Hate and Tolerance

One could not have avoided hearing the words “hate” and “tolerance” emanating from the American intelligentsia and its powerful mass media ever since the US embarked upon its war on “terrorism”. Like “terrorism” the words “hate” and “tolerance” remains undefined. Problem with giving definition is that the one who makes the definition can also be measured against it. After all no rational person would like to be called a hypocrite unless he happens to be immune from such feelings due to his sheer power and arrogance! A brief observation of the media reports, commentaries, and editorials gives us clear picture of how the words are being applied. “Hate” is equated with the display of resentment and the voicing of any criticism against the brutal application of economic and military forces by the “axis of good” (UK, US, and Israel). The a! xis was implied by the famous words of George Bush. If the critics happen to be a native like the columnist in the Independent or the more radical ones like Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, George Galloway then they are simply labelled as dissidents or left wing activists or the more recent fad of peace activists. In sharp contrast similar criticisms and emotions expressed by anyone with Arabic sounding name questions of citizenship is immediately brought into question and instantly labelled as a “fundamentalists” or an “extremists”. Labels are used with scorn and applied selectively. As for the actual theatre of operation, which is the Arab/Islamic world, the blame for the antagonism falls on the preaching delivered by the “irrational extremists”, headed by the mad “Mullahs”. Since the initiation of Bush’s war, his own Christian Mullahs have been deliberately unleashed to openly assert that “hate” is an inherent nature of the Arab/Islamic civilisation, which is devoid of the love! of Christ. Even the born again Attorney General, John Ashcroft made similar references. It is strange how so much “love” is being delivered, covered with so much denunciation coupled with the showering of bombs and bullets from their lethal war machines. So they say “Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to war”.

 

On the flip side, it is true that the general masses and the Intelligentsia within the “axis of good”, in particular US and UK, do not exhibit the same intensity of “hate”, this is because powerful nations have the luxury of not being subjected to what they dispense out to the poorer and weaker nations on a daily basis, which gets televised as entertainment, then gets converted into blockbusters. The European history is rich with the use of organised violence to seize lands, resources and dispossess the native population. Genocide and massacres are the result of these processes. Perhaps this is why this why the Anglo-US alliance feels no guilt or shame for the dispossessed Palestinians, who have suffered the same fate as the Red Indian! s and the Aborigines. Like the European “settlers” in US and Australia, the Israeli “settlers” have become the unquestionable legitimate owners of the lands and are constantly portrayed in the mass media as the innocent victim of “terrorism”. Notice again how the terms have been conveniently selected,
“settlers” instead of “occupiers”, and “terrorists” instead of “resistance movement”. No matter how much the Arabs/Muslims are demonised, one cannot find the equivalence of the Crusades, Inquisition, systematic genocides in Latin and Central America, Africa, Vietnam, Japan, and Australia, are only few examples, all driven by greed. Arabs and Muslims can be labelled as Fascists but they forget it was made in Europe and was practiced in Europe. Islam can be labelled as violent, but they forget the greatest violence in the last centuries was exhibited by the greed of the European nations, which peaked in the two great wars. In the same irony they use weapons of Mass destruction (WMD! ) or its equivalence against Iraq whilst accusing her of holding such weapons. Please note the charge is only possession not even usage! It is the US that has the best track record for the usage, production, development and possession of such weapons. In a recent article Dr. Mahatir correctly highlighted that the US military bases around the world is ever increasing, forming a ring, building and protecting her empire. Foreign policy is mainly propelled by the large Multinationals to aid the exploitation of the natural resources. Middle East having the largest oil reserves in the world has naturally gets the disproportionate focus from the US. Rwanda, Kashmir and South Africa in era of the apartheid are a good reminder of the “disproportionate focus”.

 

The natural “hate” against US and her client state Israel is not confined to the Arab/Islamic world alone, the anti-war demonstrations around the world, denunciation of Israel as an apartheid state in South Africa, praising of Usamah Bin Laden in parts of the world that has no cultural or historical ties with the Arab/Islamic world are recent examples. Despite the media propaganda they cannot hide that fact that the “anti-US” sentiment is not confined to the religious section of the population but it is pervasive, even including the secularised western elites. Even at home the resentment is growing as seen in the riots from the anti-globalisation movements and the likes. Hence anti-US sentiments are the direct product of US foreign policies rather then the sermons delivered by the Mullahs in isolated Madrassas. What is really incen! sing is that the mass media will often portray the display of such antagonism are the primary cause of the conflict and violence. Turning the victims into the aggressors. They even go further by demonising the victims for even expressing their natural emotions. Then under the pretext of locating the source of this emotion they will scrutinise and vilify the Quran but have they ever considered what the Talmud holds for them as Gentiles? What the religious Zionist Jews really think about the non-Jews? Fearing charges of Anti-Semitism, risk loosing their position, none of them risk treading into that territory. So much for free media and press!

 

As for “tolerance” it suffers from the same problem of lacking a precise definition. Upon observation one can deduce that the US referring to the elimination of “radical Islam” by replacing it with a “moderate” version. Simultaneously she is proposing the “democratise” the region by establishing “free election”, “freedom of opinion” and “human rights”, all this being synonymous with the notion of a “tolerant” society. The problem is how does the US convince the Arab/Islamic world to adopt the above mention values whilst she herself is overtly refuses to abide by them. Take “freedom of opinion”, which means sometimes you hear opinions that you like and sometimes you hear opinions that you do not like. It is the latter situation that really tests ones commitment to the principal. When Al-Jazeera broadcasted various pictures of the war i! ncluding American POWs, the enraged US demonstrated her intolerance with various complaints and threats, which was eventually followed by the deliberate use of military force against the Journalists in Al-Jazeera. Despite the fact that it was the US that initially televised the pictures of captured Iraqi soldiers, the raids into the houses of ordinary Iraqi’s, and the general humiliation of the hooded captives being abused by the their Soldiers. Now even after crying foul she released the graphic pictures of the sons of Saddam, the very premise for her complaints against the various Arabic Satellite channels. The US in fact televised even more gruesome conditions of the illegal captives, including children in the Guantanamo-bay cages, chained, gagged and shackled, held without legal representation or charge. Violating her definition of “Human Rights” without any reservation or shame. The US is emulating the very people that she demonises and now she is using as one of the reason for! the illegal war on Iraq after the failure to find any WMD. Similarly the horror concentration camps of the Afghanistan is no secret, we all saw prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs and shot. Amnesty International recently highlighted the violation of Human Rights by the US in Iraq for torturing the prisoners and also has executed a few without trial. The CIA has practiced kidnapping, arbitrary arrest, torture and summery execution for decades, just ask the population in Central and South America. It is just that now with age of information such things have become more difficult to hide but the US is no longer concerned as a Hyperpower. The recent Patriotic Act is another example of US intolerance and her lip service to the notion of “Human Rights”. The act designed, targeted and now being applied against the Arab/Muslim community in a manner that is no different to the Jews living under Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. Perhaps we may soon witness the American Intelligentsia debating who qualify to be Humans and hence are entitled to be protected by the act. Similar to what Hitler did about the Slavs in his Mien Kampf.

 

In reality US desire to enforce “freedom of opinion”, “human rights” are a pretext to facilitate the permeation of western culture and values, whilst marginalizing the Islamic values and traditions, hoping this will reduce the antagonism in the Arab/Islamic world. All of this really translates to removing the barriers for the continuous US domination and conquest in the region. Lets face the facts; it would very difficult to find any example from History where Capitalist nations behaved consistently on the basis of ideological principals or for the benevolence of humanity rather then profit and greed. Colonise the lands, resources and also the mind.

The writer is a Graduate in Chemistry from London University and Technical Director. He contributed above article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from the United Kingdom.