Demonstrations have spread around
the world after an anti-Islam video, made by someone named Nakoula Basseley
Nakoula, insulting the most revered figure of the
Muslim world, the Prophet Muhammed was posted on youtube.
Why is it that this short video, apparently the work of one
insignificant individual, can instigate such outrage? While the filmmaker and his ilk may be
a global minority, for Muslims, as well as for much of the rest of the world,
they epitomise the ignorance, imperialism and arrogance of the West in its
dealings with the Muslim world.
The origins of the film itself are
very dubious, its production values are such, that it looks like it was made in
a basement. The insults to Islam or the Prophet Muhammed are obviously
dubbed over the original soundtrack. The film seems to have intended provocation based on some aspect of an apocalyptic ideology.
Today, as in the past, Muslims remain
part of a global brotherhood that is unlike anything that exists in the West. This ‘Ummah’, the wider Muslim community,
transcends political borders, artificial boundaries and international time
zones. Yet, what the West apparently
finds so hard to understand is that Muslims continue to have a sense of the
sacred along with a respect for the concept of community as well as brother and sisterhood. For these
Muslims the Prophet Muhammed is sacred.
As a result of the outrage caused
by this video it is now possible to see even the simplest, poorest and
non-political Muslim take to the streets, as they would rather see their
families shamed by such public behaviour than have their religion, which they continue
to hold sacred, insulted. Even the
corrupt, pro-Western, Muslim leaders recognise this, accepting that they have
to speak out against any attacks on the sanctity of their religion, as their
own seat of power would be in grave danger if they did not. It appears that the American
establishment has been caught off guard, as is evident by its slow reaction to
label the video ‘disgusting’ and ‘reprehensible’.
Middle-class Muslims and
non-Muslims alike talk of how Muslims should rise above the prejudice. It is
not that simple since most Muslims do not come from the privileged positions
necessary for such a stance. One look at the literacy rates for Afghanistan, as
well as the rates at which literacy levels have fallen in Iraq since the US
invasion, shows that Western intervention results in people having to choose
between eating and sending their children to school. The mass education that we receive in the West is not widely
available to others around the world, while, in the West we are not usually
confronted by an occupational force of foreign troops every time we leave our
homes or the daily psychological trauma of imminent death.
While American and British
troops continue fighting a war in Afghanistan, which, along with the war in Iraq
and the occupation of Palestine, encourages a feeling of helplessness across
the Islamic world, many Muslims ask, 'how can we help each other and unite the
Ummah?' These are the Muslims who
feel they are being globally humiliated by the policies of western governments
and, with the aid of 24-hour 'impartial' news, their humiliation is beamed
un-sanitised into homes around the world 24/7, for all to see and none to
escape.
Now with Muslim lands not to
mention hearts and minds being occupied, along with constant attacks in the
press, a perceived loss of Islamic self identity has taken hold. Is it any
surprise that Muslims who see the central figure of their religion being
insulted and mocked should feel dehumanised even further?
Many of these Muslims
feel that they have no option but to take to the streets in order to express
their anger and frustration. They
are fighting for what they feel is right, for what they believe in and are
taking it out on any symbol of Western imperialism - embassies being the primary targets.
These are the same Muslims who felt
helpless when images of prisoner abuse emerged from the void of Abu
Ghuraib. They are the ones who
felt helpless when half a million people, or more, were killed in Iraq with
millions more displaced. Helpless
as Israel bombed Lebanon and Gaza and their Arab leaders belly danced around
the West. Their sense of helplessness compounded as drone attacks plague
Pakistan and the international blight of Guantanamo stays open for business. Helpless as the infamous Danish
cartoons printed in the name of freedom of expression spread around the world
like a virus. Helpless in the face of Kashmir's continued occupation. Helpless as Bosnian women,
violated and brutalised in rape camps, are denied an international forum to
voice their anguish.
Helpless as a flattened Grozny struggles to its feet. Helpless as
America carries out drone attacks, breaching the national sovereignty of
independent countries with impunity.
Helpless as Switzerland, home to 400,000 Muslims, bans the building of
minarets. Helpless as France bans
the hijab from schools. These are
the Muslims who feel helpless in every way imaginable. Is it any wonder that there is so
much anger and frustration across the Islamic world? Is it wrong for humiliated
and insulted Muslims to react so passionately? As the most revered figure of their
religion is insulted and their lands are stolen. Or should we bring up the
United States anti-terrorism,interrogation techniques such as water boarding
or the many other forms of state sanctioned torture for good measure?
With the media's shouts of
'revolution' still ringing in our ears when Muslims recently demonstrated
against their own oppressive governments, the media now shouts something
different as these same Muslims protest. When these Muslims react the media
cries ‘barbaric’ and ‘savage’;
Eurocentric and orientalist terms that were strangely absent from public
discourse during America’s ‘shock and awe’ campaign in Iraq.
Imperialistic wars have seen the
Muslim lands divided as arbitrary lines were drawn on maps by the Western
powers with no consideration for the local people, while their religious
institutions were dismantled and their cultures destroyed. Tyrannical leaders were then imposed on the population with an American or Western seal of approval. History has continually demonstrated
that there is only one objective of imperialism, the exploitation of the lands
natural resources which is usually facilitated by the facade of stability,
democracy and freedom.
The humiliation of the contemporary Muslim world, as some see it, has
taken place, largely in the last century. What the imperialistic governments in
the West must realise is that occupying countries and killing civilians is one
thing, but to attack the religion, the sacred text and the Prophet, will bring
out the masses onto the streets to fight. It will ignite the Islamic concept of
‘ghayra’, the idea that Muslims love something so much that they are willing to
fight and die for it.
This video has not come out of nowhere; it is a
manifestation of the environment created by the so-called ‘war on terror’. The Islamaphobia
used by Western leaders to justify their wars has sparked the flames of this
fire. That is why Muslims across the world will find it hard to differentiate
between one crazy filmmaker and the American government as a whole. This film
is a product of the environment created by America, and maybe the fire, the
venom, and intolerance has become uncontrollable.
