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**http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=77236&d=3&m=2&y=2006
Friday, 3, February, 2006 (04, Muharram, 1427)
The Power of the Muslim and Arab Worlds
Ray Hanania, Arab News
This week, we witnessed the power of the Islamic and Arab
worlds to bring a Western nation virtually to its knees. I was amazed at that
power. This is over an issue that the nation's government had nothing to do
with. All I can wonder is why the Islamic and Arab world doesn't harness that
power more effectively and change policies that directly impact our causes and
our beliefs?
A newspaper in Denmark, Jyllands-Posten, published a series
of cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a
derogatory and libelous manner. Few Arabs or Muslims had ever heard of the
newspaper before the controversy, yet they were rightly angered.
Ironically, the cartoons were published in September 2005,
more than five months ago. But this week, the issue came to a head after it
surfaced in the Arab world media.
Arabs and Muslims are justified in their anger against the
action of the newspaper. The publication of the cartoons may constitute a hate
crime, which is considered an offense in most Western countries. They certainly
should not have been brushed off as being protected under the universal right
of free speech as they were initially by the Danish government.
In justified anger, Muslims and Arabs have begun boycotting
not only the newspaper but also many products that are produced in Denmark.
That power has caused many of Denmark's largest corporations to reel in shock,
forcing many to absorb massive profit losses and to even lay-off their
employees.
That power to act was mobilized in less than two weeks,
although it should have begun as soon as the offensive material was first
published five months ago.
In response the newspaper offered a lukewarm apology. The
government of Denmark also claimed it had no power over the newspaper. But we
know that is not true.
Sadly, many innocent companies and people who might otherwise
support the just causes of the Muslim and Arab worlds have also been punished.
And that is unfair. And against the spirit of Islam. The Arab and Muslim
worlds, despite being the target of a constant and unyielding campaign of
hatred in the Western media, should stand as examples of how right and wrong
can be addressed.
The entire episode reminds me of when the Arab and Islamic
worlds joined together one other time many decades ago to launch an embargo of
oil against what was clearly then unfair foreign policies against the rights of
the Palestinian people and the Arab world. With the power of unity, the Arab
and Islamic oil producers put great pressure on the world's greatest powers,
reminding all that right is not always based on might but is instead based on
justice and fairness.
Today, Arabs and Muslims are plagued by disunity. The only
time we come together to exercise our moral and principled strength is when
emotion has overcome our reasoning and we act to punish everyone. Unplanned and
spontaneous acts of anger and emotion are not strategic. They may even cause a
backlash.
The protests and boycott against the Danish newspaper are the
result of spontaneous emotion rather than strategic action. We reacted rather
than acted.
Everyday, newspapers throughout the world libel not only
Islam but everything that the Arab world stands for that is principled and
just. Everyday, the righteous Palestinian cause is victimized by hate crimes in
newspapers all around the world, especially in the United States where free
speech has exceptions when it comes to Arab and Muslim voices.
Yet we do nothing about these offenses.
Ironically, we sometimes help the offenders in their libel.
In several major American cities, mainstream newspapers are often sold to the
American public over the counters of hundreds of thousands of Arab- and
Muslim-owned stores. These newspapers depend on us to help them sustain their
circulations.
In some places like Chicago, newspapers could not survive
without the support of Arab- and Muslim-owned grocery stores located in the
inner city. The reality is that Chicago newspapers depend these grocery stores
to sell their newspapers in poor communities because the newspaper owners fear
that their newspapers will be stolen from news boxes placed on the streets of
those communities. The sales policy of the newspapers in inner cities is itself
racist.
Why do we allow this? Why do we allow the newspapers that we
sell to Americans continue to slander us, defame us and essentially commit
unpunished acts of hate crimes?
Emotion and anger are easy. Planning and strategic unity is
more difficult and requires effort. We need to come together not simply to
punish those who offend us, but to also strengthen our community and insure
that our voices are included in the American mainstream news media.
The controversy in Denmark should remind Arabs and Muslims
that we have the power to make a difference. But can we harness that power when
it really counts?
- Ray Hanania is an award winning Palestinian American
journalist and author. He can be reached at www.hanania.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
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