CAIRO, 20 January 2004 — Whatever happened to good old-fashioned Arab “karama”, an Arabic word, which resonates as honor or self-esteem? While it’s still in abundance on the streets of Cairo, Ramallah, Damascus and Amman, the opinion columns of Arab newspapers are filled with apology, self-criticism and hand-wringing. What on earth is going on?
Isn’t it enough that right-wing Western politicians, writers and media feel free to hurl invectives at Arabs in this post Sept. 11 climate without Arab writers and intellectuals weighing in? It appears that some of those luminaries have placed the West on a pedestal and think nothing about dredging up reports, which paint the Arab world in a poor light, as though anywhere, which isn’t a clone of the US, is somehow inconsequential or lacking.
Rather than condemn those who seek to diminish the achievements of the Arabs down the centuries, their penmanship seeks approval from America as they attempt to put across the message “We Arabs are really nice guys”.
Those elevated Arab individuals, often enjoying the benefits of dual nationality, describe Arab states as technologically backward, badly run and beat their chests over the status of women. Clutching diplomas bestowed by Western universities, they adopt a superior tone and unashamedly kowtow to their Occidental mentors. Enough already!
Well, I’ve got news for them. Arabs are the good guys here. It is outrageous that just because a gang of fanatics ran with their hatred and committed cold-blooded murderous acts on US soil, the entire Arab world — along with the planet’s 1.5 billion Muslims — has come under a negative American microscope.
Indeed, the Arabs have nothing for which to apologize. On the contrary, it is the West, which should be saying it’s sorry. Britain, France and the US have jointly and separately raped the Middle East and North Africa, while greedily lusting after the regions’ natural resources.
Britain should apologize for occupying Palestine before carving it up and leaving a bloodbath as a parting “gift” and for its lengthy occupation of Egypt. France should show remorse for colonizing Algeria going as far as to turn it into a French department where that country’s indigenous Berber and Arab peoples were deprived of education and forced to bury their native tongues along with their religion. Britain and France should together apologize for the actions of Messrs Sykes and Picot, who peremptorily redrew Middle East borders in a back room of the House of Commons.
The Bush administration should apologize for invading Iraq on the false premise of weapons of mass destruction when as we now know “regime change” was on the cards 10 days after Bush took office.
The US has adopted a new style of imperialism, consisting of the spread of an insidious viral pop culture, threatening traditional mores, partnered with barely concealed self-interested geopolitical designs.
Riddled with double standards, the US pointed its self-righteous finger at Iraq for ignoring UN Security Council resolutions, while its president threatened the UN with becoming an empty debating society if it didn’t do his bidding. And all the time, America extols the “virtues” of the world’s most proliferate international law breaker, Israel. The US and Israel share the same values, it says.
No doubt emboldened by America’s unflinching support, Israeli ambassadors go around demanding apologies from networks which dare to show atrocities perpetrated against Palestinians... and get them. Israel’s ambassador to Britain extracted an apology from Cherie Blair after she expressed her personal views concerning hopelessness felt by young Palestinians and the EU apologized for the results of a poll, which pointed to Israel as the greatest threat to world peace.
Just recently the Israeli ambassador to Sweden took umbrage at a pro-Palestinian art exhibit resorting to violence to make his point, and was patted on the head by Ariel Sharon.
Since when is diplomacy about causing a potential death trap by ripping out electrical wires and hurling spotlights into fountains? Imagine the international uproar if an Arab ambassador had lost it over a pro-Israeli exhibit.
It is against this discriminatory background that Arabs should be judged. Although Arabs made their mark throughout the centuries, modern Arab states are relatively young. Only 84 years have passed since the Egyptian revolutionary Saad Zaghloul inspired the uprising against the British. Jordan became independent from Great Britain in 1946, while Algeria achieved its own hard won freedom from occupation as recently as 1962. Some of the Gulf states are even younger.
Strangely, however, the US and Britain are demanding Swiss-like precision, American-style economies and Danish human rights records in fledgling countries, conveniently forgetting that it wasn’t until 1928 that British women were enfranchised, while the southern American states maintained a policy of apartheid until the 1960s.
It is certainly true that the Arab world has its fair share of problems and there are areas, which cry out for improvement. These changes will happen, as part of a process of natural evolution. In the meantime, there are enough critics out there intent on bashing Arab societies, culture and traditions, without any help from their masochistic Arab counterparts.
At a time when a separation wall is snaking through Palestinian lands and videos showing the cold-blooded killing of Iraqis whip around the Internet, their persuasive pens might be better employed.
— Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs and can be contacted at [email protected]
