How to Break the Vicious Circle?

By Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban

I mourned with millions of people the victims of the London bombings at a time when I was still grieving the death of a hundred Iraqi children in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. In spite of the ugliness of the tragedy, Tony Blair's speech was one of a real statesman. He emphasized that "extremism is not a religious but a mental state," and that he "will work with the Muslim community to make the world hear the voice of real and moderate Islam as it should be heard." Later, scores of articles were written calling upon Muslims in the world to eradicate hatred and bitterness from their midst.

As it was with September 11^th, debating the motivating reasons began, with each party bending the argument to best suit their interests. Some talked about "ideological hatred," others about "hatred for the advanced nations' prosperity." The culprits this time, however, were British nationals, born in the nest of British democracy, freedom, and multiculturalism. They were neither victims to totalitarian regimes, nor have they suffered the humiliation of foreign occupation. And, as usual, the media trumpeted that only political regimes that feed on oppression and corruption and foster poverty and frustration breed terrorists, overlooking the likes of Timothy McVeigh of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Hussein, the youngest of the culprits, seemed only normal to his family and neighbors. If Hussein was as religious as he was described to be, he would have known, like any half educated Muslim, that in Islam killing a single living soul is equal to killing all humanity. It, therefore, might be more useful for the world to busy itself with the reasons that led such youths to murdering themselves and their fellow citizens in such cruelty, and rid itself of the theories of "Islamic terrorism" and "hatred for the Western way of living," because religious and human values are a collective human asset. Dividing the world in halves, a "civilized" Christian and an "uncivilized" Muslim, "tolerant" and "intolerant" values, and all the similar anti-Arab, anti-Muslim propaganda rife in western media, will only breed more anger extremism.

The core reason behind these easy generalizations is a desperate attempt to evade the reality of terrorism, and cover up its underlying causes. In an interview from prison, Timothy McVeigh talked about the profound pain he felt watching Iraqi children die, and how he wanted the American people to feel a measure of that pain. Notwithstanding the blatantly twisted criminal logic, it was worthy of more reflection and analysis. Further interviews were banned, and McVeigh could say no more.

The alarming problem with the scores of articles on the London bombings is assuming that "Islam breeds extremism" and "violence." This racist attitude is only reminiscent of the racism that led to brutal crimes against Jews last century. Another problem is that the "free" media of the "civilized" world keeps a one-sided victims count. This brands the victims and dignity of the "others" as worthless, and their "way of living," homes, and faith as dispensable. The feelings experienced by millions of Arabs and Muslims and their reactions to such humiliation are only similar to what western politicians feel towards terrorism against their countries, and to how British youth reacted against Muslims and Muslim properties in Britain.

We should break this endless chain of terrorism by eradicating the reasons and not the symptoms, and work for a comprehensive world peace, where all victims are mourned and all nations are worthy. This takes an international action to find out the right reasons behind terrorism and the means to combat it. Syria has been calling for this since 1986, when terrorism was claiming the lives of thousands of Syrians, bred by the same extremist mentality, but fostered and sponsored by the "West." We also need to differentiate between legitimate resistance against foreign occupation and the criminal killing of innocent civilians anywhere in the world. The world should cherish Jerusalem, Gaza, and Baghdad as much as it values London, Madrid and New York. Justice should be accorded to all nations and religions in equal terms. Double-standard dealing with Arabs and Muslims only breeds hate and anger. Only with absolute condemnation of all killings and all terrorist acts, regardless of the culprits' nationality or religion, we could draw a real and effective strategy for the war on terrorism. Otherwise, we will all be caught up in an unbreakable vicious circle of death and violence■

26 July 2005