muslim religious leaders."
Every time someone comments on the Muslim world or Arabs has to waiver this disclaimer in front of the crowd: No one condones violence. An explaination is not the same as a "defense". And I for one think everyone who lives in the United States has had their ehtical capital diminished by the extremely violent and hooligan-y occupations being conducted in our names. What hooligans are those Americans, the Palestinians must think when our fighter planes, purchased by the Israelis with our military grants paid for by us, fly over their heads.
"If the Muslim world wants to join the rest of civilized world, they collectively must foster the civil institutions and discourse required."
IF?! IF?! IF?! For all of us who claim European ancestry, I must remind all of us that we were swinging from trees, grubbing in the dirt, believing in the divine right of kings, and carrying out inquisitions while those in the Arab world were doing math and science and saving the works of Aristotle for the generations to come. They don't need to join the civilized world, whatever the fuck that means, any less than we do. See the above explaination regarding our imperialism to understand why I would more than hesitate to call us civilized.
The cartoon riots are sad chapter in the history of misunderstanding. Hanging the President of Denmark in effigy for failing to rein in an errant artist? Please. What's worse are reports that this whole thing may be a ruse used by the State controlled Saudi media to divert attention from their failure, once again, to prevent preventable loss of life during the Hajj. Check it out
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/5/13149/60748
"I'm a pacifist and I'll kick the shit out of anyone who disagrees with me..."
Post a Comment
<< Home