Let us celebrate the ignorance created by 9-11

Mohamed Kamel*

July 31^st, 2011

[Please read the article and the comments on the Arab News]  
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article483107.ece

While some were preparing a new moral attack against Muslims and Islam on the 10th anniversary of 9-11, Oslo was the stage of 2 horrific attacks in a few hours.  A quick arrest was made and charges have been presented to court but it will remain limited as there will be no mass arrests or labeling to a specific faith or group, because they are not Muslims or Arabs.

Nothing new, it starts usually with accusing Muslims then refers it to a lunatic individual, the same thing happened in Oklahoma City on April 19^th, 1995. There were no mass arrests and the right wing remained defined in refusing gun control. Because they believe that freedom shouldn’t be compromised because of individual acts.  This individual can be a single or a plural, as long as they are not THEM. 

This is not a new phenomenon; this is the outcome of long history, the Crusades in the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th century by Roman Catholics against Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians.  And then the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 and 1501 declaring Muslims and Jews to convert or leave (kill the third, convert the third and expel the third), a policy imitated by the orthodox Serbs in 1990.  

Throughout this history, the occupation forces went west and south up to the Americas and Australia, occupying the land and humiliating its native.

  

The stepping stone for the relation between the West and the East has been dominated by the continued campaign to colonize the East and the South by labeling them as uncivilized and keeping them undeveloped to remain a source of resources for the West/North to modernize their life while the South/East pay for it. No change after the Second World War.  Only localized tension and granted false independence, allowing the West to reduce the cost of the occupation, by creating local occupiers.  Then the forces introduced the new model of the apartheid regimes, the White Rhodesia, South Africa and Israel. An idea of superiority was not far from the school of thought created earlier and followed by Hitler as well.

Resistance pays as regimes in White Rhodesia and South Africa failed.  And Israel has started to crack under external and internal pressure.  If not saved, a collapse will be the destiny. It could be saved only by applying justice for all.

The solution is the fear mongering of these uncivilized people.  What were Black, Japanese, and Chinese has now became Arabs and Muslims.  

Nothing changed!  Today is a copycat of yesterday, where supporting dictatorships is the slogan, mobilizing the biggest army since the Second World War to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, and denying the Palestinians the legitimist right of resistance and right of self determination, a right granted to all on earth, except the Palestinians.

      

With this uncivilized history of the so called Western Civilization came the ridicules most stupid attack that took place on 9-11.  And whatever we might call this uncivilized crude attack, it was not the worst in history; attacking innocent people in Guatemala, Vietnam and then Iraq and Afghanistan are but a few examples. Not forgetting more than 60 years of siege on Cuba

Timothy McVeigh and Anders Behring Breivik didn’t create themselves.  They are the fruit of a society that taught them how to hate and discriminate.  They became the product of their master, of the survivor mentality that permits to the white westerns to grant the rights as per their wishes, and deny all others any basic right. The superiority mentality and the opportunistic approach “The end justifies the means”! So when they act in this horrendous way, we find hundreds ready to find excuses for them or they are simply labeled as mad individuals.

These two and many others are around and acting in an absolute freedom inspired by Islamophobic and Arabophobic writers and hoax media, that allow them to spread lies about OTHERS as long as they are OTHERS.  It happens daily!  May not be horrific attacks as such, but they are the daily excused discrimination and prejudice everywhere, from schools, play grounds, airports to work …etc.

All these acts are justifiable under the misconception of the so called freedom of expression, a freedom of expression that has been justified for the superior because they are the white western civilized people and has been denied and mostly criminalized for all OTHERS  

Timothy McVeigh and Anders Behring Breivik will remain individuals and we will not correct the misconception and hate because it is about OTHERS.  

Are Muslims and Arabs perfect? They are far from it, but they never hate the OTHERS because they are the OTHERS.  And while some were preparing a new moral attack against Muslims and Islam, on the 10^th anniversary of 9-11, another right-wing extremists and a hatemonger proved to the world what we were saying for decades.  Hate is coming from here, from the west. Is there any one ready to listen?

* Mohamed S. Kamel: is a Freelance writer, the editor of http://forafreeegypt.blogspot.com/, he is a professional engineer, a LEED Green Associate and a recognized project manager professional, he is Member of several civil society organizations, a co-founder of the Canadian Egyptian for Democracy (CEFD), National Association for Change in Egypt (Taghyeer – Canada), Association of the Egyptians of Montreal (AEM), Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM), , Quebec Antiwar movement “Échec à la Guerre”, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine “CJPP”  and ex-president and co-founder of the Canadian Muslim Forum. He could be reached at public@mohamedkamel.com