I am not neutral towards the sufferings of the Palestinian people. Towards the unethical interventions of the "Western" Powers in the Middle East. Towards the children that have no future, in the Gaza strip and the Western Bank, and become human bombs in their despair. BUT I could in no case justify their acts of despair. Nor could I possibly close my eyes before the crimes of the Islamic fundamentalism. SUFFERING EVIDENT INJUSTICE, AND BEING IN DESPAIR, DOES NOT JUSTIFY ONE BECOMING WORSE THAN HIS OPRESSOR.
I disagreed with the American invasion in Iraq. I demonstrated against it in the streets, along with the vast majority of the Greeks, I wrote posts in the Usenet. Finally, I joined a non-governmental charity organization (NGO), and fifteen days after the end of the war (on May 15, 2003), I went to Iraq, in order to help the suffering people of this devastated country.
But please, don’t get me wrong. It was THE WAR I was objecting to, NOT the reversion of Saddam. I thought that the invasion would open the bags of Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of the Winds, who kept them in a bag, and set them free at his will, bringing disaster to seamen. I thought that Saddam Hussein, in his despair, would start an Armaggedon, that the region would be put on fire, that the Iraqi population would suffer a holocaust.
Well, nothing like that happened. The Americans advanced practically undisturbed, mainly because not too many Iraqis were willing to sacrifice themselves, in order to defend Saddam, Udai and Hussai, his sons, and their regime. And yes, the petroil that the Americans are now hmmm, lets say, “controlling”, in the occupied Iraq, well, this petroil warms me, moves me around, moves me forward. This does not mean I agree with their imperialist attitude and their implementation with the region of the Middle East, lets not forget it was THEM who created the Saddam Hussein regime, it was THEM who created the Talibans, at the time as an opponent for the Soviet Union, it is them who maintain in power and backup and control the Al Saudi family, and the rest of the Gulf regimes.
And now I hear that they (the Americans and the British) are refusing to support the Danes in the scetches issue. What an utter level of hypocricy, what an utter shame for them.
Nevertheless, on this occasion, I AN OBLIGED TO STAND ALONG WITH THE DANES, AND THE REST OF THE “WEST”, which includes of course the US and Britain, even though they behave so foul. I dislike the "West" in many ways, I disagree with it strongly, but I cannot help but being with them on this occasion, because…
THERE COMES A MOMENT WHEN YOU MUST DECIDE
WHO YOU 'LL FOLLOW, WHO YOU 'LL LEAVE BEHIND
(lyrics of a greek song by Dionysis Savvopoulos)
Whom could I possibly follow? The Talibans? The people who have literally asked for Salman Rushdie’s head? The people who burn embassies, who kill hundreds of unaware people with their bombs, totally undiscriminately, those who killed 4000 unaware people on September 11th, in an impressive force showoff? Those who will cut your hand if you steal a chewing gum, and will burn every book that is not the Koran?
Taliban means “we forbid ANY objection”. Taliban means “we behead any head that expresses such an objection”. Taliban means women are unsignificant quantities. THESE are the Talibans.
In Greece, we have well embedded anti -“Western” reflexes. We should not let these reflexes drive us in the wrong direction. We belong in the West, let’s not forget that. We ARE the “West” (not the …Far one). In the photos above and below, the East is unfortunately surrounding the burning Danish Embassies of Beirut and Damascus. Inside, there could easily have been burned human beings.
What is “The West?”
The West is a nucleus of principles based on the ancient Greek thought, a nucleus that has been gradually formed by the Renaissance, the big European revolutions, the religious Reform, the Enlightment, the people’s struggle against any kind of totalitarism, wherever it might originate from, including the Catholic Church. Principles including freedom of expression, freedom of press, respect for privacy, respect for the individual, freedom of belief and religion, separation of state and church, abolishment of the secular political role of the church.
“I disagree with what you are saying, but I will defend with my blood your right of saying it”
It was NOT the Prophet who said that. It was the European Enlightment. Don’t ask me, please, who respects that principle in the West today, and who doesn’t, and why those who don’t, don’t…. Everybody is responsible for his own acts. It is our own personal obligation to be skeptical and critical, in any direction.
However, one cannot compare the uncomparable. The New Testament, in the West, is NOT a secular law. In Saudi Arabia, in Iran, in Sudan, the Κoran IS the Law.
The average Muslim is NOT a fanatic. And it is more than true that the West has often mistreated the Muslims, i.e. mainly the Arabs, either by means of military conquest, or by financial exploitation, or with political intervention and manipulation. And THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE MUSLIMS ARE PEACEFUL AND RESPECTFUL PEOPLE, PEOPLE OF VIRTUE. But the few fanatics are making the difference. “Peaceful” it was, the majority of Germans who nestled Hitler.
In Iran, if a woman does not bear a headscarf in the street, she is arrested and punished, regardless of her religion or her personal beliefs. The German constitution of the midwar, did not mention anywhere that the “Arians” are the “superior race”, and that the Jews, the Gipsies etc should be exterminated. That did not prevent WWII, or the crematoria of Auswitz.
Freedom does not provide one the right to step over somebody else’s freedom. Muslims worldwide have been supposedly “offended”, because the face of their Prophet has been depicted. But according to the Koran, they should also be offended by the “nude” faces of Western women. Should women in the West stroll around with their faces covered, just in order not to “insult” the eventual Muslim?
Well, if the fanatics could, they WOULD impose to western women covering their heads. As they are actually doing in Iran, in Saudi Arabia, as they formerly did in Afganistan. Would you, Western women, do that? Would you bear a headscarf in order not to insult them?
Of course you wouldn’t. Then, why are you willing to make a taboo out of their religion, in order not to “insult” them? To permit them firing the journalist that posted the picture of Muhammad and threatening his life? To tolerate the Mullahs asking for Salman Rushdie’s head?
If we drawback now, if we grant them these “rights”, tomorrow they will demand the right to behead any eventual “infidel.”
The Koran itself, surprisingly enough, is quite moderate, it speaks of no “sacred wars” or bloody “Jihads”, or of infidel heads’ beheading. But the fundamentalists DO. As every fundamentalist does, whatever his religious or political conviction may be. In the same “reasoning” as they DID cut in pieces women who broke some “law” in Afganistan, after having them collectively raped, that is.
If we stand “neutral” aside, if we stand idle, if we don’t take a position of definite disapproval, if we don’t defend the concerned countries and the concerned people, tomorrow we will be all bearing the burkas. And if it will not be a burka, then it will be a war helmet, or even an imposed Texan hat instead! For, as far as we are standing idle, we are encouraging the accentuation of a terrible bipolar situation, we are strengthening the fundamentalists of both sides, we are actually PROMOTING WAR. Maybe not due for tomorrow, but definitely due for sooner or later…
There comes a time when one must choose, among two evils, the lesser one.
One HAS to take a position. One can despise “messing around”, and violence, and war, but in this case, standing idle and being “neutral” is NOT understandable. A Greek poet says…
A man stands aside, crying
he wearily lifts his rifle, he talks to it:
“what are you doing in this hand? my enemy
is aware of what a burden you are to me…”
Not taking a position to back-up Denmark, brings war closer. The pacifist in this case is not the passive and inert one, but the one who will stand up and speak up for the freedom of expression. If we don’t, it will be war and disaster, and a new Middle Age.
Science fiction and conspiracy theories, some will think. That’s what many people thought, back in 1939.
I wholeheartedly wish I was wrong…. But, did you listen to the News?
. http://news.ert.gr/2/204988.asp
“The President of Iran, Mahmud Ahmadinejan, ordered the breakup of any financial relationship of his country with Denmark, as well as with any other country where the sketches in question have been published. He justified his decision by talking about “an insult towards the Prophet, exposing the sionists’ governing these countries hatred, towards the Islam and the muslims”
I beg your pardon?
