Where Is the Muslim Gandhi?

[domer]

I am, like most rational Americans, in a death-struggle with violent, terroristic, Islamic radicals. At the same time, however, I am increasingly becoming aware of the "emotional resonance" of many Muslim cries for equity and autonomy, even if the matter may lie largely in a deep-seated yearning for respect, a respect actually or only perceptively denied them historically.

To say this is a complex matter only states the obvious. The questions are how do we eliminate terrorists, and express (and develop) the respect the Muslims feel is their due? I don't think it is intellectually dishonest, but actually the opposite, to link the two quests. As in any guerilla war, the primary object is to win hearts and minds, thereby dwindling the radicals popular support, source of funds, opportunity for safe havens and even ideological viability. Here, as I see it, we can contribute mightily to that goal by doing the "right thing" culturally, socially and politically to "Muslims in general." I suggest that we launch a "culture 'offensive,'" valuable and fun in its own right but seemingly essential at this turn in te historical march.

And wouldn't it be nice to have a "Muslim Gandhi" arise from the milieu to raise their clarion call, articulate their position, persist in the cause non-violently ... and respect us back.

[domer]

"Where's the Muslim Gandhi?" Answer: He or she has probably been killed already.

[BT]

What type of government would need to be in place for a gandhi or mlk to flourish?

[domer]

Given the realities of the Middle East, maybe a completely fanciful one. Yet, the idea of a "cultural offensive" has appeal and utility beyond an idealized government. Individuals and groups make up a nation (government), not the other way around.

[BT]

I was commenting directly on the gandhi tangent. I don't believe Islam as a religion is any more or less disrespected than Judaism or Christianity.

[domer]

That depends on whose perspective you take, and, much more importantly, Muslims' perceptions. Incidently, it distorts the inquiry to posit respect for the religion per se, which may have an idealized appeal, but to ignore the experience of the average Muslim in his or her particular circumstances, played against the backdrop of the sweep of history.

[Plane]

Does a person , a group of persons , a nation or a religion deserve respect ?

Does an entity deserve more respect comeing in  than it is willing to pay out?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Passive resistence, the tactics that Gandhi used were effective against the British because the British had a free press and had been told for centuries that their colonial efforts were basically God's work, educating the primitive black and brown folks about how to live a proper civilized British life.

This was bogus, and Gandhi had lived in England and South Africa and knew what the British public thought and how the British press worked.

Passive resistence was useless against US civil rights protests in the South: the average White Southerner thought that the Blacks were inferior and deserved to live an inferior lifestyle. It was the Northerners that actually ran the US that had the clout to insist on greater rights and better treatment for Blacks in the 1960's.

You can't use passive resistence against Hitler and a Nazi regime: there is no free press, the arrests, torture and extermination were not publicized, The same was true in Iraq under Saddam. If you protested, you were disappeared, tortured and killed.

The Brits and the Americans developed techniques used against the IRA in the UK and in Indonesia and South America against Marxists, and these were taught and still are being taught at, among other places, the School of the Americas.

Passive resistence was never taken seriously in any Moslem country. It won't work against the Israelis, who muzzle the press and don't bother with legal niceities. The film Gandhi, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, was not dubbed or even subtitled in Arabic. I suppose because it presented Jaffa (the Pakistani leader) in a rather unfavorable light. Arabs tend to see everything in absolute terms: you are on Allah's side or you aren't, and the imams are seen as the ultimate authorities, at least in Saudi Arabia and most of the Arab world.


 

[Plane]

Passive resistence, the tactics that Gandhi used were effective against the British because the British had a free press and had been told for centuries that their colonial efforts were basically God's work, educating the primitive black and brown folks about how to live a proper civilized British life.

This was bogus, and Gandhi had lived in England and South Africa and knew what the British public thought and how the British press worked.

Is it your opinion that only a Christian nation would respond properly to a nonviolent movement?




I think you are entirely wrong about the South being unpersueded by MLKjr's efforts , his appeals to Christian virtues struck a courd with all of the people and the KKK attempt to wear the mantle of the church as they burned and bombed churches lost them sympathy for the same reasons that MLK and the SCLC gained some.

I was a Kid then but I remember it well , Carter ran for Govenor in this climate and narrowly defeated Calloway , if MLK had not been persuasive Calloway would not have gotten nearly the vote he did.