Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Why do they hate us?
The London bombings have claimed another victim: multiculturalism. According to British Tory leadership hopeful David Davis, multiculturalism is responsible for "encouraging distinctive identities [rather] than... promoting common values of nationhood." The goal of integration, he said, is to foster "tolerance and respect for the British way of life".
The BBC, hot on his heels, claimed "even the left is rethinking its commitment to multiculturalism" and interviewed Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian and a sociology prof. Both bemoaned the fact that young Muslims don't identify as British. But they had high hopes for the future; many of this generation might be lost to fanaticism, but the next generation could be different.
How? Mr. Davis suggests:
Multiwhat?
Multiculturalism has its problems. It promotes an official version of ethnicity, one that often papers over class, gender and other issues. However, suicide bombing is beyond the mandate of well-meaning liberal bureaucrats teaching tired immigrants the national anthem. The Right refuses to discuss reasons for suicide bombing, and this is the result: aging shibboleths of 'integration' get dragged out again. That this passes for political analysis, speaks volumes to the lack of imagination, the moral bankruptcy of the Right and some parts of the Left.
Let's try some analysis, as if the people being talked about - Muslims - actually had an opinion. The sociology prof got close to providing a reason - sorry, 'justifying terror' - when he said, "A lot of Muslim youth tell me, "They bomb us in Iraq, so why can't we bomb here?" I know, moral equivalency, what a crazy idea. The 'British way of life' includes mass murder of Iraqi civilians, as does the U.S. 'example'. Could the fact that the Muslim world has been attacked & invaded for close to a century, have anything to do with someone trying to defend it? Could Iraq being bombed constantly for the past 10 years, provoke angry Muslims to do exactly the same thing in London?
Kids from Baghdad, living in a garbage dump since the war. If only they'd learn some tolerance...
Too hard for the Right to grasp? I'll try something simpler. America & Britain start a war on a largely Muslim country... the liberal dream of multiculturalism holds. They slaughter between 25,000 & 100,000 civilians... still holding. They steal oil, privatize companies and introduce CIA-trained death squads to foment sectarian terror... yup, our peacable, liberal utopia is alive & well. Incensed, unhinged Muslims decide to kill Theo Van Gogh, and bomb the London Underground... whoa! Where did this come from? It must be their value system. It must be a violent civilization. We ignored their seething hatred for too long. Time for them to apologize profusely, root out the killers in their midst, and abandon any hope of living peacably with one's neighbours, because multiculturalism's dead. See what happens when we're nice to anima - I mean, those people? They just take advantage of us.
Can't truss it
We could've had a better world. But western governments, led by the US, slaughtered the socialists and progressive nationalists who fought for that world in the 20th century. In their wake, they created religious extremists. Those ideas are gaining currency now because they have what we Marxists call a 'social base'. Any looney can stand up and call for the death of the West, just as easily as flaky hippies can call for naked bicycle-riding for world peace. Those ideas only have an impact when enough people believe them - and that happens when the social conditions are right. When there's ongoing mass slaughter, economic privation, and the complete lack of any democratic, secular alternative, fundamentalism flourishes. Even Tony Blair calls poverty 'the root of terrorism'.
Stop oppressing yourself! Stop oppressing yourself!
Now, it's up to the new generations of progressives in every country to fight for a better world. Part of that fight is pointing out the blatant lies and hypocrisy of the Right, who kill indiscriminately and then blame the victim. Multiculturalism didn't create Muslim anger: the destruction of Iraq did. Let's quote Mr. Horwarth again: if they don't like our way of life, there is a simple remedy - go to another country, get out. That's the best advice I could give to the U.S. & British troops.
The BBC, hot on his heels, claimed "even the left is rethinking its commitment to multiculturalism" and interviewed Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian and a sociology prof. Both bemoaned the fact that young Muslims don't identify as British. But they had high hopes for the future; many of this generation might be lost to fanaticism, but the next generation could be different.
How? Mr. Davis suggests:
"We should learn lessons from abroad - from the United States, where pride in the nation's values is much more prevalent among minorities than here," Mr Davis said.And if that fails, Tory Gerald Horwarth has some suggestions: "if some Muslims 'don't like our way of life, there is a simple remedy - go to another country, get out.'"
In fact, the government, under former home secretary David Blunkett, has already taken a leaf out of US practice, bringing in "citizenship ceremonies" for immigrants granted British citizenship.
Multiwhat?
Multiculturalism has its problems. It promotes an official version of ethnicity, one that often papers over class, gender and other issues. However, suicide bombing is beyond the mandate of well-meaning liberal bureaucrats teaching tired immigrants the national anthem. The Right refuses to discuss reasons for suicide bombing, and this is the result: aging shibboleths of 'integration' get dragged out again. That this passes for political analysis, speaks volumes to the lack of imagination, the moral bankruptcy of the Right and some parts of the Left.
Let's try some analysis, as if the people being talked about - Muslims - actually had an opinion. The sociology prof got close to providing a reason - sorry, 'justifying terror' - when he said, "A lot of Muslim youth tell me, "They bomb us in Iraq, so why can't we bomb here?" I know, moral equivalency, what a crazy idea. The 'British way of life' includes mass murder of Iraqi civilians, as does the U.S. 'example'. Could the fact that the Muslim world has been attacked & invaded for close to a century, have anything to do with someone trying to defend it? Could Iraq being bombed constantly for the past 10 years, provoke angry Muslims to do exactly the same thing in London?
Kids from Baghdad, living in a garbage dump since the war. If only they'd learn some tolerance...
Too hard for the Right to grasp? I'll try something simpler. America & Britain start a war on a largely Muslim country... the liberal dream of multiculturalism holds. They slaughter between 25,000 & 100,000 civilians... still holding. They steal oil, privatize companies and introduce CIA-trained death squads to foment sectarian terror... yup, our peacable, liberal utopia is alive & well. Incensed, unhinged Muslims decide to kill Theo Van Gogh, and bomb the London Underground... whoa! Where did this come from? It must be their value system. It must be a violent civilization. We ignored their seething hatred for too long. Time for them to apologize profusely, root out the killers in their midst, and abandon any hope of living peacably with one's neighbours, because multiculturalism's dead. See what happens when we're nice to anima - I mean, those people? They just take advantage of us.
Can't truss it
We could've had a better world. But western governments, led by the US, slaughtered the socialists and progressive nationalists who fought for that world in the 20th century. In their wake, they created religious extremists. Those ideas are gaining currency now because they have what we Marxists call a 'social base'. Any looney can stand up and call for the death of the West, just as easily as flaky hippies can call for naked bicycle-riding for world peace. Those ideas only have an impact when enough people believe them - and that happens when the social conditions are right. When there's ongoing mass slaughter, economic privation, and the complete lack of any democratic, secular alternative, fundamentalism flourishes. Even Tony Blair calls poverty 'the root of terrorism'.
Stop oppressing yourself! Stop oppressing yourself!
Now, it's up to the new generations of progressives in every country to fight for a better world. Part of that fight is pointing out the blatant lies and hypocrisy of the Right, who kill indiscriminately and then blame the victim. Multiculturalism didn't create Muslim anger: the destruction of Iraq did. Let's quote Mr. Horwarth again: if they don't like our way of life, there is a simple remedy - go to another country, get out. That's the best advice I could give to the U.S. & British troops.
