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Flushing the Religious and Nationalist Extremists on Both Sides of the Divide

Samer Zouehid - 5/21/2005

The issue of Guantanamo Bay has once again flared up the so called clash of civilizations. The event in question was published by Newsweek, which claimed Korans were being flushed down the toilet in Guantanamo Bay by guards attempting to humiliate inmates at the infamous prison in Cuba. Following weeks of rioting in Afghanistan, which has killed 17 so far, Newsweek have apologized for printing the story, while acknowledging the claims were false and could not be verified. Whether true or not, the story has acted as a catalyst in resurfacing prejudice attitudes towards Muslim societies, as an army of miss-informed analysts have risen to condemn these decadent societies.

You could be forgiven for having an image of Muslim clerics as fanatics calling for Americas death, considering the recent media coverage attributed to them in the wake of this event, and most other events that dredge up emotions of hate. The truth is Muslim societies are no different from any other, as extremists plague all societies throughout the globe, whether it is the Jewish extremist group Gush Emunim allegedly trying to blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque, or Basque separatists blowing up innocent civilians in an attempt to gain sovereignty, or even the Ku Klux Klan trying to create an Aryan America. The idea of a utopian society free of extremists is a concept that only exists in the mind, it's an ideal. As to define something or someone as moderate you have to first contrast the concept with its opposite in order to give it meaning, hence the two spectrums are inseparable as they define each other, one would not exist without the other. What feeds the perception of extremist Islam is the media coverage it receives, without any serious discussion on how representative it is of Islam as a whole. This unfettered focus on extremists has implications for Muslims living in the west, as unfortunately these irresponsible stereotypes give rise to prejudice attitudes and discrimination. As like many black Americans are well aware of, minorities in societies are often characterized by the lowest common denominator of their social group, so when the media is constantly portraying one aspect of their group, it helps shape and form negative stereotypes towards them.

It is the toleration of these stereotypes in America's mainstream media that is so hard to comprehend. Statements have been issued about the need to wage war on radical Islam, as the real problem is the Muslim worlds insane, violent, hate-filled reaction, only serve to add to the broad sweeping conceptualization of the orient, with no real analysis or attempt of understanding the complexity and diversity of it. How can you categorize the Orient into one term, the Muslim world? How can you identify and generalize different classes, different races, and different sexes, with one sweeping generalization? Any attempt to conceptualize the orient into one term shows lack of any real understanding of the Islamic world, as it is comprised of many societies spanning two continents, with a population of around one billion people. These Muslim countries incorporate their unique history and culture into their understanding of Islam, creating a version of Islam with many schools of thought, and not a homogenous bloc as it is often described as. Here lies the point that Edward Said, an academic whose unique insight was born out of his experiences from living in both the Orient and the West, was trying to make. The concept of Islam known in America is an American concept; it does not exist as a homogenous bloc in reality. It's an attempt to understand the orient by simplifying it into a basic concept, which does not exist due to the factors discussed above.

The argument that radical Muslim clerics are bent on America's destruction regardless of their actions maybe true or not, but it can't justify the unjustifiable that is Guantanamo Bay. The fact is America prides itself on values such as equal rights, human rights and democracy. The irony is that Guantanamo bay represents everything America stands against, yet it persists in maintaining this facility, despite the fact many innocent people have been released with no charge. It is not only the so called fire brand clerics that America should be wary of, but moderate Europe is teeming with anti-Americanism at an unprecedented scale. It's the hypocrisy in promoting international law on the one hand, and violating it on the other. Guantanamo Bay is in direct violation of international law as they are not being held as prisoners of war, and therefore should be brought in front of a tribunal to determine their status required by the third Geneva Convention. According to Amnesty International, no one has been granted access to a court to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, as required by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights article 9, to which the US is party to. The kangaroo courts finally set up by the American Administration resemble courts of a third world dictator, not of a functioning democracy, as the commission lacks independence from the executive arm of the US Administration.

America under the neo-conservatives is heading in a dangerous direction, one of fear and xenophobia created by that fear. It is ignorance of one another that creates conflicts and in the process increases the neo-cons grip on America, eroding at their liberties in the process. The current administration might believe that under the current threat of terrorism it has the right to flout against the rule of law in order to protect its citizens. Yet how many liberties are Americans willing to sacrifice before she becomes unrecognizable to her citizens? As British Law Lord Hoffman put it when discussing Britain's Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, "The real threat to the life of the nation… comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these."