It Has No Other Name: Neo-racism
MP George Galloway said in a lecture at the Assad
Library in Damascus last week: "I came to declare that I am a friend to Arabs,
at a time when it is not easy to be friend to Arabs, because nowadays those who
have ambitions and interests would not befriend Arabs."
MP George Galloway said in a lecture at the Assad Library in Damascus last week: "I came to declare that I am a friend to Arabs, at a time when it is not easy to be friend to Arabs, because nowadays those who have ambitions and interests would not befriend Arabs." It is very true, as befriending Arabs and Muslims would brand one as a "suspect" associate of a group of people who prefer death to life due to incomprehensible reasons. In spite of the industrious effort of think-tanks and research centers, this incomprehensibility has reached an alarming edge demanding a prudent solution.
One of the repercussions has been depriving Muslims and Arabs, wherever they were, of their civil and human rights, passing discriminating laws against them, and entrapping them in peculiar interrogations: "Do you feel more European or more Muslim? More British or more Muslim? Which feeling overwhelms the other the most?" Hate-crimes have prevailed against the colored "suspects" in Western countries, giving new life to the racism and xenophobia the world has been fighting in Europe, the United States and South Africa over the last century. Today, it is a neo-racism against Arabs and Muslims.
The seventy's academic triumph in celebrating scholarly achievement regardless of race, color, religion or nationality has come to an end. As for travel, it has become a tormenting and humiliating hustle for the black haired, dark eyed or brown colored. It has become indeed, as PM Galloway put it "not easy to be friend to Arabs," to Muslims or truth.
----------------------
Humanity has paid a high price fighting racism and discrimination over centuries; how could we lose the battle today to similar ideologies covered up in the cloaks of "freedom" and "democracy?" Whether President Bush's advisors concur to call it "international struggle against violent extremism" or "war on terrorism," prudence demands they listen first to the words of General Wallace Grigson of the American Marines base in the Pacific: "winning hearts and minds is more important than arresting and killing people." The great majority of Muslims and Arabs today feel they are victims to the American war on terrorism; this majority will inevitably be decisive in how the war ends. This is a risk factor alarming enough for the United States to reconsider not names and titles, but more importantly policies and ideologies.
Have you noticed that Right-wingers don’t say “neo-con”, anymore? Did the Republikans finally realize folks solidly think of them as con artists?
Posted: Fri - August 19, 2005 at 06:15 PM