JV PhiloBlog

This posting is from 2006 when there were weeks of rioting in the Muslim areas (banleuse) of major French cities. Civilians as well as police were attacked and beaten by the mobs of "youths" (as the papers called them, resolutely ignoring the obvious in the name of sensitivity). The reference to ports at the end is to Bush's plan to allow the company that won the bid to run the ports in New York. The winning company was from the United Arab Emirates. Under pressure from the left and the right he rescinded the permission, thus insulting a friendly Muslim nation.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

A student asks

Why haven't I heard more Muslims coming forth and denouncing the violence?

There were a lot of calls for restraint from Muslims--after all, the rioting was their turf. But I know what you mean--the volume was NOT deafening.

I think the answer to your question is partly cultural. Here is my thinking about what goes on. Being in the Have-Not world is not easy, especially for intellectuals. They feel ashamed. They look for reasons. Marx was supposed to be their answer back in the Cold War period after WWII. (The Marxist Mythos is that the Have-Nots are victims. The Haves are thieves. Get rid of private property and all will be equal in love and harmony. )The L in the PLO of the Palestinians stands for Liberation, and it isn't salvation or celestial virgins it has in mind. Liberation in the Marxist-Leniinist or Maoist vocabulary is about this life on earth only. (But now these guys are out and Hamas, the Reactionary force, has taken the election.)

But the Marxist god failed. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union is no more.

What to do? Go Back to God. A Muslim identity. React by retreating to the past, to retrieve our ROOTS. It is not reason that matters. It is faith. (Some fascists prefer: It is BLOOD. It is RACE. Same difference.) From these we gain authorit for ACTION. The Koran will unite us into an unstoppable power. We will bring about the City of God.

Pretty Intoxicating stuff. Identity is a powerful force. People will die and kill for their idea of their own identity, even if they could not say what an identity in itself really is, or even if for sure it exists.

Now here is a difficult problem: if we screw the United Arab Emirates on the ports matter, we will be screwing our chance of getting the moderate Arab voices you wish to hear to speak up for us. Why would they? If an international company based in a moderate, co-operative Muslim country cannot do business in the West on the same basis as every other company (including companies from murderous regimes like China's) then why would a Muslim want to go public for the West? How tragic that rational responses to the plan will never be heard under the ROAR of outrage from the xenophobic populists of talk radio and the self-serving pols looking to score points on the other side of the aisle.
Posted by Jim Ventola at 1:41 PM
Tuesday, February 14, 2006