PORTRAIT OF A COFFEE HOUSE: People engage in conversation, for it is there that news is communicated and where those interested in politics criticize the government in all freedom and without being fearful, since the government does not heed what the people say. {Jean Chardin, 17th Century French Traveller}

27 July 2011

In the Name of Nationalism: Thoughts on the Oslo Bomber

My blood boiled as I watched the shifting media coverage in lieu of the Oslo Bombing late last week. Every major news network had their own 'expert' and every right-wing crank was crying 'jihad' until it was discovered the 'jihadist' was a white Norwegian right-wing extremist. I haven't yet seen any apologies for misguided speculation or assumptions. In fact, it was rather annoying how quickly the framing of the story changed once it was discovered the 'terrorist' was a white guy. And we should call Anders Behring Breivik out for exactly what he is - a terrorist - a man who acted with full intent on a political agenda he believed to be right at the expense of the lives of others he thought he was sacrificing for his twisted utopian vision.

But, no, saith the 'News Gods': we need criminal psychologists to examine him, his lawyer even insists he's clinically insane, mentally ill, etc. etc. Soon they will seek to lighten the culpability with some sob story about his youth because being a 'white guy' of course he's not a terrorist! He is an exceptional case. However, no one brings out psychologists to examine Osama bin Laden as an equally deluded exceptional head case or considers the trials and travails of his childhood. No, Bin Laden is a terrorist linked to a bigger religio-ideological war against the West, therefore, the implicit assumption the media frames is that 'terrorism' is endemic to Islam.

Let's take this apart with the use of common sense: terrorism is a means to a political or ideological end.  It is the use of violence to make a point, to get attention, and to terrorize people into adopting your point of view. And guess what? Islam does not hold the monopoly over violence. Breivik was a terrorist in every sense of the word, equal to Bin Laden. He published a 1500 word manifesto against European multiculturalism, Western feminism, and Islam echoing romantic notions of the medieval crusades to restore Europe to it's former Christian glory. He even posted a video on Youtube prior to the attacks depicting paintings of crusader knights, deriding liberals as cultural traitors, and then calling for other far-right wing believers to join his 'crusade' with the use of violence against liberal traitors and multiculturalism.

If this doesn't echo the same fundamentalism that inspires Salafists who condone violence in re-establishing a universal Muslim ummah and calling other extremists to join in the 'jihad' then read the above paragraph again because it is the exact same logic.

So, please, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's a duck! Breivik is a terrorist and we should all be concerned of other right-wing extremists who buy the political agenda he's selling. Fundamentalism of any sort is blinding and it is in our best interest to fight it and to challenge right-wing pundits who sell us discrimination, exclusionary politics, and inspire hatred. 

My heart goes out to the Norwegians. I pray this is not a foreshadow for Europe in the future. I hope that out of a terrorist act, people will stand in unity against justifying their politics through violence. Extremism, whether it is nationalistic or religious, must be challenged for the sake of all of us living within the same borders and stuck in this world together.  

16 July 2011

Clippings: Afghan government seeks to ban costly weddings

But it's not just that: "The law, which would also prevent women from wearing dresses 'contrary to Islamic sharia,' reminds some here of Taliban-era paternalism."

An interesting piece from The Washington Post - Afghan government seeks to ban costly weddings


This is a photo of a wedding hall in Kabul during the daytime hours. Wedding halls are everywhere here in the city and extremely popular although the Afghan government should probably be more concerned with other issues at this point in time.

11 July 2011

Story Highlights: looking to the future

I couldn't help but look at the newsstand in amusement today. We are very future looking this month. Enjoy the following highlights for this week:

The Economist - "The Future of News"

The New Yorker - "Plus: The Future of Marriage"

Time - "The Future of Fish"

06 July 2011

Zero Silence: a documentary about the free wor(l)d

Zero Silence is an amazing project in-the-making, a documentary about the political impact of the Internet and non-traditional media in the Arab World. Click on the hyperlink above for more details on the project! You can also 'Like' their Facebook page here to keep up with news on the upcoming documentary.


01 July 2011

How to prepare people's hearts and minds for war

Imagine one early morning hour, still caught up in a dream, you start hearing the rolling drums of war, at first imperceptible, almost like a rustling sound, the sound of wind rushing through leaves. When you become aware of it, the rolling of drums has turned into rhythmic beating, synchronized, repetitive, monumental, omnipresent. By the time you wake up, the gates of hell are flung open, and you are already immersed in the rhetoric that empowers you to carry out almost anything.

Dror Borstein writes that it is no longer possible to convince anyone. No news item would ever change anyone's mind. On the contrary, every fact is mobilized to enforce existing beliefs. A whole family massacred in a single attack? 'Even more reason to eliminate the Hamas, once and for all. How dare they force us to treat them this way, how dare they make us turn into monsters'. Through a rhetorical slight of the hand, the victims themselves become responsible for their plight, the executioner becomes the helpless pawn in a cynical political game, playing a role he has not chosen. Others opt for numbness, wrapping their hearts in a membrane of apathy. Sometimes traces of feelings do emerge, unfortunately, a twitch of the eyebrow, or an almost imperceptible shiver, a vague memory perhaps, when the eyes wander and strike a photograph of the dead, brother next to sister next to brother, the family's father gazing at the tragedy, helplessly. “Yes", they say, "the children died, BUT…” and after the "BUT" comes the explanation, re-framing the problem, a quick bandage to harden the resolve, to justify the means, to thicken the membrane surrounding the heart.

A dark atmosphere has descended upon Israel, never before have I witnessed something quite like this, the formation of a collective logic, a vocabulary and language that makes war possible. The people I truly care about have been transformed; my dear friends, my close relatives, my trusted teachers and professors. Utterly and fully transformed. The first feeling is that of estrangement, the feeling of being catapulted out of an interwoven, what appears to be a cohesive society. Something has gone horribly wrong. Did I go mad? Wasn't there a time in which we shared the same values? Weren't we deeply disturbed when we heard of the suffering of others? Weren't we always puzzled at the possibility that a people - educated, cultured, reflexive, critical, learned - could undergo such a metamorphosis that they should turn into monsters? Is this real, or just a terrible nightmare?

The disgust becomes unbearable. Clueless, I start participating in demonstrations. There we meet: women and men from mainstream and from the margins of society; Palestinians and Jews, LGBT and Anarchists, Zionists and Communists, Victims and Executioners, Hypocrites and Blue-Eyed Idealists, people who, in normal circumstances, would never have met, let alone agree on anything meaningful, suddenly united in a wish to end this bloody carnage. We walk in the middle of Tel-Aviv, along one of its main streets: Ibn-Gvirol street, named after an Andalucian Hebrew poet born in a multi-cultured Spain of the 11th century. At the time Andalucia was no doubt more tolerant than Tel-Aviv today, and I notice, as we were walking, in the middle of the street, to our right and left, on the pavements on both sides, the threatening fists and bulging eyes, pointing fingers, menacing gestures and words of rage. Eggs flying in the air. Chanting rhythmically, our procession carries on, flanked on both sides with waving flags of white and blue, huge flags like the waves of the sea, menacing, aiming to crush us. Yet the procession advanced unperturbed, in the midst of the street surrounded by a flame of blue and white: “in the midst of the sea on dry land, and the waters were walled unto them on their right hand and on their left" (Exodus 14:22).


An earlier version of this post was written after Israel's attack on Gaza in January 2009 and published in the student monthly newspaper of the University of Porto.