One week has passed after the London bombings, and I have been hearing a lot of criticism from the media, particularly the American TV networks, as to why there are not many open expression of sorrow or the saying of "sorry" from the people in the Muslim world. I need to explain why.
What these media personnel mean by this is that they do not see demonstrations on the streets of those countries, condemning the blasts or the violence by terrorists. Let me ask these mediamen a simple question: The countries being what they are, how can the people do so?
The problem is either that these media personnel speak or write without proper knowledge about the situations they comment about, or that they choose to ignore the realities on the ground. Before saying that there's no expression of sorrow or holding of demonstrations in the Muslim capitals, they should have known the fact that this is not possible. Such open expression of views is not allowed in these countries. The Arab republics are republics only in name. They are ruled by dictators under emergency laws. So much so, people are not allowed to have a mind of their own. And, now you expect of them to get onto the streets and demonstrate?
Either these media personnel are not seeing this reality, or they are looking the other way. I suspect that they are doing this with a view to winning the hearts and minds of the people in the West, particularly the American people. Americans have advanced in all fields of human endeavor, but the fact is they have a problem with geography. They are too focused on their own country and know little about the outside world. So much so, some 75 percent of them have not gone abroad on visits. Therefore, it is easy for the media to hoodwink them with wrong comments and analyses of situations that develop around the world.
When incidents like the London blasts occur, it's easy for media personnel to tell them that these and these are the people who are the culprits; and that "these people" enjoy seeing innocent people getting massacred. They would believe it.
To tell the American people that "these people" are bad, that "these people" are against good guys, that "these people" are against civilization and against all good things we believe in, and that "these people" want to change our lifestyle and our beliefs, is to misguide the world into believing what's not right. This is not the way for the media. No, Mr. Mediaman, no.
The fact is that the people in most of the Arab and Muslim republics are poor. They live on less than $100 a month. They are on a constant struggle for existence. They are not there to evaluate what you are doing, or to ascertain whether you have a good life or a bad life. Why do they have to do such things?
More important, they are not allowed to express their views. They are in a struggle for survival. You should have sympathy for them. In the last 40 years, the world has changed a lot. The Cold War is over, the Berlin Wall has come down, the East European countries have broken away from the Soviet Bloc, and the Soviet Union itself has disintegrated. Even in South and Central Americas, the rule of dictators is over. They have become democracies and the cruel generals who called the shots till the late eighties are all down and out - including those who had fought with Britain. There is more freedom for the people in those countries, and their ways of life are changing. There's a new hope in places where there were totalitarian regimes.
But, there are countries and peoples in other parts of the world that are not changing. Much of those in the Arab and Muslim world have not been witness to progress, especially so in the republics, and they are not allowed to have their voice. They can't exercise their freedom in many ways. And they cannot raise their voice. How can you expect of them to show their anger on the streets, the way the West expects of them to? Gatherings and demonstrations are not allowed under emergency laws. How would they show how much they are upset and how horrible they feel about murderers and those who use websites to make horrible claims? So, don't say they haven't come out on the streets and said loudly to terrorists, "Don't do this". They are saying so in their hearts, but they cannot do so by their mouths. That's their predicament.
It is not that the media personnel do not know this. It is important that they speak the truth. And, it is necessary that they stop this kind of propaganda that, I believe, is aimed at misguiding the American people. They should stop creating the impression among the Americans that those in the Muslim nations have "deliberately not come out and condemned the blasts; that, in their hearts they are happy seeing innocents being attacked ... and hence they need to be taught a lesson". The reality is different.
- Mohammed A.R. Galadari is the editor in chief of Khaleej Times, Dubai.
